Nearly 100 Building Projects Test the LEED v4
by: Sustainable Design News, 2013-05-30 20:14:20 UTC


Ford Fusion Uses Recycled-Materials Fabrics
by: Environmental Leader, 2013-05-30 14:39:18 UTC
Ford Fusion is the first global vehicle program to use seat fabric made from recycled material, with the potential to recycle enough plastic bottles and post-industrial waste to make 1.5 million yards of fabric annually, the automaker says. The amount of recycled material in each all-new Fusion (known as Mondeo in Europe and Asia Pacific) [...]

Favorites from Clerkenwell Design Week 2013
by: design milk, 2013-05-31 18:30:46 UTC

Home to more architects per square metre than anywhere else in the world, Clerkenwell is a natural setting for a celebration of design and architecture. Now in its forth year, Clerkenwell Design Week hit London on May 21-23 and was bigger and better than ever. The festival has three main venues: the Farmiloe Building, the House of Detention and the Order of St John, but also extends to showrooms and pop-up installations across the area.

Architecture for Humanity, a global charity that promotes design and architecture as solutions for global crises, had four installations, each representing an area of its work, including this one which features a “cloud” of water pipes and a rotating water tank.

2(Hundred) is Company? by Assemble was an installation of 200 chairs, and the same chairs provided seating in the Farmiloe courtyard.

British favourite Giles Miller Studio presented The Heart of Architecture, an installation produced in collaboration with metal fabricators Tecan, a pixelated target to “stamp Clerkenwell on the world stage.”

The Mirare Maze Folly by Mobile Studio provided a splash of summer on an uncharacteristically grey day in Clerkenwell. I didn’t get a chance to explore it, but the feedback from those that did was they just wished it was bigger!

Tetra Shed has been designed by Innovation Imperative as a simple garden office, or when tessellated together, it can become anything from classrooms to exhibition spaces.

The Farmiloe Building is the hub of Clerkenwell Design week, and the stand in the window sets the tempo. This year, it was a collaboration from Artemide and Issey Miyake. IN-EI is a collection of origami-style lighting made from recycled bottles.

The Farmiloe Shed, a large tunnel-like space on the way into the main building contained a curated selection of British brands. Dare Studio is definitely one to watch – their new range of naturally dyed leather lighting was one of the hits of the show.

To quote James Harrison, founder and creative director of James: “We’re rocking coral pink this year.” I loved the grey Norton armchair with coral piping.

Jennifer Newman’s outdoor furniture is always incredibly well considered. Her new M-Bamboo range is made from fast growing, replenishable bamboo which, when compressed into solid material has the appearance of a high quality semi-hard wood, and when treated to avoid bacterial degredation for use outside, has the appearance of a dark hardwood. The orange powder-coated aluminum provides the perfect contrast.

Within the main Farmiloe Building, Studio Tilt were showcasing their latest range of co-designed products. Call (top left) was developed in collaboration with staff and patients at the Whittington Hospital in London, to provide cocoon-like private spaces.

Shake the Dust is a fabulous new company working with new designers in the developed world and traditional craftswomen in the developing world to help both grow their businesses, by connecting good design with good craftsmanship and market demand.

Just around the corner from the Farmiloe Building, at Craft Central, a charity working to maintain and promote fine craft and design skills, was the Cloud Leopard by Nahoko Kojima. Finely cut from a single sheet of paper, it represents five months of work and was incredible to see delicately hung from the ceiling.

Also at Craft Central, an exhibition dedicated to tableware featured Design K’s Tea for One tables in new white stripes and polka dots.

Lotta Cole’s knife blocks are inspired by a love of wood instilled from an early age by the Swedish farm and forestry her Great Great Grandfather established, that her father stills runs. The electric neon stripe brings them right up to date.

At the Museum of the Order of St John, Design Exquis presented a creative journey inspired by the Surrealist collaborative process Exquisite Corpse (Cadavre Exquis), better known to most as the game Consequences.

Starting with a stethoscope as inspiration, Plant & Moss creating a light that seemed to breathe. Dominic Wilcox challenged the idea that only lights should be plugged into ceiling fittings and created the Sound Bulb (above). Taking the handle of the radio as inspiration, Georg Oehler made a feather-covered light hidden in a hinged wooden case. And finally Matthew Plummer-Fernandez put an image of that light into Google Image Search and 3D printed one of the generated results to create Venus of Google.

The House of Detention is a subterranean Victorian former prison and one of the most exciting Clerkenwell venues, focusing entirely on new designers. I absolutely loved Donna Bates’ Parlour Lights made using original casts for the milk receptacles on the dairy farm where she grew up. She has even faithfully reproduced the measuring system up the side, giving them a scientifically precise aesthetic.

Freyja Sewell’s Hush seeks to provide an oasis of calm within busy open plan work spaces. It deliberately has no light or power source (although versions with those things are in development) to allow real moments of peace and separation.

Finally, an exhibition called Making Designers hosted at the SCIN Gallery, argued for design and technology within the British education system by showing the school projects of Britain’s top designers alongside their contemporary work. This is a model boat made by a young Oliver Marlow, co-founder of Tilt Studio.

Ballroom Luminoso: Ugly freeway underpass beautified with recycled bike chandeliers
by: TreeHugger Design, 2013-05-28 11:00:00 UTC
A dismal city underpass is transformed into an elegant gathering space with a series of chandeliers made out of repurposed bike parts.

Canoe paddles with a stylish flair
by: TreeHugger Design, 2013-05-31 09:00:00 UTC
Here comes summer and a new, stylish canoe paddle might make it even better.

ICFF 2013: Part 1
by: design milk, 2013-05-28 16:00:07 UTC

Every May brings ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, and after taking in every inch of the goods, this year’s offerings definitely gave last year’s a run for its money.

Nervous System continues to set the bar high when it comes to merging science and technology with art, home furnishings, and jewelry. This year they brought their Radiolaria web app that lets you design your own cellular furniture. Once you’ve created your design in the app and you’ve placed your order, your custom table is carved out of Baltic birch plywood with a CNC router.

Nervous System also brought out new additions to their Hyphae collection of generative lighting designs that included pendants, table lamps, and sconces. We are pretty keen on those new sconces…

The always inventive and insanely creative Blu Dot will roll out new designs throughout the year including the bold India Rug and the Clutch Chair that’s meant to hug you when you sit.

Blu Dot’s Dang collection of mid-century inspired consoles include panels with tiny holes so that your remote controls can still work without your entertainment devices having to be on display. They also have matching 2-drawer units for files.

The team at Blu Dot went big, really big, with their Bank sofa. It’s 96″ long and super deep so there’s plenty of room for napping. I love the boxy lines of it.

Tanya Aguiñiga partnered with Kasthall to create an installation to show the range of Kasthall’s rainbow-like collection of yarn colors.

Artek had the collection of Stool 60′s 80th Anniversary editions on display where designers put their own spin on the iconic stool.

The Raimond Dome 79 light fixtures by Raimond Puts for moooi looks like twinkling fireworks in the sky.

Loved the Cuboid 20 Coffee Table, part of the Quadrat Series from Pelle Designs, that features a ceramic candy dish and wooden tray to hold your goods.

The Kawa Pendants from Souda are made of porcelain using a slip-casting technique. Light shines through highlighting the surface textures and details of each piece.

Souda continues their one-of-a-kind porcelain Kawa series with ashtrays, vases, bowls, and vessels.

We wrote about TJ Volonis and his copper sculpture and furniture pieces before and he had some new awesome works on display.

Phloem Studio is known for their timeless designs and craftsmanship that’s not often found in furniture these days and the Regina Loveseat is no exception. Beautiful lines and the diamond tufted pattern continue the brand’s built to order (by hand!), not to be missed, collection.

Wine collectors rejoice! Vin de Garde has gobs of modern wall wine storage options for you to choose from, including the Hive Series, that lets you add on as many kits as you want to accommodate your bottles.

Stay tuned for Part 2 coming tomorrow!

ICFF 2013: Part 2
by: design milk, 2013-05-29 16:00:04 UTC

Designer Tom Dixon never disappoints and this year he really stepped up his game. Besides having a booth featuring new products, he also had a pop-up manufacturing booth that was actually making limited edition Punch Ball fixtures (above). Dixon partnered with Trumpf Inc who brought in the high tech machines cranking out the creations and set up shop so visitors could watch the process.

See the video we took of the machine actually cutting here:

The Punch Ball XL, which was approximately 6.5 feet in diameter, hung above the manufacturing area.

Loved the black and white, geometric bedding on one of the beds at the Made It booth that featured Italian designers.

Blackbody showcased an all-white, life-size tree light that featured OLED (organic light-emitting diode) energy saving lights.

Jamie Harris Studio displayed lots of beautiful blown glass wall installations like these eye-catching metallic pieces.

Patrick Weder Design displayed organic light forms made of paper and wire while teaming up with Calico Wallpaper whose gilded wallpapers were the perfect accompaniment.

Alyse Solomon featured a new collection of wall coverings that are based on her own photography. The graphic patterns are created by turning her subjects into repeated abstractions.

Colorful zigzags make up the cozy blanket collection of Mandal Veveri making it hard to pick a favorite.

Did you catch Part 1 of our 2013 ICFF coverage?

ICFF 2013: Part 3
by: design milk, 2013-05-30 16:00:44 UTC

Rug designer Nani Marquina of nanimarquina partnered with celebrated graphic designer Milton Glaser for a one-of-a-kind rug. A portrait of Shakespeare is layered with an abstract pattern to form a beautifully textured rug that reveals his face when far away and a pattern when close up.

When you think of Waterworks you tend to think of bath fixtures but they’ve designed a series of glass lights as part of their Watt collection for Dering Hall. The ribbed series of lighting, that comes in sconce or pendant form, resembles those glass insulator covers you often still see at antique shops.

The Chubby Chairs from Dirk Vander Kooij are just as fascinating to look at as hearing about how they are made. Vander Kooij invented his very own machine that basically recycles the plastic from old refrigerators and dispenses the new material out almost like cake icing into whatever form is desired.

Apparatus were on hand with their vintage-inspired light fixtures, like these that are based on the arrow.

Apparatus collaborated with ZAK+FOX to create a project called Strata Study where they designed a pattern that resembles strata or layers of earth. The pattern can be used on various wall applications and has a vertical repeat of almost nine feet.

Denise Diane presented a collection based on the golden orb web spider. She uses images of the webbing and prints them digitally onto wall coverings and fabrics.

She even made this shimmery golden dress that looks like the woven web of her printed designs.

I’m not sure how comfortable this oversized chair from Neue Wiener Werkstaette is, but the lines on it are beautiful.

We also loved this family of benches and tables from Neue Wiener Werkstaette that have smaller tables and stools inside them that hold them up but that you can also swap out for other colors, making them customizable. Plus you can use just the stools or the smaller tables themselves and then when you have more guests over you break out the larger surfaces for more room.

David Irwin’s egg cups and vessels are painted colorful hues on the inside and surrounded by stained wood on the outside.

Cooper and brass were the on trend finishes throughout ICFF and Kaikado did it well with their gorgeous tea caddies and canisters.

Keiou Design Lab introduced these textured three-dimensional wall surface panels made from a pourable stone material they created out of fine-grained pure white jade and other minerals.

Did you see Part 1 and Part 2 of our ICFF coverage?

ICFF 2013: Part 4
by: design milk, 2013-05-31 16:00:44 UTC

The Stella Triangle light from Roll & Hill was mesmerizing to look at from any angle as the optical illusions created were pretty trippy.

Tamera Leigh Staten’s beautiful Oona lights were made of smoked blown glass and a movable copper section that slides around to reveal an opening for changing the bulb.

We featured Wishbone Woodworking’s well-made, handcrafted wood furniture before and they showcased some new pieces that carry on what the company does best.

Klemens Schilling displayed these covetable concrete Arena Bowls that can hold your accessories or just sit there on your table looking really cool.

Leftovers, also from Klemens Schilling, is an easily made stool or table made from bags of leftover concrete mix. Take a bucket, mix the concrete, and insert three legs in until the mix hardens. Voila!

Müzz Design Studio showed off their 3D printed sculptural rings, courtesy of Shapeways.

The Wonder Cabinets of Europe gives designers a wooden cabinet to display their work along with their working methods. Loris&Livia displayed their glasswork they collaborated on with local craftsmen, even showing the pieces that weren’t the finished product.

Cranbrook Academy of Art’s booth Hands-On: Conceptual Craft Research featured so much good stuff that it was impossible to pick just one or two. The table above is by Jack Craig, who heats PVC water mains around stone for this piece from PVC Series: Pressed. We talked to him last year at Mondo Collection.

kg.id.2013 from Kristina Gerig (part of the Cranbrook booth)

Vessels by Mark Baker (part of the Cranbrook booth)

Part of the Savage Series from Sae Jung Oh (also from Cranbrook), discarded plastic objects are assembled together and then wrapped in jute, concealing their origin and giving them a new form.

The University of Cincinnati’s students in the architecture program designed the Flat Pack Shelter that can be shipped flat pack and easily assembled when a disaster hits.

We also think it could make one helluva backyard pavilion, right?

Did you see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of our ICFF coverage?

Quirky parking canopy made from 1,500 recycled plastic bottles
by: TreeHugger Design, 2013-05-24 11:00:00 UTC
Colourful and unexpected, this installation uses hundreds of bottles to create a simple shelter.