Mychai is a personal, portable tea maker that helps you get your fix anytime, anywhere! Simply open and load the device with your favorite leaves and select one of four tea categories displayed on top. Then, drop it in 1-2 cups of water and it will automatically start heating to the ideal brewing temperature before dispensing the leaves. When brewing is complete, it scoops up the wet leaves for disposal, leaving you with the perfect cup each time!
Designer: Uttara Ghodke
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Dans le but de retranscrire la vitesse de la Ferrari California en une démonstration artistique, le studio Oefner a concrétisé l’idée grâce à un système de tuyauterie spécifique : des flux de peintures luminescentes sont projetés à une très grande vitesse, recouvrant petit à petit toute la surface du bolide. Une expérience visuelle à découvrir en vidéo.
News: the city of Almere in the Netherlands has selected a small curvy chapel designed by architect René van Zuuk to be constructed over the surface of the Weerwater lake.
The Weerwater Chapel was one of five winners in a competition to develop architectural interventions in and around the lake, which forms the heart of the 36-year-old Dutch city on the outskirts of Amsterdam.
René van Zuuk, who lives in Almere in a house he designed, proposed a curved wooden chapel that sits above the water’s surface and is accessed via an extension to a jetty that already extends out from the shoreline.
According to Van Zuuk, the chapel could host religious activities for a variety of different cultures. “This is a function that is part of every full-grown city but not yet available in the centre of Almere,” he explained
“It is a place close to the city hall for the people of Almere to be able to get married but also close to the hospital where people can mourn. It is a location for the Christmas nativity scene in December, and a quiet place for reflection and small services throughout the rest of the year,” he said.
The chapel will be constructed from foam, using profiles cut with a CNC machine. External surfaces will be covered with zinc, while the interior will be lined with plywood.
Van Zuuk and colleague Dirk de Groot developed the shape using a small CNC foam cutter of their own.
A petal-shaped window will form the front facade and a narrow strip of glazing will extend across the roof.
“It should be an eco-friendly sustainable architectural object that fits in the city centre and strong enough to be able to create its own position in the ensemble,” added Van Zuuk.
The other competition winners that will be installed include gardens, lighting, an activity zone and a bridge.
Le directeur artistique de la maison Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane, a imaginé l’intérieur d’une boutique de cette grande maison de couture, à Milan. Les murs en marbre ont été polis pour assurer un aspect de transparence et de reflets. Un design lumineux d’un goût irréprochable, jouant avec des lignes qui paraissent infinies.
News: architects have been selected for two of three new “iconic” train stations in Paris that will be built as part of the Grand Paris Express ring-route rail project.
Clichy-Montfermeil metro station by EMBT, as main image
The Spanish architecture firm EMBT founded by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue will design the Clichy-Montfermeil station in collaboration with French architects and engineers Bordas + Peiro, while Brazilian-born Paris-based Elizabeth de Portzamparc will design the Le Bourget station.
The architects were selected via competition, with a third winner still to be announced for the Saint-Denis Playel station later this month.
Clichy-Montfermeil metro station by EMBT
The Grand Paris Express project is run by public agency Société du Grand Paris and involves building a new, fully automated metro line to form a ring-route around the perimeter of the city, with three offshoots to serve developing neighbourhoods.
€300 million was invested in the first 33 kilometres of the network in 2013. The aim is to build 205 kilometres of line by 2030, connecting the network to airports and major TGV high-speed train stations that connect Paris to the rest of France. A total of 72 new stations will be built as part of the project.
A number of the stations have been designated as “iconic” projects, with international architecture competitions launched for three of these. Firms including Foster + Partners and UNStudio were shortlisted for the two stations that have now been won by Miralles Tagliabue (EMBT) and Bordas + Peiro, and Elizabeth de Portzamparc.
EMBT’s 4,800-square-metre station will be located on the border of the neighbourhoods of Clichy-sous-bois and Montfermeil – an area that was at the centre of violent riots in 2005.
“A new station of the Grand Paris Express will be a symbol of the change for these areas,” said a statement from Miralles Tagliabue, the firm now led by Benedetta Tagliabue following the death of her partner Enric Miralles in 2000.
“This new station will bring Paris to Clichy-sous-bois and to Montfermeil and will include them into the Grand Paris project.”
Le Bourget metro station by Elizabeth de Portzamparc
The scheme includes a new public square as well as an underground station sheltered underneath a pergola roof, with natural light brought into the space using a large skylight. Long, zig-zagging escalators provide access to the ticket hall and platforms.
“Our approach is looking for the maximum integration of the metro station’s access into the urban context,” explained the architects. “The access is made through a slow slope with stairs that invites the people coming out of the station to participate on the square.”
Le Bourget metro station by Elizabeth de Portzamparc
The square will host markets twice a week and also provide secure bicycle parking facilities.
“We would like to transform this grey and abandoned place into a vivid and colourful square, which inspires joy and optimism,” said the architects. “This is why we based the motifs of the pavement, the shapes and the colours of the roof on the tissues, decorative motives and colours from Africa.”
Le Bourget metro station by Elizabeth de Portzamparc
De Portzamparc’s 6,800-square-metre station will be the connection point for travellers to and from Le Bourget airport.
The design is formed from a series of rectangular volumes. A skylight brings natural light to the platforms below ground floor level, which are accessed via escalators.
Le Bourget metro station by Elizabeth de Portzamparc
“The train station based on the principle ‘total flex’ provides more flexibility to the future underground platforms and for the future other transport networks,” said a statement from Agences Elizabeth et Cristian de Portzamparc, the joint practice that encompasses Elizabeth de Portzamparc’s own studio.
“Thanks to the used materials (wood, warm colours) and a strong presence of nature, the station becomes a place to ‘live’, a combination of user-friendly and sensorial atmosphere.”
The main flow through the space will be centred around two “courts” or concourses over two levels.
Due to client restrictions, no images have been released yet of the exterior design but the firm said it would include a “totem” to increase the visibility of the station, which would turn act as “the symbolic and landmark identity of the Parisian metropolis.”
I’ve always been a fan of Kristina Klarin‘s large painted wooden beads. Her colour choices are always so interesting. She has just released a new collection, styled for fall, the entire design experience of her online shop is great.
Kristina was the cover artist for issue 15 a few years ago. Here’s an excerpt from our article:
This is no ordinary production line: skewers of freshly painted wooden beads pierce magazine stacks and finished necklaces hang from any available hooks or frame corners of the room. It is awash with vibrant colours, almost as if someone had popped open a fantastical bottle of champagne, its bubbles filling the room with pictorial joy.
Beyond the immediate sensory overload, one rapidly notices the subtle elegance behind each colour combination. There is not a single faux pas as colours marry each other and respond to each other but never clash with each other. This is a delicate exercise in assembling the right shapes with the right hues, one that Kristina Klarin excels in.
Born in Belgrade and now living in Milan, Kristina has always been a colour enthusiast, and her experiences with cultural cross-pollination have helped shaped her take on it. Her home country, Serbia, was historically located at the crossroads of different cultures, and it is there that she believes she gained the ability to use colours in bold, unpredictable ways, as well as appreciate “the beauty from spontaneously mixing different aesthetic influences in a more casual way,” she says. On the other hand, her Italian education and professional experiences urged her to focus more on details—“on perfection,” she muses. “I started designing when I was very young. My passion for it brought me first to study textile design at high school and then drove me all the way to Italy where I graduated in fashion design,” she explains. “It’s indeed in Milan that right after my graduation I started working as a fashion designer. Over the years I saw myself shifting from sartorial and elaborated pieces of clothing to more basic, neat designs with a strong focus on their graphical composition and a flair for striking and eloquent details and accessory.”
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How do you feel after listening to a Stefan Sagmeister lecture? Whether you mean to or not, you probably feel… happy. Sagmeister is a plainspoken powerhouse of graphic design and a walking wealth of lifestyle koans. His Design Week Portland talk, presented by Portland’s AIGA, touched on the internal and external frameworks that impact our positive emotions. To illustrate his ideas about designing happiness he veered between beautiful shots of his interactive installations and often smutty infographics unpacking what “happiness” really is and how to get it.
Using the casual, personally-oriented storytelling familiar in most of his public talks on the subject, this keynote also got technical. Through personal anecdotes and work highlights, we got a guided tour through the research and findings he came to while struggling to make his movie on happiness a reality. Up first: definitions and limitations of happiness. Surprisingly, it turns out that self-reporting is pretty accurate. Do you think of yourself as happy? If asked, how would you describe your life satisfaction? From the sound of it, most of our public answers would check out when tested against our MRI readings. So that’s cool.
The three factors that he believes influence happiness most are our activities, life conditions, and genetics. Specifically, the more non-repetitive activities, the more supportive your social environment, the better. Genetics, as a factor you can’t impact, he doesn’t “care for.” Moreover, the material conditions of our lives only matter up to a point—money matters up to “middle class” and then stops having an appreciable impact as you get richer than $85K/year. People, perhaps unsurprisingly, find success relative: Most people would prefer to make less money overall but more than their neighbors when opposed to making more money overall but less than their neighbors. Telling. It’s also why you get a little depressed seeing everyone else doing so damn well on Facebook.
Sagmeister’s own notorious work cycle, which is loosely structured around taking a long sabbatical every six years, incorporates diversity of activity and socializing into his life, which in turn helps bring diversity and social thinking into his work. Even those of us without our own internationally renowned agencies can apply those ideas. The value of seeing new things, talking to new people, and pushing your own boundaries are obvious—as he put it: “Seek discomfort.”
Textile designer Ella Perdereau started her Parisian studio Suprême Bon Ton in 2013 to offer a range of high-quality silk scarves with designs that are easy on the eyes and…
C’est au beau milieu du Cuillin Ridge, une chaîne de montagnes rocheuses et abruptes que le trialiste écossais Danny Macaskill nous montre ses prouesses à travers cette incroyable vidéo. Sans presque jamais descendre de son vélo, le sportif dévale et escalade le flanc de la montagne avec une technique et une maîtrise remarquables. À découvrir dans la suite.
A Palestinian youth practices his Parkour skills near the ruins of houses, which witnesses said were destroyed during a seven-week Israeli offensive, in the Shejaia neighborhood east of Gaza City October 1, 2014. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
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