PechaKucha # 29 i Stockholm ikväll

Höststart med PechaKucha ikväll på Berns. Konstnärsduon Bigert & Bergström tar med oss på tornadojakt i USA, formgivaren Anna Kraitz, omslagsflicka på nya numret av Form, delar med sig av sina inspirationskällor och Olof Einarsson visar hur naturen bygger sina egna former. Arkitekten Måns Tham talar om hur man täcker över motorvägar med solceller - Solar Serpents in Paradise. Övriga talare är designertrion Whatswhat, Johan Berhin och slutligen kommer jag att berätta om vad som händer under Swedish Design Goes London i september.

Vi håller till på Berns Terass och GRATIS INTRÄDE DENNA GÅNG! Första talaren börjar prick
kl. 20.20 och baren öppnar kl. 19.30. Formatet är 20 bilder x 20 sekunder och patenterades som PechaKucha Night av arkitektparet Klein-Dytham i Tokyo 2003 - som nu spritt sig till 436 städer.

Join us for PechaKucha # 29 tonight at Berns, Stockholm. This time we meet at the Terrace to kick off the autumn season. We will go on tornado chase in the US together with the artist duo Bigert & Bergström, our cover girl of our latest Form magazine, designer Anna Kraitz, will share her everyday inspirations. Young industrial designer Olof Einarsson will use nature to create its own shapes. Solar Serpents in Paradise is the name of the vision by architect Måns Tham on how to cover highways with solar cells. Other speakers include the designer trio Whatswhat, and Johan Berhin.  Finally, I will give the latest news on Swedish Design Goes London. 
FREE ENTRANCE! First speaker starts at exactly 20.20, bar opens 19.30.  PechaKucha Night was patented by architects Klein-Dytham in Tokyo 2003 and has now spread to 436 cities.

Quick questions to design Professor and researcher Uta Brandes

Passade på tillfället vid designdagen att ställa några snabba frågor till ännu en designprofessor i Hamburg, Dr Uta Brandes, som är professor i designforskning och gender design.

Took the Hamburg opportunity to catch Professor Dr Uta Brandes for some quick questions. 

Professor Dr Uta Brandes, gender design and design research, Köln

Current project? I’m working on ”the desk project” we take photos of different professionals' office desks, in 12 countries, over 5 continents, to study what the objects tell about the individuals, their need to express themselves. We notice great variety in different business sectors in the different cultures, however when it comes to gender, the stereotypes come through in a striking way across cultures.

Current passion?  Perceiving and observing everyday life. How do people move, how do they handle objects. What moves people? I can’t stop observing, on holidays or at work. I guess you can call it a passion.

(I have a nice little film from Uta answering this question, with lively gestures, but it was too heavy for the blog,  I hope to resolve this tool soon)

Your next move? How can you transform all these observations above into smart design. What can we learn from this? How can we achieve sensitive design, allowing individual needs in combination with the befenit for the collective. Improve the design and accept peoples’ needs.

What is Swedish Design to you? The design group Front, I like their work.

Your greatest strength? Curiosity

Your greatest motivation? To try to convince people and make them enthusiastic for changes for the better.

Your greatest weakness? I’m too direct and overwhelming to some people. I guess my students either like me a lot or not at all. Nothing in between.

Quick questions to design Professor Michael Erlhoff

Eftersom jag reser så mycket och träffar intressanta yrkesverksamma inom design, kommer jag från och med nu att göra små snabba miniintervjuer med spännande människor som jag möter. Började idag i Hamburg. Först ut Designhistorikern och teoretikern Michael Erlhoff, som var en av de inbjudna talarna i designseminariet Design S-tag, samt hans partner, Uta Brandes, tillika professor och designforskare.

As I am traveling around, and meet a lot of interesting people, I will make some quick mini interviews with the same questions to all. Today was my debut in Hamburg.

Professor Dr Michael Erlhoff, Professor for Design Theory and Design History, International School of Design, Köln

Current project? I’m writing on a new and needed book about the Aestetics of Design

Current passion? My Havanna Cigars obviously, and acting & discussing with my Chinese and Korean contacts

Your next move? To start a New Masters program in China – Shunde – and in Seoul. A program for education of high professionals in design.

What is Swedish Design to you? Fantastic History & Hope

Example of useless design or architecture? Nespresso

Your greatest strength? I can listen and try to learn permanently

Your greatest motivation? To change the world. No less.

Your greatest weakness? I trust people too much. I critizise and have enemies, but I believe in people.

Hamburg in rain

Fantastiskt värdskap av honorärkonsuln Leif A. Larsson i privata Hafen Klub intill Elbefloden igår kväll. Leif är Vansbro-karl, så honom har jag förstås ett extra gott öga till, heja Dalarna! Elegant och god fyrarättersmiddag till Design S-tags ära med 16 arrangörer och talare. Sprudlande Birgit Kassovic, som arrangerat allt från början tillsammans med Helena Wallander från Tocado PR, och alla andra involverade. Flera bekanta från invigningen av Design S på Folkerkunde-museet 2008. Bland annat den spännande professorn Michael Erlhoff, som kommer att dela med sig av intressanta nya funderingar idag. Tyvärr hade jag bara min nya iPhone 4-kamera med mig igår, och det kändes lite påträngande att fota för mycket. Birgit kommer med desto fler bilder som ni får se sen.


Arrived yesterday with Oscar Magnusson in pooring rain. He will speak about Design & Marketing: How to inline sustainable design strategies with your overall corporate strategy. After checking in at our Stella Maris hotel by the harbour, we went to the generous and elegant dinner hosted by the Swedish Honorary Consul Leif A. Larsson for the speakers and organizers of the Design S-tag. He has been very generous in sponsoring  a great deal of the realization of the Design S-tag and exhibition tour here. Today we will enjoy the full day seminar. I also look very much forward to see the actual exhibition in Europa Passage this afternoon. I also look forward to listen to the new thoughts by brilliant professor Michael Erlhoff, whom I got to know during a seminar in 2008 here in Hamburg.

Oscar Magnuson getting ready to cross the street to go to the exclusive Hafen Klub, where our welcome dinner was served

Printed individual 4-course dinner menues - pas mal

Getting ready for Hamburg and Design S in Europa Passage

Nu tar jag tre dagar ledigt från semestern och åker till Hamburg - med mellanlandning på kontoret på Skeppsholmen - för att delta i ett designseminarium. Design S-tag hålls i samband med att Design S - utställningen vandrat vidare till det tredje av fem stora shopping centers i Hamburg, EDE, ägt av Otto Group. Företaget har valt visa Design S under tre månader i samband med att Hamburg firar European Green Capital 2011, och varuhuskedjan har också tillsatt ett eget advisory board kring hållbarhetsfrågor. Jag misstänker också att energiska och effektiva designentusiasterna Birgit Kassovic och hennes kollega Helena Wallander på Tocado PR, som sköter hela Tysklandssatsningen kring Design S, har varit bra på att övertala dem. Allt har skötts förebildligt och ambitiöst med egen tysk katalog, broschyrer och nu alltså ett heldagsseminarium kring design.

"Sustainable design with the user in focus" is the title of my short lecture on Swedish design, which I will give on Friday in Hamburg at the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg, in connection with the Design S exhibition in the ECE shopping center Europa Passage. It is the third out of five venues in Hamburg where the exhibition will tour for three months. The media coverage has been massive, and I will find out more about how the public has reacted when I meet the fantastic organizers Birgit Kassovic and Helena Wallander of Tocado PR. Ever since we showed the previous issue of Design S in Hamburg in 2008, they have been following Swedish design enthusiastically and worked so hard to realize this tour. They have even published a new catalogue, broschures and we are really impressed. This means that I take a short break from my vacation, and on Saturday I return to a full summer house of children and grand children. Quite a nice mix of life styles actually.

Design S opened in the third out of five ECE shopping centers on August 4th - Europa Passage