New year 2026

New year 2026

Saturday, 23 May 2020

Post-Covid-19 design will eventually save the world (?)...(and bloody more than that?)...




In photo above: The Contactless Door Opener by Xeproto Design, 3D Printed: to turn doorknobs, open cardoors and ring doorbells without touching their surface! Made In Canada. Check more of this company's truly great designs and purchase the CDO here.

New design solutions emerge face to the pandemic, (or they already were there all along but we did not care enough to discover them). Apart from new, everyday tools for all stepping into our lives here we come with a list of items, technologies and services, designed to do things differently and helping us enjoy life through a whole new prespective.

For spectacle-wearers, Tokujin Yoshioka has come up with a template for an essential and minimalist mask, in perfect Japanese style, which only takes minutes to make by simply cutting a sheet of PET or PVC to the shape of the face and making two incisions where indicated for the arms of the spectacles. Seeing (the video) is believing! Lego has also modified some of the machines normally used to fabricate its famous blocks to produce visors for front-line health workers.

The electric control plate developed by the Milanese studio PLH ,(in photo bellow) eliminates the proliferation of bacteria from the surface of switches and support frames in just a few hours. This is achieved thanks to the Abaco finish, a process invented by the Italian company Protim®, as part of its PVD-Physical Vapour Deposition. Treatments. It is available in three different finishes – Gun metal, Grey05 and Gold and carries Japanese Industrial Standard JIS Z 2801/A12012 certification, the most rigorous and widely-applied in the world.




Manuela Simonelli and Andrea Quaglio have developed a bacteria-proof solution for mobile phones, for the French company Lexon. The Oblio (in photo bellow) wireless charging station with built-in sanitiser looks like an elegant small vase and is capable of fully charging telephones in 20 minutes, while a UV-C LED sterilises the screen.



In order to bust the domestic stress caused by Coronavirus-forced home isolation, the global studio Woods Bagot has designed a modular AD-APT system that can be used to divide open-plan living spaces into areas for work, play, fitness, rest areas and so on. This series of walls and screens is a response to the new demands of being at home 24/7 (an idea of the system in photo bellow).




Design your own intimate contemporary jewellery dream ring with the 3D-Maker Ringz app developed by Miro Straka, like she gorgeously did in the photo bellow: 



VIROFORMULA™ is the new Albini Group fabric which effectively protects against viruses and bacteriathanks to the HeiQ Viroblock cutting-edge technology. The latter prevents the fabrics from becoming a host for harmful viruses and bacteria and as a consequence reducing the risk and speed of contamination and re-transmission.

VIROFORMULA™ fabrics actively inhibit viruses and kill bacteria upon contact on the surface in a few minutes. It has been created for all types of clothing, making them ideal for the production of shirts, jackets and trousers, as well as for masks, gowns and any other garment.

The application of this treatment does not change the physical and mechanical properties of the fabrics. The effect of textile finishing lasts up to 30 washes at a mild temperature.
The products used in the VIROFORMULA ™ treatment are certified by HeiQ according to the ISO 20743, ISO 18184 and AATCC 100 standards for their antibacterial and antiviral characteristics.They have also been tested for the safety of people and are dermatologically non-irritating, harmless to the skin and body and environmentally sustainable.

Art and design exhibitions from the safety of your home can be another exciting, yet different experience with the virtual gallery app artland (to discover in artland.com).

Spanish SAS launches e-learning platform: SAS 'new Do Great Things From Home hub offers content and virtual experiences to help public bodies, companies and employees reinvent themselves in this moment of confinement. That is how Do Great Things From Home is born, a hub full of free content with which executives, IT professionals, data scientists or citizens in general can take advantage of innovative resources, grow in their professional careers, add value to their companies and keep get up to date on the main technological trends and news in your sector of activity.

The website presents itself as the digital alternative to face-to-face meetings, which were the usual focus in the technology sector until the beginning of the pandemic. On the online site, designed to inspire and motivate people to do extraordinary things for society, in companies and in the world in general, you can find Webinars Live and OnDemand, courses on advanced analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, live demonstrations and blogs specialized.

Do Great Things From Home is organized into four key areas: 4Business, 4Data Scientists, 4Social, and 4Life.

That's all for now. We will expand this very list with more new design to help us out with the challenge of the pandemic - and not only that- the following weeks. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other.

#westandtogether
A4D-D4A ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ™Œ

Monday, 4 May 2020

SCRIBIT' ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES: A NEW TOOL TO ACCESS, STUDY, EXHIBIT, CURATE, SHARE AND CHERISH ART & DESIGN TO THE MAX!




Drawing robot Scribit brings the world’s oldest painting on people’s walls and that’s only the beginning! Designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, the award-winning design and innovation firm led by MIT professor Carlo Ratti, Scribit is a write & erase robot that can turn any vertical surface into a low-refresh screen on which to display information from the web, user-generated content and art. Functioning as a “printer for walls”, Scribit ushers in a new way of presenting digital content and allows the user to instantly reconfigure and personalize a vertical plane. Following one of the most successful global crowdfunding campaigns of 2018, the device has been named one of the Best Inventions of the Year by Time magazine in late 2019. 



 At a time when a home is the only place to be and public exhibitions are inaccessible, the drawing robot Scribit brings humankind’s oldest painting to your wall, celebrating the25th anniversary of the discovery of the Chauvet Caves in France. The drawing -inspired to one of the evidence of Upper Paleolithic life - aims to make the restricted Cave accessible to all. The 25th anniversary of the discovery of the Chauvet Cave in Southern France coincides with the current worldwide lockdown that forces people to rediscover the pleasure of experiencing new ways of enjoying art and design in their leisure time. Scribit is designed to allow users to draw on their walls in the same way our ancestors did with their own tools tens of thousands of years ago: man marking walls to make his home. Using robotics to gain access to the cave paintings is a means of democratizing the rock art contained within it, making the paintings accessible to all. 

The experience can be tested here.

In a time when our curiosity is flattened by boredom, a plethora of online trivialities, fastpaced scrolling and seconds-long attention spans, Scribit aims to reduce our screen time, acting as a low-refresh screen to provide an analog format for consuming digitally produced and shared content. The Chauvet Cave is the tenth installment of the Scribit Originals series, which aims to bring original artworks by the world’s leading artists, designers and public intellectuals to the Scribit platform in order to share knowledge, a story, cause or concept just as our prehistoric ancestors did through their Rock Art in the Chauvet Caves. This visual content for your wall will be featured in a curated online collection and available for download by the growing community of Scribit users. 

The people behind the invention: 

Scribit team: Carlo Ratti, Andrea Baldereschi (CMO), Andrea Bulgarelli (CTO), Ivan Lunardi (Senior Developer), Matteo Stoppa (Head of R & D), Danilo Ronchi (Developer), Riccardo Mereu (Junior R &D Firmware Developer), Gabriele Pertile (Junior UX/UI Designer), Marco Conte (Product Design Manager), Peter White (Scribit Originals), Svilena Sivova (PR and Business Development), Stela Karabina (Press Office), Federico Morando (Digital Content Specialist), Olaia Beltran (Social Media Manager), Zakaria Zarrouk (Technical Support Manager), Seyedalireza Khatoonabadi (Technical Associate).

We warmly thank Andrea Baldereschi, co-founder and CMO of Scribit, for the answers on our questions bellow regarding this device combining poetry with robotic intelligence- a tool about to stir the waters on curatorial, creative and educational design operations in the core of many different establishments and organizations around the globe. 

All4design-design4All:  Can the same technology  be used to assist/facilitate people with disabilities-even quadriplegic people- to generate and illustrate their creative design ideas? 

Andrea Baldereschi-CMO Scribit: The Scribit app and consequently Scribit can't be controlled through voice commands as of today. It's a feature that we are planning to develop in Q3/Q4 2020 as we strongly believe that creativity must be accessible to anyone. We really love the idea of being able to control Scribit with your voice: imagine how many interesting synergies might happen from multiple people collaborating in person or remotely on a piece of art! 

A4D-D4A: How do you see the evolution of Scribit as a tool in other creative sectors apart from 2D painting? 

A.B./CMO Scribit: Scribit has pushed the boundaries of drawing as traditionally conceived, by making art accessible to all. Moreover, at Scribit we have been promoting universal messages of equality, sustainability and spirituality in the last year by teaming up with several artists, public intellectuals, scientists and spiritual leaders to create the Scribit Originals, a series of authentic artworks to be streamed into people's homes.  

A4D-D4A:  Could eventually any private household adopt the technology and use Scribit for DIY interior solutions for instance or it is viewed mostly as a tool inside the functions of a public institution ex.a museum? 

A.B./CMO Scribit: We aim, indeed, to promote an interactive use of Scribit not just as a tool for drawing but also as a way of experiencing new alternatives to screen addiction. Public offices, schools and institutions can use Scribit to transform any vertical surface into a canvas.
  
A4D-D4A:  Which way can Scribit help in Art & Design education (schools and universities)? 

A.B./CMO Scribit: We believe in technology and robotics as a vehicle for spreading universal messages and inclusive content instead of using technologies just as a passive hobby. For this reason, we constantly seek for new collaborations to help to spread powerful and positive messages. 

EXPLORE SCRIBIT ORIGINALS! 

Scribit Originals is a series of drawings inspired by well-known artists, poets and designers, which Scribit brings to people’s homes and everyday spaces. Each original constituting the selection has an underlying powerful message to convey, with the project culminating with the totality of works scheduled originallyto be exhibited at Milan Design Week in April 2020, (:cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic). 

Take care, keep calm and enjoy Scribit

A4D-D4A๐Ÿ’Ÿ๐Ÿ˜ƒ 

Monday, 20 April 2020

Salone Satellite 2020: Our Picks for Best Design - In & Out (:eventually!) of Our House.

In photo bellow: Touro armchair by Andrรฉ Teoman. Inspired by the animal that it’s an iberian simbol, Touro (Bull), is an armchair (also in photo bellow), with a strong silhouette that plays with parts and pieces in a single object. Comfort and attitude combined in this armchair with solid oak legs, brass “eyes” and it’s available in several textile options.






In the post Covid-19 era young designers who established a brand name by exhibiting their works in the Salone Satellite and they continued to flourish after their international exposure inside the event, are up against new challenges regarding their overall businesses. The ongoing adaptive force to new, ever-changing environments is a designer's badge of honour - nevertheless the day after the pandemic imposes not only different strategies in communication/networking, logistics and resources but most importantly a new approach to trends and concepts. Priorities seem to change dramatically and so they do perceptions driven by entirely different aesthetics: the system of values is changing for good, alongside with people's practical and emotional needs.

In the reminder bellow we illustrate a small caption of favourites from a rich, long list of designers, passed through the Salone Satellite gates. The specific makers did not only get distinctions and world-wide recognition as young talents, but they continue ceaselessly to keep up with projects, exporing new design scenarios for their clients and their own production lines. Great, solid, responsible, innovative, imaginative and emotionally intelligent products that trigger your endorphins and get you (even more!) home-ready for a new era and hopefully a new vision.

GWILEN transforms marine sediments into materials for design and architecture (a full range of colours shown bellow) - those can also be combined with other materials for  furniture production/ manufacturing. Gwilen has been selected to participate in the TALENTE 2020 fair, which was to take place in Munich (Munich, Germany), but has canceled like many other events in the year. The TALENTE competition focuses on works that stand out for their formal and technical originality/ perfection and which are ahead of their time.





A linear pattern was designed on the surface of Wiretable by Federico Pazienza (photo bellow by Paolo Diani), then it was warped using an algorithm to create a modern decoration.


"I love creating objects that feel good in your hand. My aim is to create design with character and allow people to feel connection with them. I want to awake feelings trough playfulness, and a sense of fun. These are recurring theme in my work", says Tero Kuitunen. Bellow tassel ceramic lamp (prototype), 2010, (photo by Iina Esko).




Giant Pouf seat by Leila Boukhalfa for the Softies performance set design:



In another way, STAIR LAMP by Pistacchi design can be the best interpretation to the theme of the ever-exploring theme of Cinderella by the design director and founder of the brand Mike He (Ren Wei He).
The design and switch of light sources not only provide a vivid visual, but also take into consideration practical function. There is downward lighting when the lamp is installed in the dining room.



Enjoy the iconic textiles of Aya Kawabata - more of Aya's world of creative designs here.


Brilliant bathroom interiors for home - hospitality design from Turkish รผber-talent Pinar Irmak ร‡aฤŸlar - of CDW studio in photo bellow: 


Check out prominent design figures Ekaterina Lubimova' Gobi table (in photo bellow) and Salone Satellite Moscow winner Natalie Musorina' Infinity baby cradle. Pure Russian Avant-Garde in 2020. 


In photos bellow, from top to bottom: the kaleidoscope-like chandeliers by Sunbeam Jackie, Tink Things' sensory kids furniture and the wide-ranging furniture pieces by Kusheda Mensah (x2) for her own line Modular by Mensah. 






The Mighty World of an multi-dsiciplinary designer: Olivia Lee came up with the Athena Collection, an ode to the Contemporary Woman, a figure of intellect, fierce independence and discerning standards. 
The collection references the ancient Greek goddess of knowledge and strategy, mistress of philosophy and craft, and patron of heroes. In our Age of Information, Athena is by extension a goddess of technology.
What would Athena make of the world we live in today, our adoration of new media or fetish with the Internet of Things? What new rituals and habits would she sanction?
Resisting the urge to turn all objects into devices, this collection is a smart home concept that prioritises materiality and reimagines analog objects for digital habits through simple twists.  



May the Force of Hope be with you!
Stay safe - Stay Happy๐Ÿ˜‡๐Ÿ˜

A4D-D4A ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’š


Sunday, 5 April 2020

Idillia(&)Co*: A selection of key-Salone products to Turn your home into a Happy Household (in the Low Immunity Pandemonium of Digital Age).




In photo above taken by Andrea Garuti, the project is curated by Studio FM, with the collaboration of Studio Salaris for the styling, courtesy of Pedrali.
Designed by the firm Rebelo de Andrade, the story of Casa 3000 unfolds in a truly suggestive location.With its striking shape and colour, the building soars within a wild landscape of cork oaks and umbrella pines stretching as far as the eye can see in the Portuguese region of Alentejo. The archetypical shape of the house is characterizedby clean, simple lines and a bright red colour. The result is a dreamlike atmosphere that evokesthe romantic image of a red house at the edge of the woods.
The photo features the Tribeca collection, designed by CMP Design,a modern reinterpretation of classic Sixties patio chairs made from steel and woven material. The wireless outdoor lamp by Basaglia Rota Nodari, Giravolta completes the setting. (#PEDRALITALES, the new 2020 advertising campaign is on air from March).

The selection of 2019-2020 interior and exterior products powered by A4D-D4A, created by some of the Salone Del Mobile most iconic exhibiting companies, is rendering not only the idea and feeling of Happiness*, but it is a pleasuring moment of real contemplation regarding interiors and furniture. The following objects of desire in our list, are not just promoters of the much-criticized, yet acclaimed "luxury regime", but they are extremely significant for fusion applications and digital, smart technologies of all kinds.  
The patterns, the design core, the sequences, the functions, the shapes and the manufacturing of these products can generate neighbouring or supportive digital applications, not only to sustain those very interior solutions, but also creating mobile, intelligent technology design for other uses. In times like these, the synergies of interiors creating companies with high-end agencies for the making of smart apps, IoT and AR/AI is almost a one-way solution, in order to get back in commercial prosperity after an heavy financial stroke. If Kartell is now designing smart technology electrical cars with Fiat, Missoni can team app with therapeutic pattern-Meditation app engineers, ENEA and Plank can dive Into making innovative wheelchairs for individual mobility, Vibia and BD Barcelona could most probably go towards smart electrical panels and the gaming industry...Sky is the Limit. As long as there is a Will and the entrepreneurial perception of a Changing Era, this time for good.

Let's start the Prom- enjoy the series bellow and set your mind to the Salone Mood....

Kartell: Trama Jar (rose), design by Patricia Urquiola

The Trama tableware collection is a complete dinner set inspired by Japanese pottery with its characteristic and highly refined textures in natural earthy colours and matt finishes. Similar to the pottery associated with country homes, the plates have a rough feel and are further defined by a graphic stroke that elegantly underlines the essentiality of the collection.





Vitra: accessories collection Spring-Summer 2020: Eams House Whale

A prominent feature of the Eames Office was a wooden whale measuring over two metres in length. Its smaller reproduction, the hand-painted Eames House Whale by Vitra, is crafted from alder wood.



ALotOfBrazil: K2 SOFA, design by Alessandro Mendini

The K2 Sofa idealized and designed for A Lot Of Brasil, derives from a new interpretation and rereading of the 1979 Kandissi sofa. The measures have undergone changes, as well as some shapes and proportions. It was designed for series production, different and unpublished.




BD BarcelonaEL POETA BENCH by Alfredo Haberli & Grasso Stool by Stephen Burks

Alfredo Haberli is a great admirer of designs by Oscar Tusquets and Lluis Clotet. As a tribute to the Catalano and Perforano Benches, he designed the Suizos Benches Collection in perforated painted steel. Out of all the benches, The Poet Bench has become our bestseller.

“Grasso is not fat. Grasso is more than fat. It’s overflowing.” This is how Stephen Burks sums up his new collection for BD. The stool perfectly complements the armchair and is made in the same structure and upholstery colors. It stands out due to its oozing cushion embedded within the metallic structure.





CITCO Jewels 4 Walls: Solitaire





Sans Souci is a Czech designer and producer of tailor-made design light fixtures and decorative lighting fixtures, glass objects and architecture features.





String 

String® System is a series of components featuring the classic wire and plex panels designed by Nisse and Kajsa Strinning. A range of accessories are also designed for the String® System in order to make the most out of your space. They add functionality and creativity to you String® combination. The plex panels are available in wall panels, whereas the wire panels are available in both wall and floor panels. They all come in a variation of measurements, colours and materials. Click on desired product below and you will see all the specifics.



Artemide: Calipso, design by Neil Poulton

Calipso’s unique honeycomb surface was generated by feeding a photo of the moon into an image-based algorithm. 

The resulting fractal shape has an impure geometry that displays the irregular beauty of nature. The diffuser is built from an organic honeycomb-like shape with tubes of varying diameters, seemingly arranged in a random geometry. This honeycomb characterizes the lamp both aesthetically and optically - not only is it visually pleasing, but it also provides an even and comfortable light emission.  The result is a highly emotional lighting object that joins together optical and aesthetic intelligence.  

A product positioned perfectly half-way between home and professional use, Calipso is suited to a variety of applications. Driver is compatible to both 2-wire dimming and 0-10V dimming options.



Atelier Vierkant

Renee Van Leuven, student at Saint Luc Arts School in Ghent, stars in a handmade ceramic tub designed by Studio Loho, at a villa in Sint Martens Latem. Since she was a kid, Renee has been fiddling at the kitchen table with all kinds of materials. Today, working on different projects within her studies, she enjoys the space of intellectual and creative freedom. More than focusing on the end result, I do experience a lot of satisfaction and pleasure by just experimenting and exploring different esthetical as well as conceptual options. Full AV 2020 catalog here.








Nani Marquina: OAXACA outdoor rug designed by Nani Marquina



Karimoku New Standard:  COLOUR WOOD SIDECHAIR  designed by SCHOLTEN & BAIJINGS

Seven years after the Colour Wood tables, that have become icons within the Karimoku New Standard collection, we introduce the Colour Wood Chair. While adapting the same basic concept, using sustainably sourced low diameter thinning wood, it is challenging Karimoku’s carpentry skills in a new way: small laths of oak wood are assembled to a shell without any apparent fixture to form a seat that appears like a graphical composition, oscillating between simplicity and complexity. The Colour Wood Chair is made to complement our Colour Wood Dining table and to suit home and contract use. The seat is upholstered with a Kvadrat fabric, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and built to offer outstanding seating comfort.



Plank: MYTO chair by Konstantin Grcic

Cantilever chair entirely made of plastic in black, white, traffic red, pure orange, yellow green, light blue. Stackable, for in and outdoor.




MAGIS: Vigna outdoor table by Martino Gamper 



MOROSO: Heartbreaker Sofa 2019 designed by Johannes Torpe, (What a masterpiece!). 



Enea: apart from being one of the best companies internationally on seat design-it is A great one too: since 26/3 Enea manufactures protective screens in its premises for the health care workers by using 3-D printing technology. 


Blast chillers new technology:Smeg’s new blast chiller for households helps with your day-to-day kitchen management, saving you time and minimising wastage while still allowing you to eat food of the highest quality. The product represents a sensitivity to consumption and food quality, combined with the technological approach which Smeg has adopted as its vision and is the added value to the company’s product range.
A precious tool in the professional kitchen which is now ready to enter the houses of those who are looking for healthier, higher-quality food, with significant time savings – for example for weekly meal planning – and with greater creative possibilities to create professional-quality meals.
It is a multifunctional and versatile domestic appliance, with an elegant design which integrates perfectly with all other Smeg products in the range.

Manage laundry right from your smartphone with optional smart washer and dryer features in the Whirlpool® app.2.
Schedule your washer so your clothes are ready for the dryer when you are. Use the Whirlpool® app to tell the washer when you'll be home by so it starts and ends the cycle on your schedule.2.

Glas Italia: Boxinbox by Philippe Starck

A series of low tables and closed and open storage furniture, designed like a box within a box, in laminated 5+5 mm. thermo-welded extralight glass. These are placed on a base of reflective polished stainless steel. A space within the transparent extralight glass unit glued at 45° allows a second element with storage function available in transparent coloured glass in the following colours: viola 98, arancio 101, verde 103, grigio caldo 116 and giallo sole 115. In the collection there is also a low storage table with six shelves in laminated 5+5 mm. glass in the same above-described colouring and a low display case in very clear grey 3 + 3 mm laminated glass. Also these ones are thermo-welded and have a base in reflective polished stainless steel. The collection is complemented by functional objects storage cases, available in two versions: hand-caned with vegetal fiber or in Zebrano wood with dovetail joints.








Brรผhl: Armand chair, design by Kati Meyer-Brรผhl




Etro: Parrot Lamp, (Ceramic Parrot lamp base)



Marset: Dipping Light by Jordi Canudas , introduced in 2018

Beyond its function as a lamp, the Dipping Light seeks to excite. When it’s turned on, its different shades of paint sift the light, creating a magical ambient effect. When it’s off, its colored glass sphere is an object charged with beauty, and eye-catching design piece for a shelf, bedside, or table.

The history of the Dipping Light has only just begun. Marset wasn’t willing to settle for just the two table lamp sizes it has come in so far. Its most poetic light expands its uses and is now offered as a portable lamp, suspension lamp, wall lamp and a new table lamp size –o20 cm– to bridge the gap between the small and large sizes. The colors are the same, with an expanded model line-up. There is also a choice of finish for the stem between brushed brass and graphite.



Vibia: Break outdoor light designed by Xuclร  & Alemany




Nordgrรถna: Saga noise insulation

In an architectural style known as stave, Scandinavians once created buildings which looked like straight out of fairy tales. We combined the classic style with modern function, and named it ”Saga” - Swedish for fairy tale.
Saga is offered as a collection of click-connecting shapes & shades of solid cork offering new possibilities for creative interior design.



STAY SAFE, STAY HAPPY, STAY HOME AND STAY OUT RESPONSIBLY

A4D-D4A ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿ™