• Preview of the 2007 Design Annual
• Review of The Design Annual 2007, Inside: Private Identity, Part 1 – Design & Identity
• Review of The Design Annual 2007, Inside: Private Identity, Part 2 – Design & Materials
• Preview of Tendence Lifestyle 2007
• Previews of The Design Annual - Inside: Showtime and Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn and Winter
• Wood is a very modern material - An Interview with Stefan Diez
• Design is a consequence of the process, which in turn is a consequence of the material – An Interview with Max Lamb
• How about good things? Or interesting things? - An Interview with Paul Kelley
• Review of Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn + Winter 2008

By Le Vin Chin

This year’s Design Annual was all about experience. Subtitled Showtime, Claus Richter and Tobias Rehberger had created a circus Wonderland in the confines of the Frankfurt Exhibition Center’s Festhalle (Festival Hall), all the better to inspire the visitor to engage with the exhibits with all their senses.

Under a totally charming – yet slightly ominous, as all funfairs should be – crazyscape looming from the overlooking balcony area, the curated design event once more showed a variety of high-end design exhibits in highly experiential settings, aiming “…to stimulate a discussion of the notions of staging and orchestrating, showcasing and presenting, the generation of emotions and how thoughts are manifested, show effects and profound changes in the field of presentation.”

The Authentics showring

Experience design as a showring: The Authentics stand was a circus showring, featuring designs from their repertory company of designers, including Stefan Diez, Konstantin Grcic and Tord Boontje.

The Dornbracht Sound Spas

Experiencing bathing as a ritual: Dornbracht has been redefining kitchens and bathrooms as experiential living spaces and their Culture Projects are art projects (performances, installations, etc.) supporting and relating to this. In their Noises for Ritual Architecture installation, designed by Mike Meiré, visitors were invited to rediscover bathrooms-as-“ritual spaces” – “a single daily retreat where body, spirit and soul can be rediscovered” – by entering these Sound Spas to be completely immersed in a sound (compositions by Carlo Peters) and vision (animated video images by Jens-Oliver Gasde) experience.

Experience being a VIP: Audi was there again, with their “VIP club” area, accessed through the back seat of an Audi A8 (replete with bodyguards, glamorous models and a paparazzo for a driver – see a video here) to finally get into the club to see the Audi A1 Project Quattro.

"How does space stimulate social interactions?" Aric Chen interviews Ab Rogers and Nitzan Cohen

All the fun of the circus: Reached by a rickety industrial-scale elevator (a nice touch), the upper level was a funhouse of animatronic animals, giant pieces of cheese, and fake starry skies, but was also the site of the auditorium space where a procession of dancers, jugglers and magicians took turns with interviews, presentations and discussion panels.

The fun, colorful Hey-Sign stand

Experience felt: Another candidate for material-of-the-future is felt, which we’ve talked about here and there over the past while (notably in our recent interview with Max Lamb). Felt, made from wool, is natural, organic and sustainable, and physically tough, water-resistant and moldable. You can make hard, or soft objects with it. Hey-Sign have built their whole business around it.

Felt sideboard by Paul Kelley

Paul Kelley, who we interviewed at last year’s event, unveiled two new pieces, one of which was this amazingly tactile felt-covered sideboard. The piece is solid, feels natural, while still being modern and urban, and Kelley’s signature shapes and proportions shine through. His promised – and now fulfilled – exploration of the use of felt, based on his admiration for the work of Joseph Beuys, also puts him in the vanguard of designers working with this long-dismissed material. NB. Kelley’s pieces are limited edition, but only because he makes each piece himself and by hand.

JU87-G STUKA by Katharina Wahl

Things to make and do: offering a new perspective on traditional “toys for boys”, Katharina Wahl’s JU87-G STUKA is a do-it-yourself piece that allows you to build your own, literal “carpet-bomber”.

Although under the overall umbrella (Big Top?) of the Decorate Life design event this year, the Design Annual kept its unique personality through its very focussed theme, curated exhibits and by being designed within an inch of its life.