Clerkenwell Design Week - A Three Day Festival in London's Creative Heart.
From Tue, 25th to Thu, 27th of May 2010 - Clerkenwell, one of London’s most important creative hubs and home to many of the UK’s leading architectural and design practices, will be the host of Clerkenwell Design Week, celebrating design's rich imagination, its diversity, its social impact and its power for change.The festival will offer a programme of seminars, workshops and debates that tackle key issues from a design standpoint. Big design names and inspirational thought leaders will spearhead an event crammed with left-field thinking, off-the-wall performances and presentations to challenge all your preconceptions.
Design by Kaspar Salto at B-Loose showroom
NAP™ is a new stackable chair designed by the award winning Danish designer Kasper Salto that furniture design brand Republic of Fritz Hansen™ will present at the B-Loose showroom in London - Bene's loose furniture business arm in the UK.
The NAP chair is a reflection of Kasper Salto's approach to design. "For me design is about relevance. To always create a product that has relevance towards its user's." Say's the design star. "For me the NAP chair is all about being able to sit well in as many positions as possible. The name NAP is an abbreviation of the three key sitting positions; Normal, Active and Passive – because sitting is in fact a constant movement." Salto continues.
With its curvaceous form, the NAP chair is feminine and elegant. The contours of the Nylon shell adapt naturally to the shape of the human body and the textured waves turn hours of sitting into an attractive proposition. "If people who sit in the chair notice they have been sitting comfortably, I think I've succeeded." Say's Salto.
As a trained cabinet maker and a graduate from the Danish Design School in Copenhagen, Kasper Salto's work is characterized by respect for simple forms, materials, good workmanship and a belief that design can improve life.
Kasper Salto has won a string of internationally acclaimed design awards for his creations over the recent years and he is also the mastermind behind Fritz Hansen's popular Ice™ chair & Little Friend™ table.
The new NAP chair will be launched in the UK during the Clerkenwell Design Week at the B-Loose showroom on 45 St John Street, London EC1M 4AN, with an exhibition that will give insight into the design process, testing and manufacturing of the new chair.
The new chair will be available on the market in September 2010 and comes in a selection of colours, from Milk White, to Butter Yellow, Pepper Grey and Coffee Brown.
Picnic in the PARCS
Bene will be joining Clerkenwell Designweek by dedicating the London based showroom to the new PARCS range, designed by PearsonLloyd. The entire portfolio will be showcased in as well as outside the showroom and visitors of the festival will be invited to a "Picnic in the PARCS". Every day between 25th and 27th of May picnic baskets will be handed out between 12 and 2 pm and whilst nibbling on a cucumber sandwich - why not investigating the new working environments designed for today's knowledge working creative class and the conceptual thoughts behind it?
Changing work practices have implications on office layouts: the floor space required for interaction and communication zones is increasing whilst the work desks in the back office areas are being compressed. There is no detriment to the employee’s experience, rather the opposite as these new zones confer added value: PARCS defines the new zones as areas where the company or organisation expresses its appreciation of its employees. Thomas Bene, Member of Board of Bene AG, sums it up: "PARCS creates cooperative and communicative zones in the office, promoting the staff’s well-being and productivity.
These areas are characterised by their relaxed atmosphere, encouraging the kind of spontaneous and informal communication that takes place at random places of encounter such as in the cafeteria, at the water dispenser or in the common room.
Work environments that utilise PARCS give the feel of miniature-scale urban landscapes: With different zones and areas, places that provide just the right environment for working and exchanging ideas, for being creative or enjoying some privacy. "Since now, more than ever, the office must live up to its role as the genuine stage of social interaction, as the focal point of corporate culture," explains Thomas Bene, "the design of the office as a location must also react to this."
