For the 14th consecutive year, AZURE TRADE TALKS presented international design newsmakers and stars who discussed their latest, not yet published works.

The much anticipated Azure Trade Talks returned to IDS12 with three fantastic internationally acclaimed designers including Bjarke Ingels of BIG Architects; Fabio Novembre, and Matali Crasset. This CEU accredited lecture series took place on the KRUPS stage on the exhibit floor during Trade Day. It was an unparalleled opportunity to meet and see world renowned designers and architects and hear about their inspiration, projects and view on the direction of current design trends.

11am

Matali Crasset
Principal, Matali Crasset Productions, Designer
Paris, France
Presented by 

Forward thinking Parisian designer, Matali Crasset is recognized internationally for her transformative concepts that push the boundaries of contemporary design. After spending five years working with Philippe Starck, Crasset opened her own studio in 1998. Matali Crasset Productions develop projects that encourage users to question the way they interact with objects and space. Always in search of new territories, Crasset explores synergies with creative actors from eclectic worlds; from crafts to electronic music, from the textiles industry to fair trade, furniture, architecture, graphics and art. The scope of the studio’s work is vast, from the meta to the micro. Recent work includes several hotels such as the French woodland hotel, Feral House Nichoir for which she designed a diamond-shaped cabin and the Hi Hotel, a small village-inspired hotel overlooking the Tunisian desert for which she designed 38 rooms in 9 different ways. She has also worked with a wide range of well-known furniture and product companies including Dornbracht, Domodinamica,Tefal and Edra. Crasset’s current focus is projects that encourage participation, on both local and global levels, in both rural and urban settings.

Dynamic Life Sofa

1pm

Fabio Novembre
Designer
Milan, Italy
Presented by

Milan-based designer Fabio Novembre is one of the most prolific designers today. He is internationally known for his daring and provocative approach to design, such as “Nemo”; his infamous oversized, human head-inspired arm chair, or the “Him & Her” chairs crafted and sculpted around the male and female forms created for Casamania. Fabio emerged into the international arena of design in the mid-nineties when after studying film at New York University, he met fashion designer Anna Molinari for whom he created his first interior project for her Hong Kong store. Shortly thereafter he opened his own studio in Milan. It was Novembre’s wildly creative vision that brought Bisazza to the forefront of the luxury mosaic tile industry during his rein as Creative Director from 2000 to 2003. Today, Novembre’s studio creates works for a wide variety of furniture brands including Cappellini, Driade, Meritalia, Flamina, and Casamania as well as interior projects for the Tardini shop in New York, the Blumarine store in London, Singapore and Tapei as well as the Meltin' pot and the Stuart Weitzman shops all around the world, from Rome to Beijing. Recent exhibitions include Comune of Milan dedicated solo show in the prestigious Rotonda di Via Besana named “ Teach me the freedom of swallows” in 2008, “Il Fiore di Novembre” at the Triennale Design Museum of Milan in 2009 and in 2010 Comune of Milan included a Fabio Novembre exhibit in the Italian Pavillion of Shanghai Expo.

3pm

Bjarke Ingels
Principal, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Architect
Copenhagen/New York City

“I work with the idea of hedonistic sustainability, which is sustainability that improves the quality of life and human enjoyment…

…people are willing to make sacrifices from time to time but they are not going to stop driving their kids to football. People don't drive cars because they want to pollute; they drive cars because they want to visit their friends. It's not about changing our behaviour – it's about designing our society in a smarter way.”

Bjarke Ingels, founder of the Copenhagen-based architectural firm BIG, is internationally renowned for his ability to combine at one extreme critical analysis and social responsibility with playful experimentation and humour on the other. Ingels’ portfolio of award-winning design projects includes the Stravanger Concert House for which he received the Golden Lion award and the VM Houses for which he was awarded the Forum AID Award. He is also author of several works including “Yes is more: an archicomic on architectural evolution”, where the architect as superhero is played by himself. Ingels is constantly deconstructing and redefining the design process. The phrase “Yes is more” is not only the title of his first written work, but is also his firm’s guiding philosophy; defying the formalism of the industry in the creation of inclusive, user-focused designs. Last year, Ingels designed the 2010 Danish Pavilion for the World Expo in Shanghai as a velodrome-inspired pavilion, complete with 1,500 bicycles for visitors to test-drive. More recently, Bjarke is reinventing the New York apartment with his revolutionary 57th Street and West Side Highway project. Defying the expected Bjarke has borrowed the asymmetrical peak of the pyramids while taking influence of cubist forms in his graceful execution of the new residential tower. It is for this style of controversial architecture that Fast Company recognized Ingels as one of their “Masters of Design” in 2010.