01.17.2012 imm cologne

Cologne is a short trip. One day to try and see the city, and the second to check out the furniture fair. Today is already the second day, so we have to travel around with our luggage until we catch our ride back home. In the morning we went to see the off-site events before returning to the conference centre. The sites ended up being mostly showrooms, so nothing too exciting, but when I actually got to sit down to read the off-site pamphlet, there were a lot of really cool temporary exhibitions and galleries open. It's too bad I'm too late. 

City gate

Can you guess the name of this furniture company?

Sunshine! To the fair!

imm Cologne! I remember only being able to enjoy the Chicago housewares show for two hours (because it sucks the life out of you), and being unfazed by the ICFF in New York, and then being bored to tears at the NeoCon in Toronto, but for some reason, I thought that going to a furniture fair in Cologne, specifically THIS one, would be different. Well, yes and no. I mean, I was really excited to be here, I even fell off the side walk standing. But what was nice was that here people actually looked at you first before looking at what your badge says. In fact, you don't even have to wear your badge. And like most fairs, there was an abundance of furniture items and most of them were not nice. Although to be fair, I didn't do my research, so I could not appreciate product category winners for uses of new materials, or technological advancements, and creative form or what-have-you so I went through everything with a very ignorant view of the selection.

If you're not into furniture, I suggest you quickly scroll past until you see the word museum.

1. This was the biggest sign they had for the show.                                                2. paper is in, four years ago.

Serious men and a silly pink table

LOOK!! It's KONSTANTIN GRICIC! I didn't want to interrupt his conversation, or be all crazy telling him he's pretty cool and all, so I didn't get a photo with him. I settled for stalker photos instead. I went back later again to try and and get a photo, but he was gone..

These baskets bounce!

That sofa is a winner.

1. Is it a coincidence that this man's bag is the same as the lamp? 2. glass pendants, see? 3. e-moke, a static bike to recharge phone, competition winner

Doshi Levien's bathroom ensemble

Sight, Tim Kerp DD, winner "Garden goes balcony" competition

The only picture of proof of  me in Cologne! at Hey Sign. We also found that they ripped off one of our products..

Check out the people bench behind the twisty bench here. You can sit on someone's lap!

jam. Jess Fugler

1. concrete fabric, student winner.                       2. Using a magnet while forming a stool, student. gravity stool, jólan van der wiel

some sort of magical box contraption I did not understand, but was interesting to watch. Each drawer moves another. Lee Sanghyeok

2. In a Pinch, Arttu Kuisma

hungry at dinner? Grab a fruit.

Kartell, what a showstopper. They don't even have to try.

Leolux lounge

Cappellini

So no one steals your pillows.

brühl 

Vario conclusion, Integrated table wall system winner

In each of these cones you could experience something using a single sense. Sense of smell, sound, or sight

A lit up table. Unfortunately you cannot put anything actually ON the table, because it would create a shadow and block the projected light..

Wittmann booth

Halls are filled with overpriced products that only the upper crust of society can afford and the less affluent could only dream of. Well, there are also people who just don't know and don't care what the cost of that lamp on the marble table costs. But by mid-afternoon, I had gone through all the interesting sections of the fair twice. Yeah yeah, I know there are developments in materials and manufacturing that push the boundaries of design and make it easier for us to achieve better, lighter, stronger, more efficient things, but I could not help feeling disheartened about the world of product/furniture design (and how commercial it all is, there's just so much of everything!). The bottom line as we all know it, is saleability, and even today, people are still using the oldest trick in the book: having multiple colourways for a single object. If it doesn't look good in yellow, it won't look any better in black!

So conclusion from the fair? Please make less, but do better. I mean, who buys this stuff anyway? 

Despite my chagrin, I did have fun checking out the (supposedly) latest and greatest. I really enjoyed the student awards, because they really get to experiment and try anything they want, and then attempt to get away with it. There were also some pretty smart hinges, but I'm not going to go there.

grand S-bahn entrace

yeah, this caught my eye. I went in.

Now with the official off-site events booklet in my hand, I actually knew what was happening in the city. Unfortunately I only had three hours left, and one hour was spent being really really confused at the wrong intersection. My last hours were spent at the MAKK musem (Museum for Angewandt Kunst Koln) for this From Aalto to Zumthor - Architects Furniture. The idea of the exhibition was inspired by the history of design and the question of whether architects have a different way of designing furniture than product designers. As a result, the only pieces on display were items from designers whose professional focus is buildings; people like Egon Eiermann, and Zaha Hadid.

They also had a really good collection for the history of industrial/product design. It was like one semester of Lydia Sharman's class in three very large rooms. Unfortunately, it was not possible to finish the entire place because I spent too long reading the blurbs on the wall. But this was a nice break.

Influences and inspiration illustrations

Look it's Eero Saarinen!

The man!

And because of this photo, I missed my train to the airport. That's another 20 minute wait for the next one...

I arrived back into Berlin at Schönefeld airport instead of Tegel. This was my first time at Schönefeld, which is  going to be the new default airport because Tegel is closing this year. Anyway, it sucks. It's a large empty space of space and the closest public transport is a really really long outdoor corridor away. Fly to Tegel while you can!