2013 Archived Items From VCR Magazine Home Page

Toronto's Design Exchange invites Canadian designers with no more than five years of professional industry experience to enter their new Emerging Designer competition. Deadline September 30.

Chair Awards: Furniture designers under the age of 35 can enter the Promosedia International Design Competition - Caiazza Memorial Challenge - requesting designs for chairs, armchairs, small sofas or stools that make a significant use of wood. Deadline June 15.

Studio Shows: The bureau du design de la Ville de Montréal hosts an open house of over 100 local design and architectural offices and ateliers. May 4-5.

IF Awards: >Germany's IF Awards (Industrie Forum Design) website displays 34 images from their 2013 furniture design category winners.

Chairs to China: The Globe and Mail reports on the success of Mississauga-based specialist public seating manufacture Arconas Corporation in selling furniture to China.

Chair Craft: Researcher Terry Rowell created a website about UK chairmaker, Philip Clissett (1817-1913), that documents his working methods, range of chairs and influence on the Arts & Crafts movement.

Eco: The Guardian displays 20 entries in the BMC Ecology photo competition " . . . not to capture a technically perfect image but to show ecology processes or ecology research in action."

Book Pick: Written by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman, Fabricated offers an informative introduction to 3D printing and addresses the question "how will this technology change my life?"

D&T Campaign: Designers can help reverse the current UK government's comprehensive proposal to "dumb down" the K-12 Design and Technology curriculum (after the UK's years of leadership on the subject) by accessing information from the Design & Technology Association.

Paris Scene: The New York Times design critic, Alice Rawsthorn, reviews the Eileen Gray retrospective hosted by the Centre Pompidou until May 20.

Carbon Count: UK Plymouth University student, Dougie Pulman, describes his LCA (Life-cycle Assessment) project for designer/maker Sebastian Cox.

Green Award: Sweden's Green Furniture Award invites entries of "outstanding sustainable design" not in production that can be produced with reasonable investments. Deadline September 15.

See How: London's Victoria and Albert Museum releases six videos about furniture-making techniques, including 3D printing, chair construction, dovetails, mortise-and-tenon joints, Boulle marquetry and plastic moulding.

Museu Online: Search "furniture" and "seats" in the online database at Barcelona's Museu de les Arts Decoratives to see 24 mainly Spanish chairs designed between 1932 and 1994.

Book Pick: A pioneer in the study and application of ergonomics (including Humanscale's Freedom, Diffrient and Liberty office chairs), Neils Differient shares memoirs of his more than 50 years career.

Eco News: The Ottawa Citizen features Furniture Affairs owners, Ken and Kosta McKay, and their custom-made, eco-friendly designs using recycled trees cut down to slow Ottawa's infestation of the emerald ash borer.

Green Sward: Claimed as 100 per cent natural and organic, the production of Beleaf® veneer uses only "waste" from banana plantations and the plant's natural resins.

Archived March 17, 2013

PET Stool: Toby Newland Design won Australia's EDGE (emerging furniture design competition) for his Fold and Peg Stool made from Echo Panel, a 60 per cent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) non-woven panelling product.

Archived March 17, 2013

Cadillac Coatings: The Edmonton Journal profiles Paintline inventor, Dennis Pidzarko, and his patented technology that powder-coats wood and other non-conductive substrates for $30 to $50 a square metre.

Archived March 17, 2013

Design & Society: The International Herald Tribune's design critic, Alice Rawsthorn, gives a video live-streamed keynote address at London's Royal Society of Arts, 6:00 p.m. GMT, March 18.

Archived March 17, 2013

Foam Feature: Furniture Today reports on California's Technical Bulletin 117, a proposed upholstered furniture flammability rule that may eliminate the current open flame upholstery test and reduce or eliminate the use of chemical flame retardants in furniture foam.

Archived March 17, 2013

Double Drawer: Sheffield-based Daniel Schofield won the 2013 New Design Britain Award for his twin drawer Shifty Desk made from FSC ash.

Archived March 17, 2013

Cappellini Chat: Giulio Cappellini, "a legend in Italian furniture manufacturing" and AZ Awards juror, talks at Toronto's Design Exchange about how he interacts with designers. March 19.

Archived March 8, 2013

IDS Seen: Azure Magazine features 10 emerging designer prototypes from the recent Studio North exhibit at Toronto's Interior Design Show.

Carl on CAD/CAM: Autodesk's CEO, Carl Bass, recently spoke with MIT Technology Review business editor, Jessica Leber, about the role of design in manufacturing.

Cardboard X 2: At least two Quebec-based companies manufacture inexpensive furniture from recycled cardboard: Our Paper Life makes shelves and desks and Toy Toy produces a range of children's furniture.

V&A Reviewed: The Independent praises the selection and displays in the V&A's new furniture gallery but not their classifying by "technique used" or their replacing standard printed labels with touch-screen displays.

Online Openings: Interviewed by Dezeen at the recent Stockholm Furniture Fair, Joel Roos, CEO of Finland-based One Nordic, explains how his company markets its products online across Europe.

Be Seated: The New York Times investigates the roles of ergonomics, durability and cost in the purchase of chairs for the US school system.

Design Thinking: CBS News online broadcasts the Charlie Rose interviews with IDEO founder David Kelly and IDEO CEO Tim Brown talking about their design firm's commitment to "design thinking."

Related: Parsons New School professor Bruce Nussbaum talks with Core77 Magazine about how his thinking on design thinking recently changed.

Chicago Creates: Chicago's first-annual Industrial Design Challenge aims to "bring manufacturers, universities, and designers together to find innovative solutions to local problems and to create new economic opportunities for local manufacturers."

Patents Pursued: Business Week's Jeff John Roberts helps explain the intricacies of the new US design patent laws enacted by President Obama on December 18.

CNC Shared: Collaboration between Toronto-based furniture/industrial designer Evan Bare and architectural design firm BLDG Workshop resulted in the prototype pre-fab home Bunkie.

UK Furniture Events: The International Alliance of Furniture Publications (IAFP) compiled a comprehensive calendar of over 16 furniture events in the United Kingdom.

Jeunes Créateurs: Young French designers, funded by VIA Creation grants, exhibit their work at VIA, the Paris-based organization responsible for promoting French furniture design. January 31-March 17.

Eco: Smithsonian Institute curator, Cynthia Smith, lists on the GOOD blog her selection of new socially responsible design projects for 2012.

Canadian Awards: Azure Magazine calls for submissions of furniture designs completed before December 31, 2012, for its AZ Awards, an international design competition. Deadline February 22.

Miller Miffed: The Holland Sentinal reports Herman Miller Inc. filed a lawsuit against Toronto-based Nuevo Americana Inc. for using Miller's trademark designs and Eames brand name.

Arts Aid: Vitra donated 60 tables, designed by Ronan and Erwin Bouroullec and "revisited" by renowned designers, for recent auction to aid Paris-based arts support organization, La Source.

Free Guide: Designers wanting advice about contract language can use the online publication Contract Guide for Design Professionals, courtesy of ConstructionRisk, LLC and Zurich American Insurance.

Top Makers: New York City residents over 18 years can enter the product design competition Next Top Makers, sponsored by the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Deadline February 13.

Thin Cuts: Colorado-based Donek Tools produce a CNC drag knife for cutting veneer and other thin materials that uses a low-cost utility knife blade.

Eco: Greenbiz columnist, Marc Gunther, shares his 2012 heros picked from the ranks of business, politics, activism and journalism.

Free 3-D: Wired Magazine reports on 123D Design, the latest addition to Autodesk's family of free 3-D modeling applications for Mac and PC.

Design Street: Diverse venues along Toronto's Dundas Street West showcase the works of contemporary Canadian designers January 24-27.

Brazilian Award: Brazilian-based Furniture Industry Association Sindmóveis sponsors Salão Design a competition to encourage eco design and entrepreneurship in the furniture industry. Deadline February 22.

Book Pick: On Craftsmanship: Towards a New Bauhaus, the latest Oberon Masters Series title by Christopher Frayling, describes in "unsentimental, hard-headed essays" the challenges of crafting objects in the digital age.

New V&A Gallery: The Guardian previewed the December 1 opening of the new furniture gallery at London's V&A Museum with a slide show of furniture masters, including Thomas Chippendale, Eileen Gray, Michael Thonet and Frank Lloyd Wright, and audio commentary by museum curators.

Chairs Contest: The Infiniti Design De-contest invites designs for folding chairs made from plastic, metal or wood from designers born after January 1, 1983. Deadline February 28.

Table Saw Safety: Cape Cod-based entreprenuer David Butler produced the latest entry in the quest for safer table saw technology with his Whirlwind, a combination blade guard, vacuum hook-up, safety brake and electronic flesh-sensor.

More Wright: San Marino California-based Huntington Library acquired 13 important pieces of furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the 1899 Husser House dining suite and the Arthur Heurtley House reclining armchair.

Brotherly Design: Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art exhibits the designs of Paris-based brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec to January 20, an example of which can be seen in the New York Times.

Made in Britain: London-based Assemblyroom Furniture partners Peter Wall and Cathy Spooner design and manufacture their entire furniture range in the UK.

Eco: After almost five years of deliberation, the US Federal Trade Commission issued revised Green Guides to help marketers ensure truthful and non-deceptive environmental claims and attributes of their products.

Losantiville Locals: Core77 reports on the formation of Cincinnati-based industrial design collective Losantiville LTD.

Value of Design: This BBC radio program explores the training of UK designers, with contributions from industrial designer Ron Arad, former RCA rector Christopher Frayling, artist Antony Gormley and RCA tutor Sarah Teasley.

Archive: Home Page 2013