The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting “Designs for Different Futures”, a show that looks at how designers play a role in shaping how we think about the future. It features some 80 works that address the challenges and opportunities we humans may come across in our future years, decades, and centuries. It opened on October 22 and runs through March 8, 2020.There are many questions which designers are currently striving to answer. Will technological advancements eventually augment or replace a broad range of human activities? Can intimacy be maintained at a distance? How can we negotiate privacy in a world in which the sharing and use of personal information has blurred every traditional boundary? How might we use design to help heal or transform ourselves, bodily and psychologically? How will we feed an ever-growing population?Via a selection of technological marvels, “Designs for Different Futures” tries to answer a few of these questions. The objects and plans on display provide design solutions for a number of possible scenarios. In some instances, designers’ proposals are born out of anxiety; others originate from a place of excitement about innovation. Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has commented on how the exhibition will reverse the traditional historicizing function of a museum. In his words, “we often think of art museums as places that foster a dialogue between the past and the present, but they also can and should be places that inspire us to think about the future and to ask how artists and designers can help us think creatively about it.”The exhibition has been divided into 11 thematic sections - In “Resources”, visitors come across an inflatable pod measuring 15-ft in diameter. The work is part of “Another Generosity” (2018), first created by Finnish architect Eero Lunden and designed in this form in collaboration with Ron Aasholm and Carmen Lee. The pod slowly expands and contracts in the space, responding to changing levels of carbon dioxide exhaled around it. It serves as an indicator of our carbon emission. The section titled “Generations” looks at how choices that consumers make now can either benefit or harm those who come after us. It will feature a model of the “Svalbard Global Seed Vault,” a facility that stores the world’s largest collection of crop seeds.Speculations on the challenges of extra-terrestrial communication is the subject of the “Earths” section of the show. Notable works here include Lisa Moura’s “Alien Nation” (2016), an installation that showcases the typeface from the science-fiction film “Arrival”. “Bodies” will focus on our physiological and psychological aspects; how humans might look, feel, and function in different future scenarios. The “Intimacies” section considers our social and familial bonds and how technologies may affect love, family, and community. “Foods” deals with the future of our diet, and will feature an edible-insect farm, “Cricket Shelter,” by Terreform ONE.Additional sections of the exhibition include “Job,” “Cities,” “Materials,” “Power,” and “Data”.Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago, “Designs for Different Futures” will be presented at the Walker and the Art Institute of Chicago following its run in Philadelphia.The exhibition is on view through March 8, 2020, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130, United States.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/philadelphia-museum-of-art/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

The Los Angeles-based brand known for pairing stylish doors with IKEA cabinets, Semihandmade, has announced a partnership with Rejuvenation. A designer, manufacturer and retailer of quality lighting, hardware and home goods. Semihandmade is adding over 15 different styles of cabinet hardware to their direct-to-consumer website including handles, drawer pulls, and cabinet knobs, among others. “It’s an exciting time at Semihandmade. We’ve listened to our customers and are expanding offerings to include everyday kitchen items like paint, cutlery and tableware. There’s nothing more requested than decorative cabinet knobs and drawer pulls. Rejuvenation topped an office poll on who best to partner as they have been at the forefront of beautifully-designed, impeccably-made lighting, hardware and furniture,” said John McDonald, founder and CEO of Semihandmade. Prior to this, both Semihandmade and Rejuvenation products have often been paired together by designers, DIYers, and influencers working on a variety of projects. The list includes names such as Studio McGee, Sarah Sherman Samuel, Chris Loves Julia, Nate Berkus, and more. This partnership is a big for Semihandmade and its expansion into a full-fledged lifestyle brand. The brand was launched in 2011, with the goal of using IKEA cabinets as a base for handmade craftsmanship at a competitive price. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Design Museum, London, has announced the 76 nominees for the 12th Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition and awards.This year’s nominees include a meme-inspired dress collection by Viktor & Rolf, a data generated proxy address system created to reduce homelessness, the world’s first hands-free breast pump, Adidas’s collaboration with designer Ji Won Choi, as worn by Beyonce, food sharing app OLIO and The Shed’s extendable building in New York.A major theme in this year’s awards is accessible designs as seen in IKEA’s ThisAbles collection, Tommy Hilfiger’s Adaptive clothing range, and Chromat’s AW19 fashion collection.This year’s nominees can be viewed as the most international and gender-balanced list of contenders to date. The annual awards and exhibition comprises 76 nominations across six categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Graphics, Product and Transport. Selected by a panel of international designers, curators, critics and — for the first time — the general public, the awards showcase the most impactful products and concepts from designers around the world.The exhibition features sketches, models, prototypes, videos and photography for all the nominations and provides a summary of the latest design trends.This year’s highlights include in the fashion category, vegan sliders from Rombaut, streetwear for Reebok, created by Pyer Moss, and Adidas’ Korean inspired Originals Collection, worn by Beyonce. Graphic nominee MOLD by LinYee Yuan has explored the future of food through a new online platform and magazine that looks at how designers are addressing multiple food crises by working with food design and technology firms. Product nominee CATCH was created to increase early detection of the HIV virus — with a low-cost and pocket-sized device that allows users to self-test for HIV in the privacy of their own home. The transport section highlights designs that improve local services with the GACHA Self-Driving Shuttle Bus designed by MUJI in collaboration with Finnish company Sensible 4, promoting easy autonomous access to public transport in all weather.The focus on accessible design continues in the digital category with wearable virtual assistant AlterEgo by MIT Media Lab. It silently detects electrical impulses from the skin surface and transmits these to the internal device — assisting those unable to speak out loud to communicate without needing to open their mouth.The architecture category features innovations such as the ProxyAddress by emerging British designer Chris Hildrey, which allows those facing homelessness to access support services by generating each user a consistent ‘proxy address.’A winner will be selected in each category and one overall winner will be announced on Thursday, November 21, 2019. Previous winners include Forensic Architecture for their Counter Investigations Exhibition and Sir David Adjaye OBE for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., among others.Beazley Designs of the Year is on view through February 9, 2020, at the Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High St, Kensington, London W8 6AG, United Kingdom.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/design-museum/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris will host a large-scale exhibition dedicated to Charlotte Perriand titled “Inventing a New World,” which opens on October 2, 2019, and continues through February 24, 2020.Perriand can be described as a pioneer of modernity and a leading figure of the 20th-century design who contributed to the definition of a new “art de vivre.”The exhibition marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999) and pays tribute to her as an architect and visionary creator with works on view that explore the links between art, architecture, and design.The show looks at the designer’s dedication to the invention of modernity that oscillates between a fascination for industry, political engagement and the imperative of reconnecting with nature. Beginning in 1920, Perriand envisioned an “art de vivre” that broke that was ahead of her time. She found inspiration in the world of automobiles and cinema and went on to rethink the role of women.  Perriand designed strikingly modern chrome tube furniture for her Saint-Sulpice studio (1927) and began researching on a project titled “Work & Sport” (1927) to illustrate her vision of the modern apartment.The “Return To Nature” section of the exhibition explores the designer’s take on how she recognized the drawbacks of contemporary design dedicated solely to functionality. On view are her “L’Art Brut” photographs alongside drawings by Fernand Leger. These reveal a greater affinity with nature that inspired Perriand to create her first “free form” furniture with their organic curves.Another highlight of the show is the section “Japan & Reconstruction” that examines her role as an influencer of an entire generation of Japanese designers while herself finding fresh sources of inspiration in the culture. She was invited to Japan in 1940, and presented an exhibition called “Selection-Tradition-Creation.” It was a manifesto for rethinking living spaces and using traditional materials such as bamboo. After France’s liberation, she took part in the Reconstruction, calling on artists including Fernand Leger, Pablo Picasso, and Alexander Calder to contribute to her projects.Perriand’s design was a synthesis of art and culture and is a part of the exhibition. This was embodied in the show “Proposal for a Synthesis of the Arts,” which opened in Tokyo in 1955. “For the occasion, Charlotte Perriand renewed her longstanding association with Fernand Leger and Le Corbusier, as well as with Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages, designing a space that brings together paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, and architecture, thus effectively eliminating the boundaries between disciplines,” the museum informs.Lesser-known areas of the designer’s oeuvre are also on view such as furniture and fittings for the Musee National d’Art Moderne (1965), the apartment of collector Maurice Jardot (1978) and the redesign of the Galerie Louise Leiris (1989) — all of which define spaces that invite a dialogue between visitors and the works. It highlights her contribution to museums and private collectors.“Inventing a New World” opens on October 2, 2019, and runs through February 24, 2020, at Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116 Paris, France.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/fondation-louis-vuitton/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

 The London Design Festival has announced the four winners of the 2019 London Design Medals.The festival recognizes the contribution made by leading design figures and emerging talents in the industry with four London Design Medals awarded. The medals were presented on September 16, 2019, at the British Land Celebration of Design, at the House of Commons, Westminster.A panel of established designers, industry commentators, and previous winners met to debate and judge the possible recipients of the four medals. This year’s jury members are: Ozwald Boateng OBE, Ian Callum CBE, Sheridan Coakley, Njusja de Gier, Es Devlin OBE, Sarah Douglas, Ben Evans CBE, Dr Tristram Hunt, Domenic Lippa, Jay Osgerby OBE, Raoul Shah, Joff Sharpe, Justine Simons OBE, Sir John Sorrell CBE, Dr Paul Thompson, and Jane Withers.Ben Evans CBE, London Design Festival Director, says, “Each year, the jury selects four eminent people who have made a major contribution to design in the UK. This year, the winners are as interesting and deserving as ever.”The 2019 winners are Tom Dixon OBE, The London Design Medal, the highest accolade bestowed on an individual who has demonstrated consistent design excellence and distinguished themselves within the industry. Daniel Charny, Design Innovation Medal, celebrates entrepreneurship in all its forms, both locally and internationally. Ross Atkin, Emerging Design Medal, awarded in recognition of an impact made on the design scene within five or so years of graduation. Dame Vivienne Westwood, Lifetime Achievement Medal Winner, honors a significant and fundamental contribution to the design industry over the course of a career.The London Design Festival was launched in 2003 by Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans CBE. It celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world. Since then the festival has earned a key position in London’s autumn creative season, alongside London Fashion Week, Frieze Art Fair, and the London Film Festival.The London Design Festival is open to the public from September 14-22, 2019, at pop-up venues across the city.For details, visit: https://www.londondesignfestival.com/ https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

 Arup and Steven Holl Architects are celebrating the opening of the REACH at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It opened to the public on Saturday, September 7, 2019.Arup, founded in 1946, provides consulting, planning, engineering, and design services for projects and sites in the built environment. It has played a key role in delivering the first-ever expansion of Washington, D.C.’s premier performing arts venue.REACH is a highly sustainable addition and on track to earn LEED Gold. It will serve as a living theater, an immersive learning center, and public arts incubator.  The building is anchored by three signature pavilions. These stretch across a sweeping, green lawn overlooking the Potomac River, and forge a direct connection between the landscape and the river. “The Welcome Pavilion, Skylight Pavilion, and River Pavilion echo and extend the adjacent main building and link together below-ground to create an expansive facility providing classrooms, studios and a variety of multi-use public spaces,” Arup informs.The firm's integrated team of engineers and consultants collaborated closely to develop a holistic building systems strategy to support the architectural vision while also meeting ambitious sustainability standards. These optimize energy performance while remaining largely unseen. The strategy was to incorporate a range of performance-enhancing technologies, starting from a closed-loop, ground-source heat rejection system, to advanced temperature controls and radiant floor heating. This system provides simultaneous hot and chilled water and enables different areas of the interior to be heated and cooled simultaneously without significantly increasing energy requirements. “Using Arup's robust in-house software suite, Oasys Building Environmental Analysis (BEANS), the team demonstrated that the addition of radiant floors would counteract the thermal effects of the Skylight Pavilion’s massive curved wall, providing both heating and cooling and significantly boosting comfort throughout the year while keeping energy demands within acceptable levels,” the engineering and design company adds.“Our team brought the depth of experience and knowledge needed to incorporate building systems in very non-traditional ways to support Steven Holl’s clear vision for the REACH’s interior spaces,” said Geoffrey Eddy, the REACH project manager and associate at Arup. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Gallery FUMI in London is hosting “Crafted Landscapes,” a new group show featuring the latest works by Francesco Perini, Voukenas Petrides, and Lukas Wegwerth. The exhibition continues to be on view through September 6, 2019. The show brings together both artists and designers showcasing their work that combines age-old natural materials with fresh, contemporary design. On the gallery ground floor, “The creamy strata of Perini’s ‘Incontro’ series evokes a rustic panorama of ancient oak and weathered stone similar to a rich shell-strewn coastline,” the gallery informs. Wegwerth’s “Crystallizations” give an aura of natural geodes below the ground floor area. Perini has used travertine into his work for the first time, inspired by his native Italian landscape and history. The material has been used since Roman times for architectural purposes. The porous stone was a challenge to work with especially when finely worked to Perini’s high level of precision. “The smooth, tactile surfaces of the Incontro series are a testament to Perini’s mastery of traditional marquetry. The ripples of oak and stone, warm and cold, smooth and rough, give these works an irresistible depth and texture,” the gallery adds. Voukenas Petrides are constantly exploring new possibilities of sculptural form in furniture. For their ongoing “Tubular” series, the work is a process of trial and experimentation that pushes the limits of the material. Wegwerth continues to expand and refine his “Crystallizations.” His work can be compared to the cultivation of bonsai trees, that takes care and patience. Each new creation by him takes months of careful planning and re-growth until the perfect crystalline structure is achieved. The show also features additional works by designers Lara Bohinc, Rowan Mersh, Josepha Gasch-Muche, Sam Orlando Miller, Johannes Nagel, and Max Lamb.“Crafted Landscapes” is on view through September 6, 2019, at Gallery FUMI, 2 Hay Hill, Mayfair, London W1J 6AS, UK. For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/gallery-fumi/overview Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Given Campbell, the award-winning wallpaper designer celebrates 15 years in the industry by launching her latest design, Relic.It features genuine 23K gold, hand-leafed over hand printed skulls on grasscloth wallpaper. Her new design honors free-thinking and courageous artistic expression.Used for centuries and in a variety of applications gold leaf has been used in art and architecture such as the gates at France’s Palace of Versailles. Its usage has also evolved to include extravagant culinary creations and even found in rare European liquor.Relic is fully customizable with a variety of grasscloth colors and styles the under-skull color can also be customized.“For my 15th year design, I wanted to use a skull pattern to recognize the creative courage it takes to break free from traditional thinking in any industry. The genuine 23K gold leaf just takes it to the next level,” Given Campbell says.Given Campbell is an award-winning wallpaper designer operates out of Tampa, Florida. All design and printing of wallpapers are done in the US. Campbell's wallpaper has been featured on the cover of Target’s Club Wedd catalog, NY Times, and the Today show. She has also been honored as a Tastemaker in House & Garden’s annual issue.For more details, visit: www.givencampbell.comhttps://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Hatteras Hammocks will be unveiling its newest outdoor furniture collection at Chicago’s Casual Market from September 10–13 at booth 7-5052.The new outdoor furniture line is elegantly styled with clean contemporary lines that give a sense of luxury outdoor lifestyle. The collection includes meticulous construction, Durawood™, and a dedication to old-world excellence and innovation that the parent company The Hammock Source is globally known for. A four-day trade show, the Casual Market features leading manufacturers and provides them with a platform to introduce a wide variety of products related to outdoor and casual living.“Hatteras Outdoors reflects all of the deep commitments we’ve had to quality, durability and innovation throughout our company’s long history. But this time we’ve combined luxurious design with Durawood™, our original joint construction, and exceptional materials in a way that is both dazzling and long-lasting. And we're delighted to showcase this fantastic line at the Casual Market. Stop by and see firsthand what we've come up with,” said CEO Walter Reid Perkins III.Hatteras Outdoors aims to set a new gold standard for luxury outdoor living. Apart from the use of cutting-edge materials like Durawood™, advanced construction levels give the furniture a high-level of stability. With a series of patent-pending techniques like K-Joint connections, Dowel Joint precision, and Mortise and Tenon Joints, the furniture produced is reliable and made to last a lifetime and beyond. Each piece of furniture produced uses highest quality marine-grade 316 stainless steel hardware that guarantees resistance to rust, corrosion, and staining.For more details, visit: https://hatterashammocks.com/about/our-storyhttps://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Japanese architect Junya Ishigami was selected to design the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion. His finished work is on view at the Serpentine Gallery's lawn in Kensington Gardens through October 6, 2019.Known for creating experimental structures that interpret traditional architectural conventions and simultaneously reflect natural phenomena, Ishigami’s design for the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion is based on roofs, the most common architectural feature used around the world. It has been designed and constructed by arranging slates to create a single canopy roof that appears to emerge out of the ground. Inside the pavilion is an enclosed cave-like space, a place for thinking. “For Ishigami, the pavilion articulates his ‘free space’ philosophy in which he seeks harmony between man-made structures and those that already exist in nature,” the gallery says.Ishigami is the 19th architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary pavilion on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn in Kensington Gardens. The commissions began in 2000 with Zaha Hadid. In the recent past, it has become a highly anticipated platform for emerging talent, from Frida Escobedo of Mexico to Francis Kere of Burkina Faso and Bjarke Ingels of Denmark. Ingels 2016 pavilion was the most visited architectural and design exhibition in the world.Describing his design, Ishigami said, “My design for the pavilion plays with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape, emphasizing a natural and organic feel as though it had grown out of the lawn, resembling a hill made out of rocks. This is an attempt to supplement traditional architecture with modern methodologies and concepts, to create in this place an expanse of scenery like never seen before.”Junya Ishigami (b. 1974) worked as an architect at SANAA before founding the Junya Ishigami + Associates in 2004. He won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2010 and was the subject of a major and critically acclaimed solo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 2018 that is traveling to the Power Station of Art in Shanghai later this year.The 2019 Serpentine Pavilion is on view through October 6, 2019, at the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn in Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA, UK.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/1203380/1433933/home-overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the 2019 Pavilion.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Vitra Schaudepot in Weil am Rhein, Germany, is hosting “Living in a Box: Design and Comics” that explores the world of comics and their relationship to design. The exhibition runs through October 20, 2019.The show provides a fresh look at the museum’s collection through iconic and instantly recognizable furniture pieces that feature in comic books such as “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Peanuts,” and “Diabolik.” At the same time, numerous designers have taken inspiration from these paneled narratives to create design objects that are based on superhuman strength and lightning speed. “Living in a Box: Design and Comics” looks at both these areas in the museum’s first-ever study of the comics medium.Design has been an essential part of our lives, and comic artists have reflected that in their work. Comics are stories told over the course of multiple panels with the help of images and texts, in order to keep the readers engaged, comic artists use subtle codes — including design — to create an atmosphere.At the beginning of the 20th century, comics made a breakthrough with the rise of comic strip syndicates in American newspapers. Sunday comic strips such as Winsor McCay’s  “Little Nemo in Slumberland” (1905–1924), about the main character’s dream adventures were read by millions of readers. Different sections of society were visually coded and satirized with the aid of design and comic artists in Europe started referencing modernist design objects in their work. The Belgian Georges Remi, more popularly known as Herge, became a worldwide phenomenon with his comic “The Adventures of Tintin.” Translated into over 70 languages, in the fifth volume of the comics published in 1934, a 1927 “MR-10” chair by Mies van der Rohe was depicted by the artist. An object much like his formally reduced drawing style “ligne claire” gave emphasis to design by reducing material and form.Design and comics also shared a like-minded definition of what was meant as modern. One that aimed to be international, accessible, and mass-produced.While tracing the history of the medium with design objects such as Maurice Calka’s 1969 “Boomerang” desk or Eero Aarnio’s 1971 “Tomato Chair” that were inspired by imagery from sci-fi comics of the 1960s. Comic-artist-cum-designers from the 1980s such as Javier Mariscal created furniture to fill in the panels of his work, for example, the 1987 “Garriris” chair. Graphic novels have gained popularity since the 1990s and dealt with serious issues such as war, social injustice, or a simplistic retelling of history that reaches a larger portion of the masses. One such example is the May 2019 graphic novel “Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun.” The author/illustrator duo of Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierżawska have reconstructed the “E.1027” villa from the late designer Eileen Gray’s perspective. Which is the opposite of the accepted version that has minimized her contribution for decades.The exhibition juxtaposes comics from a wide variety of genres from Japanese mangas to graphic novels with related design objects from the Vitra Design Museum’s collection. The objects on view highlight the shared spirit in which they were designed.The exhibition is an introspective and a playful look at the genre at the same time.“Living in a Box: Design and Comics” continues to be on view through October 20, 2019, at Vitra Schaudepot, Charles-Eames-Straße 2, 79576 Weil am Rhein, Germany. For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/vitra-museum-weil-am-rhein/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

American Signature, Inc., parent company of Value City Furniture (VCF) and American Signature Furniture (ASF), has announced that a curated selection of Bobby Berk’s new collection with A.R.T. Furniture will be available in their VCF and ASF stores and online from October.Berk Collection is in line with American Signature brands’ Designer Looks Collection. It offers buyers on-trend, high-end styles that are crafted with high-standard quality details such as hand-stenciled finishes, solid wood surfaces or 100 percent feathers, minus the high-end price.“We believe that everyone has the right to a well-furnished life, and the Bobby Berk Collection is no exception,” said Jonathan Schottenstein, President, American Signature, Inc.Bobby Berk started his own lifestyle and home furnishings brand in 2006. He stepped it up a notch in 2015 and introduced his full-service bespoke interior design practice in Los Angeles.The Bobby Berk Collection at Value City Furniture and American Signature Furniture features select statement styles for one’s living room, bedroom and dining room and range between $300 and $2,300 and will be available in VCF and ASF stores, as well as online. These select pieces will only be available at VCF and ASF stores in the markets in which they operate.These include bedroom pieces such as bed bench, platform storage bed, drawer chest, dressers and nightstands, an accent chair and mirror that combine dark and white wood with gold and leather accents. A bar cabinet, dining table, a console, cocktail and end tables, and chairs for dining rooms. A fully customizable velvet blue living room hero piece, which is a create-your-own, modular couch collection along with an armless chair, ottoman, and corner chair, among others. It can be built into a five- or six-piece sectional or stand on its own.For more details, visit: https://www.americansignaturefurniture.com https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

The 44th edition of the China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) has announced its lineup of exhibitors and attendees for its 2019 edition to be held in Shanghai from September 8 to 11.It will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Hongqiao and is expecting a footfall of over 150,000 attendees from 200 countries and areas.The theme for this year’s fair is “A Paradigm for Global Living,” and highlights the latest global trends in home furnishing. It also fosters cross-border dialogue and exchange within the community. The 44th edition of CIFF features more than 1,500 exhibitors covering multiple categories such as furniture for home, office and outdoor, home textile products, and woodworking machinery. They will showcase their products and services to attendees across four exhibition zones.The 2019 CIFF Shanghai also offers a line-up of forums, competitions, and presentations. This also includes an international architecture design forum planned and organized by CIFF and Berlin’s Aedes Architecture Forum.The forum has been themed “Designed for Humans: From Alvaro Siza's Modernism into the Digital Future” and seven architects will provide contemporary design insights, including Sou Fujimoto, Founder of the Sou Fujimoto Architects Japan; Antonio Choupina, Portuguese Architect and Founder of CH. A Architectural Design Firm; Martha Thorne, Pritzker Prize Secretary; Anouk Legendre, Co-founder of XTU Architecture and Design Firm in France; Philip Feng YUAN, Professor of College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai; Mario Carpo, Professor of University College London, and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen, Professor of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.“Design is the main focus of this year’s second CIFF event in Shanghai,” said Yang Huawei, General Manager of China Trade Macalline Exhibition Co. Ltd. “During this event, we hope to bring the world's leading ideas and trends to China to strengthen the value of design within our industry, help international brands enter the coveted Chinese market, and build a global furniture community without borders.”For details visit: www.ciff-sh.com/en/ https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

The Art Institute of Chicago will host “In a Cloud, In a Wall, In a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury,” a show featuring midcentury art and design on view from September 6, 2019, through January 12, 2020.The exhibition includes work by Clara Porset (b.1895), Lola Alvarez Bravo (b.1903), Anni Albers (b.1899), Ruth Asawa (b.1926), Cynthia Sargent (b.1922), and Sheila Hicks (b.1934). It also looks at the unique experiences of these designers and artists from Mexico between the 1940s and 1970s. Even though they shared singularities, the work created by them reflected the artistic traditions, and at the same time opened up new views of daily life at a time period that saw witnessed great social and political change.The show’s title has been taken from the quote by Clara Porset,  who wrote: “There is design in everything…in a cloud…in a wall…in a chair…in the sea…in the sand…in a pot. Natural or man-made.” She encouraged makers to seek inspiration widely. A political exile from Cuba, Porset went on to become one of Mexico’s most prominent modern furniture and interior designers. Inspired by the Bauhaus ideas, she believed “that design and art could reshape cities, elevate the quality of life, and solve large-scale social problems,” the AIC informs.Porset also established relationships across cultures and brought different voices into dialogue, who responded to a moment of profound cultural and economic transformation. While some of these artists and designers knew one another, they belonged to different generations. Their individual work encompassed a variety of media ranging from furniture and interior design to sculpture, textiles, photography, and printmaking.The works displayed in the exhibition reminds the viewers of transnational migration — which is life’s reality as well as a provocation of creativity. It also challenges established assumptions about the directions that migration can take. “The pieces in this exhibition resulted from a complex dynamic of cultural learning and exchange,” the AIC says. “Each artist went beyond replication and applied their newfound knowledge and practices to create their own unique output while crediting the sources of their inspiration.” These works on view highlight the significance of these still-influential contributions to art and design.“In a Cloud, In a Wall, In a Chair: Six Modernists in Mexico at Midcentury” opens on September 6, 2019, and runs through January 12, 2020, at The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603, USA.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide-venues/286620/museum-overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker has collaborated with scientist Stefano Mancuso to create an installation at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris, which shows the real-time impact that climate change has exerted on the city’s nature. The project is titled “Symbiosia.”Biersteker is known for his interactive installations dealing with environmental and social issues. “Symbiosia” seeks to promote awareness of the impact of climate change by providing visitors with a visual representation of its effect on local trees.“I believe that the symbiotic and communicative relationships in nature, explored in ‘Symbiosia,’ are key in preparing humanity to understand the value of a harmonious ecosystem,” Biersteker explained to Dezeen. “This is needed for a future that is a balance between technology, humanity and nature.” “Symbiosia,” installed in the garden of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, comprises a pair of digital displays connected to two of the garden's trees.Mancuso, the name behind the famous International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Florence has helped in developing a calculative data-driven system for the project that estimates the real-time impact of climate change on nature in the city of Paris. Data on solar radiation, CO2 levels, air quality and temperature, as well as humidity, soil temperature and moisture levels, rain and dew point are factored in to calculate affects that environmental changes are having on trees. The installation enables visitors to observe how factors such as daily traffic and droughts caused by increasing summer temperatures affect the growth of the trees.“The data is presented as a pattern of tree rings, with a new ring generated every second rather than every year. The thickness and shape of the rings allow visitors to observe the short- and long-term impact of climate change,” writes Dezeen.Biersteker described the project as “a fluid mixture between art and techno-poetic science, translated in an accessible and relatable way” and an attempt to “give trees a visual voice about one of the most important topics of today: climate change.”The artist was invited to create the artwork as part of an exhibition called “Trees,” organized by the Fondation Cartier.“Symbiosia” can be viewed at “The Trees” exhibition, on view through November 10, 2019, at at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 261 Boulevard Raspail, 75014 Paris, France.  https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

A flagship store of Axel Arigato, a shoe brand in Copenhagen, finds inspiration for its interiors from monolithic concrete forms associated with brutalist architecture. The designs for the aesthetic store have been created in collaboration with Stockholm-based architect Christian Hallerod.Located close to Copenhagen’s main shopping street, Stroget, Axel Arigato’s Danish flagship features blocky gray interiors that “blend brutalism with minimalism.”“I approach our store formats as I design sneakers — the shape of the object comes first, the material is secondary,” explained the brand’s co-founder Max Svardh.Max Svardh and Christian Hallerod have previously worked together on the design of Axel Arigato’s London flagship, where shoes are presented on giant slabs of terrazzo, and its Stockholm branch, which boasts yellow-tinted windows and furry seats.“The latest Copenhagen store spans 270 square-meters and is the brand’s largest retail space to date, accommodating its full collection of men’s and women’s shoes, accessories and ready-to-wear pieces,” reports Dezeen.A huge staircase at the center is crafted from raw concrete, consisting of several blocks of steps that are staggered at different heights. Its sides are incorporated with a tall doorway that opens to a small internal room where shoes are displayed on backlit shelves. The staircase will serve as a space for the brand to display artworks or merchandise.“We wanted this staircase to be considered as the sole sculptural object within the space, perfectly balancing beauty and physics,” according to the brand.Other than expansive mirrored panels that lean up against the store’s walls, decoration has been restricted to a metallic sculpture by Brazilian artist Kiri-Una Brito Meumann.“[The sculpture] is inspired by the culture of consumerism, using the interest in how something can be sold through the aesthetic of the female form and the access of it through the Internet and phones,” the brand said in a note to the press.  https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Con Form Architects has converted a small London loft into a bright home office by inserting a glazed section with a large steel dormer window. The loft conversion has turned a difficult, low-ceilinged space into a bright workspace inside the house.The architecture studio, in an innovative move, took a large slice out of the back of the roof and infilled  it with glazing, flooding the otherwise cramped attic space with light. A new dormer window has been wrapped in anthracite steel cladding and placed atop this new glass roof section.“The large opening facilitates an intriguing, tactile relationship with the existing prominent brick chimney and parapet, typically confined to the otherwise distant world of roofscapes,” said the studio.Continuing the existing stairwell, a compact folded steel staircase leads up to the new loft space, passing a small roof terrace accessible via a large rotating window.For the study, areas of the existing brick wall and chimney have been left exposed, and is accentuated by a horizontal oak datum and shelving spaces. White wooden elements and a whitewashed floor brings in light and spaciousness into the area. In addition, a stepped up floor level creates a small, low-ceilinged space underneath a skylight, and marks as a separator of the office space.Con Form Architects was established in 2017 by Ben Edgley and Eoin O’Leary. The practice has worked on several residential schemes in London.  https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Kengo Kuma and Associates, a Tokyo and Paris-based firm, has won the competition for the designing of new riverside exhibition halls and park complex in Strasbourg, France.Kengo Kuma and Associates is known for its large-scale timber structures inspired by Japanese architecture, construction techniques and styles. An example of their impressionable work is the stadium for Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic games. The firm sees this project in  Strasbourg as a way to create a new image for the city. The exhibition complex, named ‘Lisieres’ or ‘Edge of the forest,’ will primarily have  metals structure, complemented with a series of locally-sourced wooden vertical elements, which both support the natural ventilated roof covering and filter the light. The vast roof is divided to reflect the internal functions and bring a human scale to the large building.“Scheduled to open in June 2019, the Odunpazari Modern Museum is KKA’s first project in the country, and will bring a significant collection of Modern and Contemporary art spanning the 1950s onwards to the university town. Covering 4,500 sq m spread over three levels, the museum will offer an array of exhibition spaces, from open plan areas on the ground floor to smaller rooms on the upper levels. A central skylit atrium will welcome natural light into the building, permeating it throughout,” Wallpaper reports.“We wanted the building to carry the history and memory of the town,” says Kengo Kuma and firm partner Yuki Ikeguchi, who looked to the local Ottoman wooden cantilevered houses for inspiration. KKA’s material choice also pays homage to the town’s history as one of Turkey’s thriving timber markets. Ikeguchi adds, “At the heart of this project was a desire to create a link between people and art.” Kengo Kuma & Associates won first prize in the international competition to design the Maritime History Museum of Saint-Malo, a museum that will focus on local city history. The architecture of the museum responds to the naval and industrial traditions of Saint-Malo. Due to be completed in 2022, the museum appears as a ship on the side of the horizon. The dynamic elevation of the structure and strong cantilevers give the building an illusion of movement.  https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

Architecture studio Various Associates has designed a store of monochromatic interiors for the women’s wear brand SND in Chongqing, China. Body:Architecture studio Various Associates has designed a store of monochromatic interiors for the women’s swear brand SND in Chongqing, China. The boutique is fashioned with mirrored surfaces, unusual fur-covered partitions, VIP dressing rooms decorated with distinct furry pods and slanted peripheral terrazzo walls.Symmetry was a key focus of the store’s design by creating a rectangular floor plan that encloses a smaller rectangular zone inside. “We continued the idea of symmetric design, offering the interior space a sacred and ceremonial sense,” the studio explained.The store has a triangular entrance doorway, but can also be accessed via a series of openings that have been punctuated in the angled walls. A slender, glass-topped plinth that displays the brand’s jewelry collection juts out through the triangular doorway onto the external store floor.“Customers can clearly know the routes and view every product in display while walking, offering them a chance to select and compare goods easily,” said the studio.Mirrors have been integrated throughout the store’s circulation spaces, a move the studio hopes will increase interaction among customers as they stop to glance at products. Sheets of mirror have also been used to decorate the doorway borders, and form large rectangular screens in the lounge area.A majority of the store’s surfaces are painted a neutral gray tone. This, according to the studio, will “bring the brand’s clothing collection to the foreground. Strip lighting hidden behind concrete panels also softly illuminates certain garments.”The contrasting of terrazzo walls with plush furry surfaces has aided in designing a softer, more comfortable atmosphere for visitors. https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin

French architect India Mahdavi has found inspiration in the familiar colored stripes of seaside resorts to create the scenography for an exhibition titled “Nouvelles Vagues,” at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, reports dezeen.The exhibition, highlighting the 20th-century furniture, brings together more than 60 pieces from the Parisian institution’s collection. The show, curated by Centre Pompidou’s Marie-Ange Brayer, presents a nostalgic candy-striped backdrop, wherein “chairs unfold as sweets.” Through this unique theme, the exhibition explores how the shape of furniture evolved throughout the last century in response to lifestyle changes and the emergence of leisure culture.“This exhibition of furniture, lounge chairs, and inflatable pop reflects an evolution of manners and our relationship to the body,” said Brayer.The furniture on display includes early 20th-century chaise longues by the likes of Eileen Gray and Robert Mallet-Stevens, who reinterpreted the deck chair in new materials such as bent tubular steel and plywood. Contemporary versions of the chaise including a lightweight chair by Maarten Van Severen made from polyester and aluminum are also shown.Another section of the exhibition showcases the emergence of more casual, lounge-based living in the 1960s. Examples from this period include Olivier Mourgue’s Djinn seating collection (1964), Joe Colombo’s radical Tube chair (1969), and the original Sacco bean bag chair (1968).The exhibition’s upper level celebrates the exuberance and optimism that defined the era of Pop art and design. “The show’s setting in an iconic art deco building in the port city of Toulon informed Mahdavi’s design for the scenography, which borrows from the traditional seaside aesthetic of colored stripes and the forms of the furniture on show,” the dezeen reports.The dezeen report states that the furniture is arranged on podiums and surfaces covered with swirling patterns that distort the familiar stripes to create more free-form shapes.  https://www.blouinartinfo.com/              Founder: Louise Blouin