Sofa “Corques” and lamp “Bella” from PER/USE, designed in 2014. Photo: Koelnmesse, Lucie Koldova, Martin Chum
“Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” is a special kind of installation. For the seventh year running, the international interiors show imm cologne has invited an international designer to use architecture, interior design and furniture in a simulated house in order to make a personal statement about contemporary living. At the next edition of imm cologne, the approximately 180-square-metre installation located in Hall 2.2 of the Pure segment will be built and fitted out in accordance with the ideas of the Czech designer Lucie Koldova.
“Following the transatlantic ‘Haus’ by Todd Bracher, we are returning to Europe with Lucie Koldova, and turning our attention to the Czech Republic – the home of superb glassware”, reveals the Creative Director of imm cologne, Dick Spierenburg. “We were particularly impressed with her lamp designs. They reveal an ideal combination of materials like wood, brass and copper with the lustrous quality of glass that has been blown to the limits of what is technically possible – they are remarkable. In 2018, we are focussing on the subject of light and emphasising its importance as a creative design element. With this in mind, we also want to let our prestige project ‘Das Haus’ shine in a special light – in the truest sense. And, as a highly talented designer of lighting products, Lucie Koldova is the perfect person to do this.”
Lucie Koldova’s poetry in glass
Bohemian glass, also known as Bohemia crystal, enjoys an unparalleled reputation around the world. In her designs, Lucie Koldova demonstrates how this tradition can be interpreted in a modern style and at the highest standard. In 2010, shortly after graduating from the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, she achieved her international breakthrough with her lamp collection “Muffins” (for Brokis), produced in collaboration with Dan Yeffet in Paris. Their simple, elegant, sensual form and the attention to detail highlight the fine materials used and their high-quality workmanship. The designer’s knowledge and appreciation of the craft of glass production are expressed particularly strongly when combined with wood, marble or onyx. Lucie Koldova has been named “Czech Designer of the Year” and “Elle Decoration Talent”.
In 2009, the designer moved from Prague to Paris where, in 2010, she founded the Lucie Koldova Studio.She works for prestigious companies in the lighting and furniture sector including Brokis, PER/USE, La Chance and Haymann Editions. Today, the 34-year-old is once again working with her studio based in the city on the River Vltava. Her selection as the guest of honour for the internationally renowned, highly experimental design event “Das Haus” gives the designer from the Czech Republic a unique opportunity to realise the full potential of a structure’s interior design through the use of artificial or artistically arranged light.
A home: created by an atmosphere full of light
“Das Haus 2018” will be shaped less by walls than by lighting cells in which light, appearing in various forms and controlled in different ways, will not only mark out the space, but also support its function and a specific sentiment. “In my ‘Haus’, light will play the main role, and the furniture will complete the rooms – and not the other way around!”, says Lucie Koldova, summing up the new characteristics of “Das Haus” in a nutshell.
By designing different lighting layouts and specific light-related emotions in every lighting cell, Koldova is able to achieve interesting visual contradictions. Because we experience a variety of stressful situations in our everyday lives, the designer is trying to find a balance in her version of “Das Haus”. “People constantly swing back and forth between their feelings and moods; at home they should have the opportunity to feel calm and to rest. Light can help in these situations”, says Koldova. “An ideal living space therefore offers a wide variety of mood levels, because its rooms close the circle between the ideas in our emotional world and the demands of real life.” As a result, every room in Koldova’s “Haus” aims to represent a certain feeling and perform a practical role in everyday life in order to satisfy individual needs. Then, at its heart, a living room represents shared experiences.
“Das Haus” – half portrait of the designer, half future-focused concept
The “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” installation is a simulated residential house at the international interiors show imm cologne. Every year, a new designer is nominated and, based on their plans and designs, the fair organises the erection of an approximately 180-square-metre house in the Pure Editions area, Hall 2.2. The furniture, colours, materials, lighting and accessories are also selected by the designer, rendering the finished house an individual configuration of interior design. The integrated concept should not just be future-orientated, but also practical and, above all, authentic. “Das Haus – Interiors on Stage” is therefore a portrait of a designer as well as a visionary concept; an example of how one can create one’s own world as an expression of one’s own personality. The project deals not just with contemporary furnishing trends but also with the aspirations of the viewing public as well as social change.
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Rug “Brush” from Chevalier édition, designed in 2016. Photo: Koelnmesse, Lucie Koldova, Martin Chum
Lamp collection “Muffins” from Brokis, designed in 2010 in collaboration with Dan Yeffet. Photo: Koelnmesse, Lucie Koldova, Martin Chum
imm cologne has named the Czech creative talent Lucie Koldova as the new “Das Haus” designer. Photo: Koelnmesse, Lucie Koldova, Martin Chum