The local television SWR was with Totems the entire noon. They wanted to report how the Totems staff is preparing lunch vor everyone. Poor Chris sigend in for this event, unwittingly. He was accompanied by the TV Team and tried to ignore the camera, to give an authentic impression of how he thinks, works and cooks. We let you know when it’s on air!

Pecha Kucha was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. But as we all know, give a microphone to a designer (especially an architect) and you’ll be trapped for hours. The key to Pecha Kucha Night is its patented system of avoiding this fate. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds – giving him 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show something.
Pecha Kucha (which is Japanese for the sound of conversation) has tapped into a demand for a forum in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor. This is a demand that seems to be global – as Pecha Kucha Night, without any pushing, has spread virally to over 80 cities across the world. Find a location and join the conversation.

The Decumo is a platform for young designers to exhibit and sell their work. At this years Decumo we met many friends and Totems even supported the brand new fashion label “5 Töchter”, powered by Zweigart. At the Pecha Kucha Night the young design ladies presented their latest work.

Frank and Cüneyit represented Totems and showed rejected work. Frank said, it is a shame, that all the beautiful work disappears in some bloody drawer and no one actually cares anymore. THIS AIN’T GOOD!

They hold a very amusing keynote about the Totems work. It rather was a TRIBUTE 2 TOTEMS. Giving the work one more moment of glory.

In the end they were asked what’s happening with all these concepts? “We have a great idea!” Frank replied and aksed the audience for some patience. Totems always surprises.

The final performance was hold by an architecture student from Bulgaria. He really was hilarious. His story was about a small white square travelling to Bulgaria, in a 1963 Cadillac! Any questions?

Totems was asked to present the studio at the design festival in Essen @ the world famous Zeche Zollverein. Our PR lady Birgit made this come to reality. We felt very honoured to be part of this very elected design sceen. Of course there were mainly Essen based studios presenting themselves but only a very limited number of other studios were asked to come.

Due to this honour Frank came up with the idea and design of the Totems Cube. An exhibition space to show some of the Totems work. The design fitted perfectly in the awesome location and sure was one of the highlights.

Chris hold a keynote about the Expo project in Zaragossa next year and explained what Totems is gonna do and how it’s going to look like.

And here are the two who made all of this happen: Birgit and Steffen were the master commanders in charge on location. Like you can see: they never lost their twinkle, were always curious about new ideas and inspirations. Thanx for your effort. We hope to come back next year.

A journalist of the Stuttgarter Zeitung was at the Totems office last week. They wanted to document how the Totems staff designs their cooking sessions. If you keep an eye on what we post in this blog, you already found out that every Tuesday and every Thursday one of us cooks for everyone in the studio. This attitude had such an impact that even the press wanted to write about it. If you want to become a new client we kindly invite you to join us. But please announce that you are willing to taste our food variations (click to enlarge).

Dunja has a son! This little ‘poepie’ is called Nikai, born the 21st, and everything went really well!
Congratulations Dunja!

When Melle was taking snapshots with his phone on schiphol of the exhibits, someone found it neccesary to make a sliding on the “magic of flying” exhibit. Apparently she was drunk, and thought she was an airplane. (there were clouds projected on it)
Off course because of the very good construction, the exhibit survived.

This years ADAM & EVA award ceremony was – let’s put it that way: “interesting”! Like every year! But it makes me mad, if everyone grumps about the event structure, the location, the jury’s decisions, the show acts, etc. If this annual event is such a disaster, why the hell is everyone coming back, every year? The reason why is simple: It is the only chance meeting colleagues, friends, students and other partners! This event is actually a social platform. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s why I come – and believe me: it is the only reason! Unfortunately!

Interesting: talking to students who attended the award ceremony for the first time were shocked about how the branch celebrates itself. Where is the glamour? Where did the surprises go? Why is everything so compatible? We had very good chats with great inspiration and motivation. That’s why I feel called on to ask the chairmen of the FAMAB: Why don’t you increase the work with students? They would freshen up your old fashioned show. They would make an award ceremony more entertaining. Wouldn’t it be a great move to let the students go and still be supervised by an experienced agency? Dear chairmen: get real, your event needs an update! You must be willing for a change. Escape the ordinary. Seek help!

Simone of Totems Amsterdam had the chance to go to Hong Kong for a project for Herman Miller. She had to build up a stand there in the exhibitioncenter for the Leaflight. Some inspiring pictures of her and the advice to go there once, since it is really an amazing and inspirational city!