Design

Having introduced its first upholstered collection at last year’s Salone del Mobile, Brianza-based furniture brand LEMA returned this year with three new sofas that evoke classic designs but bring them up-to-date with contemporary details and

What do you do if you love fire? Why, head up a fireplace manufacturer, of course. Bart Leenders, son of Harrie Leenders – founder of the eponymous Dutch woodburning-stove producer – knows a thing or two about combustion, heading off regularly

It’s no mean feat producing timeless design that’s also innovative and future-facing. One of the few brands to pull this off is Tribù, the leading outdoor-furniture label that invites its users to sit back and relax, while itself doing anything

Raggi luminosi e contrasti di materia.Una linea di lampade che evocano ricordi, sensazioni, opere d’arte. Lavorazione artigianale, gusto italiano, materiali pregiati. Sono queste le caratteristiche di Matt, la nuova collezione di lampade di design

Makro doesn’t do compromise. Its second-to-none bathroom concepts respond to the precise needs of its customers, providing the perfect solution for even the most demanding of architectural projects.

Introversion isn’t something the Greeks have much time for. Particularly when it comes to design. Informed by a culture of sociability and dialogue, a cohort of export-focused Greek design manufacturers will be showing their quality products to a

Infuse, bake, crystallise. These verbs aren’t used to describe the work of a cook but rather the work of Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, whose fabulous exhibition at the Contemporary Museum of Art Tokyo, vividly illustrates the creative scope

There's something cooking in the kitchen and we're not talking food. It's a revolution in product design, production and consumption. Respected Italian manufacturer VALCUCINE, whose brand has long been known for its craftsmanship and research-led

We love to shop. This we know. But the way in which we purchase goods and services and the kind of brand experience we expect this to deliver is changing now more than ever. Enter the cutting-edge 'Retail of Tomorrow' total store-design and

We all need a little support sometimes. Behind the growing trend in furniture and lighting for wall-leaning or wall-mounted designs is a diversity of factors, among them the practical, the social and the aesthetic. Architonic gets up close and

For over thirty years, Ron Arad has been producing unique objects that define a practise that falls somewhere between architecture, sculpture and design. If, in these creative fields, the longstanding question about whether form should follow

It started with a small filing cabinet and grew into one of the success stories of the Belgian design industry. For years BULO has been a go-to name for bespoke and ready-made office furniture, valued for its elegant and recognisable products. Today

'Products developed for architecture' is how Italian brand TUBES describes its striking, resolutely sculptural radiators and towel rails, designed to shape the interior landscape as well as heat it. The manufacturer's story is one of a steadfast

No sooner has that Christmas tree been taken down then the spring season of the annual design calendar kicks off with that grandee of the international-trade-fair circuit, imm cologne. Your faithful scout Architonic presents, as ever, its detailed

You can never have enough of a good thing, so they say. But lovers of iconic lamps from the early 20th century were for decades deprived of the possibility of owning some of the most striking luminary pieces by the Wiener Werkstätte and the Bauhaus,

Collaboration isn't for everyone. If you're to make it work, it involves serious time and resources, not to mention a genuine willingness to go beyond your usual MO to achieve a creative result with added value. Celebrated Italian design brand

The first-ever design show in the Middle East to unite on a single platform some of the best global design brands with award-winning design from the region, Dubai's new Downtown Design fair, like the soaring Burj Khalifa, has its sights set high.

A new city that witnessed the birth of Erasmus in the 15th century. An anarchic city where everything is in its place. A market city where human relationships are more important than negociations. An industrial city where life is good. Rotterdam was

The annual London Design Festival, now with over 300 city-wide events, reflects the British capital's status as an international creative hub. But it also provides a platform for scores of indigenous designer-makers – both individuals and brands

Feeling a little bit lost? It's no surprise, really. As populations grow, cities expand, international travel increases and we all work (and live) harder and faster, it seems that there are ever more new and complex terrains to navigate. Enter a

As the world's busiest revolving door, New York is no stranger to new cultural sights and influences. This year's New York Design Week saw a raft of Latin American designers and design collectives exhibit their highly polished and conceptually

A recent panel discussion at Washington DC’s International Design Festival got to grips with the somewhat provocative question, “What Happened to American Design?”, the implication being it doesn't enjoy the singular, coherent identity of other

In the spring of 2013 Werner Aisslinger will transform Haus am Waldsee into a “Home of the Future.” In doing so the multiple award-winning product designer and co-founder of the Berlin Design Festival DMY will present his central theme of

Many hands make light work, goes the old saying. Many new LED producers also make the creative possibilities of working with such a fast-changing technology exciting, thanks to the proliferation of products they bring to the market. But, for lighting

Three score old and in rude health: the iF design gold awards, handed out to a painstakingly selected, international cohort of companies at the recent Munich Creative Business Week for their outstanding products, is looking to the future.

The biggest, the fastest, the smartest. When it comes to marketing-speak, there's nothing like a superlative to liven things up. Best of Best – the annual exhibition held at imm cologne of the category winners from the Interior Innovation Award

Head north and you'll find a thriving design culture where the level of consideration given to the way things look, feel and work isn't determined by their scale. Be they housing projects, chairs or taps, the Scandinavian approach to design continues

System furniture did what it's wont to do at this year's imm cologne: expand. A number of new and innovative furniture programmes, modular in nature, were shown alongside augmented and reworked old favourites. It's all about joined-up thinking.

More than 500 young and emerging designers have taken to the [D3] Design Talents stage at the Cologne Furniture Fair over the past ten years, presenting their ideas in prototype form to both an industry and a general audience. Architonic takes a look

stilhaus – the new design destination in Switzerland – doesn't do things by halves. 20,000 square metres of retail and exhibition space next to one of the country's busiest motorway intersections offers architects, planners and end consumers an

Everything changes, so they say. But should it? What about decades-old, often iconic designs? Should they be preserved, as it were, their contemporary production remaining ‘true’ in every respect to the ‘original’? Or ought manufacturers be

Ventura, the avant-garde brand of Swiss watches, is back. The first "manufacture électronique" for high quality digital watches has recently presented, in the shape of the SPARC MGS, a timepiece which once more sets a new benchmark in chronometer

More often than not, office architecture can be, well, a little inward-looking. Shut out the outside world and focus staffers' attention on their building's interior spaces and you'll keep them focused on their work. Right? Wrong. The OperAlp/SALEWA

Lighting always has to work harder when it's deployed in underground spaces. But when the space in question is a museum one, where the considered illumination of its exhibits is key – not to mention their protection against the potentially damaging

When it came to launching their latest family of products, high-end Swiss bathroom manufacturer decided to buck the trend for the ultra-rational and focus on building on the softer, timeless design language of its earlier Palomba collection. The

An important component of the Japanese art of lacquerwork is the special technique known as "urushi", which uses many layers of wafer-thin, semi-transparent lacquer to create a surface of almost mystical radiance and sensual depth.

On 30 January 2012, the internationally recognised Danish furniture designer and architect Finn Juhl who died in 1989 would have turned 100.Events all over the world – from Tokyo via Cologne to Milan as well as in his native Copenhagen –

While the fifteen years of their prolific careers are being celebrated across 1000 square meters in Parisian Centre Pompidou-Metz, the recently-opened 'Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Album' exhibition gives a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into

We associate it with Louis XVI, art nouveau furniture and the wall decorations of clubhouses, but when we talk about it we are generally referring to something quite different. Marquetry, otherwise known as inlay work, does not generate a positive

In the visual arts the term 'plastic' is used for any form of creation involving a medium that can be sculpted or moulded, but it is also the term for a type of material that revolutionised the twentieth century. Using a number of plastic chairs as

During the age of the economic miracle electrical household appliances became an integral part of every home as kitchen aids to the modern housewife. There were only a handful of manufacturers and the head designers and engineers of the market

The respected online lighting-design portal migrates to www.architonic.com

With two new design-savvy cities – Hamburg and Copenhagen – being added to the international blickfang calendar, there's all the more reason to visit the design fair with a difference.

It's forty years since the love-it-or-hate-it, style-driven phenomenon that was postmodernism first emerged in architectural practice, soon manifesting itself in design, art, fashion and music. The V&A's major new show, 'Postmodernism: Style and

Having received the brief to plan and design a new state capital for the Punjab, Le Corbusier, true to form, delivered a striking urban entity that's a veritable 'Gesamtkunstwerk'. A forthcoming exhibition at the Galerie Anton Meier in Geneva of the

When young British designer Samuel Wilkinson set out to redesign the standard low-energy light bulb, with the aim of making it work just as hard aesthetically as it does environmentally, he was in for a long trek. Journeying beyond the safe and

Behind every great design there's a great designer. But, more often than not, there are a number players involved. Meet Claus Mølgaard, the go-to Danish design engineer whose work on products for the likes of Ron Arad and the Bouroullec Brothers

For the first time since it was founded in 2005, Design Miami/ Basel was this year under the new direction of Marianne Goebl, who curated the trade fair with an expert eye. In February 2011 she followed in the footsteps of Ambra Medda who, after

In the third of our series of interviews from this year's Milan Furniture Fair with some of the creative industries' leading figures, we meet Lorenza Luti, marketing and retail director of established Italian brand Kartell, which, after 50 years in

As every spring, Architonic travelled to New York on your behalf in order to investigate the latest trends on the North American market for you. Here we report on what we discovered in the city's showrooms and at the ICFF.

When designers and leading industrial enterprises put their heads together, it usually gets exciting. While such a collaboration allows industry the possibility of demonstrating its special capabilities in a completely new context, its manufacturing

Put a group of designers, curators and design writers in a room and what do you get? The Dornbracht Conversations. The third annual platform for intelligent dialogue on the state of design, past, present and future, hosted by German design

Few design brands evoke as much warmth on the part of consumers as the heritage-steeped Finnish company Artek, currently celebrating 75 years in business. Co-founded in 1935 by the hero of Scandinavian modernism Alvar Aalto, Artek has certainly

With thermal under-apparel in place, Architonic ventured forth from the exhibition halls of the Koelnmesse during this January's imm cologne to visit Passagen – the ever-growing programme of off-fair exhibitions and events in showrooms, galleries,

'Regrets, I've had a few,' sang Sinatra in his classic ballad 'My Way', while Piaf famously insisted that she regretted absolutely nothing. Somewhere between these two lies Ronan Bouroullec, one half of the distinguished French go-to design duo, the

Punching well above their weight this year at imm cologne were the young guns exhibiting in the sixth edition of the [D3] Design Contest, the platform for emerging international design talent. Here, we talk to one of the two joint-winners, Harry

It's fair to say that certain countries have, over the years, been more successful than others in terms of marketing a distinctive and compelling national design identity abroad. The very human kind of modernism expressed in the furniture of postwar

Accommodating one or two people only or a group, extendable tables can be adapted to a romantic tète-a-tète, a family with children or even a large festive gathering. Here we present the various types and systems which are available.

Another year over. But don't get all misty-eyed. Apply that retrospection to some engaging design instead. Two exhibitions currently running, one at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the other at the offices of MariniPandolfi/Comet in Florence, look

Imagine, as a manufacturer, that your potential market is two billion consumers worldwide. This almost inconceivable figure is the ultimate scale of d.light's ambition, a consumer-products company set up by a pair of social entrepreneurs in 2007 to

Ancient city. Contemporary design practice. Jerusalem's inaugural week-long design festival foregrounds once more Israel's conceptually confident and steadily growing design scene.

In his analysis of how pleasure works, Freud argued that repetition – the act of doing or experiencing something over and over again – can, in its compulsiveness, be highly enjoyable. The grandaddy of psychoanalysis might, in that case, have

Lirum larum Löffelstiel. .Löffelstiel? Wo bleiben denn in diesem alten Reim Messer und Gabel?

British furniture designer Matthew Hilton's work manages to walk that very fine line between restraint and expressiveness. It's probably why his designs, offering as they do a kind of reassurance, are so respected by so many. But the path hasn't

As the academic wheels of design creak into a new term, thoughts of the most recent graduates striving to avoid a professional-scrap-heap scenario fall to the back of the mind as the hunt for the latest bright young creatives begins again. But, with

If any fair is going to give Milan a run for its money in terms of a passion for high-end design and downright coolness, it's Belgian Design Biennale INTERIEUR. Since its first edition in 1968, the Kortrijk-based show has consistently upped the ante

California, and in particular Los Angeles, has been home to numerous Hollywood stars and other glamorous figures of the burgeoning jet-set since the 1930s. The City of Angels was the ideal place for many architects to develop their ideas. The

Left brain. Right brain. If we're to believe all that pop-neurology, you're either a creative type or someone who just loves solving maths problems. Design manufacturer and retailer Thorsten van Elten, curator of One Year On, the show for

Screws? Glue? Who needs them? With a number of designers developing intriguing new ways of constructing furniture, Architonic takes a look at some examples of recent innovative joinery methods.

Ernst Sagebiel's architectural matsterpiece Tempelhof Airport was the venue for this year's DMY design festival in Berlin. Architonic was needless to say there, ready for take-off.

Described by its organisers as 'the pre-eminent global forum for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating design', Design Miami Basel, the annual European get-together for those who like their design a touch on the exclusive side, put on a

With leading Finnish design brand Artek reissuing two of its fellow countryman Tapio Wirkkala's striking designs from the late 1960s and early 70s, as well as first-time-round, 'vintage' pieces of his being shown at international design fairs such as

„Der Künstler blickt immer in die Vergangenheit zurück, während er über die Zukunft nachdenkt,“ sagt Andrée Putman. Anlässlich ihres 85 Geburtstages erscheint eine Monografie, die Einblick in das immense Werk der Künstlerin und ihr

The "ISKRA: NON-ALIGNED DESIGN 1946–1990" exhibition held at the Architecture Museum Ljubljana (AML) came to an end in February. The exhibition provided an insight into the golden age of Slovenian product design, which lasted from the 1960s to the

They say good things come in threes. Here, Architonic brings you five of the best concrete lamps on the market. It's all about contradiction.

Architonic talks to Basel-based design label INCH Furniture about their distinctive collection for the Swiss Pavilion at Shanghai's Expo 2010

It's almost a cliché now to say that the annual Milan Salone del Mobile has become a behemoth of a design fair, eclipsing every other major show in the design calendar. (Personally, we at Architonic feel that a number of the other large design

In this final installment of the Milan Conversations we catch up with renowned product designer, architect and artistic director of Italian manufacturer Kartell Ferruccio Laviani at the Barovier&Toso showroom in Milan and talk to him about lamps,

As part of this year's 'Fuori Salone' in Milan, the 'relics' of the Brazilian Modernism were displayed in a church near the city's Porta Romana: rare pieces by the so-called 'Tropical Modernists' of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

The Milan Conversations – a series of discussions held at this year's Salone del Mobile with some of the most celebrated designers working internationally – continues with thought-provoking exchange with Ilse Crawford and Omer Arbel.

Der Teufel trägt Prada: Die cineastische Liaison Pradas mit der diabolischen Meryl Streep hat die italienische Traditionsmarke zum stehenden Begriff gemacht. Seit der Papst nun ebenfalls Schuhwerk von Prada trägt, wird es also höchste Zeit für

In this second installment of the Milan Conversations – a series of discussions held at this year's Salone del Mobile with some of the most celebrated designers working internationally – Architonic talks to British designer and long-time Milanese

As the metaphoric dust settles following another Milan Salone del Mobile (not to be confused with the ash from that pesky Icelandic volcano, which did its best to keep the great and the good of the international design press stranded in Italy),

The Vitra Design Museum's latest exhibition examines the idea of simplicity in design, be it in terms of form, material or method. Rather than being a recent development in response to global economic and environmental concerns, 'The Essence of

Bücher über die moderne Badkultur gibt es zuhauf - ausser schönen Bildern bilden sie jedoch keine brauchbare Quelle für Planer und Bauherr. Das vorgestellte Werk liefert Informationen und Grundlagen.

Bamboo's rapid growth in popularity as a viable material for product design seems to mirror the speed at which this iconic plant, lauded for its contribution to sustainability, grows. Architonic takes a look at some recent examples of bamboo-based

Architonic dissects Luca Nichetto's striking new 'Robo' chair for Swedish manufacturer Offecct, examining the process beyond the product.

Architonic reviews design writer Jennifer Hudson's study of the creative and manufacturing processes behind 50 contemporary design objects from around the world.

Graphic designers are giving architects a run for their money as the creatives who cross disciplinary boundaries. Here, Architonic takes a look at some examples of two-dimensional specialists who've channelled their creative talent into product

Massenproduktion oder individuelle Einzelstücke? Auf den ersten Blick ein widersprüchlicher Gegensatz, scheint jedoch im Möbeldesign unglaublich eng miteinander verflochten zu sein (only in German)

We bid a fond farewell to one of the greats of British post-war design history.

Architonic presents a selection of some of the novelties presented at this year's design fair in Paris

Architonic spends some time with VIA, the Paris-based organisation committed to identifying and supporting young French design talent.

The last few years have seen a number of furniture designers explore ways of defining privacy through form. What's going on? Are we really going all shy and retiring?

There's no better time than the start of a new decade to revisit the clock as a long-standing product type. Here Architonic examines innovative clock design, past and present.

Many great achievements have been born out of chance – for example, the invention of penicillin. In the 1950s and 60s, chance as a methodology was still a revolutionary way of working for artists and designers, producing controversial results.

Chroma, the Greek word for colour, is both the title and the subject of a book about colour in architecture, furniture design and graphic art which covers a range of disciplines with a refreshing freedom from ideology.

For years now international materials producers have been working on sustainable alternatives and they are now ready to launch biologically degradable plastics which can be used for a range of applications.

Scandinavian design brings to mind Finns, Swedes and Danish names that could be as prominent in the history books as todays names are on rapidly updated online blogs and publications. But, what of Norwegian design and what about some names.

Rather than being a business marketplace for dealers, the 100%Design, concise exhibition of interiors has positioned itself as a rich source of inspiration for architects and interior designers.

Exactly 90 years ago Weimar saw the foundation of the institution which more than any other influenced the architecture, design and art of the twentieth century.

Vom 1. bis 11. Oktober zieht die dritte Vienna Design Week erneut Stars der internationalen Designszene und vielversprechende Newcomer nach Wien.

Moroso, with Diesel, has created a collection of products with a relaxed and comfortable mood, taking its inspiration from an informal lifestyle concept and targeting consumers who like simple shapes yet at the same time seek a “modern” style

In a post-Milan jaunt we meet Sara Sheth, an in-house designer for the textile manufacturer Maharam

Nina Levett's patterns and ornaments are based on conceptual, humorous ideas, her work is based on experiments with surfaces and materials.

A theater set-design concept by For Use / Numen presented at the gallery of HDD in Zagreb.

A research project at the Institute for Theory at Zurich's University of the Arts looks at current furniture works involving design and art.

This year's international design festival frees Berlin from its past improvisatory image

With its wiener.architektur.zitate the wiener.manschettenknopf.linie is presenting a new edition which is based on Vienna's architecture and architectural history.

Ever since the indiscriminate granting of sub-prime loans led to a crisis on the US housing market the new fascination for colour has spread to the private home. In times of difficulty the trend towards excessive use of colour has always tended to

From 3-7 June the seventh DMY International Design Festival will be taking place in Berlin.

In the second of our three-part intermission, we meet long-time Sottsass Associati principal designer Chris Redfern

This year it was easier to find your way round Salone Satellite than last year, for the very good reason that the really good things were relatively easy to identify.

“The first two minutes of a person’s interaction with a chair are incredibly important to how a person judges that chair and compares it to other products on the marketplace.”

Mike Meiré presents Dornbrachts novelties at this year´s ISH

Produkte, die Geschichte schrieben (Products which have made history)

Kevin Fries and Jakob Zumbühl are the proud winners of three 'iF product design awards' and 'reddot design awards'

Video-interviews from the world’s leading trade fair for bathroom- , building-, energy-, air-conditioning Technology and Renewable Energies

«My five favourite things at the Stockholm Furniture Fair» - selected by Fredrik Färg