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June 26th, 2011
Studio Aisslinger in Berlin. Man on left is in detention. Woman on right is watching a company ping pong game. The hex screen in foreground gives us a taste of the eponymous designer’s predilection for modular design.
In our gathering of modular product designs from all the world, it’s hard not to notice that many of them emanate from Italy. Just think Magis, B-Line, Kartell and already you’re talking about a slew of top-flight and enduring interactive pieces. Maybe it’s the climate, the food, the culture – who knows why such a regional concentration exists for this type of design? Still, it would be hard to develop a convincing theory on Italian supremacy without having to explain why, just a few hundred kilometers to the frozen north, the modular meter spikes again as we approach the Berlin studio of Werner Aisslinger.
Aisslinger is a very talented, multi-media and prolific designer who has generated some of the world’s most innovative product, interior and architectural design for brands such as Mercedes Benz, Swiss furniture company Vitra, adidas and Bombay Sapphire (Bombay Sapphire?). He’s got offices in Berlin and Singapore, so we’re talking about a global reach of considerable dimension. That’s good news for aficionados of customizable design.
Aisslinger’s chairs and chaise on display inside the Berlin studio. Below is his Plus Unit for Magis.
The company’s artistic philosophy focuses on making sophisticated new designs from novel materials and technologies, whether modular or not. Fortunately, this is not the stuff of geeky sci-fi fantasies devoid of the human dimension. Rather, the design firm says it wants to change the paradigm of modern product design by looking beyond purely functional capacities to integrate a “dialogue between emotions and technology”. Progressive? We’ve just barely scratched the surface. In an estimated 5 to 10 years the firm has plans to install a small chip inside every product that will generate product information (producer, designer and distributor) and an opportunity for instant purchase when scanned with any type of wireless communication device.
Aisslinger’s deep interest in repetitive, modular design is evident in some of the product displays in his Berlin office. On the left is Mesh, a 2007 concept design for a lightweight semi-opaque screening system (more on Mesh below). On the right is a 2008 modular bookcase made out of, what else, books!
We aren’t the only ones with an interest in this portlfolio: Aisslinger has had his furniture and product design featured at world-class museums such as MoMA (where he has a permanent exhibit on his chair design ), the MET, the French Fonds National d’Art Contemporain in Paris, the Musuem Nue Sammlung in Munich and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil, Germany.
What follows is just a sampling of the modular designs to have come out of his offices over the years.
Coral Seating and Lighting
TOP: Coral seating cushions lay on the beach as if they’ve been washed up from the sea. BOTTOM: Translucent Coral lights using a similar hex unit.
Inspired by the micro organisms emanating from the deep depths of the ocean floor, these modular seating arrangements and lighting fixtures from 2009 are composed of flexible hexagon funnels made from a mix of felt and polycarbonate that create a coral shape when joined in multiples. The sea-inspired pieces come in varying color schemes and, being modular, can be scaled to suit.
NetWork
Embroidered design enters the Age of the New Industrialism.
Perhaps you were under the impression that crocheting was culturally retrogressive. No more. Aisslinger managed to transform this traditional, old-school craft into a progressive, interactive and contemporary design form using high-technology and software. Its 2-dimensional embroidery designs are directly programmed into ‘smart’ machines that stitch the pattern together to make 3-dimensional objects.
Mesh
  
Your request for privacy should not result in staring at stark white walls!
Gone should be the days of the opaque wall divider or cubicle. For subtle separation with visual appeal, Aisslinger designed a lightweight textile structure evocative of honeycombs. The units interconnect to form customizable interior dividers with the potential to be bent into 3-dimensional shapes – distinctly unlike most separators, which are typically confined to straight planes. Made with three different types of relief structures, the hex motif and ribs were inspired by a blow-up of a vegetable organism. The color contrast of the fibers and directional changes in the weaving pattern add perforation, depth and texture to the dividers.
PLUS Unit for Magis
Stack up or down with the playful storage design unit by Aisslinger.
Similar to UP’s, the PLUS unit is a modular storage system that allows for customizable configuration of shelving units. Traditionally stacked or stacked side-by-side like a staircase, the aluminum drawers add a dimension of fun to functional design. Check them out at our store.
  
UP’s for RS Barcelona
Here’s how Studio Aisslinger explains the UP’s design:
“UP´s is a totally new modular block-system which integrates the open space between the attached boxes for the scheme: UP´s can generate endless modular sideboard landscapes or shelves always including the “free” space between the box-elements. These box-elements are offered in various types, such as the standard open box, box with sliding doors or boxes with folding wings. All these front-options can be later attached to the basic steel box-element. The visual “architecture” of the UP´s system is a rhythm of closed volumes with airy gaps in between”.
Loft Cube
TOP AND BOTTOM: Get sweeping views of any city with the 360 panoramic views of the Loft Cube. It travels anywhere you go and comes with a handsomely coordinated interior design. Will not fit into an overhead compartment.
Meet the modern day mobile home. This architectural piece is so cutting-edge that it may still belongs in the future. Composed of four walls of either translucent, transparent or opaque material, the structure forms a mobile living cube with 360 degree panoramic views. Custom interior design options are available so that lucky cube-owners can turn the Loft Cube into any type of living or working space, anywhere they would like. Made with the highest quality lightweight materials, the Cube Loft takes only a few days to set-up.
Light Wave
Bombay Sapphire sets the mood blue with their lighting fixture designed by Aisslinger.
Created for Bombay Sapphire, this large-form lighting structure created the ultimate mood lightning for one of the gin brand’s events. Made of 50 x 50 cm modules, the communal lighting object can be arranged in a variety of pixel-like configurations to create larger formats. Each individual module is designed to create a 3-dimensional shape that allows for an infinite number of additional modules. When shaped together, the overall product is an installation of fluid movement among convex and concave shapes (that’s fluid, in case you didn’t see the connection).
And this just in:
Hemp House at DMY Berlin 2011
  
TOP AND BOTTOM: A structural system made from the cannabis plant. A modular Mary Jane anyone?
Exploring sustainable materials, Aisslinger presented his Hemp House at DMY berlin 2011. The structure is made of more than 70% natural fibers, such as hemp and kenaf, bound together with acrodur, a water-based acrylic resin from german chemical company BASF.
The compression of renewable raw materials forms a new environmentally-friendly composite that is lightweight yet durable. Says Aisslinger, “Design history is driven by new technologies and material innovation. For us designers, the advent of these technologies has always been the starting point for new objects and typologies in design”.
Like we said…thanks Mr. Aisslinger.
January 4th, 2011
Climb every LEGO, ford every stream…and you’ll probably find a square somewhere. Bodo blocks by Seletti. (Click on images to view slideshow.)
If there’s one shape that embodies the essence of modular design, it would have to be the cube, and its two-dimensional progenitor, the square. What’s that, you say? You beg to differ? You think the hexagon deserves this coveted designation? Because the hexagon appears in nature in such forms as the honeycomb and snowflake, while a true square is nary to be found among living creatures and organisms? Well, we must admit, your argument does have a certain weight to it, as there is a line of thought that regards Nature as a kind of Supreme Artist by virtue of the boundless creativity evident in the natural world. Take Frank Lloyd Wright, for example: he used the hexagon quite a bit in his architectural designs as a way to connect his work to nature and validate it as a result. One of his disciples, Tony Smith, picked up on this thread and incorporated the shape in his great sculptural portfolio. The list of smart and talented people who’ve used the six-sided shape as a generator of form in their work goes on and on (unlike this post).
The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo after Vitruvius after somebody else long ago.
The square and cube? Well, as we’ve admitted, we’re hard put to find parallel examples of their visible manifestation in the organic world. But we’d be wrong if we thought that they were simply absent. In fact, they’re there, but in a more immanent, below-the-surface kind of way. Perhaps the most famous representation of this notion is the Vitruvian Man as depicted by Leonardo, who based his drawing on a passage from the only text on architecture to have survived from antiquity. In this image we see the human figure embedded in the outline of the square, thus reconciling natural and geometric form. This iconic image positions the square as a modular figure equally rooted in nature as the hex, and therefore ripe for use in the creative arts. Josef Albers, Michael Graves, Sol LeWitt and yes, Tony Smith and Frank Lloyd Wright again, all utilized the square to drive or define their designs.
  
Top: Eames House Blocks by House Industries. Bottom row left: Twist Lamp. Middle: Rotational Paintings by Studio for A.R.T. and Architecture. Right: BuzziFloor by BuzziSpace.
But here’s why we think the square tops the hex when it comes to modular design: the square is just a lot more artistically friendly than the hex. Its simpler, purer geometry makes it more fluid, flexible and versatile when it comes to combining multiple units. Having only right angles between sides means we’re not forced into accommodating sharply angled or ragged edges at the perimeter, nor are we necessarily dealing with irrational numbers when dimensioning among modular clusters. With its centralized forms and repetitive dimensions the square is a potentially very restful figure, whereas the hexagon seems to defy resolute closure and stasis by virtue of its open faces. And the square generates a perfect three-dimensional volume in the form of a cube, whereas the hex cannot.
  
  
Top row left: Cella by Naef. Middle: Modulon by Naef. Right: Modular Candlesticks by Shlomi Schillinger. Second row: Nolastar wallscreen. Third row: Optics Cubes by Kartell. Bottom row, left: WayBasics storage cubes. Middle: BuzziCubes 3D by BuzziSpace. Right: Modular hanging sculpture by Studio for A.R.T. and Architecture.
Not surprisingly then, among the designs and artwork we’ve gathered at our popup gallery the square and cube are the most popular forms to be found. Some of the pieces even define themselves according to their geometric identity by incorporating the terms into their names (Kubes, for example). Examples run the gamut from children’s blocks to artwork, from wall screens to storage bins. The concept behind the Vitruvian Man clearly lives on millennia after it was first articulated. In fact, with so many attractive, contemporary designs deriving their beauty from these singular shapes, perhaps it’s time to stand the world on its head and declare that if you want your work to be hip, be square.
  
Top: Modular picture frames by GrowFrame. Center row, left: Cuboro marble run. Middle: Kube storage bins by P’kolino. Right: Travel Menorah by Laura Cowen. Bottom: PaperForms wall paneling by MIO.
September 14th, 2010
Not long ago, we were in conversation with a well-known real estate developer about our involvement in a potential project. At one point in the conversation the developer – known for his support of the arts – asked us about our motivations for being involved in the project. “So, do you want to do good? Or do you want to make money?” he quizzed us. To which we quickly replied “We want to make good money.”
The wittiness of our our quip aside, this exchange highlights a long-held perception in popular culture about business, namely, that it is by its own nature in direct conflict with the good. For the many people who have never seen the inside of a boardroom, the world of business would seem attract the worst sort of human characters, starting with the Borgias and ending with Gordon Gecko (leaving the not yet released Wall Street 2 aside). Of course, the reckless greed rampant among today’s bankers that we have all read about in the accounts of the Great Recession only reinforces this caricature.
Perhaps one of the most heartening characteristics of the post-boomer generation of entrepreneurs is its innate disposition towards marrying commerce with social good. Over the years this impulse has evolved from the charming benevolence we used to associate with youthful naiveté and lip service to a very real and very effective way of doing business. Should this trend continue there is a good possibility that the pervasive image of highly successful for-profit ventures being largely run by amoral cads fueled by personal gain will be substantially revised.
  
  
The company MIO is but one example of this welcome development. Founded in 2001 in Philadelphia USA by the brothers Salm (Isaac, the numbers guy and Jaime, the design guy, as they succinctly describe themselves), the design products company offers wallpaper, lighting, seating, shelving and storage, tables and accessories. We were initially drawn to Mio because they feature several modular products, including wall screens and wallpapers. But it was in reading the company profile on their website that we were really struck by the new spirit of entrepreneurship that is rising around us.
 “MIO was founded,” the brothers Salm write, “with the objective of combining business rigor with environmentally and socially progressive design.” Right there we have a clear renunciation of the perceived dichotomy of doing good and doing well. “All of our products use materials that can be easily recycled with existing infrastructures, fit into closed loop manufacturing systems available today or fit seamlessly with natural ecosystems.” The familiar but nonetheless welcome commitment to sustainable design – only they truly implement it in their products. “We make customers participants in the lifecycle of designs through information and technology.” Optimism in the promise of what our age can offer. And finally, “Since our founding in 2001 we have encouraged our customers to grow into a greener, healthier, happier and more profitable future. Our design focuses on the needs of people today and aims towards the technologically advanced and responsible product experiences of tomorrow.” It’s hard to imagine a more welcome and sincere set of statements of what business can and should do. It seems all we need are the right people in charge.
References
MIO
September 3rd, 2010
  
A sampling of modular paintings by Roy Lichtenstein (gridded arrangement by us).
Roy Lichtenstein is an artist widely known for paintings whose form and content are derived from comic book illustration. So it comes as quite a pleasant surprise to us to discover that his oeuvre includes a series of ten canvases and additional preparatory drawings based on a modular theme.
Lichtenstein executed the bulk of these works in 1969. Nine of the ten works were composed of four identical panels arranged in a grid; a single canvas, done in 1968, contains nine panels in a similar arrangement. All but two are square in overall proportion, since the individual panels in them are themselves square. All of the finished works are rather large in scale, measuring somewhere between eight and ten feet in either direction.
We find these pieces compelling on a number of fronts. From an historical perspective, it’s refreshing to see an artist ‘crossing over’ from one current stylistic genre to another, in Lichtenstein’s case, from the figurative Pop school to the abstract Minimalist one. This fluidity underscores one problem we have with art historical labels – they tend to pigeonhole people into categories under the assumption that one must be a hedgehog and not a fox when it comes to artistic production (the hedgehog knows one thing really well, the fox knows a bunch of things but none as well as the hedgehog). It’s particularly curious that we laud the idea of pluralism when applied to art and design as a whole, but seem less ready to embrace stylistic diversity when it comes to defining individual artists.
Then again, if one digs deep enough one might find some thematic connections in Lichtenstein’s paintings that tie the two seemingly opposite schools together. For instance, like other Pop artists Lichtenstein took inspiration from the mechanical processes of commercial illustration. Modularity and minimalism have a similar affinity for industrial character, but emphasize its abstract qualities rather than try to bring it into an overtly humanized framework. Lichtenstein seems to want to bridge the gap by using repetitive and abstract forms, but then endowing them with rich, sensuous colors and patterns for the purpose of inducing visual pleasure in the eye of the viewer.
  
Of course, people like Frank Sella, Ellsworth Kelly and Kenneth Noland had been generously applying color to their Minimalist canvases for some time when Lichtenstein produced his modular series. But Lichtenstein composes his panels with more visual complexity and contrast than his colleagues, many of whose works indicate a reductivist desire to simplify rather than amplify. In one sense, he was taking modular painting in the only direction it could go, if we consider Rauschenberg’s White Painting series of 1951 as the grand-daddy of the multi-panel modular work of art. Devoid of color or content, Rauschenberg’s paintings are the obvious antecedent to and a point of departure for all the modular canvases that came after them.
One quality which the modular pieces we’ve cited so far have in common is a lack of mobility. In other words, all of them are fixed works of art, unchanging and untouchable in their finished state. Other artists, like one of our favorites, Charlotte Posenenske, had already associated modularity with changeability, but she was among the few to incorporate this understanding into her work. Another was Norman Carlberg, a modular artist and sculptor who we will talk about in an upcoming post. Until then, you’ll just have to ponder the possibilities.
References:
The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Website contains an excellent online illustrated catalogue raisonné of the artist’s works, including the modular series
Charlotte Posenenske
August 24th, 2010
Oh brother, are you in hot water! Symetrics: the Dornbracht modular bath sysem.
As long-time aficionades of modular design, we might have finally found our Shangri-La, our Holy Land, our Nirvana – and lo, it is a bathroom. Yes, a bathroom, or more precisely, a line of bathroom fixtures and fittings based on a modular grid designed by the German company Dornbracht. Or more precisely still, a design system for planning, constructing and fitting out a bathroom, which the company has dubbed Symetrics.
Among the many intriguing aspects of the Symetrics initiative is that we have a rare occurrence of a manufacturer advancing a series of products linked not just by a few common details or surface characteristics, but by a larger context of formal relationships that guide the placement of the products in their setting. The glue that binds the various products together, of course, is the grid – an underlying vertical and horizontal mesh of 60 millimeter square cells in which can be fit any of the Symetric products.
  
In a languorous music-backed video on their website (link is below), a narrator tells us that the unifying effect of the Symetrics system concentrates the design focus “on the room as a whole, as opposed to the individual fittings”. Presumably our minds derive greater emotive pleasure when disparate things hold together by means of common measures and orientations than when they are randomly sized and capriciously oriented to each other. At least, that is the position of the rationalist school of design, to which not everyone necessarily subscribes.
At the end of the video Dornbracht’s tagline appears: “The Spirit of Water”, it says. On seeing this we were rather struck by the inherent contrast between the crisp, geometrically pure and eternally fixed square geometries that underlie the Symetrics system and the unpredictably fluid contours of water. At first we thought that the Dornbracht people were vulnerable to charges of being inconsistent in their philosophy and approach (or at least, in their tagline). But then we recalled the iconic image of the Vitruvian man, an ancient Roman icon that embodies the possibilities of reconciling organic nature and abstract geometry, the curvilinear and the rectilinear, the eternal and the ephemeral. So maybe the Dornbracht people have it completely right, in which case we may truly have found Nirvana after all.
References:
Dornbracht Symetrics Bathroom Fixtures, Fittings and Planning System
Dornbracht Symetrics Video
July 22nd, 2010
We are very fond of these modular storage cubes (and larger cousins), for several reasons. First, their shape – the cube is one of those Platonic solids that the ancient Greek philosophers believed represented the atomic units from which all physical matter derived. We might no longer believe in such theories, but there remains something eternally appealing about this very elemental, cosmically pure geometry. And of course, at the root of the cube is the square, a favored shape for modular design by virtue of its direct application to grids (just glance at some of our own posts, like this one and this one).
The formal simplicity of this product is nicely mirrored in its straightforward construction and means of assembly — no tools, simply a strong eco-friendly adhesive to hold it together (wow, that must be seriously sticky). And just when you think things might be veering toward the formally ascetic, their designers wrap them in colors and finishes that range from child-friendly playful to elegantly adult. The contrasting tone along the edges and back face add to the whimsy of the brighter versions.
Top and middle:Way Basics offers kits for a larger sized unit called the “Tribeca” as well as the standard cube size; both can be customized by varying either their interior sub-division or by grouping multiple units in different combinations. Bottom: buyers can take the possibilities of personalization a step further by mixing and matching individual components from different series as well as by adding their own touches in the form of adhesive decorations, casters, and whatever else they can imagine. The company has also added some neat accessories to its line, including hardware for spinning stacked cubes and tightly fitted storage baskets. Thankfully there are legal or moral limits to what one can do with all these options!
Speaking of eco-, these products are composed of zBoard, which is made from recycled paper and non-toxic materials, and which is available to others for use in their products. Way Basics has received a lot of recognition from green-minded organizations and reviewers for their approach to sustainable design. This doesn’t appear to be just a marketing ploy on the company’s part to bolster sales — they seem genuinely involved in pro bono activities to foster sustainability at large.
Oh, and then there’s the price point; at these numbers who can not like them?
Apparently very few, judging from the strongly positive reviews they’ve gotten on Amazon (not to mention the company’s website, but we’d kind of expect that!). We look forward to seeing some more pieces from this company in the future.
References:
Way Basics
zBoard
June 28th, 2010
Flor carpet tiles, Alexander Girard, designer. Girard is best known for his contributions to American textile design while working for the Herman Miller Company from 1952 to 1975.
Co-creative design hits bottom with modular carpet tiles from the company Flor. The concept is elegantly simple: users create customized area rugs and carpeting by joining together square carpet tiles in a design of their choice. Tiles come in a broad array of colors and patterns, so there’s a pretty wide range of expressive possibility available. In addition to the company’s own tile designs, there are a few collections from guest designers, including Martha Stewart, famed textile designer Alexander Girard and, yes, Walt Disney (or at least, his eponymous company). Hey, kids deserve nice floors too! (And if you surround them with beautiful things when they’re young, maybe they’ll grow up to make the world an even more beautiful place than we did.)
In case you’re wondering how the tiles stay together…well, we did too. Dots. Or more specifically, adhesive dots that are applied to the underside of adjacent tiles sticky face up. When placed on each tile they knit the whole into a pretty tight mesh that isn’t susceptible to movement any more than a conventional rug would be.
  
Most of the face fibers in the tiles are made from nylon, while others are composed of natural fibers like wool or PLA (polylactic acid, a natural derivative from corn). The backings are a vinyl composite, some of which are made from recycled materials. According to the company, the carpet tiles meet or exceed the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus standards for VOC emissions (Volatile Organic Compounds) and are recyclable.
Looking at this product we are inevitably drawn to make comparisons with the traditionally crafted textiles of bygone eras. At the highest reaches of artistic refinement are the great rugs of the Islamist cultures, marvels of intricate patterning and quality of weave. Right alongside them we can place the best wall tapestries from the Middle Ages and the later classic rugs from Aubusson and other European centers of production. One can only imagine the time and effort that went into these pieces, both in terms of their actual production and the years of learning that it took to develop the craft and train the craftsmen who did them.
  
The there’s Flor. In place of the strand-by-strand approach of traditional weaving we have pre-fabricated squares of material. Instead of specialized craftsmen we have a product design company teaming with non-specialist users to create pieces of aesthetic and practical value. Instead of great works of art accessible only to the very affluent, we have a widely distributed article of embellishment available to large numbers of people. Such are the consequences of economic and artistic democratization.
By the way, the concept of modular floor coverings goes back quite a ways, and is not confined to the western hemisphere. The Japanese placed straw mats on the floors of their dwellings for centuries. Known as tatami, their approximately three foot by six foot proportion corresponds to the outlines of a person lying down – an interesting contrast to the abstract square geometry of the Flor tiles. A whole tradition of how to lay out the tatami inside a room evolved over time; in some cases the size of the room was even determined by the arrangement of the mats. Much of the tatami tradition has now disappeared from common use, but maybe a little of its spirit continues in its modern incarnation at Flor.
Company website:
www.flor.com
References:
Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus
June 10th, 2010
Elimelech’s cubes are approximately 3 inches square on each face, which makes them perfectly scaled to the human hand.
Los Angeles artist Moshé Elimelech makes cubist art — only not the kind you’re probably thinking of. Elimelech’s pieces are constructed of a series of cubes nested in a gridded container mounted on a wall. Each cube is rendered on all six sides with a variety of solid colors and bold geometric figures. The cubes can be removed from their cells and rotated to present any face to the viewer. By manipulating the choice of visible surfaces the artist or co-creator can generate a nearly infinite number of graphic compositions, either deliberately or by chance rotations.
Elimelech’s work reminds us how rare it is for artists to invite the viewer to actually touch the art they’ve made. We’re usually warned by signs or sternly faced museum guards not to do any such thing, which is understandable since most pieces are not constructed with that possibility in mind (not to mention the need to protect them against theft). On the other hand, that persistent distancing between us and the art makes our experience of it too uniformly passive for an interactive and energetic culture such as ours. It also reinforces the perception of the art object as something endowed with a sacred aura to be venerated, rather than as an agent of material beauty and sensuous delight to be enjoyed.
Exhibiting steadily since the 1980s, Elimelech shows primarily in California galleries, and has work represented in several museum design stores as well.
     
“Cubic Constructions” by Moshé Elimelech. Though they may look like independent and distinct works, the various compositions in each image derive from a single assortment of cubes. It’s often surprising how such a broad range of formal diversity can be generated from a finite set of modular components.
From the artist’s website:
“Expressing his fascination of the nature of duality, artist Moshé Elimelech has created a unique series of three-dimensional abstract cubic constructions that invite the viewer to reinterpret each piece. Putting into play his notion of opposing forces has yielded works that are fixed yet mutable, precise but free-flowing, analytical yet imaginative, singular in essence and at the same time open to reinterpretation.”
Videos showing the interactive process of Elimelech’s “Cubic Constructions”:
http://www.mosheart.com/movie/index.html
Artist’s website:
http://www.mosheart.com/
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Mission Henry Ford, move over – the era of mass production has come to a close! Personalization is the name of the game now. People want a role in shaping the physical world around them to suit their individual needs, tastes and resources; to satisfy that goal they're looking for works of art and design that are reconfigurable, interactive and scalable. This blog explores how creatives are responding to the quest for customization, as well as the impact customization is having on the creative disciplines themselves.
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