Joep van Lieshoup Exhibition 26th Sep. Rotterdam

He is an artist who lives and works in Rotterdam. He became known in early 80's after producing objects in bright coloured polyester. The material has become his trademark. His work is between art, architecture and design.

'Infernopolis' exhibition presented to me a dystopian world where polyester men are machines in a huge abandoned warehouse. Large scale playful sculptures which one can observe from inside out are imaginatively disturbing. The exhibition definitely made me wonder about my position in society. Luckily I visited before it closed, on the very last day. A massive turnout, fantastic seafood (prepared from army style mobile kitchen) and plenty of wine fuelled an already unique afternoon at the Heijplaat dockland location.

http://www.ateliervanlieshout.com/

Cross Lab

Cross Lab is a one of the subject I study. It is about social media studies.

This was one of the first assignments. To design a ipad application.

My idea was rehab app for young party goers! My moodboard consists of drunken people outside of club.

I designed the visual look of the app. It has a options for Fist Aid to Treatment options. It was designed for rather playful purpose than as a serious application!

Schiedam project part 2

Here's different variations of the wonky cup.

Red terracotta clay was really bad quality, so I had to discard the idea. As you can see on the image, I tried to brush over the clay with red clay, but once it dried it cracked. I still quite like it, and I'm going to fire it anyway.

Schiedam project part 1

This was a project for Schiedam, which is a neighbor city just next to Rotterdam. We needed to design something for the mayor. A gift she could give away to the visitors of Schiedam.

Schiedam is famous for its arts and crafts, old windmills, Jenever production etc. Jenever museum inspired me.

I wanted to work on terracotta clay to produce a cup to drink the Jenever from. Originally the bottles were made of red terracotta and the drink is often drunk from transparent glass, with a stem. I didn't like the look of the glass. I wanted something more traditional.

I learned (not very well) to use throwing wheel. It is difficult but I really enjoyed it. It calms you down. Didn't work out, so I made a 2-part mold. Using liquid clay I produced simple cup, with a rounded bottom, so it would be wonky. I also used porcelain.

Urban architecture

Willemswerf

City Observation.
This is a Willemswerf office building next to the river Nieuwe Maas in the heart of Rotterdam city. Rotterdam is full of huge new and modern skyscrapers. Unfortunately in my opinion the city does not have the warmness because of its buildings. It is lack of anything old since the Germans bombed it down during the WW2. One can see Rotterdam as a cold with its achitecture, yet professional by its people.
Jackie Chan slid the slope on the film Who am I.
Check here

Inside Design Amsterdam 24.9.2010

We went to Inside Design-fair in Amsterdam. It was great to see young designers works, but also different design manufacturers new collections. The main fair was in the mooi (=beautiful) Lloyd Hotel. In one of the rooms they were demonstrating how to repair old Thonet furniture. I had a chance to give it a try! Once you know how to do it, it's quite simple, but you need to focus. I'm planning to go to learn how to do this weaving,since the craftsman himself promised to teach me at his workshop! I think it's a great opportunity to learn traditional craftmanship, which I'm highly interested in.

Royal Delft Porcelain Factory visit

First factory visit. this took a place in Delft, just 15 minutes away from Rotterdam by train. Royal Delft Porcelain is the leading producer of authentic Delft Blue ornamental earthenware and modern earthenware.

We got to see mould making, moulding process, firing, hand painting the objects (precise and time consuming!), glazing etc. The visit really gave a good understanding of the factory process of earthenware. Obviously Royal Delft is exclusive brand and everything is handmade compared to far east rapid mass production lines, where the techniques applied are totally different.

The environment was peaceful and relax, beautiful fragile porcelain and clay object everywhere.

Royal Delft does the traditional shaped and patterned porcelain (plates, tulip vases etc.) but they also have guest designers, like Piet Hein Eek, or the famous cartoon character Miffy appears on the Royal Delft's line.

http://www.royaldelft.com/index.asp?lang=2

London Design week 2010

Shame I'm not able to join in this years London Design Week 2010. Found out that creative designers and food visionaries from Helsinki (Klaus Haapaniemi, illustrator, Harri Koskinen, designer, Heikki Salonen, fashion designer etc.) have opened temporary restaurant and exhibition in East London! Check it out!
HEL YES!

First observation!

Everyone rides bicycles here! I noticed that many cyclists use the rack to attach a basket on it. Great way to transport stuff.