Working title has made the shock discovery that there are designers working collectively within the Designersblock show based in Thaon de Revel. Even more shockingly there are are at least 3 ‘collectives’ within the exhibition. The New Oxford school dictionary describes a collective as ‘adjective of a group taken as a whole, our collective opinion. Not a great definition, but it is after all it is a kids dictionary and was never intended or designed to be used at an event with the gravitas of the Salone Internazionale del mobile, but it will have to suffice.
London based Emo kids ‘kithkin’ have set up an office and are creating a daily newspaper Working Title which you are actually reading at this very instant. Formed by product design graduates from Central St Martins in September 2007 this bunch of herberts has been causing trouble ever since, curating shows, picking their noses, creating a download shop that make a mockery of design copyright, and collecting cease and desist orders from internationally famous designers left right and centre.
Arabeschi di latte are group of Italian architects that made a mockery of last years Salone by giving away bananas in a disused swimming pool complex. Not only was this dangerous but it was also quite delicious. They appear to only work on projects that involve food, teaching the English how to make Gnocci, tarting up perfectly respectable cutlery with feathers, electrical cable and tassels, and even quite ridiculously taking Japanese and Italian food and creating ‘remixes’.
Future textile graduates Puff & Flock have brought their textile witchcraft to Milan this year and have had the3 audacity to bring a park bench covered in some sort of fabric that will slowing age and change when left out in your back yard. They also have fabrics that you can stick to the wall using some sort of voodoo, a shower curtain that kicks you out of the shower to save water, cushions that change colour when left out in the sunshine, and dolls that you can actually cuddle.
None of this can be healthy. Designers working together pooling their resources, sharing their experiences, enjoying each others company, and giving each other a shoulder to cry on. Where will it all end?
In a further equally shocking revelation, none of the designers has expressed any desire whatsoever in any shape or form to be the new Tom Dixon, Marcel Wanders Marc Newson, or bless her tiny, weirdly formed sculptural cotton socks Zaha Hadid.
I have tried in vain to get a quote from someone from each collective. But David Wilson the only Kithkin I could find was busy trying to fly a paper plane to the moon powered only by Lucozade. Puff & Flock were having a little lie down and Arabeschi di latte were doing the washing up.
When asked to comment on all this nefarious desin activity Designersblock founding partner Rory Dodd commented ‘I can’t find my fags can I nick one of yours’.
Text: Bud Moore