Hasta La Ideas

Los Angeles studio Lawson-Fenning has outfitted an apartment in RM Schindler‘s 1930s residential building Manola Court with furniture influenced by California modernism.

Lawson-Fenning, which was founded by Glenn Lawson and Grant Fenning, designed the furnishings to geometric forms and a mix of materials similar to those used by the modernist California designers such as Schindler and Richard Neutra.

The furnishings are a mixture of the studio’s recent Maker’s Collection – comprising a lounge chair, bookcase, console, book rack, pinboard, armchair and daybed – alongside older collections.

The studio chose to mark the launch of Maker’s Collection with a photoshoot in RM Schindler’s Manola Court, a grouping of apartment buildings that the Austrian-born American architect completed in the 1930s.

Local firm Enclosures Architects renovated the 16-unit complex last year, preserving many of Schindler’s original modernist details.

“By featuring the collection within the same walls that inspired the design, we aimed to bring life to the pieces,” said Lawson-Fenning founders Grant Fenning and Glenn Lawson.

Fenning-Lawson designed the Maker’s Collection to expose their structure and construction, which was a key detail in mid-century design.

“The Maker’s Collection honors that vision with exposed hardware, structural steel frames, and materials in their purest form,” it said. “Geometry and intersecting planes are central to the vernacular of the design.”

For the daybed, the team upholstered a rectangular cushion with pink velvet. The seat features powder-coated steel arms that are wrapped in leather.

A leather slingback detailed with brass buckles and buttons attaches to the oiled wood frame of both the Maker’s Lounge Chair and Maker’s Armchair. Both seats can be customised with either an oiled walnut or oiled oak frame and a number of fabrics.

To form the arms of the Armchair, Lawson-Fenning placed upholstered pads on top of curved black metal rods.

Both the Maker’s Console and Maker’s Bookcase are constructed with American oak or walnut and feature several shelves. The backs are detailed with a sheet of blackened steel perforated with tiny holes. The unit rest bases also made from the black metal material.

Other pieces in the new series are two pinboards available in natural or black cork,s and a bookshelf with three container-like shelves made from wood that attach to a metal back.

The furniture was displayed alongside a round coffee table, floor mirror, and other objects from Lawson-Fenning’s Winter 2019 Ojai Collection, which was also influenced by Schindler’s work and the topography and lifestyle of the California coast.

A number of other designers have created new pieces influenced by the aesthetic of famous architects and artists, Italian architecture studio Marcante Testa created a bathroom appliance collection that takes cues from work by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and Danish brand Mater launched chairs reminiscent of furniture designed by Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius and faculty members Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Photography is Yoshi Makino.

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Exquisite lighting designs have the ability to illuminate any live space, and to just add that extra oomph factor! I mean, of course, we need them to see in the dark, but as highly functional as they should be,  a lighting fixture also needs to be aesthetically pleasing. So, we’ve curated a collection of intriguing lighting designs to brighten up your home or office space!

The Mygdal Plantlight by Nui Studio is a revolutionary lighting solution not just because the luminaire is a completely self-sustaining ecosystem where the plants can grow undisturbed, but also because of its one-of-a-kind electrically conductive glass coating. It actually streams the electricity invisibly along the surface, so there’s no need for a cable connection between the power source and the LED.

The Helios Touch is a modular wall light comprising of hexagonal panels, you can move the panels around to create a pattern of your choice! Oh, and did we mention it lights up at the touch of your hand?

Crafted using anodized aluminum and glass domes, the Infinity Modern Pendant by Karice is one magical affair. The source of the light is invisible, however, the subtle rays of light can be seen rotating throughout the dome.

Aqua Creations’ collection called ToTeM is a series of tall, thin and squat sculptural lighting structures. What makes ToTem stand out is its unique manufacturing process. A metallic stand with a cage-like structure on top is taken and swiftly spray-coated with polymer, which forms a lithe cocoon around it. This method creates beautifully diffused lighting with an interesting, uneven texture that is unique for each piece.

This lighting fixture by Ron Neal Lighting Design at Tanner’s Rooftop Bar in California looks exactly like a tree! It forms a glowing shelter over the bar, giving you the impression of sitting under a lit-up tree.

Morgane Tschiember’s Open Space is a series of sculptural lights that use a mix of dense concrete and delicate neon tubes to create a perfectly balanced lighting design. The neon tubes are contrasted by three-dimensional geometric shapes sculpted from concrete.

Modern LED lights fitted into a rustic timber beam! This lighting design by Little Anvil combines a rugged industrial look with a pop of modernity.

Studio Cheha combined a  2-dimensional plate of acrylic glass, and a warm LED light to create a vibrant lamp that will add an impressive wow factor to any desk it is placed onto!

Mascara Tears is a pendant lamp by Saad Syed, which takes inspiration from the black and golden hues of mascara and eyeshadow. It seems like an interesting lighting design for all the ladies out there!

The winner of several awards, Lunair Lighting by Filip Janssens is an intricate mesh of disrupted marble and gold lighting. The result is almost like a piece of art!

Peel Wall Light by YOY looks like a corner of the wall is peeling off, and rays of light are leaking from it. Quite an interesting design to add to your home!

PriestmanGoode has unveiled designs for the interiors and branding of Indian co-living venture Olive, which will launch with a 15,000-bed community in Bangalore.

Launched by Indian real-estate group Embassy Group, the first phase of the Olive co-living project will be a 15,000-bed development in Bangalore.

This will be joined by 2,500-bed spaces in Pune and Chennai. Each community is designed to minimise the potential social isolation of urban living by providing shared spaces for residents to relax and eat meals.

Olive aims to address the lack of affordable housing options for the 36 million students and growing number of young professionals, who make up the largest demographic in India.

“The shared economy concept has percolated all aspects of society, creating unprecedented disruptions as well as opportunities,” said Olive co-founder Aditya Virwani.

“Today it is not just the scarcity of spaces or living in congestion that are driving co-living, but also the affordability and flexibility, aspirations of the current generation, transition from owning to sharing, the digital economy and technological innovation.”

PriestmanGoode is responsible for all aspects of the design, from the branding to the interiors of the co-living communities themselves.

The studio has prioritised common spaces to encourage a sense of community, including cafes, shared kitchens, a laundry, on-site convenience store, and co-working areas. Communal areas are complete with lush green planting.

Wellness centres, a cinema, gaming and karaoke rooms and rooftop terraces will be integrated into the design, to give the feeling of a high-end hotel.

“Olive is a place that feels like home, that gives users the privacy they need when they want it, with all the facilities of a luxury hotel,” said Paul Priestman of PriestmanGoode.

“The attention to detail is across every element of our designs, from the logomark and the application of the brand on different platforms, to the interiors, where each element of the room has been designed bespoke to create a beautiful, highly functional space.”

All bedrooms have a 21-square-metre footprint, with single and double occupancy options, whilst double rooms will also offer a small lounge area.

Single mezzanine rooms function as a small apartment, with a lounge area and kitchen below and bedroom raised above.

The studio referenced traditional Indian materials such as wood and rattan, combined with a minimalist concrete aesthetic for the interiors of each project.

For the brand identity, PriestmanGoode again looked to Indian visual and cultural heritage.

“Developing a new brand from scratch is a dream project to work on,” said PriestmanGoode head of brand, Anthony Morgan.

“What we have created for Olive is a dynamic brand that reflects the key values Embassy wanted to convey for this new asset: openness, community, digital innovation and shared experience.”

The logo is in dual tones of amethyst purple and fuchsia pink – typical colours in Indian textiles and of the coloured powders associated with the Holi festival.

The O of Olive features 24 bars, to demonstrate the 24-hour nature of the operation, and as a reference to the 24 spokes on the Indian flag. The logo will also function as a clock in public spaces.

Embassy Group has plans to roll out the co-living spaces internationally, so PriestmanGoode also took this into account when creating the brand identity.

“We are proud to have worked with Embassy Group to develop this new brand of co-living,” said Priestman.

“We’ve created something that offers young people a good quality of life, in a market where there is very little choice.”

PriestmanGoode has previously redesigned the interior of the Airbus A380, a collaboration Paul Priestman described as “a dream project”.

The post PriestmanGoode to design interiors of vast Indian co-living spaces appeared first on Dezeen.

Autonomous vehicle startup Cruise has revealed its first self-driving, electric car designed for shared ownership, which has no steering wheel or pedals.

Cruise was able to rid the Origin car of an engine, steering wheel, rearview mirrors, pedals and windshield wipers, to leave a spacious cabin “designed around the rider”.

Developed in partnership with General Motors (GM) and Honda, Origin is the startup’s vision of what transportation systems would look like if designers could start from scratch, with no idea of pre-existing vehicles.

“Fifty years ago, cars looked like, in a word, cars,” said Cruise CEO Dan Ammann. “Fifty years, and all we’ve gotten is one incremental change after another.”

“We’re still cramped in a tiny space. We’re still burning fossil fuels, polluting our cities and destroying our planet. We’re still spending hours out of our day stuck in traffic, inventing new swear words. We’re still dying at a rate of more than 3,000 people per day,” he continued.

“We didn’t just want to improve on the car,” he added. “We wanted to reimagine transportation as if the car had never existed.”

Described by Cruise as “an experience that you share” rather than a car that you buy, the prototype vehicle aims to encourage a more affordable and collaborative style of transportation instead of individual ownership.

If widely adopted, this would help alleviate congestion and contribute to lessening emissions.

While the vehicle may appear larger than usual, it’s the same size as an average car, but instead features a symmetrical and blocky exterior, similar to a van or shuttle bus.

The entryway into the vehicle, however, is three times larger than that of a typical car, and is also lower than usual. This makes it wide enough for one person to step on while another steps out.

Each seat has extra legroom and is positioned inwards to face the others, to encourage conversation with other passengers.

The Origin also features doors that slide open rather than hinging outwards, to ensure the safety of cyclists.

The car boasts a modular design, meaning owners can save money on replacing or upgrading parts while additionally reducing waste.

This modularity grants the car a lifespan of over one million miles, which is six times more than the average car according to Cruise, and will cut transportation costs per San Francisco household per year by up to $5,000.

The startup also promises to build each model for around half the price of what a conventional electric SUV currently costs.

The car, which can be operated and hailed via Cruise’s app, is powered by a fully electric platform developed by GM.

It features multiple AI-powered sensors designed to detect and avoid people and objects in its surroundings in all weather conditions.

“It’s got what’s called redundancy,” explained Ammann about the platform, “meaning there are no single points of failure across sensing, compute, networking, or power – because there’s no backup human driver.”

The Origin car was launched on 22 January 2020 at an event in San Francisco, where Cruise is based, almost a year after the startup postponed its plans to debut a driverless taxi service for public use in July 2019.

Cruise has, however, been running fleets of its third-generation vehicles on the roads of San Francisco as part of a driverless ride-sharing service that can be used by any of its employees around the clock.

Japanese brand Muji had a similar design in mind when creating its self-driving Gacha bus with Finnish autonomous-driving company Sensible 4.

The shuttle bus took to the roads in Helsinki back in March 2019, and was billed as the first driverless bus in the world that is able to drive in all types of weather, including heavy rain, fog and snow.

The post Cruise unveils its driverless Origin car for shared ownership appeared first on Dezeen.

Made in the colors of the Aboriginal Australian flag, this T-shirt by Gammin Threads (a company owned and helmed by a descendent of the Yorta Yorta, Taungurung, Boon wurrung and Mutti Mutti nations) celebrates black women. On the front of the 100% combed cotton top are a couple red and yellow flowers and, on the back—in bold and exultant type—is the statement, “respect blak matriarchy.” Available in sizes S to 5XL, this shirt is made for wear all year, but perhaps particularly on 26 January. Price is in AUD.