Michael Anastassiades NiMAC exhibition

(Cyprus) - NiMAC and the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Cyprus organise first survey exhibition of Cypriot designer Michael Anastassiades.

'Things that go together' reflects the designer's twelve-year practice to date; from his eponymous brand to his extensive studio collaborations with established manufacturers. The show presents the designer's process through his research, his personal collection of objects and finished works from the studio archive.

With sponsorship from Flos and the Bank of Cyprus, and support of E. Kyriakides Lighting, NiMAC will host a series of parallel events through the course of the exhibition, including guided tours, lectures, discussions, educational programmes, activities and workshops. In addition, a special publication will be launched in May by Apartamento Publishing. Contributors will be Yiannis Toumazis, Director of Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (NiMAC), Zoë Ryan, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago, Emily King, Design Writer and Curator, Elena Parpa, Writer, Researcher and Curator, Artist Mario García Torres, and the publication’s editor, Alessandro Rabottini, Curator and Artistic Director of Miart.

 


Clerkenwell Design Week celebrates 10 years

(UK) - Three day festival programme tailored to reflect unique nature of culturally rich district.

Taking place from 21-23 May 2019, Clerkenwell Design Week will play host to hundreds of showrooms, fringe events, talks, workshops and installations.

As part of the line-up, Fabric nightclub will once again host the Light exhibition - dedicated to architectural and decorative lighting, for which darc is official headline sponsor. During the three-day event, the darc team will run ‘darc thoughts@CDW’ - a series of talks and presentations centred around the relationship between light and interior design.

Confirmed participants already include: dpa lighting consultants, DesignLSM, Into Lighting, Lasvit, HBA, Run For The Hills, Cameron Design House, James Roberts Design Studio, Design Plus Light, Staffan Tollgard Design Group, Kinetech, Applelec and Faber Design, with more to follow.

The regular Conversations at Clerkenwell event will take place this year, in the Moth Pavilion designed by architect Pereen d'Avoine from Russian for Fish. A vast canopy of recycled fabric will evoke the wings of a moth hovering over Spa Fields Park, as though a giant winged creature has temporarily alighted among the trees.

Highlights for 2019 include a workplace panel including Sebastian Wrong and Erwan Bouroullec, in conjunction with Established and Son’s installation for CDW, discussing how good design can shape the workplace of the future. Benjamin Hubert joins Max Fraser for a chat on his latest collaborations across the CDW event. New London Architecture showcase some outstanding work for an ongoing public housing project, including a submission by Alison Morris Architects and the talk will be chaired by Ben Derbyshire, the president of RIBA. OnOffice will host a panel session of design-innovators making a difference to wellness in the workplace.

CDW will also present Decade, a dramatic trail of ten, three-metre high candle-like beacons designed by pioneers within the creative industry as well as confirmed collaborations with brands such as Hakwood and Parkside. The installations, symbolic of birthday candles will also form part of CDW's way-finding strategy to help guide visitors across the exhibition route whilst playfully celebrating CDW's achievements.

With a nod to the area as London’s creative heart, each installation will showcase the designers' individuality and imagination. For its fourth year, Scale Rule is back, engaging students from around London to create a concept which inspires visitors to take a moment and look up, by creating an arch within an arch in the historical location of St John’s Arch. This year’s winning concept plays with the idea of space and enclosure by subtly drawing on the historic form of St John’s Gate.

Integral to the festival are the local resident design showrooms, many of whom partner with CDW, providing an array of stimulating events from talks and workshops to major installations. Coinciding with CDW’s tenth anniversary, a number of new showrooms will arrive in Clerkenwell and following its participation in Light last year, British luxury lighting brand Bert Frank will open the doors to its first showroom in EC1.

For more information on this year's event, head to: www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com


New Lightovation Board of Governors announced

(USA) - Dallas International Lighting Show announces election results and appointments for Lighting Board of Governors.

The Board serves as a governing body to consult and advise Dallas Market Center, represent the views of the Lightovation exhibitors, promote the industry and supervise programs for lighting trade events at Dallas Market Center.

New Board members whose terms commenced February 2019 are:

  • Lyn Schulz, Swarovski
  • Irene Tasi, Kichler
  • Colleen Visage, Progress Lighting
  • Matt Vollmer, Visual Comfort Group
  • Tony Zitoli, Eurofase

Hinkley Lighting CEO Rick Wiedemer will also continue to serve on the Lighting Board of Governors for another consecutive term.

These executives join the following Board members currently in term: Tim Flannery, Minka Group (Chair); Rick Seidman, Quoizel (Past Chair); Cathy Choi, Bulbrite; Wayne Falk, Kalco/Allegri, Nathan Frampton, Fanimation; Ron Henderson, Varaluz; Brad Kleinberg, Crystorama; Steve Nadell, Hudson Valley Lighting Group; and Naomi Sperling Goldman, Maxim Lighting.

Board members serve terms of four years. The Lighting Board of Governors can have up to fifteen members at one time, with five members elected by the current Board, five members elected by the Lightovation exhibitor base, and five members appointed by Dallas Market Center.

Nominations for exhibitor and Board election candidates are accepted in the fall each year from Lightovation exhibitors. The Lighting Board of Governors meets four times each year.

Lightovation at Dallas Market Center, the largest residential lighting trade event in North America, offers decision makers from around the world the unmatched opportunity to discover more new products and best-selling ceiling fans and lighting in all interior and exterior categories, along with home décor, gifts, holiday and floral, housewares and gourmet, and artisan products.

www.dallasmarketcenter.com


Plura Pendant - Cerno

The Plura pendant and plura flush mounts are unique in how their clean and modern lines work in a variety of different environments and applications. The success of the Plura has resulted in a greater range of metal finishes now being made available, as well as a new wood finish for the crossbar on the bottom and sides of the fixture.

New shade finishes include: matte black with white interior, brushed aluminium, brushed rose gold, brushed brass, distressed brass and white.

cernogroup.com

 


Anvil - B.lux

The extruded aluminium profile of the Anvil lighting system comes in two new finishes.On top of the black and white, two high-quality finishes are now available, namely,natural oak and high-shine aluminium.

The Anvil System is also expanding its portfolio of light sources with new elements, like a suspended spotlight (LED Spot S) or a white, opal glass sphere that can be suspended from the rail (Sphere S) or attached to it (Sphere C). This is in addition to the existing light sources: continuous LED lighting modules with an opal diffuser (LED Line), LED modules consisting of two or four spots (LED Module), and LED spotlights (LED Spotlight). Another new feature is the anti-glare shields marketed with the spotlights, which are intended to improve visual comfort.

These new elements offer greater versatility to this architectural lighting system by enhancing it with new proportions and scales, making it suitable for both residential and community projects.

www.grupoblux.com


Muralla Pendant - Niche

The Muralla pendant is the latest addition to Niche's hand-blown pendant line.

Available in Crystal, Gray, Fig and Condesa Optique. With textured glass, it adds visual interest and a unique pop of colour to any room.


Brew92, Saudia Arabia

The British interior design studio Liqui Design has completed its third coffee shop for Brew92, a Saudi Arabian-based speciality cafe and roastery. Located at the Iman University in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, this is Brew92’s second flagship store, following its first flagship in Al Khayyat, Jeddah. Featuring an on-site roastery and an array of well furnished seating zones, the design concept of this large two-storey space is modern and modish, yet modest, and demonstrates Liqui Design’s insightful approach to interior design.

Liqui Design chose to apply a calming use of materials and colour throughout the new Brew92 cafe space, including wood, fabrics and leather, and a serene blue on several walls. The overall result is an unfussy, friendly Scandinavian-style aesthetic. Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows bathe the cafe’s spacious interior in a restorative, natural light. At the same time, the use of plants throughout the cafe augment the pleasing sense of calm. Industrial elements, such as air ducts and steel pipes, have been integrated with minimum fuss and add a retrained industrial air. Walls are decorated with graphic artwork by the internationally renowned French contemporary artist Vincent Abadie Hafez or ‘Zepha’ (the artist’s pseudonym). Zepha’s art is very much inspired by traditional and contemporary Arabic calligraphy; its placement in Brew92’s Riyadh cafe is striking, acting as both a background canvas and curious talking point.

In keeping with Brew92’s Al Khayyat flagship coffee store, Liqui has used its own furniture and lighting throughout Brew92’s Riyadh shop—all pieces were designed and manufactured in Britain, using sustainable materials and combining traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. A range of cafe-style tables, chairs, lounge seating and lighting fixtures help to create a welcoming mix of quiet and conversational areas. Hexagonal tiling and concrete flooring is also used to delineate spaces.

Brew92 coffee shops are in the vanguard of Saudi Arabia’s growing, modern coffee scene—one that provides an alternative to the traditional Arabic coffee culture. They are part of an increasingly visible third wave coffee movement, appealing to millennials and coffee connoisseurs alike. Liqui Design has forged a unique partnership with Brew92 and is extremely happy about its part in creating this new coffee revolution within Saudi Arabia.

Read all about Liqui’s other Brew92 project, featured in a recent issue of darc, here:

www.darcmagazine.com/brew92-saudi-arabia/


Serip presents Forest of Light at Design Shanghai

(China) - Serip returns to Shanghai with new space concept, featuring iconic collections, new bespoke designs and custom finishes.

During Design Shanghai, taking place from March 6-9, visitors will have the opportunity to embark on a design tour travelling along the several existing halls. Exploring manifestations of nature in Serip’s artfully crafted light pieces, and their interaction with natural elements, the resulting installation allows visitors a peaceful and inspiring journey through the ‘Forest of Light'.

Serip will showcase products including Folio, Coral, Geyser, Luna and Lotus along with new compositions, new finishes and new designs in collections with an evocative poetic reign, where sculptural forms of nature are eternalised through craftsmanship with unique handcrafted techniques and with a blend of superb materials such as glass and bronze.

www.serip.com.pt

 


darc room partners with London Design Fair

(UK) – Dedicated lighting exhibition to have strong focus on decorative lighting.

After the critical success of [d]arc room over the last two years, the event is now upping the ante by having its own hall at London Design Fair in the Old Truman Brewery as part of the London Design Festival in September.

London Design Fair attracts 30,000 visitors, with over half of those involved in interior design, architecture or retail. darc room will benefit from these impressive figures whilst adding its own dedicated lighting design audience, which was over 2,000 last year.

Taking place on 19-22 September, the show will continue with its unique exhibiting concept, showcasing the very best in lighting products, as well as having educational workshops, presentations and panel discussions covering all elements of decorative and architectural lighting – taking a closer look at lighting’s role in interior design and architecture.

Paul James, director of [d]arc room, commented: “I am delighted that darc room has found a new home at London Design Fair in the Old Truman Brewery for 2019. Whilst maintaining its own identity, darc room will benefit from London Design Fair’s impressive and diverse visitor numbers whilst also bringing a new, exciting lighting element to the design show.

“Our goal is to broaden the conversation to other designers who do not work with lighting every day but nevertheless are involved in the lighting specification process. Being involved in London Design Fair will allow our architectural and decorative lighting exhibitors to meet a wide range of designers and specifiers, not just those ensconced in lighting.”

Jimmy MacDonald, Founder and Director of London Design Fair, added: “As the Fair develops, servicing the needs of our growing trade audience becomes increasingly important, so we are delighted to be hosting darc room, a brilliant and concise lighting fair with over 75 international exhibitors.”

The unique exhibiting format of darc room makes it easy for companies to participate so take a look at the digital brochure and contact Stephen Quiligotti to exhibit.

www.darcroom.com
www.londondesignfair.co.uk


Australian Financial Services, UK

align complete a vast new workspace project for an Australian financial services client in the city of London.

As workspace specialists align was briefed to design 13,745 sqft of new working, meeting, presentation and break-out space across 1.5 storeys at the client’s City of London offices in order to meet a period of sustained growth and house three divisions of the company, totalling around 150-170 people.

align had previously worked on an office interiors scheme in Reading for the same client, before being instructed to create this new Cat A and Cat B scheme, where the brief was to include integrated, but differentiated, zones that worked within the overall building environment with a pronounced accent on biophilia, agile working and staff wellbeing.

The client’s Head of Infrastructure Technology and Business Services – EMEA, commented on the project: “Our objective here was not to just fit-out the space in line with the rest of the building, but to use people-centred design to challenge our thinking and create a number of new inspiring spaces. We aim to create and manage high performance work environments and client spaces that are a consistent representation of our global brand and our spaces are managed to the highest possible standard, reflecting our culture and aspirations.”

The scope of work mostly covered the building’s eighth floor, where general workspaces are located, along with a staff kitchen/pantry; a large multi-use presentation and townhall space; five meeting rooms and a large breakout area with an indoor-outdoor feel named The Terrace. The multi-functioning presentation area was deemed particularly important to the success of the project and is able to be combined with The Terrace area, with a folding wall between the two, in order to allow large-scale events to be held there. The scheme also encompassed a number of private working booths, as well as a more relaxed work/meeting area on the storey above, on the building’s ninth floor. 

“The eighth floor space really was a blank canvas when we took the project on, in spite of most of the building having been fitted out for several years already,” Gurvinder Khurana, align Director and Co-founder, commented. “The spaces were effectively concrete shells and so could be designed to serve the required functions perfectly.”

The existing building has a strong statement core, including a red feature staircase created by the scheme’s original architects. This new design project needed to acknowledge and talk to this dominant feature. This was achieved via the use of red throughout – from red lines, for example, within a grey carpet in corridor areas, that also echo the staircase’s angled geometry, with Fegerhold lights directly above further matching the carpet insert angle.

A striking red feature was also used on the building’s ninth floor, in the form of a rectangular feature wall area, which is clad in individual, red Muratto tiles in 3D off-centre pyramid shapes, angled once again to mimic the stair. This idea is continued along a narrow galleried seating area on the same floor, where the tiles this time are arranged as wall art in a series of alternating four or six-tile portrait-format rectangles, accompanying a six-person meeting space.

The client brief also requested the use of glass to maximise natural light and the scheme therefore features fire-rated glass for dividing walls wherever possible. Further light was created via white-painted ceilings, deliberately exposed, allowing for a very generous 3three metre ceiling height – almost a metre more than the average office interior – whilst at the same time ensuring a less corporate feel.

From an energy perspective, the large elements of glazing pull in as much natural daylight as possible, with cellular spaces confined to inner core areas and the lighting scheme is entirely LED-driven, with suspended up and down-lighting to limit glare to work surfaces. Floor finishes, meanwhile, feature a high degree of recycled content, as do the slatted timber acoustic panels in the presentation space, made from off-cuts of Australian red cedar.

The client’s Head of Infrastructure Technology and Business Services – EMEA said of the designs that “align really hit the mark, creating inspiring workspaces containing light touches of design that are both aesthetic and functional. Meeting rooms contain acoustic pendant lights to improve audio performance and collaboration spaces utilise movable walls, tables and booths to create multi-purpose and flexible spaces that users can change themselves.

In business areas, quality lighting, sit-to-stand desks and clear lines of sight improve wellbeing. Enhancements to the quiet working area carried the outdoor theme up the building, creating a clearly defined space utilising carpeting, wall treatments and booths that look great, but also deliver on noise reduction in an open atrium environment.

We judge our spaces by how they make people feel, think and act. The feedback from the business has been exceptional and we believe the change to how people feel about the work environment is clear. With align we have created spaces for people to focus and the increased use of the collaboration zones has driven greater interaction across business groups.”

www.aligngb.com  


Dear Women In Lighting...

(Global) - Light Collective and lighting designer Katia Kolovea launch celebratory project that looks into leading women in lighting industry.

Women In Lighting is a project established by Light Collective’s Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton that will set out to create an inspirational digital platform for women working in lighting to promote their passion and achievements, narrate their career path and goals, celebrate their work and elevate their profile in the lighting community.

Starting with lighting designers, the scope will expand to include women in all aspects of lighting - education, journalism, manufacturing, art and research. A website and social media campaign launching on International Women’s Day (March 8), will begin with interviews with female lighting designers completed by Light Collective.

Light Collective have interviewed women in Sweden, Holland, Spain and the UK and some of the interviews will form part of the website launch with further interviews added from Italy, Dubai, the EILD event in Uruguay and the US as the project progresses. The team hope to add more participants to their ever-growing list of female ambassadors to the project that already boasts an amazing 50 women.

The project launch is being supported by formalighting. Light Collective approached formalighting with this project as it is a company with a strong, inspirational woman in a lead role - Sharon Maghnagi. Also supporting the initiative is Katia Kolovea (Archifos) from Urban Electric as the head of the social media campaign.

darc magazine is proud and excited to participate as media partner for the project and will feature a regular editorial piece in each issue, celebrating the work of the ambassadors and promoting female design in the industry.

“We started this project to try and make a difference. Although women make up at least 50% of the lighting design profession, you only have to look at the number of women speaking at major conferences, acting as judges in awards, being asked as keynotes and serving on editorial boards to realise that the profile of women is significantly lower than men. We want to change this,” explained Martin Lupton of Light Collective.

www.womeninlighting.com


Kreon launches first decorative line

(Belgium) - Oran line marks the company's first foray into decorative lighting.

Consisting of pendant and ceiling luminaires, they are available in black and white, or in pure materials such as bronze. The mouthblown lamps come in two shapes, round or cone-shaped, or in alabaster. The pendant is optionally covered by a lampshade. 

Oran’s design is based on the architectural principle of the ‘plastic number’. The basic shapes that can be derived from the number’s proportions make up the building blocks of this new line of lighting luminaries.

Designing from the plastic number means working with spatial components. Creating spatial luminaires is in strong contrast with Kreon’s earlier designing principles, which were exclusively applied to flat surfaces. For Kreon, Oran is its first design to claim space and to actively demand to be a part of it. The product's spatiality can be seen in its proportions, as well as its dimensions and materialisation.

The unique form of Oran’s reflector inside the lamp was inspired by aspects of nature, specifically, the Japanese Venus' flower basket sponge.

The reflector is printed with 3D-techniques. To mimic the natural shape of the Venus’ flower basket, a simple element is enlarged in a tiered manner giving Oran’s reflector the appearance of having grown in an organic way. While using the newest techniques, the Oran’s glass lamp is mouthblown, reminiscent of traditional methods. The Oran line utilises artisan techniques and modern technologies in one design.

www.kreon.com