Electrolux Design Lab, established in 2003, is an annual global design competition open to undergraduate and graduate industrial design students who are invited to present innovative, daring ideas and solutions for home appliances.Visit Electrolux Design Lab for more information.
Being in the "experience design" world professionally myself these days, I was very interested to check out the work of Tel-Aviv, Israel based designers Roy Roth Yaal Tevet. They say:
We explore all design disciplines, creating exciting, multi-sensual experiences for the public domain, telling a new story each and every time. We are always looking for new boundaries to cross.Their work covers a broad range of disciplines for a broad range of clients, including exhibitions, public spaces, cafés, bars, restaurants, clubs and products.
I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition "Joe Colombo: Inventing the Future", held at the Manchester City Galleries from the 2 December 2006-25 February 2007, which provided a fascinating journey into Joe Colombo's style and creativity. 
As part of this year's Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles, BLDGBLOG and Materials & Applications, have teamed up to curate an architectural film fest on Tuesday, May 8th, from 8-10pm at the Art Center College of Design Wind Tunnel in Pasadena.
What is fascinating, and very much an area for further research, is the close relationship between radical architectural design and the cinema. Much of the best of modern architecture, combining digital and three-dimensional design processes, is cinematic in scope and feeling.The fest will be an evening of talks and presentations about film, science fiction, space, landscape, and architecture featuring feature four of the most innovative concept artists working in film today: Ryan Church, James Clyne, Mark Goerner, and Ben Procter.
Design 21 (in partnresip with UNESCO) takes the stand that design has the potential to improve life. That potential first manifests itself as a series of decisions that result in a series of consequences. The practice of social design considers these decisions on a greater scale, understanding that each step in the design process is a choice that ripples out into our communities, our world and our lives. These choices are the result of informed ideas, greater awareness, larger conversations and, most importantly, the desire to do good. Social design is design for everyone's sake.
We believe that change happens when we design better, together. DESIGN 21 is a resource to make that collaborative change happen: a freelance designer shares ideas with a green business, an arts non-profit connects with a governmental outreach program, a researcher in England brainstorms with an industrial designer in India. It all starts here. And it starts now.
Link: Design21
Is it possible to let a first sketch become an object, to design directly onto space?The ladies of FRONT will be doing a live demonstration of this process over at Tokyo Design Week (October 31st to November 5th).
The four FRONT members have developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique method where two advanced techniques are combined.
Pen strokes made in the air are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture.
We are inspired by simple forms and honest materials. We use them as the springboard for everything we create. From the simple 2x4 and construction I-Beam, to the useful miter box. We delight in the simplicity of everyday objects.More images after the jump. Enjoy.
'Manolo is Gonna Have Fun' is a light hearted collaboration between designers Hector Serrano and Lola Llorca that brings a little 'tongue in cheek' humour to design.
This project takes fun to the extreme with everyday objects, combining function with amusement. Manolos products are inspired by toys and the action of playing games. Manolo is Gonna Have Fun introduces the idea of the enjoyable with the mundane.I love their directions for the 'I Like Football' piece......
Directions: Before use plug in. Simply use like a normal lamp football. For best results always follow Ronaldo’s corner taking skills. Use only as directed. Intentional misuse can be excellent, even more fun.Link: Manolo
The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design has announced the winners of the seventh annual National Design Awards. The finalists and winners will be honored at an event on October 18, 2006.
"Cooper-Hewitt is delighted to once again recognize, through the National Design Awards, some of the greatest contributions to the world of design made in recent years." Cooper-Hewitt director Paul Warwick Thompson said. "Each year, the Awards grow in scope, and this October we are introducing National Design Week, a new education initiative created to promote better understanding of the role that design plays in all aspects of our lives. During National Design Week, Cooper-Hewitt will host programs and panel discussions on design, and on our website, we will launch design education content for teachers nationwide."Awards are given in eleven categories:
Toronto is home to a diverse group of designers working under the collaborative effort of VEST Collective.
Vest Collective is a loosely knit group of designers and craft practitioners based in Toronto. Work produced under the Vest moniker adheres to the principle that objects can affect positive change on the people and other objects with which they come in contact.Also of note, VEST is holding their collective spring show in Toronto from April 20-May 16, 2006. More details at thier site.
Equal emphasis is put on the quality/longevity of the work produced, and its relevance to contemporary culture. With an appreciation for different disciplines, Vest produces work demonstrating that design is full of the potential to communicate a wide range of ideas.
Designers Shoko Cesar and Greg Ball have launched a collaborative project
entitled Hoodoo. Throughout the series the duo deliberately draws influence
from the surrounding elements of the prairie landscapes of Alberta and incorporates that into their products.
Throughout the timeline of human evolution, humans have built tools,sculptures, and inscribed Art on rock walls attempting to understand our existence. Hoodoo Series is a postmodern approach that continues that search for truth, revealing natural design elements from the prairie landscape. While producing a genuine prairie style, Cesar and Ball dig through visual layers of historic sediment, exposing traces of an evolutionary world past millions of years.The Hoodoos lamp will be featured as part of the Prototype exhibit that takes place at the renowned Toronto Interior Design Show from February 23rd-26th.
Created in 2003, the Loyal Loot Collective consists of graduates from the University of Alberta's Industrial Design program. In a short time they've made great strides in the design community by exhibiting in hotspots such as Tokyo, London, Toronto, and New York. Now with their website up and running, they're prepared to reach a larger audience with their well thought out line of products.
As a collective, Loyal Loot strives to create designs with a natural quality by staying true to materials. The inherent value of these designs is meant to last a lifetime ensuring that they retain a non-disposable presence and remain precious to their owner, becoming more and more meaningful as they age. Loyal loot exhibits their work together and aims to create community in design, within the collective as well as with fellow designers. Members of loyal loot are involved in several creative facets, specializing in furniture, products and clothing.
The 70's were colourful and plastic as a kid and Mario Marsicano and Chris Lenox of Jellio have captured that childhood aesthetic in their furniture and art collections. Their Turbo line takes its inspiration from the Revell car model kits; remember the plastic snap-off pieces? The Jellio version is wall mounted and made from aluminum-filled polyurethane resin with a metallic silver finish. I was delighted to find Rockem Sockem Robots commemorated in an end table; they were a personal favorite, but they also make a "Light Britesque" table, squirt gun art and more. Jellio truly is fun by design.
If you had only eight days to design a piece of furniture how well do you think you'd do? The young designers who took up the challenge to do just that did fairly well at the Danish magazine BO BEDRE Element 2005 competition.
Based in London, FuseDesignCollective was formed over a
year ago by a group of design graduates from the University of
Brighton. It has now grown to incorporate graduate members
from other universities around the UK with each member bringing in new style, skills and personality to the group.
Fuse represents a new mode in contemporary British design. The Fuse designers form the nucleus of a shared network of specialist knowledge and experience. The Collective is not a business, company or a "non-profit making organization", it is a group set up by its member designers to help each other to create better design, for themselves and their clients.
Redstr/Collective is the design initiative of Alex Valich and Christine Warren, partners in business and life, who's approach to design is eclectic, inspired and just plain fun. They describe themselves a DJs of design who sample, mix and spin to get the desired result. Their Web site design is indicative of the "tongue-in-cheekiness" of their products like beautifully decorated sickness bags, and shelves that are highlighter colour. How about hip-hop Christmas tree ornaments? 
This Finnish foursome of product designers originally met at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, and last year banded together to form a critical mass at design shows and the like.
Designers of the group are linked together by their desire to create honest and simple objects. Word Rehti is Finnish and means honest way of working and acting. Members of the group work as freelance designers both as individuals and as a group.Based in Helsinki, the collective is formed by Mikko Laakkonen, Aleksi Penttilä, Mika Tolvanen and Jari-Petri Voutilainen.
Is it like me? Does it like me? Can it make me more? These are the questions that are at the heart of Ravi K. Sawhney's (Ph. D., President & CEO, RKS Design Inc.) theory of Psycho-aesthetics® that looks to bring deeper meaning to product design. The basic principle stems from a desire to express a product's function through its design, coupled with the need to understand how we engage stimuli. Using precedent, Sawhney takes Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the parable of the Hero's Journey, and creates a model for design that addresses innate core desires, the goal of which is ultimately fulfillment.
Simply put, Psycho-Aesthetics is not about the best design – it’s about meaningful design. Taken a step further, it’s not about the design at all – it’s about our undeniable need for positive affirmation and how we fulfill this need.Link: RKS Psycho-Aesthetics®
Adriean Koleric, the Canadian designer who brought us the Sugar Lounger and the Edith Mailbox dropped us a note to let us know that his website has launched.
In addition to the above, he's added a few new items including the Bento, a single drawer storage unit, Framecicles (featured at right), which are popcicle stick shaped picture frames, and the Factory coffee table.
Also, he's included some concept work along with a few hidden buttons on the site that reveal hidden surprises. Be sure to check it out.
Link: item
We just came across the design team of Lift and we like their work. In the past, they been featured in print rags such as ID, Metropolis, Sunset, DNA, and Time. They've designed products ranging from the Whisk (featured at right), an "inner-city commuting vehicle", the Veggie-Love (utensils with garden tool inspiration), the Taboo (a collection of houseware products), and the Botta, one of the best looking martini glasses we've come across yet.
Link: Lift
Anthony's Swedish crush reminded me of a Scandinavian fascination of my own... so today, I'll pay tribute to the Aalto legacy.
I have been inspired by the work of Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto since early in my architectural education. His work continues to be a strong influence in the design world; everywhere from architecture to consumer products (Ikea owes a heck of a lot to Aalto).
Muchos Aalto linkage for your browsing pleasure, and more Aalto talk follows.
Link: Alvar Aalto Foundation
Link: Artek
Visit: Alvar Aalto Museum
Link: Aino Aalto (book available through Aalto Museum)
Link: Iittala (Aino Aalto glassware)
Link: Alvar Aalto Houses (CD-ROM by Opulens)
Link: Baker House (MIT student project website)
Web Exhibition: Aalto Chairs
Web Exhibition: Paimio Sanatorium
If you're one of those who simply can't get enough of The Frank, have a listen.
"Time magazine calls Gehry the world's most famous architect. Gehry just designed an outdoor music pavilion for Chicago's new Millennium Park, a former rail yard that's been transformed into a destination for the arts. He designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao."Link: Fresh Air (npr.org)
"Bruce Mau Designs collaborates with some of the world's leading architects, artists, writers, curators, academics, entrepreneurs, businesses and institutions." Just a couple of his well known designs are the font commissioned for the Walt Disney Conert Hall in Los Angeles (yes, a Frank Gehry connection) and the design for Rem Koolhaus's book S, M, L, XL. How about a little Bruce Mau on your couch? He has created several panel fabric patterns for Maharam.
MegaNano by Bruce Mau challenges the predictably static appearance of panel fabric in the corporate office environment with the introduction of two series of patterns, each centered on a singular theme presented in macro (Mega), micro (Nano) and mixed (MegaNano) scales. Constructed with 100% post-industrial recycled polyester, MegaNano Structure, Mega Structure and Nano Structure depict an elemental organic grid, while MegaNano Point, Mega Point, Nano Point and the over-scale Giga Point are based on perforated punch cards that recall the origins of our computerized society.Maharam also produces textile patterns by such designers as Charles and Ray Eames, Hella Jongerius, George Nelson and Verner Panton just to name a few.
Link: Maharam
Designer: Bruce Mau Design, Inc.
Sam Maloof is well known as a master craftsman and designer of contemporary furniture. His works are featured in the permanent collections of many of museums, including, the Smithsonian, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Now through the Maloof Foundation, the Maloof's home in Alta Loma, California (east of Los Angeles), is open to the public. The home evolved over many years and was crafted by Sam Maloof as if it were a giant piece of furniture.
Link: Maloof Foundation
Book: Amazon
"Aarnio was - and still is - one of the pioneers in using plastic in industrial design. Plastic material set the designers free to create every shape and use every color they wanted. This gave birth to objects oscillating between function and fun - but always fascinating ones."
Link: Eero Aarnio
Link: Ball Chair
Link: Bubble Chair
Link: Screw Tables
Link: Tipi
"Show your friends and bill collectors your devotion to design with the recently-released Isamu Noguchi stamps from the US Post Office."
Also of note, the Noguchi Garden Museum is slated to reopen in June, 2004.
Via: ID Fuel
Link: U.S. Postal Service
Link: Noguchi.org
Los Angeles interior designer Jackie Terrell and her Park La Brea apartment featured in the Home section of the LA Times.
In the earnest, too often self-important world of interior design, Jackie Terrell's irreverent take has helped her stand out.Link: Los Angeles Times
Her three-bedroom apartment works as an airy artist's statement against excess, and as a ringing endorsement for cleverness over cash.
"Charles Eames (1907-78) and Ray Eames (1912-88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the nation's defining social movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to the producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. The Eameses embraced the era's visionary concept of modern design as an agent of social change, elevating it to a national agenda. Their evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors demonstrated their boundless talents and the overlap of their interests with those of their country. In a rare era of shared objectives, the Eameses partnered with the federal government and the country's top businesses to lead the charge to modernize postwar America."
"Rashid was born in Cairo and raised in London and Toronto. With a career that began at age nineteen, Rashid is now forty and the author of more than five hundred product designs, ranging from coat racks to mailboxes, perfume packaging to lighting, tableware to high fashion. His Garbo trashcan has become a design icon, with more than two million units sold. His extraordinary commercial success has been mirrored by critical acclaim. His work is in the collections of museums worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts." "Among the projects featured in this book are those designed for Nambe, Sony, Issey Miyake, Umbra, Tommy Hilfiger, Leonardo, Yahoo!, and many more. This, the first comprehensive book on his designs, has been written and designed in collaboration with Rashid and includes essays by a stellar list of contributors."
Link: Karim Rashid
Link: Amazon