Design for the future
What makes for good design? That's the question posed by 500 designers from 30 countries at the DMY International Design Festival in Berlin. Poland is in the spotlight this year.
Visionary creations
The international design scene has gathered in Berlin for the DMY International Design Festival, which puts the spotlight this year on Poland. Forty Polish designers, studios and companies are represented. Young designers, including students from Danzig's School of Design, who created the pictured items, are presenting their visions. What's unique about design from Poland?
Down-to-earth
What's special about Polish design is its love affair with handicrafts, says Marcin Zastrozny from the Polish Institute Berlin. Traditional materials, like wood and fabrics, often play an important role, which can be seen in this stool by the Wroclaw-based label Monomoka. The two women who make up the label first crocheted individual elements, which they then combined to create the piece.
Magic trick
Oskar Zieta is a shooting star in Poland's design scene. Several years ago, his stool "Plopp" (pictured) became an international sensation. Zieta had developed a technique called "fidu" to fold and later inflate sheet metal. The designer, who is displaying his works at DMY in Berlin, is currently trying to implement his technique in scientific fields, like space travel.
Not just for fun
Designer Bartosz Mucha has created a series of practical wooden toys, including these car brushes. They can be used to scrub the floor, or clean your shoes, he says. Whether children can be convinced to actually use these toys for work is a question that will be left to their parents.
Weaving cultures together
Poland has a long design tradition, but it took the fall of the Iron Curtain for it to really flourish. Today, the creative field is one of the country's fastest growing industries. These baskets are the outcome of a cooperative effort between the label Knockout Design and Palestinian artists, one of many international projects going on in Poland.
DIY at DMY
The do-it-yourself trend has been taken up by some of the 500 designers from 30 countries that are showing their work at DMY. Several designers are working together with the city of Berlin to figure out what can be done with its many old and ugly pre-fab buildings left over from the communist era. Their idea was to create DIY wallpaper and furniture and post the assembly instructions online.
Quick copies
3D printing is currently revolutionizing product design. At DMY, 3D printers, like the one shown here, are being presented as a new way for designers to experiment. With a 3D printer, an individual designer can reproduce a new product very quickly and easily, without relying on a separate production company.
Walking lamp
There is plenty of futuristic design on show in Berlin as well. Pascal Howe's lamp, titled "The Worker," has been officially recognized as a robot by Germany's engineering association. Fully stretched out, "The Worker" is nearly four meters (13 feet) tall. Just how it will be put to use - whether as a construction site assistant or mobile reading light - remains to be seen.
Pushing the boundaries
Rather than focusing on product or industrial design, some designers tackle experimental projects, like visualizing sound, or urban planning in places where space is scarce. What will the future look like? This week, Berlin's historic Tempelhof Airport is a small futuristic biosphere of creative possibilities.