I HAVE A DREAM.( IT IS CALLED DONGDAEMUN)...

Picture above from http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/dongdaemun-design-park-plaza/

Design identity: Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, South Korea. Architect: Zaha Hadid. Project duration: 2007-2013. Client: Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Purpose: "...Vision “Communication of Design·Creation Industry”
DDP will become to be multiplex cultural space communicating design·creation industry by exchanging and cooperating with citizens, world's citizens and experts.
Mission “Design making and enjoying with citizens” - Design with People
DDP has been made together into communication center of creation industry, study center of future talented people and open space for working by pursuing new thought, various talents and more advanced life....."
(source: http://www.seouldesign.or.kr/eng/plaza/summary.jsp)

When you see projects like this, days like these, you end up dreaming of different possibilities. Also, as it is inevitable, you end up making comparisons. Like all normal human beings, design-savvy or not, you can simply distinguish the difference between the great, the adequate and the mediocre. Have a lovely month and a blissful spring start-up...;-)))

A4D-D4A



Piraeus Port Authority Central Building, by architects Giannis Liapis and Ilias Skroubelos, born in 1922 and 1942 respectively,  http://www.olp.gr/el/the-port-of-piraeus/image-gallery. Nice picture but...yet an uncontemporary building? 

ESTORICK COLLECTION Of Modern Italian Art : 17 YEARS already of great exhibitions, events and knowhow around...

...modern and contemporary Italian art, design and culture. Please find out more for the most exciting museum dedicated to Italian civilisation, outside Italy:

http://www.estorickcollection.com

In the picture above, a compilation of previous exhibitions shortcuts (from top to bottom and right to left):
- Giorgio Casali, Photographer: Domus 1951-1983. Architecture, Design & Art in Italy (2013)
- Pablo Echaurren, Iconoclast (2014)
- The Years of la Dolce Vita (2014)
- Workshop Missoni: Daring to be Different (2009, in picture Ottavio and Rosita Missoni photographed in 1989 by Giuseppe Pino)

Browse, subscribe to the newsletter, inspire yourself and daydream...
?-))))
A4D-D4A

NEW EU COPYRIGHT REFORM: the who-is-who-doing-what in the old continent's newest HOT FILE.

Picture above from: http://www.fischerappelt.de

Another "hot potato" is burning the hands of European administrators, forcing the higher ranks of the Europarliament to painkillers overdose...The new Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Günther Oettinger has promised an overhaul of the 2001 Copyright Directive -previously passed to Jean-Claude Juncker- the latter realizing the complexity of the task- he also seems to find extremely difficult to satisfy the interests of opposite camps. The competition is fierce, nowadays that all sorts of digital platforms are implemented, and the plot thickens seriously. Seriously enough to put Angela Merkel on the game (again) with some heavy-weight remarks, during the last national IT convention, in Hamburg, on 21st of October 2014: “Connecting digital technologies with industrial products and logistics - Industry 4.0 - Germany has a chance at taking the lead,”. The crucial and ambitious project of EU copyright reform will probably extend its time-frame. Recent interventions by members of Europarliement, such as G.Grammatikakis (responsible for Intellectual Property in the Europarliament Cultural Committee), on balancing out the interests of all contributors in the creative procedure (artists, makers, designers, internet providers, publishers, search engines, producers and mediators), made an impact about the importance of intellectual protection- insurance and the need for new, clear, legal guidelines.

For more information on the subject, leading to an essential revolution in data, intellectual and industrial protection in Europe, (which desperately needs it!), go to:

http://www.europarl.gr/el/greek-meps/meps-activity/meps-activity-2015/mepsfebruar2015/meps2015februar15.html

http://policyreview.info/articles/news/new-eu-commissioner-promises-copyright-reform-can-he-deliver/332

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/innovation-enterprise/merkel-calls-industry-40-german-it-summit-309376

100% CANADIAN MIRACLE!!!!

Surprise?-)))The Canadian Design Resource is a sensational database featuring every aspect of Canadian design you can possibly imagine. Designers, organisations, history,exhibitions, news, innovations, discoveries, schools, publishers, merchants----and more, concerning Creative Canada. A wonderful example for many ministries in mother Europe, struggling to put together a decent on-line network of local design affairs, going through millions of committees with zillions of design experts and journalists, recovering huge budgets---well in Canada they have it all done and it is a private initiative! Check it out please, you will be entirely absorbed by the most exciting virtual space on design, and learn about the cracking-Canadian design scene...Enjoy!!!!

http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca (picture bellow from the actual site)
Contact e-mails:
info@thecdr.ca
todd@thecdr.ca

Milan in a Van 2015* ! How SALONE DEL MOBILE in MILAN (Milan Furniture fair) will turn out to be (again) this spring?

 

Picture above from: http://salonemilano.it/it-it/
*The title of V&A, London exhibition regarding the Fiera, back in April 2002, remained a moto in design slang...

The beginning of a very turbulent year, will not overshadow the importance of the most radiant european event, concerning design...or at least it is scheduled so. Many, great things are organised again this year, but certainly the SaloneSatellite, (showcasing the work of 700 young designers under 35 years old, from prestigious designs schools and different countries) is the fair's most progressive part- a real catalyst and a key element to focus if you are a design scouter, heading south this year.
Another thing to note down: the 11th edition of Saloni Worldwide Moscow, kicks off again in October 2015, and will certainly raise some eyebrows once more, an "experiment", completing already a decade, and being one of the most interesting venues in the industry. Get ready for more news and criticism , regarding both events, in the following issues of A4D-D4A.

Stay safe and alert?-)))
A4D-D4A

http://salonemilano.it/
http://salonemilano.it/en-us/EXHIBITORS/SaloneSatellite
http://salonemilano.it/en-us/WORLDWIDE/Exhibitors

(Design) History is an Ellipse… Happy and New Year 2015!

In black-and-white, above: (by anonymous photographer), around 1921-1923.Members of the Weimar Bauhaus school: E. Hartwig (top from the right), W. Baumeister (bottom right), O. Schlemmer (second, top from the left), T. Schlemmer (bottom), C. Schlemmer (in the center, at the bottom), J. Albers (right from the bottom), G. Stölzl ( center), W. Gilles (above the latter). ©AKG Photo, Paris.

The happy company in the photo has many things to celebrate, working and living in a place, far more than just an innovative technical school: a modern Utopia[1]. Painters, teachers, architects, engineers, technicians, makers, photographers, designers, stylists, actors and musicians are developing together a different perception of how everyday life could be. A fresh approach to creativity, production and lifestyle is born, to establish a new simplicity, functionality, ethics, image, design. The design of 20^th century[2].

Less than 100 years later, here we go again. Different problems, challenges, threats, risks but not the same eagerness to reinvent the world, in a real way. Different battle, same war, but nevertheless , the hope to revive quality in contemporary urban living, by means of education, culture and justice, is not yet entirely extinguished. Struggling economies and unearthly wealth, condemn investments and interest on design education (and education at large) as  time-irrelevant and elitist. Similar voices tend to forget the contribution of design to growth, provided the current focus on raw commodities with immediate profit like mineral fuels or banking by-products. Toxic funds still haunt international markets, in a sort of blind man’s -buff game, leaving behind a poisonous trail of financial repercussion.

[R]evolution in materials, resources, services and needs can only be accomplished  by involving design and innovation ,practically in every solution. That’s what history taught us, up to now, again and again. “Geschichte ist elliptisch. Geschichte ist eine Ellipse”[3].

Attacking Bauhaus: The end of “bolshevist” Bauhaus while Nazis finally take control. Collage by Iwao Yamawaki, 1932. ©D.R.

Both pictures are taken from the book: Le Bauhaus, text by Xavier Girard, ©1999, Éditions Assouline, Paris, France (greek edition by ©2005, EKDOSEIS AGRA A.E., Athens, Greece- translation from the original: Anna Tsea).

 

 

---

[1] Le Bauhaus, text by Xavier Girard, ©1999, Éditions Assouline, Paris, France (greek edition by ©2005, EKDOSEIS AGRA A.E., Athens, Greece- translation from the original: Anna Tsea).

[2] Le Bauhaus, text by Xavier Girard, ©1999, Éditions Assouline, Paris, France (greek edition by ©2005, EKDOSEIS AGRA A.E., Athens, Greece- translation from the original: Anna Tsea).

[3] “History is elliptic. History is an Ellipse”: A graffiti on the Berlin wall, soon after its demolition, 1989. [Elliptic: Obscure or ambiguous or repeating it-self. Collins Essential English Dictionary].

DESIGN COMPETITION XMAS 2014!!!- CALL FOR ENTRIES?-))))

Hello and HNY 2015!!!A4D-D4A declares the design competition, officially OVER. The correct answers to the three questions, are:

A-4.The fabric is an original heavy-weight cotton, monochrome pattern , woven and printed in the 3 primary colors, at the legendary Aigaion Textiles S.A., (in greek :“AΙΓΑΙΟΝ ΚΛΩΣΤΟΥΦΑΝΤΟΥΡΓΙΑ Α.Ε”), Piraeus, Greece, around 1979-80).

 

B-2. In ARTE’s documentary- co-production on HUGO BOSS, Nino Cerruti, proudly talks about his first  long- term collaboration with the German brand, on exporting  the textiles for the famous HB suits, when the company decided to use Italian fabrics in order to go up-market in men’s fashion.

C-4. Ise Gropius, Walter Gropius’ second wife, died on the 9^th of June 1983, 14 years after her husband, architect and founder of the Bauhaus school, in Weimar, Germany.

                                               **************
Hurra!!!A4D-D4A organizes a small design competition, just to say farewell to 2014!!! The winner can choose among  prizes like: 1. A4D-D4A T-shirt  (choice between 2 colors available) 2. A4D-D4A Mug 3. A design publication- a recent title on contemporary design (in English or Greek-again your choice, once you are shortlisted as the Winner of the Competition).

Please think well and choose the right answer to the following 3 questions:

A.Which is the design/manufacturing company of the fabric depicted above (central blog picture) ?
1.(FREDRIKA fabric), IKEA Group, Sweden
2.Textor Textiles, (bed linen) Romania
3.(UNIKKO "poppy" pattern), Marimekko, Finland
4.Other

B.Who is the italian designer- textile manufacturer, who used to export men-suit fabrics to Hugo Boss AG?
1.Brunello Cucinelli
2.Nino Cerruti
3.Ermenegildo Zegna
4.Giorgio Armani

C.When Ise Gropius (born Frank) died?
1.18 May 1883
2.1 March 1897
3.5 of July 1969
4.9 June 1983

Terms and Conditions:
1. Enter the competition by clicking Like  at the A4D-D4A FCBK page: https://www.facebook.com/all4designandbloodymore
2. Post your message on Post to Page, together with your answers!
3. You validate your entry only if you answer correctly all 3 questions!
4. In case of many people answering correctly, there will be a draw and the super Lucky one will be contacted for his/her postal details, in order to mail him/her, his/her choice of prize.
5. Everyone is eligible to join the competition, no matter of age or country.
6. The winner will be announced on the 5th of January 2015, on the A4D-D4A FCBK page and on the http://all4design-design4all.blogspot.gr.

The clock is ticking!!!-)))
Happy Holiday- Brave New Year 2015
A4D-D4A