Jeffers’ illustrated bestseller has been reimagined for the screen in a 30-minute film created by Studio AKA. We talk to director Philip Hunt about the making of the film, and the challenges of adapting a popular picture book
The post Here We Are: adapting Oliver Jeffers’ children’s book for TV appeared first on Creative Review.
Think CG dinosaurs spelled the end of the physical FX industry? Think again. Pyrotechnics and prosthetics, models and miniatures, are all flourishing – and London studio Artem is proof we still need them
The post Why analogue special effects are thriving appeared first on Creative Review.
Japanese designer Rie Sakamoto replaced yarn with rubber bands for her knitted fashion collection, which aims to showcase this stationary item’s overlooked qualities.
Created as part of her thesis project for Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan, the Rubber Band collection comprises a series of garments made entirely from elastic bands.
Including a dress and a jacket, the collection aims to shine a light on simple, everyday objects that may be ignored in contemporary design and reestablish them as art.
As Sakamoto told Dezeen, she decided to work with elastic bands after noticing the beauty in their aesthetic qualities.
She knitted several bands together and held them up to the sunlight, becoming aware of their soft texture, high elasticity, sheerness and “beautiful candy colour”.
After experimenting more with the rubber bands the designer found that, despite being widely considered as a mass-produced item with limited functionality, they do in fact have hidden qualities that aren’t immediately obvious.
Their stretchy quality lends itself to clothing, she said, as it enables the material to morph to different body-shapes and sizes
Sakamoto made each elastic garment by connecting the rubber bands together one by one, before knitting them in the same way as knitting yarn with needles.
According to the designer, it took her up to half a year to finish the project. Her pieces were on display as part of a group graduate exhibition in Tokyo earlier this year in January.
While Sakamoto doesn’t consider the garments to be a practical option for everyday wear, she sees them as playful works of contemporary art that may surprise people about the limits of lowly materials.
Other design graduates have also looked to unusual, stretchy materials for their fashion creations.
Central Saint Martins fashion student Fredrik Tjærandsen presented garments made from giant inflated rubber bubbles that gradually deflate to form dresses and skirts.
While London College of Fashion graduate Harikrishnan used latex to create inflatable trousers that fit snugly at the waist and balloon out to double the width of the wearer around the thighs, before coming in again at the ankles.
The post Rie Sakamoto knits rubber bands together like yarn for elastic garments appeared first on Dezeen.
Given the times that we are living in, I would much rather have a self-sanitizing handle than having to manually sanitize my handle – it can turn into an OCD spiral very quickly. Hong Kong-based students, Sum Ming Wong and Kin Pong Li are actually a step ahead on the matter and have designed a door handle that uses light to always keep itself sterilized. In 2020, this classifies as a smart object and an equivalent of someone who knows the importance of washing their hands.
The students were inspired by the SARS outbreak in the 2000s and figured that a self-sanitizing door handle is more effective than the chemical-based cleaning processes we are using right now. The handle is made of a glass tube with aluminum caps at each end and the entire handle is covered in a powdered photocatalytic coating made from a mineral called titanium dioxide. The bacteria is decomposed through a chemical reaction that is activated by UV light reacting with the thin coating on the glass tube. Powered by an internal generator, the handle converts kinetic energy from the opening/closing motion of the door into light energy and that is how the UV light is always doing its job. This germ-killing product actually destroyed 99.8% of the microbes during lab tests and that is more than what Thanos did with his infinity stones.
Other than being the hero of handles, it has a modern visual aesthetic and a sleek form. The backlight almost makes it look like a lava lamp! Imagine if it lit up in green or red to indicate whether the handle was safe to touch or not. The students were influenced by the number of people infected and killed during SARS and wanted to do something to change the picture of public health through innovative design. Given that public door handles are hotspots for bacteria, this could be a headstart in making safer infrastructure for a world that is better prepared to handle pandemics.
The self-sanitizing door handle was one of the winning entries for the James Dyson Awards 2019.
Designers: Sum Ming Wong and Kin Pong Li
Elliott Architects has designed this barn-like house in the Tyne Valley, England, with double-height living space beneath a steep gable ceiling.
The locally-based practice built the four-bedroom home, called North Bank, on the outskirts of a village in Northumberland.
Despite its rural location, the house sits close to the road and has neighbours on three sides. It’s oriented to look out over the Tyne Valley to the north and towards the Pennines to the south.
The form of the house references the nearby landmark-trust owned Causeway House, an old farmhouse with one of few remaining examples of a black thack roof – the lost art of heather thatch.
While silhouette of the new building mirrors the steep roof pitch of these old structures, thatch roofing has been swapped for a more contemporary zinc finish.
Metal was chosen to reference the nearby 18th-century smelt works.
“Materials-wise we justified the zinc roof through its connection to the area’s history in mining and smelting,” Elliott Architects co-founder Ben Elliott told Dezeen.
“The cladding was completed by the clients with locally-source Douglas fir.”
Split across two storeys, half of the ground floor is occupied by a double-height, south-facing living, dining and kitchen area.
The other half, set slightly higher, features a study and a studio space.
Above, two larger bedrooms sit at either end of the home and two smaller ones in the centre, separated by a bathroom.
Square windows along the ground floor and skylights in the steep roof follow the path of the sun throughout the day, with deep internal reveals that create seating areas.
The double-height living area is the focal point of the home. It sits beneath the exposed wooden gable ceiling and is overlooked by an internal window from the bedroom above.
“We wanted to make a form which felt singular in essence, and single storey, rather than feeling distinctly two storey,” explained Elliott.
“This connects it to the village hall and chapel barn precedents, but also to the evolution of the homes, where traditionally the upper floors were smaller and functional, just for sleeping, with the added benefit of protection and warmth.”
Pale brown sealed plaster covers the interior walls of this space, creating a rustic finish that complements the exposed wood of the roof structure.
“It was a happy accident; the client wanted to do some of the work themselves so intended to paint, but in order to give them time we left the building with a sealed plaster finish,” said Elliott.
“This gives the space a raw feel which perfectly suits the house.”
Previous projects by Elliott Architects include another home in Northumberland which also drew on its surroundings for its material choices, with two stacked volumes finished in brick and cedar.
Photography is by Jill Tate.
Project credits:
Architect: Elliott Architects
Lead architects: Lynsey Elliott, Ben Elliott
Structural engineers: Steve Jasper + Mark Kerr, Jasper Kerr
The post Steep gable defines barn-style house in rural England by Elliott Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Thermometers have lately become a sight we’d rather not see, but with the right design it can evoke friendliness instead of fear!
This conceptual USB-chargeable thermometer by Mads Hindhede Svanegaard focuses on the emotional connection with the product through its simple yet interactive UI. The surface that touches your forehead is a detachable silicone cap so you can interchange them for different people and make sanitization of the device easier. The scanning and results are depicted with facial icons which hasn’t been seen in its predecessors. The clean, minimal design makes the sight of a thermometer less sore on the eyes.
Make thermometers less scary again. Stay safe and under 37.4°C!
Designer: Mads Hindhede Svanegaard
A patchwork of wood shingles and stone form this Toronto home that local practice Batay-Csorba Architects has extended and renovated.
Located in Toronto‘s residential neighbourhood Baby Point, the two-storey house was built in the early 1900s with stones from the city’s Humber river, stucco and wood. The homeowners sought to preserve the characteristics of the home, and enlisted Batay-Csorba Architects for the renovation.
The original house was a mixture of Arts and Crafts-style and Tudor Revival, as seen in the exterior details that Batay-Csorba Architects left intact.
When developer Robert Home Smith created the garden suburb of Baby Point in 1912, he had many of the homes designed in this aesthetic, the studio explained.
“The Baby Point district is currently under study as a heritage conservation district in Toronto,” said the studio. “The clients for Baby Point Residence had an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement, and preserving neighbourhood character.”
The team cut a large, double-height slice in the west side of the home and added a gabled roofline on the back facade that features ample glazing and views of the back garden’s ravine.
The result is a home that has three pitched rooflines of similar proportions, two of which run alongside one another on the back facade and a third that cuts across them. The home’s front facade showcases new windows, wood shingles and masonry.
In addition to building the extension, Batay-Csorba Architects renewed the existing home structurally, reorganised the layout by tearing down walls and refurbished the interiors. The team sought to understand the underlying principles of the Arts and Crafts movement to design the house.
“Beyond medieval motifs, ornamentation and nostalgia for hand craftsmanship, we also interpreted the Arts and Crafts movement spatially,” the studio added.
The ground floor is centred around a built-in storage volume that provides a pantry and a coffee bar in the new kitchen, and a bar nook in the adjacent dining room. A living room and separate sitting area round out the main level.
Custom furniture was built by local designer Heidi Earnshaw and includes a wood banquette in the kitchen whose aesthetic is designed to be reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement. Minimal, built-in cabinets in pale and dark wood feature throughout the home for added storage.
A stairwell with glass railings cuts through one of the home’s pitched rooflines and accesses three bedrooms with ensuites. Measuring 5,200 square feet (483 square metres), Baby Point Residence is square-shaped in plan and is complete with a bedroom, living room, and two bathrooms in the basement.
Walls are white in sharp contrast to the existing stone fireplaces, and pale wood covers the floors.
Batay-Csorba Architects was founded in 2010 by Andrew Batay-Csorba and Jodi Batay-Csorba.
The studio has designed several apartment complexes in Toronto, including a building with a brick screen exterior and two townhouses linked together, as well as Milky’s coffee shop.
Photography is by Doublespace Photography.
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When Apple first conceived the smartwatch, news broke that they hired the ex CEO of Yves Saint-Laurent to lead the division. Why would a fashion executive be called to head product development at a tech company? Tim Cook knew early on that the watch, as functional as it was, was first and foremost a fashion accessory. People wear watches not just to look at the time, but also to look dapper… and that precise adjective is something all watches endeavor to chase. The ability to speak to its wearer and convey style, class, allure… while obviously telling the time too.
The Pompeak Gentleman’s Collection was designed purely because its creators Dave and Noah never really found an accessible watch that embodied that dapper spirit. So Dave and Noah decided to create their ultimate watch instead of settling for the next best thing. The British-designed timepiece comes with a series of eye-catching details assembled together in a watch that’s designed to last, but most importantly, it connects with its user on a visceral level, by baring its open-heart to you. That exposed movement is visible right through the front of the watch, becoming its defining feature and exuding mechanical power, accuracy, and efficiency.
The Pompeak watch’s aesthetic is greater than the sum of its parts. The 40mm, 316L stainless steel body comes with sapphire crystal glass that sits atop the watch’s radial-knurled body that comes in black and navy-blue variants. The knurled texture gives the watch its depth by creating a series of highlights and shadows on the dial, sporting a sweeping subdial that counts seconds, sitting right beside the watch’s open balance wheel heart. The balance wheel is an integral part of the chosen Miyota 82S5 automatic movement, boasting of a 42-hour power reserve when not worn. What’s more is that it’ll practically run for a lifetime without needing to be wound, thanks to the watch’s ability to capture your movements and translate it into stored energy. The watch’s back sports a second exhibition window that lets you admire the Japanese-made movement from all angles, and is covered with a sapphire glass too, giving the Pompeak watch its sheer durability. Each Gentlemen’s collection timepiece is water-resistant up to a stunning 100 meters, and Super LumiNova markings on the dial and hands allow you to read the time at night as well as underwater in low light conditions. Paired with straps to complement the watch’s design, the Pompeak comes with a choice of stainless steel link bands for people who want their bands to match the watch’s body, as well as full-grain leather straps for those who want something more ‘il classico’.
Together, these details make up the aesthetic that The Coolector refers to as ‘devilishly dapper’… but the Pompeak doesn’t stop right there. It embraces Kickstarter’s disruptive ‘Designer To Consumer’ business model, bringing the watches directly to its patrons while escaping the watch industry’s notorious brand markups, luxury taxes, and showroom prices. With a price tag that’s just below £200, Pompeak manages to deliver on an aesthetic that surely embodies an ethos of style, class, and allure… because it was designed by passionate creators and watch-lovers with that very intent.
Designers: David & Noah Pomphrey of Pompeak
Click Here to Buy Now: $287 $410 (30% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left!
Pompeak is an independent, British company born out of frustration with the poor offerings of the affordable watch market. They design the watches they want to wear, and work to make them as affordable as possible. Removing all the unnecessary mark ups and ensuring they keep to their founding belief of high quality at a fair price.
Their latest timepieces subtly showcase a stunning Japanese automatic movement behind each beautifully detailed dial, with a price point to contrast the premium features.
At a glance, each watch in the collection includes:
– British design
– 40mm diameter case
– Self winding, Japanese automatic movement
– 10 ATM water resistance (up to 100 meters)
– Five rowed 316L stainless steel linked bracelet or full grain leather straps
– Scratch resistance sapphire glass
– Swiss Super-LumiNova coatings
Automatic/self-winding watches are often chosen as the perfect combination of character and heritage of the mechanical watch, without the need to manually wind the movement each day. Their chosen Japanese movement is no different. A truly stunning display of horology. Crafted with precision while avoiding the mark-up that comes with the Swiss label.
MIYOTA 82S5
– Japanese Mechanical Automatic Movement
– Hours / Minutes / Seconds
– Self-winding mechanism
– Power reserve (if not worn) 42 hours
– 21,600 vibrations per hour
– 21 Jewels
With a screw down crown and pressure seal rated to 10 atmospheres (10ATM/up to 100m water resistance) for that added peace of mind.
The 40mm subtly detailed timepiece is designed from scratch, in-house in the UK. Utilizing perfect combination of premium materials, each chosen for their impressive unique properties, ensuring your next watch not only looks good, but lasts.
The case and metallic bands are both crafted from 316L stainless steel, chosen over other material variants for its impressive strength and corrosion resistance, even in salt water environments (You’ll find 316L is often used in diving equipment for the same reasons).
Full grain leather is the bee’s knee’s. The best you can get when it comes to leather. Contrary to the name, full grain leather is not grainy in appearance or feel, but has a smooth richness that is only achievable with a cut of full, unaltered hide in its natural form.
You’ll often see “genuine leather” stamped on products, but know that this term covers anything that is technically leather, no matter how processed and altered it is. Full grain is the real deal.
The nightmare for any watch owner is having a scratch across the glass. That’s why they are using sapphire crystal glass on all of their watches. Famed for its superior scratch resistance and with a hardness rating just less than that of diamond.
Ensuring all day and all night usability with Swiss Super-LumiNova coatings. Their chosen BGW9 lume is transparent in daylight with a long lasting blue night glow.
They tested a number of different coatings and found that C1, for example, just didn’t perform as well as they had hoped. C3 lume on the other hand, performed well in the glow test but they didn’t think the yellow tint the C3 lume has in day light matched the Gentlemen’s clean look.
The Swiss BGW9 has the best of both worlds, a lovely and long lasting blue glow at night without the yellow-ish look in the day.
A watch, no matter how elegant, cannot be great without a strap to match, and they have gone all out. Butterfly deployment clasps compliment either the five tiered stainless steel bracelet or a choice of full grain leather straps.
Click Here to Buy Now: $287 $410 (30% off). Hurry, less than 72 hours left!
Architecture video blogger Martin van der Linden visits Kengo Kuma’s new Olympic stadium in Tokyo in his latest contribution to Virtual Design Festival.
“Here behind me is the new Olympic Stadium designed by Kengo Kuma,” says van der Linden. “The project was rather controversial, as the international competition was initially won by Zaha Hadid.”
Officially called Japan National Stadium, the building was completed earlier this year in time for this summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics. However, the games have since been postponed until next year due to coronavirus.
Controversy over Zaha’s original design
The project was mired in controversy in its early days, with Zaha Hadid winning a competition to design the stadium in 2012. However, three years later, the project was scrapped amid opposition from leading Japanese architects and concerns over costs.
“Due to budget constraints, some changes to the design were requested by the Japanese government,” says van der Linden, who made the short video for his One Minute Architecture channel on YouTube.
“Even after the changes, the redesign by Hadid was still estimated at ¥300 billion – three times the cost of the London Olympic Stadium.”
Japanese architects protest
“At the same time, in 2012, a group of Japanese architects led by Fumihiko Maki and also Edward Suzuki were very vocal against Hadid’s redesign,” he adds.
“A limited competition was won by Kengo Kuma, with Taisei as the main contractor, at a cost of ¥157 billion. Construction was completed in 36 months.”
Kuma’s design features slatted-wood cladding on the exterior and three levels of walkways lined with planters.
“Quite a bit of wood used”
“The conceptual basis for the design is what Kuma called a living tree,” says van der Linden. “As you can see, many plants have been integrated into the facade design and there’s also quite a bit of wood used.”
Kuma’s use of wood echoes the approach at his SunnyHills project in Tokyo, which also adapts a traditional Japanese technique and which Van der Linden blogs about in another short movie.
“This wood lattice structure is a reference to traditional Japanese architecture and will, according to the architects, add to building structural integrity,” van der Linden explains.
Fans to keep visitors cool
“Cross ventilation and fans should help cool the visitors and athletes during the hot and humid summers of Tokyo.”
Van der Linden, founder of Tokyo-based Van Der Architects, points out that “the number 47 comes back in the design many times.”
“The height of the building is 47.4 metres. 47,000 trees have been planted around the venue. And wood used in the construction was sourced from the 47 prefectures of Japan.”
Stadium resembles “a large planter”
“The design is quite simple, and definitely not iconic,” van der Linden concludes. “But I personally like it very much, especially once the vegetation is blooming and the stadium will look like a large planter. We definitely need more living trees in Tokyo.”
Virtual Design Festival has teamed up with van der Linden to present a selection of his best short architecture movies.
“Even after 28 years, I found Tokyo endlessly fascinating, and I enjoy making videos of its architecture, and its rather mysterious urbanity,” he said in a specially created video introducing the collaboration.
About Virtual Design Festival
Virtual Design Festival, the world’s first digital design festival, runs from 15 April to 30 June 2020. It is a platform that will bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.
VDF will host a rolling programme of online talks, lectures, movies, product launches and more, complementing and supporting fairs and festivals around the world that have had to be postponed or cancelled and it will provide a platform for design businesses, so they can, in turn, support their supply chains.
Find out more here or email vdf@dezeen.com for details or to join our mailing list.
The post Kengo Kuma’s Japan National Stadium is “definitely not iconic” says Martin van der Linden appeared first on Dezeen.
Fiona Apple returns with Fetch the Bolt Cutters, her first album since 2012’s The Idler Wheel. 13 powerful, percussive tracks coalesce around Apple’s pliant, emotion-baring alto. The title track, “Fetch the Bolt Cutters,” carries much of the album’s lyrical urgency. Apple punctuates the work with a meticulous smattering of personal, DIY sounds—through to its satisfying canine conclusion. It’s a standout song, but so are the other 12.
Joji’s newest song is the energetic “Gimme Love,” which will appear on the artist’s upcoming album, Nectar. The track starts off fast-paced—emphasized by the frenetic music video—but at the halfway mark, it turns into a gentle but cinematic string-led tune. Again, the video follows suit, with Joji’s dramatic ascension into outer space. The follow-up to 2018’s BALLADS 1 (which earned him the milestone of being the first Asian-born artist to top Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart), Nectar is out 10 July.
LA-based Naeem (aka Naeem Juwan, formerly known as Spank Rock) is just one of the many artists in Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon’s 37d03d collective. The rapper returns with an industrial, deconstructed new single, “Simulation,” featuring production and vocal contributions from Vernon and singer Swamp Dogg. The combination results in a hip-hop track with a distinct and intriguing instrumental, and lyrics worth listening to a little more closely. “I wrote this song to remind myself, and hopefully everyone that hears it, that nothing is real and our greatest defense in this life is our own creativity and finding great faith in whatever sigils and icons we choose to guide us,” he says in a statement. The song is set to appear on the artist’s forthcoming album, Startisha, out 12 June.
Alabama Shakes frontwoman, Brittany Howard covers Funkadelic’s “You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks” from 1971’s pinnacle Maggot Brain for Spotify Singles. A faithful but refreshing take on the funk classic, Howard’s rendition starts off mellow but steamy before progressing to its ferocious, chaotic and spectacular climax. The lyrics “and if in our tears, we don’t learn to share with your brother/ you know that hate is gonna keep on multiplying/ and you know that man is gonna keep right on dying” remain as relevant now as they did almost 50 years ago.
Mellow and satisfying, “Dear Stranger” by STRFKR (Joshua Hodges, Shawn Glassford, Keil Corcoran and Arian Jalali) appears on the Portland, Oregon-based outfit’s fifth studio album, Future Past Life. Beginning with a familiar indie sound, the tune progresses to a psychedelic-inflected chorus and a sweeping, swirling, fluid outro that fully embraces the style.
In hopes of drawing attention to No Kid Hungry (an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America), singer/songwriter Ambrosia Parsley released the video for her ode to generosity, “The Kindness of Strangers.” Produced by and featuring the backing vocals of Holly Miranda, the track radiates love and warmth. The stop-motion video, created by husband-and-wife duo Mark Lerner and Nancy Howell, amplifies the benevolent message.
Originally recorded for Florence + the Machine’s 2018 album, High As Hope, “Light Of Love” didn’t end up making the cut despite its transformative structure: gentle beauty amasses orchestral and choral support. From lockdown in south London, vocalist and songwriter Florence Welch released the track to raise awareness for the UK’s Intensive Care Society COVID-19, a charity organization where she’ll donate her proceeds from the track.
Very few possess the vocal chops necessary to cover a Janis Joplin song; even fewer can imbue such a cover with the fire of the late icon. Actor and singer Lena Hall—Tony-winner and cast member of TNT’s Snowpiercer TV show—demonstrates both in her ferocious take on “Piece of My Heart.” Off her new covers album, The Villa Satori: Growing up Haight Ashbury (which she refers to as from a cabaret show about her childhood), the Joplin number falls among impassioned versions of songs by The Beatles, Radiohead and Alanis Morissette.
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
