In Japan symbolism, signs, movement, subtle indications or even education can be found as a boundary for space. This may elude the visiting westerner as he is used to the physical barriers which forcefully indicate his course. It does not necessarily mean that the only barriers we westerners recognise are physical, but the sensitivity towards none physical borders is of a different nature compared with the Japanese.
One of the most intrusive actions into private life one willingly engages into is home renovation or building work.
Most of us will agree that building work in one’s home rarely happens without the necessary amount of stress. Apart from the fact one has to deal with the construction details and problems, the homeowner also needs to cope with the much less considered and investigated but nevertheless important aspects of privacy intrusion.
Strangers walking through the front door with all kinds of materials and equipment, making lots of noise and bringing dust to the most unlikely places and most of all disrupting daily routines, tranquillity and private space, can become very upsetting.
Nevertheless much can be done from the homeowner and equally the builder/architects side to lower the threshold to stress free building work. (more…)
Stating that a piece of production furniture always starts with the designer may have been true some 50 years ago, now however chances are it started in some marketing department. This statement would not only be valid for production furniture but for a large proportion of the production objects sold today. This article hopes to shed some light on the evolution of furniture design.