Tag Archives: iconic design

Dutch Designers Re-invent The Chair

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Dutch Designers Re-invent The Chair

What do the Red and Blue chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1918, The Wassily chair, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 and the Lounge chair and ottoman designed by Eames in 1959, have in common, except for the fact they are designed in the 20th century? Well, these design icons have all been re-invented by Dutch Designers. Just that.

by Tessa Koot, 2017.
by Marcel Breuer, 1925
by Eames, 1956
by Mal-furniture, 2012
by Maarten Baas, 2010
by Rietveld, 1917

Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917. Wassily Chair, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 (currently produced by Knoll). Lounge chair and ottoman designed by Eames in 1959. (currently produced by Herman Miller)

There are probably are more examples. Please be so kind to share them with us if you know! Thanks! xoxo Mimi

(other images via: Maarten Baas Tessa Koot Mal-Furniture)

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The Rainbow Flag ‘designed’ by Gilbert Baker

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The Rainbow Flag ‘designed’ by Gilbert Baker

Added knowledge: A flag with a seven-striped rainbow design is used in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador is anachronically associated with Tawantin Suyu, or Inca territory. Even today in the city of Cusco, Peru it is common to see the flag around the city displayed even in government buildings and in Cusco main square. The flag is inspired on the wiphala which was part of Inca symbolism and used in the Tahuantinsuyo and traces its existence to the early 1920s.

Gilbert Baker, the man who came up with the Rainbow flag in1978 has passed away

Thursday night (March 30, 2017). He was 65. “Discussing his design at a 2015 exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art, Baker said: “I decided that we should have a flag; that a flag fit us as a symbol, that we are a people – a tribe, if you will. And flags are about proclaiming power, so it’s very appropriate. Baker’s design placed meaning on each colour: Pink (sexuality), Red (life), Orange (healing), Yellow (sunlight), Green (nature), Turquoise (art), Indigo (harmony) and Violet (human spirit). It has since been reduced to six colours, with pink and indigo removed. Blue is now used instead of turquoise.” (Read more at nme.com)

The Rainbow Flag designed by Gilbert Baker
(credits: Getty Images via nme.com)
The iconic Rainbow flag, which has been created to unite the gay community, fits perfectly In the series ‘Yes, that has been designed by a person’. Sometimes, with too uber-familiar symbols, you forget that there actually was a person who designed it. Just like the designers of, for example, the smiley or the peace-sign they often stay nameless. Hence this post.
Have a nice day! xoxo Mimi

Duvet Coat by Martin Margiela

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Duvet Coat by Martin Margiela

Martin Margiela is also named the seventh member of the Antwerp six
The Artist Is Absent: A Short Film On Martin Margiela; The exclusive documentary produced by YOOX Group and directed by New York filmmaker Alison Chernick.

Duvet Coat by Maison Margiela fall/winter 1999–2000 (Screenshot from The Artist Is Absent: A Short Film On Martin Margiela | by YOOX Group)
Maison Martin Margiela (founded 1988), fall/winter 1999–2000, cotton, feather. Purchase, Gould Family Foundation Gift, in memory of Jo Copeland, 2010 (via metmuseum.org)

We, at Mimi Berlin, think that the Duvet Coat from Martin Margiela for Fall/Winter 1999 is an iconic fashion design. We also think that many more designs by Mr Margiela himself are iconic.

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Dr. Schlumbohm’s Chemex Brewer

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Dr. Schlumbohm’s Chemex Brewer

“The CHEMEX® coffeemaker was invented in 1941 by Dr. Peter Schlumbohm, a German chemist who immigrated to New York in 1936.

Chemex coffee maker design scketches
Chemex Coffeemaker five cups is hand blown
Schlumbohm and a few of his inventions, as shown in LIFE magazine in 1949
chemex carafe with CoffeeSock Cloth Filter for Chemex 6, 8, and 10 Cup

When designing the CHEMEX®, Schlumbohm desired to not only make brewing the perfect cup simple, but also to have the vessel be a thing of beauty. Being a chemist, he studied and understood clearly the chemistry behind the extraction of flavor and caffeine from coffee beans.” (images via/read more chemexcoffeemaker.com) The Chemex Coffee Brewer is still available. (Image with CoffeeSock filter via prima-coffee.com)  Continue reading →

Smoke Glasses by Joe Colombo

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Smoke Glasses by Joe Colombo

We, at Mimi Berlin, quit smoking the other day. Obsession with cigarettes has taken over our minds; hence this post. The Smoke glasses are designed to have a drink and a cigarette in one hand at the same time; how very functional!

The designer himself

This barware is designed in 1963 by Joe Colombo for Arnolfo di Cambio, which still has the Smoke glasses in stock.

The Animals of Les Lalannes

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The Animals of Les Lalannes

Well, some of them……mostly made in the sixties of the previous century

1973, Baboon fireplace, François-Xavier’s Lalanne, Paul Kasmin Gallery
Le grand chat polymorphe (1968)
Rhinocrétaire desk
Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne
hippopotamus bath, commissioned by Teeny and Marcel Duchamp in 1968
Toad chair (1969)
Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne in Tourterelle, 1997
1974

Les Lalannes are Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, a French ‘designers couple’. Google them if you want to know more about these extraordinary minds…..

(via agentofstyle.com /  core77.com / designersatelier.co.uk