Urbanism 11 February: ECC Lighting and Splore Giveaways
Win an Icon of Modern Italian Design with ECC 
Every year at this time ECC Lighting + Furniture clears out their showroom to make room for all the new products that will be announced at the Milan Furniture Fair ’10. The sale runs until 3 March, with up to 70% off certain items (conditions apply).
We have one classic Tolomeo desk lamp from ECC to give away. Designed by Michele De Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina, the Tolomeo won the Compasso d’Oro design prize in 1989. Just email urbanism@agm.co.nz with the name of the first product on the ECC Annual Sale webpage, with ‘Tolomeo’ in the subject line. Entries close 24 February.
>> Visit www.ecc.co.nzBlogging Design 
The current issue of Urbis looks at the people behind some of our favourite design blogs and sites. Pick up the magazine to check out the ones we’ve profiled in depth, but in the meantime, here’s another five blogs that inspire us, entertain us or make us laugh. [Image © Dwell magazine]
>> An Australian blog with an atmospheric collection of art and design: allthemountains.blogspot.com
>> A well-edited collection of stunning architecture, design and art images. With no text, this new-ish blog is all about seductive images: www.everythingreturnstothesea.com
>> Hilariously dead-pan, this site (pictured) captions architectural photos published in American Dwell magazine with witty alternate scenarios that look bizarre out of context: unhappyhipsters.tumblr.com
>> Though probably designed for a professional audience, with reviews of new fonts and graphically designed books, it is an insight into a wonderful word of sans-serif, punctuation and the small details of type and graphics: typographica.org
>> A blog and studio run by Tina Roth Eisenberg, a ‘Swiss designer gone NYC’, which consistently makes the lists of top design blogs: www.swiss-miss.com
Audi Design Ambassador Revealed 
Audi unveiled the striking new A5 Sportback at an exclusive launch party at Auckland’s Ironbank building last night, where the car was presented in its robotic car-stacker. The event also featured the announcement of well-known Kiwi architect and Ironbank designer, Richard Naish, as the Audi New Zealand Design Ambassador.
“Aesthetics, innovation, and practicality are all vital to great architecture. Audi vehicles share these same characteristics, resulting in innovative cars like the A5 Sportback,” said Naish.
Watch a video of the new A5 Sportback in action here
Ironbank is also the venue for the Urbis/Audi installation for Designday this year. The innovative car stacker allows for a 33% greater parking capacity. To see how it works, click here
1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces Exhibition and Blog 
Giant edifices created by star architects are in the news every day – but the V&A Museum in London is taking a different tack, by commissioning seven architects at the forefront of experimental design to create their first built structures in the UK. The small-scale structures will be installed in various locations within the museum from 15 June to 30 August this year, and include a wooden retreat on stilt-like legs (Terunobu Fujimori, Japan), a ‘reading tower’ filled with 6,000 books accessible by a spiral staircase (Rintala Eggertsson, Norway) and a series of narrow corridors and spaces mimicking the ad hoc structures that emerge between buildings in high density urban areas (Studio Mumbai, India).
[Pictured: Chashitsu Tetsu, Terunobu Fujimori, 2005]
>> The V&A’s architecture curator, Abraham Thomas, is writing a blog to chart the development of the exhibition here
Splore Giveaway 
Now into its second decade, the three-day Splore Festival brings together workshops, art and, of course, music (this year includes sets from Basement Jaxx, Lupe Fiasco and Nathan Haines) in the bucolic setting of the Tapapakanga Regional Park in the Coromandel. This year, Urbis faves Cut Collective have teamed up with architect Jasper Middleton to create a new space on site, which uses optical tricks to literally change your point of view. The festival runs 19 – 21 February, and we have one ticket worth $185 to give away.
Just email urbanism@agm.co.nz with the name of three NZ music artists appearing at Splore, with ‘Splore’ in the subject line. Entries close Wednesday 17 February, and *entrants must be able to pick up ticket from our reception in Kingsland, Auckland during business hours.
>> Visit www.splore.net
Hawke’s Bay Lecture Series 
We’ve covered the creative scene in Hawke’s Bay in the magazine (Issue 52), so it’s good to see a new event on the horizon for the area – launched by the mighty Max Gimblett, no less. The 2010 Creative Hawke’s Bay Lecture Series will open on Tuesday 2nd of March with a special presentation from the New York-based Gimblett, and will run on the second Tuesday of each month until November.
>> Visit www.creativehawkesbay.co.nz
Win a Piece of Art for a Year 
Our good friends at art sales and leasing company Art Associates are running a competition to celebrate the launch of their new website – they’re giving away a piece by one of their represented artists to hang in your home or office for one year. The new site, incidentally, has also been nominated for an ONYA web design award. All you need to do is visit and vote for your favourite page.
[Image: Charlotte Fisher, Bough]
>> Visit www.artassociates.co.nz
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