News & Events
Zakka: Goods and Things
While in Tokyo, I visited at the 21_21 Design Sight (www.2121designsight.jp) a show put together by Naoto Fukusawa titled “ Zakka: Goods and Things”. Attached some pictures from the exhibition, showing also the influences from abroad (starting with Bauhaus). In Japan “zakka” are every day, ordinary products we feel comfortable with and thus surround ourselves with. They are well made and well designed, but not overdesigned. To put it into Jasper Morrison’s words, these are “super normal” products for daily use and enjoyment. We take them for granted, would miss them though if we did not have them. In visiting many so-called design shops around Japan, I notice very much a trend away from the over-styled to these everyday products – a welcome development.
Summer Dine, Wine and Design Benefit at AMEICO
Join us on June 16th at AMEICO
to enjoy a meal that means so much more!
AMEICO, The First Bite Catering, The Silo at Hunt Hill Farm, and Nutmeg Olive Oil Company are teaming up to help local kids enjoy a summer camp experience at The Silo.
This special culinary event runs from 6-9 on June 16th at AMEICO in New Milford. The evening's flavorful tour includes fresh and tasty appetizers and wine followed by demos, dinner and dessert by Chef Anne McClelland from The First Bite.
Menu – each course to be followed by a demonstration by Chef Anne McClelland
- Local Greens, Radicchio, Fresh Strawberries, Goat Cheese and Pepitas
- Dry Rubbed Rib Eye Steak Topped with Crab Imperial, accompanied by Tomato Chive Bread Pudding and Zucchini Ribbons
- Vanilla Panna Cotta topped with Mango Coconut Sauce
When: June 16th, 2016, 6-9 pm
Where: AMEICO, 29 Church St, New Milford, CT
Price: $60 per person
LIMITED SEATING AVAILABLE
Proceeds from the event will benefit The Silo's 'KitchEncounters' Summer Youth Camp Program. The program allows students ages 5-15 to explore the cultures, food, and art of countries associated with conflict and unrest. This unique, community-driven program perpetuates The Silo's mission of “cultivating love of land, food and the arts”.
Salone 2016
One of the exhibitions at Milan Design week which impressed me the most was a very understated one, by the well-chosen name “Subtle”. The theme was paper and it was organized by the Japanese Takeo Paper Co. Especially in our day and age of the computer, in which the art and culture of writing letters has all but vanished, an exhibition about the beauty and uses of paper was quite exhilarating for me.
This year, Michele De Lucchi’s Produzione Privata is celebrating its 25th anniversary. For the celebration, the studio is putting out a limited edition of 25 extra-extra large clear Acquatinta pendants with unique LED bulbing, also designed by De Lucchi. Ameico has secured 3 of these pendants for the US and will be offering them later this year.
Very close to the De Lucchi studio on via Varese is one of Michele’s newest architectural gems, a conference hall in wood made for UniCredit, an Italian banking group. This whole area, very close to the Garibaldi train station, is developing very rapidly and impressively. Italy’s economy is struggling. In this context, it is great to see an area of Milan which is exploding with creative energy and commerce.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp - “King Stag” Original 1918 Dada Marionettes
IC Design introduces three posable figurines based on the original 1918 Dada marionettes by Sophie Taeuber-Arp. The original marionettes (17 in all) were created by Taeuber-Arp for a richly embellished Dada version of “King Stag”, a tragicomedy by Carlo Gozzi. Arp’s revered creations, long known only in artist circles, are among the most important art works of the avant-garde, merging Dada performance with Constructivist and Concrete art. Created in collaboration with the Museum fur Gestalting Zurich and hand-crafted in Germany.
Nov. 14th Opening at 29 Church
Fall trip to Japan
Trip to Bauhaus University Weimar
We visited Weimar last week, known for Goethe, Schiller and the Bauhaus.
The first school of the Bauhaus was located in Weimar, Germany. The Grand Ducal Saxon Art School was designed by Belgian artist, architect and interior designer Henry Van der Velde, director of the school. Walter Gropius became director of the school in 1919 and renamed it the Bauhaus. In 1925 funding was cut due to a conservative take over of the state parliament and Gropius moved the Bauhaus school to Dessau, Germany. The school was renamed Technical University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and in 1996 changed its name to Bauhaus University Weimar. It is currently a school for design, architecture and urban planning. It is a UNESCO world heritage site.
exterior
the lobby
bust of Walter Gropius
students drawing
June in Japan
Pathway to Honen-in temple
Simple solution to direct water from an old spring fountain at Honen-in.
Gion Morisyo inn keepers
Tofuku-ji moss garden
Ginkaku-ji "silver temple" quartz sand garden
The high priest of Ginkaku-ji would use this sand platform to view the moon, its perfect geometry has been maintained since 1615. The quartz sand of the garden reflects white in the moonlight.
Tea room confections
Shiseido headquarters entrance
The Ginza Graphic Gallery exhibited four premier Japanese graphic designers Shigeo Fukuga, Iko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai and Tadanori Yokoo. Each presented how they would orientate text and image within a given space.
