Hasta La Ideas

A hot pink called Viva Magenta and an icy blue named Frozen Fjord are among the 315 new hues that American colour company Pantone has added to its roster of shades.

The 315 colours have been chosen by Pantone to reflect present-day and forecasted trends, and have been taken from all bands of the spectrum.

There are over 50 new shades of pink, a colour that the brand believes has “embraced new meanings and relevance beyond it’s traditional gendered and child-like status”. Among them are First Blush, Viva Magenta and Tender Touch.

More than 70 new blues will also be available. Some of the cooler hues, like Frozen Fjord, nod to icy natural landscapes, while brighter, green-infused shades like Exotic Plume and Gulf Coast are meant to evoke a more summery, tropical feel.

Some of the added shades – such as Weathered Teak and Island Fossil – are supposed to offer a nuanced take on neutrals and taupes, which Pantone thinks are “too often seen as a single colour” but can offer “endless subtleties”.

“The colours that are influencing design today have evolved to reflect shifting societal views, new technological innovations, and a truly global outlook,” said executive director of the Pantone Color Institute Leatrice Eiseman.

“Expanding and enhancing our colour palette and introducing new digital solutions ensures our design clients that they can continue to count on Pantone today and into the future, helping them to transform their creative vision into reality,” added vice president Laurie Pressman.

All of the new shades have been added to Pantone’s Fashion, Home + Interiors Color Specifier – a pair of ring-bound binders filled with removable coloured slips of paper or cotton that those working in the creative industries can use to develop tonal palettes for projects.

Hues inside each binder have been grouped together to form “colour families” – a move that Pantone hopes will make selecting shades an easier process.

“As you can imagine, with over 2,625 colours included in the palette, there is an enormous level of detail that Pantone has to go into to describe the colour families where a colour would fall,” Pressman told Dezeen.

“Even something as simple as a yellow-green versus a green-yellow, all of these have their own place.”

The launch of the new shades has also seen the company create Pantone Connect, a management system and extensive colour library that can be merged with digital design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Pantone chose it’s Classic Blue shade as the colour of the year for 2020. The company described the colour as having a “reassuring presence” that is capable of bringing “a sense of peace and tranquillity to the human spirit”.

It came in dramatic contrast to Pantone’s colour of the year for 2019, which was a bright shade of peachy-orange called Living Coral.

The post Pantone unveils over 300 new trend-based colours appeared first on Dezeen.

Western ideas of Siberia often resort to harshness, lifelessness or inhumanity. These perceptions are largely determined by its vast, frozen landscapes, home to one of the earth’s sparsest populations, but also by its centuries-long history tied to exile, imprisonment and gulags.

But this is not Siberia’s only truth, argues author Sophy Roberts in the foreword to Michael Turek’s new photo book Siberia. “Cold, cruel, impenetrable, abandoned, scored with desperate romance and ill-fated rebellions: modern perceptions of Siberia remain a study in cliché, the everyday bypassed in favour of the sensational,” she says.

“To replace those fantasies with a more intimate, contemporary portrayal of everyday lives in big cities, humdrum settlements and remote homes belonging to Siberia’s indigenous people is what makes Michael Turek’s work significant.”

Turek was born in the UK and grew up near Washington DC, before landing on New York City as his base. His journey across Siberia – from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific coast – is the latest in a string of his works captured in the far reaches of the world, with previous commissions having taken him from Punjab to Patagonia.

Roberts had been in Siberia in a search of “an instrument worthy of a brilliant Mongolian pianist”, which evolved into a journey of discovery by way of old, abandoned pianos and the people and stories tied to them. Turek joined her for a significant part of her expedition, spending three years travelling back and forth to the region on his photographic trail, and he also created the accompanying short film to her book, The Lost Pianos of Siberia.

Turek’s work in Siberia is described as a record of “contradictions” – between thriving towns and remote settings, modern Russians and indigenous communities, evident wealth and humble livelihoods, vastness and claustrophobia.

His photographs don’t shy away from the intensity of Siberia – as Roberts points out, “Turek’s way of seeing is observational”. He still captures the sparsity, the isolation, the overwhelming blankets of white. Yet threaded through the book are moments of warmth, colour and life, whether a sliver of orange light radiating through a cracked open door, or the vibrant hues that adorn buildings both inside and, at times, out.

From clothing to carpets, his photographs show signs of how people often decorate themselves, their spaces and their lives in colourful shades, especially when their surroundings might feel somewhat less so. It’s here, in this interior world, that Turek expertly shows the quiet vitality that exists in even the most intimidating conditions.

Siberia by Michael Turek is published by Damiani; damianieditore.com; michaelturek.com

The post Michael Turek’s photographs lead us into the depths of Siberia appeared first on Creative Review.

In our latest competition, Dezeen has partnered with Danish design brand Muuto to offer readers the chance to win a Cover Side Chair, designed by Thomas Bentzen.

Two winners, chosen at random, will receive one of the stackable Cover Side Chairs designed by Bentzen for Muuto without upholstery, in either oak, green, black or grey.

The chair has a solid oak base and legs with a veneer seat and curved backrest that is folded around its back legs.

It is coated in a environmentally-friendly water-based lacquer that, combined with its durable design, means it can be used in restaurants, offices, conference rooms and cafes.

Bentzen, who trained as a carpenter before becoming a designer, created the timber Cover Side Chair to reference the values of Scandinavian craftsmanship.

“I was born and raised in Denmark; a country where the values of craftsmanship – the notion of doing things properly to a high standard – are an inherent part of daily life,” he said.

“I find that Scandinavian craftsmanship is shaped by its emphasis on quality above everything else, birthed from a desire to simplify and refine ones work for it to have a democratic appeal: making it relevant for the many rather than the few.”

The final form of the seat, and its curved veneer back, was only made possible due to the quality and skill of the craftsmen that produced the Cover Side Chair, explained Bentzen.

“Being a designer, the element of craftsmanship trickles down through every step of your process: from the initial sketches to small-scale models over technical drawings to making the tools for production and fine-tuning the final design for large-scale manufacturing,” he said.

According to Bentzen, the end result of the design and manufacturing process is a chair that demonstrates the ideals of Scandinavian craftsmanship, at a price point that is accessible.

Muuto produces the chair in a range of colours, while textile and leather upholstered versions are available on a made-to-order basis.

“The idea of creating a design that referenced the ideals of Scandinavian craftsmanship yet at an accessible price point was fulfilled,” concluded Bentzen.

“I find that moments like those serve as thoughtful reminders to myself as a designer; that I am simply a piece within a large process in which I am are largely dependent on the skilful minds and hands of others.”

The Cover Side Chair follows the Cover Lounge Chair that Copenhagen-based Bentzen previously designed for Muuto. The Danish designer has also previously created a dining table and sideboard for the brand.

The post Competition: win a Cover Side Chair by Thomas Bentzen for Muuto appeared first on Dezeen.

Designers Studio Sløyd developed a collection of chunky pine chairs to demonstrate a contemporary take on a wood it feels is unfairly neglected.

The Furuhelvete furniture collection currently comprises a chair and a stool designed by Studio Sløyd to explore different characteristics of pine wood. A forest-coloured rug completes the set.

Pine grows abundantly in Norway and has been used for centuries for building houses and making furniture, but has fallen out of fashion.

Designers Herman Ødegaard, Mikkel Jøraandstad and Tim Knutsen observed that the use of pine declining in recent years. They want to help re-establish its reputation as an attractive and reliable material.

“Furuhelvete is a Norwegian expression stemming from the overuse of pine in Norwegian homes and cabins, often associated with a style that is considered distasteful or outdated,” Studio Sløyd explained.

“With the Furuhelvete collection we wish to challenge the traditional perception of the wood and create a new interest for this local and wonderful material.”

The design trio exhibited their work at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, where they told Dezeen that the collection will expand to include a table, cabinet, lamp and bench, all made using pine.

“We want to make pieces that work with the structure of the wood and to highlight its positive qualities by creating more contemporary shapes,” explained Jøraandstad.

The three-legged stool was produced using a computer-controlled milling machine, resulting in a chunky profile that Jøraandstad described as “a big canvas to showcase the material”.

The solidity of the form provides a counterpoint to the perception of pine as a material used in poor-quality construction. A special joint was devised to create a seamless and sturdy intersection between the three pieces.

This chair also aims to demonstrate how a wood that is often thought to be too soft for furniture making can be used to create a robust and attractive product.

A gently curved seat is supported by a tripod frame that intersects with a minimal backrest. Both seating designs are left unfinished to highlight the attractive wood grain and were carefully hand sanded to create a smooth, high quality finish.

The rug was designed as a romanticised abstraction of a Norwegian pine forest in autumn. It was made by Ødegaard using a traditional hand-tufting process and took around a month to produce.

In addition to their aesthetic and functional properties, the pieces are intended to help communicate important social and environmental messages.

“We still import wood to make furniture which has a huge environmental cost,” Jøraandstad pointed out. “This is so unnecessary when we have such a great material on our doorstep.”

“We imagine these pieces would look great in contemporary Scandinavian homes,” he added. “Right now this is a starting point to encourage designers in Scandinavia to use the material more.”

Ødegaard, Jøraandstad and Knutsen founded Studio Sløyd while studying at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

They will all graduate this year and plan to continue developing projects that focus on exploring and respecting materials.

Students from the Estonian Academy of Arts also presented a collection of furniture at the fair that offered a unique take on a material. Dig Where You Stand is set of six objects made from limestone, a material that is usually only used for surfaces.

Swedish designer Kajsa Melchior used an unusual method of sand-casting to create her collection Fictive Erosion, which was also showcased at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

The post Studio Sløyd’s Furuhelvete collection challenges perceptions of “outdated” pine furniture appeared first on Dezeen.

Our selection of the most promising visualisation positions on Dezeen Jobs includes vacancies at architecture studios Adjaye Associates and Foster + Partners.

Visualiser at Adjaye Associates

Adjaye Associates is looking for a visualiser with strong V-Ray skills to join its New York office. The international practice designed the Aïshti Foundation cultural foundation and luxury shopping centre located in Beirut, Lebanon.

Find out more about this role ›

Concept artist at Foster + Partners

British architect Norman Foster completed a ground-breaking forty-four-storey skyscraper in Hong Kong for international bank HSBC in 1979. His studio, Foster + Partners, has an opening for a concept artist to create visualisations of projects during the design stage at its studio in London.

Find out more about this role ›

Architectural visualiser at North Made Studio

Manchester firm North Made Studio created architectural visuals for The Quadrangle, an apartment complex located in north London’s Harringey. The practice is recruiting an experienced architectural visualiser with proficiency across all aspects of 3D design to join its team in Manchester, UK.

Find out more about this role ›

Senior 3D artist at Squint/Opera

Squint/Opera has an opening for a 3D artist with experience of creating architectural CGIs to join its studio in London. The firm produced a series of visuals that depict a flooded London in the year 2090, after the impact of climate change has become clear.

Find out more about this role ›

3D design internship at On

Running brand On completed a reflective, zero-impact mountain cabin in the Swiss Alps, to celebrate the launch of a recent footwear collection, which included its first hiking shoe. The company is offering a 3D design internship which will include the production of design visualisations, at its studio in Zurich, Switzerland.

Find out more about this role ›

See all the latest architecture and design roles on Dezeen Jobs ›

The post The top visualisation roles on Dezeen Jobs includes opportunities at Adjaye Associates and Foster + Partners appeared first on Dezeen.