Photo by Ian Hayhurst and under cc-license

A short note in my own account: I will be on radio next week! The radio station QUU.FM asked me to create a playlist of 12 songs, answer some interesting questions (about me) and present it all on their radio show QUU.FM Shuffle. Internet stars and friends like Kai of Stylespion and Marcel of UARRR already participated at the radio show.
I am really looking forward to create the playlist and answer their questions.

The whole thing will happen next week, Monday 13th September 2010 at 9pm (or 21.00). And the good thing is, you don’t even need to look for your transistor radio in the attic, you can listen to it online at QUU.FM.

1. A Creative Desk
2. Why I liked the last two days..
3. My heart beats for blogs (365)

Two weeks ago I was invited by Audi to visit the Audi Urban Future Award 2010.  The event took place in the historical and architectural miracle Venice. The idea behind the award is to find answers to challenges the future urbanism will cause by 2030. Six internationally renowned architectural firms from all over the world were asked by Stylepark to participate and develop visions and concepts.

“Stylepark is a leading international platform for architecture and design.” They organized the whole event together with the Audi AG.
Alison Brooks Architects, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Cloud 9, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Jürgen Mayer H. Architects and Standardarchitecture were the architectural firms which participated at the challenge. In the final round in Venice only five studios were able to present their visions. The studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro had to cancel because of some real projects.

The event

On Wednesday, 25th August, Audi invited to join the celebration of the winner of the Audi Urban Future Award 2010. Kai of Stilsucht and me arrived in Venice in the late afternoon. The event took place at the Scuola Grande Dela Misericordia, an impressive historical building. The prize giving ceremony started with a speech of Rupert Stadler, the chairman of Audi AG. He was not only the host of the event but also part of the jury, which chose the winner.

But there were several other well-known people in the jury: Wolfgang Egger, Head of Audi Group Design; Fernando de Mello Franco, Professor at São Judas Tadeu University in São Paulo; Christian Gärtner, Director of Stylepark AG; Andres Lepik, Curator of the Architecture and Design Department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Jun Ma, Vice Dean of the School of Automotive Studies at Tongji University in Shanghai; Rahul Mehrotra, teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and head of the jury Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. It was impressive to see who was asked to join the jury.

After the speech of the Rupert Stadler, Saski Sassen presented the five architectural firms and awarded the winner of the challenge. According to the jury the German Design Studio Jürgen Mayer H. Architects had the best presentation and won the Audi Urban Future Award 2010. Digital integration was one of the main aspects in the final concept of Jürgen Mayer H. Architects.

After the ceremony the exhibition of the five architects was openend. It was quite fascinating (and somehow bizarre) to see future concepts of urbanism in a historical building in Venice. Like Kai mentioned, in a city that will doubtfully exist the same way in 20 years.
The projects of the architects were overwhelming and very detailed. The concepts of the architects were diverse, it must have been to tough to make a decision and chose a winner. An overwhelming display was the one by the London based Alison Brooks Architects. They designed a whole miniature city:

You should jump over to Kai’s Stilsucht and read his report. He has also some great pictures of the event.

Review

All in all the event was a real blast. You can find some more photos here. In fact it was all too much for a few hours. The displays of the architects were so detailed, it could have taken hours to get a real glimpse of the projects. But unfortunately I wasn’t able to spend enough time at the exhibition to get this insight. I had to leave 12 1/2 hours after I landed in Venice. A company like Audi wasn’t able to book another flight although several other invited people were asked to stay longer.

When I reported about other events (here or here) where I was invited in the past, I was always honest and this time I want to be honest as well, although the organisation was such a mess. Not only the ludicrous stay of 12 1/2 hours in Venice but also other parts of the planning were really disappointing.
The highlight was a letter of Audi which lay on my bed when I came back to the hotel (at 1.30 am) after the event. It said that I would have been picked up by the taxi at 4.30 instead of 5.30 like it was arranged. To make a long story short. I waited one hour for nothing and got picked up at 5.30. You could say that wasn’t the worst thing but when you stay just 12 1/2 hours in Venice, and sleep 3 hours, it is not that funny anymore.

An other thing was that nobody of Audi or Stylepark ever introduced to us. It would have been nice to meet someone of the organizers and to ask a few questions or it even would have been quite good to get the chance to interview someone of the participating architects. So I had to ask some of the stuff my self but it was impossible to get a head of the architectural teams. The funny thing was, that on thursday the event went on with lectures of the participating architectural firms where they described their visions (maybe the most interesting part of event). But it took place without me. I guess blogs are not really respected in these companies.
I must say that these basic conditions made the trip not really enjoyable and that is quite sad, it would have been easy. Oh and by the way: the food was amazing!

1. Future Everything
2. Urban Gridded Notebook
3. OFFF Paris 2010

As you know I love when companies support artists and designers. And I like it when artists and designers are presented in a nice visual way. This time a company which is one of my most favorite brands ever, Incase, teamed up with Luis Farfan and Aaron Farley, partners of the THIS gallery in Los Angeles to start a video project.

The series focuses on emerging talent in the fields of art, music and design and aims to capture the people, places and things that bring us joy and spark creativity.
In the words of Luis Farfan, “We are infinitely inspired by everything around us: the sights and sounds of everyday life, the fluctuations between the seemingly mundane or overwhelmingly amazing experiences that we all go through.” (via goincase.com)

The first episode presents artist Danny Gibson:

THIS Visits presents an 8-minute portrait of Danny Gibson, a young man that escaped the cage of social class, dares to dream and is valiant is his efforts to remain staunchly nostalgic. (via goincase.com)

Once again mighty Johannes Klekse pointed out to it.

1. Intimate Strangers
2. The Creators Project
3. The Creators Project conquered London

Alice Rawsthorn is a design critic from Manchester, UK. She writes columns for the International Herald Tribune which includes the newspaper The New York Times and The New York Times Style Magazine. She was also the jury president of the international jury of the Rotterdam Design Prize 2009.

Alice Rassthorn hold a lecture titled The Next Promise of Design. This lecture explored the current state of affairs in design from an international perspective.

The symposium of the Rotterdam Design Price 2009 dealt with the following issue:

Designers are born innovators, revealing the outlines of a different reality in their ideas and their work. The current political and economic climate is undoubtedly leading people in the design business to raise serious questions about the role and meaning of design. What responsibility do designers want to take now and in the future? And how should they approach the major issues in 21st-century society? (via designprijs.nl)

The talk of Alice Rassthorn is really refreshing, she takes a look of the developments since the last century, mentions consequences from design of the past and visions the current and future trends in design. She mentions products like the Apple AirBook, electric cars or the monobloc plastic chair. What I really like is the fact that Alice Rassthorn doesn’t only criticize the but also vissions solutions and fields of design that will get even more important like visualizations or user interface software. Every person interested in design should watch this video.

I found the video through a tweet of Creative NRW.

1. Design Is History
2. What is art and What is design?
3. Designers’ Open 2009

The culture secretaries of the states NRW and Hamburg noticed the developments and reacted in two different ways. I met a representative of each attempt and had some interesting conversations. I like both ways. And for me this is pretty interesting because I grew up in Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW and I still have lots of friends there working in the creative industries. And I am working myself in the creative industries in Hamburg. I would like to present both attempts. Of course a lot of money is involved in both attempts, but also great ideas and approaches to use this money.

Creative NRW

A few weeks ago I met Guido Halfman of the Cluster Kulltur- und Kreativwirtschaft Creative NRW. He is an editor for the cluster and explained to me the work of Creative NRW. The ministry of culture of NRW wanted to create a way to support the creative industries. They started a pitch and two people and their ideas won: Werner Lippert, curator of the NRW Forum and experienced when it comes to new media. And the second person is Christian Boros, head of the agency Boros in Wuppertal. Both are cluster manager and responsable for the project.

What they do: I truly adore their work. They do not only give a pretty good report about the creative industries in NRW, but they also offer advices and support for start-ups, and people who want to start their life as freelancers. They support events and projects in NRW and host great events themselves, like the Creative.Heimat earlier this year. But the best part about Creative NRW is their way of communicating. You can chose between blog, facebook or twitter.It is impressive what they are publishing during the day. An outstanding collection of inspiration and creativity. Everybody who is interested in the developments and actions in the creative industries in NRW should keep an eye on Creative NRW.

Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft

The attempt in Hamburg is very young and still in setup. Egbert Rühl was called the head of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft in March this year (here is an interesting interview with him in German). Since then the team of six competent employees are building up an institution to support the local creative industries in Hamburg. Last week I met Jenny Kornmacher, she is responsable for the communication and projects at the institution. We had an interesting chat about the Kreativ Gesellschaft and their future fields of activity. I also met Egbert Rühl for a second and he seems very nice and motivated. So I am looking forward to the results of the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft.

One big part of the Kreativ Gesellschaft is the support and guidance for people and companies in the creative industries. For example university graduates can ask for help if they want to start their own business or if a start-up is looking for a space to settle down in Hamburg (you may know that Hamburg so far is not well known for supporting artists, creatives with space). They also support future freelancer who need help with social and health insurance. As I heard from many people who want to go or went into this direction, such a support would be really useful.

You can find the Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft on facebook and twitter. Like I mentioned above they are still building up themselves and need to find their way but I really hope that their communication will be similar to the one of Creative NRW. Hamburg has so much to give when it comes to the creative fields. Vernissages, meet-ups, congresses, bar camps, and much more. But a place/plattform where all the information is collected and presented is still missing. I hope that the Kreativ Gesellschaft will fulfill these needs.

Anyways, I am glad that politics still make some decisions that can be valued as good and supportable. I am keep an eye on their works and hope that they are not disappointing.

1. The Shelter – a creative workspace in Dubai
2. A creative wall
3. Creative Truths

Oh well, I was thinking about writing a report about this years Haldern Pop. But it was just too good to not write about it. So, I spend three and a half day at the small and pleasant festival in Haldern with some friends. We had some beer (and some more), enjoyed the beautiful weather and most important had the chance to listen and see some amazing bands.

I was not well prepared when I came to the festival. I only knew a few bands. To be honest, I just learned that Junip is the band of José González. I will not report abut every band, I will pick some highlights:

Thursday

The first day started with some bands but a friend of mine and me, we went to the Haldern Pop Bar where the band Isbells from Belgium was playing. The concert should have been in the Haldern Pop Bar but the electrics where making issues. And fortunately the band decided to play an acoustic concert on the streets. It was a beautiful start for the weekend.

Friday

This day was tough, I tink I was standing 8 hours and listened to so many bands. Some of them I can’t even remember! The day started for me with Triggefinger, a rock band which could play a set in a Quentin Tarantino movie. Rox, a young Jamaican and Iranian soul queen gave us some sweet songs. Of course, the big ones Mumford and Sons and Beirut were incredible. And Junip sure ended the night with some amazing tunes at 3.30 am.

Saturday

It was a day of surprises. I started with Helgi Jonsson. I saw him the first time earlier this year. After reading so many things about Kai’s and Marcel’s trip to Iceland I was totally in mood for some Icelandic folk songs. And yeah, it was perfect once again. He is a funny guy with beautiful voice and some interesting accent.

One big surprise were Villagers from Ireland. Truly breathtaking. The front man Conor J. O’Brien has such a clear voice and can play his guitar pretty well. Just check out his live performance in London:

Yeah, goosebumps guarantee. I can assure you, it was exactly that clear at Haldern.

And yeah, I am not sure what to say about The Tallest Man on Earth. I learned about Kristian Matsson via Stylespion. Like last year, when he reported about Bon Iver before he came to the Haldern Pop. And I have to agree Kai, he was incredible, the best thing I have seen for a long time. Once again I had goosebumps for the whole show.

After that Dan Deacon rocked the shit out of the crowd in the tent. He played a pretty funny and entertaining DJ set. I saw Dan Deacon at ARTE tracks before and I liked the crazy stuff me did. After The National, the Whale Watching Tour with Helgi Jonsson again and some other brilliant musicians ended this years Haldern.

All in all a wonderful weekend. And I can’t wait for next year. I hope next time Kai will join me. And I truly hope that one other special person will be able to join me as well!

1. Haldern Pop Festival 2009
2. Haldern Pop Review Part 1
3. re:publica 2010

This time the event took place in the Zeche Zollverein, a world heritage in Essen, Ruhrgebiet. The former pit is now converted into a huge playground for design within this rough historical place. In my opinion the perfect place to host such an event like the Smart brand workshop.

During the day we were allowed to drive different models of Smart. For example a Smart Brabus with 102 PS. I am not that big of a car-fan but driving in such a car is like playing with toys. Malte and me, we both shared some driving experiences and had some chats during our test drives, we had a huge smile on our faces while we were driving this car trough the Ruhrgebiet. Later we also tried the Smart Electric Drive, which was also a great experience and in my opinion also a first glimpse into the future.

Photo by Teymur Madjderey under cc-license

You may remember the last time I mentioned that there were a few things that could be criticised. Like we didn’t know who else was there or that we didn’t actually do a “workshop”. For my surprise and satisfaction this time they realized both things. We started a kick-off meeting where everybody could introduce himself. We learned who else was there and what they are blogging about. And later the day the spend the evening at a very pleasant beach bar and did some easy workshops where everybody was free to attend.

Photo by Teymur Madjderey under cc-license

I liked the easy atmosphere and we all talked about some things like the future of mobility or the reputation of the brand Smart. I can assure you, it was not only interesting for the people of Smart/Mercedes but also for us. We learned a lot about the brand and how things work within such a company.

All in all it was a great day and really fun to hang out with blogger like my good friend Malte, or Teymur, who I met for the first time a while ago at the Design Camp in Cologne. But it was also great to see the people of Mercedes again, especially the team of Tobias and Kristina. If the next event will be such a nice experience again, I am looking forward to it.

I don’t need to mention that the drinks were great, the food was delicious or the music was nice, or? By the way, Teymur also wrote a blog post about the brand workshop with some nice photos. You can find the photos also in his flickr stream, where I also took some of the photos above.

1. Mercedes-Benz Brand Workshop
2. Why I liked the last two days..
3. Mercedes called…

“It is our habit of trade, idea-sharing and specialization that has created the collective brain which set human living standards on a rising trend. This, he says, ‘holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead — because ideas are having sex with each other as never before.’”

It reminded me of something:

1. It’s all about sharing and the little ideas
2. Matt Pyke and Universal Everything
3. RSAnimate

“YASLY is a burgeoning collective. We are comprised of fellow musicians, leather craftsman, letterpress artisans, house wives and carpenters. Our goal is to cultivate old world techniques into tangible expressions of thought.” via yasly.com

I virtually wandered around his blog for hours last night. An outstanding source for visual inspiration. But I always came back to one post about some videos. And I watched the following video more than five times.

“Intimate Strangers” is about “Familiar Strangers”, a solo exhibition from Japanese artist Yoskay Yamamoto. The film was produced by Darin Unke and directed, shot and edited by Jeremy Asher Lynch (who also has some other impressive videos).

The combination of the visually very appealing pictures and the relaxing beats of DiAL enchained me.

1. Why I like GOOD
2. The Creators Project conquered London
3. THIS Visits

I love the passion that is delivered by these videos. You can see how much these people love what they are doing. I admire that they actually make something that can be used, that is real. Not like all this internet stuff. You get your hands on things, and with your own power, ability and the help of some tools you produce some amazing things, like a stool, a bicycle or a cup of coffee.

grain&gram

There are several videos out there presenting the craftsmanship (some are listed below) but I want to present The New Gentleman’s Journal grain&gram. For me this is top notch of presenting the art.

Addition:

Via Paul’s “new” blog Design Is Nowhere, I found out who is responsable for grain&gram. The Florida based photographer JonPaul Douglass wrote on his blog:

“Danny Jones, Aaron Martin and myself have spent a good amount of our free time to create something interesting and visually stimulating. This has been a fun project so far and we hope to update as much as possible!”

I can totally agree that grain&gram is interesting and stimulating! And he is not alone with his hope. I can’t wait for the next posts.

grain&gram have a little different approach than the formats I’ve seen so far. They present the people not only in form of a video, they write a whole article about the men who produce some great stuff. They interview the craftsmen and add some beautiful pictures and graphics:

So far there are four reports about craftsmen. Sean Woolsey, a man who produces custom furniture and lighting. Greg Perkins, a musician from Houston, Texas. The English manufacturer Paul Vincent. And my favorite so far, Nick Sambrato, a passionate printmaker who wasn’t a printmaker in the first place:

“Eventually, I bought a friend’s (Austin) screen printing company. Screen printing blew my mind to pieces — printing gig posters with screens and squeegees in real ink (that ran). I learned how to screen print in two weeks, and that was it, I was a screen printer. That’s what made me fall in love with printing, because that was really printing.”

grain&gram also created an oustanding video about Nick Sambrato which makes me wanna create my own things again! Get my hands on stuff, to saw, paint, dress – create something.

Like I mentioned above there are several other audiovisual sources for craftsmanship. And I wanna mention a few.

The Scout

Tom Ran and his team of The Scout Mag created some amazing videos about so far three different kinds of craftsmen. The Mast Brothers is my most favorit one:

DDDD

The Department of the 4th Dimension also created some outstanding videos about Intelligentsia Coffee, a coffee and tea house in Venice, California. I like the video where Chris Owens makes a coffe with a syphon:

Geekhouse

Another great video presents the custom bike producers Geekhouse:

1. Japan – The Strange Country
2. Intimate Strangers
3. The Creators Project conquered London