Conceptual Art Meets Luxury Lighting: Holzer, Starck, Flos And Baccarat

Conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, best known for her "truisms"and light projections teamed up with uber designer Philipe Starck, Baccarat Crystal and FLOS lighting to create 2 unique lamps; a floor lamp and a table lamp, comically named HOOO!!! & HAAA!!! The lamps debuted at this past week's Salone Del Mobile in Milan.

Below are some examples of Jenny Holzer's phrases, known as Truisms, that run within the lamps:
Expiring For Love Is Beautiful But Stupid
Decadence Can Be An End I Itself
Abuse Of Power Comes As No Surprise

To see more truisms, go here.

The Floor Lamp aka HAAA!!!:



Only 9 editions of the floor lamp will be made and each will cost a hard-to-swallow $110,000.00 USD approximately. The floor lamp is an iteration of Starck's previous work for Baccarat, the Firelamp, only now it stands 6 feet tall and incorporates an LED display of Jenny Holzers' Truisms that runs vertically within the Baccarat Crystal stand.

Philippe Starck is shown below with his lamp:


base detail:

Starck's Firelamp for Baccarat:



The Table Lamp aka HOOO!!!:
49 editions of the table lamp will be made. This one costs approx $10,000.00 USD. The design is based upon their classic Eury Dice vase, only now with the incoporated LED light strip displaying Jenny Holzer's Truisms.





Baccarat's Eury Dice vase:


The majority of images in this post are courtesy of Moritz Waldemeyer, who did the custom electronics work for the lamps. He was generous enough to share these wonderful images (and the text is his own commentary) of the impressive invitation from Baccarat and Flos to the inaugural dinner at Salone Del Mobile.


above: The invitation to the launch dinner goes into history as the technically most advanced and most elaborate invitation ever. Each guest was sent a small box containing a mirrored cube. Inside this cube was a tiny LED matrix display that scrolled the text of the invitation including the date and location.


above: Included was also a small tool to switch the cube on and to access the battery, should it need to be changed in the future.


above: At the dinner the guests received the catalogue which had a cut out in which the cube fitted and where it was held in place by 4 invisible magnets.


above: The circuit contained in the cube is the most sophisticated piece of electronic design required by any of our projects so far. It contains about 100 LEDs, a processor, on/off switch and a battery to produce a fully functional text display on a board of 25mm by 25mm in size. To fit all components in an aesthetically pleasing layout required many days of manual optimisation and the first working prototype was soldered by hand to test the design.

special thanks to Domus, DesignWS and Corriere for additional images

Baccarat
Philipe Starck
Jenny Holzer
Flos

Alessandro Mendini's Nod To His Own Design: Proust Chair In Miniature

Based on the Italian designer's own 1978 Proust chair, Alessandro Mendini has created a series of 14 miniature ceramic versions in conjunction with SUPEREGO editions.

The original chair (source):
The Proust Armchair was first designed by Alessandro Mendini in 1978. This unique armchair represents the original meeting between handcraft and design, between classic and modern. It is part of Mendini's series "redesigns furniture". Believing that Modern Design had reached the end of its natural life and that designers could no longer create innovative designs, Mendini "redesigned" acknowledged classics. The Proust chair is inspired from the Louis XV style. Mendini was attempting to create a feel for the work of late XIX Century author Marcel Proust and used a style of chair of the period.


above: The Proust Armchair, now produced by Cappellini, is hand-carved on a hand-painted wooden frame, upholstered with fixed multicolor fabric matching the colours of the structure. This armchair is the re-edition of one of the historic pieces of contemporary Italian design. It is available in two multicolored versions.

Now, the new miniature ceramic versions:

Each miniature ceramic Proust chair measure 40cm high. The solid colors are limited to 55 of each, the three metallic versions are limited to 45 of each and the two pixel patterned versions are limited to 35 editions of each.

Solids:









Metallics:



Patterned:



The piece were shown at the Tingo Design Gallery in Milan, Italy during Salon del mobile. If you are interested in purchasing one, please contact the gallery.




About the artist:

Architect Alessandro Mendini was born in Milan in 1931. He directed the magazines Casabella, Modo and Domus. Monographs on his work and his projects with the Alchimia group have been published in different languages.

His focus is on objects, furniture, concept interiors, paintings, installations and architecture. International collaborations include Alessi, Philips, Cartier, Swatch and Hermès. Alessandro Mendini is a design and image consultant to many different kinds of companies, including ones in the Far East. He is an honorary member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. In 1979 and 1981 he was awarded the Italian Compasso d’Oro of design; in France he carries the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres; he is the recipient of an honorary title from the Architectural League of New York and was also awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Milan Polytechnic. At the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna, Mendini worked as professor of design. His work is featured in many museums and private collections.

With his brother Francesco Mendini he opened Atelier Mendini in 1989, designing the Alessi factory in Omegna; the new Olympic pool in Trieste; a series of subway stops in Naples; the refurbishment of the Naples City Hall, the Byblos Art Hotel in Verona; the new Trend Group headquarters in Vicenza, Italy; a commemorative tower in Hiroshima, Japan; the Groninger Museum in Holland; a district of Lugano, Switzerland; the Madsack office building in Hanover, a commercial building in Lörrach, Germany and other buildings in Europe and the USA.

Now, I have a thing for chairs. If you do too, check out:
Artists Take A Seat: Various Paintings of Chairs By Contemporary Talents

The Silver Fish Floating Home With Interior by Confused Direction

The Schwimmhausboot is a floating barge or houseboat named the Silberfisch (silver fish)in Oldenberg, Germany.

The Interior design and furniture was created by by Flo Florian and Sascha Akkermann of the design firm confused-direction and built by Die Schreinermeisterei

Features:
-Kitchen with refrigerator, dishwasher, gas stove, oven-E

Floor Resofloor in "gray prismatic" by Lars Contzen:

Heater "Bullerjan" 11kW with manual lighting
Bathroom with shower, Bio-Toilet, Grauwassertank-1500L with integr. pump, washing machine


details of furnishings:

Panorama windows in the living room:

Green Roof :

Roof Terrace 17m ²

Sleeping level with panoramic views



Construction:
-ventilated facade Resoplan "Silver Beaver", 6mm
Insulation made of hemp and wood fibers
-Beams construction:
Window frames made of wood / Painted
Window Mounts facade in Larch / untreated
Preparing for Solar / Photovoltaic
All exterior wood in larch / untreated



Length: 14.22 m
Width: 4,22 m
Height: 4.6 m + 0.9 m
Draft: 0.53 m
Weight: 13.6 tons
Size: inside 40 m² + 5.5 m² bedroom level
Total foreign 33m ², of which 17m ² roof terrace





Wanna see more cool 'floating' and Undewater residences?
then check these out:

The Poseidon Underwater Resort and H2Ome.
The Bouroullec Brother's Floating House
Oceanic Creations floating hotels and offices

Vinyl Toys With Heart. And Livers. And Lungs. And More. Organ Donor Dolls.

Artist David Foox of Foox-U has created a toy concept that raises awareness for the need for Organ Donors. His fun little vinyl dolls with organs for heads were inspired by his Uncle Ken's double lung transplant.