Hasta La Ideas

Easy Keys’ new book “The Story of Beer” is a rollicking tale in which readers will find a giant banjo-playing bear clad in white briefs and sporting deer antlers….

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London designer Michael Sodeau has created a lightweight circular chair from Hypetex, a coloured carbon-fibre material developed by racing car engineers.

Following seven years of research and development, Hypetex engineers created a carbon-fibre composite that has been developed in a range of colours for furniture design.

The first product made entirely from the material is the Halo lounge chair by Michael Sodeau, which features a thin wing-shaped seat on three legs and a large disc-shaped back that completely eclipses the seat when viewed from behind.

“We wanted to create a very graphic form, something that would have a strong identity, hence idea of the disc on the back of the chair,” Sodeau told Dezeen. “The contoured shape interacts perfectly with light creating vibrant refractions on the surface of the material.”

“When the chair is viewed from behind it hides what is in front, adding a playful quality that only reveals its full shape as you walk around it,” he added.

The chair is constructed from the high-tech composite material by Hypetex engineers, who also work on parts for Formula 1 racing cars, at their UK manufacturing space using a unique patented process.

“Hypetex is different from other materials that I’ve worked with in the sense that it offers a lot of freedom from a design point of view,” said Sodeau. “It enables us to create a mono-material design, so aesthetically we can have a strong dynamic shape with one material over the whole object.”

“The carbon fibre enables us to generate shapes not achievable in other materials,” he continued. “The aesthetics and performance of this material lend themselves perfectly to this piece.”

While other companies have attempted to create coloured carbon fibre, Hypetex claim their version is the first to achieve vibrant colour while maintaining the high performance properties of the material.

“When we were introduced to Michael, he immediately saw the potential for Hypetex in the design world,” Marc Cohen, CEO of GPF One and owner of Hypetex told Dezeen.

“We decided to collaborate on designs that would demonstrate the vibrancy, colour and strength of the material. The aesthetic quality of Hypetex and the strength and lightness of the material makes it perfect for use in design.”

The Halo chair will be launched at the designjunction exhibition during this year’s London Design Festival in September.

Hypetex and Michael Sodeau Studio are currently working together on further design applications for the material.

The post Michael Sodeau uses Formula 1 engineering
to create carbon-fibre Halo chair appeared first on Dezeen.

Always wanted a pet but couldn’t have one because of allergies? We have the perfect solution for you – The Petollar. Comprising of an Air Cleaner and Collar, the device basically works at attracting animal hair (fur) and dust to the receiving unit, so as to keep the environment as allergen free as possible.

The Air Cleaner (Plusa) and Collar (Minuz) help eliminate dust, dirt and fur from the pet, working on the electrostatic theory that is found in an Ionizer. Basically the collar emits negative ions, which is absorbed by the dirt in the air and this in turn gets attracted to the positive ions emitted by the air cleaner. Sounds complicated for the moment, but I suppose if this Top 35 Entry from the 2014 Electrolux Design Lab Competition gets to the semi finals, we will know more about how it works.

Designer: Thanut Chaovakul

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(Pets For Everyone was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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1. Interactive 3-D Pets In A Jar
2. The Pets of our Future Robot Overlords
3. Modular Pets Making A Good Footrest

Le réalisateur danois Martin de Thurah a réalisé ce superbe clip pour illustrer « Do It Again », morceau tiré de la collaboration entre Robyn & Royksopp. Avec cette création en noir & blanc tournée au Mexique, une véritable ambiance sombre et étrange se dégage, et met en images avec talent la musique. A découvrir.

When it comes to lights that retail for tens of thousands of dollars, you better believe every detail is excruciatingly considered. That’s certainly the case with Bec Brittain‘s line of high-end lighting, luxury pieces thoughtfully designed and painstakingly assembled in her studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn. A prime example: During New York Design Week last May, the designer launched her latest iteration of Echo—a series of pendants with a price tag of around $40K each—which uses fins of glass around a central axis to reflect and diffuse beams of light.

Started in 2013, the Echo series is an exploration of light directed inward, toward mirror and glass. Thus Echo 1 has five angled LED arms that shine light toward the center, where it is reflected by bronze mirrors. The next version, Echo 2, employs opal white glass panels to softly diffuse light, while Echo 3 uses gray mirrored panels to create a much stronger, brighter glow. This year’s addition to the series, Echo 4, introduces custom-cut perforations to break up its mirrored panels.

The perforated mirror is a first for Brittain’s lighting work, chosen for how it works with linear light. “The lines are segmented and thrown, to create an effect we had hoped for but could barely anticipate,” explains the designer. “This is one of our most exciting new fixtures, as the visual impact is at a maximum. The perforated mirror panels work with each other in a way that makes the fixture undefinable; it becomes a concentrated optical illusion.”

When approaching a new idea for lighting, Brittain always begins by sketching—allowing the fixture to take form in these sketches, before moving to physical models. “We look at proportions, feasibility, concept; we try to understand the project as best we can with these methods, and then bring it to a digital model to work out the details and individual parts,” she says. For the Echo 4, that meant prototyping the fixture in foam core and mocking it up using hardware from her SHY light series. Some sample glass was cut. In other cases, Brittain’s team has 3D-printed hardware prototypes.” It’s a really great way to see the pieces and test them,” Brittain says. “We move between the computer and these prototypes, and then order a small run of machined parts before moving into production.”

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