Die „design talents“ auf der IMM 2007

Wie auch schon im letzten Jahr, bot die IMM jungen Designern und Hochschulen im Rahmen der „design talents“ ein Forum, ihre Konzepte, Prototypen und Produkte einem internationalen Fachpublikum vorzustellen.
Unter dem Motto: "one spirit, three events", konnte man in der Messehalle 1 neben bekannten Formaten wie dem Nachwuchswettbewerb „inspired by cologne“ und dem „future point“, auch viele selbstständige Jungdesigner mit fertigen Produktreihen finden.
In anbetracht der Tatsache, mit welch großen Worten die IMM ihre „ Arena für kreative Köpfe“ im Vorfeld bewarb, war man geneigt davon auszugehen hier ein Highlight der Messe vorfinden zu können.

Erstmalig war das Online-Portal „Designspotter“ auf der Messe vertreten, welches ca.50 Jungdesignern unter seiner Dachmarke ein geschlossenes Auftreten ermöglichte. In diesem Kontext fanden auch kleinere Produktreihen ein Forum, für die sich ein seperater Messestand nicht rentieren würde. Eine gute Sache und es wäre wünschenswert, wenn sich derartige Kooperationsprojekte auf der IMM etablieren können.
Neben Designspotter versuchten auch ca. 20 Einzelaussteller die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums auf ihre Stände zu lenken.
Erfolgreich gelang dies der Firma Designatics, welche mit ihrem „Sonic Chair“ ein ausgereiftes und markttaugliches Produkt vorstellten. Auch die Schmetterlinge von Vanessa Hannen sind zu erwähnen, da sie gut produziert und wirklich hübsch sind. Nicht hübsch aber dafür interressant waren die Dosenlampen von Christian Lessing. Interressant vor allem deshalb, weil man sich fragen musste, wie man es schafft mit einem solchen Produkt auf die Messe zu kommen.

>> future point

Überraschend fiel der Auftriit der Hochschulen unter dem Motto „future point“ aus.
Zum Beispiel staunte man nicht schlecht über die Exponate der „Anadolu University“. Der Ausdruck einer „Röntgenlampe“ gepaart mit mangelhafter Umsetzung ließ keine Fragen offen, außer vielleicht, was so eine Dosenlampe wohl kosten mag. Während sich an diesem Stand auch interressante Produktideen fanden, glänzten manche Hochschulen mit vornehmer Zurückhaltung. Die Stände der FH Rosenheim und HTF Stuttgart beispielsweise, präsentierten weder besonders aufsehenerregende Exponate, noch überzeugten sie durch innovative, mutige Konzepte oder besondere Kommunikationsbereitschaft. Welche konkreten Ziele mit ihrem Auftritt erreicht werden sollten wird ihr Geheimniss bleiben, zumal es Andere besser verstanden die Neugier des Besuchers zu wecken. So zum Beispiel das „Designlabor Bremen“, welches mittels einer raumübergreifenden Installation für ihr Stipendienprogramm warb. Interessierte Hochschulabsolventen konnten sich bewerben, indem sie sich photographieren ließen und das so entstandene Portrait über neonfarbene Schnüre mit dem Projekt in Verbindung brachten.
Außergewöhnlich und optisch ansprechend war der Messestand der Staatlichen Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. Der Mut, den Messestand mit Folie zu verhüllen, um so neugierig zu machen und auf eine Entdeckungsreise einzuladen, wurde jedoch nicht belohnt. Vermutlich, weil man diese Form der Präsentation für sich selbst sprechen ließ, ohne den Besucher zusätzlich zu animieren.

Inspired

Wäre noch der Nachwuchswettbewerb für junge Designtalente „inspired by cologne“ zu erwähnen.
Zum einen gab es dort richtig gute Ideen und Produkte zu sehen, zum anderen aber auch solche bei denen man sich wünschte der Erschaffer(in) hätte die inspiration besser für ein schönes Bild genutzt.
Zur ersten Gruppe gehört auf jeden Fall der „Radiator“ von Marco Dessi. Dieser überzeugt nicht nur durch seine außergewöhnliche Formsprache, sondern auch durch seine Funktionalität. Eine Heizung wird hier zum architektonischen Spielobjekt und eröffnet individuelle Gestaltungsfreiheit.

Auf moderne Technologie in Verbindung mit futuristischer Gestaltung setzt Simon Brünner mit seiner Leuchte „Ufo“. Er kombiniert die lichtleitende Eigenschaft von Glasfasern und Acrylglas zu einem außergewöhnlichen Einrichtungsobjekt.
Ganz im Gegensatz zu Katrin Greilings Leuchte „Bird“. Auch aus Acrylglas, scheinen hier die Ansprüche an Ästhetik und Funktion eher zweitrangig zu sein. Weder spendet diese Leuchte Licht, noch erinnert sie an einen Vogel.Falls doch sollte dem armen Tier geholfen werden.
Weniger ist mehr dachte sich wahrscheinlich Marina Weddeling. Sie halbierte gewöhnliche Holzstühle und dübelte sie auf Bodenniveau an eine Wand. So hatte sie weniger Stühle, aber dafür eine neue Garderobe mit integrierter Ablage, die sie „Schmalhans“ taufte.
Fazit

Alles in allem war die Ausstellung „design talents“ einen Besuch wert. Man muss jedoch sagen, dass der Gesamteindruck durchaus besser hätte ausfallen können. In Anbetracht des relativ beschränkten Budgets, vieler dort vertretener Aussteller, war der Anspruch aus einer emotionslosen Messehalle eine „Kreativ-Areana“ zu machen, zu hoch angesetzt. Die Schaffung einer authentischen Atmosphäre, würde jedoch den Vorsatz junges Design attraktiv zu präsentieren unterstützen.
Man könnte sich aber auch die Frage stellen, ob junges Design überhaupt gut auf der Messe aufgehoben sein kann und sich nicht eher in ausgewählten, lebendigeren, städtischen Strukturen präsentieren sollte?

Antidotes to a Contemporary Monotony

written by Hamish Bigg and Jennifer Kay

Amongst a diverse range of collections, the smaller companies proved to be the real gems of Passagen. In this time of rapid turn-over and mass production, it was refreshing to see a return to seemingly lost values such as fine handcraft, locality, re-use and originality.

Temporary exhibitions reinforced the initiative and notion behind Passagen, offering new designs and installations that are both accessible and welcoming to anyone with the curiosity. The best of these exhibitions surpass the majority with originality, honesty and quality while others merely question the commercialism of Passagen. “Commercialism” however, seems essential to support the reach of such an event.

Ehrenfeld’s Farm Project presented a collaboration between the kitchen manufacturers Dornbracht and art director Mike Meiré. Meiré has created a utopian kitchen, the “place of life”, a kitchen that is evidently used in the way intended. The project questions the sense in minimalism within the home in a welcomed contrast to the archetypal furniture fair kitchen, encapsulating a visionary domestic environment. Aromas, warmth, live animals and old crockery all piece together to create a safe haven in which you feel truly at home. The Farm Project does not suggest a future décor; Meiré in fact suggests “an attitude, a belief - a call to the alternative”. “For years now there has been this incredible urge to design everything, as the result of which we have gone without so many interesting, lovely and enchanting things, especially in the kitchen.” They do not oppose the stance of other manufacturers but do however highlight the monotony that is becoming of most manufacturers and fairs. Do not expect the Farm Project as the next kitchen trend but this installation could be the needed inspiration for a more honest and pragmatic style of living.

Passagen provides a platform for younger design collectives to unveil their work, exposing them to both public and professional attention. One such collective is Duunddu who produce unique, witty products such as their rabbit hutch made from a shopping basket or run consisting of giant caged jigsaw pieces; storage units inspired by the humble banana box and wine crate; shelves that ingeniously work with torsion rather than relying on screws to hold it together - these are just some of the items that made the young company stand out from the crowd.

The same flirtatious attitude was displayed at Floor to Heaven where playful designs have dramatically elevated the status of the humble carpet. Their new range ‘Silver & Pirates’ was launched at this year’s Passagen and drew plenty of interest with vivacious creations featuring skull and crossbones and patterns inspired by traditional Russian textiles. All the floor pieces are hand tufted, displaying astounding workmanship and intricate beauty, creating the dubbed “Floor Couture”.

Meanwhile, RCA graduates OKAY Studio exhibited work ranging from commercial products to mythological interpretations, all flaunting characteristics of the RCA Design Products course. Shay Alkalay’s Hoover Bag Bear inspired by sentimentality for throwaway products is accompanied with an amusing anecdote that personalises a peculiar object. “A simple employee at the council rubbish disposal services had a peculiar imagination -he could see teddy bears in all the rubbish he observed.” While RCA’s critics are irritated by the school’s “arrogance and complacency” and some pieces were verging on the ridiculous, we love Alkalay’s once disposable Hoover bag made lovable. It is these experimental and novel qualities of OKAY Studio that gave a playful perspective to a rather commercial and repetitive Passagen, reinforcing the young designer’s position amid the more established.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Brazilian company Etel Interiores presented its custom-made furniture and accessories from managed Amazonian forest wood. Each piece is bespoke and beautifully handcrafted near São Paulo. Etel works with young and renowned Brazilian designers such as Isay Weinfeld to give a refreshing take on handmade wooden furniture. Although not as colourful or attention grabbing as some furniture, Etel does give a welcome contrast to the plastic lacquered cabinets and poorly made furniture that are so common today.

DejaVu’s designer Doris Armbruster utilises reclaimed treasures, notably old architectural wood, to forge new furniture/ functional art pieces. A bench made from old ceiling beams, a cabinet made from the side of a barn, a cupboard featuring a rustic door – just some of the items that form a collection of beautiful furniture, each piece telling its own story and of course benefiting the environment through compelling reuse of materials.

It is crafted objects like these that are so good to see – a step backwards in terms of commonly perceived ‘progression’ but undeniably in the right direction. We are tired of seeing more and more soulless mass-produced furniture being distributed all over the world by large manufacturing corporations. Homes are filled up with the year’s must-have products from the latest ‘hot’ designer, only to be replaced the following year with something new. Bespoke furniture has the quality and character that spiritless factory-made items simply can’t provide. We say less mass-manufacturing, more soul!

Love or hate product goes to Architects hatch’ chipboard and neon orange resin cupboard. Artist and designer Marcus Benesch has done wonders to create anything out of chipboard, let alone this well finished composite of, shall we say, diverse materials. It may not sit well with your showroom replica living room but diversity and neon should be welcomed with open arms. But considering the €4,000 price tag, we would say, “look, but don’t touch”!

Phrase Mongering

written by Lou Smith an Patrick Spingler

”Design… Interior design... Outdoor design… Innovation… Functionality… Exciting insights and inspiration… Products that meet the demands of modern lifestyle, quality and shaping… Combining the old with the new… Get in touch with completely new and inspiring ideas from the crème de la crème of international designers…” Sounds good, but what does it all mean? Spanning over 150 spots all across the city is, what its founder calls, “a ’Mecca’ for the design hungry and meeting point for the international design world” - Passagen 2007. After reading the brochure it seems as if you couldn’t walk for 500 meters in Cologne without running into one of Europe’s top designers these days. But is what’s behind the Passagen event really the high quality design proclaimed by many of the participants, or is it just a PR lady with a dictionary making mouthwatering promises from behind a curtain, like the wizard of OZ?

Obviously some of them had a hard time with their grammar school vocabulary lessons, because the guide is full of big words, which sound nice but are used incorrectly. For example, two designers presented a chandelier that they say fits into the field of so-called "Haute Couture" lighting. The chandelier was made of plastic, and a boring design, leaving us wondering what those lamps have in common with the unique handmade fashion pieces that bear the same name? Asking the designers, it became obvious that they didn't know either. But, hey, who cares? Haute Couture still sounds fancy, doesn't it?

The blurbs were also full of pre-formed opinions on the designs themselves. How can the author know that I will find a design inspiring before I even look at it?

Once again, the trend this year is reusing old designs from the mid 20th century. One showroom included stacking beds from the 60’s that were reproduced with new colors and finishes. The design is still great; the only problem is the sign on the showroom window reading “Modern Design.” Since when is 40 years ago modern? As far as design history books go the “modern” design movement happened more than 100 years ago. And they certainly can’t intend “modern” to mean current design.

Another example, a high-end kitchen producer brought back a design this year, which was, in its time, meant to be a functional kitchen for four. It takes only two square meters of the extensive showroom and, as the hostess was presenting the item, it became clear that it hardly functions and would barely be enough kitchen for one person nowadays. It must have been a bad year for kitchen design if they are recycling this kind of crap. Reproducing old designs is not necessarily bad, but they should at least be appropriate for the current market.

Many furniture designers are presenting the innovative idea of “modular” furniture systems, which allow the owner to use his own creativity to make combinations of furniture in an all-new way. The most avant-garde couch owners are experimenting with an L-shaped "get together zone" for their living rooms. Sorry everyone, you’ve been duped, have you ever noticed that modular furniture hardly ever gets moved into new configurations once it’s in the owners hands? It has been around for a long time, and it’s no longer new and interesting, just absolutely normal.

At the Design Post, a location which hosts 17 Passagen participants, there was not a single new product introduced for the event. 13 did not change their permanent exhibition at all for the Passagen. One store even admitted that the main reason for joining Passagen was peer pressure from the neighboring stores. If the showrooms are open all year round with no changes, then what’s so special about Passagen? Every year more and more permanent showrooms and stores want to join the Passagen and it seems to be only a question of time until IKEA joins as well. Just imagine Passagen visitors trekking to the outskirts of town to visit the extensive IKEA “showroom” in Rodenkirchen. It would be an odd sight, but surely Passagen curator Mrs. Voggenreiter would appreciate the profits from their participation.

This is exactly the problem with Passagen today. It has been taken over by permanent stores, most of which have barely changed a thing for the event itself. Asking one store about changes for Passagen, they replied that their showroom laid new green carpet, special for the event. Obviously, a great part of the exhibitors are just using the brochure to help visitors find their way to their retail locations. Maybe handing out Yellow Pages would do the job just as well. At least this way many visitors could be preserved from the harassment of those mind-numbing phrases and boring showrooms.

The furniture festival has become such a mess that many participating locations aren’t even relevant to furniture design anymore. A hotel participated in the event displaying only one piece of design in the lobby with no background information available or even anyone standing near it. It was obviously a gimmick to get visitors to stay with them during the event. The most irrelevant entry on the list was an authorized Apple computer dealer: The last time we checked, computers aren’t furniture at all.

For one week Cologne is full of orange Passagen banners, but so many are lacking something unique and new to back them up. It is nice to have a furniture design event in the city, but Passagen should take care that the content of the event does not become too full of crap. The event is nothing but its content, and if the content is recycled, non-functional, or irrelevant, the event will quickly become all of those things itself.