Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
The democratic strategies of Scandinavian design
SIAN LEWIS draws attention to a tradition of design whose mass production was conceived for the greater good rather than the greatest profit
Scandinavian
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
Scandinavian Design
Charlotte & Peter Fiell, Taschen, £25
THE latest update of Charlotte and Peter Fiell’s 2002 Taschen book on Scandinavian design comes as part of the German art publisher’s 40th anniversary celebrations and is a weighty little brick of a book, 512 pages but with a footprint barely larger than a piece of A5 paper, perfect for the tiniest of minimalist coffee tables. The quality is as excellent as we have come to expect from the carbon-neutral publisher.
It’s always a tricky argument when defending good aesthetics against the purely functional, but why is it not possible to have both — and not just for the enjoyment of the wealthy?
In Sweden, 19th century socialist Ellen Key argued for “Skonhet at Alla” (beauty for all) and the Swedish Society of Craft & Industrial Design, set up in 1845 to oversee the quality of mass-produced goods, employed the slogan “Vackrare Vardagsvara” (more beautiful everyday objects).
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While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
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