Opening of the exhibition CREATE BERLIN GOES LONDON by Berlin's Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit / Photo: Yves Sucksdorff
Tom Felber for ceative face Magazine
This week London definitely is the place-to-be for design-fans. From September 14 until September 19, 2008 fashion designers from all over the world celebrate 25th anniversary of the London Fashion Week. At the same time the London Design Festival takes place. The London Design Festival is a spectacular celebration of world-class talent across the city, shining a bright light on the amazing creative people that make London one of the design capitals of the world. The Festival reflects the growing worldwide recognition of the power of design to change things for the better, to help deliver economic prosperity and to improve quality of life. And last but not least from September 18 until September 21 Berlin's designer network CREATE BERLIN e.V. showcases a selection of the top results of interdisciplinary collaborations between designers and creative minds who have ventured to follow the call to get together and reflect upon Berlin's unique attractiveness and the effect of the sudden abundance of free space that has emerged in the era after The Wall.
Under the motto CREATE BERLIN GOES LONDON, the design initiative CREATE BERLIN, in cooperation with Berlin Partner GmbH, presents twenty interdisciplinary projects by Berlin creatives on the theme "Berlin: 20 Years of the Creative Metropolis" in commemoration of the upcoming 20-year anniversary in 2009 of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The exhibition taking place at the Dray Walk Gallery on the premises of the Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, East London, E1 6 QL showcases ideas, concepts and projects reflecting the state of creativity in the German capital.
The project-based works to be exhibited in London exemplify the diversity of the German creative capital: The project "Off Limits" by Magma Design and xplicit - an accessible image cube - addresses the timeliness of the theme "Wall", COORDINATION and diephotodesigner.de developed the mirrored sculpture "CRYSTAL CITY MIND," which portrays the former path of the Berlin Wall in a photo-series incorporating the mirrored sculpture. Josephine Rank and mijuly & ca developed so-called "Wall Mattresses", opening up a variety of interpretive possibilities. llot llov and Lala Berlin projected the "division of space" theme onto a number of objects (lamp shapes), which, by means of an additional element (rope), evolved into something novel - an aesthetic and functioning lamp sculpture. The project of Tina Roeder and David Krings reflects the history of Berlin in the 21st century. They designed icons for a modern Berlin, which are represented by a collection of detail-rich, constructed cardboard models. KEX-Spitzenkultur and Zeitgeist Toys created +EYE Bloomy Knight. Bloomy Knight stands for a future Berlin full of creative activity, confidence and idealism. Goldenhued lace embroidering and a designer art toy made from shiny metal combine tradition with the modern, simplicity and daring with beauty and poetry - facets of a future Berlin.
The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, kicked off the exhibition on September 18th; "Following New York last year, now we're showing in London the best sides of our Berlin as a pulsating and creative city," said Wowereit. "I'm really looking forward to this exciting project!" René Gurka, CEO of Berlin Partner GmbH added: "After ‘Berlin Day in New York' and the exhibition ‘Made in Berlin' in Milan, ‘CREATE BERLIN GOES LONDON' is the third collaborative project between CREATE BERLIN and Berlin Partner GmbH for promoting Berlin design internationally. Creativity and location marketing come together here in an ideal way."
Beyond the timeframe of the CREATE BERLIN GOES LONDON exhibition a part of Berlin will remain in London: from September until the end of 2008, Tate Modern will offer for sale top quality design objects by Berlin designers in its own design shop.
With the exhibition CREATE BERLIN GOES LONDON, CREATE BERLIN successfully continues its ventures located in international creative big cities, this time selecting - after New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Moscow and Milan - the trendsetting metropolis of London. With a variety of undertakings and projects CREATE BERLIN contributes to the promotion of Berlin creativity as a viable commercial factor and to the establishing of Berlin as a creative metropolis representative of creativity from Germany and UNESCO awarded "City of Design".
