Vacation-land 2
This is the map on the reverse of the 1952 brochure. Great wood carving style graphics, great colours, great graphic treatment of our neighbouring countries!
The tourist attractions in the 50’s seem overwhelmingly to centre around outdoor activities like walking, kayaking and hunting… all of that surrounded by deep woods and medieval castles. I can’t help thinking that this is still our most valued tourist capital (minus hunting), certainly in terms of branding & positioning. Whilst promoting the country as a shopping or contemporary arts destination still has some way to go we should cherish, cultivate and promote the real gems that are unique to Luxembourg.
Graphic designer: Pe’l Schlechter
Manufacturing pride
While driving through the Burgundy region in France I came across this beautiful old factory building in the small town of Génelard.
I really liked the confident, almost out of scale, presence of the signage on the building. On top of that the signage is not an after-thought but completely integrated into the architecture. Compared to many of today’s undistinguished manufacturing halls it also tells the story of an admirable industrial pride.
Back to nature
I have seen this type of benches before in forests and parks without really appreciating them. But the concept of a bench with a cast structure that mimics root wood, as disturbing as it looks, starts to grow on me. If you choose casting as a technique you can also open up to other shape typologies, no reason to keep the geometric language you pretty much have to respect if you fabricate something in any other standard way.
To then paint it in such a colour makes the bench almost eccentric, even if it goes against the initial idea of making the bench blend into its natural surroundings.
I also wondered if Maarten Baas came here on holiday one day…
Chez Jeannette
The more you can do with LED technology the keener I get of the old fashioned neon sign aesthetics. I saw this great neon sign in Paris above the bar of the Café Jeannette, rue du faubourg Saint Denis. I very much like the way it extends into an architectural feature delineating the space of the bar and not limiting itself to just be a sign.
It also made me think of the great Kraftwerk song ‘Neon Lights’:
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city’s made of light…
Shopping info point in Luxembourg city
A very small but dynamic, elegant and highly versatile space commissioned by the Union Commerciale de la Ville de Luxembourg.
Primarily it is a place where visitors can get any shopping information (opening hours, retail services, maps, customised shopping trails …etc) the city has on offer. Within that primary task of giving out information it is also a place where the city’s retailers can celebrate particular themes and organise special events & exhibitions.
Furthermore, the second aim of the space was to establish best practice retail design with innovative materials and finishes. The floor is made from two coloured resin floor (made from cast Polyurethane). The grey brown floor is split in the middle by a central band of white that invites the visitor in from the outside. This band is then folding up to create a central display made from thermoformed partially back-lit white Corian sheets.
By contrast, all the walls are lacquered in a warm dark and super mat Nextel paint finish. This material, often used on control panels and dashboards, is hard wearing and extremely light absorbing to minimise light reflections and emphasis the artifacts & displays. Moreover, the lighting is kept low to focus on the displays and create a beautiful museum like experience.
Cramped into an area of only 50m2 the space is packed with multiple functionalities while keeping a sober and high-quality appearance.
Hokus Pokus
Here another fine example of a vintage kids furniture piece I recently bought. Named Hokus Pokus, this multifunctional furniture was manufactured in Sweden by AB Bjärnum Möbelfabriker. All in one, it is a high chair that becomes a rocking chair with steering wheel or a desk with seat, depending on how you flip it around. Every aspect and form has a purely functional ‘raison d’être’ which gives the object its visual complexity and its overall shape. This uncompromising and honest approach linking form and function makes this unusual object in my view very interesting.
First work bench
I found this versatile piece of kids furniture in a vintage shop. It consists of a bench, desk with seat and storage facility. Convincingly basic and low-tech its shape results purely from the functions it serves. Manufactured by a brazilian company called Estrela.
Decluttering
Each day our cities seem to get more cluttered with new types of street furniture and equipment that didn’t exist only a few years ago. These new elements include endless amounts of operational electrical and telecommunication boxes that sprung up as these providers have been privatised and now operate without coordination. Additionally we also see an increase in free magazines dispensers, wi-fi masts, bike hire schemes, advertising and signage …etc that are implemented by different operators. Finally, the first digital advertising screens for city centers are threatening to be creeping-up in a city near you.
This creates a messy cocktail of visual pollution that damages the perception of our cities and we think it is important that cities have an organised and coordinated approach of how to handle the visual implications to our shared public space. The level of clutter should be contained and kept to the required minimum but, as many amenities remain necessary, there is also scope to regroup these into clusters and find new solutions of how they can be brought together or integrated into existing elements.
We have produced some first thoughts on this topic based on a specific urban context but to find a holistic approach requires an in depth consultation between all stakeholders (city officials, road engineers, private companies, urban planners and designers) to work out a strategy that is easy to apply to different urban situations without costing over the odds. In some situations this would result in new designs but the overall aim should be to regroup existing elements or to find inventive solutions that don’t require new structures.
- Urban amenities cluster
Plastic fantastic
A friend of mine has sent me the link to this very poetic and wonderful short film by director Ramin Bahrani and narrated by Werner Herzog about the tormented life of a plastic bag.
Take 15 minutes off work and watch it: http://www.futurestates.tv/episodes/plastic-bag
- Still from the movie Plastic Bag © Ramin Bahrani
Picnic in Armenia
A friend of mine sent me this amazing picture of a picnic area in the woods near lake Sevan in Armenia. The first reflex of a local authority would be to paint these structures in a camouflage green / grey to blend in. I find this choice of colour stunning and beautiful, the contrast of the cyan blue in the wood highlights both nature and man-made structures, producing a surreal fairytale ambiance.
Photo © Sandrine Scheller
Great legs
I found these stools in the bar of the India Club at the Continental Strand Hotel in London. What a great, simple, dynamic yet functional way to design legs for a piece of furniture that is usually very uneventful.
Guerilla graphics
A very fine example of a public declaration of love, without vandalism…
I’m wondering if I shouldn’t start collecting this type of urban love messages. But surely someone has already published a book on this?
No design sign
When you walk around city centres you have to wonder if we need all that signage and graphic design. Often too slick, too loud and too perfect, over-designed corporate identities and graphics take away the human side of things. Maybe there are too many designers around that need to find work (and not enough courageous businesses).
Accidental map
Within the chaos of one of the many Brussels train stations I found India (and I wasn’t the first one)
- Map of India
Canary Wharf map texture
Applying a texture to the surface of street furniture is not only enhancing the visual quality (by adding intricacy, light and shadow), it also helps damages and scratches to ‘disappear’ and makes fly-posting very difficult. This need for texture in street furniture is usually solved by applying a straightforward pattern with no particular meaning or context but in this great example of a lamp post from Canary Wharf in London, the designers have used a simplified map of the very area where they are implemented as the basis of the pattern.
- Street furniture texture
Flower power
To counter the slightly grim baskets of geraniums in our towncenters the City of Luxembourg has asked Georges Zigrand Design Consultancy to come up with some ideas of how to bring flowers to their city in an alternative way and without adding clutter at ground level. Using the existing lamp post, just like the traditional baskets, this proposal would see rings of flowers and grasses creating a much larger floral area hovering above street level.
Designed by integratedplace © 2010
Schiphol airport signage
It doesn’t take much and you would miss your plane if you wouldn’t have this information. Even so, it is amazing to see how many airports don’t include the required walking time to get to the gate.
Making our cities more child friendly
Brussels pedestrian crossing. Another example of the low budget yet convincing Belgian way.
‘Atlantique’ streched deckchair for public parks
A piece of furniture I’ve designed many years ago and still think it is an interesting take on the conventional deck chair for public use. I could see this new version well in a park or a managed public environment. Everybody who has had a nap in the deck chairs for rent in London’s Hyde Park knows it’s a winner. The ‘Atlantique’ has been on show in the group exhibition ‘Global Edit’ at the 2007 Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan organised by the magazine Wallpaper.
- Atlantique deck chair bench designed by Georges Zigrand
Georges Zigrand Design Consultancy 
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