Form Meets A Function
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday September 23, 1999
From buildings to bras, with a 110,000 seats thrown in, HELEN GREENWOOD previews Sydney Design 99.
FROM ethics to elec-tronics, Olympic torches to interiors, boats to buildings, Sydney Design 99 is maximum creativity packed into a tiny three-day conference.
Held once every six years, the international event brings together three organisations representing graphic, industrial and interior design.
The Olympics are a key feature of the conference. In a special day-long session, SOCOG will reveal its entire design strategy, from signage to seating.
Sheldon King, of Design & Industry in Sydney, worked with Sebel Furniture on the seating in Stadium Australia and is eager to discuss how you make 110,000 bottoms comfortable.
King was faced with an extra-ordinary brief when he designed the seating system he calls Podium.
"Stadium Australia required a product that had a 50-year life cycle," King says. "That is the first time I have come across that: most products are outdated in five years. So this needs to be as versatile as possible to survive 50 years, as well as be intensely environmentally friendly.
"There is no product I know of in the world today that is developed to have a 50-year life cycle."
Podium, which King thought up five years ago, has been globally recognised as the ultimate stadium seating system. "The international architects, Bligh Lobb, which does a huge amount of stadiums around the world, has said so," King says. "It is the front runner for the seating in Wembley stadium at the moment. And it has been copied by the people who did the Atlanta seating."
And speaking of sports, one of the overseas guests is Hinda Miller, who fashioned a jogging bra in 1977. Her "jockstrap for women" created an entirely new category of sports apparel, sportsbras, and created a $300 million product category. She will be talking about how the entrepreneurial designer can act as an agent of change.
It's just one more example of the way design reaches every aspect of our lives. "If we don't have design," says associate professor Ron Newman, the chairman of the management committee of Sydney Design 99, "everything that affects our quality of living is of a lower standard."
Another woman who has made her mark in design is Vivianna Torun Bulow-Hube. The 72-year-old Swedish- born silversmith burst to prominence in the
'50s and '60s with a range of sinuous silver body sculpture that embraced the strength and contours of the body. She also collected a group of devotees which included Pablo Picasso, Ingrid Bergman and Billie Holiday.
Now living in Jakarta, Bulow-Hube has been working for the Danish silversmith Georg Jensen for 30 years. She will recount her experience as a woman working after World War II, and particularly the sensibility that a woman brings to design.
From fine metal to fine furniture, Massimo and Lella Vignelli form an Italian-born husband-and-wife team which has been working for nearly 40 years. They have designed furniture, products, print material and interiors. As believers in Adolf Loos's adage that an architect should be able to design anything from a spoon to a city, they will discuss the imperative of adopting a broad creative approach.
Other high profile speakers include the Czech-born Eva Jiricna, who has lived in Britain since 1968. In 1996, Jiricna created the interiors for the Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunic-designed building for Anderson Consulting in Prague. Nicknamed "Fred and Ginger", the corporate
headquarters is a dynamic dancing set of towers. Jiricna will talk about the different ways to interpret the role of the designer.
Sydney Design 99 is open until Wednesday at the Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. A free exhibition is open to the public from 12.30pm-9pm on Monday, 9am-7pm on Tuesday and 8am-3.30pm on Wednesday. The Olympic discussion is open to the public at 6pm on Tuesday. Inquiries, 9241 1478.
Domain will be giving away 10 tickets to attend all sessions at Sydney Design 99. To win, be the first to call 9363 2311 between 10-10.30am today.
© 1999 Sydney Morning Herald