An exhibition at Appel Design Gallery, Berlin, 1-22 Nov. 2008

 This Open Design collection of lighting and furniture limited editions is playing a double role. As gallery pieces, they express my personal style: simple, effortless and humorous. But they also relate to wider cultural issues and offer a designer an alternative course to consumer products, especially relevant in economically troubled times.

 Open Design products flow with an essential cultural wave: towards freer information, Web-based collaborations and open-source methods. In Open Design anyone can download and produce my designs for free. Open Designs encourage modification, redistribution, and direct contact with the designer. I would only ask producers to share with me revenues from commercial uses. This means that with no tooling investment, you can produce Open Design products independently. 

 “Hard copies” of the designs can be ordered from any CNC cutting facility that’s local to you, your consumers, or distributors. Open Design’s 2D digital start point, makes them easy to alter into new shapes and uses, and they are flat packed. Designs that typically live only a few years in the marketplace can live on and develop.

 There is a feeling about Open Design I would like to convey. Making products this way is, for me, mind-clearing and fun. You can feel as good about the Open Design production process, its low environmental footprint, and what it stands for, as you do about the objects themselves.

Ronen Kadushin and the Hard Copies collection is represented by Appel Design Gallery, Berlin.