During May I traveled to Japan on a design study trip. The itinerary included meetings with several Japanese designers as well as group visits to interesting sites in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. But I also knew that I would have unexpected moments of free time for which I would need tools to help me explore … Continue reading Three Tips for Choosing a Design Travel Guide Book
One of my favorite on-line sources for critical writing about all sorts of design – from architecture and urbanism to product, fashion, graphics and beyond – is Edwin Heathcote’s “Reading Design” initiative. Heathcote and his team regularly post excerpts from a variety of contemporary and historical sources, mostly texts already published elsewhere. I especially appreciate it … Continue reading Michael Wolf’s photographs of ‘Hong Kong Informal Seating Arrangements’
As part of my summer reading, I’m getting back to books that I have collected over the past year. One of these is Witold Rybczynski’s Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair – A Natural History (2016). When it was first published last summer, Mark Medley interviewed Rybczynski for The Globe and … Continue reading Reading About Furniture
Yesterday’s Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger’s 117th Birthday (if you missed it, explore it here via your preferred Google browser) reminded me of my experience of walking on a Nightingale floor, or in Japanese ‘Uguisubari’, during my visit last month to Nijo Castle in Kyoto. As part of the Japanese tradition of architectural planning and … Continue reading Doodling Around on Nightingale Floors
Carl and Elena Schrónez of C8 were recently interviewed by John Maeda for Design.blog. Elena’s statement about travel struck a chord with me: “I’m a person that values personal growth, and for me, one way to spur learning is to change one’s environment and encounter new situations. We’ve decided to make travel, national or international, … Continue reading Thinking about Design and Travel
This week I was pleased to discover The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Design in the ‘New Books’ area from the circulation desk at Humber College’s spiffy new Library. Perhaps hard to see in the shadows of the lower shelf, this recently-published three-volume set offers a credible, scholarly option for design students starting their research on academic … Continue reading Interesting New Resource for Design History and Theory
One evening this week I was invited to the EQ3 Toronto flagship in Liberty Village to celebrate their Summer Sale. I was interested to follow up on the company’s collaboration with 10 emerging Canadian designers launched earlier this year as the capsule collection “Assembly.” Many of these pieces are now deeply discounted and offer a … Continue reading New Furniture
Boxy and imposing, with synthetic upholstery in two-tone salmon (in impossibly like-new condition!), a brute of a club chair has been kicked to the curb in my west-end Toronto neighbourhood in the midst of an August heat wave. The companion sofa sits beside it. They are old, but not old-fashioned, representing an aspirational design choice … Continue reading Old Furniture
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