Frame

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EDITORIAL – FE For editorial inquiries, please e-mail frame@frameweb.com or call +31 20 4233 717 (ext 921). Editor in chief Robert Thiemann – RT Managing editor Floor Kuitert – FK Head of content Peter Maxwell – PM Editor Anouk Haegens – AH Web editor Rab Messina – RM Editor at large Tracey Ingram – TI Junior editor Lauren Grace Morris – LGM Web intern Antonio Graniero – AG Copy editor In Other Words (D’Laine Camp) Design director Barbara Iwanicka Graphic designers Zoe Bar-Pereg Shadi Ekman Translation In Other Words (Maria van Tol) Contributors to this issue Aileen Kwun – AK Shonquis Moreno – SM Kourosh Newman-Zand – KNZ Jonathan Openshaw – JO Rosamund Picton – RP Debika Ray – DR Avantika Shankar – AS Jane Szita – JS Cover Concept store for Mujosh eyewear in Guangzhou by DAS Lab (see page 106) Photo Shao Feng Lithography Edward de Nijs Printing Grafisch Bedrijf Tuijtel Hardinxveld-Giessendam PUBLISHING Director Robert Thiemann Brand and marketing manager Leah Heaton-Jones leah@frameweb.com T +31 20 4233 717 (ext 951) Marketing intern Renata Sutton Distribution and logistics Nick van Oppenraaij nick@frameweb.com T +31 20…

next phase, next space

Journals are alive. They quite literally report on the developments du jour. We live in a time in which changes take place at breakneck speed. This applies to the industry – spatial design – as well as to the way information about the industry is collected and shared. A medium as popular among designers as Pinterest has only been around for ten years; the possibly even more attractive Instagram had its big breakthrough less than five years ago. These image-based platforms allow both professionals and amateurs to immerse themselves daily in a never-ending stream of kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms as well as offices, shops and hotels. But what does it mean, this avalanche of pink, flashy and resin-packed projects? Why are they mediagenic at this particular moment in time? And…

mumbai

A decade ago, Indian homes were in a form of post-colonial, post-socialist limbo: design was functional, furniture was heirloom, and pale colours were unthinkable in a country so prone to dust. I remember a time when almost every friend’s home I visited seemed to have a cabinet dedicated to showcasing a mismatched array of china figurines and glass ornaments, the standard attempt to create aesthetic value. It’s been some time now since one has crossed my path. ‘There’s been a shift in the mindset,’ interior designer Rukmini Ray Kadam explains to me. Kadam’s social feeds embody contemporary Indian design in all its characteristics: an affinity for whites, pops of paisley, house plants on bookshelves, and the occasional colonial antique. ‘People are spending a lot more and the idea that “this has…

new york

Less than five years since The New York Times pronounced midcentury modern design passé, a nostalgia trip for the Space Age has landed in the city. It seems only yesterday that the Memphis revival had hit its peak in the wake of the mid-century backlash. Now, as the allure of the squiggle subsides, the pendulum swings back again. But much has changed in those few years, and in 2019 a backward glance no longer reads as innocent. Design holds a mirror up to society, and principles of taste can act to hide the politics of distaste. In July, several arts institutions in New York mounted exhibitions to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing by NASA’s Apollo 11 – a scientific triumph for mankind (if a problematic Cold War–era…

1 how department stores can embrace digital apparel

The Fabricant auctions the first item of virtual ‘haute-couture’ for $9,500; Carlings launches a collection that customers can pay to be edited onto a photo of themselves, which sells out in a week; Nike releases two pairs of limited-edition Jordans for your Fortnite avatar to wear. Over the last 12 months, fashion has gone digital in a big way. Is there any way for ailing brick-and-mortar retailers to take advantage of this enthusiasm for the intangible? Selfridges certainly believes so. Its AW19 campaign – The New Order – is a thinly veiled response to its customers’ increasing pixel fixation. ‘The digital realm has shifted the limits of fashion – we’re no longer constrained by what is humanly or materially possible,’ says Selfridges head of creative Emma Kidd. ‘Our new » digital…

2 what csm’s latest course means for the future of sustainable architecture

This September, London’s Central St Martins (CSM) college will launch what it claims is the world’s first interdisciplinary Master’s degree in biodesign, bringing together people with backgrounds in architecture, product design, fashion, jewellery and textiles to apply biological principles to problems – material sustainability and waste, for example – that design alone has so far failed to solve and indeed exacerbated. Placing equal emphasis on scientific and design skills, it will offer students access to a research lab and a dedicated biologist and lab technician as part of the faculty. The course builds on the university’s pioneering Materials Futures MA – honing in on living systems, whereas students following the original course look at materials in a broader sense. The built environment places a massive strain on the planet. A recent OECD…