All articles by Asha
Asha
Hansgrohe: sustainability is not a policy – it’s a way of life
What sustainability means for brassware and showering manufacturer Hansgrohe: It’s not a policy, more a way of life… says CEO Martin Mongan
Blurred lines: Art, design and industry
We look at how artists have been involved in the interiors business in the past and ask why this continues to be such a fruitful relationship, with some surprising contemporary examples.
Gemma Barton: don’t look down on interior architecture courses
An education in interior architecture is still looked down on when compared to architecture, says Gemma Barton, designer and senior lecturer at the University of Brighton. But it shouldn’t be so, she argues, when it prepares students admirably for all aspects of the design world.
Erik Spiekermann – It’s time to break free of PowerPoint
At best many PowerPoint presentations are of limited value; at worst they can cause loss of life. Why rely on templates? If there is something to be said, say it, says Erik Spiekermann. Erik Spiekermann set up MetaDesign and FontShop, and is a teacher, author, designer and partner at Edenspiekermann.
Britain’s disused prisons are being turned into hotels and student accommodation
Since 2010 more than a dozen prisons in the UK have closed their doors. Declared ‘surplus to requirements’ by the Ministry of Justice, they are now being sold off to developers. The unlikely future for these buildings, which range from Victorian gaols and medieval fortresses to Sixties’ institutional blocks, could be in the form of hotels or even student accommodation.
Dutch Design Week: The Future Today
The much anticipated Dutch Design Week, taking place in Eindhoven 18 – 26 October, is promising a view of the world tomorrow in the making today, through exhbitions, workshops, seminars and parties.
Behind the scenes at the Folkestone Art Triennial
When a major arts festival is commissioned, the interaction between artists, residents and art is a vital element in the town’s enrichment. Veronica Simpson checks out the behind-the-scenes action for the Folkestone Triennial.
James Holder on creating fashion brand Superdry
From selling T-shirts out of the back of his mum’s car, via Bench, to co-founding the phenomenally successful Superdry brand, design director James Holder is not one to sit back and reflect on success. He is always looking for the next new idea, whenever and wherever it comes to him: he’s an original beer-mat sketcher, he declares.
Ron Arad: save design education from bureaucracy and economics
In the first of our Listens for this education-focused issue, industrial designer and former Royal College of Art professor Ron Arad recalls his own student days, his aims at the RCA, and how he is concerned that bureaucracy and economics is now in danger of driving the curriculum.
The Art of repetition: self expression in Communist-era Hungary
They may have been subjected to the rigidity of the country’s Communist regime, but Hungarians living in post-war state housing nevertheless made the monotonous block dwellings individual and full of character through painting and decoration. Artist Katharina Roters has documented the phenomenon in a new book, out now.