As already indicated in the press release on Refin’s website, the forthcoming trade-fairs, 100% Design London and Cersaie will see the launch of a new collection designed by Karim Rashid: R+Evolution. A ceramic series with the unmistakable “Karim-look”, extra-colourful and extra-modern wall cladding for extra-cool interiors.

Let’s start previewing the collection with this minimal-chic bathroom, divided into two inter-connected areas. All ceramics are in 30×90 cm size.

One of main attractions of last year’s Fuorisalone surely was “Kasa Digitalia”, the setting designed by Karim Rahid (a favourite of DTS) for Abet Laminati at the Triennale. An explosion of unusual shapes and colours, in keeping with the style of the Egypitian-American designer, who, without a doubt, is one of the most major trend-setters in modern-day aesthetics in the world. We have taken a look at some of the photos taken during our visit, and have the following thoughts.

This work was designed to have a completely laminated surface, traditionally a more economical solution to a lacquered or ceramic finish, but that thanks to its characteristics of light and un-broken surfaces, can result in very aesthetically pleasing and out of the ordinary finishes. Even for those artists who do work with other materials, the challenge set down by Rashid does not pass un-noticed: in fact, often we are part of “irreverent games” which have the aesthetic finish of a ceramic tile, such as joints and reflections.

One innovative point to remember, therefore, which is, at the same time, urging us to understand the real “quid” of ceramics, that is to say, its elevated and, in certain aspects, its unparalleled complex touch and shine.

Tomorrow, will see, in Rotterdam, the opening of 100% Design, one of the most important design trade-fairs in Europe, a trade-fair at which we will be present with a stand displaying Refin’s new collections along with DesignTaleStudio ceramic projects.

Last year, the protagonist of the event was Michele De Lucchi, while, this year, the chief attraction will be the totem designed by Karim Rashid for the Fuorisalone 2007: six 60×120 cm ceramic slabs, the epitome of the “Karim-style”.

Why Rashid? As you will see in the next few weeks, this choice is not by chance…

In the previous posts, we revealed the “new” guests of Design On Stage Trascreativity for this year: Alessandro Mendini, Vivienne Westwood, Mario Bellini and Krizia. With them, we will see two protagonists of the 2007 edition return: Elio Fiorucci and Karim Rashid. Moreover, Claudio Porcarelli will be present, also this year, as official photographer of the event.

Elio Fiorucci is an aficionado of DesignTaleStudio events, in fact he took part to Design On Stage 2007 and to Grand Design Tour last autumn in Bologna. As last year, Fiorucci will be present at the inauguration on Wednesday 16.

As you can see in the video, last year Karim Rashid had a mind-blowing effect on our event at the Triennale, and w e expect the same from him again this year. Rashid will be present on Friday 18 at 7.00 p.m.

Also this year, Claudio Porcarelli, the photographer of the celebrities par excellence, will organize his photographic set inside our space for Design On Stage, in which he will immortalize the guests and the audience with his renowned ability for portraying photographs as art. Have a look at his interview from last year, with a small backstage of Sandra Bermudez’s session.

It is still possible to request a free invitation to Trascreativity, which allows you to take part in the events with Fiorucci, Rashid as well as other guests.

In March, architects and designers reach fever pitch: the count-down to the Salone del Mobile exhibition in Milan starts, probably the most important event of our sector, world-wide. The anticipation is focused on the events and ephemeral settings of the Fuorisalone, in the Tortona district and of the Triennale. Last year, we created Design On Stage, a “design lounge” designed by Laura Villani opposite the Triennale, with the participation of many guests, such as Elio Fiorucci, Michele De Lucchi, Karim Rashid, Satyendra Pakhalé and Sandra Bermudez, each one the designer of a ceramic slab prototype for DTS.

And this year? We will be there again, don’t worry. Would you like some “teasers”? We will be once again in the square opposite the Triennale with a new setting by Laura Villani, with Claudio Porcarelli‘s photographic set and an intriguing theme: creativity as transgression. Among the protagonists, we will have a legend of the Italian design and two international fashion-designers…..all of them famous “transgressors”.

Keep an eye on the blog, we will reveal more in the next few days…

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In this video, Laura Villani, “director” of the Grand Design Tour event and Paolo Cesana, Refin’s marketing manager, present DesignTaleStudio ceramic slabs created by Karim Rashid. Works which perfectly fit the aesthetic tradition of the Egyptian designer and which can be used to clad and decorate both interiors and exteriors. The video was filmed at the art gallery “L’Ariete Artecontemporanea” in Bologna during the inaugural event of the Grand Design Tour.

Within the Catalogue section of Designtalestudio.com we have recently opened a brand-new section called Prototypes d’Autore, in which we have grouped all the ceramic slab projects that we developed in collaboration with famous artists and designers. We have called them “prototypes”, as they haven’t been produced yet although they have been available to show only during special events, such as Design On Stage at the Triennale exhibition in Milan in April 2007 or the forthcoming Grand Design Tour taking place in Bologna from October 3 to 6 2007.

Amongst the Prototypes d’Autore you will eventually see the complete series of drawings by Karim Rashid and Peter Halley; Elio Fiorucci’s “lips”; Michele De Lucchi’s totem; the crushed paper by Sandra Bermudez; Lucio Dalla’s fish and Romina Power’s Tao.

The main problem we came across while setting-up the “Meta Design” exhibition, was that of doing justice to the sheer beauty brought to the real world by DesignTaleSudio’s ceramics. The Pareti d’Autore where meant to be main cladding surface and works of art all at the same time, therefore, they had to, without compromise, “stand out” the best way possible.

The majority of the interior floors and wall-tiles we see on Second Life fall into two categories: the “ordinary” ones (flat surfaces, characterised by a feel of “comfortable” minimalism and with no basic aesthetic research) and the “grotesque” (textures which struggle to emulate real materials such as parquet, marble and stone with the use of photographic images). At the moment, perhaps the most interesting creations are those which use semi-transparent, opaque material, such as large, slightly reflective windows or plastic panels.

Ceramic has proven still difficult to use on Second Life, but with a bit of extra effort we believe we managed a better result than expected. In our opinion, the concept of the traditional ceramic tile as we know it, that is to say, a small glazed tile, is verging to grotesque, especially when the surface is reflective and the installation pattern conveys a very “grid-like” effect. The result is a kind of mural of identical repeated images where the real-life luminous qualities of the tile are reduced to whitish geometric shapes, mechanically repeated in an un-natural way. With larger sizes the same problem is slightly reduced though still visible: it is therefore better to use opaque products where graphics outshine the tactile and visual effects of the material.

Various slabs designed by famous personalities, such as those of Rashid, Fiorucci and Bermudez, actually did have these very characteristics and it was therefore relatively easy to display them effectively. But it was a different story for the totem designed by De Lucchi and, especially, the DesignTaleStudio’s Pareti d’Autore, whose light and material effects of the three-dimensional surface had to be reproduced. The solution we came up with was to use photographs of the products whose reflections had been partially reduced. In the case of De Lucchi’s work, the surface of the slabs was a single image, previously created with Photoshop by delaying the overall light of the original “amateurish” photo taken during the Design On Stage exhibition. But the Pareti d’Autore, especially the overly iridescent “unphotographable” ones like the Gold and Platinum, worked better if used as decoration rather than repeated backdrop. After being slightly retouched via computer and loaded on Second Life with the maximum resolution possible, the images from afar recaptured all the energy of the original designs while the close-up showed the fascination of their softness to the touch and light.

Yesterday, Karim Rashid came to visit us on the Design On Stage set. There was a lot of anticipation surrounding his awaiting, as he is one of the most recognisable and influential designer of popular contemporary culture; and, judging from the public participation, the expectations were more than fulfilled.

The live unscripted appearance of Rashid was principally centred around his vision of design as an expression of values of the time in which we live, and as a fundamental part of bring life to the future. His was a very profound chat, more a philosophical-anthropological one, rather than one on style. But, beyond trends and fashion, Rashid believes that, planning industrial goods means changing the every-day behaviour of people, society and the world. And that today is marked by an excessive anchorage in the archetypes of the past, and by the need, for designers of material objects, to fill the deep void and cultural aesthetics that separates them from the digital universe, characterised by the design of much more innovative products in line with today’s time.

Rashid’s very presence and his charm was testament to the fact that, today, he can be considered as an authentic popular icon. The watching public was made up of many students from around the world, who took part in the debate, often with very direct and provocative questioning, such as whether it should really be considered that glamorous to be one of the best designers in the world (Karim’s answer is at the end of the video, so we do not want to spoil the surprise for you…).

This is a detail of the original drawing for DesignTaleStudio designed by Karim Rashid, that will be presented this week during Design On Stage at the Triennale in Milan.

As you already know, Karim Rashid will be with us at the Triennale on Friday, April 20. From 6 p.m. on, Karim will share cocktails together with the registered guests, introduce his slab purposely created for DesignTaleStudio and speak about himself and his artistic career within the informal and friendly environment of Design On Stage. Of course, we will report on the day with interviews, pictures and videos in Designtalestudio.com blog, so stay tuned!

For those who haven’t already done it, it’s still possible to register to the cocktail with Karim Rashid on Friday, April 20. We would also like to communicate to the fans of the Egyptian-American designer that Karim himself will be present also on Saturday 21, among the audience attracted by Halley’s genius.

[tags]Karim Rashid, Design On Stage, Milano, Triennale, Fuorisalone, Salone del Mobile, design, Refin, DesignTaleStudio, blogmilano[/tags]