Back then we featured an interview with the designers from Grupa who designed the 3angle sofa and armchair for Kvadra, and the interview with Robert Bratović and Ivana Borovnjak whose convertible folding sofa ‘Revolve’ (result of collaboration with designers from Numen/ForUse) was the second realized project by Croatian product designers for Kvadra.

* 3angle / Revolve

Back then not even the designers themselves knew what their products would look like upon completion, seeing as at the time of our chat, the production process for 3angle and Revolve had not yet been finished.

Following Ambienta, the design teams continued working on their products putting on the finishing touches in terms of color, material, and product details. Finally, a few days ago, they presented themselves and their products at the International Furnishing Show IMM Cologne 2012.

The presentation at one of the biggest furnishing shows in the world has been extremely successful, and soon, the armchairs and sofas made by Croatian designers could find their place in Danish, Korean, and Lebanese homes; to name but a few possibilities.

From what we’ve learned and according to preliminary product orders, Kvadra’s sofas should hit the global market and start selling in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, Lebanon, Israel…

Scroll down to see the photos from Kvadra’s presentation in Cologne; and also to see the final versions of the 3angle by Ivana Pavić, Tihana Taraba and Filipa Despot from the Grupa, and the convertible folding sofa ‘Revolve’, a result of the Numen/ForUse and Bratović&Borovnjak design collaboration.

More on Kvadra here.

Although at first you might think it’s the set from Russel’s Tommy musical, it’s actually the booth of Modular Lighting Instruments, one of the most famous lighting companies in the world. The stars of the story are light-emitting diodes (LEDs) which were presented at this year’s Belgium Design Fair in the booth shaped as an oversized pinball machine.

Ironically, though, pinball machines with their flashing lights aren’t quite synonymous with energy efficiency. However, Modular decided to challenge this contradiction and managed to make an extra large machine completely equipped with LED lights that manage to save 70% more energy than traditional light sources. The booth itself, the “playground”, was divided according to the following themes: “Orientation”, “Accent”, “General”, and “Dynamic”, just like their catalogue. In this way clients and customers can get informed about the advantages of their products, but can also enjoy the fun and colorful surroundings.

Modular Lighting Instruments combines new technology and innovative design to create seemingly shapeless products which are in line with trends in architecture and fashion. It was at the fair that they presented for the first time their eco-friendly Spock and O’Leaf lamps designed by the Dutch duo of Couvreur & Devos. We don’t doubt that a workspace with such lightning would stimulate work efficiency!

For more about the office click here.

Fotografije: Modular Lighting Instruments

Last week in the Zagreb Student Center’s premises, the 15^th University Open Doors Fair was held where Zagreb faculties did their best to present their programs and concepts to current seniors/future university students as well as explain to all future academic citizens any and all queries they might have concerning their professional future. Approaches to presenting certain faculties largely differed, however, we can state with certainty that, production-wise, the University Open Doors Fair extends a significant step forward each coming year. Such was the case this year when during the course of Saturday morning, when the Fair closed, awards were conferred for the most successful faculty presentation. Two awards for the most successful promotion went to the Zagreb School of Design from the Faculty of Architecture, which was proclaimed best in the showcase category (along with the PMF and FSB). It also won the category for originality in presentation (along with the FER).

The School of Design presented itself at the 2010 University Open Doors Fair with the slogan “Fertile Ground for Your Creativity”. As the authors explain, the idea was to show the School of Design as a faculty whose student works are the fruits of a creative and team effort which, of course, isn’t any kind of bugaboo.

Thus the creativity tree came to be, whose crown, full of brochures of various student works, covered the whole stand. At the foot of the illustrated tree a place where anyone interested could symbolically plant their creativity as follows: Everyone was offered to pick a brochure and leave their name and email address on the overleaf. After that, the slip of paper with the name and email address would be cut off and the potential student would plant it next to the tree.

The aim of the stand was to establish communication with future students not just for the duration of the Fair, but post-Fair as well, through its web pages (which are under construction) where the growth of the virtual tree can be monitored, which implies the constant appearance of new informative content tied to the School of Design, entrance exam and design in general.

Credit for the concept of this year’s University Fair presentations goes to the following students: Marija Tizaj, Vlatka Leskovar, Adriana Pavelić, Karlo Pavičić, Andrija Mudnić, Luka Reicher and Marina Jukić.

It’s important to note that the visual identity of this year’s Fair was created by former School of Design students, the young and acclaimed designers Marko Šesnić and Goran Turković from the Šesnić&Turković Studio, whom we featured here. The duo is, among other things, responsible for the University Fair 2010 excellent posters which you had the chance to see along Zagreb streets and the new Fair Logo which is supposed to become the permanent logo of this manifestation. The guys have been in collaboration with the University of Zagreb since 2006 when they won a public tender for its poster design.