More creativity and better quality on offer at the European fabric fairs for autumn/winter 2009/10, according to Textiles Intelligence
The European fabric fairs for the autumn/winter 2009/10 season were held in September 2008—a month when the threat of economic recession had already cast its shadow. Nonetheless, participation in the events was better than many of the organisers had feared, and many exhibitors have reported that good business was done.
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Team Malaysia Continues to Shine
More Conferences Coming to Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur, 2 Apr 2008 – “Team Malaysia”, comprising the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre), Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL), continues to prove a dynamic partnership in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. Working closely with local associations, the team’s efforts in promoting the country, Malaysia, the city, Kuala Lumpur and its infrastructure, and in turn, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, were successful in winning five new conferences.
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Young designers:
from newcomer to star
International fairs: platforms for creative specialists from all over the world
Many young, up-and-coming designers dream about making a great career or receiving awards, such as the German Product Design Prize and the Italian Compasso d'Oro. However, young people wanting to join the ranks of the world's elite designers must firstly draw attention to themselves. |
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In times of economic difficulty, it is not easy for industrial or product designers to find a permanent job or to set up and make a success of their own agency. And all the more so if they are absolute newcomers who have yet to make a name for themselves. If young designers want to present their products, many companies either reject them with no further ado or keep putting off the appointment.
Therefore, international trade fairs such as Tendence Lifestyle with 'talents', the forum for young designers ('Modern Living' Lifestyle World, Hall 6.1, 22 to 26 August), are ideal places to capture the attention of foreign and domestic companies or to see who belongs to potential target groups. Almost nowhere else in the world will they find so many industrial manufacturers, dealers and buyers from big companies together at the same time and place. Here, discussions with potential business partners take place in a casual and relaxed way.
Product designer Gerd Schwarz experienced for himself how useful a visit to the world's biggest consumer-goods fair in the autumn can be: "The fair in Frankfurt was a heaven-sent opportunity because I had been looking for a manufacturer and a channel of distribution for my products for a long time." His 'elements' – surfaces of different height that can be used alone or in combination with each other as tables, benches or display units – immediately aroused the interest of sales expert Petra Lochbaum. At their first meeting, they reached agreement and then, in subsequent discussions, decided who should be responsible for packing and delivering the products, how much the individual elements would cost and many other questions of detail. Production began at the end of last year. Today, Schwarz's customers also include two galleries while a well-known mail-order company is interested in the products.
Universities also appreciate the advantages offered by trade fairs. They help young designers exhibit at the fair by bearing the costs of transportation and accommodation. One of the people active in this field is the architect, designer and professor, Volker Albus, who lectures at Karlsruhe Academy for Design, Product and Exhibition Design. For him, Tendence Lifestyle in Frankfurt is an important forum where his design students can gather experience for their future careers: "At fairs, it's up to them. The pressure is on them to show finished products. Things are different at a presentation in the university where people are somewhat more considerate with each other and they only have to deal with other designers." Textile designer Annette Wilhelmi, who uses felt to make unusual jewellery and bags, reached the same conclusion. In Frankfurt, she found out for the first time which of the many dealers are interested in her products. As she puts it, "At university, one learns everything about design, shapes and colour but almost nothing about marketing." Now she knows that her potential customers include not only gift boutiques but also proprietors of flower, book-binding and photographic shops. "Many specialist dealers simply want to offer their customers attractive accessories and are prepared to set up appropriate display cases", says Annette Wilhelmi explaining the interest of such dealers. Also important for her were the contacts and the chance to exchange ideas with designers from other countries, such as the young London-based designer Afroditi Krassa.
Born in Greece, the young designer stood out at Tendence thanks to her 'Floating Light', a luminaire, the lamp of which is encased in a helium balloon and suspended from a transparent nylon thread. The floating balloon keeps its promise for four weeks before it needs to be re-inflated. Also highly original is her 'rocking love seat' for courting couples, which is based on a typical piece of 18th century furniture. For Afroditi Krassa, the German design scene is very important: "Germany is Europe's biggest market for modern furniture." And that is yet another reason for the designer to return to Frankfurt for this year's Tendence Lifestyle and to see the products shown by young designers.
Germany and the other European markets are also of great interest to the American Adam Aardman, designer of luminaires, shelf units and tables. In Aardman's experience, he cannot produce his designs in Europe because large quantities are essential. Therefore, he uses Tendence Lifestyle to find local manufacturers. "Thanks to my participation in the autumn consumer-goods fairs in Frankfurt, I have made several contacts to galleries and furniture shops that are interested in my collection."
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2008 "Museums: agents of social change and development"
Ideas for Activities around the World, Day & Night, 24h/24, in the Real & in the Virtual Worlds!
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Tadao Ando. Complete Works
"In architecture, there is a part that is the result of logical reasoning and a part that is created through the senses. There is always a point where they clash. I don't think architecture can be created without that collision." - Tadao Ando
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Architecture + Technology Award 2006
European prize for architecture and technology
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'Wildlife treaty comes of age, CITES celebrates 30 years of achievement'
Thirty years ago, on 1 July 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) entered into force with a challenging mission: to bring under regulation the international trade in certain wild animal and plant species so that such trade does not threaten their survival.
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Global Week of Action on Trade
The biggest ever global mobilisation on trade
From 10-16 April 2005, more than 10 million people in 80 countries took part in the Global Week of Action on Trade. All were united in saying ‘trade justice not free trade’, and calling for no more liberalisation of vulnerable economies.
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‘DUBAI CUT’ Diamond Unveiled
The Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre (DMCC) today unveiled the ‘DUBAI CUT’ an exceptional new cut of diamond. The unique and exclusively patented cut of diamond has 99 facets, and is exclusively produced by Kristall Corporation, for DMCC.
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Fifth Annual Global Investors Workshop
June 26-30, 2006, Fontainebleau, France
The next generation of investment decision makers will gather in Fontainebleau, France, this summer — from Monday, 26 June to Friday, 30 June — for what has become an annual landmark in the international business calendar: the Global Investors Workshop.
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Kenkichi Fashion Night
Jan 22, 2006
Kenkichi Hiraki (25) will organise the 22nd of January in the 5 star Barbizon palace hotel in Amsterdam, the first edition of the Kenkichi Fashion Night. KFN will take place each 6 months. Every edition will bring a good cause to the light. This edition is all about KIKA (children cancer-free foundation). |
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José Manuel BARROSO
President of the European Commission
Building an open Europe in times of change
European Ideas Network
Lisbon, 22 September 2005
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The EU and China: painting a brighter future together
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Beijing, 15 July 2005
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New Dutch Design
Jul 2-Sep 18, 2005
Artist and designer Joost van Gorsel (1980) presents a summer of “Excess” at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, in which his designs with a fashion twist are brought to a higher level and shown at the upcoming exhibition of ‘Project Rotterdam’. |
Swarovski Art Calendar Edition 2003
Photographer Helmut Newton
Swarovski, the world's leading manufacturer of cut crystal, teams up with master photographer Helmut Newton to enter the year 2003. |
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