A big sister for the wine glasses
I recently had to buy a pair of new shoes. I mean: I had to. Really. Two trade fairs in three weekends is more that what my feet can do without special equipment.
Trade fairs: they used to be something I (hated) didn't really enjoy as I started working as an illustrator: not knowing anybody, having the feeling "you must take something" out the day, you must "sell" your work, almost yourself... Now I love them. I mean: they are still tiring for my feet (I would like to know how many kilometres one walks during a fair day) but they are great: so many new impressions, the opportunity of meeting clients and colleagues you otherwise don't see and that feeling of the whole world coming literally together, from every corner of the planet, showing the plurality among us and giving a feeling of abundance, that there is enough for everybody. Enough tastes, enough interests, enough clients, enough markets. And that most of us humans mean it well.
You come home like after having been out for days, after so many talks and having seen so much different new stuff. One of the things I like the best is the trend gallery organised by the Fair Frankfurt itself: the style studio bora.herke.palmisano presents a curated selection of products that are currently exhibited in the fair and that speak for 4 strong trends, composed in nice arrangements, with an accompanying colour palette and even explained in a short lecture with a guided tour afterwards. It would be perfect if the whole fair were like this, just the best of the best. See, these here were three of the represented trends (the fourth one didn't really speak to me):
They named them: "artisanal gardening", "futuristic couture" and "functional simplicity". After seeing this trend gallery you go through the fair with different eyes, most of the best things fit in one of the trends and the looking around is much more interesting.
I really would love to visit more fairs but I sort of need an excuse why to visit one fair and not all others. The excuse to visit the last one was the fact that Ritzenhoff was introducing some objects that carry my décor on them.
Remember the wine glasses I showed here a couple of months ago? They just got a big sister that at that time was still only a mock-up. Now it has been beautifully presented at the last Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt, last weekend. And I had the chance to meet the product designer who developed its elegant shape: when you remove the cork this carafe makes a beautiful vase. It was her, Christiane Elle, who took this photo in the stylish and huge Ritzenhoff booth.
We actually got the chance to meet each other during the delicious dinner that Ritzenhoff offered to all designers who had collaborated with them during the past year. I knew already that this company takes good care of us, designers: I was absolutely spoilt during my visit to Marsberg last year. But this dinner was still something new for me and I really enjoyed it, not only the Italian food but talking to my colleague designers Véronique Jacquart and Concetta Lorenzo: check out the jolly colourful illustrations of the former and the puristic elegant designs of the latter. There were many others there, I went home at 2 and could have stayed longer. But the day had been already very long and a new one full of impressions was ahead.
On Saturday I had met in person Sonja Neumayer, the maker of the sweet Little Ell. We had skyped once and we "e-knew" each other and we made an appointment at the Ambiente. We walked around I don't know how many pavillions exchanging "oh"s and "ah" s and it was great to see the reaction to her beautiful card in most of the booths. I mean, people were asking her for extra business cards to decorate their work space. Imagine! Have a look yourself. It was her who took this photo of me with my year glass (note to myself: next year go to the hairdresser before).
I had seen the year glass and the carafe before, what was a prémiere even for me was my "Hugo" glass (is the drink "hugo" known outside of Germany? the elder syrup and prosecco cocktail is delicious and really popular in the German summer). Nice colours, aren't they?
So, dear readers, that was my Ambiente. Next time I will tell you about the "CreativeWorld", where I had been two weeks before. Until then I leave you with some more impressions from last weekend.
