It is black – deep and mysterious. It is cubic – shiny on every side with sharp edges, it has the most rational and most perfect shape. It is nicely crafted – high-quality materials, premium finish, beautiful and elegant, pure class. Its versatility is endless – the word »omnifunctional« would have to be invented to best describe its usefulness that is boldly asking you to just start dreaming and then turn this thing into whatever you might desire it to be. It is what we all have secretly been waiting for, for such a long time – an overdue revelation, peak and condign conclusion of the process of modernization.
Therefore it is hardly surprising that THE BLACK CUBE had already been considered a design classic when it was first revealed to a broader audience in New York in December 2010. World-famous designers and intellectuals had given it their recognition months ago by that time, praising it as one of those rare cultural achievements that are capable of embodying the spirit and essence of a whole historical age, ushering in a new era that has yet to be defined.
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
Photography by Paul Gisbrecht
THE BLACK CUBE’s first public presentation was part of a show called »The Present« which was hosted by Parsons The New School for Design’s Gallery on 5th Avenue. It was a one-of-a-kind exhibition that claimed to be nothing less than a display of what the design of the future would ideally look like – a design that, in the double meaning of the show’s title, would ultimately be able to solve our present’s urgent problems and thus could tell us of the beneficial gift that design has to offer to the world.
THE BLACK CUBE evolved from a long term project at KISD which started in 2009 and was crowned with an exhibition in the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries located in the building of Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Within the framework of this project we organised interviews with world-famous designers in the likes of Dieter Rams, Stefan Sagmeister or Ruedi Baur, who where overwhelmed by the genuity of the instant design classic called THE BLACK CUBE.
Marc Pfaff, Andreas Unteidig and me had the idea for THE BLACK CUBE and developed the concept. The whole project was carried out together with a group of students both from Köln International School of Design and Parsons The New School for Design (Transdisciplinary Design). After the exhibition in New York Marc, Andreas and me organised further events relating to THE BLACK CUBE such as an exhibition in Cologne and a screening of the videos in Los Angeles.
Here you can find all the videos as well as more information about THE BLACK CUBE:
www.the-black-cube.com
Here you can find all the videos as well as more information about THE BLACK CUBE:
www.the-black-cube.com
