Tuttobene - Milan Design Week 2009

international

22-27 April TUTTOBENE LOTUS GARAGE VIA SAVONA 6, MILAN

vona Via Sa

10.00-20.00

A presentation of 5 design studio’s from all over the world during Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano 2009 + 18 dutch design studios next door see related newspaper for more info

hera

Via Vog

bo

om

l Co

na

orto

Via T

[AD.]

[AD.]

4

5

BUBBLE U PROJECT

15

AD.

2

16 COVER BACK

1 COVER FRONT

JOEL TOBMAN

COLOPHON/ CONTENT

COLOPHON Tuttobene Milan 2009 International

A presentation of 5 design studio’s from all over the world during Salone Internazionale del mobile in Milan

Tuttobene

Victor le Noble & David Heldt Damrak 70 - studio 5.63 1012 LM Amsterdam The Netherlands www.tuttobene.nl info@tuttobene.nl [telephone] +31(0)615510727

13

4

14 MATERIOUS

3

AD.

Organisation Tuttobene [board members] David Heldt Victor le Noble Silke Spinner

newspaper

[editor] David Heldt [graphic design] Kitty Ebbers & Anne Hänni (graduate students from ArtEZ Arnhem - Academy of Visual Arts thanks to Rein Houkes, Thomas Búxo and Thomas Castro). [printed by] Dijkman Offset www.dijkman.nl

ARTICLE

CONSTANTINOS HOURSGLOU DESIGN 11 12 DESIGN PYRÉNÉES EDITION

Production Assistants Fabiola Slijngaard Floris van der Burght Laura Schön

John Wood

6 5 FLOORPLAN

PR & Press

Luc Deleau - luc@tuttobene.nl +31(0)652472990

Interior Design

All Your Colours www.allyourcolours.com

Sponsor

Rabobank International Milan branch © Tuttobene 2009 All rights reserved. Copyrights on the photographs, illustrations, drawings and written material in this publication are owned by the respective photographer(s), the designer(s) and the author(s). No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without permission from the publisher and designers, photographers and authors involved.

colophon/content floorplan article Scaling down the Global Household,

by John Wood column by Richard van Gerwen CONSTAINTINOS HOURSGLOU DESIGN DESIGN PYRÉNÉES EDITION JOEL TOBMAN MATERIOUS BUBBLE U PROJECT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

ARTICLE

ARTICLE

John Wood

COLUMN

John Wood

9

8

10

7

Richard van Gerwen

ARTICLE

John Wood

6

7 [‘Scaling-down the Global Household’ by John Wood]

It is funny that we still tend to see nature and the economy as independent, or even contradictory to one another. Interestingly, where ecologists are deeply concerned about the extinctions of species, bankers have been advocating fewer, albeit larger currencies. Several thousand years ago, Greek societies saw Nature and the economy as virtually the same, as evidenced by the first three letters of our modern words, ‘economics’ and ‘ecology’. The ‘eco’ prefix signified the modest idea of a household (i.e. ‘oikos’). What this suggests is that the Greeks saw each as a domestic situation that could be ‘managed’ without too much difficulty. Could this idea still usefully apply in today’s ever more densely populated and interconnected world?

John Wood is Professor of Design at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is the author of the recent book – ‘Design for MicroUtopias’ (Gower, 2007)

Arguably, we have a lot to learn about the ‘global household’.

Perhaps we need a common language that would reconcile both domains. This needs to reflect a less aggressive and presumptuous belief system than one used by some politicians and bankers. These values emerge from a Newtonian mindset that makes the term ‘sustainable’ (i.e. predictable, controllable) seem natural to us. This is unfortunate. Evolution and the life sciences have

been around for a long time so we should, by now, understand the importance of chaos, catastrophe, uncertainty and complexity in the way things go.

One thing these theories reveal is the problem of scaling things up. Despite our touching faith in what we still call ‘economies of scale’, few things can be ‘scaled up’ without the emergence of unforeseen problems.

And judging by recent events, money may be one of them.

“If I am a confectioner and you are a property developer, would you want to be paid in cream cakes for building me a new office?”

One reason why humans can see the world as a simple mechanical instrument is the conspicuous success of the industrial revolution. In a materialistic, consumption-oriented economy, almost everything around us, from computers to supermarket foods, seems indebted to the factory system of Henry Ford and his advisors.

Even in the age of Gaia, the legacy of mechanistic, industrialized management continues to exert a huge influence on the way we see the world. Whether you buy a PC or a Mac, a tin of soup or a supermarket sandwich, all are made in roughly the same way. They are products of a hierarchical management system that is regulated by bureaucracy, clocks and money. Most giant corpora-

tions would feel lost without the division of labour and the standardization and repetition of a few, simplified, tasks.

We are all addicted to these processes, because we believe the ‘economy’ depends on it. But, at a time when we are questioning the way economics works, it may be wise to ask why Nature does not work like this. Why should we trust an economic system that kills so many species? One reason is that we still cling to Adam Smith’s doctrine of the ‘invisible hand’. It explains why our economic system rewards local, short-term ‘efficiencies’ (i.e. in production, marketing and sales), rather than the well being of the whole system. But it is an illusion that is sustained because we have forgotten the vital role of cheap energy. With fossil fuels to squander we can take pride in how ‘green’ a given product is, then fly it rapidly to any place in the world, whenever we wish. This ability is backed up by corresponding currency system that is ubiquitous and value-free.

In the last decade or so we have tended to see online shopping as a lifestyle choice that frees us from cares and costs.

But what Bill Gates proudly dubbed ‘capitalism without friction’ (1999) is creating a great deal of friction at the environmental level. What we need is a smarter system >

8

9

[‘Scaling-down the Global Household’ by John Wood]

tuttobene milan 2009 sponsors & partners:

“Designers should play a role in this process of re-designing at the level of lifestyle, because – compared, say, to bankers – they have little vested interest in maintaining the status quo.”

p.15

p.11

bubble u project

CHD

[contact]

[contact]

p.12

p.13

Design Pyrénées Editions

Joel Tobman Design

[contact]

[contact]

info@bubbleuproject.com www.bubbleuproject.com +821081929612 Seoul, South Korea

exchange that is sensitive to local changes within the ecosystem. In short, money needs to be re-designed, if not scaleddown. Over the last thirty years we have watched helplessly as the eCommerce and ‘instant credit’ revolution removed the boundaries that kept most transactions local. The apparent wastefulness of exchanging similar products over thousands of kilometres did not matter, we were told, because transportation was cheap, and brought jobs to the poor.

Unfortunately, as has become ever clearer, globalization has simply masked our incompetence, or our unwillingness to share resources synergistically.

Nor has it encouraged us to educate, or to govern ourselves wisely within the limits of the whole ecosystem. Instead, we told ourselves that wellbeing would emerge as a by-product of endless economic growth.

Unfortunately, this always meant scaling things up.

Let us explore what this means. If a small company performs well it is forced, by the economic system, to get bigger, in order to duplicate the benefits of its initial success.

Some commercial organizations scaled up their operations until they are now larger – in economic terms – than whole countries. Here, it is helpful to look at the ‘natural’ counterpart to the economy – i.e. the ecosystem. What is clear

from the most rudimentary inspection of evolutionary theory is that Nature does not work on a massive scale, using top-down, Fordist principle of ‘economies-of-scale’.

A mouse will not survive if it is scaled-up to the size of an ostrich. Instead of using top-down-management to standardize all processes and outcomes, ecosystems survive by cultivating symbiosis and rewarding diversity. In other words, designers should forget about ‘economies of scale’ and try to understand what it might mean to cultivate ‘ecologies of scale’. What we may reflect upon is that a more ‘natural’ lifestyle would be more synergistic on every level.

“…diversity is the most flexible way to achieve stability” Designers should play a role in this process of re-designing at the level of lifestyle, because – compared, say, to bankers – they have little vested interest in maintaining the status quo.

More importantly, they have the necessary imagination and radicalism to reunite economy with ecology. We will almost certainly need many more local currencies connected with larger ones, because diversity is the most flexible way to achieve stability. Really small currencies enable transactions to be far less abstract, because it becomes possible to know

everyone in the system, on a personal basis. In a villagescale currency system, if my neighbours cannot trust my sincerity, my ‘micro-dollar’ may sometimes seem to be worth less than your ‘local dollar’. We are used to much larger currencies, in which a dollar is always worth a dollar.

As Georg Simmel (Simmer, 1900) said, “the quality of money is its quantity”. But if so, why do we use money if it reduces the meaning and complexity of exchange? One answer is that we cannot barter items that are of very different levels of quantity or durability.

If I am a confectioner and you are a property developer, would you want to be paid in cream cakes for building me a new office? Neutral money systems solve the problem, but its abstract nature is alienating.

(What would a billion dollar notes look like? – and how many cream cakes can we eat, in one lifetime?) In a consumer economy the abstractness of money implies that everything is a potential com-modity, and that we can access any resources, provided we have enough of it.

If we can design better currency systems we can more easily support slower, more local, synergistic lifestyles. Bad business is often shortsighted business. If we reconcile the deep purpose of money with the higher purpose of our

existence we can achieve synergies at many levels. This means that better business will emerge from creative, adaptable people who are more in touch with the flourishing eco-system that supports them. We can achieve it by emulating the natural world’s self-organizing, inclusive and holistic nature. We will need to value the world as a ‘diversityof-diversities’, instead of pricing it as a pile of potential commodities. From this basis from which we can cultivate a living ‘synergy-of-synergies’.

Time is short, so we need to start now.

editions@designpyrenees.com www.designpyrenees.com +33561547814/+33603453193 TOULOUSE, FRANCE

p.14

ArtEZ Materious [contact]

FIN

bruce@materious.com www.materious.com +13122122254 Chicago, USA

constantinos@hoursoglou.com www.hoursoglou.com +41(0)223111959 Geneva, Switzerland

info@joeltobman.co www.joeltobman.com +14037010407 Calgary, Canada

10

11

[‘Touching values’ Richard van Gerwen]

CHD Constantinos Hoursoglou [contact]

constantinos@ hoursoglou.com www.hoursoglou.com +41(0)223111959 Geneva, Switzerland [studio profile] The philosophy of CHD is that design is much more than the creation of products and environments. It is expressed through objects, but its real task is to address the evolving characteristics of human life. We live in a world that changes with an unprecedented rhythm, for that we believe designers should foresee change and remain avant-garde while designing products that can adjust to the end users changing needs. Our main aim is to complete projects with increased attention to aesthetics, technology, social and ecological issues.

In the last two years I try to design new objects that arise from the re-use of discarded items. The ‘this chair was broken’ project is the first body of work that demonstrates this effort by using discarded chair frames that are made usable again through the use of other every day materials.

Blown up

The state of the economy is worrying and sobering. Yet, in this current economy, with a quiet confidence, Rabobank posted healthy profit numbers for 2008.

It’s Rabobank’s local member banks in the Netherlands which continue to be the stable pillar and the biggest contributor to profits with 13 percent growth. Rabobank is the market leader in the Netherlands, but to expand, the bank has to reach across Dutch borders into its growing international network. While customers and clients are scrambling for safety around the planet, international growth is an opportunity for the still very Dutch Rabobank. Because we don’t have shareholders, things would really change if customers would lose their trust in us. In this way, we are different and we are the outsiders. At Rabobank, the customers are our stakeholders and they have the final word. We are the people’s bank.

Rabobank values art and design. We are proud to be the financial part­ ner for many innovators. This is why we rewarded Tuttobene with a sponsorship for 2009. Because Tuttobene stimulates design within a sustainable context both touching values that have been essential for our banks healthy position today.

Design studio Kranen/Gille will present an installation in Rabobank Milan’s office at Via Dante 16 from 22nd till 27th of April which expresses Rabobank’s attention to sustainable growth. We are pleased to invite you to visit this exhibition.

Richard van Gerwen Manager International Desk Italy & Switzerland, Rabobank International Via Dante 16, Milan

Rabobank belongs to the top three of the most sustainable banks in the world. This is the result of the central positioning of corporate social responsibility in our policy, financial services and products. We are determined to hold this position also in the area of durable energy and clean tech.

Innovation is one of the core values of Rabobank. Innovation is the result of creativity and the ability to think outside known conventions. Today’s crisis forces us to go back to our core and stimulates creativity. We are confident that economies will emerge from this crisis with an unprecedented creative boost.

The ‘Blown up chair’ derives from the combination of the search for comfort, along with a verbal reference to the state of the found chair, covered in dirt, its seat ripped apart to pieces as if blown-up.

12

13 Joel Tobman Design Joel Tobman [contact]

info@joeltobman.com www.joeltobman.com +14037010407 Calgary, Canada [studio profile]

Joel Tobman Design is

Design Pyrénées Editions Godefroy de Virieu Stefania di Petrillo Franck Fontana Sébastien Cordoleani [contact]

Nicolas Derville editions@ designpyrenees.com www.designpyrenees.com +33561547814 +33603453193 TOULOUSE, FRANCE

The Ingot / Or Gris®

an interdisciplinary studio that focuses primarily on furniture design, but has also worked on a broad range of design projects ranging from interior environments andw graphic design to projects at the architectural and urban scales.

Tobman’s designs often explore the use of recycled materials in novel ways - such as the use of existing objects as raw materials in the creation of new products.

This approach to design expands the dialogue between material, form, and function as the everyday things that surround us are no longer considered as end states but instead become departure points for creating new functional items - suggesting new possibilities for design exploration, design processes, production models, and product meaning.

The flexible design of InOut Chair involves users in determining the final aesthetic of the chair, while the prototypes use Paperstone® - a sustainable material made from 100% recycled paper. The Coffee|ps Table re-uses discarded (postconsumer) EPS foam packaging - rescuing these unwanted objects from the landfill and repurposing them into attractive, functional objects. This design can also easily be manufactured locally. By deconstructing the surface of the table top while retaining its basic functionality, the Decon Table underscores the fact that sometimes ‘less is more,’ a valuable reminder as resources become more and more scarce.

[studio profile]

Design Pyrénées Editions

is a small and young publisher of design objects, located in Toulouse, France.

Issued from an European triennial project (FEDER), our company aims to promote an innovating design relative to the mountain’s world and rooted in the economic, social, cultural and environmental resources from the nearby Pyrenees.

Calling on young designer’s talent, through competition or commission, we are creating, developing and distributing our own collection, bringing together modernity and tradition into a complete original design process.

In this way we finally aim to spread here and there modern products and a contemporary image of the Pyrenees.

InOut Chair

The principles of sustainability are in the center of our purpose and process. Design Pyrénées explores new potentialities for the natural raw materials (wood, wool, minerals) finds new functions for semi-manufactured products (rug’s yarn) reinvents the traditionnal uses (soft stool) or finds new ones (water stone) redraws ancestral objects (shepherd’s stick, sharpening stone, matches) uses the local supply, as much, long and carefully as possible uses and preserves the traditional know-how overall contributes to maintien economic activities where they are finally aims to put the mountain’s world in phase with a modern and contemporary way of life.

Godefroy de Virieu offers a range of sharpening stones called ‘Or Gris® des Pyrenees’ ingot for home and garden with two variants: knife-holder & nail file.

The flexible design of the InOut Chair allows for the same kit of parts to be assembled two different ways to give the chair a slightly different aesthetic character depending on which way it is put together. Adjusting the colour or materiality of the parts provides additional customization opportunities.

14

15 bubble u project Kyung sunghyun Jeon Geehee [contact]

Materious Bruce M. Tharp Stephanie M. Tharp [contact]

info@bubbleuproject.com www.bubbleuproject.com +82 10 8192 9612 Seoul, South Korea [studio profile]

Boubble u project is not

a company. This is a design-team for exhibition and workshop after school. The word ‘bubble’ has become another meaning as a verb, which can express our design work is simple, clear, humorous and unique.

bruce@materious.com www.materious.com +13122122254 Chicago, USA [studio profile]

Materious though now an

Our design is base on natural simplicity and minimalism. Wood and ceramic are the main material we use, which are ecologically friendly. Even though we use industrial material like power cable, we suggest to re-use it.

obsolete word, means both “matter” and “significant or important.”

As a studio we strive to imagine and produce objects –physical substance– that have substantiveness. Of special attraction is the domestic sphere –a space in which artefacts have a particular capacity for intimate engagement with individuals. Our work ranges from the speculative to the commercial– at times we aim for provocation and perturbation, while at others, sustenance and service. Despite diversity of intent, process, product, and use context, ultimately we wish to imagine new possibilities for objects beyond mere function or aesthetics.

With our projects we strive to move beyond the culture of ‘products’, and instead deal with a culture of ‘objects’ that contribute to social interaction and social discourse. For example Piggy is a philanthropic savings bank that teaches children (and even adults) to save for charity.

The MFB (Marxist fruit bowl) is an object meant to remind users of the itinerant workers who harvested the fruit they are about to enjoy.

The Tassle Switch re-imagines the overlooked act of turning appliances on/off and does so while highlighting battery-free, humanenergy-harvesting technology. The Next clock addresses the issue of cigarette addiction.

Umbrellas for the Civil but Discontent Man

Sigmund Freud contends that aggressiveness is a fundamental human instinct whose inhibition is a necessary obligation of social life. These umbrellas combine a symbol of gentlemanly refinement –the full-sized, black umbrella– with an element from more manly sword-bearing times. The umbrellas offer brief psychological respite from the dictates of social amiability.

BOOKSTIK This work is a bookshelf in a new shape of book-holder made by a ceramic ball and a wood stick. You will be able to have new experience in living behaviour.

ideo

V onte

Via M www.tuttobene.nl