KAIROS 13 – OBJECT 13

bring: An object that allows you to see/experience something invisible
(invisible in its most broadest terms)

Realists of a Larger Reality; (Ursula Le Guin)
Perhaps the only futures worth considering now are unlikely ones? Maybe we need more of them? Design’s current methodologies prepare us for the probable, and as we have seen, this may not be enough.  Perhaps we need to be more comfortable with the unlikely, improbable and barely imaginable.

The impossible can become the new possible —  just because something is impossible does not mean it is not possible. Perhaps less linear design processes can allow for wider influences and reference points providing a richer pool of cultural nutrients — perhaps then more humane realities can begin to emerge…,

ON Fiona Raby

Fiona is University Professor of Design and Social Inquiry and Co-director of the Designed Realities Studio at The New School in New York. She is also a partner in the design studio Dunne & Raby (1994-).

She was Professor of Industrial Design (id2) at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna between 2011-2016 and was Reader in Design Interactions at the RCA between 2005-2015. Her projects with Anthony include Technological Dream Series, No 1: Robots (2007), Designs For An Over Populated Planet: Foragers (2010), The United Micro Kingdoms (2013), The School of Constructed Realities (2015), and An Archive of Impossible Objects (2019 -).  She was a founding member of the CRD Research Studio at the Royal College of Art where she worked as a Senior Research Fellow leading externally funded research projects. She taught in the Architecture department for over 13 years; ADS04 is the longest running unit, now 19 years old.

www.dunneandraby.co.uk
www.designedrealities.org

sneak preview of
coming up:
C & D

Zusammenfassung 

Fiona Raby (Dunne & Raby) // Kairos 13

What and interesting talk with Fiona Raby, full of input!
Fiona Raby and Anthony Dunne from Dunne & Raby are propably the “godfathers of speculative design” provocing different ways of thinking about the relativity of our reality and future.
Working 30 years together with Anthony Dunne, Fiona pointed out that it’s hard to speak for herself why she will talk for Anthony and her both.

Their Kairos has been more like a longer lasting ‘moment’. It was their 3 years stay in Tokyo, Japan, when they left college in 1988. The there so different world and attitude towards technology ‘shifted [their] world in a big way’ and has had not only a profound effect on their then following work but even on what they do now.
Coming from a world, the UK, where technology is seen as something controlling, they experienced technology in Tokyo as something delightful and with pleasure. This, they wanted to turn into something of their ownwhen they went back to the UK and thought about it within their familiar context.

From then on they were falling between disciplines, says Fiona. Not really industrial design, nor architecture, nor graphics. They started a computer related design course in 1991. Even that they were interested in technologies then, they felt like misfits and as if they wouldn’t quite fit in. ‘It was a funny course’, she said having done it with a real mixture of people from different departments who were all, kind of working in the technological space.

The object this week was quite interesting for us participants to bring with: An object that allows you to see/experience something invisible! That’s why there were a huge range of different objects in our webex gathering, which all understood visible and invisible in different ways – book, heart, thermometer, sleeping mask, glasses, …
Unfortunately, Fiona hadn’t got her object with her in New York because it is located in London. But she sent us a link to her radioscanner, she bought it at a shop after coming back from Japan. She said it was fascinating to have had the possibility to tune into a really different world of all kind of signals in the air.
Through this, they wanted to think about smart objects and it also led to an early book and project, the ‘placebo project’.

Fiona told that after having worked as research fellows, she and Tony started teaching and working with a range of digital companies, they are still falling between the gaps today, in this in between space. ‘We sit in this funny world between institutions, academia and practice, this space in between all of these things.’. They see their work as a research in design, to push boundaries of what design could be and how technology fits into this.

Their famous book ‘Speculative Design’ marks the 10 years they spent at Design Interactions the mastercourse they ran at the RCA trying to understand biotechnology.
‘But you can’t make these biological things!’, said Fiona. So the book is about how can we make things that don’t exist? how can we show that they exist? And how to speculate on if this technology is getting developped? What would the everyday life would be like with this lense of technology?

Then Fiona talked about the power of models and prototypes. Perhaps their background as architects has fed this too, but in design you usually work on 1:1 prototypes. An interesting point, Fiona pointed out, is that a 1:1 scale automatically assumes that it is real and that it exists in a real world. But sometimes you make an object that has no connection with the real world but it is used to talk about that world that it is supposed to be in. For this, they love using models.

In doing so, Fiona mentions that they ask themselves what is the value of the conceptual way of thinking? It is about using design to ask questions and create discussions?! As soon as an object exists in a 3 dimensional space, it becomes a very powerful tool to talk about things that don’t exist yet. But there is also a lot of research behind this! ‘If you don’t have that research and don’t know your facts, it’s very difficult to make a powerful piece of design that challenges!’

During the discussion, Axel and Fiona also adressed the multiple realites which we experience today, especially in the crisis. Fiona asked herself how to work with this kind of space. She thinks it is kind of fascinating and what design does – working with multiple viewpoints. Axel wondered if it would be good to create an inflation by creating more and more narratives, so people have more possibilities following things. Fiona responded that there already is ‘more and more’, but they are all in the same kind of space why it is important to step outside the unknown world and do something completely different.

This led over to the topic of their new book: How to explore the unknown? It is half way writing and still needs time until being published, but it builds on the work they already did.
In the context of the book, they are interested in what is impossible and why is it impossible? They also analyse belief systems from the past and present. Now, there is not anymore the certainty about technology that saves us, we are living in a world of contradiction.
‘It is a lovely balance between the rational and the irrational.’ Finding the balance through lightness, sensitivity and by using the synthesis in a world of multiple realities can be seen as a classic design task. Fiona emphazises that ‘This is a real struggle […] but who said design is easy?’

In the last part of the discussion we talked about the role of speculative design in a context of a world and society that feel real problems.
Fiona said that design is not gonna save us, but it can help us when having other ingredients like other institutions. We have to keep in mind the picture of an ecology: Each little piece can help the bigger picture and design is one piece of the ecology – people use structures of design to shape the world: thinking outside, thinking broader, seeing another perspective.

And another thing Fiona has learned and what concluded the talk nicely: People want to have bigger dreams and dreams about what it could be. Speculative design pushes the dream further by pushing to edges and expanding realities.

Kim Kuhl

KAIROS 12 – OBJECT 12

Bring: a small, heavy, formally interesting object that can be used as a paperweight (and if available ink, a pile of A4 paper and a dip pen)

ON Birgit lohmann

Zusammenfassung 

Birgit Lohmann // Kairos 12

Birgit Lohamnn is the founder of Designboom, based in Milan, Italy. She studied design and was living and working with Italian architects and designers in Italy. She is the pioneer of the online design publishing platform called Designboom that started in 1999.

One of her great stories was about her relationship with Enzo Mari who recently died. She worked on a number of projects with him, such as a cooperation with KPM Berlin. Enzo Mari influenced her a lot.
Enzo Mari believed that design is not a game or play. Design is the hard work. Probably it’s the toughest works and it needs huge amount of work. So he believed that one has to be efficient on decision making. Birgit emphasized it by citing Mr. Mari’s words. To be efficient, drawings are more helpful than writing. Before finding the right sketches, one need to sketch a lot to reduce his/her stress.

Birgit’s KAIROS moment and object has to do with this. A paperweight can calm down the sketching process. A paperweight gives time to think. With a paperweight on it a pile of sketches get some piece and you can think. If you make just one sketch on one piece of paper you can throw bad sketches a way and keep good ones longer for your design research.

A design process starts with personal experience or emotions. Which is great to start with but in the end, it needs higher level of quality with some sort of scientific research. Scientific order is necessary. The paperweight can trigger to make piles and to make order, to make a break and look deep into your process.

Ineke asked about the founding reason of Designboom while Birgit was working with great Italian names.
Birgit’s dream was to become a designer, but she was frustrated by the short time to finish one project. She again emphasized on time you have to take for design projects. After school, she wanted to something else. Despite that Enzo Mari’s design office worked differently than others, for her it was the same job differently.
She was frustrated that young designers, who came up with ideas to design offices, often heard ‘no’ to their design suggestions. So, publishing their ideas was something she came up with.
Enzo was against the online platform since he was not in favour of internet in the beginning. But Enzo realised he was wrong at the end. Designboom was a success.
Birgit still doesn’t want to place critics on projects or ideas. Because the nice projects or ideas took lots of time and effort. We, as an audience, can discuss it later. Her job is to publish (young) people’s ideas.

Axel asked about the shortcut to succeed in online images by metadata.Brigit knows by now very well what type of images work well, but she does not always use that. She still follows her own criteria that the projects must meet in order to be accepted.

Today’s design world needs more marketing than when she still worked in design and she misses to touch material, transform, give birth to something. But with designboom she might work as the same as before, she publishes people’s ideas without critics.
Her advice to upcoming designers is to bring creative energy for a long-term, long-run design project. Once again, design is not an easy task. It needs lots of energy and time. In the beginning from your crazy ideas to a certain point where your projects might be widely accepted by the society, you have to experiment and evolve.

Conclusion : Her design influence by Enzo Mari was very interesting. Doing a good job is not relevant today. Doing an intelligent, smart, scientific job is relevant. No-research can delay progress. Do not stop experimenting, exploring and having experience of new things. Then your ideas will have a higher project value. That’s why we need paperweights to look what’s here on the table now. And most importantly, start Instagram and post your moods. ;-) (for today’s design perspective.)

Sanghyeok Lee

KAIROS 11 – OBJECT 11

Object to bring: a rucksack

My Kairos was the moment I decided to go ahead with opening Berlin Glas.
I had the idea to open the studio in 2009, when I met a glass artist from Australia who was complaining that there were no opportunities for artists to work with the material in or near Berlin (it’s difficult for an artist who knows how to blow glass to work in a factory – the equipment is very different). He was going to set-up the studio with me, and so we founded Berlin Glas e.V. and looked for a studio.
A year later he and his partner split and he felt compelled to move back to Melbourne, leaving with a hot-shop that I had just ordered and was being delivered within a few months! That was my watershed moment: do I go ahead with this project, despite the fact that I myself am not a glass blower or artist?
The answer was yes…. and 9 years later, with the Corona crisis, similar questions have come up.  

ON Nadania Idriss

Nadania Idriss is founder and managing director of Berlin Glas e.V. and Berlin Glassworks GmbH. Born in Berkeley, California, Nadania has a specialization in medieval art and architecture of the Middle East. S
he worked at the British Museum in London, moved to Paris in 1997 to work at UNESCO, before moving to Germany in 2005. The programs she leads provide artist collaborations, classes for the general public, youth and refugee projects, artist residencies, and bi-lateral exchanges with international universities, as well as teaching a joint-university class with the UdK and KH-Berlin. Nadania is currently the Vice-President of the Glass Art Society.

www.berlinartglas.com 

Zusammenfassung 

Nadania Idriss // Kairos 11

The first KAIROS talk this semester started with the very interesting insight into Nadania Idriss’ work and her studio history of Berlin Glas e.V. – the first glass hot shop in Berlin.

For Nadania Idriss, there have been a few key moments in life where she was given the opportunity to experience a kairos – or as she called it, a ‘watershed moment’. Actually ‘the entire experience of founding the studio has been a ‘watershed moment’’, so she said. ‘It was about jumping into the deep end!’:
The key moment was in 2009, when her friend, with whom she was planning to run the first glass hot shop in Berlin, decided to move back to Australia while she already had ordered the whole equipment for the studio without a chance to cancel the order and without any knowledge about glass making.
The original plan was: he is responsible for the workshop, she is running a community program.
She decided to give it a chance and build it up on her own, everything based on her desire of working with a community. From that it grew into Berlin Glas, what it is now.

Today, she likes to share this kind of experience as she had founding the studio, starting with 0.
As she is actually more a person who likes to have a plan, she had to learn to work with her intuition and to let it go and grow. Since then, she likes to invite artists and designers to come without a plan and let it develop. Just like Prof. Axel Kufus who also did a one week residency at Berlin Glas. He told us about the special spirit of empowerment at the workshop.
She has drawn an interesting analogies to this experience of ‘jumping into the deep end’: Glass as a material and working with it is in fact unpredictable, too.
What is special about the studio is that the work in the workshops is focuses on the process, growing ideas and bringing these ideas to life. It is less about mass production than about giving designers and artists the possibility to work out their ideas to a perfect prototype and to search then, when needed, for a place where they can produce it in mass. Nadania wanted to bring to Berlin, what she experienced as normal in the US: Studio glass. When someone has an idea, she wants to be the place where you can give it a try and work it out.

The next kairos was the point when she started to work with Philipp Weber and created their lighting label Berlin Art Glas GmbH, what is, so Nadania, ‘more thought out’ and worked out for their best capacity. Philipp Weber, who used to work for Tomás Saraceno, and graduated from the UdK designed and made the award for the DMY awards with Nadania. The more he came into the studio, the more she wanted to work with him on a business level, appreciating the way he thinks.

Running, since 2015, Berlin Glas with half of it as a GmbH and half of it still as a charity, Nadania experienced her 3rd watershed moment during the corona crisis: They were confronted with the fact that they have more demand than they can actually supply. So BerlinGlas decided to expand the studio and to buy new equipment to grow further. They will be able to teach, produce works and have artists in residence at the same time in the future.
Rebuilding the studio, they want to install a system to save the heat and send it to their neighbours. Here she pointed out that the company’s focus is, even when growing, still on the community and their ideas and not on making money in short time.

Of course at this point, it was interesting to know how we as students and designers can get involved with Berlin Glas. Nadania has shown some possibilities.
For designers and artists, they have 3 types of residencies: Visiting artists for a longer stay, inviting artists like Axel Kufus for a certain period of time and working with art university students like in an erasmus scheme. For this, students should have experience with glass and work more like an intern in the team. They will learn making glass blowing molds out of plaster, thinking backwards in mold- object, making experiments in textures, translucencies, hollowness vs solid and so on.
However, you can also come with a finished mold and hire them to blow glass into the mold.

Talking about this, Nadania told more about this special part about having artists in residence: the exchange and seeing the material through that person’s eyes. Even in this thousands of years old technique there is always something new that they want to do and there is never the same thing twice! ‘We have that wow-moment all the time!’ she said. For her it is important to work with people from different backgrounds, that everything is mixed together and not to have a monoculture.

In the end we finally talked about the object we should bring: a backpack!
Nadania always appreciated her backpack. After opening the studio, she often had to run spontaneously to shops and grab things to get new ideas work and it was always put in her backpack. She feels like it is an extension of her body ;)
Nadania left us with the following advice about what she learned working 6 years at UNESCO: ‘No matter who the person is you speaking to, or who you might idealize or dream to meet- they are human like you! […] Don’t be afraid to contact them. Just gor for it!’

Kim Kühl

TITEL: Ohne Helm und ohne Gurt
windows of opportunity are often missed. often because nobody is aware of them, more often because they are not seized.
the latent potential in evolving technologies is our greatest inspiration – harnessing it is often cursed because we are

Objekt der Wahl: Helm.

ON CLEMENS WEISSHAAR

Clemens Weisshaar (DE) was born in Munich. After an apprenticeship as a metal worker he studied product design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art in London and was an assistant to Konstantin Grcic for three years before founding his first office for design in 2000. Weisshaar lives in London and Munich. He works together with Reed Kram (SE,US) Together they founded their studio KRAM/WEISSHAAR

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram’s work redefines cutting edge design. They have been referred to as “the vanguard of the next generation of digital designers” (FORM magazine) and “the poster boys of a new breed of designers” (International Herald Tribune). Their projects span from software development to process design, from product design to architecture. Weisshaar and Kram’s work focusses on the vanishing line between the digital and the physical, always remaining committed to “redesigning design” (Arch+ magazine).
Their work has been exhibited worldwide and can be found in the permanent collections of the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

www.kramweisshaar.com

Clemens Weisshaar // Kairos

Ein spannender Punkt in das Gespräch mit Clemens Weisshaar war, was er über seine Schuhmanufaktur in China berichtet hat. Er hat eine Fabrik inklusive aller benötigter Geräte gebaut, in der man innerhalb von 48h Schuhe produzieren, bzw. Massenproduzieren kann, die man vorher ortsunabhängig mit einem speziellen Programm am PC entworfen hat. Diese schnelle Methode hätte gleich mehrere Vorteile, zum einen kann man sich seinen Schuh selbst designen, zum anderen ist die Fertigung so schnell, dass man nach Bedarf (bzw. nach Bestellung) produziert. Die Vorproduktion auf Prognose und Lagerung wäre nicht mehr nötig.
Ausserdem hat er die Maschinen so gebaut, dass die Materialien nicht miteinander verklebt werden, sondern alles aus dem selben Material besteht, und man die Schuhe nach dem verschleiß theoretisch einsenden und das Material wieder verwenden könnte.
Auf die Frage, warum die Fabrik in Asien ist, kam überraschenderweise nicht die Antwort dass es günstiger und leichter ist eine solche Fabrik dort aufzubauen, sondern „deep knowledge“, also die Annahme dass chinesische Arbeiter, aufgrund der vielen Massenfertigung in den Schuhfabriken dort, auch automatisch die besten Sneakers herstellen würden.

Andere Aussagen, von denen ich leider akustisch den Zusammenhang nicht verstanden habe, die mir aber als relevant für seine Arbeit und Sicht auf die Dinge erschienen sind waren :

-Endkonsumenten haben keinen Geschmack
-sein Team ist Divers, und somit alles was die großen Player wollen
-der Markt wird für Autorendesigner immer enger, weil es auch immer weniger Kunden für diesen Markt gibt
-die Verantwortung, den Produktionskreislauf nachhaltiger zu machen, liegt seiner Meinung nach beim Endverbraucher und in dessen Konsumverhalten
-wie schafft man es, im Designprozess die Pflicht zur Kür zu machen? Das möchte er herausfinden, damit ihm die Arbeit ihm immer Spaß macht.
-man braucht einen Kunden wie z Bsp. Adidas, der weniger intellektuell ist, denn solche Firmen sind offen für Neues

Seine Designagentur, die sich zwischen von Sport, Tech, Rennautos und Digital Design bewegt, und die er mit einem zweiten männlichen Kollegen führt, hat sich laut eigener Aussage zum Ziel gesetzt Design zu redesignen. Auf die Frage, wieso ausgerechnet seine Agentur glaubt, einen so frischen Blickwinkel auf Design zu haben, man bedenke, dass die Designgeschichte, und ebenso die Themenfelder Sport und Tech überwiegend von weissen Männern erzählt, antwortete er dass dies nicht wirklich stimmt, da Ada Lovelace ja den Computer erfunden hat, und viele Frauen in der Geschichte einfach verschwiegen wurden, bzw. ihre Errungenschaften ihren Ehemännern zugeschrieben wurden. Außerdem fände er Frauen im Handwerk toll, zum Bespiel Frauen die schweissen können, um den Männern „einzuheizen“.

Dominique Bertisch

Es gibt ja nicht den einen Moment, sondern solche Momente kommen immer wieder. Vielleicht eint sie bei mir ein Zusammentreffen von Druck von außen und Klarheit innen? Oder war es einfach Glück innerlich klar zu sein, welche Entscheidung zu treffen war?  Oder brauche ich den Druck um in Klarheit zu sehen? Keine Ahnung, aber selbstbestimmt zu entscheiden, statt Fremdbestimmung, den Moment zu nutzen, hat mich sicherlich auch zu dem gemacht, die ich heute bin. In der Art wie ich agiere, in meiner inneren Unabhängigkeit und damit auch Freiheit. Trotz aller Abhängigkeiten in denen wir alle stecken. Fachlich würde ich eher von Menschen erzählen, die mich auf meinem Weg geprägt haben, die mich herausgefordert haben, mit denen ich im Diskurs mein Wissen, meine Überzeugung, meine Erkenntnisse schärfen konnte. Und dieser Prozess wird nie zu Ende sein. Welch ein Glück.

Zum Objekt: ein Maßband oder Meterstab
Braucht man immer und hat viel mit meiner ersten Berufswahl zu tun

On TulGa Beyerle

Tulga Beyerle (*1964, Wien) ist seit dem 1. Dezember 2018 Direktorin des Museums für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Ausgehend vom programmatischen Gründungsgedanke von Kunstgewerbemuseen über die Vorbildsammlung Gestaltungsqualität zu prägen, ist es ein wesentliches Anliegen Tulga Beyerles das Museum als Möglichkeitsraum und Plattform für Diskurs und Verhandlung über die Fragen der Gestaltung unserer Welt zu verstehen.

Als ausgewiesene Designexpertin war sie von 2014 bis 2018 Direktorin des Kunstgewerbemuseums Dresden, Schloss Pillnitz, und zugleich Mitglied der Geschäftsführung der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, einem der führenden Museumsverbunde Deutschlands. Zuvor war sie Co-Leiterin der Vienna Design Week, die sie 2006 mitbegründete. Zudem war sie viele Jahre als selbstständige Kuratorin in Europa erfolgreich tätig.

Nach einer mit Gesellenprüfung abgeschlossenen Tischlerlehre studierte sie Industrial Design in Wien und unterrichtete an der dortigen Universität für angewandte Kunst im Anschluss für rund sieben Jahre Designgeschichte und Theorie. Sie ist unter anderem Mitglied im Programmrat der Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn und im wissenschaftlichen Beirat des Mudac, dem Museum für angewandte Kunst in Lausanne.

www.mkg-hamburg.de

Tulga Beyerle // Kairos

Die einschneidenden Momente, die in Tulga Beyerles Leben als Kairos gelten, kamen anders als bei den anderen Gästen zuvor, eher aus der Entscheidung heraus die vorherige Phase zu beenden. Sie hatte verschiedene Stationen ausprobiert, und jeweils gemerkt, dass die Situation sie auf Dauer unglücklich machen würde. Durch die freie, aber risikobehaftete Situation etwas zu beenden, ohne zu wissen was danach kommt, entsteht auch eine große Freiheit, die Platz zur freien Entfaltung und Selbstbestimmtheit bietet.

Nachdem sie die Berufsfelder der Tischlerin, Lehrbeauftragten und Kuratorin der Vienna Design Week hinter sich gelassen hat, ist sie jetzt Direktorin des Museums für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Einen Wandel des Design- und Kunstgewerbemuseen hält sie für dringend notwendig. Nicht nur vor dem Hintergrund, dass diese Museen in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts entstanden sind und der gesellschaftliche Wandel vor den Museen nicht halt macht. Sondern auch, weil sie ihre Plattform nutzen möchte, um aktiv einen Diskurs voranzutreiben und etwas zu bewegen, anstatt wie es Museen sonst oft tun, gesellschaftliche Umbrüche nur aufzubereiten und zu konservieren. Gerade vor diesem Hintergrund wundert sie sich über fehlende Radikalität, vor allem bei den jüngeren Designer*innen und Kurator*innen. Wofür man steht, was man darstellt, was man direkt und indirekt mit seinem Handeln/ Arbeiten unterstützt sollte grundsätzlich hinterfragt und überdacht werden.
Ebenso ist ihr wichtig den gesellschaftlichen Wandel, den man anstrebt, vorzuleben; als sie eine Ausstellung zu Social Design vorbereitete, hatte sie sich erstmal mit ihrer Umgebung in Hamburg befasst und die Nachbarschaft des Museums und ihre Institutionen angesehen, was ein erfreulich fruchtbares Miteinander zufolge hatte.

Die Tatsache, dass Studierende heute mehr daran interessiert sind sich mit gesellschaftlichen Problemen zu beschäftigen, und weniger den Fokus darauf legen, sich oder der Firma für die man spöter arbeitet einen Namen zu machen und beispielsweise auf namenhaften Messen ausgestellt zu werden, ist zwangsläufig wichtig. Die politische Positionierung ist eine Grundhaltung, auch wenn sie von sich selbst sagt, dass sie als Frau weniger Radikal ist, als es teilweise ihre männlichen Kollegen (Kuratoren und Direktoren) sind. Diese fragen sich nicht, wen sie mit ihren Ausstellungen vor den Kopf stoßen, wen sie womöglich verletzen, enttäuschen oder zerstören, und haben daher oft den Vorteil mehr aufsehen zu erregen. Dennoch ist es wichtig eine Haltung einzunehmen und nicht nur zu zeigen, sondern auch zum mitmachen zu motivieren.

Das Ziel ist, den Museumsbesucher nicht nur als Betrachter oder Konsument zu sehen, sondern ihn in Projekte einzubeziehen, eine Auseinandersetzung voranzubringen und ihm/ihr dadurch eine Stimme im Diskurs zu verleihen, ihn hineinzuführen in eine aktiv mitgestaltende Position.
Denn das, was sie an dem Thema Design so faszinierend findet, und was sie seit Beginn ihrer Karriere interessiert und begleitet, ist dass es immer wieder um die essentielle Frage geht: wie wollen wir unsere Welt gestalten?

Dominique Bertisch

I would like to talk about the notion of LEARNING … and my KAIROS moment was when I first realized that learning could awaken a real joy and creativity in me. This form of learning is more than absorbing information and facts. It is about acquiring a deep understanding and getting involved. It enabled me to do my own thing!

The object I would like each student to bring is a tool … like a hammer or a pair of scissors etc. A tool they like and like using.
My object is a Stanley N°4 hand plane.

Mayday 1998, photo by Florian Böhm

On Konstantin Grcic

Konstantin Grcic (*1965) was trained as a cabinet maker at The John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London.
Since setting up his own practice in Munich in 1991 he has developed furniture, products and lighting for leading design companies.
Today, Konstantin Grcic Design is based in Berlin and is active in several fields ranging from industrial design projects, exhibition design and collaborations in architecture and fashion. Among his producers are Artek, Cassina, ClassiCon, Flos, Flötotto, Kettal, Laufen, Magis, Mattiazzi, Muji, Mutina, Nespresso, Plank, Serafino Zani and Vitra. From the fashion and lifestyle sector, Audi, Hugo Boss, Issey Miyake, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Rado and smart/Daimler are amongst his clients.
Many of his products have been awarded international design prizes. He received the Compasso d’Oro in 2001 for the Mayday lamp (Flos), 2011 for the Myto chair (Plank) and 2016 for the OK lamp (Flos). For Tom and Jerry from Magis‘ series The Wild Bunch he received the German Design Award in Gold in 2011. In 2016 he received the Personality Award by the Rat für Formgebung.
Grcic defines function in human terms, combining formal strictness with considerable mental acuity and humour. His work is characterised by a careful research into the history of art, design and architecture and his passion for technology and materials.

www.konstantin-grcic.com

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Konstantin Grcic // Kairos

Konstantin Grcic redete zunächst über den Prozess des Lernens, und wie er erst nach der Schule begriffen hat, was lernen eigentlich ist. Dass man auch das Lernen selbst lernen muss, und er es in seiner Schulzeit einfach nicht beigebracht bekommen hat.
Als Objekt hat er sich deswegen gewünscht, dass jeder ein Werkzeug mitbringt, mit dem er gerne arbeitet. Denn erst in seiner Lehre zum Schreiner ist im klargeworden, dass gelerntes eine Bemächtigung mit sich bringt. Ein Moment des Glücks, Teil von etwas zu sein, etwas verinnerlicht haben und etwas tatsächlich zu leben und weitergeben zu können.

Die Handwerkerlehre war ein Grundbautein, aber er hat auch gemerkt, dass es nicht genau das ist, was er möchte. Die Planungsphase, die im Schreinerberuf ja ein Teil des Handwerks ist, hat ihn am meisten gereizt, und hier wollte er noch tiefer einsteigen. In England, wo er seine Ausbildung absolvierte, ist das Handwerk auch näher im künstlerischen Bereich angesiedelt und anerkannt, weshalb er von Beginn an ermutigt wurde Dinge frei zu interpretieren. Den Beruf sieht er als eine elementare Grundlage, aber die Interpretation ist in der englischen lehre verhältnismäßig frei.

Im Gegensatz zu heute, war damals, als er den Beruf des Designers ergriff, der Markt überschaubarer, die Marktregeln einfacher, und die Ziele die man sich gesteckt hatte, klarer. Trotz der Erfahrungen und Erfolge, die er in all der Zeit verbuchen konnte, hat er das ideale Wirtschaftsmodell noch nicht gefunden. Der Schlüssel für eine gelungene Zusammenarbeit ist laut ihm aber ein gutes Maß an Intensität und Nähe, so dass sich alle Beteiligten wohl fühlen.

Das große Plus, das er sieht, wenn man mit der Industrie zusammen arbeitet, ist die Potenz des Wissens, welches enorm Groß ist, und man im Alleingang nie erreichen könnte. Er nutzt die Cooperationen für seine Zwecke, um Ideen industriell umzusetzen, auszuprobieren, und evtl. am Ende wieder in kleineren Rahmen zu denken.Bei der industriellen Zusammenarbeit besteht die Aufgabe des Designers wiederum darin, die Firmen dorthin zu bewegen, Sinnhaftigkeit und Impact der Produkte, und Ihre Verantwortung zur Nachhaltigkeit und Kreislaufstrategien zu überdenken. Denn gerade in der Zusammenarbeit mit großen Firmen hat man natürlich eine deutlich stärkere Schlagkraft und größere Reichweite.

Dominique Bertisch

KAIROS 5 – Object 5: NAGEL

Eine Geschichte von Entdeckung
Der Moment einen besonderen Entwurf, ein Produkt zu entdecken, zu spüren, dass es eine Verbindung gibt, etwas Fesselndes, eine Faszination, Freude an der Idee, das Potential zu erkennen und „den Nagel einzuschlagen“ – also sich zu committen, sich zu bekennen, Begeisterung
zu zeigen. Das Gefühl zu haben, dass es passt.
Und dann begibt man sich auf die Reise, von der man nicht recht weiß, wohin sie führt und welches Ergebnis sie bringt. Abenteuerlich, oft unterhaltend, manchmal ein Desaster, zum Haareraufen und eine Geschichte von Scheitern. Oder eine Geschichte von Erfolg, guter Beziehung, von viel Spaß und guter Energie und zum Schwärmen.

Das Objekt:
die Gäste mögen bitte einen Nagel mitbringen – groß oder klein, Stahl oder Messing, das spielt alles keine Rolle. Ansonsten machen wir gerne einen Test am Montag.

ON Stephan DornhOfer

Seit 1984 ist Stephan Dornhofer Geschäftsführer von MAGAZIN. Mit Leidenschaft fürs Produktdesign ist er unter anderem verantwortlich für die Zusammenstellung des Sortiments, das im Online-Shop und in den Läden in Stuttgart, München und Bonn erhältlich ist.

In 2020 ist MAGAZIN 50 Jahre alt. MAGAZIN liefert eine qualitative Auswahl an Einrichtungsprodukten bekannter und neu entdeckter Marken und Produzenten. MAGAZIN ist Händler, aber auch Hersteller einer eigenen Produktlinie, den M-Produkten. In ihnen realisiert die Marke eigene Ideen und bringt sie in intensiver Zusammenarbeit mit Designern und meist regionalen Herstellern auf den Markt.

www.magazin.com

Kairos 4 – Object 4

My Kairos moment is about personal signature, where critical questioning of conditions is an important part.
The object one should bring: a glass of water

In meinem Kairos-Moment geht es um die persönliche Unterschrift, bei der die kritische Infragestellung von Bedingungen eine wichtige Rolle spielt.
Das Objekt, zum mitbringen: ein Glas Wasser

On Hella Jongerius

Hella Jongerius’s research on colours, materials, and textures is never complete. All her questions are open-ended, and all her answers provisional, taking the form of finished and semi-finished products. These are part of a never-ending process, and the same is essentially true of all Jongeriuslab designs: they possess the power of the final stage, while also communicating that they are part of something greater, with both a past and an uncertain future. The unfinished, the provisional, the possible – they hide in the attention for imperfections, traces of the creation process, and the revealed potential of materials and techniques. Through this working method, Jongerius not only celebrates the value of the process, but also engages the viewer, the user, in her investigation.

www.jongeriuslab.com