VIENNA DESIGN WEEK #10: 30.9. – 9.10.2016

Natural Phenomena in Fascinating Presicion – A poetic installation, realized with the fascinating precision of the FÜRSTENBERG porcelain manufactory: the Viennese design studio EOOS and FÜRSTENBERG put analyses of table culture on show that are inspired by natural phenomena such as lava streams and accumulated sediment strata. The place where the matte, fluted exterior surface and the smooth interior surface of the double-walled beakers and cups meet our lips – this is where the physical experience of the objects is potentially most direct. And it is here that EOOS designer Martin Bergmann also recognizes the essence of FÜRSTENBERG skills.

Stories and Matters – Through technical innovation and architectural spatial concepts Rimadesio with designer Giuseppe Bavuso has developed into an international brand. Here, the introduction of successful sliding door systems in 1992 marked an important turning point in the history of the long established Italian firm of the Malberti brothers: the key materials of aluminium and glass were effectively placed in the limelight by deploying subtle combinations of color and materials – e.g. leather or wood – and new processing techniques. The latest collections are the result of sixty years of technical expertise – and are during the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK on display in the remodeled brand store of Grünbeck.

For three generations Grünbeck has been evolving from an exquisite master carpentry workshop into an enterprise for high-end interior architecture, international furniture design and top-quality cabinetmaking craftsmanship. Additionally to Rimadesio, Grünbeck will present another festival contribution:
Walter Knoll designs living spaces – with consummate craftsmanship, valuable materials and an aesthetic of lasting validity. For 150 years, Walter Knoll has been renowned as a furniture brand for modern times, its history originating in 1865 with a leather shop in Stuttgart. The firm continually set standards in design history, created classics and icons of the avantgarde. Since the end of the twentieth century, the manufacturing concern for upholstered furniture has been growing constantly and today is one of the foremost producers in the international high-end segment of interior furnishings and design. For the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK it will present in the furniture store Grünbeck design classics from its Classic Edition, Turkish design by Sadi and Neptun Ozis and new handicrafts by EOOS.

The South Tyrolean family concern ewo develops high-quality light systems for public places, and their talks series ewoTalks is devoted to the interactions between art, design, architecture, industry and technology. The talk “Industry 4.0 – The Future Is Now” taking place during VIENNA DESIGN WEEK revolves around the dramatic changes trawled by the networking of machines, factories and logistics chains. Talking to other participants, the designer Clemens Weisshaar addresses the rapid changes underlying society and industry – and the potential this triggers on the creative side.

Green Design for and with Grüne Erde – The pioneer concern Grüne Erde has for more than thirty years been successfully committed to the yearning for a life dominated not by profit but by ecological responsibility, social justice, quality-awareness and sensuousness. What does a design process look like for and with this kind of enterprise? How is the consistent maintenance of this ethos palpable in the product? Designer Johannes Scherr addresses these issues by means of products from the new Grüne Erde Collection, pointing out differences, shared features, reciprocal impetus and ideas from other design disciplines, which the Viennese bureau has the expertise to exploit.

Lighting and Tableware Projects – With its latest products, the young upcoming Czech design enterprise Lasvit is harking back to the great heritage of Bohemian glass production. The collection, realized by leading designers like Moritz Waldemeyer, includes objects from lighting design and tableware design. As if trying to systemize chandelier manufacture, Waldemeyer enlisted the geometric elements of classic illuminants and transposed them into diamond-shaped, hexagonal glass blocks. The basic form of individual components emerged both in single and also in combined lighting bodies as strikingly clear and disciplined in appearance.

UNTAMED – The designer Sebastian Menschhorn plays with the archaic, animal atavism of fur – a material that Liska – an inner-city fashion house specialized in quality furs – has always valued greatly for its origins. Made with consummate furrier craftsmanship, Menschhorn’s furniture is morphed half way into animals and from animals back to furniture. Metamorphoses unfold: streaming manes emerge from table legs, furry animals gallop over cushions, and tabletops are borne by the limbs of hirsute fabulous beasts – UNTAMED.