Geo - 2012
Sterling silver, enamelled brass
All photographs courtesy of World of Driftwood
9.3.12
8.3.12
Born into a life - Where children sleep by James Mollison
Since discovering this book earlier today...
...I have been reading and looking and reading and looking and reading.... It took me a lot of inner strength to tear myself away from the books' online pages and write this post.
In short: for this book photographer James Mollison went all over the world to take pictures of children and the places they sleep.
Places. Not necessarily rooms.
All photographs are accompanied by a short -sometimes heartbreaking- story about the lifes of the portrayed children.
Here's a small preview:
From the artists' website:
A word of advice: make sure you'll have an hour or so to spare before following the link below, once you turned the first few pages, it will be difficult to tear yourself away.
Click here for the online version of 'Where children sleep'.
...I have been reading and looking and reading and looking and reading.... It took me a lot of inner strength to tear myself away from the books' online pages and write this post.
In short: for this book photographer James Mollison went all over the world to take pictures of children and the places they sleep.
Places. Not necessarily rooms.
All photographs are accompanied by a short -sometimes heartbreaking- story about the lifes of the portrayed children.
Here's a small preview:
Photographs all courtesy of James Mollison
From the artists' website:
"Where Children Sleep- stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms. When Fabrica asked me to come up with an idea for engaging with children's rights, I found myself thinking about my bedroom: how significant it was during my childhood, and how it reflected what I had and who I was. It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances. From the start, I didn't want it just to be about 'needy children' in the developing world, but rather something more inclusive, about children from all types of situations. It seemed to make sense to photograph the children themselves, too, but separately from their bedrooms, using a neutral background. My thinking was that the bedroom pictures would be inscribed with the children's material and cultural circumstances ' the details that inevitably mark people apart from each other ' while the children themselves would appear in the set of portraits as individuals, as equals ' just as children. This selection of diptych's from 56 in the book (Chris Boot November 2010). The book is written and presented for an audience of 9-13 year olds ' intended to interest and engage children in the details of the lives of other children around the world, and the social issues affecting them, while also being a serious photographic essay for an adult audience."
A word of advice: make sure you'll have an hour or so to spare before following the link below, once you turned the first few pages, it will be difficult to tear yourself away.
Click here for the online version of 'Where children sleep'.
7.3.12
Cardboard town by Robert Czajka
Loving this 'Make a town' -kit by Polish designer Robert Czajka:
Photographs courtesy of the artist.
6.3.12
Happy Rain
Al right then, instead of complaining about rainy days this time of year, I should probably be celebrating the moisture: as every year it will eventually make the world a lot greener.
Oooh... Bla bla bla.
Anyhow, these raindrops make me happy everyday:
Oooh... Bla bla bla.
Anyhow, these raindrops make me happy everyday:
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| Dropit Hooks by Asshoff & Brogård for Normann Copenhagen |
5.3.12
2.3.12
Mind-wander-inducing: Matthias Heiderich
Today is one of those typical Fridays when I can't seem to focus on anything, my head is already done with this week.
I guess my mind is wandering to some place nice, like the world of photographer Matthias Heiderich, recently discovered through Pinterest:
All photographs courtesy of Matthias Heiderich, check out the Matthias Heiderich website for more.
I guess my mind is wandering to some place nice, like the world of photographer Matthias Heiderich, recently discovered through Pinterest:
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| Color Berlin (Ost) 2009 |
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| Color Berlin (Slide) 2009 |
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| Snowblind (Van) 2011 |
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| Studie Eins (Circus) 2011 |
All photographs courtesy of Matthias Heiderich, check out the Matthias Heiderich website for more.
1.3.12
Businessman and Designer: Piet Hein Eek
Piet Hein Eek is a businessman and a designer. Yes, you're reading this well: businessman first.
Since first presenting his scrap-wood cabinets in the early nineties Piet Hein Eek has come a long way. His company (Eek & Ruijgrok BV) now owns an old factory-building at a (for design) prime location in Eindhoven.
Upon entering the factory, be prepared to be submerged in a 'Piet Hein Eek-world': not only does it serve as a workshop to produce his designs; its gigantic multi-story interior leaves enough space to house a gallery, a restaurant and a shop. It could be seen as a 'design clubhouse' and is a favorite hangout of many during the yearly Dutch Design Week.
Eeks' businesslike approach of design didn't go down well with his critical fellow-designers at first. The last two decades Dutch design especially sold well in international galleries, which resulted in many designers rather calling themselves 'artists' than 'businessmen', while designing 'pieces' instead of 'products'.
For years design schools trained their students to focus on concept rather than production or sales. It resulted in a hand-full of design-graduates being picked up by gallerists and (usually successfully) catapulted onto the international design-art stage, while the remaining 95% of young designers comes out of school with an education that taught them how to design well, but not how to actually make money with it.
Coming back to Piet Hein Eek:
His work is usually playful, not overly complicated, but focussing on showcasing and celebrating crafty construction and the beauty of rawness.
All his designs share a distinct Piet Hein Eek-style that you either like or don't -I happen to like it-, either way he deserves credit for showing us that a focus on business doesn't need to get in the way of delivering great designs.
To draw this thing to a conclusion (although there is still a lot left to be said): whether you like his style or not, designers as well as design schools can learn a lot from the way Piet Hein Eek is running his business.
If at all possible I will make sure to be sitting front row at his next lecture,paper and pencil Iphone ready!
All photographs in this post are courtesy of Piet Hein Eek.
Visit his website for more work, news, information about exhibitions, the shop and the restaurant, and everything else the company's involved in.
Since first presenting his scrap-wood cabinets in the early nineties Piet Hein Eek has come a long way. His company (Eek & Ruijgrok BV) now owns an old factory-building at a (for design) prime location in Eindhoven.
Upon entering the factory, be prepared to be submerged in a 'Piet Hein Eek-world': not only does it serve as a workshop to produce his designs; its gigantic multi-story interior leaves enough space to house a gallery, a restaurant and a shop. It could be seen as a 'design clubhouse' and is a favorite hangout of many during the yearly Dutch Design Week.
Eeks' businesslike approach of design didn't go down well with his critical fellow-designers at first. The last two decades Dutch design especially sold well in international galleries, which resulted in many designers rather calling themselves 'artists' than 'businessmen', while designing 'pieces' instead of 'products'.
For years design schools trained their students to focus on concept rather than production or sales. It resulted in a hand-full of design-graduates being picked up by gallerists and (usually successfully) catapulted onto the international design-art stage, while the remaining 95% of young designers comes out of school with an education that taught them how to design well, but not how to actually make money with it.
Coming back to Piet Hein Eek:
His work is usually playful, not overly complicated, but focussing on showcasing and celebrating crafty construction and the beauty of rawness.
All his designs share a distinct Piet Hein Eek-style that you either like or don't -I happen to like it-, either way he deserves credit for showing us that a focus on business doesn't need to get in the way of delivering great designs.
To draw this thing to a conclusion (although there is still a lot left to be said): whether you like his style or not, designers as well as design schools can learn a lot from the way Piet Hein Eek is running his business.
If at all possible I will make sure to be sitting front row at his next lecture,
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| Crisis desk in wood and duropal |
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| Ceramic jugs |
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| Aluminum Go-card |
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| 7-sons Crisis desk in wood |
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| Showcase in oak wood and glass |
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| Fluorescent lamp in copper |
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| Steel cabinet |
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| Construction cabinet in steel |
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| Silver-plated brass jugs |
All photographs in this post are courtesy of Piet Hein Eek.
Visit his website for more work, news, information about exhibitions, the shop and the restaurant, and everything else the company's involved in.