Ron Arad (subject of a retrospective exhibition at London's Barbican Centre until May 16) chronicles his career path and discusses his design philosophy in an interview with Business Week Magazine.

News YSA at ICFF

ICFF exhibits furniture produced by students at the Yale School of Architecture. May 15-18, New York.

Find Growing Ideas

Cité du Design in Saint-Etienne, France, hosts Growing Materials, an exhibit that explores new possibilities for renewable organic-source materials, including wood, multi-ply, composite fibreboards and compostables.

In Memoriam

The Guardian prints this epitaph about Lucienne Day, "the foremost British textile designer of her period," who died aged 93 on January 30.

Where did it go?

Find archived VCR home page items here or search 200+ VCR news and contemporary resources pages here.

VCR invites submissions that are relevant to sustainable furniture design and responsible manufacturing.

A few years ago Professor Henry Mintzberg (McGill University) and Joseph Lampel tracked the careers of 19 Harvard Business School "superstar" graduates and found "10 were outright failures . . . four had questionable records and five out of the 19 seemed to do well." Source: Michael Enright's April 2009 CBC interview with Professor Mintzberg. (If the podcast only seems to play a short intro item, click on the "slider" and adjust the begin time.)

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News US Recovery

Smith Leonard's February newsletter Furniture Insights reports sales of US residential furniture increased in the last two months of 2009, with December 2008 sales 21 per cent lower than 2007, deeming the December 2009 increase of 12 per cent over 2008 (in their words) "a move in the right direction."

News SA Finalists

Design Indaba lists the 12 finalists for The Most Beautiful Object in South Africa on exhibit at Design Indaba Expo 2010, Cape Town, February 24-26.

News One More Chair

The Sustainable Furnishings Council's 2010 One Good Chair competition calls for a "casual" lounge chair from entrants under 30 years old. Deadline May 1 (late registration June 15).

Bio 22, a competition based in Ljubljana, Slovenia, gives priority to entries of manufactured product designs (including furniture) that address eco-concerns. Deadline April 12.

News Top Green Towns

San Francisco, Boston, New York, Detroit and Portland top the Center for American Progress list for green jobs in American cities.

News Restoring Habitat

Cabinet Maker magazine reports UK retailer Habitat plans a number of steps to return to profitability, including redundancies at head office and opening new stores in Liverpool and Bilbao.

News UK Top 50

Selected for having "gone beyond the brief" in the name of design, Design Week lists its Top 50 UK designers for 2009.

News Tweet RTB

Rocking the Beaver, a documentary that asks the question "What Is Canadian Design?" to be filmed across Canada this summer, can be followed on Twitter.