What Design Can Do! is an annual international activist conference where professionals from different design disciplines share their visions and knowledge to find solutions for problems of today’s society. Designers from all around the world came together in the stunning Stadsschouwburg Theater in Amsterdam to discuss the overall theme for this first edition of What Design Can Do: Access. The theme was then divided into four areas: Access to Basics, Access to the City, Access to Culture and Access to the Public.
In Access to the City British artist Daniel Eatock observes the unpredicted situations and coincidences in the everyday urban environment and simply records them through photography. However, by exploring the randomness of life he finds himself with solutions even before the questions have been formulated. The key message, as he said, is to reduce extraneous and subjective.
Also in this section, Oliviero Toscani Italian photojournalist and art director documents the social behavior and the human condition in order to fight hypocrisy and values. The images he creates are controversial but at the same time become a voice that awakes and encourages free thoughts and against pre-fabricated ideas.
In Access to the Public American graphic designer Scott Stowell makes a presentation around the statement “pay attention”. He believes that everything is connected and everything is an opportunity; if you are paying attention. He designs for people and it shows in various projects, especially in his campaign for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
In Access to Cultures Brazilian social designer Paula Dib stimulates the collaboration between trained designers with national/traditional crafters (usually villagers) in order to link these two worlds and maximize positive impact in the communities.
The What Design Can Do! Conference brought together eight hundred designers from the fields of fashion, product, interior, architecture, urbanism and graphics, with one principle of approaching design from a broader perspective other than form, beauty or trends, but a resource of creative solutions to problems in today’s society.
Photos by me and Alexandra Georgescu
www.whatdesigncando.nl
Art of Board made an appearance at this week's NYC design week (ICFF - International Contemporary Design Fair) showing some of their work. The company not only produces product and furniture with pieces of broken skateboards but also wall tiles for interiors.
Art of Board is a company based in Philadelphia that was created in 2004 by owner and skater Rich Moorhead: "Skateboarding is not a crime. Throwing away a perfectly broken skateboard deck, is... As passionate skaters ourselves, it’s important to us to support skateboarding, actions sports charities, local skate shops and parks, and create an eco-friendly world. The skaters help create the art, too – every scratch, scrape and gouge is kept intact – making each piece unique and just as original as the skaters who destroyed these decks.”
Photos:
Skateboard Magazine
There is something architecturally beautiful about these dresses and best of all, they are made out of recycled paper combined with textiles! It is the works of fine arts student at University of Sarajevo Amila Hrustic who was inspired by geometry and its tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, dodecahedrons, and icosahedrons, all shown in her Plato’s Collection, a line of dresses that embody the forms’ aesthetic beauty and symmetry.
In the same way that Plato theorized that the five Platonic solids were the building blocks of the universe—earth was associated with the cube, air with the octahedron, and so forth—Hrustic used the same shapes as the basis of her dresses. Constructed from recyclable paper and fabric, the garments are made almost entirely by hand, without, as Hrustic describes it, any “machines or things that could damage body or nature.” (Ecouterre)
Who doesn't like Spanish designer- Milan based Patricia Urquiola and her wonderful furniture. Her last collection Klara shown at Milan Furniture Fair 2011 shows simple yet elegant designed pieces made out of beech wood that uses both industrial processes with local Italian hand-craft techniques from the region of Manzano. The collection is composed of a two-seat sofa, bench, coffee table and armchair.
This retail space designed by the architect Joan Sandoval brings more than a great bike shopping experience. It also provides clients with a cafe / library where shoppers can read magazines on cycling while enjoying a cup of coffee, a TV lounge with races screenings and showers for cyclers to refresh after training. All in one amazing 700 m2 gallery space where, in contrast to traditional bicycle shops, has a pleasant open space with lots of floors to walk around. The paved entry makes a reference to the name of the store while bringing the outside feeling into the space. Textures and monotone with an accent violet color pallete makes a perfect atmosphere while resembling a gallery space where pieces of art are displayed, in this case: the road bicycles.
Photos: www.pave.cc
I first saw this sofa by young designer Yuya Ushida at the Design Academy Graduate Show while exploring the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. It is now being produced by the Dutch company Ahend and talked about all over the architecture magazines. No surprise here as I have to admit that the piece is really genius.
It is made out of 8000 bamboo sticks (original version) and 2000 rings in a system that can be easily manipulated by the user to turn from a chair into a sofa and vice-versa.
Photos: dezeen
Back in December, 2010, I went to Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam to see an exhibition called Misfit by the Dutch product designer Hella Jongerius. The show celebrates the unique works of this influential and extraordinary designer.
Misfit brings a range of products from furniture to ceramics and it is a celebration of crafted individuality pieces incorporated into the industrial manufacturing.
The designer’s unique aesthetic has often been described as a fusion of opposites; manufacturing and craft; high and low tech; traditional and contemporary. Materials are brought together in unusual and often contradictory ways, creating works that are extremely textural and beg to be touched: rough edged leather is rolled to create wheels; paint is dripped messily onto earthenware; ceramics are sewn onto cotton table cloths; vases are soft and sinks are made from rubber. (Dezeen)
