i like local*

Let There be Light

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000Z

(Peled Soffitto by Viabizzuno)

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #260

While the days have been shorter and the evenings darker, I can’t help but think about what might be some of my favourite designed objects: lights. A type of expression that can take its form in an industrial product, a decorative object, an almost intangible scheme or a quirky design, lighting – when done well – can constitute the best of industrial design, craft, art, architecture or the meeting points between them all. During Ireland’s Design Week at the beginning of November, Dublin-based lighting designers ShadowLight hosted an event exploring the philosophy of Mario Nanni, founder of Italian manufacturer Viabizzuno, and what he calls ‘The 8 Rules of Light’. Artificial light, according to Nanni, needs to inspire as well as illuminate. Viabizzuno’s range features a number of pieces that do both, as well as fittings you can believe blend seamlessly into an architectural setting. One more striking piece from the broad range Viabizzuno offer is their Peled Soffitto, designed by Antoni Arola. Light seems to burst from the ends of a cluster of slender aluminium rods hanging from a ceiling, creating an striking sculptural form, but one that doesn’t overpower its setting. Peled Soffitto seems to create a soft ambient light and functions equally as illuminant and focal point.

(Collection of Light by Humans Since 1982)

Currently showing at Phillips & de Pury in London, the latest work from Stockholm design studio Humans Since 1982 is a curious piece, far more focal point in itself than functional lamp to illuminate something else. Evoking a display case filled with an insect collection, Collection of Light shows the LED as a curiosity in itself. By collecting and arranging various LEDs in a display case-cum-lamp, the aim is to "expose each illuminant as a worthy industrial product". The collection of LEDs in different sizes, intensities and colour temperatures certainly makes for an interesting display, and serves as a great reminder of the technology going into today’s lighting, placing it centre-stage rather than hiding it within a fitting. The result is remarkable: a beautiful, intriguing object filled with a range of beautiful, intriguing objects: a collection of light more than worthy to be part of anyone’s collection of design.

Designer's Drawings

2012-01-16T10:00:00.000Z

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #259

October saw the opening of the first major retrospective of the work of Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, prolific and influential French product designers, in the Centre Pompidou-Metz in north-east France. The exhibition is entitled Bivouac, meaning a temporary encampment, and as such the gallery space will be inhabited by the Bouroullec’s work until July 2012. As much a testament to the brothers’ immensely accomplished designs, the exhibition is also an insight into the process employed by the designers, with finished products shown alongside prototypes, and mass-produced objects paired with those which have been hand-crafted.

Another interest element of the show which is further explored in an iPad app produced to accompany Bivouac is the display of the brothers’ drawings. More elusive than the ubiquitous architectural drawing, drawings by designers are often hidden away and forgotten about, or not considered for public consumption. In his manual Drawing for Designers author Alan Pipes says that though they are “more than mere instructions on how to make objects”, designer’s drawings can often be “a private and hidden art, the marks on paper treated merely as a means to an end”. In many ways, the various types of drawings made by designers are a means to an end, be they tools for communication of an idea to a client or manufacturer or technical illustrations to instruct the end user on the finished product, but drawings are also an incredibly important method of designing itself – formulating ideas, exploring forms or finding solutions to the problem at hand. In Understanding Design designer and writer Kees Dorst instructs the designer to embrace “...not so much the brilliant execution of complete images, but the production of ugly little sketches that will help you think about your design. The kind of images that only you will understand”.

Far from ugly though, the drawings of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec are beautiful, charming and full of character, and their iPad app entitled Cercles is a fantastic way of exploring their drawings, using the iPad’s high resolution and touchscreen functionality to great effect. Concurrently, and perhaps coincidentally, a book of illustrations and drawings by another contemporary design icon, Karim Rashid, has recently been published by FRAME. Where the Bouroullec’s drawings are imbued with the same playful quirkiness of their products, Rashid’s drawings hold all the curvaceous confidence you would expect. Sketch shows an extensive collection of Rashid’s own concept drawings along with some digital artworks to give a real sense of the place drawing and illustrating holds in Rashid’s practice.

To see behind the veil of highly finished presention drawings to the rough and ready sketches of designers such as Rashid and the Bouroullecs provides a snapshot of the question-asking, the problem-solving and the playful creativity that goes into the design of an object. There is something raw and honest about the drawings presented in Rashid’s book and the Bouroullec’s app, and they are wonderfully expressive of the vigour and energy by which the creative process is driven.

Here's the Heads Up #13

2011-12-09T17:43:00.001Z

(Jim Field's apple from 50/50 Grow)

Ongoing:
50/50 Grow, a digital orchard
The boys over at Studio Aad decided to plant a digital orchard in aid of UNICEF's East Africa appeal. The idea is simple: designers, photographers and illustrators contribute an image of an apple, and you can 'water' one of them by giving a €5 donation. In return you get a high-res version of the image(s) you've chosen (the one I picked, above, is currently my desktop wallpaper).

Ongoing:
IAF Winter Sale, www.architecturefoundation.ie
The IAF has set up a virtual merch stand selling dvds, their publication for A Space for Learning (which recently won its printer Plus Print the 'Irish Small Printer of the Year' award) and maybe most notably the brick-book-bag designed by Conor & David for last year's Open House Dublin. And best of all, it's a brick-book-bargain :)

Until 20 January:
Surface Tension: The Future of Water, Science Gallery, TCD, Dublin 2
There's still a week to catch Science Gallery's investigation of The Future of Water through work by scientists, engineers, artists, designers and more. This exhibition is still on my 'to visit' list, particularly for the film by Still Films which follows artist Fergal McCarthy as he sees a new side of Dublin on a swim from one end of Dublin bay to another, not without also swimming the Liffey, the Grand Canal and a number of pools.

Until 21 January:
A la mesa! Design and Food, Instituto Cervantes, Foster Place, Dublin 2
The first of two back-to-back design exhibitions in the Instituto Cervantes, A la mesa! explores objects designed for the kitchen and dining room, showing the changes occuring in Spanish food and design in terms of shopping, preparing and serving. Just a few days later on the 26 January it will be followed up by Spanish Accent in Design, which maps Spain's extensive creative pool in terms of design, advertising and architecture.

Until 31 January:
OFFSET2012 Early Bird Tickets, www.iloveoffset.com
Ireland's premier creative festival returns to Grand Canal Theatre from 9 - 11 March 2011, featuring international speakers such as Pentagram's Michael Beirut and Stefan Sagmeister along with homegrown talent such as Rich Gilligan and Johnny Kelly (see Procrastination below, which might explain why this blog isn't updated more often). Though it's a little while to go for the event itself, you've only got until the end of the month to grab an early bird ticket. Don't say I didn't warn you...

(Procrastination via Johnny Kelly on Vimeo)

A Council by Any Other Name...

2011-11-25T10:16:00.001Z

The Crafts Council of Ireland, after having postponed voting on this issue at their last AGM, are proposing to change their name to include the word 'Design' somewhere. Though they do not intend to change or extend their remit, they feel amending the organisation's name will better reflect the part of their membership which works between craft and design. They're currently running an online survey for members of their Guilds, Associations, Networks and Societies as well as registered members of the Crafts Council to express whether they're for or against a name change and if they're for it, what the name should change to. Based on the results of the survey, this issue could be voted on by the Crafts Council's membership at the next AGM in June 2012 or at an EGM at another time.

Renaming the Crafts Council to include the word 'Design' may well better represent a small proportion of the Crafts Council's existing members, but this proposal has much wider, much more negative ramifications than that. Currently, Ireland's craft community has proper representation and support from the Crafts Council and Ireland's art community has the same (if not better) from the Arts Council. Ireland's design community, however, has no such government-level recognition, representation or support. There's no government body to go to for funding, there's no organisation engaging in the promotion of Irish design nationally and internationally, and nobody is pushing for the education of designers, nor for that matter the education of the public on the value of design. Ireland needs an actual Design Council, one that will represent all design disciplines: from fashion to graphics, interaction and app design to medical devices, furniture, products and lighting to interiors, landscapes and urban spaces. If, as proposed by the Crafts Council, we get an organisation with the words 'Design' and 'Council' in its title, Ireland will never get the actual Design Council it needs and deserves, and all of these creative disciplines will continue to go unrepresented and unsupported.

The Crafts Council's online survey closes today, so I would urge you - if you're a member or associate member of the Crafts Council, or if you have an affiliation with any of the Crafts Council's registered networks or societies (there's a list of them at the start of the survey) - to take a few minutes to fill it out and say NO to the proposed name change! Even if you feel the inclusion of the word 'Design' in the Crafts Council's name might better reflect what it is you do, think about all the other creatives who will be left without proper representation - our celebrated fashion designers, our talented web and graphic designers, our burgeoning community of game and interaction designers, our urban, landscape, interior, product, furniture and lighting designers....the list goes on...

Dublin Design Retailers

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000Z

This article was first published in Architecture Ireland #258

Perhaps it’s an unusual time to open up a design shop in Dublin. However, a number of people have taken the plunge and opened their own design stores in the city in the past eighteen months or so, each with a unique vision and individual range of stock. Design retail stalwarts such as Wild Child and more recent retailers like the Irish Design Shop are being joined by a new generation. I caught up with three such new kids on the block to find out their motivations for setting up and starting off on a new adventure.

First up was Vanessa MacInnes, owner of Industry (Smock Alley, Temple Bar), a shop dedicated to vintage and upcycled pieces as well as new design. Vanessa has a real passion for the industrial aesthetic, and during her years working as an interior designer had trouble finding anything of that style in Ireland. Industry now stocks an ever-changing range of vintage and one-off industrial furniture, from postal desks to metal shelving units. Paired with the harder edged furniture is a range of printed cushions, artworks and tabletop objects, illustrating how easy it can be to work something with an industrial feel into an interior.

(Image courtesy of Industry)

Next door to Industry you’ll find Gary Tiernan’s Ubode, a cafe-cum-design shop where you can have a coffee and then stock up on the necessary utensils to feed your caffeine addiction at home. With a growing range of Bodum products, along with products from Normann Copenhagen, Joseph Joseph and others, there’s plenty to look at while you sip your latte or eat your lunch. Gary began Ubode as an online design shop, but by cleverly combining his love of design and his experience in catering has made another great indie addition to Temple Bar’s west end.

If you head for the beautiful surroundings of the Powerscourt Centre you’ll find Article on the ground floor. Run by John Adams, Article stocks a small but perfectly formed range of tableware and home accessories. His selection of beautiful and quirky pieces are sourced both at home and abroad includes old favourites such as Seletti to more unusual ranges by London-based designer Rob Ryan and French company Reine Mere.

(Reine Mere coasters)

One thing that seems clear from each of these people is how now really is the opportune time to take a chance and start something new. Unlike before, it’s affordable to rent a city-centre retail space, it’s possible to get small orders from suppliers, and with few people offering you a job, why not make up your own? As for customers, each shop I visited was busy and everyone was making sales. Each location brings with it a mix of locals and tourists keen to pick up something attractive and useful, and each retailer can rely on a core base of returning customers who recognise that each offers good quality stock at a reasonable price.

A willingness to change and evolve is another thing that these retailers have in common. Each began their current business out of a need to find something new to do when work was running out. And from changes as small as adding more colourful stock or popping-up in alternative locations to bigger changes like moving from online-only sales to running a premises too (or vice versa), each of these people is keen to adapt to what is going on and what their customers look for. It’s a good trait to have at a time where a lot of people are learning the hard way that the old way of doing things isn’t always the best. Article is very much about the brighter things in life – patterned crockery, limited edition prints to hang on your walls, and useful objects with a decorative feel. As Ubode develops, so too will its range of fine foods and the fine utensils you’ll want and need to prepare them with. Industry loves all things industrial, but through careful selection of complimentary stock, shows you how you can live with edgy one-off pieces.

(Grafik Fabrik cushion)

If these three locations don’t satisfy your urge for objects, there are plenty of others to choose from. Head to North Circular Road to visit Malthouse Design Centre, an initiative of architects Greg Tisdall and Arthur Duff. Offering studio space and workshop facilities along with mentoring based on their extensive experience in furniture design, the Malthouse is a hub for emerging furniture designers. It is also an exhibition space and will open its doors for this year’s Open House Dublin. Designist on South Great George’s Street features a small range of objects with an urban feel and an affordable price-range. (I’m currently coveting the Royal VKB French Carafe Set). The Irish Design Shop at Bow Lane East offers a great range of homegrown products, my favourites on offer at the moment being the Grafik Fabrik textiles.

Each of these stores comes with its own unique take on things; different stock with a different feel. What will charm you about these shops most of all is that you’re not buying from companies, but you’re buying from people; people with an infectious passion for design.

Alessi and Architects

2011-11-03T15:57:00.000Z

The article below first featured in Architecture Ireland #257

Alessi, an Italian family company founded in 1921, has always been at the forefront of the design and manufacture of kitchen and home wares. Its first chief designer (later their chief executive) Carlo Alessi was instrumental in the formation of Alessi’s signature style: playful and never so simplistic that the product lost a sense of character. To date, one of Alessi’s bestselling products is Carlo Alessi’s Bombé tea and coffee set, originally designed in 1946. Favouring something less minimal than many of its northern European counterparts, it made sense for Alessi to begin in the 1980s to collaborate with ‘star’ designers and architects to create statement works that were both experimental and fun. Since then, Alessi has had many big names design special commissions, limited edition pieces and everyday ranges for the brand. As well as a typically Italian interest in flamboyant designs, Alessi has always been keen to explore and expand in terms of its manufacturing abilities. Originally a craftsman-led factory, Alessi has developed its manufacturing techniques in tandem with industry at large. Collaboration with outside designers has led Alessi to become a place for technical experimentation as well as a ‘workshop’ for new design ideas and typologies. In 1983 Alessi began its Tea and Coffee Piazza series, where eleven architects, including Aldo Rossi, Robert Venturi and Hans Hollein - whose idea that “alles ist architecktur” (everything is architecture) is particularly resonant - were invited to design highly limited tea and coffee sets. In 2002 Alessi returned to the idea with their Tea and Coffee Towers, inviting Chipperfield, Wiel Arets, UN Studio and others to design a new generation of exclusive tea and coffee sets.

Japanese firm SANAA designed a highly limited (99 editions, most now held in design collections around the world) tea and coffee set for the Towers project. This set of coffee pot, tea pot, milk jug, sugar bowl and sweet box look just like round, juicy fruit when clustered together on their tray. This highly finished fruit bowl is simultaneously playful and elegant, and a perfect example of how much room for expression a small set of objects can provide. Jean Nouvel’s contribution to the project led to an everyday range of double-walled, highly polished stainless steel objects such as a pitcher, milk jug, mocha mug and sugar bowl, with matching saucers, trays and spoons. All of the objects are alluringly simple, but the larger of them (the pitcher and the milk jug) have a purposeful indent on their sides – interrupting the regularity of their forms.

After former UK architectural practice Future Systems contributed to the Tea and Coffee Towers project they went on to design the Bettina range for Alessi. Bettina is a fine example of an everyday range that epitomises its designers’ architectural style on a vastly smaller scale. Bettina’s porcelain, glassware and cutlery all achieve that same fluidity of form that you see in Future Systems’ architectural output. At times graceful and at times bulbous and playful, the sometimes outlandish formal qualities of a Future Systems building become altogether homelier and more elegant on this smaller scale.

Having worked many times with David Chipperfield since his own interpretation of the Tea and Coffee Towers, it made sense that when Alessi decided to take their first step into furniture production, they would do so with a long-time collaborator. Chipperfield’s Piana folding chair is an expression of function and simplicity, but not without Alessi’s trademark flamboyance (the chair is produced in a wide range of colourful polypropylene with integrated glass fibre for strength). Alessi’s dedication to experimentation rather than solely focussing on large-scale manufacture and commercial output has led not only to projects that embrace creativity, character and even luxury, but has also led to everyday ranges that are elegant and fun. And now that Alessi is beginning to embrace furniture production, its ‘workshop’ for ideas can now take an even larger scale and greater scope.

(All images via Alessi)

Alessi Lust

2011-07-20T12:19:00.000+01:00

In a recent and exciting turn of events I was recruited as a design columnist for Architecture Ireland and my first article took a look at architects who cross over to design by working for Italian manufacturer Alessi. The inspiration came from a new range of chairs designed for the company by David Chipperfield, but this project is one of many engaged in by Alessi for decades, where an impressive range of architects and designers have designed impressive ranges of products, from highly limited objects to everyday-use items.

One range of products that didn't make it to the article (not for lack of quality but simply because it didn't come from an architect) but really impressed me is Ovale, a tableware range by French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. The broad range is beautifully simple and elegant, but not without a small sense of the personality you expect from the Bouroullec brothers. Few meals you could serve on these plates and bowls could be tastier...

(Images via Alessi)

here's the heads up #12

2011-07-08T17:16:00.000+01:00

(Image of Bord Gáis Above Ground Installation, John McLaughlin, DDDA and artist Martin Richman by Ros Kavanagh)

Running until midnight 12 July:
Public Choice Award, www.irisharchitectureawards.ie
Your chance to vote for your favourite building of the last twelve months is almost up!

Running until 16 July:
NAMAlab, 1-2 Cope St, Dublin 2 and 17 Kings Inn St, Dublin 1
NAMAlab is a research project undertaken by final year Architecture students in DIT that aims to propose new uses for Dublin's NAMA buildings. They've mapped what they can of the portfolio (it's under wraps as to just how much of the city's built environment is part of it) and they have their findings and proposals on display at the addresses above. You can also go on walking tours of some of the sites on Saturday afternoon (12noon and 2pm) and hear economist Dr. Constanin Gurdgiev speak on the subject on Thursday evening in Cope Street (6.30pm). NAMAlab's presence in Cope Street and Kings Inn Street might be the culmination of their studies in DIT, but could be the beginning of an interesting chapter in Dublin's development - stay tuned.

Running until 30 July:
AAI Awards 2011 Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Clare St, Dublin 2
The Architectural Association of Ireland recently held its annual Awards ceremony, with a number of new and established architects scooping the prizes, including John McLaughlin for the stunning Bord Gáis Above Ground Installation, pictured above. You can see the award winners in the Print Rooms of the National Gallery of Ireland until the end of the month, and you can pick up their annual book from the Gallery shop.

Opening 13 July, running until 19 July:
Common Ground, 28 South William Street, Dublin 2
Common Ground is an exhibition of work by photographer Rich Gilligan and stylist Aisling Farinella which is all about "twisting conventions in fashion and architecture". Gilligan and Farinella have photographed the work of several Irish designers each in a specific architectural location which echos certain formalist or conceptual aspects of the designer's collection.

musing about mude

2011-07-07T20:47:00.002+01:00

(Image via Pribeiro on Flickr)

I recently spent a mega sunny week in Lisbon, and while people here in Dublin celebrated the city's position on the shortlist to be next World Design Capital, I visited MUDE - Museu do Design e da Moda - Lisbon's beautiful design museum. Located on Rua Augusta, one of the main shopping streets close to the riverside, MUDE has taken its home in a former bank building after years of dereliction and dilapidation. Rather than cover over that part of the building's history however, the museum maintains both its stylish staircases and its grotty walls and ceilings, laying the building's whole story bare. Within the space the ground floor is home to a permanent exhibition of the museum's permanent collection of design and fashion. It serves the purpose not only of showing some of the vast amount of artefacts amassed by Portuguese collector Francisco Capelo but also to provide an introduction to the major developments in design and fashion over the last 100 years.

(Compass desk by Jean Prouvé, 1955)

Move to the first floor for temporary exhibitions, the one currently in place being a collaboration between MUDE and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antigua (MNAA). The exhibition places the much older objects from the MNAA collections alongside the newer objects in MUDE and vice-versa, exploring how the past inspires the present and how certain preoccupations in design are cyclical, returning to fascinate designers again and again.

While a visit to a place like MUDE gives you a reminder of how far we've come in the last 100 years, and how many wonderful objects we've produced in that time (like the Jean Prouvé desk pictured above - one of my favourite pieces on show), it's also a sharper reminder of how much a city like Dublin - shortlisted to be a WDC or not - needs a resource like it. When seeing a place like this, and when hearing the news that London's Design Museum will soon move to a bigger and better building, it becomes clear that Dublin needs a space that teaches the public about design in an accessible and meaningful way, and a space where ideas about design can be explored and discussed. And these days we have more and more bank buildings that might benefit from repurposing...

holidays!

2011-06-18T13:00:00.001+01:00

I leave for a holiday in Lisbon today armed with little other than suncream, multiple dresses and the le cool guide to the city. See you in a week!

le cool walking tours

2011-06-17T21:06:00.000+01:00

(le cool issue 057 cover by Will St. Leger)

Not long ago a new initiative from the boys behind le cool Dublin was launched via Fund:it. They've devised a series of walking tours that will take visitors and locals alike into the cultural heart of the city and provide a snapshot of what's happening around Dublin at any given point. Rather than give a tour solely about Dublin's history, Michael and Ciaran aim to show you what's happening in in the city right now, taking groups to exhibitions, pop-up spaces, one-time only performances or rehearsals and more. Every tour will be slightly different, with no reused routes or scripts.

Yesterday's tour took in a number of sights and stops in the Liberties, followed by an introduction to a new arts festival 10 Days in Dublin and a sneak-peak at a rehearsal by chamber choir New Dublin Voices in the beautiful University Church on St. Stephen's Green. What I thought was particularly enjoyable and impressive about the tour was how it managed to inform those of us on it not only about the current pulse of the city but also about some of the quiet constants here too. After visiting an exhibition in Meath Street by This Is Collective we popped in to a number of the traders who inspired and collaborated on the project - a reminder that the Liberties always was and is still an area full of independent trade; trade that needs our support more than ever. After that we called into John Keane of Lantern Antiques for more than just an insight into Dublin's antique quarter; for wisdom and life lessons from a man who's had ups, downs and adventures.

When you book your le cool Dublin tour (which I recommend you do) this isn't the tour you'll go on. You might not even go near this part of the city. You may see and do all the things your guide planned in advance, or you may deviate from the route and see something entirely unexpected. The tours are relaxed, flexible and a little ad hoc - a bit like the city they help you to explore.

seaside house

2011-06-16T20:30:00.000+01:00

Often when I take a walk along Termonfeckin beach in Co. Louth I've spotted this house, but until recently never knew anything about it. Then I stumbled upon it while taking a look at the shortlist for the Public Choice Award as part of this year's Irish Architecture Awards, and it turns out it's by Dublin-based A2 Architects. At first glance, it's pretty different to everything else along the seaside (mainly mobile homes and dormer bungalows), but when you take a little time with it, you begin to see that its long rectangular shape and horizontal panelling borrows a little bit from the caravans on either side, while still maintaining quite a unique character and slick feel. And by the looks of the images below, the views of the interior are as nice as the views it has across the sea. Well worth consideration for a vote in the awards...

get more than you give

2011-06-13T22:36:00.000+01:00

The beautiful photo above, taken in St. Patrick's Park in Dublin, was devised by abgc and seanandyvette to raise awareness about the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and World Donor Day, which is tomorrow (Tuesday 13 June). I gave blood today. It might seem a little scary, but if you can at all I completely recommend you donate. Blood is needed in huge quantities all over the country every week and your donation could save someone's life, so any squeamishness you might experience will be completely overshadowed by the warm fuzzy feeling you'll have after your visit to the clinic. Like the IBTS say, you get more than you give.

the fourth wall

2011-05-09T23:48:00.000+01:00

This weekend I gorged myself a small bit on architectural screenings. Currently running in the IFI is The Fourth Wall, a season of architectural films curated by Nathalie Weadick of the IAF and Samantha Martin-McAuliffe of UCD Architecture. The season explores architecture as a protagonist, or sometimes as a physical manifestation or extension of a character. It looks to show architectures margins, and to tell its story from alternative viewpoints.

The most enjoyable screening so far has been Koolhaas HouseLife by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoîne. Koolhaas HouseLife invites the viewer to a tour of Rem Koolhaas' Maison à Bordeaux, given by the cleaner Guadalupe. Right from the off you are confronted by the difference between the idealism of the design and the reality of living and caring for it. Rather than a critique of the house, it's a warm and witty film that grounds statement architecture in the realm of the everyday. Well worth a watch if you come across it, and the trailer's below.

The programme to come includes screenings of footage of Dublin from the Irish Film Archive and a filmic essay by Thom Anderson about LA entitled Los Angeles Plays Itself. Running all week is Wim Wenders' If Buildings Could Talk, a short 3D exploration of SANAA's Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, which is a really beautiful building. And it features SANAA on segways. Nuff said, really.

a redraft of dublin

2011-05-05T16:49:00.000+01:00

(One of 30 Pivot Dublin covers, designed by Conor Swanton)

I've just spent a chunk of this afternoon watching the videos on the Pivot Dublin website. Made to accompany Dublin city's bid to be designated 2014 World Design Capital, they communicate some of the ideas that have both led to and developed from Dublin City Council's decision to put the city in the running for WDC. Dublin's entry into this international competition (for want of a better word for it) not only causes you to question what it is or what it could be that makes a city a design capital (does a city have to have a longstanding tradition in design to be a design capital?) but reminds you of the first principles of design (working out of necessity, problem-solving, encouraging change) and elucidates how and why design might be applied across all scales for the good of a city and its inhabitants. From any conversations I've heard or been part of since Pivot Dublin began to develop, and indeed from many of the conversations that have been happening for the past two years in Ireland, it's become clear that Ireland and its capital city are at a pivotal point: the ways of being before now don't work anymore and many facets of our economy and society need to be rethought (or redesigned). Pivot Dublin embodies this need and offers the opportunity (and the 'permission' - an interesting word that got used in all of the filmed conversations that accompany the bid) to redraft Dublin and redesign our daily lives. Perhaps being a design capital doesn't mean producing a lot of design professionals, maybe it means applying design to make the city work better and feel happier.

The short films made by Areaman for the bid take two forms: conversations and dialogue. The conversations take place in three different homes, where groups of people involved in design and the arts discuss place, well-being and systems; each of which are products of, enablers of and sometimes stumbling blocks to design. The dialogue (an excerpt of which is below) is an opportunity for a number of people to answer, and then ask, questiions about Dublin and design. If you get the chance, they're worth a watch. Some very interesting ideas come out of them, and I think they show the extent of the potential Pivot Dublin has to change modes of thinking and ways of doing.

here's the heads up #11

2011-05-02T21:50:00.001+01:00

Running from 5 until 16 May:
The Fourth Wall, IFI, Eustace Street, Dublin 2
Presented by the Irish Architecture Foundation and the IFI, The Fourth Wall is a film programme that explores architecture in cinema in terms of architecture as more than a built background, but as a protagonist in film. In particular I'm looking forward to the screening of Koolhaas HouseLife on 7 May (which is like a filmic tour of one of his houses given by the cleaner of the house), but the programme also includes a symposium on architecture and cinema and a week-long workshop in Exchange Dublin. More info on all of it here and you can buy tickets here.

Sunday 15 May:
Screenprinting workshop, Hello Operator, 12 Rutland Place, Dublin 1
More info here
I visited Hello Operator for the first time this weekend for a Skinny Wolves gig. Not only was the gig fun but Hello Operator is a fab little space run by the people who gave Dublin Red Space and the Joy Gallery. They run regular screenprinting workshops which are fab value at €45 (and after you get to keep your screen and squeegee). Bring along a design or come up with one when you're there and get printing! Visit the website for more info and to book.

Running until 4 May:
Fund:it: Open House Dublin book, www.fundit.ie
Blah blah blah OHD on Fund:it. I know I've been on and on about it, but only two days left to grab the great rewards and help make the OHD book happen!

Running until 10 May:
Fund:it: Dublin Dance Festival - Access All Areas , www.fundit.ie
Reprising this one too - take a look back if you still need convincing...

Running until 25 May:
Fund:it: The Maglus, www.fundit.ie
The second design project to go up on Fund:it, the Maglus is a magnetic stylus for the iPad. It's a really simple but clever idea - it's difficult to lose because it sticks to the iPad without the risk of scratching it. AND if you pledge €15, you'll get one at a steal (they'll retail at €25).

Brick Book Bag

2011-04-21T10:16:00.000+01:00

People have been all a-twitter about Conor & David's Brick Book Bag, which has just been revealed as a reward for backing the OHD book on Fund:it. I think it's a pretty clever and cool graphic, and I'm now even happier that I clicked "fund:it"!

not simply simple

2011-04-20T17:09:00.000+01:00

Hopefully you'll have seen Less but Better, the small in quantity but high in quality exhibition of the work of German industrial designer Dieter Rams in Exchange, Temple Bar before it closes tomorrow. Although exhibitions of Rams' work often take up much larger museum spaces, there's something quite apt about showing his work in a space the size of a small living room. The designs by Rams and his team for Braun (as well as for furniture manufacturer Vitsoe) did an impressive job of making industrial objects attractive and homely, and as a result, much of Rams' output has played an important role in daily life, as beautiful tools for living.

Coinciding with the exhibition, curated by the guys behind Curate and Design, was a talk with Professor Klaus Klemp at NCAD. Klemp curated of a major touring exhibition of Rams' work entitled Less and More, a phrase he uses to express the fact that what Rams does when he designs is not merely to reduce, to strip back or to minimalise; Rams' work is deeply considered and cleverly planned to contain and communicate exactly what it needs to. As Klemp says, Dieter Rams' designs are "not simply simple", they strike a beautiful balance between function and form, one that doesn't necessarily come easily. Pictured below are two products I'm particularly fond of: the SK 2 radio whose dial appears to sit right into the speaker, and the LE 1 loudspeaker (no prize for guessing what contemporary product mimics its form). I think they, along with many of Rams' other designs, display less complication and more beauty than most other objects manufactured in a long time...

here's the heads up #10

2011-04-17T22:10:00.001+01:00

Here's the latest head's up, with dates and times for some of the talks series' I mentioned in Discussing Dublin, along with some other events going on (and approaching deadlines..ahem..)

(Image of the Long Room Hub via TCD)

20 April and 4 May, 1pm:
The Dublin Seminar, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin
Next in the Dublin Seminar series is Linking the architecture of the City of Dublin and Trinity College, a lunchtime talk by Niall McCullough and Valerie Mulvin, the architects who designed very venue for the talk. And a beautiful venue it is - it's reason enough to go to the talk. Following that on the 4 May is The Future of the Past: Recent Developments in the National Library of Ireland, a lecture by Fiona Ross, Director of the National Library of Ireland.

Open until 21 April:
Less but Better: Dieter Rams & Braun, 1955 - 1995, Exchange Gallery, Exchange Street Upper, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
Dieter Rams is possibly the most understated design superstar there is, and his work for German electronics brand Braun is as understated as he is. This is a small but perfectly formed exhibition by the guys behind Curate and Design. Catch it while you still can.

21 April, 6.30pm:
The Dubliner Songbook, Doheny & Nesbitt's, Baggot Street, Dublin 2
The last edition of Old City, New Dreams, a series of discussions run by The Dubliner Magazine is about the music of the city and takes a slightly different format than before: a panel of musicians and critics take part in the ultimate music quiz, followed by performances from musicians and writers. There's fun, frolics and a free pint in it for you - boom! (More info here)

Running until 4 May:
Fund:it: Open House Dublin book, www.fundit.ie
As previously mentioned the Open House Dublin book is in need of some crowd funding. To recap, Open House Dublin is an architecture festival presented annually by my good friends at the Irish Architecture Foundation. Open House Dublin allows you to explore the best architecture the capital city has to offer over one weekend in October, and each year the IAF produces a beautifully-designed book to accompany the festival. The book is made available every year - copies are snapped up in days and are in demand long after OHD weekend is over. By funding this project you'll get a copy of the book reserved and posted to you, and there are also specially-designed tote bags by the book's designers Conor & David and limited edition prints by Grafton Architects (including one of their World Building of the Year 2008) up for grabs too. Take a look at the rewards over on the IAF website. If you like OHD (and I know you do), get behind this project and pledge a little money before 4 May!

Running until 9 May:
Fund:it: Dublin Dance Festival - Access All Areas, www.fundit.ie
The second Fund:it project I've gotten involved in is Dublin Dance Festival - Access All Areas, which aims to harness the potential of Dublin Dance Festival (Ireland's only dedicated contemporary dance festival) as an invaluable professional development tool for Irish-based dance artists. With the help of Fund:it, DDF would like to provide some of the Irish artists performing as part of this year's festival access to all performances, talks, workshops and masterclasses the festival offers between 13 and 28 May. Funding this project not only means you help to make this happen, you can also get discounts on DDF purchases, invites to post-show receptions and even complimentary tickets to performances. All the info is here. Get pledging!

discussing dublin

2011-04-12T22:00:00.002+01:00

I've been to a number of events in recent weeks and months that have put the spotlight on our fair oul' city of Dublin. It seems a number of people, for related or perhaps completely unrelated reasons, have begun to see the need for a rethink of Ireland's capital city, and Ireland being a nation of talkers, discussion seems to be step one of that rethink.

Running for a time in Trinity's Long Room Hub is The Dublin Seminar - a series of talks that explore Dublin in terms of design and architecture, urban planning, history and literature. They happen at lunchtimes and are free to attend, and I've been to two so far. One in particular struck a chord with me: spatial planner Conor Skehan's talk on "Planning FOR Dublin". Conor discussed how poor planning has done a lot of damage to Ireland (ghost estates, skeleton developments, the giant NAMA portfolio...) and how crucial proper planning for the country and in particular the capital city is. As the economic driver for the country as a whole Dublin requires careful planning, and yet in spite of how important this is, planning for Dublin is almost entirely ignored in Ireland's National Spatial Strategy (it seems planning for the capital city gets about a paragraph's-worth of attention in the lengthy document). Ireland's rural and parochial mindset (which we can probably all agree is rife within our political system) leads, not only in spatial planning terms, to a prioritisation of rural areas, sometimes to the detriment of urban ones. Conor spoke about how one size will not fit all: that we need different ambitions for different parts of the country; that we need to plan for economic activity as opposed to planning for houses (which is how we've been doing it for the past ten years or more); and that without nurturing the capital city, we can't nurture the rest of the country. To read some of Conor's thoughts on a related subject - putting planning before budgeting - you can go here.

Next in my list of inspiring "let's talk about Dublin" events is the Urban Party (poster pictured above). Authors Paul Kearns and Motti Ruimy recently published Redrawing Dublin, an exhaustive look at oodles of aspects of the city, in an attempt to establish what works and what doesn't, and what needs changing, in terms of attitudes, policies and the physical landscape of the city. For ten weeks the IAF ran a series of polls and discussions about some of the subjects in the book, such as "Is the Phoenix Park underused?", "Is Dublin a Georgian city?" and one I couldn't help but comment on, "Is the Liberties overrated?" To sum up the project (for now at least - I'd be surprised if we didn't hear from the authors and the IAF on this again...) the IAF held an Urban Party, inviting more than 20 speakers to give their 3-minute vision for Dublin to a large crowd at the Complex in Smithfield. Some of my favourite proposals include designating a City Poet for Dublin, pedestrianising College Green, limiting the time a commercial premises can be on the letting market (might stop city property owners from being so greedy/delusional), allowing bikes on the DART and LUAS, reclaiming unfinished sites as community gardens, permission to drink in parks on sunny days, admittance of mistakes and honesty :)

Lastly and most recently, I went along to one of The Dubliner magazines Old City, New Dreams events. Going on in Sweeney's, Dame Street last Thursday evening, a small group gathered over free pints of Guinness to discuss Dublin and Dubliners on film. A panel including Dubliner writers and filmmakers Tom Hall and Conor Horgan discussed Irish actors, the environment in which films are made in and about Ireland, and Dublin as a second character within narratives. It was a really interesting discussion, and I left with a list of movies I need to watch/rewatch. Keep an eye out for the next event in the series - they're well worth popping in to. Also, check back here - I'll have these and other events listed in the next Here's the Heads Up.

: fund: it

2011-04-10T20:20:00.000+01:00

Fund:it is a new initiative from the people at Business to Arts, and is the first Irish-centred crowd funding platform. Fund:it works in a similar way to sites such as Kickstarter and Pledge Music, whereby many people donate a little money in order to help a creative idea they're into become a reality. Be it an album, a book, a series of artworks or even a feature-length documentary (such as Urbanized by Gary Hustwit, which I pledged a little towards, what with it being awesome and all), you can get behind a project you'd like to see materialise, and by pledging a little (or a lot for some rewards) you can potentially bring about some creative awesomeness.

One of the projects up on Fund:it is the Open House Dublin book. Possibly more coveted than a tour of the Provost's House in TCD, the Open House Dublin book is a fab little publication. At first it's a useful tool in planning your OHD weekend, but after that it's a brilliant mini architectural atlas for the city, and has a use and a value long after the festival is over. It's also in demand long after the festival is over, and there always seems to be twice as many people looking for a copy than there are copies available... The Irish Architecture Foundation, who present the Open House Dublin festival every year, have always produced thousands of copies of the book to be distributed for free around the city, but the cost of that is mounting, and with public funding becoming more and more scarce with every revisal of the government's budget, they can't produce it on their own anymore. Enter Fund:it and all of you! Watch the awesome video (though I would say that, as that's my hand in it...), drool over the rewards offered, and pledge - Open House Dublin needs you!

here's the heads up #9

2011-03-18T21:30:00.003Z

(of de Blacam and Meagher, image by Enda Doran)

There are a couple different design and architecture exhibitions on around Dublin at the moment, so if you can tear yourself away from the sunshine for a few hours I recommend you check some of them out.

Open now until 22 March:
The Look of the Irish, Designist, 58 South Great George's Street, Dublin 2
Designist is one of the newest additions to Dublin's retail spaces, committed to simple and affordable design. At the moment they're putting the emphasis on Irish work ('tis the season, I suppose) until Tuesday, so get in while you can!

Open now until 26 March:
The Secret Laboratory: Notebooks and Narratives, UCD Richview, Dublin 14
This show exploring architects' notebooks has travelled from its origin in PLACE, Belfast and is now on show in UCD School of Architecture, Richview. If you're like me and think that sometimes notebooks are far more interesting than the finished work, make sure you go to see this show, featuring the inner workings of the minds of Tom de Paor, O'Donnell + Tuomey and others.

Open now until 3 April:
of de blacam and meagher, The Hugh Lane, Parnell Square, Dublin 1
of de blacam and meagher was Ireland's participation in last summer's Venice Biennale. It takes the form of an unbound book, made up of five volumes stacked on custom-built pallets and chronicling the 33 years that deBlacam and Meagher Architects have been working in Ireland through essays, photographs and the architects' own drawings. Visit, leaf through the folios, take them away and watch the archive gradually be consumed as the show continues.

Open now until 16 April:
CHAIRS: The Sketch and the Chair, NCAD Gallery, 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8
The third in today's selection to take a look at process as much as finished work, this exhibition by Danish designer Hans Thyge Raunkjaër takes a look at the thought process behind furniture design. The exhibition takes various parts of the designers output (i.e. chairs) and displays them alongside the various sketches and research materials from which that output stemmed.

Running until mid-July:
RHA pop-up design shops, RHA, Ely Place, Dublin 2
The RHA pop-up shops continue, with Jenny Walsh and James Carroll taking the reigns for the next week. A little further down the line, call in for some calming encouragement from Osmond Nosse, the man behind "Keep Going Sure It's Grand".

the list book

2011-03-07T09:00:00.002Z

Lately I've been working on Dublin Dance Festival (box office open today btw....ahem....) and one of the perks of the job has to be the present that each of us got from our designers, Aad. "The List Book" is an organiser designed to keep track of everything from shopping lists to long term goals, split into four categories: To Remember, To Do: Now, To Do: Soon and To Do: Someday. It's a really clever notebook, but it'll be a little while before I put it into use - it's too pretty for me to feel comfortable scrawling all over it just yet...

pop-up shop

2011-03-06T16:00:00.002Z

Recently kicked off and running until mid-July, the RHA is now home not only to galleries, art books and coffee, but also to a series of pop-up design shops. Currently residing there is the Irish Design Shop's pop-up shop, and among other products, they're debuting work by Irish furniture designer Adrian Coen and prints by Yellowhammer. Adrian's "Hedgehooks" are a series of bespoke coat hooks made from various native Irish hardwoods sourced in Co. Galway, with a variety of finishes (or unfinishes) applied to them. Yellowhammer (or Alan Nagle, as he's known to his parents) has done a series of brightly coloured, crisp digital prints of Irish birds. They're fab, just look.

The shops will continue to pop-up every couple of weeks until mid-July. Take a look at the RHA website to see who's in the line-up.

my favourite upstart

2011-03-06T14:46:00.004Z

Slightly belated (as things often are here), but here it is: my favourite poster from the Upstart campaign: