DESIGN POSITIVITY: CHIE MIHARA STEPS IN A4D-D4A:-))

In photo above: Chie Mihara lights up your day between VRENI BLUE and QUIRITA ORANGE incredible sandals, (for many more ideas, styles and features, enjoy visiting the dreamy Chie Mihara official website and shop). 

In the middle of a global crisis which seems largely affecting our lives and everyday routines, we decide to bring to you at home as much meaningful content as possible-regarding design, designers and related fields. We are all in this together, we want to communicate to you exciting news from key people in the design industry and spread the message to all of you who are profoundly interested in design, crafts, technology, innovation and society. 

Shoe and accessories designer Chie Mihara’s work has being highly appraised by the press and the audience over the last decade, and not in vain. Her unique vision and insatiable creativity in a design field that masters and combines high end traditional craftsmanship, pioneering technologies and impressive design flair- established Chie Mihara as a distinctive representative of 21st century shoe design and probably one of the most important female designers of her generation. 

In her biographical note, Chie Mihara was born and raised in Brazil to Japanese parents. She traces her interest in art back to childhood and the character sketches she did, inspired by Japanese manga magazines her father brought home to her.  As a teen her focus shifted to fashion, coinciding with a wave of Japanese designers, such as Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake, making an impact on the world fashion scene. At her father’s insistence, Chie moved to Japan to study fashion, later getting her first job with well-known designer Junko Koshino. Wanting to broaden her artistic development, Chie moved to New York, where she studied fashion and sculpture. Combining the two disciplines, she started designing women’s shoes with prestigious shoe designers in the US and France. Always believing she had a personal story to tell as an artist, she eventually struck out on her own, moving to the land known for producing some of the highest quality shoes in the world—Spain. There she fashioned high-quality shoes with a fun, funky and fresh aesthetic and grew her company into one of the world’s most recognized brands in women’s footwear. 

Bellow: Smells like Spring Spirit… the beautiful TALIVO CURRY sandal. 

We encountered Chie in this short interview bellow where we tend to reveal some key aspects of Chie’s design (His)Story and talent: 

All4design-Design4all:  Brazil and Japan remain two capital forces in design the last decades, both routed in your heritage. How these two schools-legacies influenced your work until now? 

Chie Mihara: I would say that I have the happy, light and feminine side of Brazil. The attention  to details and uniqueness from Japan. 

A4D-D4A: Eco-consciousness and Sustainability, the two notions that relate to every designer's/maker's/creative's business nowadays. Do you feel concerned as a brand, do you feel you need to adjust accordingly your supply chain, your resources and eventually your creative process? 

C.M.: It’s not my focus, we in the factory already use recycled materials for insoles, but then it is compacted with glues...Shoes need to be durable and strong. I don’t believe in a true eco shoe, because it has all types of elements like glues and plastics that can not be all eco. Neither are the synthetics eco. For clothing it's much easier, but on shoes it is not. Some brands use eco leather, I don’t know what they mean by eco leather, it's not leather at all, it's plastic! 

A4D-D4A:  Devices, apps, smart technologies and AI: accessories' designers start to apply them directly to the final product, a fact we acknowledged on the runway and on the shelves when it comes to shoes and bags especially. Are you excited about new, digital technologies as a designer and craftswoman?  

C.M.: Yeah! Sure! I use apps to easily play around and experiment with shapes and colors. It’s really useful to get ideas. But in the end, pencil and paper are what I use to express my ideas, as I don't need to make any presentation to anyone. 

A4D-D4A: What have you discovered lately that got you really enthusiastic about?( a maker, a building, an object, an exhibition, an app, a garment et al.) 

C.M.: Photography! I always liked it, but since I acquired i-phones, I stopped using my reflex camera (wasn’t even digital!). But now I’m very interested to go back and buy a very good reflex camera and start shooting again!  

A4D-D4A: What is your single piece of advice to a young talent who is starting up as a shoe/accessory designer? 

C.M.: First, be very honest and ask yourself the question: do I have a story to tell? It's not about a seasonal inspiration, but your personal story to tell others. Because that will define what your brand is about. Design is communication. It has to communicate with others. You've got to be very passionate about what you do, not just “I'm a shoe addict!” Because you are not making  shoes for yourself. Lastly, start with someone that can help you, either an associate or a collaborator to do the business side, so you can focus on design, fitting and promotional image. 

We thank and salute Chie for her bright intervention, one of many more planned out in our blog the following months. Stay tuned!  

For Chie Mihara FCBK Official page please click here. 

Chie Mihara Instagram account is here.

If you are interested to find out more of Chie’s inspiring design journey and ventures, please check this ever so interesting episode on Chie in Scientology network: MEET A SCIENTOLOGIST-STEPS OUT IN STYLE WITH CHIE MIHARA. It broadcasts in the US on DIRECTV Channel 320 and can be streamed at scientology.tv in 17 languages.

Stay safe - We Will be Back🙌

  

A4D-D4A 

SALONE DEL MOBILE 2020: THE YEAR OF LIVING DIFFERENTLY (EDITED).

In photo above: a Moroso point of view "El Nouveau Rustic: Country-style Folklore, Robinsonian Urbanism and Under-Decor....", check more in (one of) our Salone 2019 dedicated post(s).

Salone del Mobile.Milano 2020: designing Beauty. The 59th edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano is cancelled to next year 2021, (5-10/9/2021) at Fiera Milano, Rho - due to the Covid-19 pandemic, costing Italy thousands of human lives. Neverthless the excitement for the series of manifestations and events provided by the institution, in and out of the Fiera grounds, remains unaltered despite the current tragedy and it is increasing the adrenaline to the maximum. The Salone stays at the top of the game, despite the circumstances, and slays the global design scene with a unique demonstration of credibility and perseverance, pushing the exhibitors coming from Italy or abroad, to showcase their absolute best. 

"Inventing different kinds of design every year, experimenting with all sorts of harmony of form, shaping the “right” material and achieving a high degree of sustainability are all a quest for Beauty, the word that marks its debut appearance in the Manifesto this year. Beauty, is what the companies and designers taking part in the Salone del Mobile do with honesty, commitment and transparency, keen to make it a real driver of change.

Along with the focus on sustainability, the spotlight will again be on the centrality of Milan, an international city capable of attracting investors and investments from all over the world, and a city that is loved by young people because, besides the art and architecture of the past, the new is tangible."

Claudio Luti, President Salone del Mobile, had this to say: “This edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will testify to the furniture companies’ ethical and virtuous strategies. What we need now is an ethical approach to design that can bolster the search for solutions that are as sustainable as possible in a global context, and an increasing focus on the demands of the upcoming generations, who are more interested than ever in the intrinsic value of what they purchase for their domestic and work environments."

“The Salone has now become a veritable “institution” and, as such, is the harbinger of a future in which development, innovation and sustainability will work together – promoting Beauty in its widest sense, in a word. I have to say that many businesses within the sector have already embarked upon the path of circular economy, and the figures are there to show for it: 72% have invested in the reuse of recyclable materials, 44% use recycled products, 67% are committed to correct end of life disposal procedures, 49% are into energy saving and 37% to the use of renewable energies" said Emanuele Orsini, President of Federlegno Arredo Eventi calling on politicians and the institutions to support the companies through a changeover.

Check a preview of their speeches at the Salone 2020 Press Conference on February 2020 here.

Following its debut and resounding success in 2019, S.Project, the exhibition devoted to design products and decorative and technical interior design projects, will be hopefully back; "its buzzwords are vision, evolution and technology, as well as crosscutting and multisectoral. An original perspective and a fluid, crosscutting exhibitive format, reflecting the new market and societal demands." 

The year’s SaloneSatellite theme scheduled to be DESIGNING FOR OUR FUTURE SELVES / PROGETTARE PER I NOSTRI DOMANI - will invite eventually reflection on inclusive design that promotes autonomy, comfort, movement, user-friendliness, interaction and safety for all- also with Belgium is Design (regular) booth to initiate a performance of talented young designers, a fine representation of the country's design rush.

The 59th edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will again venture beyond the confines of the fairground and into the city: a monumental site-specific audio-visual installation will feature in Palazzo Reale’s Sala delle Cariatidi, based on the 10 values set out in the Manifesto, which have always been an integral part of the event’s DNA. 10 films d’auteur by 10 leading Italian filmmakers will be screened. 

In the photo bellow: In Kartell’s creative workshop, in which ideas, innovations, materials and technology come together, a new project has been born, uniting two of the most emblematic Made in Italy brands, Kartell and Fiat, for a special edition in support of the launch of the new FIAT 500 full electric.

Salone 2020 Goes Virtual until 2021: An Online Preview

The following weeks we will publish several ad-hoc posts with stories from the brands we love and we featured throughout the last 5 years at the Salone (brand names, companies and houses that you all tend to be familiar with by now😊 or you can re-discover in all of our previous April posts since 2015 🙌 just on your right): news, updates, product launches, pre-call events and happenings leading to the actual dates of the fair in 2021. Stay tuned for more press releases regarding items and ideas for a quality living, in and out a rather challenging year. The difference is not only in the Living but in our Thinking and Salone 2020 is certainly here -again- to serve and celebrate this very Notion, even from a distance in the virtual world.

#ThinkingClass #DesignZone #Decongest #Disinfect #EnterSalone2021

Stay Cool - Stay Safe
A4D-D4A 💙💚

Brexit, Design-at-large and the Aftermath, (powered by Vogue Business).

England’s voluntary leave from the European edifice is cluttered with another long line of procedures and solitary agreements for every sector, minus a number of strong feelings including ambiguity and insecurities of all kinds. A capital force in the areas of (design) education/educational models, progression in creative entrepreneurship and long-term growing  business regarding design and innovation- the irreversibility of Brexit is also questioned. Will the country rejoin the EU infrastructure-alliance with a new membership at some point in the future and under which socio-economic circumstances in the continent or to be most precise- which public scheme/administration/ leadership in Brussels? A vague thought, (needless to say a wishful thinking) but a current reality-realization that bites: British design and education are not, hélas a (common) denominator anymore and eventually a contributor to the European creative locomotive, aside Italy, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia and France.  The Thesaurus of the British school and flair in the continental design engine will be probably missed- but not before some serious issues to be tackled, from both sides. 

Crafts Council, Design Council, British Fashion Council et al: Institutions with huge portfolios of actions and a tremendous amount of work supporting design in the UK, (not just English-born designers) and making England an amid Creativity hub for the whole EU, with expats living in or migrating to the country for design studies and eventually creating a business- are coming up with new initiatives to support innovation & sustainability even more than before. It remains to see if those will continue to be “all-inclusive” in the post-Brexit era also for Europeans from other countries already living in the UK or design professionals who are interested to join those successful schemes.  

Design education in the U.K, (Media, Fashion, Product, AI, Architecture, etc) is traditionally one of the country’s biggest exports, with students’ visas avidly offered to young talents from all over the world, in order to study into a British Design Faculty. Temporary or longterm work permits for Top employees whose companies plead “irreplaceability” because of their high curriculum and “X Factor” regarding their valor to their employer, (a measure that gathered an immense community of highly talented individuals from all over the Continent and the World in the UK), will also go through reformation, provided the Brexit freshly introduced laws. 

Purchases of design goods such as clothes, furniture, accessories, tools, softwear and gadgets will have to be redefined under a specific framework - the trickiest part of the Brexit treaty. Manufacture tolls, customs, regulatory alignments, health and safety regulations and compliance with EU and third parties logistics/IT, possible individual agreements with EU countries in and out the Euro Zone- the workload is immense for those government officials and of course for Brussels administration, having on top of every other problem, the market’s morose mood: almost a denial to the fact that the free-circulation of British goods can be affected, in a deconstructive way for both cross-channel economies. 

Interested in Brexit and Fashion + More? Check imperatively the thorough survey illustrated in the article written by GEORGE ARNETT for Vogue Business:   

We Will Be Back;-)) 
A4D-D4A 😊💂

Cash in Crisis(?) Design 4 Money, the Future of Currency(-ies), Payment Technologies: A Crash Course by Victor Zhang.

Money is going to pass to a different phase? Cash is getting disembodied? We can say with certainty that the latter is transcending to a whole new form and that will affect our quality of life but most importantly, our overall culture. We asked top expert Victor Zhang to decipher the most predominant issues regarding the topic, and he came up with some concise yet captivating analysis to start with. 

Victor Zhang is a tech entrepreneur whose goal is to build solutions to increase global mass adoption of blockchain and crypto technology. He has 8 years experience in managing multinational teams and businesses all across Asia, including Australia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and India. He successfully managed Ticketbis(360Experience)’s APAC team, which led to their eventual acquisition from  eBay for $165 million in 2016. Victor has created 5 business start-ups in Australia, China, HK and Singapore that focus on  import/export/wholesale/sports/travel/ticketing/internet business. Victor received a Master’s Degree in Information and Communication Technology from the University of Wollongong in NSW. Victor is also the  CEO and cofounder of AlphaWallet, a programmable mobile cryptocurrency and Ethereum based application wallet and fully open-source that allow users to boost their DApps usability, scalability and privacy. 

All4design-Design4all: It’s no secret that the blockchain sector has slowed down somewhat since it’s height in 2017. What do you believe is the primary reason for that? 

Victor Zhang: The real question is “What was the primary reason for the excessive exuberance in 2017 in the first place”. It was more of a movement than development. Millennials were the driving force behind the movement.  
On the one hand, they grew up with technical miracles like Uber and self-driving cars, and by normalising and internalising these changes, believed that anything is possible. On the other hand, Millennials are overtaking baby boomers on the global stage with much less solid economic footing and prospects. They desire assets like blockchain-enabled tokens.  
 The belief in the power of technology and the need for a tech-backed asset go together hand in hand like a match made in heaven. It's a global phenomenon. It worked that way in the developed world as well as China, where property prices went prohibitively high. While technical development and industrialization ran their course, the investors - mostly firsttimers - didn't have the patience, then you see the movement halts to a stop. The hype has dwindled, but the development continues to grow.
  
A4D-D4A:“Cashless society” is a new buzz-word these days - Are we really ready for this type of transformation? What is the easiest way to explain to somebody how this world will look like? 

V.Z.: Cash in its physical form may disappear, but the attributes that make it useful will need to remain. That is: privacy-preserving peer-to-peer payments of small amounts, e.g. anonymous donations to busking street artists. Cashless technologies enable the tokenisation of many other things we need. For one example, instead of getting a parking meter ticket and putting it under the car window, the cashless technology that allowed you to pay to park can also put that same parking meter ticket as a token on your mobile phone. By going cashless now you can go ticketless.  
We shouldn’t just look at cashless as the antithesis of cash, but at what it can enable too. When the Internet came to maturity, most people hadn’t realized that it was enabling anything other than exchanging bits of information. Today it’s a platform that has enabled many other types of commerce and means of communication than simple email. Cryptowallets will rise to the same challenge. 

A4D-D4A: Can the tokenisation of (nearly every business) fight global corruption and money laundering? 
  
V.Z.: I actually don’t think global corruption and money laundering are the problems which inspired tokenisation technologies. They are also not the biggest problems of our time (unless you expand the definition of corruption to include unvetted power in general).  
Tokenisation is a disintermediating, de-platforming technology. It allows businesses to compete and innovate without seeking permissions from “FANG” and it provides the technical infrastructure of the new web or web3, with better privacy, security, competition and innovation. 

A4D-D4A: How can blockchain technology help or improve the creative industry? ( i.e. Design and Crafts, including its peripheral customer support services).

V.Z.: When you think about tokenisation you think in terms of markets. That is, what kind of market can be constructed for the creative industry that benefits every one. We can look at how Netflix created the market for the shows that wouldn’t have existed with the old markets. Can we, for example, by tokenising creator’s projects or career, make them better invested and able to focus more on their work? Can we tokenise designer dresses, therefore, increase their market value? Can we tokenise the spare time of designers to create an arbitrage market where participants are eager to seek projects for designers? That’s the line of thinking you can do to apply blockchain tokenisation technology. 
Some interesting examples, Simon de la Rouvier is a pioneer in this space, specifically for creative applications of the technology (See: "This artwork is not for sale"). Also, see examples like the "Plantoid". Lastly, applications towards artist authenticity and ownership of both physical and digital assets.

A4D-D4A: Can you please name a recent inspiration in your sector- the design of a certain platform, a device or a network etc- that got you really excited? 

V.Z.: TokenScript, the “HTML” for web 3.0 

We thank Victor ever so much for his enlightened intervention on those pivotal subjects regarding our (financial) life – for more info on AlphaWallet and Victor’s other ventures please check on the links.  

In The Future We Trust 
A4D-D4A 🙆   

GETTING THE BLUE: Colour of the Year 2020.

Getting the Blue(s)? That's not necessarily a bad thing😃! Enjoy our Blue List of all truly GREAT Things + More - to get you going in 2020 and beyond!

Don't forget to follow us on Pinterest as well, for more exciting boards about design, fashion, objects, interiors, technology, events, institutions and related publications - all year round!

Subscribe to Pinterest from your country: it's so easy-peasy, go ahead and do your special thing, by adding your own pins to the game! It is THE Platform for creative networking, ideas, solutions, news and trends, NON-STOP!

Love and best wishes for a glorious Blue-and-More Year 2020!

A4D-D4A💙💚💓

LAST POST OF THE YEAR: VIEWMASTERING THE FUTURE, FAREWELLING THE PAST DECADE.

In image above: Suda Kenji, (born 1954),Toho no Hinode (Eastern Sunrise), 2015. Chest of drawers with inlay decoration made by Sycamore wood, private collection. From the exhibition "Decorative arts in Meiji and Heisei: Crafting Beauty and Technique across 150 years", in Museum of Greek Modern Culture, Athens, Greece, until 12/1/2020. 

The myth tells that in Pandora’s box the last remaining thing after the release of all vices – was Hope.  In case where all the vices were set to escape Hope would stay at the side of humanity as a faithful companion intrusting that things could always change for the Best. Is there any hope for the Design of the future?  How this last one will shape the rising decade? 

The major transition from Liberalism to Freedom Values and from the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Technologies, re-defines the set of known Tools as Apps and those Apps as the new Tools that will serve us in the future, on an everyday basis. The Cashless transition from bank notes and coins (very expensive and climate-affective in production) to non-material Currencies is a certainty and a “problem” tantalizing the traditional banking establishment. Sustainability becoming an almost (vague) trend and an expression of concern regarding climate change, gives room to non-stop Recyclability (not just one stage process stage but a continuous non-stop and on-going cycle of the materials’ life). Old crafts and hand-made work will merge into New Crafts, where manual work will be done and finished differently through upcoming hybrids of technique and digitization. 
In communication design, "The Medium is the Message" of the 70’s is replaced already by "The message is the Message": the notion of Medium is collapsing under the existence of one common server with un-curated content, accessed by all possible devices (i.e the YouTube platform). Documentation in AI and intelligent digital environments pushes away Museology as instructed in the past, the same way corporate environments switch to online/cloud/blockchain services. 
The educational model is about to change in developed countries, where higher education is becoming a social exercise: schools are social clubs, universities are cultural foundations and public libraries work as lifelong learning and public administration poles. The interest in knowledge is nourished through a re-designed homeschooling experience.
  
The irresponsible and unorthodox exploitation of natural resources, together with the abuse of durable, multi-purpose materials such as plastic, resulted in the disastrous consequences of climate change and irreversible ecological distress. We need to leave the planet alone for at least 100 years, in order to recover and Fashion is one of the sectors about to change dramatically towards that principle. The way we design and produce clothes inside the supply chain cycle, is about to change focusing on pre-owned garments, thrifting, smart fabrics design, wearables and textiles' engineering both in couture and high street houses – so we can have a life guarantee for the future. New clothes will represent the 25% of global production the next decades, while the 75% in fashion will represent jobs in the industries above. 
The abolition of fossil fuels and livestock/plant industrialization  and the rise of renewable energy, hydroponics and short-term supply chain, are a staple in the design agenda. The pharmaceutical industry will invest on restorative, naturopathic solutions for cure and on the scientifically proven benefits of painkilling meditative devices/apps.
  
From Cities to Places, from Credit to Trust 

The physiognomy of the city of the Future, provided the multiple challenges of our times, will have to change: architecturally, socially, intellectually. Cities gradually lost their Soul, so did the Psyche of each nation and eventually they became unsuitable and unbearable to live in. The urban manipulation in the design of a town the last decades alienated it from every notion of becoming a good Place, but contributed to the image of a city just deteriorating, on finally becoming decadent.  The “Darius Syndrome” of architects and politicians just watching the “slaughter from up on a hill”, observing the big cities’ downfall outside the actual urban systemic infrastructure, from the rather comfortable distance of the “specialist” – failed to design a place for civilians to resist Time. Instead they designed a congregation of ambitious buildings and uncomfortable surroundings, with total luck of prediction nor compassion for the nature and the people. The next decade is about to convert the activity of “arrogant” metropolises and its many entanglements, so to advance to a more person-friendly, “therapeutic” model.  

The countdown has started. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020! 
A4D-D4A💙💚💓  

DECEMBER 2019: HIGHLIGHTS, IDEAS, PEOPLE, PLACES AND MORE...

The Design Ghost of Christmas Present sprinkled much of his blessing flavor before many doors, establishments and events – or not.  

After Moscow and Shanghai, the Salone del Mobile.Milano brand has touched down in the USA with the talk Italian Design Today, which will see Michele De Lucchi, Francesca Lanzavecchia, Angela Missoni and Piero Lissoni discuss the new expressions of national design.

Is Italian design still in a position to dictate trends? What influence does Milan have on the international creative furnishing and interior architecture scene? What are the prospects for young designers in a world in which cultural cross-pollination has rendered national borders fluid?

These are just some of the topics that were discussed on Wednesday 4th December, by Michele De Lucchi, Francesca Lanzavecchia, Angela Missoni and Piero Lissoni at the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum in Miami, as part of the event A Dreamscape of Italian Design, organised in partnership with the Consulate General of Italy, the Italian Trade Agency ICE and the Salone del Mobile.Milano as part of Art Basel Miami.

In pictures bellow some of the unique Wolfsonian publications to go through:

Following the success of the Master Classes held during the Salone del Mobile in Moscow and Shanghai (with over 3,000 attendees), it was now the turn of the United States, a country that has always kept a very close eye on the evolution of Italian design and the quality of Made in Italy furnishing.  Terence Riley, former curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA in New York, quized the speakers on subjects that will also be relevant at the next Salone del Mobile.Milano, from 21st to 26th April 2020.

Exciting news! Helsinki has been selected as Beijing Design Week’s Guest City in 2020. Helsinki will organise diverse events in Beijing over three weeks to present Helsinki as a design city and as a pioneer in the utilisation of design expertise.

Beijing Design Week 2020, held from 22 September–7 October 2020, is the largest and most notable design festival in Asia.The festival attracts more than five million visitors each year.The designation Guest City has been conferred to nine cities before, most recently to Mexico City as this year’s Guest City.

Helsinki Deputy Mayor Pia Pakarinen accepted Helsinki’s designation as Guest City 2020 at the closing event of Beijing Design Week 2019.

“Design is a significant factor that distinguishes Helsinki internationally, and we’re known for product and service design that supports good life in Helsinki,” Pakarinen says.

Parts of the programme and some of the discussions will be organised in digital environments. In addition, satellite events will be held in different parts of Beijing. The goal is to build an event concept that can be reproduced at other design weeks in China in the future.

Helsinki plans to tell its design story through three main themes at Beijing Design Week. Innovations in (1) wellbeing, (2) urban development and (3) education will be used to present how Helsinki uses design to create a better everyday life for citizens.

The City of Helsinki has utilised design for many years in the development of services and the built environment. Design has also been incorporated into strategy work and organisational development in recent years.

“Helsinki has been a pioneer in the use of design in the public sector, but information on the scope of the City’s design activities and on the contents and impact of those activities has not been gathered systematically,” says Helsinki’s City Design Manager Päivi Hietanen.

According to the analysis produced by Aalto University researchers, Helsinki has utilised design extensively and without hesitation for a variety of purposes. Design has been used to make customers’ voices heard, to increase the understanding of customer needs, and to improve services and internal operating models. The researchers also see it as a strength that design and customer orientation have been incorporated into the City Strategy.

The City of Helsinki and Aalto University collaboration produced a city design map (in photo bellow: Visualisation of city design map. By Bin Shamsul Amri Daud, Nader Sayún Michel, Zheng Zheng, Menegolli Alessia). The map divides Helsinki design activities into six categories. The city design map can be used to categorize various design projects and to evaluate their properties and impact. The map helps users to store information on projects and to communicate about the City’s design activities.

Speaking again about sustainability and design, Everlane launch of ReNew collection comes with a promise: eliminate virgin plastic from their supply chain by 2021. The engagement of the company for no more New Plastic in their production cycle holds tight, whereas big houses still struggle with the idea; a rather difficult task in the supply chain of luxury industry, (fashion being an important part of it). 

The sustainability issue does not fail to become a trend in international fairs like IMM in Cologne, Germany. In a rather belated attempt for a more ecological approach, partners Colornetwork propose a new shade of brown as the earthly and healthy interiors choice, surely trying to follow last spring’s tendency for anything clay-like in fashion and soft furnishings. Inside the “Future Interiors-Made in Germany” part of the exhibition, alongside with the “solution” of solid, local wood furniture and related products, lays also the question/challenge of chopped-up newly planted forestation in Europe, among other hot topics.  

The Bauhaus Centenary celebrations are about to exhale but still many manifestations are happening all around the continent i.e. the exhibition REFLEX BAUHAUS. 40 OBJECTS – 5 CONVERSATIONS in the Neue Sammlung Design Museum in Munich, Germany.

The lecture on Design and Politics by Professor Dr.Friedrich von Borries, author of the must-read manifesto Weltenwerfen:Eine Politische Designtheorie, (:in top and bottom pictures bellow) took place in Athens, Greece in view of the Bauhaus school as a political and social landmark, an activist movement seriously provoking the (educational) totalitarian establishment - not only re-constituting design as beneficial to humans, but expanding it to every other discipline as well, throughout the last century.

                             

Wit is something Karl Lagerfeld was well acquainted to. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come would definitely disguise in the image of the last Maître, coming back to haunt us, so he could liaise the archives of Chanel famous house to a different theme: aviation. This is the image of the Aviatress we are longing for, the Spring-Summer 2020: a fun, elegant, ethereal, yet dynamic lady Pilot, but with her intellect heedfully connected to her active presence. Amen.   

NEXT AND LAST POST OF 2019: VIEWMASTERING THE FUTURE, FAREWELLING THE PAST YEAR/DECADE. 

Season greetings 💓💃

A4D-D4A💙💚