Rolf fehlbaum biography of christopher
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Read in the Grain of the Wood
How do you spell sustainability? Have we become blind to simple solutions? In the book “A way of life: Ballenberg Notes”, Rolf Fehlbaum, together with renowned designers, invites us to take a close look at the buildings in the Swiss open-air museum. Does the simplicity of Alpine construction harbour the seeds for the building of the future?
Review by Thomas Wagner
It is a triviality that craftsmanship and design are fundamentally different, even if individual and industrial production methods touch and overlap here and there. In any case, clearly recognising differences sharpens the critical view of the usual and customary, stimulates thinking and relativises an overly complacent point of view. The “Ballenberg Notes” edited by Rolf Fehlbaum achieve this with surprising ease. At no point is it a question of rediscovering the Alpine, often hard and deprived rural life as a windless idyll. Here, the ordinary is not glorified as the standard for a new modesty in urban life. But what is it all about?
Opened in 1978, the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum is located in Hofstetten in the Bernese Oberland. On the 66-hectare site of the eponymous Ballenberg, situated between Brienz and Meiringen above the Aare valley, more than 10
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Interview
Interview by Michael Hausenblas
Translation by Christopher Roth
Vitra’s Rolf Fehlbaum has been leaving his mark on the world of design for many decades. We paid a visit to the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany to ask him whether Charles Eames was cheerful, what the power of a classic really is, and why he feels that the design world is missing figures like Peter Noever.
We’re sitting here in the conference room at a table designed by Jean Prouvé. It’s absolutely neat—not a piece of paper in sight. But you’re said to be a total pack rat.
You should see my office! It doesn’t look anything like you’d imagine a manager’s office looking. It’s full of books and all kinds of other stuff, and the walls are covered with photos.
Speaking of photos: you’ve had the opportunity to get to know lots of great design personalities. Can you tell us about your first encounter with Charles and Ray Eames, back when you were just 16?
What I remember there is more of a general picture. My encounters with Charles Eames were very challenging. He was a brilliant and fascinating figure … and very, very critical. You were always careful what you said. I was very young at the time. I was the pupil, Eames the master.
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