Design

There is an extreme amount of good design coming out of Western Europe, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, so much so I’ve had a hard time really organizing information, every design site or event or designer leads to a ton of other links and cool stuff. I guess that’s one the benefits of blogging about it, I can always go back and add more info, keep a running record of research-sort of the point of a blog I know. In the way of Belgian designers, I’ve liked looking at the work of Dries Verbruggen, Hans-Christian Karlberg, and Arne Quinze, Raphael Charles, and the series of reMix objects. Designers I’ve looked at from the Netherlands are Bart Hess, Esther De Groot, Kiki Van Eijk, and Saar Oosterhof, and the Material Sense group. From Germany I liked the work of Anna Borman &Selma Serman, and Marc Mann. From France I looked at Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and Phillipe Starck. I also liked Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola’s furniture line, Urquiola being a Spanish designer working in Italy.

Design

Dries Verbruggen and Claire Warrier created the Unfold Project, and is an ongoing investigation involving 3D mapping of the human body. These computer generated maps are then translated into flat planar patterns that are later fit back together like a puzzle. The research resulted in a line of jewelry which due to the way it is constructed is reflective of an individual's unique body structure. They also created a chair design that can be seen on designboom that is constructed by punching out flat cardboard pieces and then fitting them together to form an Eames-like chair.



http://www.hck.be/
Hans Christian Karlberg created a line of furniture I like which incorporates forms that are used in prosthetics. The tables and chairs he designs are sort of nondescript other than one or two elements added that are directly taken from prosthetics. This line is meant to bring attention to the people that require these devices, to make their illness or illness in general something that is not covered up and hidden.


Raphael Charles
vases made from 35mm film, resin and polyurethane





The ReMix series of objects are created from discarded or broken objects that are reworked into objects of with a new and sometimes probably more useful purpose. The main mission of this series is to promote a sustainable lifestyle by creatively reusing existing objects and materials. I couldn't find any pictures online at all of the work, its in one of my addict lab books, which i will let people look at anytime.






Bart Hess is a designer from the Netherlands who merges technology and fashion. His work melds form into the contours of the body, making it look as though his forms are growing outward from the body. Hess is working with Phillips design probes team to create a concept called Electronic Tattoo in which a tattoo "traverses across the landscape of the body moving and morphing with touch and gesture".

Ted Muehling

Ted Muehling is an American designer who studied industrial design at Pratt University and has been been designing for over twenty years . Muehling's designs are mainly inspired by nature like plantlife, insects, and shells, and take the form of jewelry, candlesticks, bowls, vases, salt and pepper shakers, and dishes. Muehling has designed for Lobmeyr Glassworks, Porzellan-Manufactur Nymphenburg, and Steuben Glass. His work has been shown numerous times at the Cooper-Hewitt, the Renwick, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Muehling's designs reference the natural objects he is inspired by through distilled form and decoration. Muehling's work as described by Akiko Busch in an article for Metalsmith "tends to reflect his training as a jeweler; there is a deep connection with the human form, an engagement with and awareness of the body."