Wim Crouwel Dezeen Interview

No doubt you would have heard all about Wim Crouwel at the Design Museum, but here is a nice little interview with Wim by Dezeen Blog just to further the euphoria among the design community!

Smile for London

A new creative initiative called 'Smile for London' will be launching, on London Underground, just in time to tackle the January blues.
Platform screens will be taken over with a programme of film, art and animation, exhibiting the best of London’s emerging and established artistic talent.
This is a call for submissions, with a brief to create a twenty second silent piece of moving image with a view to pushing the boundaries of the medium. You can learn more here

Submitted by Jo Kotas

GF Smith: Art on Paper since 1885

I was recently invited to attend the private view of GFSmith's fantastic heritage exhibition at one of London's most (in)famous Georgian town houses, No.33 Portland Place.
Upon arrival I had the pleasure of meeting GFSmith's reps, along with a few very notable creative industry figures; indeed, my first clue as to the kind of respect GFSmith and their fine papers have earned over the last century.
Thereafter, in what was quite an intimate affair, a handful of us were kindly ushered from room to lavishly distressed room, as well as through each contrasting decade of the company's impressive history of collaboration with some of the world's most respected creatives including Saul Bass, Sir Peter Blake, Peter Saville, Bill McKay, Paul Rand, Milton Glaser, SEA Design and Rankin, which suffice to say, resulted in the groundbreaking and iconic design work that was set before us in glass covered table cabinets.

The tour was expertly narrated by Paul Scharf, which made it all the more fascinating. With great insights, reminding us all of the wonderful tactility of paper and it's power to impact perceptions; you couldn't fail to recognise the company's very real passion and appreciation for the highest quality in all things creative.
This archive of historic design work was also complimented by more contemporary pieces of work from the likes of Made Thought, Build, Proud Creative and the like; evidence then, of GFSmith's continuing importance and influence in today's creative world.

Thanks to James Groves
(Invite design -top- by Paul Antonio)

Bunch of Stars

Those talented folks over at Bunch Design are to celebrate a year of international contributions for the Star of Bethnal Green campaign, with an exhibition at the Red Gallery in Shoreditch, London.

Based on an identity devised by Bunch in 2008, a traditional long-tailed star was taken and illustrated to create artwork that represented the corresponding months. llustrators were sought out from the furthest reaches of the globe including Guatemala, Iceland, Uganda and Indonesia to celebrate and explore the concept of how stars appear different depending on where in the world you happen to be gazing from. The stars depict a dramatic array of cultural influences, embracing nature, environment, folklore, history and visual arts.

There will be sixteen stars showcased at the exhibition, which opens with a private view on Tuesday 25th May, and runs until Friday 28th May. Limited edition t-shirts and letter pressed posters have been produced to accompany the show. More details can be found here.

HigginsonHurst: Pick Me Up Art Fair

Tonight I'll be popping over to see the preview of HigginsonHurst's launch, hosted by Print Club London, at 'Pick Me Up', the first contemporary graphic art fair in the UK. The scene is set at London's Somerset House and the show will be officially opening 23 April - 3 May 2010. Looks like it's going to be a cracking show, so you can get more info on that here.

Life In 2050: Artist Updates

Stuart Tolley has let us know that the Life in 2050 exhibition, curated by Transmisson, now has work up by the featured artists, go take a look!
Ident above by Future Deluxe

Life in 2015: We have a winner

Back in January we featured an exhibition called Life in 2015, which is featuring 21 leading designers, photographers, illustrators and artists, however there was 1 place open to the public, and now we have been informed that this place has been filled with a winner! More here.

HigginsonHurst: Exhibition

James Hurst writes in to let us know about a new temporary screenprint exhibition that he and Busaba Eathai have curated, which can be seen on hoarding boards at Old Street (London,UK) for the next 3 weeks.

The exhibition is showcasing artists from illustration agency HigginsonHurst including Mike Ballard (who is also the street artist Cept), Esra Røise, Chrissie Abbot, Haniboi, Damien Frost, Daisy Fletcher and Paul Bommers. You can get to see more of the artist's work here.

Print: Carry Hope

For the next issue of Print Magazine, 12 leading visual artists were invited to design a set of tote bags which are to be sold on mydesignshop.com for charity.

Artists so far included: Atélier Telesopique, Deanne Cheuk, büro destruct, Christoph Niemann, Ed Fella, Hort’s Geoff McFetridge, James Joyve, Laurent Fetis, Rick Valicenti, Si Scott and Spin.

Now Print Magazine are opening up for public submissions. You can get more information here

Submitted by Print Magazine

Screen Fiends

A quick mention, on behalf of the graphic design students of Nottingham Trent University, about a one off evening event of live screen printing and illustration showcasing talented student’s work along with DJs and plenty of drinks.
Screen Fiends will be held this Friday 5th March 8pm-12am.
More details here.

New Brow: The Rise of Underground Art

If you're in London tomorrow (Saturday, 27th of February), maybe be worth catching the last screenings of the premier of New Brow: The Rise of Underground Art at the London Miles Gallery.

Screening times :2:00pm and 5:30pm
Location: 242 Acklam Road. Westbourne Studios.
Located in the project room.
Tube stop: Westbourne park station.
Tickets are £8.00 and can be purchased at the door

Submitted by London Miles Gallery

2010 Design Awards at the Design Museum

Ok back to a bit of design, first off, just to to let you know that the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year is now open at the Design Museum. You can now see the 91 nominated designs in all seven categories, and the winner will be announced on March 16. Here's a quick glimpse of the show.

Er... I'm already professional!?

Ok so this is interesting if not a bit odd:
"The Chartered Society of Designers has filed an application to the UK Government to approve a system of professional certification for designers.
A much-needed step toward elevating design's status? Or an expensive irrelevance?"

Well, if it worked there would be admittedly a few benefits, but it just seems a little ridiculous as I really can't see the top designers, design groups or clients for that matter, suddenly warming to this...

More on this at CR Blog

Life in 2050

Stuart Tolley from Transmission Studios informed us of a forthcoming exhibition project that they are currently working on for the Sci-Fi-London Film Festival called Life in 2050.
21 leading designers, photographers, illustrators and artists will create an original piece of work depicting their vision of what life will be like in 2050. Exhibitors will include Universal Everything, Build, Mario Hugo, Alex Trochut, Jason Tozer, Graham Carter, Will Sweeney and Hort amongst others.

All work will be on display at the Chapter One Gallery, 33 Marshall Street, London from 15th April - 8th May.

There is also 1 space free for a public submission.
All you have to do is send your ideas on the theme 'Life in 2050.' All entries will be submitted on the gallery section of the Life in 2050 website (coming soon) and a winner will be chosen, whose work will be printed and displayed at the final exhibition.
All the entry details and the 1st March deadline date can be found here.

FWA: Website of the Year 09

The FWA (Favourite Website Awards) is looking for your vote to determine website of the year. >Vote here<

A Journey to Zero

Must agree with the chaps over at No Legacy in that A Journey to Zero, with Richard Saul Wurman of TED, is indeed a good idea that is not only very well crafted but of noble effort too. Investigate here.

Unit Editions: Pop-up Shop

Quick heads up, Unit Editions is hosting a Pop-Up shop next Wednesday 9th Dec at 'To Hell With Books'.
No Jeremy Clarkson books. No Jordan autobiographies. Instead, books and records with soul and wit from Fuel Publishing, Unit Editions and Trunk Records – all at special prices. There will be signed copies, bottles of beer and Jake Chapman signing his latest novel. More details here.

Submitted by Natasha Day

Decode: Digital Design Sensations

Sennep and Yoke have developed a Digital Dandelion for the forthcoming exhibition Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A (Opening 8th December). The interactive instalation allows user to blow away the seeds of a 3D Dandelion with an electric hairdryer and includes ambient and adaptive sound.

Lovely!

Thanks to Marit Kile

HippieHouse Studio: Andy Warhol

"HippieHouse was invited to feature some free-styled animation pieces for the Malba Museum honoring Andy Warhol's exhibition Mr. America. We decided to play and experiment with 3d fluids, liquids, materials and real time audio capturing filters."

Submitted by HippieHouse Studio