Exhibition can be visited at Mittelweg 50, 12053, Berlin For more information please email,  info@agoracollective.org

Text by curators,

Recontextualizing the past is a recurring path in design. In Berlin, this phenomenon in which new forms retain elements from the past is nowadays not just a visual language, but a state of mind that promotes alternative ways of appreciating objects.

With this as our main point of of inspiration, we initiated REFOUND an exhibition that features pieces from now and yore ceating dialogues between them. Stemming from the idea that each piece of furniture will at some point in time have a story to tell, we are trying to bring forth an emotional response between the pieces exhibited and the visitors. We intend to bridge with this endeavor the chronological gap between the old and the new in terms of aesthetic values, production processes and emotional connections.

REFOUND is the first exhibition PLATform, which started out as an initiative of Agora to showcase design objects in unconventional ways. This will continually, be developped through our themed showcase exhibitions. each event takes inspiration from research and reflects different manifestations happening in our society today. We are interested in showing the different aspects of design such as materials, aesthetics and cultural background from a more personal perspective. Diverse communication tools, such as a blog, and online shop, allow us to present the people behind their objects, their inspirations and their worlds.

List of participating Designers:

Jan Bernstein, Rakso Naibaf, Tom Kühne, BoomWehmeyer /Judith Van den Boom, Mokkatanten, Lütz Hüning, Super Équipe, Kippis design, FriedrichsLust, Katrin Sonnleitner, Ines Königsmann, Hulger, Sylvia Knüppel, a and ré design, Kraud, Adam+Harborth, Tobias Juretzek, Daniel Juric, Not a wooden Spoon, Tobias Juretzek, Daniel Juric, Annett Gebert and more

1. Naam van het object/groep objecten.
   Cradle objecten / unika van functionele vormen die plantaardig materiaal kunnen vast zetten.  Waarschijnlijk 1 tot 3 objecten
   Context
   Sinds 2005 werken we in Jingdezhen, de porselein stad van China. Naar aanleiding van werk met de Porseleyne Fles in Delft  in 2004, zijn de bij de wortels van blauw en porselein terecht gekomen en niet meer vertrokken. In de afgelopen jaren zijn we ieder jaar hier voor een langere periode, soms voor experiment en samenwerking en ook vaak voor het realiseren van projecten. In 2009 hadden we onze studio in Shanghai maar zijn ons nu bewust een brug aan het leggen tussen China en Nederland door vanuit onze wortels in nederland/duitsland te werken.  De relaties die we hier door de jaren hebben opgebouwd met makers, studenten, academies en studios zijn cruciaal geworden in de conversatie over de ontwikkeling en design positienering binnen culturen en het leren begrijpen van elkaars ‘values & needs’ in hoe we leven.

   De ervaringen die we in de afgelopen jaren buiten Nederland hebben ontwikkelt plante we terug in de generatie van design thuis en dit is een van de redenen dat we het werk in de academie ook als natuurlijk balans zie tussen ‘Thinking & Making’.  Die brug tussen academie werk en werk in de ‘real world ‘ is de juiste conversatie om grenzen te verleggen, niet alleen de onze maar juist ook die van de design generatie van morgen. Als ontwerper kan mensen inspireren, niet alleen door het gebruik van je fysieke werk maar juist door je perspectieven en denkwijze te delen met anderen. Een idee heb je makkelijk alleen maar dingen realiseren in samenwerking kan vele nieuwe facetten ontwikkelen. Vandaar ook het programma Made.Create.Cradle. en we hopen dat een klein object in de Hard Arnhem expositie een bijdrage kan zijn aan het verder delen met anderen..
2. Materiaal (glas, kleisoort, etc.).
   white gold / super-white porselein, transparant glazuur en mogelijke goud luster detaillering.
3. Wijze waarop het is gemaakt.
   Structuur opbouw van porselein resten van lokale porselein arbeiders op schotel vormen (eigen ontwerp) Tijdens het ‘trimmen’ van porselein blijft veel rauw porselein over wat niet word hergebruikt dit inspireerde het gebruik voor het maken van experiment unica voor HardArnhem om het project Made.Create.Cradle te verbinden. Het werk word als puzzel met de hand opgebouwd en krijgt een totaal glazuur om zich tijdens de stook te versmelten.
4. Jaar waarin het is gemaaktWerk in ontwikkeling > 2012
5. Startprijs (is minimum, inclusief BTW) waarvoor het object wordt aangeboden op de veiling.
   Startprijs voor de veiling is 200,- Euro, het is van belang te weten dat het geld voor dit object gaat in het nieuwe design-educatie programma Made.Create.Cradle dat wij op dit moment aan het opbouwen zijn in de porselein stad Jingdezhen in China.
   Het geld word gebruikt als injectie op de design workshops in dit programma de realiseren. De koper word, wanneer interesse heeft, ook betrokken bij onderdelen in dit project.
   Het programma Made.Create.Cradle. is opgezet voor de jonge design generatie in China, met name Jingdezhen en waar sinds de laatste jaren een notie van design ontwikkeld maar er geen directe educatie is rondom design.  Dit programma is op het moment in ontwikkeling en zal in de komende weken online staan met interviews en programma, ondertussen werken wij hier samen om dit programma en platform de realiseren. Later in 2012 zullen we terug zijn in Jingdezhen voor de eerste serie workshops waar basis stappen zoals leren brainstormen en design-maker identiteit ontwikkelen door verschillende thema’s.
   
   
   
   
   We hopen in de nabije toekomst dit ook met Arnhemse academie studenten en jonge professionals te combineren die meewerken in onderdelen en zo voor de toekomst samenwerkingen kunnen opbouwen.
   
   
   Wij bouwen een Cradle project op waar we over een periode verschillende thinking-making designworkshops opzetten, jonge designers coachen, lezingen, uitwisseling en platform organiseren voor de hedendaagse start generatie waar we hier al aantal jaar mee werken. Made.Create.Cradle. is een design programma geïnitieerd door ons vanuit Jingdezhen met een brug functie naar Nederland (Arnhem). Dit programma is voorgekomen door onze samenwerking met jonge en oude makers in Jingdezhen in de laatste 7 jaar. Wij hebben skills, discussie en samenwerking lokaal gedeeld met de opkomende design-maker generatie in Jingdezhen en zijn snel veranderende porselein context in de stad en omgeving. De visuele snelle veranderingen in deze stad, zoals verloren productie van oude fabrieken, lieten ons juist de verborgen vragen zien die ten grondslag liggen in dit project.
   
   
   „How is the creative generation of designers-makers shaping in China and can we change perspectives from Made to Cradle, a place where there is time and experiment to grow quality through creative (design) thinking and making ? “
   
   
    „What seeds to we need to plant into a creative landscape for local designer-makers to learn to slow grow and position themselves, to deal with their context and designing personal work that makes a difference in their locality ?“
   
   
   find out more about the other participants at http://hardarnhems.blogspot.com/

It takes a daily practice of exploring to learn about the material potential and our work identity. To find and challenge our ways of thinking and making, we have to inform, inspire and set out journeys that make us work with the roots of the material and ourselves. What questions can you ask regarding the material and yourself to create a practice driven by the character of things, one that unfolds your own perspectives !

If you are in the area feel free to stop by and contact us for more information. We hope you all have a great weekend and look forward meeting you again !

It’s been very rewarding to come back to a place we feel very connected to and discover every return new essences of what designing relations can be. The coming weeks we will be based in Jingdezhen and partially Shanghai, when you like to connect or meet us please get in touch !

BoomWehmeyer took part as a “mobile jelly”, we have been on the road last week with different client meetings, presentations and talks in the Netherlands and during that time connected to different other jellies via Videochat, Facebook and exchange of thoughts and strategies.

Being neither a co-working space nor working in one we still seeing interesting chances for our practice to use co-working as a tool for our projects, services and strategies. We dont necessarily need a community, but seeing our connections (both locally and globally) as our testbed for collaboration. In that regard we are seeing the Jellyweek as a perfect experimental platform to work beyond co-working only and we are curious what will happen with this movement in the next years!

Our experiences of the collaboration factor throughout the week was interesting. A few days before the week started Gunter to engage with Paula Walker from Dresden/Germany in an effort to test how a one-week partnership between two jellies would work. Soon a common theme was found to help interesting jellies with questions and challenges about the intersection between design and science.

Although being enthousiastic about possible spinoffs from that connection i also experienced setbacks mostly due to technology and social media. It is just not that easy to keep an overview over hundreds of Etherpads, several Facebook groups and Google Hangouts. In the end its always about personal connections and networking…and i assume that also other jelly-partnerships made the same observations…

So how would we sum up our experiences during jellyweek 2012?!

- I think this week was a very promising start and testbed for a new platform of collaboration. A way to be engaged very much locally, but using different social media services to connect (later also collaborate) globally.

- we need easier ways to interact and connect, less is more and facebook doesnt help either. A next step could be summing up all the different assets, personalities and stakeholders interested and involved to work on a Jellyweb – a platform making local connections visible on a global scale.

- we need to use the momentum we created so far to filter out what we/they/us really want. What are the deeper goals for individuals, spaces and cooperations?!

- last but not least we are curious how other people globally are working on similar projects defining new ways of working and designing. The next weeks will be crucial to deepen the contacts and looking for common grounds for shared projects and new strategies! Thanks for having been part of Jellyweek 2012!

How can you, as future designer, create a design practice that engages in a relational well-being that inspires change through design/craftsmanship ? Designing to make a difference for others.This class series will be a journey to search for the meaning of making design for the world around you and explore your future practice be researching your perceptions, aspirations and surroundings. This semester will showcase your experimental thinking around this theme, by personal research on your own person and the meaning of your future practice and the design and ideation of objects that communicates this.

We look forward to unwrap the coming  months and see what kind of personal thinking and exploration will be shared by design..

Cologne Fine Arts 2011

This november you can view our work at the presentation of gallery Karena Schuessler at the Cologne Fine Arts fair. The gallery will present the work of artists such as Kwangho Lee, Bas van Raay and others. A part of our collection Porcelain Topographies with stools and benches will be on show here.

The Cologne Fine Art and Antiques fair is a bridge that links the past with the here and now. With its range of ancient art, modern art and applied art and design, the traditional trade fair is unique to Germany: a crossover of styles and eras, with works of the highest quality. You can visit the show from 16 to 20 november. Look forward seeing you there! Greetings, BoomWehmeyer

Already the day before the mixed group of students (fashion, products, graphics and design management) had their first presentation to the client (Butterfly Works) in Amsterdam to show off their first ideas for two different cases. Its a perfect frame to use co-creation and co-design methods with a realtime project and learning face-to-client what it needs and makes to step beyond simple products only and envisioning new ways of designing.

How much space do you have when you work with a client? Can we influence them with ideas and questions which they dont see? is it possible to change their way of how they see their projects?

Its a lot of new things design students are confronted these days: Not only the era of ego-designers is over, but even more they see the need to speak new languages, understanding their new role. Its not anymore products against philosophical understanding. Its about influencing different stakeholders, the need and natural requirement to work sustainable and the urgency to co-design for better solutions.

Its a challenge: understanding this new paradigm and taking up their new role and expanding their own space!