This week, the Design Museum Holon presents its inaugural exhibition: “The State of Things: Design and the 21st Century.” Opening March 4th and running through May 15th, the exhibit – which takes place in the new Ron Arad-designed, Israeli building – features more than 100 objects that collectively reflect issues concerning the practice, consumption and cultural impact of contemporary international design.

*above: Design Museum Holon, by Ron Arad Architects

The star-studded cast of contributing designers includes Maarten Baas, Jaime Hayon, Max Lamb, Joris Laarman, Front, Yves Behar, Stephen Burks, Tokujin Yoshioka, Konstantin Grcic, POLKA, Tom Dixon, Ingo Maurer, the Campana Brothers and Dror Benshetrit, among others.

*above: “Cabbage Chair” by Nendo

The curated objects range from ordinary household items to life-enhancing and saving technologies. According to Design Museum Holon Creative Director, Galit Gaon: “The museum is committed to showcasing the importance of quality design and its relevance to our lives at this particular point in time; the objects in the exhibition will reveal the same ingenuity and poetry evident in the new Ron Arad building that will house them.”

*above: “Wiek Cabinet” by Maarten Baas

*above: “Brave New World Lamp” by Moooi

Each grouping of works represents a contemporary category. Whether through the materials employed, the concepts conveyed, or the uses intended, these objects reflect our times so acutely that they could only have been made in the last few years: thus, the current “state of things.”

*above: “Cappellini Love Table” by Stephen Burks

For more information on the new Design Museum Holon, check out www.dmh.org.
Tel: +972 7 32151515
Fax: +972 3 6520331

*Images courtesy of Design Museum Holon.

When great design inspires healthy living, there’s not much more we
can ask for. Y Water’s perfect union combines a cool and kid-friendly,
100% recyclable bottle with removable, biodegradable labeling and
a flavored, vitamin- and mineral-rich, low-sugar, organic beverage.
Once empty, the container becomes a toy that kids can link to other
bottles through biodegradable, connectable rubber “Y knots,” letting
them create spaceships, animals, robots, or whatever else their
imaginations can dream up. When all is said and done, parents can
log onto www.ywater.us and receive a free mailer to send the bottle
back for recycling.

The cheery Y-shape inspired the drink’s name, a playful riff on two
of the most commonly asked kiddie questions: “Why?” and “Why
not?” As Y-Water designer Yves Béhar says, “The brand, the bottle,
the graphics, the name … everything is one, connected by the idea
of giving a smarter, healthier and much more fun experience. The
category is so bland, so un-original … but kids are open-minded to
new and creative things, and that is what we wanted to give them.”

To read my extended review of Y Water for Clear Magazine, click here.

Ezri Tarazi's installation of bamboo totems moves the dense landscape of China’s bamboo forests indoors, creating a domestic forest that supports a range of living arrangements. Photo: Udi Dagan

Round sections of bamboo hang from a metal structure to create a chair. Each section is suspended from a metal rod that allows the rings to turn.

Using FSC-certified plywood from Bolivia, Abbott Miller designed a chair whose components can be shipped flat and dry-assembled with a rubber mallet. Photo: Jay Zukerkorn

The chair design highlights the beauty of Bolivian wood, while also yielding three chairs per sheet of plywood, with a minimal amount of waste. Photo: Jay Zukerkorn

New York fashion designer Issac Mizrahi during a fitting session. Mizrahi used salmon leather to create an ensemble that includes a dress, jacket and shoes. Photo: Mackenzie Stroh

Yves Béhar meets with indigenous women who run an organic chocolate cooperative in Costa Rica. Photo: Serge Beaulieu

Béhar’s final design calls for stainless steel and sustainably-harvested Costa Rican hardwood. His chocolate shaving tool is designed to rest on the lip of a mug and resemble a twig. Photo: Dan Whipps

Not to be missed: Design for a Living World at the Cooper-Hewitt, organized by The Nature Conservancy, through January 2010.

Ten leading designers have been commissioned to develop new uses for sustainably grown and harvested materials in order to tell a unique story about the life-cycle of materials and the power of conservation and design. Projects include:
- Swedish industrial designer Yves Béhar’s chocolate shaving tool, designed to rest on the lip of a mug and resemble a twig, to benefit a Costa Rican women’s organic chocolate cooperative.
- Abbott Miller’s Bolivian wood chair design, which yields three chairs per sheet of plywood, with a minimal amount of waste.
- Stephen Burks Australian raspberry jamwood piece that allows for easy collection and processing of plant-based materials for use in the skincare line. He also created a complementary suite of jamwood containers to hold the cosmetics.
- fashion designer Issac Mizrahi’s unexpected Alaskan salmon leather-made dress, jacket and shoes.

The designers’ prototypes, drawings and finished products are all on display, along with video revealing their work behind-the-scenes. Design for a Living World is co-curated by graphic designer Abbott Miller and Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt. This is the debut venue in a national tour of the exhibition, organized by The Nature Conservancy.

The full list of featured designers and locales includes:

Yves Behar/Costa Rica; Stephen Burks/Australia; Hella Jongerius/Mexico; Maya Lin/Maine; Christien Meindertsma/Idaho; Isaac Mizrahi/Alaska; Abbott Miller/Bolivia; Ted Muehling/Micronesia; Kate Spade/Bolivia; and Ezri Tarazi/China.

Images courtesy of Cooper-Hewitt.