Georges Zigrand Design Consultancy

Knockin’ on heaven’s door

Church door, star shaped
Star-shaped entrance door of a village church in Luxembourg. I really like the way the star-shaped pattern is radiating outwards from the central metal fitting, using a fairly simple profile of wooden boards. Almost psychedelic…

Old meets new

Posted in Identity & branding, Retail environments by zigideluxe on 14/03/2015

Paul Smith shop facade, Albemarle Street


Paul Smith shop
in Albemarle Street, central London designed by 6a architects
A fantastic example on how to integrate a contemporary shop front design into a heritage environment, without resorting to pastiche. The intricacy of the contemporary cast iron panels & railings marries the texture of the old facade, making both old and new stand out.

Hartlepool shows the way

crimdon_dene_small_web

Very robust and beautifully simple coastal path signage between Hartlepool Headland and Crimdon Dene, North East England

Dutch pride

Posted in Identity & branding, Products & furniture design, Retail environments by zigideluxe on 06/01/2015

KLM_branding

Nation branding, according to KLM

Lego style outdoor furniture for the almost grown-ups

Conventional tables and chairs wouldn’t have worked that well for the terrasse of my local hangout. The cultural centre Carrérotondes in Luxembourg, with its concerts, exhibitions, kids theatres and parties required a flexible way of sitting (and drinking). The Lego principle gives plenty of options on how to configure the modules, leaving it up to the user and the moment to choose how to use them.
Materials: Custom designed male & female rubber connectors combined with water resistant low-cost plywood.

Photo © Sven Becker

Photo © Sven Becker

IMG_7276_small
IMG_7264_small

IMG_7269_small

Chainsaw massacre

Posted in Products & furniture design, Street furniture & public realm by zigideluxe on 20/10/2014

tree_trunk_stairs
Tree & chainsaw = very nice steps

The art of spinning

Posted in Engineering beauty, Products & furniture design by zigideluxe on 09/10/2014

Allain_repoussage
It seems you have to travel to central Paris to find somebody still able to master this craft! See also this short documentary showing the process: http://vimeo.com/85024259

The future has landed, a long time ago

Posted in Engineering beauty, Vintage furniture by zigideluxe on 20/08/2014

larochette_outside

larochette_detail

larochette_inside

A beautiful 70’s swimming pool on a camping site in Larochette, Luxembourg.  The cherry on top of the cake: Half the building rotates and slides open in good weather.
Vintage on a different scale!

Functional beauty

Posted in Engineering beauty by zigideluxe on 03/06/2014
ferry ramp, port of calais

Access ramp, port of Calais

Chop chop

Posted in Products & furniture design by zigideluxe on 16/04/2014

Chopping bloc at the Drimos Taverne in Crete, made from a single tree trunk, blood red.

chop_chop_lowres_2

Max Planck Institute, Luxembourg

Posted in All recent projects, Products & furniture design by zigideluxe on 29/12/2013

Some images of my latest interior & furniture design  project for the new offices of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law located in the Weicker Building in Luxembourg-city.

The building itself was designed by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, a building with a very specific formal identity. The challenge was to find a suitable visual language that fits the architecture and, at the same time, cover all the functionalities and representative needs required by this prestigious client – all of this within a framework of a EU wide open tender procedure. The result is a mix of products from high-end furniture manufacturers and a range of custom-designed objects to ensure a coherent visual language and quality throughout the building.

Developed in collaboration with Teisen-Giesler Architectes
Client: Max Planck Insitute Luxembourg
Office & library surface: 4500m2
Max Planck reading roomMax Planck meeting cornerMax Planck double office space Photos © Christian Mosar

Look at me, look at me

A bit of fluorescent tape and you’ve got attention, even if you have been around for hundreds of years.
framed_in_ostende

Outdoor furniture – extra bold

Designed for outdoor spaces like nature reserves, parks & forests, this seating range is composed of large & chunky shapes with very simple profiles. The large – single piece – wood parts are made from locally sourced oak trunks with a simply sawn finish to resist weathering and vandalism. Due to its thickness, the wood can be sanded down if damaged but can also happily live with the added texture.
The wood profiles and tubular powder coated steel tubes are both an integral part of the structure and form objects with a strong visual contrast between natural and man made materials. The simple & sculptural shapes should integrate well in natural environments, yet stand out enough to be noticed for its quality.

Outdoor furniture range Outdoor park bench Outdoor lounge chair Outdoor picnic table

The right type of scale

Posted in Retail environments by zigideluxe on 11/09/2013

Scale-style tiles on a fishmonger shop front in Paris… convincingly simple and an impeccable contextual solution!

rue_bac

Have a seat and enjoy

The City of Luxembourg commissioned us to develop an furniture and colour guidance manual for the terrasses on one of it’s most prestigious squares in the city centre.  After many years of wild west behavior of the restaurants and cafés, using mostly cheap looking plastic furniture, branded umbrellas, primary colours and endless clutter the city wanted to clean up.
The new scheme, involving a selection of muted colours and more attractive furniture typologies has now been implemented, giving the square a more dignified and calm appearance while focusing on the quality of the space, the trees and the architecture.
One of press critics wrote at the time that we want to take colour and life out of the City, thankfully the chap in his all red training outfit plus hat has turned-up on my photo (on the right) to prove that it is not furniture & umbrellas that are creating a colourful city life!

IMG_1234_144

IMG_1236_144

Fair games

Just finished a signage & wayfinding project for the Olympic Games of the Small Nations of Europe, held in Luxembourg this year. Very refreshing to work on a fast and short term project for a change. In collaboration with Luxembourg based Designbureau. Client: Comité Olympique et Sportif Luxembourgeois

SITE_SIGNAGE TRIANGLE_3 PEDESTRIAN_SIGNAGE PUBLIC_TRANSPORT EVENT_SIGNAGE CAR_SIGNAGE

Ingenious low budget playground

Posted in Products & furniture design, Street furniture & public realm by zigideluxe on 19/06/2013

A resourceful approach to create a playground in Corfu… and I bet it ticks all the boxes of safety standards too!
Playground_corfu_small

Ponts & Chaussées

Some fine (and proud) signage on a depot of the Luxembourg civil engineering agency.

PONTS_CHAUSSEES_LUXEMBOURG

A new bus shelter for Luxembourg-city

Based on an existing JCD shelter designed by Norman Foster we fine-tuned & adapted the design in collaboration with the city and JCD to better fit todays user needs. Over 250 shelters will be installed / replaced the next couple of years across the city’s bus network.
With a user-centered approach the team developed a new back-lit independent totem that regroups a number of information that is easy to read, even from a distance. The same logic applies to the glass panel on the opposite side where we also re-grouped passenger information usually spread randomly all over the shelter.

 

Badanstalt_3c

%d bloggers like this: