BEAUTY, POWER*, POLITICS: STREAMLINE YOUR SENSES TO SALONE DEL MOBILE 2018.

Photo above: Prototype Design Front, (floor wooden mirror in central installation with real flora), Tomorrow grows here, the moto of 2018 by SWEDESE. Prototypes of new products, have been created of waste materials at the wooden furniture factory in Vaggeryd, Sweden. 

"Good design comes before every trend.  Trends are not making the designers. Designers create the trends." 
President of Salone del Mobile, Mr. Claudio Luti

*"...Over and above those boons, I imparted Fire to the mortals. ...from which they will moreover learn thoroughly many Arts." 
Aeschylus' Prometheus

"Style = Fart", concept Stefan Sagmeister, design Jennifer Phillips, Sagmeister & Walsh, 1998.

The FTK- Technology for the Kitchen exhibition within the Salone del Mobile 2018 fair, is the actual Field of Mars for technology and innovation. How hyper-connectivity will affect our everyday life? An exhibition of immense gravity under the philosophy of "Xtreme Tech is Good For Your Needs and Good For your Keen" where the dominant presences of Miele, Whirlpool, Bosch and Smeg impressed the visitors with high-end inventions regarding the smart home, AI apps & robots, distant cooking, blind/remote appliance manipulation, cookingtainment, sensorial kitchen and cracking design where the sleekness of the German prestige competed against the glorious taste of Italian artisanry. FTK- EUROCUCINA 2018 was solely the place where Asian absence was somehow noted since the specific crowd does not demonstrate a vivid interest to these kind of new, digital, western technologies for numerous cultural and economic reasons (mind that the Salone del Mobile and Milan this year was absolutely truffled with trade operators, buyers and investors' groups from China and neighbouring countries, certifying once more the deep fascination of the Asian visitors when it comes to Italian design + craftsmanship, therefore the increase of Italian exports to deep Asia, also because of the big success of institutions such as the Salone del Mobile. Shanghai). 

Bellow, from top to bottom: Miele on your mobile and beyond (video). Bosch' connectivity HomeBox and Mykie Robot assistant (x 2). Whirlpool' 6th Sense program. Smeg' Greek-roman Toile de Jouy "Sicily Is My Love" by Dolce & Gabbana.

Kartell this year acted as a design Mediator for the generation of Millenials. The Italian house demonstrated an amazing extroversion, experimenting with new approaches in interiors and new combinations of materials also by hosting the ultimate design Cosplay at Kartell's flagship store, Turati street in Milan. Xartell, Crossing generation used a series of jaws-on-the-floor young designers-industrial makers and conveyed a unique presentation in terms of production and imagery. Thus, including the latest collaboration of the house with Laufen in the bathroom area, expanded the brand's knowhow to a whole new dimension, a series of lavatories of strong design, genuine beauty and uncompromised quality. Style here is the result of extreme design mechanisms and high aesthetics and not just a loud noise in the toilet compartment to temporarily decorate with photos the glossy pages of house & interiors magazines. 

Bellow, from top to bottom: Young pioneers in Xartell, Ignasi Monreal's fantastic "Scratch "series and  Xian Guan's emotional "Sunday" project, (1,2). Kartell by Laufen panoramic view, ambient bathroom and essential minimalism (3,4,5). The company's colossal stand and impressive visual merchandising at the International Bathroom Exhibition in the Salone premises.

While we swooned over the stands, all the wonderful interactions produced by the differend houses came into place...The recognition of the industry to certain, diversified values is not anymore negotiable. Make-everything-out-of-anything/GoNatural/Recycle (Swedese, Magis, Fendi), Africainsist (Moroso, Nanimarquina, ALotOfBrasil), New-Age-It-Is (Vitra, Missoni Home), WonderMakers (Citco, Glas Italia), FairyTales/CreatePoetry (Alessi, BD Barcelona Design, Brühl, Daum, Lalique, Koket, Etro, Karimoku Kunst), SpaceIntellect (Enea, Plank, Rosenthal, Karimoku New Standard, Geberit).

Bellow, from top to bottom: 1.The Roof Chair by Spalvieri & Del Ciotto for Magis. 2.Rough and edgy dining table by Fendi. 3.The ARCO chair by Martino Gamper, M'Afrique collection, for Moroso. 4.The Blur Rug (detail) by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Nanimarquina. 5.The New Yellow sofa with trigonal cushions by ALotOfBrasil. 6.New-age dining room in one of Vitra's 6 windows including the Panton Chair Chrome by Verner Panton,1959/1960 and the Plate Dining Table by Jasper Morrison, 2018. 7.Chinese Horoscope collection by Missoni Home. 8.ENDLESS marble side tables by Daniel Libeskind for Citco. 9.FOUNTAIN by Tokujin Yoshioka for Glas Italia. 10.Invisible personage-Salvador Dalí: sheepskin throne with LED by BD Barcelona Design. 11.Libellule armchair by Brühl. 12.Daumot Robot 163, by Kriki-Daum. 13.Coutard lantern by Pierre-Yves Rochon for Lalique. 14.TABU cocktail table by KOKET Love happens. 15.Babel armchair by Etro. 16.Karimoku Kunst (Karimoku/ INODA+SVEJE) reception. 17.LAND chair by Naoto Fukasawa for Plank. 18.POMD'OR x ROSENTHAL Equilibrium: bathtub by Edward van Vliet. 19.Karimoku New Standard living interiors, with a refreshed set of designers joining the KNS team. 20.Bathroom area by Geberit/ Pozzi-Ginori. 21. EMA sitting solutions by Lievore Altherr Molina for Enea.

The Salone organizing committee is always ready to accomodate every condition and to come against a new challenge, regarding people with disabilities, special features and underprivileged social groups. This year the Social Mobility program was far more noticeable and it was adopted by many visitors in the Salone fairground, a great step that makes a lot of difference in an exhibition space the size of a small airport. Well done!

Change your views, improve your mindset regarding design: visit Salone del Mobile, 9-14/4/2019! Design starts again THEN!

Next post after the 1st of May 2018: In & Out Salone with two memorable exhibitions!

Until next week, take care!

A4D-D4A 💋

IDEAS + IDEOLOGIES: AN INTRODUCTION TO SALONE DEL MOBILE 2018.

Photo above: Salone Satellite 2018 main stage, product designer Tero Kuitunen repositions his playful Boudoir Mirror against the wall.

A first glimpse of this year's Salone del Mobile confirms the role of the fair as the major design convention of the planet. The almost-half-a-million people, (designers, journalists, trade operators, students etc.) who visited the Rho Fiera premises in Milan this 3rd week of April received some dynamic impressions due to the Salone's current guidelines and most importantly, their huge impact on the industry in general. No wonder how the Salone's clear point about contemporary societies' tantalizing issues such as sustainability, internationalism, cultural/social intersection, networking, quality making and honest use of materials in the process- strikingly influenced the exhibitors' stands and their goods. 

Let's face it: the Salone is much more than just another fair, accumulating beautiful luxury items and making Italy the dreamcatcher for other countries' wishful thinking to host money-making local extravaganzas made by exuberant organizers and exhibitors. In it's long history, Salone established itself as a CONTENT MAKER in the field, introducing NOTIONS OF THE FUTURE and that its (inner) beauty, an important contribution that lays beyond superficialities.

In the beginning was the Word and also the Reason for it: so it is and Salone Satellite, (the young designers' institution, program and exhibition created by mega-curator Marva Griffin Wilshire 21 years ago), dedicated an area to the new production in Africa and Latin America, curated respectively by the honorable Hicham Lahlou and the legendary Fernando & Humberto Campana: 36 groundbreaking, emerging designers/teams redefined design TYPOLOGY cross-continentally, including works by Charles O.Job, Jean Servais Somian, Maria Haralambidou, Carol Gay,  Menini-Nicola, Andrea Knecht, Rodolfo Agrella et al. Their projects alongside with the rest of contributing designers under-35-years-old, invent a new design glossary interlacing with the Salone's TrendLab recent manifestations: Nature is Present, Primal shapes+ shaping, All-in-One, Humour + Humanism, UI-UX-UProduct design, Paradoxal materials/ Meta-colors, Techno-droughts/ Digi-crafts....

Here follows our top list from the Salone Satellite 2018 main exhibition...These young designers know how to create awesomeness...check them out!

1. The urban settee JRENE, created by a team of design graduates in Seoul National University, Department of Design, is the furniture every contemporary urbanist/ architect/ landscape designer should embrace, understand and adopt as a system for public spaces. Another loud proof that the epicentre of young Asian design resides in South Korea. Respect.

2. In our era, stigmatized by materials in scarce, limited natural resources and budgetary restrictions, One Should be able with a Means to meet many Ends. Holistic, eco-conscious, transformable furniture and product design by exceptional designers (from top to bottom bellow) Kosuke Matsuda/UNI, Leila Boukhalfa/ROPE, Louis Bindernagel/ROPERY. 

3. Colour, humour, versatility and play time, from top to bottom bellow: Hanna Anonen, Tero Kuitunen (central blog photo way above), Olivia Lee and award-winning Pistacchi Design (He Ren Wei) transcend the typical image of modernist home decor and practical furniture, in the service of the distressed millenial. Design with empathy, a real therapy for the depressed. Enjoy!

4. Craft-Nouveau OR Nouveau-Craft? by the winner of the Salone Satellite Shanghai 2017, Xiaoqi Zhao with Alone chair, Antti Tuomi's sleek yet fresh furniture design, the Atelier Insolite (Romain Luppi) wood & resin tables (bellow from top to bottom): long-lasting craftsmanship can walk hand-in-hand with the Avant-garde afterall.  

5. Geometry, Science, Acoustics, Ergonomy, Spatial Intervention (from top to bottom): Studio Ardete, WD (Yusuke Watanabe), Felicia Arvid, WIII design student (Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts), Alizarina-Studio (Alizarina Silva). Use and learn.

     Special thanks to Salone's President Mr C. Luti, Mrs M. Griffin-Wilshire and the Salone Press & Hospitality Team 4 their patience and 4 being once more, ever so considerate .

TO BE CONTINUED...😃DO NOT MISS OUT THE REST OF OUR REPORT THIS WEEKEND WITH THE EXHIBITORS' TOP 10 LIST + EXPLICIT INFO ON PRODUCTS, COMPANIES, PEOPLE & POLITICS!

In Salone We Trust💓

A4D-D4A

Getting there....Salone del Mobile 2018.

Is Revolution once more possible? Where does design fit in that potential outcome? (More Salone del Mobile 2018 manifestos and all sorts of interesting design news, in & out the premises of Rho fairground in Milan, Italy in our full article (:first-out-of-three, dedicated posts), around the 24th of April! Don't miss that out!

Just follow the Red Line with us...

LOL <3
A4D-D4A

Going Local: Notes over the past 10 days....

Photo above: handmade purse, produced by trafficking survivors & refugees at Social Fashion Factory, in Athens, Greece (SOFFA). You can also check all Fashion Revolution' topics, activities, actions,  animators and affiliated organizations:
https://www.fashionrevolution.org/europe/greece/ 

A warm afternoon in Athens, on the 9th floor at the Hilton: open hotel rooms transform into showrooms for the Mecca of Greek fashion and crafts. Secret sharing of some very promising designers' and makers' productions - a buyer's playground and a collector's intrepid excitement: it is clothing, jewellery, accessories, social fashion, cosmetics, swimwear, eyewear, millinery and footwear, all conceived and made by local minds. Feast your eyes on those discoveries and visit the subsequent list of sites :

www.mvmswimwear.com (photo bellow)

www.urbanowl.eu (photo bellow)

www.superlora.com (photo bellow)

Also have a look on:

www.noilence.com

www.debbietzimadesign.com

https://www.facebook.com/artandindustryathens/

https://www.facebook.com/jewelrykores/

www.pestemal.gr

https://www.facebook.com/1902-365640293457303/?ref=br_rs

In between exhibitions at the Benaki museum in Peiraios avenue, and waiting eagerly! for the Architecture & Design Film Festival: Athens in the very end of April - we stopped for a quick look at the Dimitris Manikas retrospective. The master architect presents more than 40 years of his most prominent works, different projects upheld in the realms of Neoclassicism and Purist Modernism, predominantly in Vienna, the city he spent most of his adult life and also where he launched his career. 

In photos bellow: Top (detail): Urania Cultural Center in Vienna (restoration and extension). Bottom: Siemens-Kasern headquarters in Salzburg.

In 10 days we sail away to the vast, open spaces of the Salone del Mobile 2018! Stay tuned for our last pre-Salone post and all of our schedule updates! 

Until then, stay safe and sound?-))

A4D-D4A 🙌

An introduction to Blockchain technology and Design....(among other things).

Photo above: background image of retro american publicity, source: 
https://envisioningtheamericandream.com/2013/12/30/new-years-eve-and-television/

Mr. Vassilis Papakonstantinou, mechanical engineer and chairman of MIT Enterprise Forum Greece, stated in his recent lecture at Eugenides Foundation UTech Lab* that Blockchain technology consists of the 3rd most important innovation the last decades, right after Personal Computers (PCs) and the Internet. Blockchain is the basic technology that will define a new circle of activities, facilities, communities, systems, habits, morals and relationships in the contemporary world, now and tomorrow.
The galloping digitalization of the material world and of Content, together with all diverse Internet transactions and new online liaisons, plus the banking/economic crisis- required a costless technology, whereas trust would be NO condition of successful completion and at the same time  transparency, authentification and audit would be necessarily incorporated. A public, immutable and distributed ledger of transactions of ALL kinds, an overall "packaging" of many technologies, in order to manage crisis: THAT is Blockchain.

The huge databases created and transparently distributed by and to- many PCs, form independent networks in the fields of economy, public administration, education, health and legal infrastructures- provided that every new/last transaction in Blockchain technology does carry the "signatures" ("blocks"), therefore the entire information of all previous transactions in the chain. The applications of Blockchain technology are multiplying, including production, normalization, design and copyright. Some examples: 
1. Peer 2 peer insurance lending 
2. Health & medical records 
3. Supply chain communications 
4. Land rights management (land registries)
5. Crossborder money transfers 
6. Banking fraud detection 
7. Self-executing contracts ("Smart Contracts") 
8. Digital identity security 
9. Distributed cloud storage (documentation, archiving) 
10. Government corruption prevention 
11. Music royalty collections 
12. Serial diamond verification/identification.

Blockchain also implements Artificial Intelligence (AI) a determining fact for many future platforms, including digital currencies or cryptocurrencies, nowadays a key blockchain-based industry, also encountering issues of technical manipulation and energy efficiency,(ex. Bitcoin farms are currently expensive Quantum computers with latest-technology graphic cards that are rapidly heating up during mining- a result that will possibly limit their use in countries primarily affected by global warming and high temperatures in the near future).

If we have to come undone at some point (sooner or later), so to "unstitch" stitch-by-stitch this civilization - will those technologies/ platforms such as Blockchain or UbuWeb be our post-millenial "Black Boxes" to carry on safely a legacy, no longer available? A question, waiting to be answered the following years to come.

(*Huge thanks to UTech Lab and Mr. Papakonstantinou for the dedicated workshop to Blockchain technology!)

Best,
A4D-D4A