Today we had aour big event. Actually the peak of all our work for PINGPONG, the exhibition at Design Tide with the oblogate opnening Party, where we invited designers, sponsors, press and supporters. The toast was spoken by Mr. Nelson from the swiss embassy in Tokyo, who suporrted us for our exhibition.
After only two hours the big moment was over and we went out to have some Party…
Today the Design Tide starts. In the evening we went to the Design Tide opening. Really great this years Design Tide!
After we went to the Milk Café to build up our exhibition… At 3am we finished and went home tired.
So now it starts with connecting with designers, exhibitors, and other important people… First with todays Blickfang party at the german embassy.
Megumi intoduced us to lots of people and in the end we went with austrians ans swiss people who staied till the end of the pary for some karaoke in Shibuya (imagine a group of over 20 people in a japanese karaoke!). Was fun and something we couldn’t miss in Tokyo…
After three days in Kyoto we went back to Tokyo to welcome Sabine (3D designer), Christian (from Hinterhof - Eventpartner in Basel) and Andreas (DJ - helped us with the booking for the preview-event in Basel). Now we are completet, 12 swiss guys in Tokyo 
Next week me and Koh start with all preparations for the Design Tide exhibition in the Milk Café, Harajuku.
After two days in Tokyo I decided to change my Japan Rail Pass and go to Kyoto with the designers Sarah and Amancaya to get some traditional Japanese culture…
The first day we went to Gion, a rally nice old area of Kyoto and in the evening to Kyumizu-dera Tempe. It was very mystic, with rainiy weather, sunset and the lights of Kyoto in the back. After Amancaya left Sahrah and me went to a little onsen, but it was not as nice as the one in Nagaoka, just a hot bath with no outside area…
This morning we packed and then went to NID to say goodbye to Joerg. As well we went to Mrs. Ueyama to say goodbya and thankyou. We had a good and nice time in Nagaoka. After saying goodbye and taking some picts of the nice NID building we left for the station where we got on our shinkansen to Tokyo.
Back in Tokyo we met Matthias (the PINGPONG photographer) who arrived on thursday. In town I had a meeting with Koh, Thomas and Klaus to speak about our Design Tide exhibition in the MiLK Café. Then we met the two swiss PINGPONG designers Sarah Weishaupt and Amancaya Mariño, who arrived with Mathias.
Today the Design Fair Nagaoka is going on from 9:30am till 4pm. So Ines is sitting here, looking after the exhibition and is blogging… At 6pm we started to break down the exhibition already. It went really fast the time in Nagaoka.
After the work we went to town searching for a restaurant. Wo found such a nice one!! Great food (we eat the best fish ever), really nice chef who gave us sooo many things to try and talked to us all the time (actually we didn’t really understand)…
Today the Design Fair Nagaoka had its opening. With a ceremony and many people. In the speech of the director, PINGPONG was introduced to the audience, thank you Mrs. Ryoko Ueyama!
In the evening we were invited by the director Mrs. Ryoko Ueyama for dinner in a awesome Japanese restaurant. For the future of intercultural design exchnages…
Today we were invited to do an hiking trip to Niigata prefectures mountains together with Students from NID. It was very nice to see some Japaese nature and do nothing for PINGPONG during one day…
On top of the mountain we had a real Swiss picnic and at the buttom of the mountain Klaus, Fabian and me jumped into the Japan see!
This morning we presentated our PINGPONG project in front of Students of the Nagaoka Institute of Design (NID). I was speaking in English while Joerg translated into Japanese. As well Klaus showed parts of the designer interviews he and Fabian filmed in Switzerland. Fabian was filming and Thomas joined the lecture as part from “rotweisskariert” (PINGPONG project partner).
After the lecture Klaus did some interviews with Designers from NID who were participants at the PINGPONG project. In the evening we all went to an Onzen, our first experience in the Japanese hot springs, very relaxing and just the right thing for a day we were just only working…
In the morning I did some preparations for the PINGPONG lecture we gonna have tomorrow. Then Thomas arrived from Tokyo and we went to Niigata with two students of Nagaoka Institute of Design. There we visited the aquarium and had a nice dinner… Quite relaxing day.
Early we started with building the PINGPONG exhibition in the foyer at Nagaoka Institute of Design. Joerg organiced a couple of students who helped us. But there where some difficulties: They all didn’t speak English. So Joerg had to translate all the time…
After a lot of sweat we finished at exactly 6pm when the opening started. Joerg and me spoke some intriduction and then the director, Mrs. Ryoko Ueyama did the toast and opened the exhibition. It was nice and quite a lot of people came and spoke to us. But very fast almost everyone was gone. With the last ones who were there we went for a really nice, traditionally japanese dinner.
Early we left Tokyo for Nagaoka. In Nagaoka Joerg picked us up at the station and brougt us to aour flats (everyone of us has got his own flat, wow!). We made a little sight seeing tour through the Nagaoka Institute of Design (NID) where we gonna exhibit the next days… A very nice building!!
We made some preparations for tomorrow and went to sleep early. We are still all jetlaged!
I got up early again and met Koh to finish the Design Tide Flyer for the PINGPONG exhibition in Tokyo. Then we went to get our JR-East Railpass to go to Nagaoka the next day for the first PINGPONG exhibition in Japan. In the evening we had a nice dinner together with Koh who showed us a “gopferdelli” japanese restaurant. After having a cofe in an upper floor café in Tokyo we went home and packed all PINGPONG objects together for the Nagaoka exhibition.
Today I got up very early to meet Thomas in Sasazuka. He brought me some more PINGPONG objects which he brought to Tokyo. Then I met Koh and we spoke about the Desig Tide exhibition. Then we visited the exhibition place: the Milk Café in Harajuku. A very nice, tiny Café.
After Koh had to leave I met the boys (Klaus and Fabian) in Shibuya and we went to have some nice japanese Sushi
After a long trip, Klaus, Fabian and Ines arrived in Tokyo with a lot of bagagge for the PINGPONG exhibitions in Japan.
We are living in Ota-ku, close to Gotanda Station in a nice guest house with other students, teachers and japanese people who are living here…
After a little rest (we are all very tired and feeling drunk after the long flight) we met Thomas from rotweisskariert and Rose (the fabulous PINGPONG translator) with Basil and Johannes for dinner. And tomorrow the preparation for Design Tide gonna start.
Here are some impressions of the showrrom which had its doors open from 29. July until today, 3. Aug. It has been visited by about 500 people which came to see all products of this intercultural design exchange between Switzerland and Japan. It has as well been a good oportunity for Ines (the project founder) to get feedback from the various visitors and to have talks about the sustainability of the project which all have been very positive. Thanks again to everybody involved in building up and organising the event and showroom!
After the event the team cleaned the hall and set up everything for the showroom at the same place. It has been a very though task to it build after a night like this…
Now, here they are, the PINGPONG-products the first time publicly shown!
Our special thanks go to:
- Sabine Lauber: Coordination
- Andrea Otto & Conny Biotti: Production
- K-Pony, Seraina & Meret: Hair & Make-Up
- Silvan Scherer & Raphael Rossel: Light & Techs
- Nerds in Disguise (N.I.D.): Sound
- Martin Fuchs: Trailer
- Timon Christen & Raphael Faeh: Visuals, Titles, Slides
- Brigitte Fässler: Photos (as shown above)
…and to the PINGPONG-models: Leonie, Anja, Jacqueline, Jacqueline L., Noemi, Denise, Mirjam
Show concept by:
Ines Blank, Noah Baumgartner, Raphael Rossel, Ruth Scheel, Fabian Müller, Silvan Scherer, Konrad Sigl, Gabriel Roth, Klaus Bernhard, Raphael Faeh, Reto Zürcher.
Brigitte Fässler took impressive pictures of the hall shortly before the event started.
We are happy that finally we have built up with pressure the different areas in the e-halle for the event. There is now a bar, a lounge, 2 dj-places, a pingpong table, a technic facility, 2 big beams, a screen-wall, podests for the catwalk, a food stall, a backstage area (etc) installed… means: that has been a lot of work! Thanks to all the volunteers, the hall is now ready for the show!
The moment has come to show the world what Swiss and Japanese designers produced during the last couple of months. Never before have objects been designed by young artists of an eastern country ïn conjunction with representants of a western culture. The only communication between the two parts has been their work.
Come and see the results of that extraordinary international design exchange at 26. July 08 and from 29. July until 3. August 08 at E-Halle on Basel’s NT-Areal:
Presenting the flyer:
Mathias Stich took pictures of the artworks for the official PINGPONG publication which will be available for sale at the showroom at E-Halle (29. July - 3. August 2008)
Fotographer: Mathias Stich
Assistant: Brigitte Fässler
Hair and Make-Up: Ines Blank
Model: Sarah Weishaupt
The PINGPONG Team is happy to announce that today the project reached one of the final milestones: the objects finalised by the Japanese designers have arrived in Basel. All the artworks will be presented at the Preview event at 26.7.2008 and at the PINGPONG-showroom as of 29. July until 3. August 2008 at E-Halle in Basel. Some impressions from the arrival:
Ines organised a two day workshop in order to organise and conceptualy get ready for the PINGPONG Preview event at 26.7.2008.
Klaus and Fabian went shooting two Swiss designers for the documentary film. They visited Franziska Portmann in Lucerne and Patricia Wicky in Zürich, both participating PINGPONG-designers from Switzerland.
There’s another trinkenhilft event coming up this saturday 21.6.2008 at ABX-Bar at the NT-Areal. For the footie fans the Euro’s quarterfinals will be shown on screen. A pingpong-rundlauf battle and DJ “the fire of Bora Bora” will guarantee that you burn the calories of your beers.
It has never been easier to show your support: drinking without bad conscience! Every beer and every vodka will do good, again… for the PINGPONG-Project! See you there!
The PINGPONG Project has reached another milestone: the objects from the designers in Japan have finally arrived! We are so exited about the great work our Japanese friends did! Have a look at the slideshow below. In the meantime we’ve already sent the items to the Swiss designers, which will finish things within the next weeks.
Here are some impressions of the trinkenhilft event at Friends Bar in Basel, Switzerland. Thank you all for your kind support!
For fundraising reasons we organised a trinkenhilft event at Friends Bar in Basel. It has never been easier to show your support: drinking without bad conscience! Every beer and every vodka will do good… for the PINGPONG-Project! See you there!
Koh, the PINGPONG project partner in Tokyo is obviously impressed and inspired by the work of the swiss designers…
A small step for a man, one giant leap for intercultural design-exchange!
All the artworks of the swiss PINGPONG designers have been packed and sent out to Japan today. We are dying to see the items when Japanese designers completed their work!
Matthias Stich, the official PINGPONG photographer, took pictures of the works and fellow student Elvira played the model. The session serves the purpose of documentation. Selected pictures will be published in the PINGPONG documentation showing the states of the exchange process.
Some impressions from our weekly PINGPONG meeting. We’ve tackled sponsor acquisition, event plannig and upcoming tasks. Unfortunately PINGPONG still lacks a presenting sponsor and we still need to convince potential partners to contribute to our project. But the interest of local and national media about PINGPONG makes us confident that PINGPONG will get the sponsorship needed.
In due time the swiss designers delivered their works. It’s amazing what they did with the blank fabrics we’ve sent out a couple of days ago. Have look yourself:
The cloth portions being assembled by four different types of fabric have been sent out to the swiss participants of PINGPONG. Thanks to Basel-Stadt Schulmaterial-Verwaltung we have been able to pack things in a neat cuby box. Each designer will get his basic raw material which she/he will form (3D) or print/paint (2D) on. We are anxious to see the results in 10 days! Good Luck!
Today, the PINGPONG jury - being Melanie Fischer, fashiondesigner & illustrator, Claudia Güdel, fashiondesigner and Guillaume Daeppen, galerist - has chosen the 10 designers from Switzerland which will participate in the design-exchange with Japan.
3D Designers CH:
2D Designers CH:
A few impressions of the jury at work:
The first parcel going to Tokyo, Japan full with cloth for the Japanese PINGPONG designers. Raphi and Fabian prepared it and brought it to the post office.
PINGPONG now has its own weblog. In future you will find here news, updates and a hopefully rich documentation of the total new design exchange concept between Switzerland and Japan. Completely equiped and warmed up we are ready to start the game! Set one, serve one!
