There’s a bit of a blur in the distinction between art and design. Functional products and merchandise can’t be classed as art can they?  Both go through a creative (and sometimes torturous) process  and then get tangled up in methods of selling and the exchange of money. Art and Design products use the language and methods of each other to do exactly the same thing to sell, to engage with an audience and to confront us with another way of seeing, making and living. And this language and process is even seeping into the high street; stores offer  “a range of carefully curated products” displayed in an almost gallery style by a named artist or designer.  Meanwhile in a bid to connect with a wider audience Art galleries shift from their intimidating surroundings to Fairs and Markets. Within all of this is the need to reflect a changing world, with Art, Design, and down the the business end Retail, all responding to a changing expectation from consumers; they’re wanting an experience, an emotional reaction, not just a passive presentation of products and work. So to provide the unexpected Art goes to the market Design goes to the gallery. You could even argue that retail’s love of the pop-up is like the underground art event. With all this borrowing from each other its difficult to see where art and design differ, collectors have become attracted to both further blurring the Art Design debate.

Last week Frieze Art fair popped up  in London and generated tens of millions of pounds of Art sales in a tent in Regents Park. You could not only see the work of  the artists  but also meet and even get temporary tattoo by one of them. Here’s David Shrigley tattooing I love O’s onto a willing participant.

At the same time as Frieze Super Design, now in its 4th year offered a smaller design alternative ; a show that brings together galleries and their limited edition pieces by some of the most innovative designers.  Super Design borrows the style and presentation of the art show to allow us to critique the work in the manner of a work of art . But its not art and its not really pretending to be art.  That’s not to denigrate the work on show here.  It simply has a function that art does not need to play. Art has no practical function; it grabs us on another level and draws on a range of  emotional reactions, amongst them the ability to shock. One of my favourite “reactions” from Frieze last week was another visitors exclamation “Ughhh! What is going through these people minds!?!”  Now to me the little animations we were peeping through holes to view were not that shocking at all; but it just shows how we all have our own thoughts on what art is.What Super Design does show is how designers have been experimenting, pushing the boundaries of what is functional, and playing with our curiosity  by appealing on a playful, aesthetic and emotional level.

On a playful level here is the work of  Marcus Tremonto,  he showed a number of his electroluminescent film lights, but here is his more mischievous work he did with Kidrobot’s Munny character.

The show owes more to theory behind Critical Design offered by London based design duo Dunne & Raby.  Designers have been pushed into creating products that conform to functional requirements and the means of mass production. Critical Design challenges this conformity and encourages experimentation on every level. As Dunne says “One of its roles is to question the limited range of emotional and psychological experiences offered through designed products. If you decouple design from the mass market, what do you get? A change of attitude and approach. So the role of Critical Design is to make us think and to raise awareness , expose assumptions, provoke action, spark debate – a way of looking at design and re imagining its possibilities beyond the narrow definition presented through the media and in shops.”

Grey Derivations by  Maarten Baas for Mitterrand+Cramer Design is a response to the edition process in relation to the production process. The man hours spent creating each piece and nuanced changes from the method of production made the notion of each being an edition nonsense. Apart from the desk light which can be created using a mould the other5  pieces in the series are unique. This approach has given Baas the freedom to create work in a spontaneous intuitive way  in his studio in the Dutch countryside.  The desk shown here would never be allowed to go into mass production, it wouldn’t be allowed in a shop. Once the desk is closed the two red front legs become horns poking out of the lid -you can just imaging the “health and safety” issues! Using design as a means of self expression doesn’t mean that work has to be handcrafted and exclusive. After all it was Baas who sold the cheapest design product of the Milan fair with his 99cent Iphone app.

Studio Makkink & Bey showed their De Amersfoot Chair. An advocate of Critical Design here are Jurgen Bey’s thought on the idea. “Critical Design is an area where I feel comfortable because I think it’s important to make your voice heard through design. Its not about being against things but about staying critical, particularly in the case of sustainable design. It’s about finding the right balance with progress. To change someones views you need to make them more curious . Its what I like about being a designer. You’re allowed to question things. Its not an exact science and there’s a big area where you can move quite freely and come to your answers. If you rethink things, the answers are about what you can do and how you can do it. You have your questions and ask what if….?’ Then you follow where this takes you.”

Dimitri Vangrunderbeek’s Lacquered Steel Cabinet (pictured below). Figures have been cut out of the steel and stride across the surface of the work casting shadows as light hits the piece. You get the sense of the figures moving as you walk past the piece.

Gareth Neal’s Urban Picnic transforms the ubiquitous bench. We’re familiar with the design but the only hand treatment we usually see on it is hand carved graffiti not intricate marquetry. The piece was a response to the question of “The Great British Weekend” and was originally displayed as a pop-up urban picnic in the east end of London

Skull rug by Timothy Liles- Having previously worked for Converse as a footwear designer Timothy has turned his hand to product design. Here he has combined the pop icon with a tradition of technique. This is a thick, double-sided, wool rug  made by the extremely skilled workers at Country Braid House in Tilton NH. They’re more used to making traditional rugs but they’ve applied the same technique to totally different subject matter creating a modern heirloom  countrybraidhouse.com

Edging back toward the macabre Stefan Strumbelhas taken the traditional cuckoo clock of his homeland, the Black Forest in Germany, and applied objects of popular culture soaked in bright and acidic colours.  Strumble has moved from being a graffiti artist into 3 dimensional work.

His work looks at the German concept of Heimat, roughly translated as homeland  “There is no English word for Heimat,” Strumbel explains. “Some people link Heimat to a place, for others it is a feeling.”  Strumble has replaced motifs associated with his homeland with items of popular culture that have no geographical link.

Skulls by Beware the Moon This is a quality wallpaper; each roll is handmade with a “no expense spared” attitude from the makers to keep the print as close to the original art work as possible.  And they’ve chosen a quality gent to high light this.. Insouciant, sartorially superior ,eyebrow quizzical, pondering the taste of his fag – sorry cigarette. Or possibly he’s standing opposite a wall hung with one of the more risqué papers in the range “She” featuring a naked lady. I’d say he’s pondering the latter.  Beware the Moon have a refreshingly witty approach to wallpaper design and production , hopefully some new designs are coming soon

I’ve mentioned Studio Job’s Industry in in earlier post on Marquetry but they’re always worth another look. In the beautiful work seen here they’ve interwoven skeletons and skull/gas masks onto the surface of their wardrobe.

Illustration on paper products and t-shirts we’re used to, doodling on pieces in your home  is something we expect from a naughty toddler, but despite this association a number of women artists and designers have created a series of products and interiors that are beautiful and inspirational.

Danish designer Louise Campbell had the challenge to create a temporary meeting room for G1 Strand and came up with this rather witty response. The room is within a listed 1750’s building so Louise has created a series of Blah posters that line the walls but can be removed. The tables, chairs,  light fittings and decorations have also had the blah treatment.  Keeping it simple in black and white the room has a serenity that the introduction of colour just wouldn’t achieve – and in a meeting room with the potential for many a verbal battle it has a calming effect.  ”It is the sports arena of verbal power struggles, where words are hurled back and forth across the table and bounce off the walls as everyone strives to take the upper hand – or upper word so to speak”  

Blah Blah Blah by Louise Campbell  http://www.louisecampbell.com/  

 Artist Anna James reworked antique furniture using images of graffiti taken from an archway in Verona. The graffiti is little messages of love left by those visiting the supposed house of Juliet  of Romeo and Juliet fame. Anna has taken digital images that  have been transposed onto a variety of prepared period pieces. Each piece captures a moment in time – the wall constantly changes with new declarations added daily.

www.loveannajames.com

Artist Charlotte Mann originally worked in fashion design, styling and illustration before switching to over to focus on her artwork. From working on a hand draw back drop for fashion designer Peter Jensen shes has taken commissions for both private as well as commercial clients. Using marker pens she draws onto the prepared wall  incorporating objects the client has chosen to create a personal and unique work.

www.charlottemann.co.uk

 Esther Coombs works with vintage ceramics that shes found in flea markets, charity shops and carboot fairs. Working with the aesthetics of the piece she hand draws images of the urban environment creating unique works from what are essentially unloved mass produced pots of yesteryear. She reinvents and gives new life to items that are other peoples cast off. I love the juxtapositions between the dainty flowers and the and the tower blocks. I guess the irony is that many of the ceramics would have come from homes such as these, and there is the romance of the work, its rather fun to imagine their previous homes. For more examples  http://www.esthercoombs.com/

Happy Easter!

Heres a great pic courtesy of the Wooster Collective

http://www.woostercollective.com/