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Droog Design is a Netherlands based design group and was established in 1993 by Gijs Bakker and Renny Ramakers. Droog means 'dry' in Dutch, and 'friends' in Russian as it was used in "The Clockwork Orange".
They challenge conception and take no prisoners. And have fun too, by the looks.
It started the careers of Marcel Wanders, Hella Jongerius, Tejo Remy, Richard Hutten and Jurgen Bey.
Kagan was born on August 29, 1927 in Worms-on-Rhine, Germany to a Russian father and a German mother, who was also Jewish. This was, of course during the rise of the Nazi party so rather than sticking around to visit Hitler's day and night spas, they hot stepped it to the U. S. of A in 1938, just in the nick of time. He painted and sculpted, but his dad's occupation as a cabinetmaker inspired him into architecture. Kagan graduated from the School of Industrial Art in 1946, majoring in architecture. He also studied architecture at Columbia University. He opened his first furniture shop in 1949. He established high-noting clientele like Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, corporates and foreign dignitaries. He collaborated with Henry Dreyfuss with a range called 'Kagan Dreyfuss'. He continued to design through many decades to come.
"Looking at Kagan's furniture, I am always slightly awed because I can't imagine them ever looking anything less than relevant" - Tom Ford April 5, 2004, London
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Gucci here, Vladimir Kagan is the man!
The Official site is here
DesignBoom interview is here
A completely random fact: Kagan
was friends with Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina who was
immortalised in New Zealand as a baked mound of sugar and egg whites. How
nice.
Greenburg, C. (1995). Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950's. (2nd Ed.) New York: Harmony Books.
Kagan, V. (2004). The Complete Kagan, Vladimir Kagan: A Lifetime of Avant-Garde Design. US: Pointed Leaf Press.
As you all know Mr. David Trubridge paid us a visit a few weeks ago. He was a bit under the weather unfortunately, but we did get to find out for ourselves that there is a lot of information out there about sustainability, the environment, ecology etc.
I'm doing what I can...
So anyway, I'm not disregarding the importance of the issues we are faced with. We need to focus our attentions to provide better education to the masses. As I said on the day, I think it is a better option to go into an existing business and change their methods and practices to be as environmentally sound, sustainable and ecological as possible, than it is to build up a new business to compete with it, as that is a much harder road to follow.
Design products to last! Don't design unnecessary products! Don't design a razor with 57 ridge grips so it doesn't fall out of your hand, hold on tighter, its not hard! I think that is the best option for us as product designers sorry Roger, I mean as people who design products.
Thanks to David Trubridge for his time and effort too.
Farewell and thanks for all the fish.
Eighties
1980
John
Lennon was murdered, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin dies, Ian Curtis of
Joy Division commits suicide. There must be a better way to start the
decade....
George Lucas' "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" begins,
3M makes Post-it notes, now we need more computer screens to stick them on.
Javier Mariscal "Duplex"
www.imdb.com
www.wikipedia.com
Alderson, S. et al (2006). Phaidon Design Classics. 333 of 999 objects, Volume 3. London: �� ��� ��� ��� �Phaidon Press Ltd.
Feineman, N. (2005). Geek Chic. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.
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