"We have the same opinions about Trump as we do Bolsonaro," says BIG's Kai-Uwe Bergmann

Working on tourism projects in Brazil could help alleviate poverty and reduce destruction of the rainforests, according to BIG partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann.

Bergmann added that the firm does not condone the policies of the country's controversial president Jair Bolsonaro.

Responding to criticism of BIG founder Bjarke Ingels' recent meeting with Bolsonaro, Bergmann said the firm was not working for the president and that architects should engage with, rather than walk away from, complex issues.

He added that BIG has in the past resigned from projects on ethical grounds, but said that refusing to work in places like Brazil because you don't agree with its political leadership is not the right approach.

"We're not working for Bolsonaro."

"In no way do we condone Bolsonaro," Bergmann said after giving a lecture at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair in Sweden this week. "I want to make it specifically clear, we're not working for Bolsonaro."

The architect compared the situation with working in the US, where the New York-headquartered firm has a number of projects underway despite not agreeing with the policies of president Donald Trump.

"We have the same opinions about Trump as we do Bolsonaro," he continued. "Working for the National Park Service [...] doesn't mean that you're working for Trump."

Bergmann said that Ingels' visit to Brazil was related to a project with the country's national park agency, as part of an initiative "to improve the economic abilities" in northeast of Brazil.

Brazil project could help protect the Amazon rainforest

The project, he said, could offer a way to alleviate poverty in the region, where local people have no economic alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture – whereby pockets of virgin forest are burned to create space for crops. In turn, this would protect the rainforest, according to Bergmann.

"There's no support for the agriculture so they use slash-and-burn techniques to actually create fertilised earth the fastest," Bergmann said. "Slash and burn is the actual root cause of the forest fires."

"If we can actually start thinking about how to offer a variety of economic possibilities for the people in the northeast of Brazil, then perhaps they don't have to slash and burn," he continued.

Ingels received widespread criticism for meeting Bolsonaro last month due. The right-wing president is a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage and drew widespread criticism for his response to fires Amazon last year.

Shortly afterwards, Ingels defended the meeting and described the backlash as an "oversimplification of a complex world".

BIG pulls put of projects on ethical grounds

Bergmann made the comments in response to a question from a member of the audience at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair 2020, where he was giving a talk yesterday.

Addressing critics who feel that BIG does not care about ethical issues, he gave details of two projects the firm has pulled out of due to unease about the client's intentions.

"We started a project in South Korea for one of the conglomerates to do a solar research facility," he said. "Halfway through the project, they changed it into a drone manufacturing plant and we asked the question, 'how are these drones to be used?' They wouldn't tell us, so we pulled out of that project."

Bergmann also cited the National Library project in Kazakhstan, which they dropped "when it turned into a glorification of the leader".

Dezeen broadcasted a number of talks on the first day of the event, which takes place at Stockholmmassan in the Swedish capital from 4 to 8 February.

They included a lecture by London-based studio Doshi Levien about its design process and a discussion between Emma Olbers and Emeco CEO Gregg Buchbinder on how the furniture industry can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Bergmann is one of 17 partners that lead international firm BIG, which Ingels founded in 2005. He is a registered architect in 13 US states and oversees the firm's business development and communications.

Photograph is courtesy on Flemming Leitorp.

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Dezeen Weekly features a building with resemblance to Donald Trump's hair

The latest edition of Dezeen Weekly includes a building by Morphosis that some readers think looks like Donald Trump's hair and detailed images showing the surface of the sun. Subscribe to Dezeen Weekly ›

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Festival in India offers Morag Myerscough "unequivocal apology" for copying her work

Sulafest music festival in India has apologised to British designer Morag Myerscough for copying her colourful pavilion design, promising to commission original work in future.

Myerscough credited the "power of Instagram" for alerting her to the issue and supporting her campaign to get images of the copied work removed and the theft acknowledged.

A representative of Sula Vineyards, which runs the festival, has offered the designer an "unequivocal apology".

"This was an inadvertent oversight on our part and we take responsibility for it not happening in the future and ensuring that original artworks are put up and the artists get their due," they said.

Artists should be paid to do new work not copies

The designer, who had just returned from India where she delivered a talk at a symposium for women in design, told Dezeen that she hopes Sulafest champion original work from Indian artists and designs in future.

Morag Myerscough's Temple of Agape was built in London in 2014

"I want them to spend money on an artist to actually do new work," Myerscough told Dezeeen.

"People from India who've been in contact with me said this is a big thing they want to change," she added.

"That this [copying] is a thing that happens and it's sort of okay, in people's minds. But actually, as a young, burgeoning arts and design scene, they don't want this to happen. They don't want to take work from other people, you know, they want it to have integrity."

An entrance gate at the two-day event, held by India's largest winemaker Sula Vineyards, was an almost exact copy of Myerscough's 2014 design for the Temple of Agape. Together with Luke Morgan, Myerscrough designed the architectural installation for the Festival of Love, a cultural at London's Southbank Centre.

"There were too many similarities"

She was alerted to the copy when people sent her screenshots of pictures shared by Sulafest on Instagram pointing out the similarities.

Myerscough posted a side-by-side comparison of her Temple of Agape next to the picture from Sulafest on her own account.

Myerscough was alerted to the copy when people sent her screenshots

"It was blatant," said Myerscough. "You know, there were too many similarities."

The comparison clearly shows how many elements are the same, including the brightly painted boards with words above a name spelled out over a logo in a halo effect, and patterns of colourful shapes either side.

Sulafest was held at the Sula Vineyards winery in Nashak, western India over the weekend of 1 and 2 February. Sula Vineyards is India's largest winery, employing over 800 people and owned by Rajeev Suresh Samant.

Sula Vineyards agreed to remove images

A representative of Sula Vineyards reached out to Myerscough to apologise and initially offered to credit her work as an inspiration for the piece, but the designer refused out of principle.

"I said, look, I want you to take down every post and I don't want my name connected to this work. Because there is also that thing that if somebody writes the words 'inspired by' that's okay," Myerscough said.

"I think that's all right if you're a dead artist, but not if you're alive and doing things."

Sulafest has promised to commission original artworks from now on

Sula Vineyards have now removed all of the images of the plagiarised work and promised Myerscough to donate to an arts charity of her choice. Myerscough says she is happy with this positive ending to the story.

Positive resolution demonstrates "power of people"

She has published parts of her email exchange in a follow-up post on Instagram, asking her followers to suggest good causes for the £2,000 donation promised by Sula Vineyards.

"India is such an amazing, vibrant place and the people are so fantastic," said Myerscough.

"They want to do amazing things, you know, so they're very passionate. So then they're very hurt that there's been [an incident] like this. That's why there was this amazing support," she added,

"The most important thing is the power of Instagram and the power of people."

Photos of Temple of Agape, 2014, by Gareth Gardiner.

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Paper Quilling Process Shown Step-by-Step in New Video by Yulia Brodskaya

“Jaguar.” All images © Yulia Brodskaya

Known for her technique of “painting with paper,” Yulia Brodskaya (previously) has crafted a new piece titled “Jaguar,” a portrait blending human and cat features. In a recent video posted to her Facebook, the U.K.-based artist shares her creative process, starting with a sketched figure on a black board. Brodskaya then fills in small patches with neutral-toned paper, clipping them in place until she attaches the next piece. The artist even utilizes a tweezers to position some of the singular layers and shows her quilling technique up close as she bends strips of paper before wrapping the edge around the folds. For more of Brodskaya’s paper paintings, head to Instagram.

 

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Nomos updates four original watches with versions for a slimmer wrist

Promotion: watchmaker Nomos Glashütte has designed slimmed-down versions of four timepieces the company launched more than 25 years ago, each with space for a personalised engraving on the back of its case.

Nomos has created slender versions of its classic Ludwig, Tangente, Orion and Tetra models, designed for more delicate wrists, which it calls "duo" because the timepieces have just two hands.

The faces of the three round watches – called Orion, Tangente and Ludwig – measure just 33 millimetres in diameter, while each side of Tetra's square watch-face measures 27 millimetres.

"These reduced versions of the Nomos classics exude elegance without a sub-seconds dial – and tick as reliably and precisely as any other Nomos watch," said the company.

As in the original versions of the four styles, the watch cases are made from stainless steel, with white-silver-plated dials. The hands are a contrasting golden colour to complement the stainless-steel cases.

The reverse of each watch features space for a personalised engraved message, for example if the timepiece were to be given as a Valentine's Day or birthday gift.

According to the company, the slimmer style of the duo watches reflects the Bauhaus school ideals of stripping designs down to their essentials.

"Nomos watches are not in the style of the Bauhaus of 1919," the company explained. "However, we think they are the way the Bauhaus designers would perhaps create and wear them now. In other words, they are the Bauhaus of 2020."

The watch straps are made from beige velour leather and the typography of the numbers has been softened by using mocha-brown rather than the more standard black.

The Tangente and Tetra styles feature numbers at 12, two, four, six, eight and 10 to indicate the time, while the Ludwig watch displays Roman numerals. Orion has a very clean design with no numbers at all.

Nomos was founded in 1990 in Glashütte, a renowned watchmaking town in Germany.

It is a member of the Deutscher Werkbund, a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists established in 1907, which still exists today.

In order to be a designated Glashütte watch, at least 50 per cent of the watch components must be made in the town. At Nomos Glashütte, up to 95 per cent of each watch movement is locally produced.

The duo watches are available online and with retailers. To find out more about the collection visit the Nomos Glashütte website.

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