Christoph Niemann: Illustration • 2017 • episode "S1E1" Abstract: The Art of Design

Category: Design

From New Yorker covers to Instagram sketches, illustrator Christoph Niemann plays with abstraction and interactivity -- and questions authenticity.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

patreon.com

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

Abstract: The Art of Design • 2017 - 2019 • 14 episodes •

Christoph Niemann: Illustration

From New Yorker covers to Instagram sketches, illustrator Christoph Niemann plays with abstraction and interactivity -- and questions authenticity.

2017 • Design

Tinker Hatfield: Footwear Design

Tinker Hatfield's background in architecture and athletics sparked his game-changing shoe designs for Nike, including the iconic Air Jordan series.

2017 • Design

Es Devlin: Stage Design

Stage designer Es Devlin crafts evocative sets for concerts, operas, plays and runway shows using light, film, sculpture -- and even rain.

2017 • Design

Bjarke Ingels: Architecture

Architect Bjarke Ingels unites function, fantasy and sustainability in “pragmatic utopian” designs like a clean power plant topped with a ski slope.

2017 • Design

Ralph Gilles: Automotive Design

As Fiat Chrysler’s global head of design, Ralph Gilles steers the brand into the future with sleek new sports cars and a self-driving electric van.

2017 • Design

Paula Scher: Graphic Design

Graphic designer Paula Scher paints with words, developing the visual language of iconic brands and institutions around the world.

2017 • Design

Platon: Photography

Platon’s fearless portraits capture the souls of world leaders and ordinary people. A shoot with Gen. Colin Powell provides a window into his process.

2017 • Design

Ilse Crawford: Interior Design

Interior designer Ilse Crawford creates spaces and objects that engage the senses and promote well-being, from high-end hotels to Ikea furniture.

2017 • Design

Olafur Eliasson: The Design of Art

Olafur Eliasson creates sensory-rich immersive installations, including a lamp-lit sun at the Tate Modern and chunks of Arctic ice on city streets.

2019 • Design

Neri Oxman: Bio-Architecture

Can we design our way out of an ecological crisis? At the MIT Media Lab, Professor Neri Oxman cultivates new materials that emulate nature.

2019 • Design

Ruth Carter: Costume Design

A visual storyteller and frequent Spike Lee collaborator, Ruth E. Carter won an Oscar for her Afrofuturistic costume design for "Black Panther."

2019 • Design

Cas Holman: Design for Play

As founder of toy company Heroes Will Rise, Cas Holman crafts tools and objects designed to inspire kids (and adults) to play creatively.

2019 • Design

Ian Spalter: Digital Product Design

On the heels of leading influential projects for Nike and Instagram, Ian Spalter explains the process of experimenting with new product designs.

2019 • Design

Jonathan Hoefler: Typeface Design

While researching vintage watches as inspiration for a new font, Jonathan Hoefler delves into his work for Apple, Obama's "Change" campaign and more.

2019 • Design

You might also like

Helvetica

A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.

2007 • Design

The Toilet: An Unspoken History

We each spend three years of our lives on the toilet, but how happy are we talking about this essential part of our lives? This film challenges that mindset by uncovering its role in our culture and exploring the social history of the toilet in Britain and abroad - as well as exploring many of our cultural toilet taboos. Starting in Merida, Spain with some of the the earliest surviving Roman toilets, we journey around the world - from the UK to China, Japan and Bangladesh - visiting toilets, ranging from the historically significant to the beautiful, from the functional and sometimes not-so-functional to the downright bizarre. Leading the journey is Everyman figure, Welsh poet and presenter Ifor ap Glyn, who has a passionate interest in the toilet, its history and how it has evolved over the centuries, right up to the development of the current design. Finally, there's a glimpse of the future and a possible solution to the global sanitation issues we now face.

2012 • Design

Designing with Ghosts

Nicholas Kennedy works with the ghosts of printing’s past, by using salvaged equipment. His style of “anti-design” or “found design” insists that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you create. He suddenly makes the dying art of bookmaking seem very much alive.

S1E5Great Minds of Design • 2012 • Design

Meet the Makers

Join us as we travel across the globe and meet artisans of some age-old crafts. In a time where consumerism fuels the machines of mass production and instant gratification, watch as these men and women devote their lives to preserve the artistry of their trade with their handiwork.

2018 • Design

Underground

Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin explore unusual homes built underground. In Greece, they view a house hidden beneath the landscape that still boasts stunning sea views. In the Swiss Alps, they visit a house made so invisible it has to be accessed via a tunnel. Next it's over to New Zealand's South Island to a house built underground to soften its impact on the landscape as well as withstand the threat of earthquakes, before the pair inspects a Dutch house created by deep excavation, which features a huge, light-filled open-plan living space.

S1E4The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2017 • Design

USA

Piers and Caroline end their tour in Florida with a waterfront wonder, a modest pavilion, a modernist showpiece and a high-end home built on stilts

S2E1The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2018 • Design