In a fiscally driven spirit of environmental design, John Osborn took the left over scaffolding planks from some recent building works at his home and created this 3.5m dining table. He's now sold quite a few to both domestic and commercial clients. One client even asked for a matching clock, coffee table and console, while another felt inspired to storyboard the creative process! www.johnosborndesign.com
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Design student Peter Kraft from Germany has come up with a concept of expanding light bulbs. Titled Growing Lampshades, the installation of lights is inspired by the natural way light illuminates the darkness.
]]>Kraft explained that when natural light changes the darkness, it happens as a gradual visual process, not suddenly like an electric light does. This gradual process was what Kraft set out to imitate by creating lamps that are expanded and distorted by a heating element inside the bulb, creating spectacular shapes and light games.
The bulbs are made of PET plastic and each bulb can be extended only once. Inside the plastic there is a halogen light source that generates enough heat to soften and distort the plastic shade. The air inside the bulb is also pressurised at around 5 bars, which - combined with the heat - gives the lamps the impulse to grow.
Kraft developed the growing lamps project while an exchange student at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. He exhibited his project with the Academy's Design Bonanza showcase at Ventura Lambrate collective design show during this year's Salone in Milan.
Take a look at these videos that show the 'growing' in process.
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 Designed by Herzog & de Meuron & Ai Weiwei © 2012, by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei
The opening of the Serpentine Gallery's architect-designed summer pavilion is one of the most anticipated of London's many design events, and this year's pavilion by Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei and Swiss architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron looks certain not to disappoint.
]]>Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 Designed by Herzog & de Meuron & Ai Weiwei © 2012, by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei
The 12th commission in an annual programme which invites prominent architects to create a temporary social space on the gallery's lawn, this year's pavilion will be a cork lined underground den whose creation will involve digging up a section of Kensington Gardens. According to visuals released by the gallery this week visitors will sit 1.4m below ground under a disk shaped roof topped with rainwater.
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 Designed by Herzog & de Meuron & Ai Weiwei © 2012, by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei
The design, which has seen Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron collaborate for the first time since they designed Beijing's 'bird's nest' stadium pays tribute to the Gallery's 11 previous pavilions with the roof supported by eleven columns representing each past pavilion and a 12 column representing the current structure. The interior of the underground space will be clad in cork, a sustainable building material chosen for its unique qualities and to represent the excavated earth.
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 Designed by Herzog & de Meuron & Ai Weiwei © 2012, by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei
Traditionally, each pavilion is sold and the end of the summer with the money raised going towards the cost of construction, but a month before it's due to open this one has already been snapped up by Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and his wife for their private collection.
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei Film Still Bird's Nest - Herzog & de Meuron in China © 2008 by T&C Film AG]]>
In some ways the world has changed a great deal since the Seventies, and yet reading a transcript of a speech given by industrial designer Dieter Rams in 1976 (see below) and reissued to mark the designer's 80th birthday this month, what's immediately clear is that the principals of good design have remained the same.
]]>Rams was speaking in New York City. At the time, he was designing some of his most enduring products, including the 606 Universal Shelving System (pictued above). at the time he working for just two companies, consumer products company Braun and furniture company Vitsoe, the latter of which he co-founded with Danish furniture entrepreneur, Niels Vitsœ and a German furniture-maker, Otto Zapf and which still manufactures the 606
The speech, entitled Design by Vitsœ, now seems remarkably ahead of its time. In it, Rams describes his design ethos and also talks of the social responsibilities inherent in being a designer. 'Striving for good design is of social importance,' he says, 'as it means, among other things, absolutely avoiding waste.'
Rams also cautioned designers against valuing form over function: an approach that was gaining ground with the newly emerging postmodernist movement and its emphasis on fashion and style. He said, 'A designer who wants to achieve good design must not regard himself as an artist who, according to taste and aesthetics, is merely dressing up products with a last minute garment.'
Speaking seven years before the UN established the Brundtland Commission to address the deterioration of the human environment and natural resources, Rams also showed amazing prescience of the environmental issues that have come to the fore in the last 30 years. 'I imagine our current situation will cause future generations to shudder at the thoughtlessness in the way in which we today fill our homes, our cities and our landscape with a chaos of assorted junk.'
How right he was.
Vitsœ is marking Dieter Rams's 80th year with the release of his 1976 speech this month, as well as opening the company's extensive archive later this year to coincide with the London Design Festival. Click here to download the full speech.
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An exhibition inspired by the designs of the short-lived Omega Workshops design company was unveiled at the Somerset House on 3 May. After Bloomsbury: Rugs from the Omega Workshops, 1913-1916 features five rugs created by the London and LA-based rug design company Christopher Farr.
]]>Original pattern design from Omega Workshops
Omega Workshops was founded in London in 1913 by the artist and art critic Roger Fry but closed a short six years later. The company was closely associated with the literary and artistic movement Bloomsbury Group and included many avant-garde artists of the day, most notably Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, Fry's friends from the group.
Inspired by fauvism and cubism as well as African art, Omega Workshops created a variety of objects for home interiors ranging from rugs and linens to ceramics and furniture, all featuring bold colours and patterns.
Rug based on Omega Workshops rug design
Original Omega Workshops rug design
The Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House owns the largest collection of Omega Workshops drawings and designs, donated by Fry's daughter Pamela Diamond in 1958. As the company was run on the basis of anonymity and the artists stamped, printed or painted their work with the symbol Ω instead of their name, none of the drawings in The Courtauld's collection is signed. Some can however be attributed to either Bell or Grant based on their style. Majority of the 100 drawings in the collection were created for using as the basis for rugs, but only a handful were ever made. As a rare survivor, the Lady Hamilton Rug, is held in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Rug based on Omega Workshops rug design, attributed to Vanessa Bell
Original Omega Workshops rug design, attributed to Vanessa Bell
An inspiration to create the new rugs came after Christopher Farr's business partner Matthew Bourne was consulted in 2009 for the Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913 - 1919 exhibition. Farr and Bourne selected five of the most vibrant and challenging designs and translated these into working drawings for rug makers in Konya in central Turkey, a region known for its long tradition of hand-weaving. But as some of the original drawings have faded with time and others are incomplete, Farr and Bourne had to establish a colour scheme for the textiles after carefully examining the original Omega palette and consulting with conservators. The new rugs are displayed next to replicas of the designs, as the original drawings are too fragile for exhibiting.
After Bloomsbury: Rugs from the Omega Workshops, 1913-1916 is open until 24 June at the Great Arch Hall in the south wing of Somerset House.
]]>This Month, Blueprint focuses on the Shard. Architect Renzo Piano has transformed the London skyline with 306m, 87-storey tower that sets a precedent for high-rise in the capital. Herbert Wright talks to the architect and tells the story of this towering achievement that has already divided opinion across the city.
The June issue of Blueprint is available in shops now.
The video can be viewed here: bit.ly/IWLQIg
]]>Jenny Brewer idfx
Savoir Beds is looking for design students to enter its annual international competition to design a bespoke upholstered headboard. This year's theme is Organic and, since it is a live brief, the designs must be achievable by traditional upholstery techniques. The deadline is 25 May, so get drawing!
]]> Finalists will be chosen by the public then the best designs from each country will be created and showcased at the flagship London showroom. The winning designs will be chosen by a panel of industry judges, and the winning designers will get to keep their headboard. Entrants must have had no more than 3 years design training. Last year's international winner was Louise Corser's Crystal headboard (pictured top).Deadline: 25 May 2012
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Savoir-Design-Grand-Prix/254351797978528
Savoir Beds has been handcrafting beds in London for over 100 years and are the original bed makers for the Savoy Hotel. Its annual International Design Grand Prix gives young designers a platform to gain experience in the industry and see their designs made professionally.
]]>Well, it's still a bit dismal outside but for you art and design lovers, this exciting season our capital city looks top notch, not least from a fun looking programme from CREATE , who bring together award winning artists and performers to produce new works that transform East London's parks, playgrounds and tucked-away places. They promise a feast of new, commissioned arts projects in the month leading up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
]]>CREATE Organisers say 'CREATE's summer programme will invite people to explore the city and jump feet first into the extraordinary projects and performances they encounter'.
One such project is the commissioning of designer and online retailer Thorsten van Elten to work with five designers: Barnaby Barford, Ed Carpenter, André Klauser, Dominic Wilcox and Donna Wilson to create well-considered souvenirs, all made in the UK. The designs include a series of three exercise books that illustrate some of the best places to exercise and a cast iron multi-purpose paperweight/ bookend /doorstop based on Regent's Canal mooring bollards. They will draw on the heritage of east London and be the desirable antidote to the tacky souvenirs on sale across London this summer. On sale in select shops and online via the CREATE website 21 June.
They are also putting on a exhibition of Newham's most famous son photographer David Bailey at the Royal Docks in Newham. The exhibition of pictures of the East End, taken over 50 years, will see him return to Newham while the world's focus is on east London. It is little known that David Bailey has photographed east London streets and their inhabitants from the early 60's right up to the present day. It is £6/£4 to get in and free to Newham residents. Nice touch.
And lastly, CREATE has commissioned Something & Son - the design practice behind the hugely successful FARM:shop in Dalston - to design and build The Barking Bathhouse. Focusing on wellbeing the Bathhouse will experiment in the latest health and beauty ideas and technologies with an overall aim of helping people feel happy and relaxed this summer.
Designed with the influence of a 20th century working man's bathhouse, the pavilion will combine a spa with a bar where the public will be able to sip healthy cocktails and smoothies under a canopy of growing cucumbers and sunbathe in pebble bays.
I used to live in the heart of East London and moved away last year, so am seething with jealousy at the exciting time the area will be having this summer, while hoping to make a few trips down from the 'sticks'. So those of you in the capital make the most of it! Those who aren't, join me and the throngs flocking there this summer. ]]>
If you were to drive around Basel in Switzerland looking for the offices of architect Herzog & de Meuron, you'd probably have in mind something modern and slightly off the wall. You'd be wrong. This former monastery (above) is where they hang out. To practice has grown since they first moved in to over 200 people and they have spread out into the surrounding buildings and built themselves a brand new extension at the back overlooking the Rhine. If you'd approached from the River you'd probably have singled that out as their office (below). Find out more about them in Blueprint August when we talk to them about the Serpentine Pavilion and their friendship with Ai Weiwei.
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Jenny Brewer idfx
This Friday Trainspotters, specialist dealer in reclaimed industrial lighting and furniture, will open a pop-up shop in Spitalfields Market, London. For the week-long stint, the Gloucestershire-based company will showcase a selection from its large stock of British industrial and communist-era Eastern bloc lighting and vintage fixtures. ]]>
Founded by architectural salvage experts Jesse Carrington and Tony Brook in 2005 and based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, Trainspotters has supplied pieces to high profile projects for Soho House, Urban Outfitters and Project Orange. It works with interior designers and architects on projects in the UK and internationally, so this temporary space aims to reconnect the brand with its existing London clients, as well as reaching new ones. 'We are normally based on a leafy industrial estate in Gloucestershire," says Carrington, 'so opening a pop-up showroom in central London gives us an opportunity to meet existing and potential clients.'
Shop 25, Hanbury Street, Spitalfields, London E1 6QL
4 - 13 May
Open every day except Sunday from 11am - 7pm
For more great purveyors of contemporary industrial-look design, see our May issue feature Brute Force on the influence of Brutalism on today's interiors. idfxmagazine.com
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The cost of home insurance is unfortunately increasing as a result of increased burglaries and damage claims. These are more common in some regions than others. In particular there are some areas that are considered to be burglary hot spots, and it is in these that insurance premiums have risen the most, and by considerably more than the average rise of 1.1%.
The items that appear more frequently than others on insurance claims for burglary are laptop computers, jewellery and bicycles. These are not the most expensive items, but they are the ones that are most favoured by burglars, presumably because they can be disposed of easily.
If you live in one of the home insurance black spots, then you can keep the costs of your insurance down by avoiding making a claim and you can do that by protecting yourself. Ensuring that your home is protected using approved window and door locks not only decreases your risk of being burgled, your insurance company will also reduce your premium. Fitting a burglar alarm is also an excellent idea.
]]>The Czech-based crystal and glass lighting company Lasvit's installation at last week's Light+Building trade show at Frankfurt depicted thoughts on infinity. Lasvit's stand, Infinite Space was designed as an endless purple ribbon-shaped area, adorned with two glass art pieces by the designers Jitka Skuhrava and Katarina Fulinova.
]]>The ribbon shape was the main inspiration behind putting together the exhibition, as a flawless and never-ending stripe of material. The purple ribbon also acted as a contrast and a backdrop to the two glass designs.
Fractals
Katarina Fulinova created Fractals, designed to capture movement in a geometric way yet leaving the space for imagination. The components of the piece are made of hand-blown clear glass, with an occasional touch of amber. Each tube hangs in a different way on steel wires to create an airy whirl.
Fractals
Infinity
Jitka Skuhrava's Infinity measures to seven metres in length. The installation looks like the infinity symbol as the designer was inspired by both the endlessness of the universe and mathematics. The piece comprises of 1,400 hand-blown glass leaves, shaped as the letter S. Each leaf is also decorated with linear grooves, making the piece more dynamic and creating an impression of the wind playing with the leaves.
Infinity
Light+Building, which this year concentrated on energy efficiency, took place from 15 to 20 April and saw some 196,000 visitors attending. The biennial trade show combines the fields of technology and architecture, concentrating on four key sectors: lighting, electrical engineering, home and building automation, software for the construction industry.
]]>To celebrate the arrival of Spring (we think? Other than the thunderstorms) British designer of contemporary wallpapers, Louise Body, is offering 50% off the price of her whimsical Birdies paper.
]]>Body, a fine art graduate and a winner of the Prince's Trust, hand screens her delicate illustrations of flora and fauna to create her ranges which have been picked up Laura Ashley, Dr Martens and Paul Smith on a jeans design.
The Birdies paper will now be £30 a roll until the 31st of May.
]]>A free sustainability campaign has been launched by Planet Positive - a sustainability certifier for businesses - to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make going green easier and more beneficial.
]]> After working with hundreds of sustainability-certified companies during the past six years, Planet Positive wanted to put the knowledge gained during this time into action and do more to help the UK's largest cohort of businesses - SMEs - to become greener. According to the figures from Department for Business Innovation & Skills, SMEs account to 99.9 per cent of all companies in the country with 4.5 million enterprises.Planet Positive thinks that there is a case to be made that the benefits of going green are often being overlooked in the SME sector as the advantages aren't realised. Experience has shown the certifier that speed, complexity and cost are the main reasons for companies to avoid the sustainability agenda and it is determined to prove otherwise. Planet Positive's CEO Steve Malkin said: "Our goal is to help SMEs experience the business benefits of sustainability, such as saving money, generating new business, engaging employees and, of course, being good for the planet."
SMEs can register free on the campaign's website and will then take a week-long crammer course in sustainability - sent daily activities and advice on areas ranging from energy efficiency, travel, food and health through to procurement and supply chain. The first cycle starts on 1 May, with new ones staring every week after that.
Planet Positive aims to have had 2,012 SMEs taking part in the programme by the end of the year. After completing their cycle, each company receives a certificate of accomplishment as well as further guidance on how to carry on with the process after the campaign.
Corporations such as Boots, M&S, Unilever and Deloitte, who are all at the forefront of sustainability, back the campaign. FX is also among the official supporters of the initiative.
But before you ask, what has all this got to do with design - consider this: the majority of businesses in the creative industries are also SMEs. The statistics from the latest research by the Design Council only confirms this, stating that 90 per cent of UK design businesses and in-house consultancies employ fewer than 10 designers. As sustainability is becoming increasingly important in design, then this campaign could be a great opportunity to make your business also greener and save money on the way. Register here.
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