minuscule is a new formal chair and table designed for an informal setting by Danish designer Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen that launches during the 2012 Salone Internazionale del Mobile, at Republic of Fritz Hansen’s showroom in Milan.
Manos, Pottery Studio
While the Magnolia is in full bloom, this is a step-by-step peek into the clay-tinted world of Karin Eriksson. Her beautiful pottery, deceitfully simple, is even more admirable when all the stages of the process come to light. We’ve captured the five day production cycle carefully – and still had to leave out parts. And, yes, we cheated. Karin prepared all the stages beforehand (which to us was even more impressive) to lead us through it in a single day. Karin’s inspiring workshop doubles as a retail space – a must stop if you’re in town. Sanna & Oscar, the Homegrown Swedes.
Sanna & Oscar, the Homegrown Swedes
Find more at manos.se and the blog karineriksson.se
Tropez is considering the world of outdoor furniture in an unpretentious and light way of use, a bit like a lacewing would land in a garden with ease. A line very much defined by its casual aspects and flexibility, inspired by the world of sports from the 20s and 30s. Using a language we know from elegant sailing boats and handcrafted tennis racks, Tropez is bringing the comfort of domestic furniture to the outside.
Thanks to its platform construction, based on an extruded aluminium profile, various elements can be plugged, offering a great level of flexibility.This “légère” character can draw a special identity on architectural and non-architectural landscapes.
(Source: dezain.net)
EDWIN JAPAN – Unique Denim Manufacture
For 35 years, Edwin Japan have worked on improving efficiency, quality, construction and washing methods by studying and engineering machinery used in the denim manufacturing process.
It is impossible to improve what one makes without spending the time everyday to master what one does, turning ones profession into a craft. The denim technicians at Edwin are true craftsmen, as their commitment and attention to the product is unquestionably what makes the Edwin product stand out from the mass of denim available within the market today. Whilst this remains ‘production’, the working philosophy remains closer to a greatly more efficient and productive Artisanal method.
They are ‘engineers’. Each person, over the course of a long period is encouraged to be responsible for maintaining and improving their machines. This means that each machine is self-customised beyond standard industrial purposes, to create unique and specialised ways of making denim. Even within the well-known denim brands factories around the world, you will not see the level of customised machinery and attention to product that one can see at the Edwin factories in Japan. It is for this reason, many ‘core heritage’ Japanese denim brands wish to have their products made within the Edwin Japan factories. This is the unique strength of the Edwin Jeans brand, the product itself.
The majority of the technicians at the Edwin factories and laundry’s have worked within the company since the beginning. This means they have an acute understanding for their machine. Each technician is responsible for three machines on average, all performing different elements of the production process. They remain on these machines for the duration of the careers. There is almost now rotation of staff, offering complete consistency in the making.
The machines are completely unique and totally custom made, exclusively to EDWIN JAPAN, which sets EDWIN out as a denim manufacturer worldwide. There is not a single machine, which has not been customised by the technicians over the time they work on them.
The technicians themselves are trained for two years with a veteran of their particular machines, prior to them leaving for retirement. This ensures absolute consistency and understanding for high quality workmanship. As the factories have been operating 35 years, there is now a seeding of new, younger apprentices learning the ropes, thus setting of the career cycle.
There are many elements unique to EDWIN Japan manufacturing, for which unfortunately we are not able to show images. This is due to the secretive nature of the processes, elements having been invented by EDWIN, and must be respected and protected. There are a wide variety of processes invented by the denim engineers and designers themselves, which set new standards within the industry offering evolution and ingenuity.
The laundries are incredible, with bespoke and exclusively made machines. Unique ways of washing, dying, drying and above all water purification and recycling. The water is purified to the point whereby once all the indigo and other impurities have been extracted, fish are able to swim in tank of the purified water.
These elements have been in place for many years, and yet never spoken about or promoted as a marketing tool. This is because Edwin esteems this to be a ‘standard’ process. It is simply the way of EDWIN manufacture and not a simple ‘marketing’ idea.
(Source: artnau.com)
Iznik Tiles.
A celebrated Turkish art form dormant for more than 300 years, Iznik tiles play an integral role in Turkey’s Ottoman Empire history and the production of them today is a labor of love.
In 1993 economics professor Dr. Işıl Akbaygil visited some of Istanbul’s historic buildings and noticed that some of the tiles were as bright and clear as new, while others were dull and deteriorating. Research soon confirmed that these tiles were indeed special, though they hadn’t been made since the early 1700s and there was no historical record or documentation of how they were made.
Dedicated to reviving this lost art, she founded the Iznik Training and Education Foundation. It took around ten years for the Foundation, along with a host of government, preservation, research and university partners, to determine what made the tiles so unusual, to recreate the lengthy handmade production process, train local artisans and construct a manufacturing facility. Today the Iznik Foundation creates tiles for repair and restoration of historical buildings, pubic works (including large murals in Istanbul’s subway stations) and for private use.
The secret to the tiles is their composition, primarily ground quartz, which also makes up the bright glazes that adorn them. Quartz brings many purported health benefits, such as improved circulation and shielding from radiation, but they also have some practical features such as being temperature neutral (ideal for warm environments) and durable—these tiles are engineered to last 1,000 years.
This video features Istanbul-based architectural historian Gökhan Karakuş, who takes us through the history and modern-day labor-intensive process of making these beautiful tiles.
Julien David presents a short video retracing the creation and then the making of his scarves in Japanese workshops. The video is attenuated by a couple of scenes with skateboard, “precise and circular movements of which remind sometimes those of our scarves preparation”.
“We wanted to make a movie documenting the process and the different steps involved in the printing of our scarves. We went to Yamagata and Kanagawa prefecture (Japan) to shoot the movie during 3 days and try to film all the people who have been working on our scarves for the past 4 years. We tried also in the video to cut images with close ups of freestyle skateboarding moves that are very precise and circular; sometime similar to the motions of the preparation of our scarves and the shapes of the graphics. These images also recall the influence of the street in our designs.”
Julien David
(Source: artnau.com)
A Loewe film that pays tribute to the house’s craftsmen.
Directed by Matthew Donaldson.
(Source: distinguidos.net)
Por Vocação shot this nice video from the Buttero family, the leather craftsman from Tuscany. Founded in 1974 by Mauro Sani, who set out to make the best riding boots in the world, Buttero remains owned and run by the Sani family and is hand made by the gifted craftsmen of Stabbia, Italy, with simple, honest and local ingredients.
(Source: anothersomething.org)
Made by Hand, by Persol
British designer Tom Price talks about his Meltdown series of furniture while he melts a big ball of nylon rope into a chair in this movie from the Tales of the Hunt series of interviews made by Brussels gallerist Victor Hunt.
Watch interviews with Raw Edges, Maarten De Ceulaer and Kwangho Lee in the same series here.
(Source: victor-hunt.com)
