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“X” Marks The Spot! #11
By Le Vin Chin, with additional material by Ania Dardas
Coming up from March 25 to 27 at the Tokyo International Forum, Japan, is the 16th JITAC (Japan Imported Textiles Agency Council) European Textile Forum. This show that takes place four times a year brings European fabric know-how with its emphasis on originality to Japan. The cooperation with Première Vision that started in 2001 has been enormously successful in bringing to Japan and establishing the European approach that celebrates the naturally found irregularities in textiles with an audience that more traditionally seeks perfection.
Our favorite newly discovered design website is dezeen. Dezeen is simply about the wide world of design – what’s cool, what’s fun, what’s interesting, what’s funky … Anyone can contribute a story, so it’s perhaps site owner Marcus Fairs’ keen editing eye which makes the experience of the content so exhilarating.
Continuing our listing of the best materials search agencies and libraries, this month’s entry is Material ConneXion. A truly global operation, Material ConneXion has over 3,500 materials samples in its library sites in New York, Cologne, Bangkok and Milan. Building on these materials resources and their wide network of contacts, Material ConneXion also offers materials search consultancy. Full disclosure: Ciba installations were presented at the Material ConneXion showroom during the recent Passagen event in Cologne and Material ConneXion will be a partner in an exciting new Ciba XYMARA initiative to be announced in a few weeks (so keep your eyes peeled)!
“X” Marks The Spot! on …
… the wall …
Corporate logos are fun. Well, actually, they cost millions, nobody ever likes them and they’re burdened by the never achievable need to symbolize an entire company’s ethos, as well as its history, future, personality and any- and everything else related to it ... But still fun – and, as you saw with the Qantas logo in “X” Marks The Spot! #5, I find the process of design, the evolution of a corporate image and the final logo itself fascinating. Here are two recent articles on corporate logo evolution, from the UK’s Independent newspaper and from neatorama.com. (My personal favorite? It’s Unilever’s …)
Starting a new series in “X” Marks The Spot!, we’re going to be featuring furniture search resources over the next few issues. Quite a few websites have popped up in recent times, offering themselves as easy-to-surf-and-search portals for sourcing innovative and cutting edge design furniture. This month we feature Stylepark, who claim to have “18,328 Products, 1,810 Designers and 269 manufacturers” in their database – and it certainly looks very comprehensive, clear and easy-to-use. Meanwhile, objectguide is quite young in comparison and still needs to find its feet – but doubtless is one to keep an eye on as it develops.
The eyes of much of the world are upon Switzerland and Austria this summer (ahead of the Olympics, at least!) in the run up to UEFA EURO 2008. To prepare the mood and pave the way, the Swiss Post have created new stamps for the event, following the exhortation to “Go, Switzerland”! The designs were voted on by over 13,000 members of the public in January and the winning design, by Bernese cartoonist Max Spring, will be launched on May 8. Meanwhile, in co-hosting country Austria, five series of stamp sets, featuring Trix and Flix, the official EURO 2008 mascots; the eight hosting cities; the UEFA logo, children’s drawings; and a self-adhesive football have been created.