At ICFF 2009, Misewell made an extraordinarily polished debut with its very first furniture collection--and the furniture design company just won the New Designer award, judged by the ICFF Editors committee, which included tastemakers from Dwell, Metropolis, and others. The young company, comprised of two brothers, Vincent and Paul Georgeson, is perhaps the only furniture start-up in recent memory to be based in Milwaukee. But you'd never guess it looking at their designs, which are both contemporary and approachable--and fairly reasonably priced, given the size of their operations. Here's the two brothers describing some of their wares for Fast Company:
Another designer that caught our eye was UM, founded by François Chambard, which debuted a simple table designed with precise attention to detail. Colgate Searle, a partner in the firm, explains:
Surprisingly, there were few designs that took on the economic doldrums head-on. One exception was Design Glut, comprised of Liz Kinnmark and Kegan Fisher. Here's Kegan explaining some of their work, including a hanky stitched with the spiraling trend line of the Dow, so that you can wipe your brow (or you nose) with a symbol of the financial crisis:
Read more Fast Company stories about ICFF 2009 here.
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
Recent Comments | 2 Total
May 18, 2009 at 8:43pm by Lisa Schieffelin
Pratt's "Design on a Dollar" successfully went beyond trying to capitalize on the economic downturn. They ventured into cultural redesign, not to be confused with eco-sustainable design. The students designed functional and beautiful pieces that reflect a new reality - a reality that a younger generation can more easily grasp and adapt to. Who else but a student could really get their heads around designing a quality show piece for under a dollar? More so, who but the students could have conceived their design theme? Their work was not perfect - but it was inspiring and gives hope that we can transform our culture to appreciate a design of the times which perhaps is really a design for the future. Yeah, I loved it.
May 27, 2009 at 8:13am by Jill Morin
Your headline might seem to imply that good design can't possibly come from a place like Milwaukee. As Milwaukee ranks 14th in the country for the number of people employed in creative occupations, I beg to differ. Check out our Milwaukee Art Museum addition, designed by Santiago Calatrava, or the outstanding art collection housed within. How about Summerfest, the largest outdoor music festival in the world? Or the world-class Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee Ballet? My own interdisciplinary firm, Kahler Slater, is designing outstanding experiences and environments all over the world, including the new National Cancer Institute of Singapore. And we're not alone, as numerous talented design firms, artists and creatives call Milwaukee home.