ÑU-RBAN SPACES: The Kitchen-Dom (featuring Big Chill).

This summer the message is clear: unite your senses in your kitchen, the center of the habitat,  the hub connecting  to urbanity. The kitchen Kingdom is the colony of an all inclusive space , liaising our activity with our energy management.  A place for fooding, relaxing,  leisuring and documenting the world- but also the headquarters of our environmental waste disposal (grey water) and therefore our energy footprint (ex. geothermal energy recommended use for electricity supply and ventilation). 

Ñu-rban (nju?/?/??b(?)n/) Spaces: The Kitchen-Dom revolves around a new perception of the Kingdom called kitchen, with a series of objects, tools, furniture and appliances that create a fresh approach to the room’s interactivity with the individual and the outer world. The final image is attractive, welcoming and very distant to the morose feeling of a place due to cooking only. It is a universal living interior ready to serve a family in Osaka, a young professional in Madrid, a company’s team in Indianapolis, a retired couple in Athens or Krakow. Take a mind tour through  the artefacts, the design objects and the electrical appliances (inspiringly smart, ergonomic and reliable stoves and fridges by Big Chill and its Retro colour scheme), carefully chosen  to accommodate the needs of the urbanistas of the 21st century. It’s a 6m by 4m space, (with a small 1.5m x 1.5m balcony): your future kitchen. (Note: 1 meter= 3.28 feet). 

Follow the numbers in the picture bellow, to discover the A4D-D4A selection, (plus sources): 

Refrigerator and stove ( the latter available in Natural Gas NG or Propane LP) by Big Chill: 

*  https://bigchill.com/shop/refrigerators/retropolitan-big-chill-refrigerator  
   (in turquoise)


*   https://bigchill.com/shop/stoves/retro-stove-30-inch   (in turquoise)

Check Big Chill retro colour palette on:

 https://bigchill.com/shop/swatches/retro-swatch/#  

1.White tiles, vintage marble sink and grey water Hughie kitchen sink (respectively):

http://www.ceramicasantagostino.it/en/collezione/74

http://www.vemat.gr/projects_det.asp?project_id=12#!prettyPhoto[gallery]/11

http://www.hughiesink.com

2.  “Whale” wall bottle opener, AFAM, NY: 

http://shop.folkartmuseum.org/products/ship-bottle-opener 

3.  Iosif light by MiloDaMalo for Artemide: 

http://www.artemide.com/prodotti/scheda-architectural.action?data.catalogoId=0&idSubfamily=1773930

4. Pleat-Box pendant lamp by Xavier Maňosa & Mashalla for Marset: 

http://www.marset.com/en/lamps/pleat-box-suspension 

5. Alseda outdoor stool, banana fiber: 

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20033919 

6. Felt Two clock by Sebastian Herkner for Leff Amsterdam: 

http://leffamsterdam.com/product-category/felttwo-us/?lang=us 

7. Aura island ventilation hood: 

http://www.mieleusa.com/domestic/hoods-2484.htm?mat=09545730&name=DA_7000_D_Aura_AM

8.  Ceramic vase by Beatrice Wood: 

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/decorative-objects/vases-vessels/vases/beatricewood-foamy-blue-lava-vase/id-f_1201526 

9. Biography, ”I shock myself” by Beatrice Wood: 

http://www.beatricewood.com/gift_shop/book_i_shock_myself.html 

10. Beoplay 2  wireless speaker by Bang & Olufsen: 

http://www.beoplay.com/landingpages/collection#A2grey

11. Remo plastic chair in white by Konstantin Grcic for Plank: 

http://www.plank.it/product/remo-plastic-chair

12.  Pole table by Sebastian Herkner for Morgen Collection: 

http://www.sebastianherkner.com/index.php?article_id=345  

http://www.archiproducts.com/de/produkte/255036/pole-table-rechteckiger-tisch-ausholz-pole-table-tisch-morgen-interiors.html 

13. AVITAR yoga stool by Rebecca Schonherr (for the “SETZ DICH MAL  ANDERS” project, by the students of the Fakultat  Angewandte  Kunst in Schneeberg):  

http://www.sitzperspektive.com/#!bodensitze/bqy33 
  
14. Tatami mats in stone, yellow and indigo: 

http://nanimarquina.com/design-rug/tatami-natural/200:300: 

http://nanimarquina.com/design-rug/tatami-yellow/170:240: 

http://nanimarquina.com/design-rug/tatami-indigo/170:240:

Have fun 2 the max! 
A4D-D4A?-))    

ENLARGED VERSION OF THE PICTURE ABOVE FOR PARTIALLY-SIGHTED READERS:

A4D-D4A 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY (THANK YOY ALL):-)))

A4D-D4A completed a two-year life duration. I wish to thank all the PEOPLE - readers, interviewees, companies, studios, trade organisations and institutions - from Europe, Asia, US, India and the UK (the list is long;-)) - for their SUPPORT and their encouragement. 

This blog started as a depository archive of my seminars workload, in order to support my students but soon through passion, faith and perseverance - turned to an almost full-time job. One last thing I would like to express, along with my gratitude- is that a blog is nothing else but CONTENT. 

Truth, eclecticism and relevance is what made this small, independent design gazette a secure, quality read for the design savvy and the design interested - away from frivolous yet glossy aesthetics.

With the promise to continue the effort with all my heart and means. 

Warm regards and salutations. 

Kat Mourginaki, ‪#‎Editor‬-in Chief, A4D-D4A

Some (summer) Notes on Exhibition design OR Design and Exhibitions.

Picture above : A compilation of the following two images:  

On the left half, Ole Worm’s Cabinet of curiosities (Cabinet de curiosités): the frontispiece in the book of Musei Wormiani Historia. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Musei_Wormiani_Historia.jpg

On the right half: Interior, panoramic view of the Schaudepot, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany. 
https://www.facebook.com/VitraDesignMuseum.Weil/

With the opportunity of the recent discussion at the Vitra Design Museum on the 30th of June 2016, regarding the inauguration of the Schaudepot annex -a new building designed by the Basel -based architects Herzog & de Meuron, to host the museum’s  renown collection of various design objects and furniture -a fascinating, new agenda is emerged. 
Designmuseum 2.0 – The Rennaissance of Collections was realized with the contributions of Martin Roth, Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Director of the Austrian Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna -both successful in attracting millions of visitors to their outstanding international collections. Together with the Director of the Vitra Design Museum, Mateo Kries, they discussed how their collections are helping them to reinvent the design museum for the twenty-first century.

Many developments in the sector were brought to light, starting with a key-term, mentioned a few times, since it was one of the inspirational points for Vitra’s new venture, the Schaudepot: museum & collections 100% openness to the visitor/user. The education -science -technology triathlon is there not as a separate entity, but it is implemented as part of the collections’ communication process. The ultra-dynamic network of co-operations and synergies that every large, design cultural institution is establishing -gets real through a holistic strategy of multi-implementation of institutions, factors and local services in the community (“global goes local/ local goes local”). 

We are talking about design, therefore also  aesthetics, making, production, commerce, economy and work. The need to understand how we will produce in the future is a part of the design museum narrative in the following years. In a digital society, curating is not ONE specific profession of a so-called specialist per se, but it will depend a lot on the future ability to illustrate the collections on a digital platform, suitable to fully communicate their significance to the public. A curator masters many disciplines or he/she can come from various disciplines as a background as long as he /she can fulfill that task. A design museum is not a trade fair as it is not an elitist niche, reserved to a selected part of the society or to the design field professionals. The elements of creativity, fun, euphoria are fundamental to the success and sustainability of the museum space -provided the collections’ high conservational and logistical costs, two areas that also rapidly evolve. The spirit of Renaissance spreads throughout the design museum so it becomes a joyful, interesting and useful experience. 

Check all futher details of the discussion, (produced and published in german) on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/VitraDesignMuseum

…“ Better than promoting  the Feast of Music (FR: Fête  de la Musique) and the Museum Nights, should n’t we ought to create one night without, lights, facades and signs- one night when the city( Paris) would be in a total black-out…just to remind its inhabitants once in a while, that the sky still exists upon their heads and that they can like Dante, escape Inferno?”…(La nuit des étoiles, Été, JOURNAL ATRABILAIRE, p.187, by Jean Clair, L’un et L’autre, Gallimard). 

Warm regards 
A4D-D4A?-))