Milano Furniture Fair 2011- First Impressions

Well I have taken off on another small jaunt across Europe to the Milan Furniture Fair. Finally after studying Italian for six years in primary school I can put the phrases to some use. I am kind of wishing we learnt a few more useful things other than singing happy birthday and hide the la gomma! Anyway, staying with Mamma + Pappa should see some speedy adoption of more Italian phrases.Thank Christ for the Italian/English dictionary, it is doing wonders in translating.

Anyway, today I spent the day roaming around the Fiera Milano site. It is pretty overwhelming being confronted by about 22 jumbo sized sheds which have all been converted into exhibition halls that house displays ranging from Student exhibitions (Salone Satellite), to lighting (Euroluce) right through to office furnishing.

I kicked off the day by visiting the student display, placed at the very rear of all the exhibition spaces. Many of the students stood there hopefully handing out business cards, in an attempt to have their work picked up by manufacturers. It was kind of nice hanging out in this area, most of the students lack the pretention that most of the other display spaces had. But at the same time a lot of the work wasn’t particularly impressive and I wondered why you would blow so much money on hiring an exhibition space/transporting the work and then sitting at a stand for 4 days for some mediocre work.

One of the most stand-out student pieces was from Kirsti Taiviola. She has developed blowen glass globes that reflect different patterns onto the wall surface. They were simple but elegant and you could see them adapted in many different architectural situations.

Then I spent a lot of time wondering around Euroluce.. I haven’t scene so many glass chandeliers. The place was sparkling with diamantes, Euroluce was full of Italian bling. There was a lot of bad taste going on in a lot of these stands.

Moving onto the modern furniture stands I was most impressed by the Zietaprozessdesign a Polish design firm. They had developed a collection of works made from inflated steel. I must say I was pretty inspired by this method of creating organic looking metal works. I think this technique could be adapted into sculptural works. It will just take a dam fine welder to weld .5 sheet metal together, and have an airtight joint.

Zieta

Diamantini & Domeniconi

And the winner of the worst piece of design i saw today, goes to someone that produced some white fur like fluffy panniers on the back of a bike. I can't post a photo because i ran out of batteries on the camera... but it was pretty hideous.

Dutch Illiteracy

For the past week I have been experiencing being illiterate. Putting little to no effort in prior to leaving for the Netherlands, I have been greeted by a sea of Dutch words, plastering advertisements billboards, signage, newspaper and shopping isles. I have resorted to shopping from pictures.

Friday afternoon I thought I would do the housemately thing. Invest in a carton of beer + a jumbo size pack of toilet paper. Everything you ever needed for an exciting weekend! Anyway, wobbled home, with beer balanced on the back bike rack and the toilet paper in hand

It came time to crack one, so I sat down to my nice jumbo pack, ruffled open the plastic packaging only to find a JUMBO package of absorbent paper towel. Sadly I haven’t got an arse the size of an absorbent paper towel piece that would compensate for this stuff up.

Instead I am considering whisking the package into the kitchen pantry in anticipation of my ‘weekly fry up.’

The experience was very humbling and has given me the kick to start working through the 101 of Dutch language.

Amsterdam

Yesterday I went to Amsterdam. It was a cool Metropolitan city, which felt a little like Melbourne, with arty stores lining the streets. Trams continually streaming past looping back and forth to central station to the Museum quarter.

However, Amsterdam had a bit of seedy undertone as well it felt a little bit like a circus at times. The European Bali. It seems like lots of Europeans and tourists flock here to make use of the liberated culture. Smoke dope and shag chicks. This was just one feeling in the city, which i am sure is ripe on the weekends.

Anyway, that aside after a long walk being lost on the complex canal system I made it to the Van Gogh Museum. It was teeming with tourists. But tourists aside I put my headset on and zoned out.

It is pretty striking to see how contemporary Van Gogh was for the times. His strong use of colour and texture creates really intense moods in his paintings.

I was most struck by his works featuring cherry blossom trees. I have not really seen these works in reproductions before. However, the works manage to capture the delicateness of the tree and the atmosphere of Spring.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, with streams of people crawling along the walls of the Van Gogh museum appreciating his works, I felt a tinge of sadness. To think Van Gogh’s work went relatively unappreciated until after his death is a bit disappointing. He was probably just considered a mentally impaired man during his life.

It is a little bit ironic the way the arts scene works!

The Culture Lab

I am onto day 3 of the internship with Tejo Remy and Rene Veenhuizen. When I arrived at the studio I was very reassured to see a room full of treasurers. A collection of old glassware for lighting projects, bags full of old blankets, a sea of prototypes floating in every spare space.

The sight of the single stitch industrial sewing machine was also pretty exciting.

Anyway, the studio is based out in a very industrial part of Utrecht. The studio has an outlook onto a DHL depot, and the street with lined with lots more factories. It is pretty much on par with the serenity of Midland. Not the type of place you feel like venturing out for lunch in. Anyway, luckily where the studio is housed is a ‘Culture Lab’, basically a whole heap of creative’s have leased this building. Which means lunch often consists of conversa

tion with different architects, painters, set designers or engineers. This makes for a good social working environment.

Over the last couple of days I have been working on an ‘Accidental mat’. The piece recycles old blankets, and turns it into a very organic floor mat. It is nice to see the full working method of making the piece. It is also great to see what was probably conceived as a one off piece be developed into a marketable small production run product. The investment that Tejo, Rene + Tanja have put into developing the first rug has paid off through the development of the piece into a product. It is also reassuring to know that I am not the only designer who invests crazy amounts of labour into her work, the Accidental mats take approximately a week to make.

Comparison

It is pretty exciting to see so many bicycles being ridden in Holland. Nothing stops the Dutch getting around by bike. There are young women stilettos cautiously mounting their bikes. Groups of Oma’s (Grannies) picking up there shopping. Mums cycling with their multiple children strapped front and back to the bike. Not even a trip to Ikea is an excuse to drive flat packed furniture home. Instead it is planted under the cyclists armpit, and precariously balanced on the handle bars all the way home.

Cycling is ingrained in the culture!

This is very inspiring compared with my recent experience back home. To cut a long story short I work part time as an Art Technician at a Perth High School. Anyway, we were delivered the best professional development session I have experienced a few weeks ago. The session focused on ways the school could become more sustainable in social and environmental aspects of school life. Reading the body language of most of the staff they hesitantly participated! Middle-aged people stuck in their old consuming ways not willing to change their habits for the benefit of the greater environment. By contrast me being the young and enthusiastic person I am, I filled my page with potential changes that could be made around the school to create a more environmental sustainable place.

-Ban all personal use vehicles to the school. Staff must carpool, cycle or catch public transport to the school.

- Ban selling water at the canteen. Students must refill from refrigerated taps around the school.

- Stop selling meat dishes in the canteen.

- Health + fitness should be valued over personal grooming in the school environment.

The list went on, I scrawled the ideas down with enthusiasm. I thought that implementing these initiatives in a small school environment would be relatively easy to organise. It would also be an environment that you would be able to actually see progress. Finally teachers could be valued for their role modelling, leading a green revolution!

Ok so I got a little carried away...little bit to radical in my train of thought. Instead I let the enthusiasm bubble away inside. I got a little distracted preparing for my trip away and never actually managed to try and initiate any of these ideas. However, one other teacher managed to pull finger and started to rally up support for carpooling. First it came with an email…. With no response… then it was brought up at staff morning tea. You could feel the staff role there eyes and silently zone off into the tray of cakes sitting on the table.

So with no luck I boarded my plane for Holland silently disillusioned by peoples’ inability to try new things, to change some aspects of their lifestyle for the common good. So for now I will lap up the Dutch’s enthusiasm for cycling + the good public transport born from high-density living!

First impressions of Utrecht

Studio Open

Come and check out the Midland studios before I disappear to the Netherlands for four months!