Above photo features the Maia armchair by Patricia Urquiola for Kettal
What makes an object useful, engaging and beautiful ?
What is it about a distinct design that conveys calm, wonder and excitement in the user and helps us recall a moment in time?
Artisphere and Apartment Zero have teamed up to present the Washington, DC International Design Festival, a free three-month long multi-disciplinary celebration of design, featuring the exhibition The Next Wave: Industrial Design Innovation in the 21st Century, curated and produced by Apartment Zero co-owner Douglas Burton.
The Next Wave is a 4,000 square foot exhibition exploring innovation in over 100 products – from Spain, Italy, Belgium, U.K., Scandinavia, United States, Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland among others. spanning the last 13 years.
Featuring one-offs, prototypes and pieces in production concentrating on the areas of eco-friendly design, functionality and minimalism, the conceptual and the avant-garde, over 100 objects will be on view, ranging from lighting, furniture, textile, and product, to electronics, housewares, tools and interactive design
The Next Wave allows the viewer to experience ongoing moments of engagement and enquiry between the creator and user and serves as a voice for objects that are provocative, rigorous and challenging—yet also beautiful.
Creating objects that are works of art in themselves, each project sparks a new dialogue, diffusing preconceived notions of design and art, beauty and function while still capturing the spirit of the times.
Beads and Pieces by Hella Jongerius for Artecnica
Everything we see, touch and use on a daily basis was designed by someone at some point in time.
It’s how we feel when we interact with these objects and their subsequent usefulness and problem-solving capabilities that make all the difference.
Do we use them often or put them away, invest in them or discard them, pass them along to the next generation or toss them into a landfill?
Only the most adept and able will survive.
That is what affirms their place in history and makes for a timeless design.
The Next Wave allows the viewer to experience objects that are works of art in themselves, each project sparking a new dialogue and diffusing preconceived notions of design versus art and beauty versus function, while still capturing the spirit of the times. An idea can be so simple that it is condensed and concentrated into its most basic parts.
The Washington, DC International Design Festival also features a series of free public programs including lectures, film, video and photo competition
* Juxtaposed: An Interactive Online Photo Contest with cash prizes:
* Who’s Hot, Whose Not: The Role of Women in Today’s Male Dominated Industrial Design Field.
* Design Is One: Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Film
* Oh Say Can’t You See: What Happened to American Design?
* Roberto Palomba: Italian Industrial Designer
The design symposiums will feature more than 20 panelists of critics, curators, product designers and writers who will share their unique voices on the subject of design and offer new ways of interpreting what we see and use on a daily basis.
1101 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA.
Until May 19th, 2013
