back	December 10, 2008 RSS

Local Heroes

In the Ruhr, creativity and design are now the thing. Essen and its surrounding towns aim to become one of Europe's most important design centres and are doing everything in their power to promote local creative talent - with signal success. 
It is in Essen, after all, that the coveted Red Dot Award is presented, one of the world's leading design prizes. There are excellent design academies here and numerous inventive designers. It's a treasure trove that begs to be uncovered, for the people in the "Kohlenpott" are by nature diffident when it comes to promoting their own talent. Thank goodness, then, for the people at Dortmund's Heimatdesign agency. They stage exhibitions, arrange contacts with galleries and publish a magazine that showcases design created in the Ruhr area. Heimatdesign has long been regarded as the region's arbiter in matters of design. Marc Röbbecke and his colleagues have built up a large network, know virtually all the designers personally and are constantly tracking down new talents - and providing them with a high-publicity launching pad. Here are eight of Heimatdesign's favourites - Top of the Pott:   Nice legs
"Bock_C" by design professor Anke Bernotat of Essen's Folkwang Academy graces both work and dining tables to equal effect. http://www.bernotat.eu   Life underground  Off-limits Dortmund - abandoned bunkers, tunnels and factory buildings - attract graffiti and stencil legend Mason like a moth to a flame. Armed with spray cans, stencils and a strong shot of irony, he reinvents these locales. http://www.mason.de   As you like it Just two basic components - a flat board and a corner piece - are all you need to construct and reconfigure this room divider as you wish. It was designed by Dortmund-based Stephan Piotrowski.http://www.holz-total.de   Strong ties The modern, almost minimalist carpets of Bochum's Jan Kath, a third-generation practitioner of the carpet trade, are produced at his own manufacturing sites in Nepal. They are hand-woven from pure Tibetan highland wool using traditional methods, and then dyed with plant-based pigments.http://www.jan-kath.de   Everyday costumes The designs of Essen-based Yvonne Wadewitz, ex-ballerina at the city's Aalto Theatre and a trained seamstress, are a synthesis of historical forms, such as uniform jackets, and modern, urban influences. http://www.yvonne-wadewitz.de   Infinite garden bench This masterpiece of a garden bench by Dortmund's Christian Speck consists of interconnected, horizontal figure eights made of dark, oiled, FSC-certified kambala tropical wood - a playful nod to the symbol for infinity. http://www.3form.de   Athletic comeback Jan-Peter Wulf and Ji-Hun Kim, freelance designers and writers from Dortmund and Bochum, approached shoe manufacturer Romika with a proposal to update the classic styles of the sixties, seventies and eighties. The new shoes retain the original profiles while adding contemporary comfort and forward-looking design. http://www.romika-sport.de   Just three steps The sixties-style flared, tapered legs of this shiny acrylic table by Wolfgang Riegger can be attached to the tabletop in three easy steps. The attention-grabber is a lone red table leg, well suited to the name of Riegger's "Carrothead" line of kitchen décor. http://www.carrothead.eu   Read the articles by Marcus Luft and Tanja Wißing in "The Ruhr Metropolis" issue of MINIInternational.