Hasta La Ideas

The tacky bedrooms, hotel suite and dentist’s waiting room captured in this photography by Kurt Hollander are actually sets for erotic video chats.

Called Erotic Videochat Studios, Hollander‘s photoset shows the interiors of spaces designed to host live streams of models performing the sexual fantasies of a paying client in front of a webcam.

Located in the Colombian city Cali, each studio comprises a series of sets, with intentionally ordinary backdrops created by “non-designers”on a budget.

“Inside of large, nondescript buildings in residential and commercial neighbourhoods, erotic video-chat studios have dozens of rooms equipped with a computer and camera that transmit streaming videos of models 24 hours a day,” Hollander told Dezeen.

While documenting the photoset, he found that the backdrops are typically completed with tacky and dated decor, such as glittery pillows, framed quotes and murals. Although finished differently, each also has “a sweet, innocent, colourful aesthetic” – contrasting the activities for which they are designed.

“The distance between the interior decoration and the sexual activity that goes on within these spaces produces a surreal disconnect,” the photographer said.

“The tacky innocence of the pillows, the wallpaper, the posters and the mirrors, makes it nearly impossible to imagine webcam models performing every kind of fetish and penetrating every one of their bodily cavities with every kind of sex toy on the market on the beds, and therein lies the conceptual base of this series.”

Hollander used a Fujifilm X100s camera and a tripod to capture the backdrops straight-on, without filters or special effects – much like they would be seen on the webcam.

Among the series is a “middle-class teenage girl’s bedroom”, with two unicorn pillows and floral bedsheets, a dentist’s waiting room with bright textiles, and a “swanky hotel”.

Other featured sets include a bed with a golden headboard, which matches the floral gold leaf adorning a bedside lamp, as well as a monochrome space detailed with a fake green wall and a picture of Frida Kahlo.

Erotic video chat is a fairly new phenomenon in the sex industry, but Hollander said that it is particularly prevalent in Colombia. The country is the second largest provider of video-chat models in the world, just after Romania, and Cali is home to the first studio designed specifically for this function, according to the photographer.

“In erotic video-chat, a relatively new industry within the world of commercial sex, Colombian models (mostly women but also men and transvestites) service the sexual needs of clients (mostly but not exclusively men) in other countries (mostly the USA and Great Britain) by performing in front of a streaming camera,” he said.

Hollander happened upon erotic video chat studios while undertaking his Architecture of Sex series, which investigates the design spaces “where people have the most sex” in the Colombian city. He said he found the intentionally ordinary backdrops designed for the live streams the most bizarre of all.

“Of all the places I documented – which included massage parlours, men’s clubs, spas, porn cinemas, swingers clubs, gangbangs, brothels, etc – the most consistently surreal environments were those of erotic video-chat studios.”

Dutch duo Vera van de Sandt and Jur Oster have similarly created a photo series that captures the moods of intimate spaces designed for sex. Called Love Land Stop Time, theirs shows the interiors of Brazil’s “tantalising” motels.

The post Kurt Hollander captures “tacky innocence” of Colombia’s erotic video studios appeared first on Dezeen.

I’ve always maintained that a robot should be built to do things humans can’t. Drones also fall in the same category. We can teach drones to perform high-risk activities and pull off rescue attempts that a human couldn’t do, either because of physical limitations, or because of health risks. This is the Net Guard Drone. It falls perfectly into the category I just described… well, ‘falls’ may not be the most appropriate word.

The Net Drone is a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) made together by joining four identical quadrants with propellers. The drone takes off into the sky to rescue victims stuck at the top of high-rises in the event of a calamity requiring evacuation. It then, promptly, splits into four parts, as a safety net unfurls between the individual parts, creating a protective bed the victim can jump onto. Once the victim lands safely in the net, the drone carries them to safety, ensuring no human lives are endangered in the high-altitude, high-risk rescue attempt. While the technology to pull off such a complex rescue doesn’t really exist, the concept definitely makes a great case for how drones should be built in the future to assist humans in life-threatening situations.

The Net Guard is a winner of the Golden Pin Concept Design Award for the year 2018.

Designers: Liu Xiang, Diao Hao-Ming, Li Hao-Hu, Zhu Nan-Tong, Li Guo-Yu & Hu Zhen-Yuan (Guangdong Polytechnic University)

Adam Ruins Everything, Adam explains why don’t actually own our tech devices…(Read…)

Furry changing rooms, library-style display shelves and blue marble walls feature among our top 10 shops of 2018, picked out by interiors reporter Natasha Levy for our review of the year.

Celine, US, by Valerio Olgiati

Marble, one of 2018’s most popular materials, provided the striking interior of Celine’s Miami store. The space which features sky-blue slabs of the natural stone across its ceiling and walls, as well as a pyramid-shaped stairway.

Textural interest was added with grey, suede-like cushion seats and peaked concrete columns.

Find out more about Celine’s Miami store ›

Kloke, Australia, by Studio Goss

Rough concrete surfaces and blocky fixtures emulate the appearance of brutalist architecture inside this Melbourne boutique, which Studio Goss designed for pared-back clothing brand Kloke.

An asymmetric cubic volume distends from the centre of the store’s ceiling to form a faux skylight, complemented by angular recesses in the walls.

Find out more about Kloke ›

Like Shop, Russia, by Eduard Eremchuk

Colourful installations by the American artist James Turrell informed the interiors of this fashion concept store in Moscow, which has an all-yellow entryway.

Bubblegum-pink fluffy fabric covers the changing room booths, while terrazzo-style vinyl with purple and orange flecks provides the flooring.

Find out more about Like Shop ›

RÖ Skin, UK, by O’Sullivan Skoufoglou

Cane mesh cabinetry lines the edges of this skincare store in Lincolnshire, which O’Sullivan Skoufoglou designed to encourage “transparency, light and visual connection”.

The space’s warm tones are enhanced by a peachy marble sink counter and sand-coloured linen curtains, which provide privacy to treatment rooms.

Find out more about RÖ Skin ›

Knoll, USA, by Johnston Marklee

A sequence of grand white archways sit behind the front display window of Knoll’s Los Angeles store, which architecture firm Johnston Marklee designed in reference to a 16th-century Moroccan castle.

Further touches of opulence are provided by gold-tone mirrors and the canopy-style ceiling draped with panels of grey felt.

Find out more about Knoll’s LA store ›

The Daily Edited, Australia, by Pattern Studio

Pattern Studio aimed to suggest a “new kind of femininity” inside this Melbourne accessories shop, which continues the pink trend with blush-tone surfaces and rosy marble counters.

LED strip lighting installed above the shop’s display nooks and behind its curved partition wall also lends the space a futuristic feel.

Find out more about The Daily Edited ›

Forte Forte, Italy, by Robert Vattilana

A nude sketch, spindles of yarn, and a bust of the Roman goddess Venus are among the array of curious ornaments that art director Robert Vattilana used to create a “dreamy” mood inside this Milanese fashion boutique.

The objects are set against expanses of grooved marble, white gauzy curtains, and jade green partition walls.

Find out more about Forte Forte ›

Ssense, Canada, by David Chipperfield Architects

This year saw David Chipperfield Architects complete its first project in Canada, a brick-and-mortar store for online fashion label Ssense.

The austere retail space is set inside a 19th-century building. It exclusively features concrete and mirrored surfaces, which the practice kept as bare as possible by concealing wiring systems.

Find out more about Ssense ›

Jil Sander, Japan, by John Pawson

A limited material palette of limestone and cherry wood helped John Pawson achieve a minimalist aesthetic inside the Tokyo flagship of fashion label Jil Sander.

While the space is sparsely finished, interest is added by a tall banyan tree in the store’s basement that grows up through the stairwell.

Find out more about Jil Sander’s Tokyo store ›

Valextra, China, by Neri&Hu

Neri&Hu looked to the layout of libraries when designing the interiors of this Chengdu accessories store, where handbags are displayed high on walnut shelves and accessed via step ladders.

While most of the store is illuminated by artificial spotlighting, a deep conical light funnel has also been carved out of the ceiling – a feature inspired by the oculus of Rome’s Pantheon.

Find out more about Valextra ›

The post Dezeen’s top 10 shops of 2018 appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our newsletter Dezeen Weekly features a giant female robot, a building covered in spray-on rubber and Pantone’s colour of the year. Subscribe to Dezeen Weekly ›

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