Informed
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Tom Dixon on Display at Liberty
Design Information | Published on September 13, 2010
During Niels and Nancy’s visit to London, they stopped by Liberty, a long-established department store on Regent Street in the West End shopping district. They couldn’t help but notice Tom Dixon pieces within. Above is the large Cone light with stand.
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Book Review | The Wirtz Private Garden
Literature, Staff Picks | Published on September 3, 2010
“This garden is made for my camera” says Marco Valdivia. Unlike the Wirtzes’ commissioned gardens, this former kitchen garden was never conceived as a formal composition: a complete work of art. Rather, it is a working nursery in active use, a laboratory for continuous experimentation, in which plants are moved, transferred to other plots or to gardens in progress elsewhere.
Few landscape designers are more admired than Belgium’s Jacques Wirtz, as seen with the huge success of The Wirtz Gardens, published in the fall of 2004. The Wirtz Gardens surveyed 57 private and public gardens designed by Wirtz, many in collaboration with his two sons, Martin and Peter, in locations spanning the globe. Like the veteran art dealer whose personal collection one imagines to be stupendous, the volume raised the question of what Wirtz’s own garden looked like.
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Shedding a Light on Deflation
In Store | Published on September 1, 2010
A client of Inform came in with an estimate the other day. It was dated November 13th, 1989. The client wanted to know if we would honour the estimate even though it was over 20 years old.
“I do not think we can do that” replied the salesperson.Yet upon further examination of the estimate, the salesperson replied:
“I can’t honour it, but I can do one better. $200 better”.
The item in question was an Artemide Tizio Classic Black Table Lamp by Richard Sapper. In 1989, the lamp was $655. However in 2010, Inform sells the exact same light for $431. That’s $224 less!
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Jasper Morrison Shop
Design Information | Published on August 30, 2010
Niels at the front entrance of Morrison’s shopNancy and Niels visited a tiny store opened by British designer Jasper Morrison on their recent trip to London. The store is very tucked away, only a few visitors a day, and is actually housed in an unused area of Morrison’s studio. The design of the shop is simple, wooden shelves are stocked with Morrison’s own designs and those of his peers such as designers Sori Yanagi and Naoto Fukasawa.
There is currently a really lovely display of items for the Super Normal book by Fukasawa and Morrison (pictured above left). The book is a compilation of 204 everyday objects in search of ‘super normal design’.
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Established & Sons | Made in Britain
Brand Focus | Published on August 20, 2010
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Established & Sons was founded in 2004 by publisher Alasdhair Willis of wallpaper* magazine fame(above). He sought the talent of his art school chums in an effort to create designer furniture which is truly British.
Willis always wanted to start a design company and was tired of seeing good British talent going to Italy and the United States due to no real platform for them at home, in the UK.Designer Sebastian Wrong, Tamara Caspersz the PR Guru and design director Mark Holmes are the other creative minds behind Established & Sons.
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Taschen | Passion in Print
In Store, Literature | Published on August 16, 2010
It all began with a young boy, Benedikt Taschen(above), selling his paintings of vampires on the sidewalks of Germany in 1970. Ten years later, through passion for images, words, photography, film, and support from his family and mentors, Benedikt opened a comic book shop in his native city of Cologne.
Benedikt as a boy, the first Taschen bookstore, their first publication, present day headquarters
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Taschen books. They continue to stick to their credo: don’t underestimate or bore your audience.
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111 Navy | Recycle Happiness
Design Information, In Store | Published on August 12, 2010
The Coca-Cola Company and Emeco have combined their most iconic products, the Coca-Cola contour bottle package and the famous Navy Chair, to create a new chair made from at least 111 recycled plastic bottles. The aptly named “111 Navy Chair” debuted earlier this year at the 2010 Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, the top furniture trade show in the world.
“The 111 Navy Chair is a reflection of our commitment to sustainability, constant innovation and originality in design,” said Kate Dwyer, Group Director, Worldwide Licensing, The Coca-Cola Company. “This latest addition to our line of rPET licensed merchandise underscores the fact that Coca-Cola bottles are valuable recyclables. It is another step in our vision to recover and reuse all of our bottles and cans.”
Nancy and Niels are in London and have spotted the 111 Navy. Pictured to the left is a London retailer’s display, below is at the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel.
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Andreu World
Brand Focus | Published on August 10, 2010
Francisco Andreu was classically trained as a cabinetmaker at a very young age, working for his father in the family wood factory in Spain. By seventeen, the factory in which he grew up was in peril, Fransisco saw this downfall as an opportunity to start all over. At first, the woodworking was done in the workshops of local artisans who lent Fransisco their spaces after regular business hours. Originally, the pieces were completed without the use of electricity and transported to nearby furniture shops via handcarts. The beginning demanded much work and energy but the company was showing growth and promise.
Andreu World factory worker long ago, the Andreu North saw mill, furniture fair exhibit
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Finnish Glass Perfection | Iittala
Design Information | Published on August 5, 2010
The founding of the Iittala company is said to date to 1881, when a glass factory was founded by Swede Petrus Magnus Abrahamsson. The first workforce had to be brought from Sweden due to the lack of skilled glassblowers in Finland.
Ultima Thule Series, 38cm Aalto Bowl, Aalto Premium Serving Tray, Kivi
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Limited Edition Sigg Bottles | Coupland & Inform
Design Information, In Store | Published on August 3, 2010
A collaboration between Inform Interiors and Douglas Coupland for Vancouver’s Covenant House. As water is a beloved substance, ‘My hotel Year’ is a beloved story. Personally signed and numbered by Douglas, each ‘zine’ accompanies an Inform Interiors limited edition SIGG water bottle ($60.00 CAD).
Douglas Coupland is a Canadian fiction write as well as a play wright and visual artist. His first book, the 1991 noel generation X: tables for an accelerated culture, was nominated for the books in Canada first novel award, became an international bestseller and popularized the terms “McJob” and “Generation X.” Much of Coupland’s work explores the unexpected cultural shifts created by the impact of new technologies a middle class North American culture.
Persistent themes include the conflict between secular and religious values, difficulty in aging and taking on adult roles, ironic attitude as a response to intense media saturation, and pop mass culture.
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