TheByte

Rob

Timeless Classic German Products

Leica M
The M3 35mm rangefinder camera was introduced in 1954 and quickly became a favourite tool of top photojournalists all over the world.


The M8 digital rangefinder camera is is the latest incarnation of this very special camera.


Meissen Schwan (swan) service
The magnificent Schwan dinner service was designed in 1763.


620 Armchair
This important armchair was designed by Dieter Rams in 1964.



Zyklus Armchair
High-tech armchair designed by Peter Maly in 1983.

Rob

Bizarre objects by STUDIO JOB












That giant Swarovski crystal globe is amazing ....I can only imagine how much it is worth.

Last year a private collector purchased five pieces by Studio job for US$700,000

The Artist

Damn i want that globe BAD

Rob

^ he he ...I know, it's fantastic isn't it.

The top two pieces are from the exhibit collection entitled "Robber Baron"
They are made from cast bronze. This is the set the collector, I mentioned above, bought.

The objects are inspired by "the outrageous excesses of America's 19th century tycoons and Russia's new oligarchs"

Robber Baron tales of power, corruption, art and industry, by Studio Job , Netherlands/Belgium











I think they are wonderful things

Rob

Some lights

Ross Lovegrove






Charlotte de Bevilacqua



EricSolé



Joe Wentworth




Neil Poulton




Franco Raggi


Alessandro Pedretti


Ernesto Gismondi


Paolo de Lucchi


Charlotte de Bevilacqua


Naoto Fukasawa


Arnault Cooren and Aki Cooren



Herzog & De Meuron


Lord Norman Foster


Ernesto Gismondi


Michele de Lucchi


Ora-Ito


Pio & Tito Toso


Michelo de Lucchi & Giancarlo Fassina


Serge & Robert Cornelissen


Bruno Houssin


Ernesto Gismondi



Karim Rashid



Michele de Lucchi



Giuseppe Maurizio Scutella



Michele de Lucchi


Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Rob

AREK LEVY

Mikael

The Hana Table by Shige Hasegawa



Japanese designer Shige Hasegawa has created the Hana Table, which he will be exhibiting at the SaloneSatellite event during the 2009 Milan Furniture Fair.

“Hana” actually means flower in Japanese, which is pretty clearly the inspiration for this table.

Inspired by origami, the Hana table is constructed from five flower pedal-shaped plywood legs which collectively hold up the glass table top without the use of additional screws or bolts.

Rob

^ Very nice thing Mikael

Beemer B773ER

Very fascinating and intriguing objects you've posted there Rob. Since you're more versed in artistic matters, I was wondering if you (or anyone else who has a good understanding of art) could explain each of the artworks in the 'Tales of power, corruption, art and industry' series by Studio Job.
I can draw somewhat of a meaning from each of them, but I'm very much an amateur at deciphering the meanings, symbolisms and messages encapsulated within artwork, so could you somehow explain the thinking/theme/meaning behind each of those objects to a lay person like myself?

Reason I ask is because as I take more and more photos, I find myself wanting to give my photos more meaning and symbolism (a bit like Bruce's meaningful photos) instead of just car photos or landscape shots. I want some of my photos to tell a story, so understanding how artwork encompasses a theme or story would be somewhat of a start to open up my creative mind.

Rob

Hi Shameel, I'll try to answer your question

Although this collection of design objects is not technically considered to be art, it falls into the rather strange category of Design Art -- the definition of this is quite difficult to pin down but I think we can view these as kinds of sculptures with socio-political commentary.

Essentially, the collection is a comment on the aspirations and effects of industry and Capitalism.

The iconic imagery of oil pumps, guns, missiles, power stations, coal, oil barrels, clouds of smoke, and gas masks, draws parallels between the late 19th century and the early 21st century -- both times in which great new fortunes were created and huge power shifts occurred.

The objects are deliberately decadent and luxurious -- they are bright, ostentatious, and very expensive. In an ironic way, these are objects of status and wealth ...but on closer inspection, we see a coded message -- a cynical critique on power, status, industry, greed, and the social effects of these things. Amidst the symbols of progress and industry are reminders of the environmental and social costs -- insects: the inhabitants of wastelands indicate social breakdown, decadence, and corruption; gas masks and weapons: metaphors of war and destruction.











Here are some comments I have found on the net that might help to define some things:

Robber Baron
tales of power, corruption, art, and industry, cast in bronze
by Studio Job

Conceived in 2006, Robber Baron is an important suite of five cast-bronze furnishings, consisting of a Cabinet, Mantel Clock, Table, Standing Lamp, and Jewel Safe, each to be offered in a limited edition of five, exclusive to Moss.

Magnificent in scale, exceptionally finely modeled, detailed, and cast, with precision mechanical movements where required, incorporating deeply carved iconographic reliefs, with areas highly polished, gilded, or patinated, these works are guild-like in their master craftsmanship.

Their mirror finish reflecting the outrageous excesses of America’s 19th century tycoons and Russia’s new oligarchs, these surreal, highly-expressive furnishings, each a complex composition of multiple visual elements depicting a narrative - much like a cathedral’s stained glass windows or its majestic bronze front doors - represent an interior belonging to a powerful industrial leader or his heirs. With clouds of pollution belching from towering smoke stacks, and missiles, falcons, gas masks, warplanes, and wrenches adorning golden surfaces, Robber Baron celebrates and shames both Art and Industry.

Cabinet
A polished bronze cabinet with black patinated “bomb crater” and gilded reliefs, inspired by a 17th century armoire by André-Charles Boulle, in the Wallace Collection, London. The heavy doors are fully functional because of a ball bearing mechanism.



Jewel Safe
A patined bronze ‘safe’ with a ‘Jack-in-the-Box’ popping up out of the craggy top. The polished bronze head is colored with oil-based pigments, highlighting the collar, nose and other features. The lock mechanism is operated by turning the clown’s nose, and the door hinge employs a ball bearing mechanism.


Mantel Clock
A patinated bronze pedestal clock supported by gilded oil barrels atop a model of the Florentine Galleria degli Uffizi, with Robber Baron reliefs. The dial of the clock is inspired by London’s Big Ben, circled by a futile railway running endless circles on a rocky land-scape. The clock face can be shut with cast bronze stable doors. On top of the clock sits a Neo-Classical ‘dream house’, partially shrouded by a cloud.



Standing Lamp
A patinated bronze floor lamp in which three important icons of architecture – the Parthenon, the Empire State Building and Saint Peter’s Basilica - merge into one. The Zeppelin docked at the pinnacle symbolizes technological failure, and references the Empire State Building, whose top spire was originally intended as a mooring for Zeppelin airships. When illuminated, the hundreds of windows glow, diffused by a hand-blown frosted glass interior. The light bulbs can be changed by lifting the polished bronze ‘cloud’.


Table
A patinated bronze “factory”, whose architecture is derived from interpretations of various early 20th century works, including the AEG factory of Peter Behrens and the Battersea Power Station in London. The four chimneys produce a “polluted cloud” of polished bronze, which becomes the open-work tabletop.


"Even though the term “Robber Baron” is often an allusion to noblemen from the Middle Ages who did not care much about the ten commandments, the collection of Studio Job refers to the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century. At that time, this unflattering term was used in connection with rapacious industrialists and bankers who set up the criteria for modern entrepreneurship. Among the most frequently mentioned robber barons in history are the banker J.P. Morgan, steel and railroad tycoon Andrew Carnegie, and the oil king John D. Rockefeller."

"There is a sideboard in the form of a safe (complete with a hole after a bank robbery), a lamp shaped like a skyscraper (with an accompanying airship), a household deposit box (artfully concealed in the statue of the Jolly Joker), a clock featuring a model of a mansion, and a table perched on the incessant smoke of steel factories. Each scene represents a perfect story from a time when the railroad was still trying to conquer the west and the first skyscrapers symbolized the ego of industrialists."