Opening season 2019: FALL Back' News outline!

In image above: 4 sales 4 filmes, sketch by José Lopes, 2008, Courtesy of ©Bebeteca De Lisboa, Futuros de Lisboa exhibition, Lisbon, Portugal, 2018.

Here comes the list of important news and updates this Fall 2019, regading all the exceptional design organisations we follow and appreciate - plus some extras that you might find intriguing:

1. Salone del Mobile Moscow 2019 Master Classes and Work Talk: The key-event of the industry visits the birthplace of european avant-garde and a new round of important lectures and presentations is coming up, alongside to the fair. The synergy of great minds form Italy and Russia on a series of talks about the future of design, including the actual facts and figures of the planet-Design right now.

2. Among the ever so exciting topics in Web Summit 2019, all to be revealed in future posts , the new expanding fintech track Money Conf has seriouly incredible features and speakers to present in the upcoming version of the WS this November. Design for money (or not!), life, apps, feelings, change and every possible aspect regarding the digital era. Stay alert and keep watching. 

3. It is not about starting something, it is about keeping up with it. Another municipality in Lisbon, Portugal is undertaking an annual program strategy on Science and Technology. Oeiras, an area in the western part of Lisbon metropolitan area, and subregion of Greater Lisbon, revealed the project in its total scale, together with an annual investment of 1.8 millions in euro for this cause. An initiative, a decision and a plan in the making. May others follow asap.

4. Kartell's presence in London Design Festival 2019 marked the fair with the exhibition launch of Smart Wood series by Philippe Starck inside the fair. The company's initiative the last couple of years to strive for the natural materials and adjust its iconic design aesthetics on the properties on the one-and-only, sustainable Wood story. Smart Wood is here to stay in th UK too, starting from Brompton Design District. Cool K-vibes.

5. Lightmorphing, from sign to scenery, a journey in the lighting designs of Migliore & Servetto in Seoul, South Korea - is the exhibition to travel you beyond architecture but to a space of pure poetry. If you did n't catch it while in the country, stay tuned for the catalogue, just a whimsical piece of work.

6. In case you have not noticed yet their updated brochure since last April, have a look on Mineheart's grandiose new additions. Design obsession and acute perfectionism, it is just them. 

7.  Artemide collection 2019 shined through last April in Euroluce, Salone del Mobile and once more in LDF this September. Just ahead of its time, the legendary house of lights re-invents design non-stop, by embracing new technologies and intelligent solutions. 

8. A much anticipated event, SHARE ARCHITECTS organisation is visiting the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece late November 2019 for a cycle of public discussions, around pivotal architectural and social issues. The International Forum is a groundbreaking initiative of leading professionals and associates from a number of firms in countries all around Europe and the world - for tickets and program please check here.

Good to know:

MUT, the Spanish design studio is curating and re-designing Das Haus 2020 space-and-project inside the IMM-International Furniture Fair, in Cologne, Germany. Trendy, warm and interesting, the bold designs by the duo of Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón are expected to give another dimension to the Das Haus dominant feature.

Next post: Gatherings; is 70's aesthetics stronger than Us? 

Love & Design 4 All

REMINDER: Have you checked our Pinterest and FCBK page lately?

Red, green, turquoise and coral Ideas - Residences, homes, houses, and shelters - Bags, totes and sacs - Faves, jewellery, clothes, eyewear, swimwear - Cities, towns, islands, plans, landmarks and landscapes - Xmas, decor, fun, objects - AI, smart, sustainable, virtual, educational, beyond digital, avant-garde, design-savvy ....Get on with it and find the right one to Pin for you!

For more design-related information, events, stories, videos, links, extra photos showreel, exclusive news and future posts announcements - don't forget to regularly visit and like our FCBK page! It is a whole other experience! 

A4D-D4A

😄💙💚🙌

Planet Lovers 2019 (Summer): The LIST!

In photo above: Day Glove ReKnit, the recycled, ultra pretty ballerina shoe by Everlane. It is made from renewed plastic bottles - 8 per pair, to be exact, under the company's policy for No New Plastic use. Check it out here:
https://www.everlane.com/products/womens-reknit-day-glove-red?collection=womens-flats

Here is our list for this summer of sustainable brands and independent houses, raising social awareness and ecological consciousness - apart from also producing extra-stunning designs of high quality and aesthetics.

1. Everlane

An ethical clothing company with corporate transparency and radical environmental policies, that are changing the game in fashion retail. Lovely designs and understated casual minimalism to dress up all ages and sizes. 

2. TheOne8

Fashion and social vision can be a real-life combination, and not a corporate trick to some extent by some brands. The most beautiful bags of the year are launching late August 2019, but that's not all there is in this organisation. Please check their wonderful endeavours, their community work and their new projects to come! Fascinating stuff.

3. Green People and Drunk Elephant 

A4D-D4A supports the ethical, fair-trade and organic cosmetic industry, (check our older post about sustainable brands including references on Urtekram here: http://all4design-design4all.blogspot.com/2014/08/fair-square-a4d-d4a-means-to-support.html). Both brands above - the one completing almost 20 year in the organic remedies trade, the other launched in 2012 - are just fantastic examples of great skin care that respects the planet and its individuals: animals and people.  

4. Kartell and Stella McCartney
The two design giants' commitment to eco-materials such as bio-plastic and Parley Ocean Plastic in scale production but also to projects serving as a niche for eco-awareness and awakening - is a strive strategy nowadays. The allure of a great house does not mean a harmful environmental impact anymore.

5. Helsinki
The Finnish capital is to be the first EU city to deliver a Sustainability Report and it will also be the first European city delivering its Sustainable Development Report to the UN at the conference on July 18th, 2019.
It seems that politics in some countries do honour the meaning of the word. Let's hope other cities with engage with the same seriousness and determination. 

We could n't help it: we have to give you a list of people we discovered lately, having that feel, you know. That honest gaze that they care about you, the Earth and everything in between. Graceful designers and makers, if you are in that mood of changing something in your house before changing something in You - take a look:

Modular By Mensah
The excellent furniture of British born Ghanaian designer, based in London, Kusheda Mensah will take you back to the days that everything was cosy, personal and warm.

The Whole Elements
Anna Bera creates incredible handcrafted furniture in Poland, focussing on wood as her primary material. Her inspiration comes from observing the relationship between humans and nature in a biological, cultural and spiritual context.

Para
Orakarn Sayatanan created Para to value the resources available in Thailand in order to make products that are environmentally friendly, yet designful. "I do not design a product but a life cycle she says". Great moto and great items in a fully reusable packaging .

Mika Tsutai
Fun, food and ideology: welcome to the brainy and unexpected universe of the Japanese designer Mika Tsutai. Attention to his bread furniture! It just rocks.

Last but not least, our faves for the season from Etsy: Erin Flett (Maine, USA) and Little Crow Design (Sydney, Australia). Just these glorious prints in home decor, textiles and soft furnishings you cannot take your eyes from... 

That's all for now, but more to come next month: museums, collections, houses, islands, innovations and design revolutions. Just stay tuned and follow the trail!

Love, design and summer
A4D-D4A <3😎

SERVE THE CAUSE: DIAGRAMS TO SMART UP THE DAY AFTER IN & OUT THE CITY.

On the diagram above: the arborization of all sectors involved in the Intelligent City Futurama, created by the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão, in Portugal and powered by Smart Cities Summit 2019, Lisbon, PT.

Smart up, not (just) Start up: Humanism, Feminism, Pride, Ecolution, Well-being, HandicapNot, avoid extinction as it seems in the Intelligent City of Tomorrow, soon getting ready to host an urban population ravaged by hardship and the catastrophic but yet present condition of climate change. The clock is ticking for a new strategy, incorporating smart systems to public administration, in order to facilitate academic education, identity, internationalism, circular economy, lifelong learning, accessibility, mobility, sport, tourism and culture- all that plus more, under the umbrella of sustainable/renewable energy sources. This exemplary diagram above made as a metro map, intersects all the lines/services in key knots, creating synergies and choreographing a new urban model of governance, that it is truly adopted to the principal of digital technology turned into an intellectual form of capital for the future.

The model is scalable and it can be adjusted to every town or city, village or metropolis, local community or extra-large municipality/county and it is worth examining for its complete efficiency, its debth and its rather fast and simple comprehension. Mayors, MPs, ministers and presidents of all sorts, feast your eyes on this and study hard to make it happen. It is your duty to the next generations and to the planet we all live in.

Take care for now 🙌💙
Best Regards
A4D-D4A

ATHENS JEWELRY WEEK 2019: IS CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY AN ART FORM? AN ART-VERSUS-DESIGN DEBATE.

In photo above: Donuts by Cedric Chevalley, three bracelets as a sculpture (upcycled wood, rubber, steel, magnet). Athens Jewelry Week 2019 at the Benaki Museum, Pireos avenue annex.

In the iconic publication on Gijs Bakker by Arnoldsche Publishers, Ida van Zijl refers in her preface to the pivotal moments in the evolution of the great master's work, but at the same time she describes through his background the captivating history of avant-garde jewelry the last 60 years. 

From the Objects to Wear exhibition in 1969 to the Object to Use in 2000 and in between the Medium is the Message approach in 1976 (nowadays to be: the Message is Somewhere inside the Medium) and the Profile Brooch in 1983 (: I Am An Individual manifestation), plus Reconciliation (aka: Soul) and Virtuosity (aka: Design) from 1985 and onwards, the author is going through the great Dutch jeweller's pathway but at the same time she explores the intellectual challenges of contemporary jewelry as a hybrid of Art and Design these last decades.

The fact that we had to judge contemporary jewelry in the same way as we do with other fine art disciplines, created the past years an affiliation to this exact methodology by many establishments not allowing enough the subject of contemporary jewelry to tip towards design, (by fear that thus would degrade its importance as a creative form, or "Art" form.)

Design, being nowadays an area of intense experimentation, ideas and technologies for the future far more than Fine Arts - it seems to create a stronger liaison with that "glimpse at the Future" with the essential, avant-garde jewelry and what it is promoting right now on an intellectual and technical level.


"Now that Jewelry is no longer at the centre of attention as developments in the field* are not considered sufficiently interesting**, discussion of these questions has dried up as design Jewelry has once again become trapped in the narrow niche to which art critics*** have consigned it. That is a great pity, as an intense theoretical debate would provide an excellent stimulus to designs and to the field a s whole."

*/** Digital/Smart technologies, ECOlution, Sustainability
***and art curators

The representations from which a jeweller draws inspiration, provide a source o influence and a kick to his/her imagination. That process does not constitute avant-garde Jewelry as an Art form, with the absolution of the term as we know it up to now - but as a Manifesto of its own, in terms of creative expression and combined manufacturing techniques. It is about time to perceive contemporary jewelry as a complete, separate entity and provide the attention and the theoretical-technical knowhow needed to serve & support it.

Enjoy the works of AJW 2019 strongly overmining that general feeling of an independant discipline once more, from top to bottom: Cross My Heart brooch - object by Artemis Valsamaki. Brooches Zmei #6, #7, #8 by Teodor Siminic. Pieces by Guest Artist Attai Chen. My God Does Not Judge pendant by Vicky Kanellopoulos. Picking up the Pieces brooches by Liana Pattihis. Moments brooch by Panagiotis Petroulakis. Perseverance #2 pendant by Constantinos Papadoukas. Orchid brooch by Sophia Mann. Gage necklace by Zoe Siu Yu. GOD2 pendant & object by Invited Artist Edu Tarin.

Next on A4D-D4A, the Part B of Smart Cities Summit in Lisbon, PT and some other news and thoughts ...

Stay tuned and stay well:-)

A4D-D4A

<3 <3 <3

SMART CITIES SUMMIT 2019: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE, (DIRECTLY FROM LISBON, PORTUGAL).

In photo above: One of the most exciting highlights of the Smart Cities Summit 2019 Congress and Fair, the Smart City Platform created under the initiative (one of many) of the super-progressive Municipality of the town of Águeda, near Porto. An amazing tool made as an elaborate app, mapping the city into a grid out of a system of sensors connecting phones, households, services and public administrations and it gives 24/7 the metrics, signals and alerts for all sorts of events happening inside the plan of a city. From an improvised pantomime festival to the weather and day-night temperatures, the level of humidity, the rise of water during abbot and tide and even in the case of a post-earthquake tsunami. 

Is really a Smart City a place where swinging Robots entertain frivolously dusty tourists and corporate interests eagerly searching for their next big job? In the turbulent, severely disfunctional and heavily polluted city of the near Present, the challenges seem to be far more complexe and the solutions not that far away. That is the big revelation in Smart Cities Summit, one of the most promising exhibitions and congresses on the planet right now, regarding intelligent systems and urban living from now on. The host capital of Lisbon already known to be an advanced-technologies-leader in the continent with events like Web Summit- is showcasing people, companies, technologies, materials, organizations and academic institutions that are determined to flip the coin in the Post-Disaster era. It is not about Survival in a city that cannot handle something different than that anymore, it is about preventing more damage, evaluating resources, use sustainability to the max, safekeep and renew energy, abolish danger factors and protect habitat for species and humans. It is not possible, it is viable, manageable, approachable, affordable therefore profitable.

Here is the first group of noteworthy companies and startups dealing with these hot topics and bringing global solutions and technologies, about to change your life in your big city or small town. Are you Smart enough to adopt?

1. Power banks for you to charge your mobile in public spaces, parks, museums, and restaurants - one of the gems of the exhibitors area; www.charging.pt

2. myAqua is a free application for smartphones by Epal(:the Portuguese Company of Water Management), that allows the customer to check and manage their contract date, check water bills and consumption, send in readings in accordance with their preferences and much more.

3. Civil protection, intelligent systems and emergency plans:

www.municipia.pt

4. Another town is giving the example of an avant-garde public administration using intelligent systems and green energy on public transport to increase the quality of every day life and balance life and work. Welcome to the Municipality of the city of Coimbra close to Aveiro.

5. E-mobility and lightability experts, Schreder create urban lighting with incorporated chargers for their electric cars. 

6. European mobility week is coming up on the 16-22/9/2019 and Ecokart Portugal is organizing a number of manifestations with its active presence.

7. Qualification and inspection of smart grids, the future of smart homes and buildings by edp labelec:

8. Sewer inspection autonomous robot and paper solar recycle bin and compressor:

9. Free sponsored electric vehicle charging by wingsys.

10. Empower your business through proximity awareness with Smart marketing by www.six-factor.com

11. Check out all relevant portals by the University of Aveiro in the City Of Aveiro (Transform your City Digital Project):

http://www.ua.pt/ptaltapressao

Also don't forget to visit:

www.famalicao.pt

www.altitude.com

Publications to follow: smartplanet.pt

More insights on Smart Cities Summit 2019 next weekend! In the meantime get ready to debate: is Contemporary Jewelry an Art form? Directly from Athens Jewelry Week 2019.

Until then-stay Well:-)

A4D-D4A 

A4D-D4A in Salone del Mobile, Milan, IT: The Highlights of a 5 Year Anniversary.

Here is the list of the most memorable moments of the world's most important design fair, turning also into a cultural institution for European industry and creativity. Five years of incredible material gathered, which is not in the least underestimated but there are definitely some stations in this huge metro line of international design; those transit points that firmly recovered the many fields of design from an oblivion. The give-away of these new forms of thinking and making products for the contemporary habitat and public space, is the important aspect of the fair, other than its enormous commecial capacity. New, hard times but also interesting times and the switchboard is set again with new rules in production. Salone is there to reveal, discover, propose and sometimes reinvent the old and new data of the whole discipline. 
It is very difficult to pin down a list of those experiences, this is more of what really stayed with us after following and covering the event and its parallel activities for 5 years:

2015
- Michele de Lucchi workplace and worlspace vision in The Workplace 3.0 is the start of re-inventing everything in the unsatisfying work environmemt of the troubled millenial. An philosopher, an anarchist, a humanist and a poly-designer of A-class, MDL just lifted the curtain for everything about to follow back to the year 2015 and influenced thousands of young designers and companies to focus on the healing powers of an interior at work. A mode that could restore the lost values of pleasure, dignity and composition in your working space
- Vitra and its novelties for that year created the first out of many, really solid presentations, providing not ideas for interiors but pure design stamina and coherence.
- Ingo Maurer and his lighting avant-garde in techniques and ideas presents a big flow of amazing products, one of them being My New Flame.

2016
- Cassina creates an emblematic stand and open its doors for the greater public in via Durini to show even more exquisite design from its previous archives and also a bunch of new collaborations. A crack on the ice, just phenomenal ideas and executions.
- Swedish Design goes Milan: Sweden consolidates some of its finest houses and established designers in a soothing and real-design stand, celebrating Scandinavian philosophy, positiveness and wit. 
- Migliore + Servetto design the Space & Interiors exhibition; the prestigious architects take over The Mall at the Porta Nuova Milan district to make a re-designed hallway to remember, hosting the nucleus of Italian manufacturers. A showroom of building materials and accessories of high quality turned into an architectural figura domina, with nothing of the usual commercial trivialities we usually encounter in this type of exhibitions.
- Stanze/ Rooms: Novel living concepts was part of the XXI Triennale International Exhibition-21st Century. Design After Design and it also constitutes a landmark of the current affairs in design and society. The exhibition, curated by Beppe Finessi and designed by Gianni Filindeu and Leonardo Sonnoli in the graphics, nourished a series of events, manifestations and developments in the continent, in and out of the design sphere. In the dawn of the new century we are up against new challenges regarding homes and housing and Stanze unlocks the human conscience to those quests.

2017
- Salone Satellite, the first international exhibition hosting young designers under 30 years old, was conceived and created in the Salone del Mobile 20 years ago, by legendary design curator Marva Griffin Wilshire. The establishment celebrated the anniversary with a mega-exhibition hosting all these talents and their representative works. A treasure and a unique archive, showcasing the best already there but also the new about to rise.
- DeLightFul-Essential Spaces, the project created by Ciarmoli Queda Studio, remains the essential guide for lighting design and contemporary interiors. Fresh ideas, futurism and imaginative installations, the show worthily sided Euroluce and impressed every visitor with its intense identity.
- A new eco-friendy sustainable material is about to take over the planet and also create a-nevertheless necessary trend: Reindeer Moss and an new era begins for noise insulation, introduced by NORDGRÖNA.
- Kartell Contamination stand nails it with the collections, the collaborations, the design, the content, the context and the hospitality/communication - and marks a new marketing era for the Italian giant. 

2018

- Salone del Mobile, Milan publishes its Manifesto, a text that contains the 9 values- focal points of the institution, (emotion, enterprise, quality, design, networking, young people, culture, communication, Milan), communicated for the first time in a concrete, transparent and precise way.

- Salone Satellite organises and hosts Africa-Latin America: Rising Design. Find out what's best overseas and what it will be infiltrated in the design, here and now.

-  Living Nature consists of the first micro-climate open and accessible experiment, a capsule to define climate control and ensure protection of the remaining natural resources. 

- Kartell goes Wood, Moroso goes Folk/Ethnic and Karimoku goes Art*. The three larger-than-design companies, break the stereotypes and get out of their own comfort zone when it comes to plastic/polypropylene, anti-tradition and clean ergonomy respectively. Bold and beautiful.

(*Kunst)

2019

- Artemide launches GenerAction an innovative project that aims to support and highlight the Gen Z passion towards humantity and the future of the planet, as to give a stand to the young Centennials who strive for change, such as Rayouf Alhumedhi and Valerio Pagliarino.

- Marset publishes its Young Talents News 2019, presenting innovative lighting solutions created by young designers in and out Barcelona, to be part of the company's future manufacturing lines. About to be something like the Loewe Foundation for lighting designers, Marset is keeping up nicely with standing-out-lights and continuous, active support to new designers.
- Knoll celebrates Bauhaus in the company's showroom downtown in an exhibition curated by OMA with Domitilla Dardi. A sentimental journey to the design classics of the house, for the lovers of the historical design school and movement.
- Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, the cultural event/exhibition of capital importance, takes place in the Triennale di Milano until September 1st. A unique experience, not limited to design aficionados but destined to shake every single of you. Imperative to watch.

Thank you Salone del Mobile and the City of Milan for these 5 years.
We are looking forward to the next five to come!

NEXT POST AROUND THE 26TH OF MAY: SMART CITIES DIRECTLY FROM LISBON, PT!

A4D-D4A:-)