Design News is your tiny dose of design, technology and other important news, curated monthly by Interwoven Design. In this series we share the latest on our favorite topics, including environmental design, technology, regenerative design, adaptive design, and bio-materials. In this issue: The Brooklyn Botanic Garden highlights their bird population, Citroën offers the perfect beach ride, Delta Air Lines gets sustainable with regenerative design, Reebok designs for disability, and Modern Synthesis gets funding for their microbial weaving project.
33 Conceptual birdhouses for BBG
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a new exhibition on display this summer, a series of innovative birdhouses that invite listeners to learn more about the birds and the environments they inhabit through the material choices and form interpretations of the birdhouse artists. There are 33 wildly different birdhouses, all of which are situated within the grounds to draw attention to the specific species that make their homes in the gardens. The series is meant to explore how birds and plants relate to each other, and is presented in conjunction with an album of birdsong recordings, For the Birds: The Birdsong Project. Bird lovers and novices alike will enjoy these sculptures enlivening the already impressive botanic display.
Citroën’s latest edition of the Ami EV
The new My Ami Buggy from Citroën is an all-electric car that is exuberantly tiny. The design was inspired by French beach culture, reflected in the removable canvas roof, open sides, and plastic body details. The little wheels are detailed in gold and the form of the khaki body reads somewhere between a jeep and a military vehicle if these were miniature and festive. The two-seater is on par with or smaller than other EVs on the market, and will appeal to those looking for a distinctive, summer-friendly option.
AmEx card made from retired Boeing jets
The new Delta SkyMiles Reserve and Reserve Business American Express credit cards feature a sleek, metal design, and few would guess that the source of that metal is a retired Boeing 747 from Delta’s fleet. Twenty five percent of the metal has been sourced from aircraft 6307, marking the retirement of Delta’s last Boeing 747. The card is an offering for elite customers and comes with a number of exclusive benefits, available to new applicants until August 3rd.
via Forbes
Fit to Fit, Reebok’s first adaptive trainers
Classic sportswear brand Reebok has a new line of accessible footwear that has been developed for those with restricted mobility. The Fit to Fit collection is a series of adaptive trainers that are easy to put on and take off thanks to the absence of buttons and buckles in favor of a convenient side zip. They also feature a removable insole and low-cut profile. The trainers are currently available as pairs but will also be released as single shoes for people with one foot.
via Dezeen
Modern Synthesis is growing!
Modern Synthesis is a London-based biomaterials startup that specializes in growing sustainable materials with microbes. Their goal is to reduce plastic pollution as well as the dangerous environmental impacts of the fashion industry. They are known for their microbial weaving process, enlisting bacteria k.rhaeticus to create biotextiles. The biofabrication technique is innovative, taking advantage of the natural strength of the cellulose generated by the microbes as they grow. Their robots create a structural scaffold around which the bacteria form a fiber-like layer, yielding a biomaterial that is durable and lightweight. “Technically speaking, it’s not really weaving, but it’s a good analogy. If we talk about our process in the context of traditional weaving: we’re weaving the warp, and the bacteria are growing the weft,” Modern Synthesis explains.
via designboom
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