Voyeuristic setting Written on March 12, 2009, by Ingeborg.

When entering the performance You are here you are given a key to a hotel room. Alone in a bed in a hotel, the mirroring ceiling starts to ascend. Slowly 39 occupants appear. Answers to questionnaires slid under the door take part in a story read aloud. Dries Verhoeven: “Although we’re alone, other people are very closeby. And yet I’m here and you’re there.”

Drawn from clay Written on March 11, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Ceramics can be bought from a shop or they can be dug up. Nadine Sterk and Lonny van Rijswijck (Atelier NL) dug up the clay for their tableware from various parts of the Netherlands. A frosted yellow cup from Brunssum, a smooth, shiny, dark brown from Woerden, a rough terra cotta from Gilze-Rijen. The set shows the relation between origin and identity.

Design/Art Limited Edition Written on March 6, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Is it made to serve a practical cause? Does the price well exceed production costs? Can it not be made in an assembly line? At which number a Limited Edition becomes mass production? Questions to distinguish art from design. Enter designart. How about this Joris Laarman bone chair from cast marble resin?

Recycled office Written on March 5, 2009, by Ingeborg.

As Gummo will rent the space in the old Parool newspaper building in Amsterdam for only two years, interior architects i29 sourced the furniture via Marktplaats (the Dutch eBay), charity shops and whatever was left over at the old office. Everything was then spray painted with polyurea Hotspray (an environmentally friendly paint) to conform with the new colour scheme.

Green advertising Written on February 27, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Free samples and flyers are sooo boring. The sustainable wave has made space for more creative forms of advertising. Waterblasting makes green graffiti, a cleaning cloth reverses grafitti, then there’s snow tagging, growing logo’s and falling waterdrops that spell out words. You want it even if you’re no ecoist or ecoista.

Do-It-Yourself dress Written on February 24, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Clothing by Berber Soepboer can in some way be altered or adjusted. The colouring dress has a black and white dessin, which can be hand-coloured by the owner. The assembly dress is a set of three dresses that can be taken apart and combined with a button-system. The dresses were on shown in Bergeyk in internationally renowned and sustainable textile factory De Ploeg.

Friends foosball Written on February 23, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Kudos to my ex-homemate Lieke Ypma. The design for a foosball table she made at Audi in Ingolstadt 4 years ago has been produced. “The cars around me in the design studio were an inspiration. Since it takes 4 years for those cars to hit the streets, that was the ‘leadtime’ for my kickertisch too.” I fantasize the table in our livingroom has something to do with it too.

TinTin museum Written on February 22, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Designed by Christian de Portzamparc with Dutch cartoonist Joost Swarte, the not yet finished Hergé museum is already named “Most beautiful building of Belgium.” The drawing style of Joost Swarte is based on the “clean-line” as Hergé used it. For a cartoonist to design a building interior is not that strange: Swarte also did the Toneelschuur in Haarlem.

Combined couture Written on February 21, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Catching our eye as the new Viktor & Rolf, fashion designer Jimmy Paul decided to become a duo himself. With co-graduate Marie Burlot he’ll continue as MaryMe - JimmyPaul. “In future we want to combine couture with other disciplines. Move fashion shows into the museum to make it more accessible, while preserving the exclusivity of a couture show.” Peau de Chagrin was on at the AIFW.

Building as bench Written on February 19, 2009, by Ingeborg.

Located in the middle of a square, the orange whale NIO architecten facilitates a waiting place for the bus. It is completely made of polystyrene foam. The form of The Amazing Whale Jaw is left over when deducting routes and sight lines, leaving a waiting room and benches. Maurice Nio is known for his hybrid and computer generated forms.