Defining Moments at #KohlerDesignAffair Day Two
Yesterday, we went inside the minds of some major design influencers: trend forecaster Li Edelkoort, “design houdini” Patrick Jouin, and Kohler creative director Tristan Butterfield, who said, “The idea that design can change lives and cause emotions is making me feel right at home.” Here’s a recap of the ideas that have you buzzing—and a slideshow of a few faces leading the pack.
Edelkoort’s trend report was expansive—tackling everything from the significance of roundness taking over design, to “tender” colors and sophistication in glass and ceramics, to the Circus theme evident in Lee Broom’s Department Store installation in Milan . There was a lot of information—could you keep up? Take our quiz as a refresher.
Throughout the afternoon activities (golf, walking tours, chocolate tasting, spa treatments), designers seemed universally impressed by the work of Patrick Jouin , coincidentally one of the sweetest (and youngest) Interior Design Hall of Fame members (not that we’d ever play favorites, of course). Jouin spoke on the importance of timeless materials to his firm’s work, including plaster, metal, glass, stone, earth, leather and fabric. “I was dipped, like a tea bag, in technology, however,” he notes. He also described how he’s learned to use wood in the same way as we’ve been using plastic, prompting the statement: “We’ll be able to live without using plastic in the future.”
Tristan Butterfield, creative director of Kohler, demonstrated how the company uses its marketing assets to explain the emotional and physical responses to a product. Launch videos for the Karbon faucet, Numi toilet, and DTV+ shower system “still give me chills,” he says. Butterfield also welcomed artist Beth Lipman, an artist-in-residence at Kohler, to the stage. Lipman spoke on how the Kohler foundry has empowered her work, driving home a closing remark from Interior Design editor in chief Cindy Allen: “That’s why it’s a design affair: we are falling in love again and again.”
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