Magazin

Our era tends to be more backward-looking than future-led. Nonetheless Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's technofacist, imaginative awakening haunts Giardini. Only Tamara Grcic's life rafts help with this.

Martin Margiela is the conceptual thinker of fashion, but one who consciously remains invisible. His oeuvre is more present than ever before on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the existence of Maison Martin Margiela: in the form of exhibitions in Antwerp and Munich, an installation in Milan and a book that is coming out in the fall. It all shows that he pre-empted not only trends in fashion but also in furniture design.

Can art be instrumental in eluding the vicious circle of violence? Not being an officially recognized state, Palestine does not have an official pavilion. Nonetheless, the show "Palestine c/o Venice", demonstrates how diversely and vividly a subtenant can operate.

Gaetano Pesce's sofa design gives you the feeling of lying by a refreshing waterfall high up in the mountains. A piece of furniture with a summer feeling.

A valuable, collectable design object is resplendent on every page. The Zurich Museum of Design presents its collection in a practical, almost square but good book.

Be it outside in the balmy summer air under the large "table" outside the Schirn, or inside enjoying a coffee at one of the small tables with the latest chair designs by Nitzan Cohen and Stefan Diez, or even at the terrazzo bar, or having a meal in a large group, like knights - at the large round table beneath the massive canopy. "Table" offers it all.

It would not let me go. I had to go back there two, three, four times. Back to this work from the glisteningly bright City of Water: "Orbite Rosse", a double video projection in Venice's pitch black Arsenale hall.

Hand-crafted porcelain: obscenely expensive, decorative items for the glass cabinet, figurines ... we know the kind of thing only too well. And then you find yourself taking part in a guided tour round the Nymphenburg porcelain manufactory and you rediscover a world long thought to be forgotten, full of craftsmen who are proud of their work and pieces which breathe life.

In the giardini the spectacle is in full swing. People everywhere and art everywhere. Everything is important and everything clamors for attention. But in the film "Giardini" by Steve McQueen in the Great Britain pavilion, visitors are confronted with a surprisingly different image of the gardens of the Venetian Biennial and of art.

Architectural models usually depict buildings which have not yet been built, in a smaller form. In the Turkish pavilion it is a different story. Here, Ahmet Ögüt displays a model city of houses which no longer exist.

Is Opel now in crisis because its design was not right? What sources of inspiration does a designer draw on? Does good design flourish more in a large enterprise or a family-run business? At an event organized by Mini München in cooperation with bulthaup and Loewe, three discussion rounds addressed these questions.

A young guy is waiting at the traffic lights next to us wearing a machine gun. While wandering along looking in shop windows, we come across a black and white poster with German text referring to the new paper bag by Munich-based designer Saskia Diez. We are in Tel Aviv, on the trail of the largest conjoined ensemble of buildings in the early international style.

A house full of art that's up for sale, and a Modernist bungalow in whose noble seats young men pose slurping their vodka-&-tonics. In the form of "The Collectors", Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have created not only a psychogram of art collectors today.

How will we live in the future? How will European cities develop and how can ecology, aesthetics and economy be combined? Though a conference of the Werkbund supplied only a few answers it did ask the right questions.

An Italian bar is at times often more than simply a bar. Sometimes those who enter it get quite drunk without having drunk anything, as Tobias Rehberger demonstrates impressively.

Scheidegger & Spiess and Hochparterre are honoring this year's Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor with an illustrated book that shows more than we think we see.

What are we to believe: Is the German Pavilion once again a disappointment? Or has Liam Gillick delivered exactly what was to be expected of him?

Thonet is announcing a global photo competition: to capture the chair of chairs digitally and show it in a highly personal setting.

There has long since been a technological basis in place to meet our seemingly unlimited need for communications. Now all we need are phones that are not only technically outstanding, but also state-of-the-art in design terms. The Alessi phone could fit the bill.

Not only those who wander through Venice always return to the point where they started from. Art likewise stage endless loops and thus irritates our customary ways of seeing. Roman Ondák shows how in the Czech and Slovak Pavilion.

The German Steel Innovation Award, which is celebrating its twentieth birthday, honours outstanding and innovative applications for steel. Particularly notable in this year's competition was the design potential this material has.

US designers are by no means as innovative and experimental as they were in the mid-twentieth century. But things are starting to move again: Design company "Vessel" is headquartered in Boston. A conversation on US designer careers and Chinese toothbrushes.

The opening razzmatazz of the 53rd Art Biennial is over and the art world caravan, having made a brief stop in Basel, has long since disappeared over some summery horizon. Venice long since belongs to yesterday's art-review papers and image-saturated blogs. Everything noted. So we can now start on our wanderings in the shade afforded by the day-after.

British designer Simon Pengelly has, among other things, designed the "Nuur" table for Arper. The title alludes to the clear and calm lake of the same name that lies in the midst of the Mongolian steppe. A conversation about sensitive and quiet design.

The Russians like things luxurious, the Japanese prefer things more playful than you might imagine - and the French of course like things feminine and sensual: A glance at brand and packaging design in the age of globalization.

The Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana have come to Weil am Rhein on the occasion of the opening of their major exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum. Talking to Stylepark, the brothers describe their experiences as cultural ambassadors of Brazil, explain their idea of self-respect in design and the possible ways of fusing high-tech and traditional craftwork.

On June 25, 2009 at 2:26 p.m. PDT Michael Jackson died aged 50 of heart failure in Los Angeles. The world over, fans were distraught when hearing the news of the death of the "King of Pop".

"Pokerface" is the title of Lady Gaga's latest single. The accompanying music video also gives enthusiasts of good design something to look out for.

Design Miami Art Basel does not even come close to living up to its promise. But in spite of this, or maybe even because of this, it has proved successful.

This year, the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin brought itself and its visitors back down to earth. What emerged was an event with modest aims but which managed, in the end, to delight and inspire.

A Questionnaire answered by Rolf Sachs.

Even just a few decades ago the roles were clearly distributed: on the one side, the superficial and ephemeral world of fashion, and on the other the world of furniture design, which strives for timelessness and for durability. At this year's Salone in Milan, a surprising amount of cross-over between fashion and furniture was in evidence, as for instance. - How strong is the reciprocity between these two apparently so different disciplines today?

On June 11 Art Basel opened its doors for the 40th time to what is still the hottest art show - the mother of all art fairs. But how will the crisis affect Basle? And how will the fair respond to the crisis?

He created seating buds, mushrooms for the home and incomparable interiors. Pierre Paulin's upbeat creations have had a significant influence on design history. They are as alive as ever today. The visionary French interior designer died at the age of 81 last Saturday.

The current Stylepark Magazine for Product Culture is entitled "Sense & Sensibility" and focuses directly on this year's Milan Furniture Fair. It will be on sale from June 22 in selected magazine outlets.