inspiration. information. influence

Reme Bouchaniche USIN-e was one of the winners of imm Cologne’s Interior Innovationawards at January’s Furniture Fair. I caught up with him the next morning and had a chance to ask a couple of questions as he demoed his winning entry to the crowd around his booth.

 Why Lighting?

I see lighting as a fashion accessory for the home; plus I wanted to explore working with new materials and lighting seemed like a good choice.

What role did materials play in the design?

 I like to explore materials especially materials under tension. I also wanted to explore the relationship between the construction of an object and how it “works”.

 What was the one thing you learned from this project?

To think simple.

His inspiration was based on the principle of an organic body composed of skin and skeleton. In pulling the pendant light’s center rod, the intensity of the light is raised or lowered; coinciding  with the pulling of the light’s fabric membrane. In order to produce a flowing and expressive movement, the designer concentrated on a very precise and harmonious gesture focused on one point. In this way, the lamp becomes a temporary shape creating a poetic time from daily use.

I just finished a story for Plinth and Chintz about the wildly creative young designers that I are setting the design world on fire. I wanted to share some of their stories with you.

Eine Wand - We came across this team while walking the Passagen showrooms and my first thought was IKEA where are you? The ID Modus team takes its inspiration fromwhat they call folding architecture. Imagine this wall system in your first studio walk up or in your tween’s room with some of the pieces opening up to storage. Paint in in Mondarian style, wall paper it, turn it into a dry erase board . It’s genius!

Probably the most interesting and invigorating part of a trip to cologne is the Passagen, the offsite event during imm Cologne Furniture Fair that focuses on interior design trends in galleries, showrooms and shops throughout Cologne. Yes, there’s lots of walking and your fair share of wild goose chases when  exhibitions don’t live up to their brochure descriptions.  But Designer’s Fair never disappoints. Rather than showing the most famous names in the business, the DESIGNERS FAIR consciously seeks to bring together the most exciting new discoveries. Young designers take rooms on the three floors of the RheinTriadem and fill them with prototypes and furnishings.

It’s amazing what you might find and boy, did we find some great things. One of my favorites was Klaus LEUTCHE, a design firm that we almost overlooked, walking into the room we saw tassels hanging from the ceiling along we turned around to a small group of  designers sitting in the back. Of course we had to ask about the tassels A product near and dear to our hearts. What we found was fabulous! Tassels that were actually lights. 

 Even better is the story behind it. In the young designers’ broken English, and our broken German- actually Susan’s German-we learned that they were renting space in the  Borrmann atelier. A trim and yarn  factory located in Dusseldorf. They were also looking for an inexpensive, readily available medium and a little inspiration, when they quickly realized that the yarn bins and trimmings and tassels provided it all- the missing links for their lighting project.

I am not sure what I love more- the pendant light which I am coveting for my own house (I could see 3-4 in different colors and heights hanging from the ceiling in my studio) or the backstory.

Check out Plinth and Chintz’s March issue for more of my musings about the young and exciting talents we found in Cologne, Frankfurt and Paris.

2009 Academy Awards set design

2010 Academy Awards set design

Rockwell Group has reprised one of the most dazzling elements of the 81st Academy Awards design - the Swarovski Crystal Curtain - but with new and unexpected features for an even greater theatrical effect.  I was blown away by the Crystal Curtain last year. Not only was it stunning, but I don’t know how you justify not using it again. ( OK, I am a huge Swarovski fan.)The curtains shimmers with over 100,000 Swarovski crystals flown in from Austria and stands 60 feet tall and 100 feet wide.

Elements added

 This year’s set also features three circular, revolving platforms that work in combination with rotating LED panels and architectural metalwork screens for film projection.  ( The wonders of modern technology!) The overall design is intended to evoke a classic but modern glamour, with white, platinum, topaz and smoky bronze hues added this year.

Sounds amazing. I can’t wait to see the final results.

This is fiber optic ready made curtain panel from Italian firm Decobel gives new meaning to “light at the window”.

Color schemes were lighter and fresher than last year and foreshadowed brighter days to come.

It was obvious that innovation had taken a back seat to reworking old favorites and best sellers, but if you looked hard enough you could find some truly amazing fabrics. The dimensional structures and surface trend for textiles is still gaining speed on the trend curve.

More to come tomorrow from imm Cologne and later this week- Maison et Objet!