Hasta La Ideas

The beauty of keeping a theme as simply worded as “Possibilities” is that its interpretations end up being incredibly diverse as everyone associates the word ‘possibilities’ with something new. Some designers consider material possibilities, others look at possibilities for sustainability and the future, while some even tend to look at fixing problems of the past. Everyone has a different story to tell, and all these stories combine in the melting pot that is the Amman Design Week 2019.

At Amman Design Week this year, we look at how Possibilities can shape our ‘makeable’ future. The Amman Design Week has evolved from being a simple event to a movement to help design uplift life, and make life and culture enrich design in the kingdom of Jordan. The movement now spans more than just the design week, which gets held once every two years. During other times of the year, the design week aims at supporting and rehabilitating local creative organizations, reviving crafts, providing educational workshops and mentorship programs, and acting as the glue that binds all things creative and social in the country. Working towards building a future that’s design aware, ADW’s design week showcases two full years worth of growth and creativity. “We decided we didn’t want to do this [annual] factory-like production of events. It’s more about doing the right works and yielding the right results in terms of designer output”, said ADW Director Rana Beiruti.

We look at the Hangar Exhibition and the Student Showcase, curated by Noura Al Sayeh-Holtrop, a stunning combination of both professional and student work that encapsulate the theme of “Possibilities”. Some designs look inward at personal growth as a possibility, while others look at altering the environment and nature to create possibilities for the years to come. Some even look at how to preserve the past as we rapidly move into an uncertain future. Here are some of our favorite pieces.

Bassam Huneidi’s project looks at reusing hookah pipes and mouthpieces. These products are crafted from plastic, and are often disposed of the same way one would a straw or plastic cutlery. Huneidi uses the mouthpieces, turning them into attractive lamps, while the pipes become a strong and stable material for woven furniture.

Kutleh’s cantilever coffee table uses a special ply-stone material, built by joining pieces of stone discarded during the slab-cutting process. These pieces are given a new lease of life as a completely different material, as they stack together to form uniquely striated blocks of stone!

Designed by Ishraq Zraikat, this weaving loom becomes a poetic home for the weaver. Reflecting on the idea of creating both living arrangements and job opportunities, this loom looks at fabric as a way to not only create, but to live under.

Jordan has a flourishing furniture craft, but doesn’t have any indigenous wood to create furniture. Sahar Madanat, founder of Studio Twelve Degrees, realized that wood as a material isn’t local to the country, but the talent is. Surprised at how the country imported tonnes of wood from neighboring countries, with no suitable local alternative, Madanat developed a new composite created from waste material including olive-wood pulp, which is found in abundance in Jordan. The new material is completely biodegradable, but possesses the consistency and hardness of MDF wood, along with a faint olive aroma.

One of my favorite pieces from the design week comes from the student exhibition, where Sarah Sunna turned 2D doodles into 3D wrought iron furniture. This one-of-a-kind chair and table set showcase possibilities that span disciplines, allowing illustrators and interior designers to collaborate over uniquely appealing furniture art!

Foundland Studio’s project acts as a stark reminder of the past. After one of the studio’s founders’ parents had to flee Syria when the war broke out, they decided to preserve the memories of their past life, both the good moments and the bad. The project comprises a book that captures thoughts and recollections, alongside a 3D printed replica of their home which they had to abandon.

Saba Innab’s installation presents an abstraction of Jordanian architecture. It pulls architectural details from the Hashemite Plaza in Amman, turning familiar visual cues into a repetitive symmetric collage.

It looks like marble, but it is, in fact, plastic! Dema Mosleh found a way to recycle different scraps of plastic by melting them and combining them together to create a beautiful, dense, marbled material that looks exactly like marble stone. Each piece is made using waste plastic that would otherwise be thrown in a landfill or dumped into the ocean. Here, the plastic is transformed into a material that lasts long, while looking absolutely stunningly like stone!

MRM’s installation is an abstraction between architecture and jewelry. Created using parametric design, the two inspiration sources are combined to create new forms that fuse the two styles and cultures. MRM’s previous work includes Oscar-winning costume design for Marvel’s Black Panther!

Terrazzo meets Pinterest with MORPH-X Design Studio’s exploration with the material. Terrazzo is a wonderful way of using cement and recycling stone chips not just for waste reduction but also for strength. MORPH-X Design Studio however puts an aesthetic spin on the material by dyeing the cement to create patterns and styles that bring a new appeal to the forgotten material, turning it into a material that high-end designers and architects would love to play with!

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The Amman Design Week has been a catalyst for change in not just Jordan but the Middle East, for helping people see value in integrating design into societies and lives. ADW has helped to legalize and democratize 3D printing tools in the country, where 3D printers were banned up until 2017… and has also played its part to help rehabilitate Syrian and Palestinian communities plagued by wars. By nurturing a conversation around the possibilities of harmonious coexistence, of sustenance, and creative problem solving, Amman Design Week is doing much more than just showcasing design-work over a period of 7 days. It is, like all good design, helping create large-scale positive impact.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects, SevilPeach and Studio Drift have been named best architecture, interiors and design studios of the year at Dezeen Awards 2019.

The winning studios were revealed at the Dezeen Awards party held at Ennismore Sessions House in London, which was attended by 250 guests.

The three winners, chosen from 16 shortlisted studios, are based in Vietnam, the UK and the Netherlands.

They were chosen by this year’s master juries, which met in London in September. They made their selections based on business success, client satisfaction, positive impact, and strong vision and achievement.

Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia was named architect of the year by the architecture master jury, which consisted of Sou Fujimoto, Lyndon Neri, Kunlé Adeyemi, Sonali Rastogi and Jing Liu.

“The studio has an acute awareness of the context that it is working in,” the jury said. “Vietnam’s past is very much present in the work but it also recognises the modernity of the country.”

“Vo Trong Nghia’s projects signify a transition from old to new,” added the judges. “The studio has developed its own school of thought and its own techniques.”

The studio, which has offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, also won the award for civic building of the year with Viettel Academy.

London-based studio SevilPeach was selected as interior designer of the year. The jury championed interior design studio SevilPeach’s work for being “intelligent and skilfully put together”.

“SevilPeach designs peaceful, calming spaces that appear effortless,” explained the judges. “Its animated interiors play with light, acoustics and moments of colour.”

The interiors master jury, which consisted of Eva Jiricna, Eero Koivisto, Matali Crasset, Ab Rogers, Claesson Koivisto and Yoko Choy, also highly commended Dutch studio Inside Outside/Petra Blaisse for its “transformative interventions”.

“Inside Outside/Petra Blaisse has an extraordinary knowledge of the interior and understanding of light,” the judges explained. “Its innovative work has a meaningful tactile nature.”

The design jury, which consisted of Philippe Starck, Nelly Ben Hayoun, Yinka Ilori, Aric Chen, Lonny van Ryswyck and Sofia Lagerkvist, named Studio Drift as designer of the year.

“Studio Drift has consistently produced good work over the last two years,” said the judges.

“They have successfully accomplished a lot of ambitious projects that explore the relationship between nature and technology, as well as our relationship with technology.”

The Amsterdam studio also won the lighting design category with their Franchise Freedom installation.

Each winner was presented with a hand-made trophy designed by Atelier NL. All the category winners were announced earlier this year.

The post Dezeen Awards architecture, interiors and design studios of the year revealed appeared first on Dezeen.

Hey I’m Sam, and I do design.

What type of design do I design? Well… I don’t know any more.

I studied at university as a product designer. We were there to learn how products are designed on an industrial scale. Not handmade, not batch produced, but on a global and industrial level. For this reason, product design was also often called industrial design. I could interchange the term I used, depending on who I was talking to, and the terms were synonyms of each other, depending on who you asked.

But that was 6 years ago. That was a time when we were still mourning the loss of skeuomorphism in the iPhone. It was a time when digital design had finished copying the real world in order for users to “understand” the interface, and it had started to make its own way in life. We saw flat design and multi-tap gestures that weren’t possible in traditional product design.

However, 6 years later, it is clear that digital design didn’t have a clean divorce from product design. It decided instead to take its name. Now the entire design industry refers to anything digital, service, user experience, or user interface design, as “product design”.

I spent four years at university studying what I thought was the cutting edge of User-Centered thinking and empathy within product design. My head was buried in an industrial design dream.

Now that I’ve emerged from the other side of graduation, it has suddenly hit me that I’m not a product designer any more. That title was adopted by the UXers and UIers. Product design is now any service that a consumer can interact with. I can only officially call myself an industrial designer now (though I have started calling myself an “item” designer, even if it’s not catching on just yet).

At the end of the day, I’m the designer that wraps the “product” in an outer shell that customers can buy. The item is a physical embodiment of the product which is stored on local chips and on cloud servers. Arguably, the shells are a deciding factor when choosing an “item”, but no way near as much as the “product”. Few would turn down the new iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro because they don’t like the camera design. People care more about the photos it can take and the services it provides (product) than the shape of the camera bump (item) in that scenario.

The real question is (and this is the question that keeps me awake at night): how long will it be before a product doesn’t need the shell at all?

That’s actually the exciting thing about the creative field we’re in.

The human race has been creating since the dawn of time but “design” as we know it is relatively new. The industrial revolution that kicked it all off was 200 years ago. “Modern” design thinking brought to us with Bauhaus was 100 years ago. When compared to the artists and craftspeople of ancient civilizations, modern design is still taking its first steps. As such, we are collectively pioneers; steering our profession in ways that would have seemed impossible even 20 years ago. Our industry is malleable and never still.

By its very nature, our profession pushes the boundaries of what human creativity is capable of. Design works with social, business, and environmental constraints that must be navigated to design a good product. That process in itself is a skill that is ever-changing. In the time it took me to choose a degree and finish it, the landscape has shifted to a brand new location.

As creatives, it’s no longer the case that we learn one discipline and stay segregated for the rest of our career. The skill sets that we pick up are heavily transferable to different sectors, and I would argue that it’s best to learn as many disciplines as possible. Want to future-proof your job? Learn the skill that may replace it.

Our job is to literally change the world. I don’t mind if my job title changes along with it – I just need to remember that I need to as well.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Gwilt is an industrial designer with an eclectic mix of skills. He graduated Brunel University London and worked for Paul Cocksedge Studio, specializing in bespoke lighting installations and exhibitions internationally. He now works with clients globally at consultancy Precipice Design, and also runs an Instagram Page and YouTube channel – Sam_Does_Design – where he shares industry tips with the community.

You’ve got to admire how DJI has absolutely perfected the art of stabilized video. Whether they’re the drones, consumer gimbals, or the massive handheld Ronin rigs used in cinema, DJI knows how to maneuver a camera, no matter whether it’s a massive cinematography instrument, or something as minuscule as the lens on the DJI Osmo Pocket. Now imagine taking that expertise, and that incredibly small and cutting edge tech, and giving it wings. That’s the DJI Mavic Mini. A camera worthy of the Mavic brand in the body that’s literally the size of three smartphones stacked one on top of the other.

If the smartphone put cameras in everyone’s pockets, DJI hopes that the Mavic Mini puts cameras in the skies. The tiny drone weighs a mere 249g, which means you don’t need to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration (the FAA requires you register any drone weighing 250g or more)… and at just $399, it’s reasonable, which means literally anyone can own and fly one. (Sneaky right? Yeah, I thought so too)

The Mavic Mini comes with 30 minutes of flight time, and clicks 12 megapixel photos and shoots in 2.7K Quad HD… honestly that’s good enough for beginners. The 3-axis gimbal is remarkable, which goes without saying, but the only con is that the Mavic Mini doesn’t come with obstacle avoidance, which may be a dealbreaker if you’re not an expert behind the wheel. It does, however, come with its own controller that you can dock your phone into, giving you an uncompromising drone-flying experience, and the fact that it folds up into a neat bundle you can literally carry in your pocket, makes this quite a contender in the drone space!

Designer: DJI

It’s hard not to roll your eyes when a technology company, whose profits increase the more you use their technology, tells you they want to help you use their technology less for the sake of your own well-being. But I’ll pretend I can take this at face value.

Google has launched a series of “Digital Wellbeing Experiments” meant to “help people find a better balance with technology.” These experiments consist of open-source digital tools that you can download. Here are the descriptions:

“Unlock Clock“

This is essentially wallpaper that counts how many times you’ve unlocked your phone today. I guess that like the screen on a scale used by a person looking to lose weight, the numbers are supposed to motivate you to drive them downwards. With both the scale analogy and “Unlock Clock,” I see the numbers as mere information; I don’t see any correlation to staunching desire.

“Post Box“

This one has the user punch in a specific time that they’d like notifications to appear on their phone, rather than having them pile in willy-nilly. I don’t see how this is terribly different from putting your phone on Silent and placing it facedown on a desk.

“We Flip“

The idea here is that you and a group of friends all ignore your phones at the same time. When one person unlocks their phone, everyone’s phones unlock. The idea seems to be, you all try to break the record of how long your group can avoid using their phone. I still don’t see why this needs to be an app, but then again I am not the target market.

“Paper Phone“

This one’s plan is that you select whatever crucial information you’ll need that day–“favorite contacts, maps and meetings” etc.–and the applet prints out a little booklet with that info, and you fold the booklet up and carry it around. Do we really need the applet and a printer as the middlemen, could we not jot this stuff down on a notepad? Then again, I guess most people don’t like drawing maps. (Although they should! It’s fun.)

“Desert Island“

Here you’re meant to select “only your essential apps,” with the others hidden away, and you’re encouraged to “give it a go for 24 hours.” To me, this seems like confirming that you’re only addicted to heroin and fentanyl, but can ultimately go without cocaine.

“Morph“

Finally, this one has you silo your apps into categories or modes. The idea being that you don’t look at work stuff when you’re home, or are not in holiday mode when you’re at work. The phone knows which mode to set based on the time of day and by using its location software. Call me crazy but I think you could do this yourself by looking around and deducing whether you are in your house, your office or Fiji, and act accordingly.

Here’s a video glance at all of them:

So maybe I’m not the best person to judge these experiments, since I’m not afflicted with the ailments they’re looking to solve. Any of you smartphone addicts out there care to try these out, and say if they make any long-term difference?