The issue, from cover to cover devoted to Dutch design. Mitya Kharshak, the chief editor: «In my professional environment, Holland has been considered the world’s most designer country for a long time. My trips to Eindhoven to the Dutch Design Week have only strengthened my sincere conviction of that. I believe it’s Dutch design that has managed to become a national priority, not only in the industry, which is absolutely natural, not only at the state level (which also happens in developed countries, though not that often), but also in the society regardless of the guild (and this is rare!) Holland is the country of the winning design. That’s an undisputed fact».
«The name of Piet Hein Eek has been resounding not only in the Netherlands but also far beyond its borders in recent years. Mitya Kharshak has interviewed the hero of Dutch Design Week. Here is what he writes in the introduction to their conversation: „Piet Hein Eek designs objects of unthinkable masculine power. For me, not only is his cabinet or a chair a „he“, but also a bed or a cup. Even an armchair, which is linguistically neutral in Russian language, becomes a „he“ in Piet’s hands! If you think of a male personification of design, it is an object by Piet Hein Eek, regardless of size, purpose or material».
Vladimir Yefimov and Anna Shmieleva have done a rare historical insight into the XVIII-century Netherlands. Their article presents two bright figures of typography design of the time: «Michael Fleishman and Jacques-François Rozart are the names associated with the development and flourishing of Dutch text in the XVIII century. Despite its expansion and success, (perhaps due to them), the period after 1700 can be considered the time of stagnation, if not of incipient decline. This is when most typefounders were exploiting their old punches and dies, and there was almost no one working on a new type. Thomas James, an Englishman who came to the Netherlands in 1710 for the types, wrote: „…It’s hardly possible to find an honest man: they all live buying and selling…“
The subject of lettering could very well migrate to the section of object design, as the work ABCHAIRS by Roeland Otten is the case at the junction of the two genres — type and furniture design. «You undoubtedly feel the inexpressible lightness of being when trying on the process of the invention of the chair out of the lowercase „h“, where the very essence of grapheme is a character with the legs and back. Or, for example, out of the capital „A“, which has a horizontal junction stroke in the middle — isn’t it a chair with a triangular back and resilient legs widely spaced apart?! But what about, say, the capital „L“ (or worse — the lowercase „l“)? Where’s its waist?» Text by Mitya Kharshak.
Section «Object» has turned out to be most abundant in publications. The editorial board is especially proud of the publication, devoted to one of the most famous objects by Gerrit Rietveld — the red and blue chair (not exactly the original one, but the later dedications to it and its design modifications). Many modern designers have paid tribute to the master and his famous object. The publication presents the «red-and-blue chairs»: by Lego; of small round logs; fitted into a cocoon; and made on a drawing with the left hand. The armchair, invented by Rietveld in 1917, still encourages contemporary designers for new achievements.
The only non-Dutch publication here is the article about Diagonal, a witty modern furniture object by the Stockholm studio o4i. However, this publication by us and Martela had been planned long before, so we decided not to interrupt the series of the articles.
The following article is about the literally brightest objects Mitya Kharshak spotted at the exhibition Liberation of light in the Dutch capital of design, the city of Eindhoven. Lamps made of dandelions, tomatoes as a power source, a still shining broken light bulb, and a birdhouse powered by solar batteries — this is not the list of «impossible» objects but real exhibits on display of Freedom of Light.
Ten recipes of color by Hella Jongerius continue the series of publications coming out in cooperation with Vitra. Both text and the picture are also by Hella.
Section «Environment» opens with an incredibly beautiful article about the Dutch pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai. The architect who came up with the idea of Happy Street, floating in the air, has sent the editorial board his first sketches and photographs of the finished pavilion. An extremely valuable material!
Slow Car, a dynamic object of environmental design by Jurgen Bey, is a materialized philosophical treatise, rather than an item of customary transport and/or environmental design. «It’s either a box office or a traveling puppet pavilion with the only puppeteer behind the curtain, or a constructivist reincarnation of a folkloric hut on chicken legs, now equipped by wheels and an electric engine, a concept of a private mobile space, an eco-friendly slug in the cities of the future, the retarder of the frantic pace of life». Text by Mitya Kharshak and Karin Long.
Section «Photography» shares the story of the Dutchman Jan Adriaans. After a long series of black and white pictures by photographers from St.Petersburg, Adriaans explodes the pages with color. Meet the juicy, powerful and, finally, color pictures in the Projector!
Section «School» shares a story in the first person. Irina Smirnova graduated from Type & media course. Exclusively for the Dutch issue of Projector, she happily recalled her student days: «You do not play!» was the most serious accusation, and the biggest mistake you could make while studying there».
Section «Books» has two wonderful articles. The first one is written by the well-known book collectors and historians Serge-Alyosha Stommelsom and Albert Lemmens. They share the unique materials from their extensive collection — Nieuw Rusland (New Russia) magazine. Surprisingly, it’s dedicated to the culture and art of the new Soviet state, which used to come out in the Netherlands at the time when all diplomatic relations between our countries were cancelled! In the late 1920s — early 1930s, this magazine had a relationship with the most significant designers, artists and photographers of the Netherlands at the time, including, by the way, Gerrit Rietveld, who we feature in the issue.
In the sections’s second publication, Hans Gremmen, the friend of Projector, and a famous designer from the Netherlands, presents his book «Fake flowers in full color». I think the author would be surprised to know «flowers» and «color» in Russian provide much more space for verbal juggling than their English versions!
