Vienna Design Week 2009 will present installations and products by international designers in Austria for the first time. Israeli product designer Arik Levy will exhibit Swarovski Crystal Palace, and Michael Young from Hong Kong will come up with new products for the design festival.
Arik Levy is visiting Vienna with Chaton Superstructures and TableScape Jewellery- two of his projects developed in cooperation with Swarovski Crystal Palace, which hitherto has only been displayed in Milan, Italy. The furnishing shop ‘designfunktion’ will showcase Michael Young’s latest products for the first time outside of Asia. The 2009 Vienna Design Week program offers new categories that depict all facets of design.
Arik Levy, who currently resides in Paris, will arrange the installation Chaton Superstructures, comprising huge 3D sculptures in front of the Liechtenstein Museum. This piece explores the relationship between architecture, space and object. His second project, TableScape Jewellery will be shown at Sotheby’s action house. The project displays marble objects and wire structures that deal with the relation between opaqueness and transparency.
Both installations were developed for Swarovski Crystal Palace and will be displayed in Austria for the first time. According to Nadja Swarovski, vice president, international communications, Swarovski, Levy’s design reflects the objective of the Crystal Palace projects well. Arik has added a new dimension to Swarovski by using crystal as a sculptural ingredient. He is successful in highlighting both the notion and concept of crystal.
Some of Michael Young’s products will be shown at designfunktion during the design week. Zipte Link is an intelligent high-tech product featuring an artful installation that represents the connection of modern design and technical abilities of the local industry. In this case Chinese. Vienna is the first stop outside of Asia, where Michael Young’s design pieces will be displayed.
Economy, education and graphic design broaden the spectrum of the 2009 Vienna Design Week program. Events on design for senior citizens offer insights into the constantly changing challenges that designers have to face. In addition, popular classics such as the Passionswege, Vienna Design Week’s centerpiece, as well as the communication of design to children and a curated movie program are again part of the festival.
The aim of Vienna Design Week is to show and enable people to experience the many-faceted creative work in the fields of product, furniture, and industrial design, but also positions of experimental design.
