designjournalists

Ken Adam turned James Bond into a myth. With his elegant, minimalist sets, which he designed for the first Bond film "Dr. No " in 1962, he laid the foundation for the future success of the secret agent series. His "War Room" for Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove "(1964) had such a profound effect of reality on the audience that after his inauguration as U.S. president Ronald Reagan demanded to be led into the space. Norman Kietzmann talked to him about the scenes in James Bond, sharks on the set and his early youth in Berlin.

The COR Prize 2011 jury statement: "Designed for Eternity" is an exceptional fair report. It deals with the strategy of many manufacturers, who in the face of economic uncertainty put the focus on longevity. "Has timelessness not long been a trend?” the author questions and relates product examples of new furniture as a scale for a special kind of timer: a clock, which precisely displays the time for 1,000 years maintenance-free - an unusual criterion for the fast paced furniture industry. Norman Kietzmann's criticism is based on established design knowledge. His contribution is deserving of The Award for Young Journalists 2011.

John Pawson doesn’t waste his time with redundant things. The Godfather of minimalist architecture designs Calvin Klein boutiques, art collectors’ homes as well as entire monasteries. His method: he’s banished not only the superfluous, but transforms his interiors into luxurious, unique bespokes. The 61-year-old Englishman speaks about his past in the fashion business, closeness to God and playing children.

The buildings designed by R&Sie(n) have many facets – but not always facades. At times they are as light as textile, put roofs in dynamic vibrationsor assume the strange proportions of a bacterium enlarged millions of times under an electron microscope. A story on buildings as fiction, unknown territories and a spiky alien in the Swiss mountains.

Turrets, archways and a wild, rampant garden: in the vicinity of Barcelona, the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill installed his live and work spaces amidst an abandoned cement factory. But instead of restoring the industrial turn of the century monument in an overly clean manner, he turned it into an urban fairy tale castle.

He was an icon and uncongenial thinker of modernism: For the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Pirelli skyscraper, the Italian architect, designer, artist and publisher Gio Ponti is honored by two exhibitions in Milan. That one of the shows is exclusively dedicated to his works of porcelain is no contradiction: Ultimately Gio Ponti didn’t begin his career at the drawing board, but as art director of the Richard Ginori porcelain manufactory.

Design is a club. And not just anybody can join. The success of products and designers is not only decided by customers, producers and critics. Last but not least it is the curators of major design museums, who can affect a designer‘s lasting career by adding a product to their collections. But what makes the powerful within design tick? And by what criteria do they select new products? Norman Kietzmann interviewed the two most important curators of design: Paola Antonelli, Chief Curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Florian Hufnagl, head of the Neue Sammlung in Munich. Read about it in the 11-04 issue of Pure magazine.

Agnete Enga knows what women want. The deputy director of the New York agency "Smart Design" is one of the pioneers in the field of gender issues in design and leads companies with feminine design to rapid growth. Norman Kietzmann portrayed the Norwegian-born for the Swiss business magazine „Women in Business“.

Marcel Wanders on the Dutch design phenomenon, giant mushrooms at home and talks with the prime minister of the Netherlands.