German furniture brands: Reports
imm cologne invites Lucie Koldova to turn “Das Haus 2018” into a poetic study of light

The young Czech designer from Prague is known for her extraordinary flair in designing lighting fixtures and lighting effects

Lucie Koldova. Photo: imm cologne

“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 superbglassware”, 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 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 glass lamp collection Muffins (for Brokis), produced in collaboration with Dan Yeffet 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”.

The designer moved 2009 from Prague to Paris where she founded the Lucie Koldova Studio in 2010. She works for prestigious companies in the lighting and furniture sector including Brokis, Per/Use, La Chance and Haymann Editions. 2012, Koldova returned to Prague where she settled down. Today, the 34-year-old is still 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 torealise 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 otherway around!”, says Lucie Koldova, summing up the new characteristics of “Das Haus” in a nutshell. By creating different light layouts and specific light feelings of each lighting cells, Koldova can reach interesting visual contradictions. We face a lot of stressful moments in real life, therefore the designer is seeking for a balance in “Das Haus.”

“People constantly swing back and forth between their feelings and moods, at home they should feel balanced and recharged. This is a place where light can help”, 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 notjust 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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