Design News from around the world

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Ron Arad Israeli industrial designer and artist

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Ron Arad is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer. He is professionally active in the United Kingdom. Israeli-born Arad studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art in 1971 before moving to London in 1973 to study at the Architectural Association’s School of Architecture. From 1974 to 1979, he was one of Britain’s most globally known and individual designers.

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Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) Japanese textile designer and producer

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Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) was a Japanese textile designer and producer born in Kiryu, Gunma. As the sixth generation of a mill-owning family, Arai grew up with fabrics being woven for obis and kimonos. He held traditional weaving methods in high regard and the skills that only the human hand can have in the art of fabric making.

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Léon Jallot (1874 – 1967) French designer and artisan.

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Léon Jallot (1874­1967), a scion of the French Art Nouveau, stood out within the movement as an ébéniste, or cabinet maker.

Dakota Jackson American furniture designer featured image

Dakota Jackson American furniture designer

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Dakota Jackson is an American furniture designer best known for his Dakota Jackson furniture line. He was a magician’s son, and by the time he was six, he became a professional magician. He performed in public until his early 20s.

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Werkstätten Hagenauer Austrian metalsmiths

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Werkstätten Hagenauer were Vienna-based Austrian metalsmiths. Over its nearly ninety-year history, it was a family business in Vienna that produced fine, handcrafted objects for decoration and use. The workshop closed in 1987, but the company’s retail premises on Vienna’s Opernring, which opened in 1938, is still open today as a museum and shop.

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Max Ernst Haefeli (1901-1976) – Swiss architect and designer

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Max Ernst Haefeli (1901-1976) was a Swiss architect and designer born in Zurich. He worked in the Otto Bartning studio in Berlin between 1923-24.

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Latest from Encyclopedia.Design

The Golden Ratio - the maths of beauty

Golden Ratio – guide rather than law

Since the Renaissance, many artists, and architects have proportioned their creations to approximate the golden ratio. The ratio itself has been known by many names, including the Phi Ratio, the Fibonacci Ratio, the Divine Ratio, the Golden Mean, and the Golden Section.

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Hilda surprised by a goat behind her by Duane Bryers

Duane Bryers (1911 – 2012) – Pinup artist – naughty but nice

One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.

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Totem furniture design

Totem French Design Collaborative

Totem was a Lyons-based French design collective. Cabinetmakers Jacques Bonnet, Frédérich du Chayla, Vincent Lemarchand, and Claire Olives founded Totem in 1980. Their furnishings straddled the line between art and function.

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Louis Majorelle (1859 – 1926) French Designer and cabinetmaker

Majorelle took over the family cabinetmaking and ceramics business in Nancy in 1879. In the late 1880s, he began designing Modern furniture. Working in the Art Nouveau style, Majorelle was the most dynamic practitioner of the School of Nancy. By mechanising his factory, he produced significant quantities of highly decorated commercial furniture and more elaborate pieces using expensive materials such as mahogany, burr walnut, and ormolu.

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Shop

Absolutely Beautiful Things Decorating inspiration for a bright and colourful life. Featured Image

Absolutely Beautiful Things: Decorating inspiration for a bright and colourful life

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In Absolutely Beautiful Things, successful designer Anna Spiro shows you how to create an interior that’s just right for you. To her, it’s all about the mix, not the match, and, with her help, you’ll find beauty in unexpected places. She’ll give you the confidence to put together a layered and very individual home using elements you love, and make you see your old belongings in a new light.

Kimono, Vanishing Tradition

Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century

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A Field Guide to American Houses

A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised)

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Japanese Designers

Swiss Designers

Swiss Design silver coloured watch

Italian Designers

French Designers

Finnish Designers

American Designers

Exhibitions

exhibition Archives - Encyclopedia of Design

Museum of Arts and Design - NY Beth Lipman: Collective Elegy Through April 4, 2021 Beth Lipman has been transforming glass, metal, clay, film, and images into powerful statements. They highlight death, temporality, identification, and excess for over twenty years. The exhibition puts a decade of work together and is

150 years of Design

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Illustration

Hilda surprised by a goat behind her by Duane Bryers

Duane Bryers (1911 – 2012) – Pinup artist – naughty but nice

On:

One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.

Resplendent Trogon Bird

Beautiful hand drawn birds from the nineteenth century

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These beautiful hand-drawn birds were taken from two books by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby; Beautiful Birds in Far-off Lands and Birds of Gay Plumage. 

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Posters

May 1968 Posters featured image

Paris: May 1968 Posters of the Student Revolt

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In the turbulent days of May 1968 in Paris, a group of artists calling themselves the Atelier Populaire created posters that were vital in spreading the call to unite student and workers.  The propaganda of the French revolt was fed by immediate pressures.  The day by day events – the disruption of classes at Nanterre University led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the supporting student demonstrations in Paris, the police invasion of the Sorbonne and its occupation by students, the barricades, and the government’s reaction and referendum…

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R. Buckminster Fuller: Pattern-Thinking

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Inspiration

Resplendent Trogon Bird

Beautiful hand drawn birds from the nineteenth century

On:

These beautiful hand-drawn birds were taken from two books by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby; Beautiful Birds in Far-off Lands and Birds of Gay Plumage. 

Vimini Collection featured image

1950s Inspired Vimini Outdoor Furniture Collection

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Architecture

Retreat the Modern House in Nature featured image

Retreat: The Modern House in Nature

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The most forward-looking spaces designed for rustic living in the twenty-first century. Across the globe, architects are creating innovative houses for country living, reimagining the way we escape into the natural world. Some combine industrial materials like metal and concrete with traditional wood.

Branding

Adrian frutiger

Adrian Frutiger – Typographer – creator of most widely used fonts.

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Adrian Frutiger was a Swiss graphic designer and typographer.  Frutiger created some of the most widely used fonts of the 20th century, and they can be seen daily in airports on street signs and in subway stations.  He was the creator of many internationally known and loved fonts such as

art

Hilda surprised by a goat behind her by Duane Bryers

Duane Bryers (1911 – 2012) – Pinup artist – naughty but nice

On:

One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.

Personal Development

Create Your Own Calm

Journaling Exercises for Everyday Anxieties | Goop

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Artist and writer Meera Lee Patel shares a journaling prompt from her new book, Create Your Own Calm, plus advice for picking up an art habit and moving through a creative block.

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Absolutely Beautiful Things Decorating inspiration for a bright and colourful life. Featured Image

On:
Tagged: , , , , , , ,

In Absolutely Beautiful Things, successful designer Anna Spiro shows you how to create an interior that’s just right for you. To her, it’s all about the mix, not the match, and, with her help, you’ll find beauty in unexpected places. She’ll give you the confidence to put together a layered and very individual home using elements you love, and make you see your old belongings in a new light.Read More →

The Golden Ratio - the maths of beauty

On:
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since the Renaissance, many artists, and architects have proportioned their creations to approximate the golden ratio. The ratio itself has been known by many names, including the Phi Ratio, the Fibonacci Ratio, the Divine Ratio, the Golden Mean, and the Golden Section.Read More →

Kimono, Vanishing Tradition

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Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century. The lovely design of this revised 2nd edition also renders it a “coffee table worthy” purchase or gift. The subject is particularly timely now—since although people have been talking about the Japanese “vanishing” kimono tradition” for years, the most wondrous of the vintage garments from 1970s and prior are now truly an endangered species for kimono aficionadosRead More →

Misfits chair by Ron Arad featured image

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Ron Arad is an Israeli industrial designer, artist, and architectural designer. He is professionally active in the United Kingdom. Israeli-born Arad studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art in 1971 before moving to London in 1973 to study at the Architectural Association’s School of Architecture. From 1974 to 1979, he was one of Britain’s most globally known and individual designers.Read More →

Junichi Arai textile featured image

On:
Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Junichi Arai (1932 – 2017) was a Japanese textile designer and producer born in Kiryu, Gunma. As the sixth generation of a mill-owning family, Arai grew up with fabrics being woven for obis and kimonos. He held traditional weaving methods in high regard and the skills that only the human hand can have in the art of fabric making. Read More →

Hilda surprised by a goat behind her by Duane Bryers

On:
Tagged:

One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.Read More →

Japonisme_ The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858

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The impact of Japan on Western art was as immediate and almost as cataclysmic as the influence of the West on Japanese life. After Commodore Perry opened Japan’s door to the outside world in1858—ending a 200-year period of total isolation—a wealth of visual information from the superb Japanese traditions of ceramics, metalwork, architecture, printmaking, and painting reached the West and brought with it electrifying new ideas of composition, color, and design.
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Werkstätten Hagenauer featured image

On:
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Werkstätten Hagenauer were Vienna-based Austrian metalsmiths. Over its nearly ninety-year history, it was a family business in Vienna that produced fine, handcrafted objects for decoration and use. The workshop closed in 1987, but the company’s retail premises on Vienna’s Opernring, which opened in 1938, is still open today as a museum and shop.Read More →

Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann interior featured image

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Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann (1879 – 1933) was a French designer who was born and lived in Paris. n 1907, he took over his father’s house painting company in Paris. He first exhibited his work in 1911, with architect Charles Plumet and couturier Jacques Doucet, Frantz Jourdain, and Tony Selmersheim.Read More →