 Architecture + Technology Award 2006 - European prize for architecture and technology
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Tadao Ando.
Complete Works
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Young designers:
from newcomer to star
International fairs: platforms for creative specialists from all over the world
Many young, up-and-coming designers dream about making a great career or receiving awards, such as the German Product Design Prize and the Italian Compasso d'Oro. However, young people wanting to join the ranks of the world's elite designers must firstly draw attention to themselves. |
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In times of economic difficulty, it is not easy for industrial or product designers to find a permanent job or to set up and make a success of their own agency. And all the more so if they are absolute newcomers who have yet to make a name for themselves. If young designers want to present their products, many companies either reject them with no further ado or keep putting off the appointment.
Therefore, international trade fairs such as Tendence Lifestyle with 'talents', the forum for young designers ('Modern Living' Lifestyle World, Hall 6.1, 22 to 26 August), are ideal places to capture the attention of foreign and domestic companies or to see who belongs to potential target groups. Almost nowhere else in the world will they find so many industrial manufacturers, dealers and buyers from big companies together at the same time and place. Here, discussions with potential business partners take place in a casual and relaxed way.
Product designer Gerd Schwarz experienced for himself how useful a visit to the world's biggest consumer-goods fair in the autumn can be: "The fair in Frankfurt was a heaven-sent opportunity because I had been looking for a manufacturer and a channel of distribution for my products for a long time." His 'elements' – surfaces of different height that can be used alone or in combination with each other as tables, benches or display units – immediately aroused the interest of sales expert Petra Lochbaum. At their first meeting, they reached agreement and then, in subsequent discussions, decided who should be responsible for packing and delivering the products, how much the individual elements would cost and many other questions of detail. Production began at the end of last year. Today, Schwarz's customers also include two galleries while a well-known mail-order company is interested in the products.
Universities also appreciate the advantages offered by trade fairs. They help young designers exhibit at the fair by bearing the costs of transportation and accommodation. One of the people active in this field is the architect, designer and professor, Volker Albus, who lectures at Karlsruhe Academy for Design, Product and Exhibition Design. For him, Tendence Lifestyle in Frankfurt is an important forum where his design students can gather experience for their future careers: "At fairs, it's up to them. The pressure is on them to show finished products. Things are different at a presentation in the university where people are somewhat more considerate with each other and they only have to deal with other designers." Textile designer Annette Wilhelmi, who uses felt to make unusual jewellery and bags, reached the same conclusion. In Frankfurt, she found out for the first time which of the many dealers are interested in her products. As she puts it, "At university, one learns everything about design, shapes and colour but almost nothing about marketing." Now she knows that her potential customers include not only gift boutiques but also proprietors of flower, book-binding and photographic shops. "Many specialist dealers simply want to offer their customers attractive accessories and are prepared to set up appropriate display cases", says Annette Wilhelmi explaining the interest of such dealers. Also important for her were the contacts and the chance to exchange ideas with designers from other countries, such as the young London-based designer Afroditi Krassa.
Born in Greece, the young designer stood out at Tendence thanks to her 'Floating Light', a luminaire, the lamp of which is encased in a helium balloon and suspended from a transparent nylon thread. The floating balloon keeps its promise for four weeks before it needs to be re-inflated. Also highly original is her 'rocking love seat' for courting couples, which is based on a typical piece of 18th century furniture. For Afroditi Krassa, the German design scene is very important: "Germany is Europe's biggest market for modern furniture." And that is yet another reason for the designer to return to Frankfurt for this year's Tendence Lifestyle and to see the products shown by young designers.
Germany and the other European markets are also of great interest to the American Adam Aardman, designer of luminaires, shelf units and tables. In Aardman's experience, he cannot produce his designs in Europe because large quantities are essential. Therefore, he uses Tendence Lifestyle to find local manufacturers. "Thanks to my participation in the autumn consumer-goods fairs in Frankfurt, I have made several contacts to galleries and furniture shops that are interested in my collection."
messefrankfurt.com |
Fifth Annual Global Investors Workshop
June 26-30, 2006, Fontainebleau, France
The next generation of investment decision makers will gather in Fontainebleau, France, this summer — from Monday, 26 June to Friday, 30 June — for what has become an annual landmark in the international business calendar: the Global Investors Workshop.
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José Manuel BARROSO
President of the European Commission
Building an open Europe in times of change
European Ideas Network
Lisbon, 22 September 2005
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The EU and China: painting a brighter future together
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Beijing, 15 July 2005
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PBS Aktuell
Creativity has a future
Jun 10, 2005
A new study by bbw Marketing shows that after several years of falling sales the market for hobby and handicraft supplies has stabilised. The reason for this trend is that people are recalling past values. Retro is the formula for success. Sales (excl. model-making) have stabilised at a level of about € 1.1 bn.
Creativity has a future again
This is the finding of a nationwide survey conducted for the PBS trade by the market research institute Visiotrend. Hobbies and craftwork as a leisure activity have meanwhile shifted to other target groups. Thus the trade currently cites not just families with children as the main customer group, but also senior citizens, and among them mainly women. Only about 10% of men, by contrast, regularly buy craft items. Other important consumers include schools and social-charitable institutions.
Not just cheap goods are in demand
According to the trade, creative products remain in demand, although – unlike the general commercial situation – cheap products do not go down so well with customers. Craft market customers set store by quality, which they primarily look for in brandname products. At the same time a clear trend towards functionality and design can be seen, which is attributable to the consumer trend of “homing”. Customers of craft goods buy with more environmental awareness than other classes of customer, and 71% of PBS retail traders currently saw this critical shopping behaviour as the most important consumer trend. The trade also expects that the media, especially teleshopping, could create a new mega trend overnight. All in all, the hobby and craft segment has great development potential. |
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Kenkichi Fashion Night
Jan 22, 2006
Kenkichi Hiraki (25) will organise the 22nd of January in the 5 star Barbizon palace hotel in Amsterdam, the first edition of the Kenkichi Fashion Night. KFN will take place each 6 months. Every edition will bring a good cause to the light. This edition is all about KIKA (children cancer-free foundation). |
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New Dutch Design
Jul 2-Sep 18, 2005
Artist and designer Joost van Gorsel (1980) presents a summer of “Excess” at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, in which his designs with a fashion twist are brought to a higher level and shown at the upcoming exhibition of ‘Project Rotterdam’. |
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Swarovski Art Calendar Edition 2003
Photographer Helmut Newton
Swarovski, the world's leading manufacturer of cut crystal, teams up with master photographer Helmut Newton to enter the year 2003. |
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