design news Archives

Design News N. 038

The Interwoven 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 craft competitions, design history, sustainable design and design in NYC! This issue includes: the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023, Early Patterns: Reintroducing Akari of the 1950’s, Little Sun solar-powered lighting collection, Generation Paper: A Fashion Phenom of the 1960’s and NYCxDESIGN Festival 2023.

Photo: Mokume-gane, Vase, Ryuhei Sako, 2017

LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023

The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize is a competition that acknowledges and supports artisans from all over the world. The LOEWE FOUNDATION aims to identify people who have an exceptional ability to create work with the highest level of aesthetic value that reflects the maker’s personal vision and abilities.

The entries span all types of art, including but not limited to ceramics, jewelry, furniture, sculpture and textiles. Each piece is an original work, created within the last 5 years and partly or fully hand made. The Jury includes very well known creatives along with an expert panel that judges and selects finalists to present in an exhibition in Isamu Noguchi’s former studio, across from The Noguchi Museum.

The LOEWE FOUNDATION strives to continue innovation and celebrate craftsmanship and its importance in today’s culture.

via LOEWE FOUNDATION

Early Patterns: Reintroducing Akari of the 1950’s

For the first time in decades, The Noguchi Museum will present six rare models, Isamu Noguchi designed Akari light sculptures. The designs were originally created in the early 1950’s and made by Japanese manufacturer, Ozeki & Co., Ltd.. One table top scale light sculpture in specific is directly related to the Japanese lantern and was inspired after a night time fishing trip by Noguchi himself. The traditional forms contain bamboo collars that “feature colorful, abstract patterns silk-screened onto the mulberry bark (washi) paper.”

These limited quantity designs originally became available only in Japan and France in the 1950’s. The release of the Akari light sculptures is aligned with the previously mentioned LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize exhibitions at the Isamu Noguchi Studio. This will be the public’s first opportunity to view the works in person and opportunity to purchase.

via NYCxDESIGN

Photo Credit: ©Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2023.

Little Sun solar-powered lighting collection

Ikea has partners with Little Sun, Olafur Eliasson’s and Fredrik Ottesen’s brand that marries art and science by creating lighting tools that run on solar power. The motivation behind Little Sun’s creation was to give people anywhere access to solar energy without regular electricity. The collaboration consists of two designs that are limited edition, solar-powered lamps. Ikea approached the Little Sun team with an idea, and Eliasson and Ottesen saw it as an opportunity to spread awareness and spark a conversation to a huge audience. The team explained their motivation, “My hope is that more designs will simply be solar without being necessarily ‘solar design’, that is, the solar aspect will be taken for granted as normal,” adds Eliasson. “This is because solar energy must be available to all. The power of the sun is abundant, inexpensive. It helps individuals and families own their access to power at the source, which makes them more self-sufficient, independent, and resilient.”

via Wallpaper

Generation Paper: A Fashion Phenom of the 1960’s

Now through August 27, 2023, visit the 1960’s short-lived phenomenon of 80 rare garments and accessories on display at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan! Paper fashion was used to show how paper could replicate and behave like woven fabric. Women began wearing paper dresses that introduced a new world of innovation. Generation Paper creates a link between craft, design and commerce by the development of semi-synthetic materials.

The fashion line, which began as a promotional campaign for Scott Paper Company in 1966, introduced bold, pop art inspired garments spanning from iconic silhouettes to dresses and even bikinis. This little known fashion history demonstrated a mixture of confidence, durability and creativeness.

via Museum of Arts and Design

NYCxDESIGN Festival 2023

The time of the year has arrived! The NYCxDesign Festival takes place from May 18 – 25, 2023. Last year’s event included over 200 events across all five boroughs of New York City. Events focusing on the broad world of design span from major exhibitions, installations, panels, virtual events to trade shows. NYCxDESIGN is known to showcase new and upcoming talent as well as existing key innovation in the city. From product design, interior design, to fashion, graphics and many others, the collections of creatives now attracts over hundreds of thousands of visitors from all around the world. Everyone is welcome!

via NYCxDESIGN

That sums up this month’s Interwoven Design News, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for design news, multi-media recommendations, and to learn more about product design and development!

Design News N. 037

The Interwoven Design News is your tiny dose of design, technology and other important news, curated monthly by Interwoven. In this Interwoven Design News series we share the latest on our favorite topics, including product design, installation design, furniture Collaboration, sculpture and AI generated images. This issue includes: Varmblixt by Sabine Marcelis x IKEA, Watches & Wonders 2023, Janny Baek at Culture Object, Isamu Noguchi: Sculpting the World and AI generated images!

*The finesse of time*, by artist Clément Vieille. Photo courtesy of Hermès

Watches & Wonders 2023

Watches and Wonders Geneva, the international watch and jewelry show that takes place in Geneva, Switzerland features the newly introduced the breathtaking Hermès H08 existing in the sculptural installation, The finesse of time, by artist Clément Vieille.

The Hermès H08 is a collection that was originally released in 2021 and designed by Creative Director, Philippe Delhotal, on 3 different head watches. The new line’s new aesthetic combines a perfect mixture of texture, material usage, and geometrical shapes on the Chronograph. The H08’s function does not take a backseat while the watch’s mechanical self-winding movement is framed by a light carbon fiber and composite shell along with careful highlights that color matches the watch’s band perfectly.

Clément Vieille explains his inspiration for the environment which he designed for the trade show’s location. His carefully designed flowing sculptures are suspended from the ceiling while exploring the potential of controlling time. Even though impossible, can time be captured, can it be tamed? All these motivations are shared between Hermès and Clément Vieille, the two design collections complement each other in a beautiful way.”

via Design Boom

Varmblixt by Sabine Marcelis x IKEA

Award winning designer, Sabine Marcelis has recently released a collaboration with the Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA! Their collection named, Varmblixt was revealed at Milan Design Week and features a beautiful plethora of homeware that includes sculptural lighting pieces and a glassware collection. The Dutch-Kiwi designer showcases her aesthetic by, “embracing vibrant, playful hues and employing pure forms to highlight the often unique materiality of her pieces.” An impactful feature to a viewer is Marcelis’ use of material combinations that cause people to want to take a closer look. Traditionally, the products that provide light have been designed with a utilitarian mindset. Sabine Marcelis strived to rethink the way lighting pieces live in a home and how it exists in space. Taking a more artistic approach, the team was able to step away from functionality as the only trait to design with a different perspective in mind. Overall, the collection aims to bring a warmth to the home atmosphere.

Varmblixt’s glassware collection refrains from using color. The designer explains that she wants the drink of choice to activate the use of color. The specific collection had been dreamt up in the past, years ago to be exact, and has finally come to life! Check out the collaboration at the link below.

via International Contemporary Furniture Fair

Janny Baek at Culture Object, New York

Janny Baek, a Korean-American artist and architect is presenting her first solo exhibition from March 22, 2023 to May 20, 2023 at Cultural Object in Manhattan! The artist studied ceramics at the Rhode Island School of Design and then pursued a master’s degree of architecture from Harvard University. Baek along with her husband, Thomas McMahon, founded McMahon-Baek Architecture in 2014 and she continues to help run along with her ceramics practice that she revamped in 2019.

When creating her striking ceramics, Baek uses a traditional process that involves stacking clay and later slicing cross-sections to expose a hidden interior pattern. She sometimes alters this process, called Nerikomi, by treating the colored clay as a pattern or colored sheets on the surface of the form. Using different aesthetic techniques including colored layered surfaces producing gradients. Baek explains how creates with a purpose, “my sculpted ceramic forms are based on the themes of growth, flux, and other various states of in-between.” This effect helps the artist express vibrancy, pleasure and hope through artificial coloring but with clay. The artist shared, “ultimately, I hope that my work communicates the wonder and importance of questioning assumptions and being curious: about ourselves, our world, and our future.”

via Wallpaper

Isamu Noguchi: Sculpting the World

The Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (LaM) is featuring Isamu Noguchi for its 40th Anniversary. The LaM is one of the most influential museums in Europe while being positioned between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and London.

The Exhibition is currently featuring over 250 of Noguchi’s works spanning sculpture drawings, designs, photography and other forms of art. From an artist who has continued to make an impact throughout art history even after his death in 1988, “Noguchi embodies an open and decompartmentalised vision of art, which even today, influences contemporary creation.”

Noguchi’s mother was from the United States while his father was Japanese. He spent his childhood in Japan and later living in the United States and moved to Paris to become the assistant sculptor to Constantin Brâcusi. The artist struggled to find an identity while living in multiple cultures and dealing with the dramas of his time. This motivated his exploration and work as he submerged himself in different art genres and movements. Isamu Noguchi’s passion was to go beyond art and attempted to study connection and relationship with space and body.

Via Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (LaM)

The Pope Drip, Photo: u/trippy_art_special via Reddit

AI images take the Internet by Storm

If you have spent any time on social media in the last few months, we are sure that you have come across some type of AI generated art. Whether they are portraits of friends or family members morphed with historic or fiction themes. These realistic looking images are so believable that only some can actually validate an AI generated image at first glance. One image in particular that has caused an uproar from people on social media dubbed, The Pope Drip. The AI generated image features the Pope wearing an iconic puffer full length jacket. He is even holding Mate! A traditional herbal tea from his home country of Argentina.

There’s no doubt that AI generated images are very entertaining and interesting to see how people will utilize this technology with their own creativity. Where will this technology inspire us to go? Will it provide us with a new continually used tool or will it be abused? Only time will tell.

via Designboom

Design News N. 036

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 fashion design, collaboration in 3D printing, sculpture, and an upcoming design event. In this issue: Pharrell Williams to lead LV, Reebok and Botter team up to unveil 3D Printed Trainers inspired by seashells, Skateboards made from recycled discarded ocean fishnets, NYC’s own bean, and Women in Design 2023!

Pharrell Williams to lead LV

Last month, Louis Vuitton designated Pharrell Williams as Men’s Creative Director. William’s is a true creator, spanning a plethora of disciplines including music, art and fashion. LV’s Chairman and CEO welcomed Pharrell, “I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director. His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.”

The artist has won a multitude of awards including Grammy Awards, a Golden Note Award, Producer of the Year, and nominated for a Golden Globe as well as an Emmy. Along with his music and film success he is a true entrepreneur at heart by leading his brands, Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream apparel.

via Wallpaper

Reebok and Botter team up to unveil 3D Printed Trainers inspired by seashells

In a Collaboration with Reebok and HP, Dutch Brand, Botter has created murex sea snail shell inspired shoes. The colorful and chunky shoes were unveiled at Paris Fashion week. Botter explained, “We ended on the murex seashell as the final design inspiration. We loved that this was an object that the Greek goddess Venus used to comb her hair.” The 3D printed shoes were produced using HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printer. The aesthetics of the shoe tend to be a morph between Reebok’s football silhouette and Botter’s Baner Shoe. The most impressive feat of the collaboration is that from start to finish the process only took 15 days! The printer used a layer of thermoplastic polyurethane while binding layers of TPU together while also building an internal support when needed. Then the shoes were hand painted to match Botter’s Autumn Winter 2023 collection. HP explained that the Multi Jet Fusion technology allowed for the process to be completed quicker that traditional shoe manufacturing.

via Dezeen

Skateboards made from recycled discarded ocean fishnets

Skateboards. This product that has influenced a culture, has been considerably unchanged over the years but seen in different sizes and only a few materials. Until now! Lander Skateboards introduced a completely new aesthetic of board with a new level of performance and also keeping sustainability in mind. The deck consists of an extruded hole pattern that is injection molded from recycled plastic nylon from ocean fish nets with a fiberglass reinforcement. The hole pattern structure is complemented by ribs on the underside that provide extra strength to fight against sagging in between trucks. Lander explained, “In addition to increased traction and acceleration, our unique hole pattern allows the board to flex torsionally… lending itself to quick cuts and effortless carving.”

Lander Co-founder, Ryan Anderson, first prototyped skateboards by welding scraps of perforated steel together. As you could imagine, the skateboard was interesting but difficult to ride. After extensive research and development the team modified the form and function while perfecting the molding process. Lander offers two new models now available, the Rio and the Rodeo.

via Designboom

NYC’s own Bean

Finally one for our own! Anish Kapoor, influenced by his own well-known sculpture, Cloud Gate in Chicago, completed his first permanent New York sculpture. The reflective sculpture commonly referred to as The Bean is carefully nested underneath the ‘Jenga Tower’ at 56 Leonard Street. The building also is home to the artist himself! The massive forty-eight feet long and nineteen feet tall sculpture in Tribeca has been under construction since 2019. Weighing in at forty tons, the piece is fabricated from thirty-eight stainless steel panels. During COVID-19 the construction had to be put on pause and even caused the reflective skin to burst due to the sunlight differences. The work allows the surrounding cityscape to be illuminated during the day and night time.

via Design Boom

Women in Design 2023

Now moving towards diversity in design! Now in its 7th year, IDSA Women in Design Deep Dive, is a collection of critical conversations and open discussions led by top industry experts who are actively molding and creating the next generation of designers. The event celebrates the growth of the community as well as a way to gather and help positively influence gender identities within the Industrial Design community.

Our founder, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman is hosting a session and giving a speech on “Building Highly Effective Design Teams through Inclusion of Diverse Perspectives.” Tune in virtually or in-person at the Chicago-based event on March 29-30, 2023.

The two day event is a great way for experts, professionals, students and others to share perspectives as well as gain insights and foster relationships. This is your chance to be part of the initiative on how we can practice diversity in design more inclusively.

via IDSA

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Design News N. 035

Design News is your tiny dose of design, technology and other important news, curated monthly by Interwoven Design. In this issue we take a dive into sustainable protective head gear, chocolates inspired by biomimicry and marine life, a new cement-like material from repurposed seashells, our new adaptive lingerie and a new platform connecting plastic alternatives with designers and developers!

Protective Headgear Made of Seashells

The Shellmet is a protective hard hat manufactured with a combination of discarded shells and recycled plastic. Plastics manufacturer, Koushi Chemical Industry, along with TBWA\Hakuhodo Agency have collaborated to conceive a piece of safety equipment from the most commonly eaten shellfish in Japan. According to TBWA\Hakuhodo, not only is the shellfish the most commonly eaten by people in Japan, but one fishing community alone produces 40,000 tons of scallop shell waste! Koushi Chemical Industry’s material, Shellstic, is made by sterilizing, crushing, mixing with plastic and pouring it into a mold. The material can also be colored allowing the Shellmet to be offered in multiple colors. The product’s aesthetic features use biomimicry and pull a “ribbed structure” inspiration directly from the attributes from which it is made. These attributes increased the Shellmet’s durability by 30% during testing. And if that wasn’t enough, the helmet can be recycled into a new helmet or repurposed into building materials!

via Dezeen

‘Chocoral’ Bites Inspired by Coral Reefs

Melissa Pérez Puga, a Mexico-based industrial designer, has found the similarities between the process of making nonedible materials and chocolate. By utilizing 3D printed molds, and inspiration from marine biology, the designer has created coral reef shaped chocolate pieces. To complete the beauty of the product, Puga designed colorful packaging that also connects with marine life. The designer explains that ‘Chocoral’ aims to bring more appreciation to the texture and beauty of the coral species. The Chocoral boxes are categorized and sold depending on the percentage of cocoa in each package: 30%, 50% and 70%. Each of the packaging is designed with a differentiation factor that allows chocolate lovers a way to determine which to purchase!

via Design Boom

New Sea Stone Material

Our second repurposed seashell material on this month’s Design News is that of Newtab-22. Dubbed Sea Stone, the new material is made from discarded shells that are ground down and mixed with a non-toxic binding material that enables the creation of a concrete-like texture. The aesthetic attributes of the grinded shells adds a seemingly terrazzo finish, while also having the ability to add dye doloring. As previously mentioned, hundreds of millions of tons in seashells are thrown away every year and while some are recycled, the majority end up in landfills or on beaches. Newtab-22 explains that their ambition to help repurpose waste from the seafood industry led to the creation of a sustainable alternative to concrete, due to their similar properties. Currently, the process of grinding shells is done manually to avoid use of energy. There are some limitations due to the need of heat to ensure durability, but currently the Newtab-22 team is focused on applications where the material best fits while keeping the process as sustainable as possible.

via Dezeen

Even Adaptive Lingerie

Even Adaptive Lingerie designed by Interwoven is soon to launch! Even Adaptive is a line of adaptive undergarments with contemporary silhouettes that can be put on with the use of a single hand. The design process spanned all the way from creation of the brand strategy and assets, to hardware and garment development. Interwoven Design Group developed a new fastening clasp to replace and improve the user experience of the outdated closure mechanisms of the adaptive bras and panties on the market. The closure experience combined with the modern, comfortable, and colorful designs make Even Adaptive lingerie truly inclusive, innovative, and one-of-a-kind.

via Interwoven Design

A Plastic Planet Launches PlasticFree

This month, we had the opportunity to attend A Plastic Planet’s online platform, PlasticFree, launch event! PlasticFree is a database that connects designers, architects and developers with sustainable alternatives to materials. One problem that designers have when sourcing material is the plethora of information that leads to dead ends with the inability to pinpoint a specific material let alone accurate information that includes properties and production. This new tool allows users to collect Plastic alternatives virtually, in a mood board style, from all around the world. All of the data collected on PlasticFree has been verified by a team of scientific advisors. This allows designers to bridge the gap between design and material science while having access to digestible information. Moving towards a world where a package’s or product’s full life cycle can be planned, shifting away from the negative connotations of consumerism!

via PlasticFree

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Design News N. 034

Design News is your tiny dose of design, technology and other important news, curated monthly by Interwoven Design. In this issue we take a dive into Yin Gao’s pulsating robotic garments, Virgil Abloh’s Royal College of Art Scholarship, Goldwin and Synflux’s Algorithmic system for zero fashion waste, and LG’s Stretchable Display.

Photos by Maude Arsenault, Courtesy of Studio Ying Gao

Ying Gao’s pulsating robotic garments portray virtual clothing

Ying Gao, the Montreal-based fashion designer, has recently released two garments that are inspired by the metaverse and NFT’s. The pieces are made of glass, precious metals, and silicone that motions in a twisting and pulsating pattern to create a visual effect for the virtual clothing. Specially designed woven, hand-screened and consolidated materials were used to create the polymorphic effect. This helps portray the flower-like volume, transparency and reflectivity. The title, 2 5 2 6, refers to the amount of hours the garments took to bring to life “from the first line drawn to the last stitch sewn.” Ying Gao continues on the forefront of the virtual clothing realm by pushing the boundaries of form and function through the perceptions of the digital world.

via Design Boom

Virgil Abloh’s RCA Scholarship

The Royal College of Art recently announced a full tuition scholarship that honors the late designer, Virgil Abloh, who passed away last year from cancer. The scholarship was founded to help underrepresented communities in the design industry by giving this scholarship to “an extraordinarily talented, but financially restricted, Black British student.” Virgil and the Royal College of Art had formed a relationship through creative collaboration and education while Virgil was an honorary visiting professor at RCA. The annual scholarship was established with the support of Shannon Abloh, Virgil’s wife, and will be given to a postgraduate student at the RCA School of Design.

via Dezeen

Algorithmic system for zero fashion waste

Goldwin, a Japanese sportswear manufacturer and Synflux, a speculative fashion laboratory have been working on a collaboration that minimizes textile waste during the production process. ‘SYN-GRID’ uses Synflux’s proprietary technology combining machine learning and 3D technology. This production method allows brands to minimize waste while keeping the garments aesthetics, functionality and comfort. Product lines from NEUTRALWORKS and The North Face will be released this year using the Algorithmic Couture®. This environmentally focused collaboration aims to improve the fashion industry by helping future generations with sustainability in garment production.

via Design Boom

LG’s Stretchable Display Prototype

LG, unveiled the “world’s first 12-inch high-resolution Stretchable Display equipped with an outstanding free-form technology that enables it to be extended, folded, and twisted without distortion or damage.” The full-color RGB display has a resolution of 100 ppi and is the industry’s first display to achieve 20% stretchability. This innovation will allow adaptability to curved surfaces on the body, furniture or vehicles. LG’s Stretchable Display has the capabilities to enhance the future of fashion, wearable technology, mobility and gaming.

via LG

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