The 3D-printed residential unit in Kamp C: A Concise Interview about what it seems to be like a (Design) Revolution.

In photo above: The final 3D rendering of the house at Kamp C made by project partners C3PO.

Back in 2017, Carlos Moedas, the then EU Comissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, mentionned in his Web Summit intervention the huge turn in Architecture and Civil Engineering, through the use of 3D printing in order to construct houses that could reach the price of less than...10 euro. A true momentum in the home architecture and design history.  

Kamp C, the Westerlo-based provincial Centre for Sustainability and Innovation in Construction, printed a house using the largest 3D concrete printer in Europe. The 90-square metre dwelling was printed in one piece with a fixed printer. This is a world first.
The center wants to inspire and activate local authorities, construction companies, and citizens to make the transition to a more sustainable society. Kamp C does this by giving neutral and independent advice in terms of sustainability and innovation, and by involving local government and the construction industry in innovative projects.

The two-storey house is eight metres tall and has a floor area of 90 square metres, the average size of a terraced house in this region.
“What makes this house so unique, is that we printed it with a fixed 3D concrete printer”, says Emiel Ascione, one of the project managers: “Other houses that were printed around the world only have one floor. In many cases, the components were printed in a factory and were assembled on-site. We, however, printed the entire building envelope in one piece on-site.”

The house was printed as part of the European C3PO with financing from ERDF (the European Regional Development Fund). With this feature, the project partners hope to raise interest in the building industry about the use of 3D concrete printing as a building technique. As part of the European C3PO project, which aims to accelerate the transition to this innovative technology in Flanders- this ambitious endeavour engaged eight partners, both from the business community and the scientific community- who joined forces: Beneens, ETIB/CONCRETE HOUSE, Groep Van Roey, Thomas More, Trias architecten, Ghent University and Vicre. Saint-Gobain Weber is also contributing to the project.

Marijke Aerts, Project Manager at Kamp C, kindly gave us some insights about this incredible initiative, the beginning of a new era for public architecture in the EU and beyond: 

All4design-Design4all: How do you thing that the rise of 3D-printing for residential units and the significant drop of cost due to this process, will affect the following years the  existing mortgage banking sector and the traditional building craftsmanship?

Marijke Aerts: The first years, 3D-conrete printing needs to search for the right and most interesting market. Therefore some innovative entrepreneurs need to take the lead in this technology. In the beginning, this technology will be for an exclusive segment of the building market. It needs to scale up largely before the existing mortgage banking sector will move. Hopefully the banking sector will be innovative as well so this technology can grow easier then the very classic building sector.

About the craftsmanship, we are not worried. There will always be a need.

This technology cannot replace all the craftsmanship. It can make it easier and quicker but it cannot replace it all. But maybe, the work of craftsmen can be lifted to another level. Not the classical craftsmen will be needed but rather the specialized ones.

You shouldn’t use new technology to repeat the old way of working, to solve the old problems. New technologies resolve issues in a new way of working, new possibilities and therefore a new type of craftsmen will be needed, more in line with the time we currently live in.

A4D-D4A: The ideas of sustainability, recyclability and biodegradable resources are deeply routed in 3-D printing. Can we talk yet for plastic materials used in 3D printers of large scale projects, made of recycled marine plastics and/or debris?

M.A.: The printer we tested at Kamp C, was fed with concrete but we think the possibilities for plastic will be very close. If you can scale up a small plastic printer to a concrete printer, it should be possible to fed it with recycled plastics in the very near future. Then a new CIRCULAR printer is born and can help us to close the environmental loops.

There is already a lot happening within the plastic-printing business. Plastic is one of the most recyclable products when kept clean of other materials. So we have more process problems than techniqual problems. Also with the concrete we are researching possibilities to make the material more sustainable and reusable afterwards.

A4D-D4A: Which principles of modernist architecture you incorporated in the 3D printing process at the final plans of the Kamp C house prototype?

M.A.: In fact, our design for the house was a combination of a very classic straight house with gentle curves and overhanging walls. Our purpose was to show the conservative construction sector that the buildings they build now, can also be printed. So we tried to make it not too farfetched from their experiences nowadays.

In the future, hopefully, more organic designs will be discovered so the printer can show its best performance. The form freedom of 3D printing is the most important feature of it all!

A4D-D4A: Which other groundbreaking 3D printing technology applications in the likes of the Kamp C housing project, should we expect in the near future?

M.A.: One of our partners, Van Roey Nv, has already started to applicate the 3D-concrete printing. In Deurne, near to Antwerp, they are building a whole new sports-infrastructure. In the swimming pool, they make use of 3D printed walls as a structure for the organic water slides.

During our process of the building of the house, we also did a design contest among students and designers. Some interesting designs were made and in the near future, we will try to print them as a statement of form freedom. On the 8th of September, we will announce our winning designs. But within the thousands of reactions on our press release, there were a lot of people asking us to print their house or companies asking us to upscale this in other countries. So even within the topic of printing houses, we can expect new designs and pilots.

A4D-D4A: Do you think that 3-D printing modules (software, tools, engineering) should be included in the core of the academic curriculum inside design schools and universities from now on?( Just as Coding is starting to become a basic module in History of Art/ Museology in many universities in Europe?).

M.A.: Yes of course, we think that is very necessary! In this first printing project, we involved already the Thomas More University of Geel. It were in fact students who learned to work with the printer and managed to print the house. Also in our subsequent project, called KIEM, the commitment of the school is our priority. The new students are already involved in the following process.

Our thanks and warm regards to Marijke Aerts for her availability and enlightening answers. Please visit the Kamp C official site for more exclusive info about the planning and the innovations currently undergoing at the centre.

All the best

A4D-D4A🙌

REAL DESIGN OR DESIGN REALITY? A GLIMPSE OF THE GOOD DESIGN® SHOW 2020.

In photo above: WORKER 2017-2020, seating and working system, by Peter Gronych and Yvonne Dollega, Cronych + Dollega Architects, Germany.

This year Good Design®, the exhibition and international design prize awarded by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture in a collaboration with The European Centre of Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, Ltd., passes a milestone of 70 years since its original inception.  Each year Good Design® is juried by distinguished leaders in the design industry who select the awarded products, graphic designs and packaging. Good Design® has become an internationally acknowledged  benchmark and another symbol of outstanding design that serves as a beacon for the audiences who follow design and believe in it - in and out our global economies.

In 2019, over 1000 new products and graphics were selected and awarded from over 50 countries;  from electronics and transportation to medical equipment, furniture and household products - the list is endless. Real design by heavy-weight talents from different ages:  these qualified designers who search to serve the individual of today, the millennial in desperate need of everyday, soluble products more than anything else right now. The visionary design of previous decades give its place to a new era of commodities: this is a period of finding ways to exist, survive, respect the planet and make room for the next generations. The end of the manifestation politcs? Maybe. One thing is certain: technology, cure and hands-on, direct approach are coming up as the essentials of the Good Design world. Active participation is the actual reference and the strongest link between the selected products bellow. Enjoy the view and reflect on it. It is definitely worth it.

In photos bellow, from top to bottom: 
1.X-Take Away seat with led light, by X-Technology, Swiss R & D AG, Switzerland. 2.my DRINK 0.7 bottle with infuser by Tescoma s.r.o., Chech Republic.3. ZIZA child's seat, designed by Susanne Grønlund from Grønlund Design, Denmark and manufactured by Safe and Care Co International Ltd., Hong Kong.4. Lucid/ Refined Signage System (designer Kurt Lyons) and Attend Patient Room Signs by Takeform, NY, USA. 

For the full catalogue of the Good Design® international design prize winners check here.

Until next post towards the 30th of July - stay safe and GO green.

A4D-D4A 💙💚🙌

SUMMER NEWS 2020: PART A!

In image above: Upland Creates CryptoKitties Retirement Community…and CryptoFun is just the Beginning of this experience! 

Summer 2020 is somewhat morose, with many countries still under lockdown constraints in business and travel. Nevertheless, A4D-D4A is short-listing traditionally this time of the year, some interesting ventures to know about, regarding design , technology, society and everything in between. There you go: 

- Today the developers of the blockchain-based property trading game and virtual parallel world Upland announced to its community that it has created “an island retirement resort for all your hardworking CryptoKitties” just off the coast of San Francisco on Angel Island. In a nod to blockchain pioneer Dapper Labs and its highly successful digital cat collecting & breeding game, Upland is running a week-long event, ending at 7 AM PDT on June 30th, where CryptoKitties players can send some of their many beloved but less fruitful cats to Upland’s in-game island retirement community where they will “be immortalized in our platform, enjoying the beaches, sipping milk-based cocktails, laying around in the sun and enjoying all the fish they can eat”. 

In exchange, participants get a chance to win up to 75,000 UPX, Upland’s in-game currency. The more CryptoKitties retired the higher the participant’s ranking, which will be tracked via a leaderboard. And, of course, they are encouraged to join Upland where they can visit their retired cats on the Angel Island retirement community any time.  
The Upland platform is a virtual layer mapped to real-world addresses and offers players true ownership of digital property that they can buy, trade, and sell on the Upland open marketplace. 

Launched as an open beta with properties in San Francisco early this year, future iterations of Upland will expand to include other cities and regions throughout the world, the possibility to erect structures on properties, and will enable developers to build and run businesses on the platform. Upland also plans to allow the use of digital assets created outside of Upland, and the CryptoKitties event is a sneak peek at this upcoming feature. 

To join the Upland mobile web open beta, go to https://discover.upland.me/web or download either the free iOS or Android app. To learn more, please visit  https://upland.me/. The company’s mission is to create fun experiences and new opportunities for everyone at the intersection of the real and virtual worlds. Upland launched its open beta in January, 2020, and has since steadily climbed the charts of blockchain applications. The new open beta version can be joined at https://upland.me/.

- Blockchain streamlines waste management: the Bee2WasteCrypto platform will allow quantification, characterization of production and optimization of technologies to be used in waste management, according to the environmental and service objectives of each management entity, using blockchain technology. Revolution is just around the corner, not to say inside your garbage bin.

- Pedrali Synergies? Hopefully-yes. Robin Rizzini + Sebastian Herkner are the 2 big names of European Design engaged by the Italian- mega house. (Post)Covid19 utilitarian aesthetics will have a scent of two opposites poles made in IT/UK and DE. Very anticipated collections by both of them, we are so looking forward to the Pedrali booth at Salone del Mobile 2021. 

- Again™ carpet: the Dutch DSM - Niaga manufacturer or upcycled and recycled materials is working miracles with its carpets and floor furnishings production for indoor office spaces. Conscious home objects of desire and geared towards office use for the time being,  Again™ is made of recycled materials and can be recycled into a new carpet after use. It meets commercial carpet's highest quality standards and contributes to healthier working environments.

- Great, wearable, contemporary jewelry has a new platform to showcase and retail. Welcome to atelierallday.com, where you can find fine, creative jewelry by independent designers and makers. Shana Gulati’s studio and her 18K resin and diamond earrings, just among our very favourites. 

- The Geomag Mechanics 86 Magnetic Motion Set allows children to build incredible and exciting inventions by stimulating their creativity, inventiveness and intelligence through mastering mechanics & engineering, allowing them also an introduction to science. Ideal for children aged 7+. Download the Geomagworld app on iOS and Android stores or check out the web version, with interactive instructions for all product lines and many alternative ideas to create and share your new construction projects!

That’s all for now. Until our next post, scheduled for mid July on the Good Design Awards - stay safe and stay united. 

#WeStandTogether   #BlackLivesMatterToo 

A4D-D4A💙💚🙏

Towards the XXIII International Exhibition of Triennale Milano,“The Earth seen from the Moon”: A New (Design) Intelligence Rising.

In screenshot above: so close and so far away, behind masks and social distancing  the speakers based in Italy attend by videoconference straight from Cambridge, USA, the amazing intervention of Matthew Claudel, designer, researcher, writer in  MIT Urban Planning department. 

The second symposium towards the XXIII International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, entitled: “The Earth seen from the Moon”, just took place. The symposium is part of a three-appointment series that address some key issues of our present. The discussion, taking place at a delicate moment when many countries are approaching the reopening after the health emergency, started  from the analysis of some key issues, ranging from “Stand apart to understand A New Anthropocene”, from “Fragility as awareness” to “The legacy of the pandemic” and the idea of “A new culture for a new world”. 

The idea of not being the center of the universe, therefore decentralizing our selves and our egos from that position towards a new courage, a new determination, a new state of mind and eventually a new design – is pronounced as the headline of the convention by Stefano Boeri President of the Triennale. Our planet is the only thing we have and as the spark in the universe we are, we cannot possibly imagine that we matter, but we can definitely claim we did come this far. The 51st anniversary of the Man landing in the Moon marks that very moment of consciousness, gazing at our blue and lively planet, realizing the actual size of our importance in the vastness of the universe. At the same time the pandemic is not the only issue tantalizing the world: the upheaval against colonial social techniques and the need of new tools to repair injustices such “anti-black”, “anti- indigenous”, “anti-South” become entirely prominent also as the antidote to new “genocides”. 

Can Design understand current pivotal issues and actively contribute to them? Exhibitions are the mirrors of our times  and they will become through innovation and tech the platforms of joint action in front of the many challenges and the need of new social regeneration. The power of creativity is super important in these times of environmental and political crisis, also demonstrating the fragility of cultural institutions, therefore our proper personal weakness, emphasizing our need to adjust in this Era of the Unexpected in Fast-track Mode.  

“The Museum will be re-designed to function as a Laboratory from now on: a place of dialogue, not a place of unearthed, previous findings, not a Commodity of Archives”. 

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London. 

In a time where Computational Capitalistic Ideology also seem to prevail finding through Simulation a solid ground for gigantic profits, the area of the City, the Urban Scheme cannot continue to be a resource trap. The ecological transition through a new set of design rules is a Project now- a project that politicians are rather late to follow and react accordingly.  

In screenshot bellow: The Eco-Century Project outline presented by Panos Mantziaras, Director, Fondation Braillard Architectes, Geneva, Switzerland- an initiative launched at the Braillard Architects Foundation.  

The emergency of the situations occurring, dictates a New Model of Alternative Governance designed to cultivate attachments between different actors and ecosystems.  We must rediscover how to live together and how to put all these provisions  to use in the near or distant future. The necessity of decentralized micro-economies/units is essential to a new Life model designed not only for temporary survival but to immune us against our perpetual cultural and economic cannibalism.  

In screen shot bellow, a slide from the Matthew Claudel presentation, designer, researcher, writer, MIT Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA.  

The crisis of governance triggers the imperative implementation of design systems in every public sector and in every field in general. The power of design in Covid-19 times will endure the difficulty of the current circumstances, by providing solutions for a New lifestyle. There is no U-Turn.

  

Bellow: The Canadian TheSiteMagazine issue Provisions-Observing & Archiving Covid-19, illustrates contributing theoreticians' and designers' visions about a new material culture, mentioned by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture & Design, Director of Research & Development, MoMA and Curator of the unprecedented Triennale Exhibition Broken Nature in 2019,(check relevant A4D-D4A Post here). 

Speakers at the symposium: Stefano Boeri, President, Triennale Milano; Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General, Bureau International des Expositions, Paris; Maryan Ismail, Anthropologist, voice keeper of the Somali community in Milan; Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta, Astrophysicist and Chief Diversity Officer, ESA European Space Agency, Paris; Giovanna Melandri, President, MAXXI, Rome; Hanru Hou, Artistic Director, MAXXI, Rome; Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, Director MAXXI, Rome; Grazia Quaroni, Director of Collections, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris; Kandis Williams, Artist, director and publisher, Los Angeles; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London; Bernd Scherer, Director, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Panos Mantziaras, Director, Fondation Braillard Architectes, Geneve; Matthew Claudel, Designer, researcher, writer, MIT Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture & Design, Director of Research & Development, The Museum of Modern Art and Curator of the Trienalle Exhibition Broken Nature in 2019, New York; Li Xiangning, Professor, Tongji University, Shanghai; Ben Ware, Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy and Visutal Arts (CPVA), King's College, London; Joni Baboci, General Director of Planning and Urban Development, City of Tirana; Giovanni Fosti, President, Fondazione Cariplo, Milan; Marina Ponti, Global Director - UN SDG Action Campaign, Bonn; Nico Daswani, Head of Arts and Culture, World Economic Forum, Cologny; Emanuele Coccia, Associate Professor, Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, Paris; Joseph Grima, Director of Museo del Design Italiano of Triennale Milano; Torkwase Dyson, artist from Chicago who lives in Harlem. 

Visit the Triennale here. 

#westandtogether  #blacklivesmatter #indesignwetrust  @triennalemilano 

A4D-D4A💙💚🙌

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 💙💚🙌

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-D4A💟😃 

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

In photo bellow: Touro armchair by André 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 über-talent Pinar Irmak Çağlar - 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 Happy😇😍

A4D-D4A 💙💚