‘For my Salone Top 10 it is objects that surprise which make the cut – collections or singular pieces that make me think about ‘living’ in a different way’ – Gregory Anderson from Trigger Design. Thanks!
Read more: http://www.indesignlive.com/articles/milan-12/Salone-Top-Ten#ixzz1uXjO83VX
My submission for the Great Summer Exhibition in Oranienbaum Germany. I collected leaves from the orangery of the castle to create texture on the concrete vase. The fruit is a Citrus x Aurantium; also called a Pommeranze. This citrus tree was the first sort of of what became Europe’s largest orangery, selected by the Dutch prinecess 300 years ago. It is a crossing between a grape fruit and a mandarin and i specially like it because of the small hart at the beginning of the leave.
photo: Jeroen van der Wielen
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 11 April 2012 – Doreen Westphal Studio launches “Concrete Textile Furniture” at Milan’s Salone di Mobile, 17 – 22 April 2012. For example, concrete becomes fabric, and fabric becomes furniture, tying back to Westphal’s roots as a tailor and her fascination for traditional craftsmanship applied to innovative materials and processes.
A former tailor, Westphal has created two “Concrete Textile” objects from very thinly rolled sheets of textured concrete, treating this traditionally solid industrial material as though it were fabric. One of the furniture pieces can be used as a low coffee table while the smaller version can be used as a chair or side table. These hollow pieces appear deceptively airy and fine – but they are in fact extremely robust. The inside surfaces feature patterned white cement while the outside texture is rough, raw and grey-coloured.
A different yet equally exciting creation to see in Milan this year by Doreen Westphal Studio is the “Suspended Tube Lamp”, which has a sculptural base made of delicately textured poured concrete, and is embedded with magnets to support a tube with an eco-friendly 12cm halogen bulb at the end of it.
Doreen Westphal: “I create products that seem quite obvious, yet magic. So my designs might be completely comprehensible and transparent in how they are made; however, you also realise that what you are looking at normally can’t be done … and so it must be magic!”
German company, G.tecz, innovates concrete for architectural use, and Westphal has adapted these innovations and developed them further to make 3D objects over the past four years. Westphal’s concrete ‘fabric’ is the result of the very latest concrete innovations by G.tecz. Westphal adds: “You traditionally pour concrete; but now we found ways to embellish concrete with a relief pattern, roll it out thinly, stencil it with a beautiful fabric texture, alter its colour and even tried embedding it with magnets.”
About Doreen Westphal Studio
Doreen Westphal (Koethen, 1970) is challenged by material experimentation, driven by socio-political engagement and has a passion for design and manufacture. She sees the designer as the conductor of a product’s entire production process. In collaboration with leading international material developers and skilled craftspeople, Westphal creates timeless objects, which are fair, innovative and future-ready. Westphal is currently based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Doreen Westphal Studio products are available at http://shop.doreenwestphal.com/ and selected distributors worldwide. For further information please visit www.doreenwestphal.com.
Today at 16:00 Jarhunderthalle Bochum, Germany the Gut. fair will open up it’s doors for the whole weekend. We will be there with the new collection and as an experiment we have a ‘pay what you think it’s worth’ section too.
For immediate release
The ‘Measure Collection’ bag and accessory range by Doreen Westphal Studio launches 23 March at Gut. 2012 in Bochum, Germany. Westphal’s well-considered craftsmanship and sustainable-conscious production processes echo the main theme of this year’s socio-environmental-responsible design fair.
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 20 March 2012 – Doreen Westphal Studio launches the ‘Measure Collection’, accessories made from leftover leather pieces, at the Gut. Die Messe Fair in Bochum, between 23 and 25 March.
Doreen Westphal: “We live in a society where it’s normal to purchase more than what’s necessary. We see living with waste as part of the natural order. The ‘Measure Collection’ is a response to this unnatural overabundance.”
Westphal conducts the entire production process, where every piece of the ‘Measure Collection’ is made from high quality leather off-cuts from a shoe and bag manufacturer in south Bulgaria. The factory is run by experienced and highly skilled craftspeople, who also hold 5% ownership of the company.
The goal of the ‘Measure Collection’ is not just to transform formerly dispensable materials into valuable and useful products, but to encourage consumers to rethink how materials are used.
“I’m proud to have a job which allows me to combine design ideas with material experimentation and socio-political engagement – and be able to enjoy commercial success at the same time,” says Westphal.
Between Friday 23 and Sunday 25 March Gut. Fair will show work that has been released to market, in the field of creative crafts and applied arts, with a focus on environmental responsibility and social justice. Its tagline this year is “Social, Fair, Sustainable”.
The ‘Measure Collection’ icon is the Measure Tote shopping bag, which is marked on the back with a scale starting at 1 and ending at 5. Research has shown that people throw away 20% of the food they buy. Herein lies the consumer challenge: fill the shopping bag and eventually throw away the last 20%, or just fill it up to number 4. Other items in the collection include the Bansko bag, without metal clasps on its shoulder strap but has a clever knot system instead – to limit the use of finite natural resources.
“For me, everything has what we call in the Dutch language, a ‘front’ and a ‘back’. The ‘front’ – or the exterior façade – is literal and tangible. It is what people see, feel and experience and it’s what they expect a designer to do well. The ‘back’ – or the interior significance – is not immediately apparent but is equally important, because it’s how a product has come into being: its ecological footprint, what it’s made of, how it was produced, the social conditions of the craftspeople involved, and how far it travels to reach the user. I aspire to design the ‘back’ of a product just as beautifully as its ‘front’.
About Doreen Westphal Studio
Doreen Westphal (Koethen, 1970) is challenged by material experimentation, driven by socio-political engagement and has a passion for design and manufacture, taking on the role of designer as well as conductor of a product’s entire production process. Westphal grew up and was trained as a tailor, under the former East German regime. As a result, she is acutely aware of the link between politics, economics and the currently deplorable state of eco-social affairs, and is continually stimulated by specialised crafts. In collaboration with leading international material developers and skilled craftspeople, Westphal creates timeless objects, which are fair, innovative and future-ready. Westphal is currently based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Doreen Westphal Studio products are available at http://shop.doreenwestphal.com/ and selected distributors across Europe. For further information please visit www.doreenwestphal.com.
NOTE TO EDITORS
For an overview of low-resolution photographs please visit http://shop.doreenwestphal.com/Products.aspx?Catalogue=MEASURE.
For high-resolution photographs please contact Doreen Westphal at +31 62424 0989 or contact@doreenwestphal.com.
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Pictured: Bansko bag shoulder-strap
featuring a unique knot-system in
place of a metal clasp
Doreen Westphal Studio is happy to announce new points of sale:
France
GAMBS, based in Paris; http://www.hervegambs.com/
Germany
SEIPP WOHNEN, based in Waldshut and Tiengen; http://www.seipp.com/
Switzerland
KONVEX, based in Bern; www.konvex.ch
The Netherlands
TERRA, based in Nijmegen, Lange Hezelstraat 51
PILAT, based in Twijzel, http://www.pilat.nl/nl
Web
Moody Moments; http://www.moodymoments.com/home/
The new collection of Doreen Westphal Studio has now arrived in those stores, they are one by one very special places with carefully selected collections.
To be continued…
Doreen Westphal will officially launch the Measure Collection at Gut.Die Messe. A fair in the Jarhunderthalle Bochum from march 23rd till march 25th with focus on Design – social, fair and ready to meet the future.
http://www.gut-die-messe.de/