Didn’t quite expect to spend an entire day at INDEX, but the exhibition was almost the size of 20 football fields, hence the sore feet! Anyway, this is hardly going to be a review of the show, but more of a mental-note of the more interesting exhibits, artists and pieces that i came across. And yes! Ladies and Gentlemen – i spluuurged and i am pretty thrilled about it (albeit fractionally guilty). Anyhow, the following pieces seemed to appeal to my simple aesthetic senses quite a bit.

1. Lunablocks – Designed and created by Thierry Nahon and Philippe Landecker. (www.lunaticconstruction.com) Based on an original concept, the transformation and enlargement of bricks used in building games for children. Easily stacked together, functional and totally versatile, these Lunablocks are designed for the world of decoration and for the home. And guess what ? they come in light and compact, opaque, transparent or luminous materials. Sadly, i couldnt afford the acrylic and/or gold plated blocks, so i had to settle for the polysterene version (a collection of 7 blocks for a total of 168Euros)

2. Fatboy by Marimekko – Designed by Maija Isola (www.fatboy.nl/marimekko). She apparently found inspiration for the pattern whilst fetching water from a well. Well… whatever her inspiration, it definitely served as much needed delight for me when i saw the ‘Desert River’ exhibit and ten glorious fatboys sitting plump on a green stage. I walked away at first, but i came back sooner than expected to get myself my own ‘kaivo red’

3. Sculptural work by Gibbus (www.gibbus.cz). Some really elegant iron work from this very talented sculptor. His agent could not speak a word of english, but i guess what he was trying to explain was that his work is moderately inspired by Dali. That seemed just about right

4. The Timebeam (www.timebeam.com) This little piece of contraption is considered a classic design and ‘the antique of the future’. Its pretty neat actually. Think the price on this niftiness ranged from 600 to 1000 AED. The difference in pricing is because of the intensity of the light projected.

5. Thierry Bruet (www.thierrybruet.com). Now this painter-sculptor extraordinaire was something else. It was clear from his book that he had a passion for political sattire, but his style had such a unique touch to it that it would almost drift seamlessly between animated forms, lines and brushstrokes into realism. Very very nice indeed. Please check out his site – its totally worth it

6. SoWatt (www.pierremachinal.com) This contemporary chandelier of sorts honestly stole my heart. The artist Pierre had used porcelain light bulbs intertwined with a mesh of optic fibres to create this really wholesome piece of spatial and graphic art. Even the light bulbs were dimly illuminated by an optic fibre that passed into it. Immaculately Gorgeous! Priced at 14,406 USD, it seemed fit only for the lobby of a hotel or a restaurant that i would be initimidated to visit.

7. Emotional Doors (www.chiariluce.it) Some really cool emotional doors by chiariluce. Thanks to the awesomeness of LED technology, these doors are just perfect for spas me thinks. Less suited for residential thoug (but hey! this is Dubai)

b. Oscar Sierra (www.oscar-sierra.com) Interesting style of photo-collage memoir from Oscar Sierra. Think its quite a fun little thing to do at any place. So simple that you could almost do it yourself, ofcourse what you would be missing is Oscar’s stamp of approval, the slick finishing and the perfectly manicured plexiglass framing unit that comes with Oscar’s bill of 10,000USD !