Dezeen podcasts: Dezeen has teamed up with the Design Museum in London to create a series of podcasts about their current and forthcoming exhibitions. In this first episode Sam Hecht and Kim Colin (below) of Industrial Facility talk to Design Museum curator Gemma Curtain about Some Recent Projects and Under a Fiver, an exhibition of their work at the museum until 7 September 2008.
Some Recent Projects includes the most recent work from the London-based design studio, while Under a Fiver is a selection of objects collected by Hecht from around the world, each costing less than five pounds (below).
Here's some information about the exhibition from the Design Museum:
INDUSTRIAL FACILITY - SOME RECENT PROJECTS 9 May 2008 – 7 September 2008
Industrial Facility is a London-based design office formed by designer Sam Hecht and architect Kim Colin. With designer Ippei Matsumoto, it has established itself as a significant design office of mass-produced goods. Industrial Facility takes pleasure in the anonymity of everyday items and applies intellectual rigour, high design values and vision to the most mundane of products such as coffee makers, stationary and kitchen utensils.
This exhibition is an opportunity to see some of Industrial Facility’s recent and current projects, and aims to reveal the design motives and functional workings of the practice. Although based in London, they have designed almost entirely for foreign markets, with little of their projects being seen or consumed in the UK. Above: Picturemate printer for Epson Japan.
Recent commissions include work for Herman Miller, Established & Sons, and Yamaha. As Creative Advisors to Muji, the practice has designed over 50 items for the Japanese retailer, ranging from furniture to apparel to electronics to food, creating inspiring solutions to everyday commodities. Several of the newest projects will be on view in the exhibition.
Running in parallel to the exhibition is a selection of almost one hundred items Sam Hecht has amassed over the last fifteen years that cost ‘Under a Fiver’. Drawn from all over the world, the items display everything from astonishing kitsch to the purity of functionalism. Each object tells a story about contemporary culture, about the nature of manufacture and marketing, and about the way we see and use things. Above: Enchord table for Herman Miller (see our previous story).
Its role in Industrial Facility’s office is to inform the work and to allow an acute understanding of local rather than global consumption. These items are not mere souvenirs, there are no famous names behind them, no manuals required to operate them and their cost is of no relevance to their function. Above: coffee maker for Muji japan. Below: a selection of objects from Under a Fiver
