VDF products fair:Dutch furniture brand Lensvelt has expanded its popular This Chair range by Richard Hutten to include a version with a lower backrest and two barstools.
This Chair’s classic, ergonomic design is reimagined to create a version with a lower backrest, as well as two progressively taller seat heights.
Coming in at 65 and 75 centimetres high, compared to the original’s 45 centimetres, the additional height transforms the chair into a barstool.
The three latest additions to the series still maintain the same performance qualities of the original design, which was engineered to use as little material as possible.
While the first iteration was rendered in 3D-bent veneer, the new releases are made from the thinnest possible version of polypropylene (PP) plastic.
Propped up by a slender chrome frame, this makes for a final product that is lightweight and stackable without being wasteful.
“I felt the market needed a conference chair, which should be inexpensive, functional, sustainable and an aesthetically pleasing product,” remembers Lensvelt CEO Hans Lensvelt.
“Richard Hutten was the only designer I considered since he is capable of solving this mathematical puzzle.”
Beyond fitting Lensvelt’s stipulations, the design was also continually adapted based on input from an ergonomist, in order to find the optimal shape for the shell.
“This Chair for Lensvelt is one of the most comfortable chairs in its genre,” said Richard Hutten.
The three latest models are available in eight colours, from simple grey, white and black to dusty sage green and sunflower yellow.
People have become more sensitive to noise during the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the importance of good sound design, according to sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki.
“People are spending more time in the house and so they are more sensitive about noises inside and outside the home,” Suzuki told Dezeen.
“Many household objects come with amazing materials, technical and beautiful design,” said Suzuki, who wrote the music for Dezeen’s recent podcast series. “But sound design itself hasn’t really been developed enough in my opinion.”
People more sensitive to sound during pandemic
As more and more people across the world are now working and socialising using video conferencing software, Suzuki believes that people have become much more acutely aware of the often distracting sounds around them.
“When using Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts, the acoustics of a room directly affects your conversations,” he said. “Noises, such as the sound of a refrigerator, boiling water, unpleasant sounds of eating like forks and knives hitting plates, surround you.”
Suzuki is a London-based artist and sound designer whose work focuses on the relationship between sound and physical objects
The designer believes that people’s new appreciation for the importance of the sound around them will ensure that the role of sound designers will become more significant as lockdowns across the globe are lifted and people return to everyday life.
“Sound is always around you and the role of the sound designer is to help make the soundscape better and more comfortable,” he said.
“I strongly think that after the lockdown experience, people will be very cautious about sound and start noticing the sounds that surround them and the sounds they are creating. The importance and responsibility of sound designers will be increased, I think.”
Call for submissions for archive of lockdown sounds
As a response to the Covid-19 crisis, Suzuki has launched a crowdsourced project archiving the sounds of the pandemic, in collaboration with the Dallas Museum of Art.
“We invite you to submit sounds — from cooking dinner at home, to the ambulance siren passing by, to online connections with loved ones — and build a record of this global moment with us,” Suzuki said.
Suzuki has recently launched a crowd-sourced archive to document the sounds of the pandemic
The project takes the form of an interactive, digital rendering of the globe where submissions appear in the geographical location of where they were recorded.
The experience is a continuation of Sounds of the Earth: Chapter 2, a globe-like structure Suzuki created for the Dallas Museum of Art’s Speechless exhibition, which plays different sounds crowdsourced from all over the world in an attempt to create an “auditory portrait of the world”.
The designer hopes the digital edition of the project will give participants “a moment of global shared empathy and a means of connection”.
Dezeen’s podcast theme is “hybrid of acoustic and electronic”
Using a mixture of the marimba and analogue synthesisers, Suzuki said the piece has “a feeling of Californian, modern, instrumental post-rock”.
The music track features at the beginning and end of each of the seven episodes of the podcast, which was launched earlier this year. “The aim was to make a hybrid of the acoustic and the electronic,” Suzuki explained.
Exploring the relationship between sound and objects
Suzuki’s work explores the ways that sound is made tangible through its relationship to physical objects and technology.
VDF products fair:Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use has created the Absent sofa for furniture brand Prostoria, which is designed to create a sitting position somewhere between upright and lying down.
Both the low-slung seat and backrest are rendered as geometric, blocky shapes, which are bridged by a triangular pillow that fits neatly into the crevice between the two elements.
The seat is tapered lightly upwards, enabling a reclined, yet ergonomic lounging position.
Its cold-foam filling is cured without additional heat, creating an open-cell structure that provides support for the user while preventing heat build-up.
Absent is a modular system, which allows for the depth of the seat and the height of the backrest to be customised along with 160 different upholstery options.
This is enabled by a modular design, which includes four basic elements – a seat with backrest, two corner pieces and a pouf.
Combined together, they can form a range of different configurations to fill large interior spaces such as offices or hotel lobbies.
An angular profile allows the four elements to be seamlessly connected, while high backrests offer privacy.
Scaled-down, Layout is also applicable to smaller spaces and homes, where it can be used to create situational clusters for unwinding and entertaining.
It’s starting to seem like designing a fancy litter box for cats is a surefire path to success. This is the third one we’ve seen in the past four months that’s struck crowdfunding gold. The Aimicat “Automatic kitty litter cleaning companion” rotates like a cement mixer that drops cat doodie (but not the litter itself) into a smell-proof compartment:
It’s checked all the boxes, from the needlessly silly video to gimmickry to the promise of better living with less effort. And for the developers’ efforts, at press time the Aimicat had racked up a whopping $370,056 on a $30,000 goal, with 20 days left to pledge.
Design entrepreneurs, I don’t know what to tell you. Focus on cats and bad-comedy videos, I guess? At this point “Cats and Crowdfunding” should be a course they teach at design school.
A wastewater system called SuperTube designed specifically for high-rise buildings is one of three new products that Geberit is showcasing at the VDF products fair.
The Swiss manufacturer is also launching a new range of metallic finishes for its Sigma toilet actuator plates alongside its DuoFresh odour extraction unit for toilet cisterns.
All three products are now live at the VDF products fair, a platform that offers designers and brands an affordable way to launch or showcase products.
Geberit is launching three collections at the VDF products fair including SuperTube (top) and metallic actuator plates (above)
SuperTube is a space-saving drainage technology designed by Geberit specifically for high-rise buildings. It relies on narrow pipes and a continuous column of air in its discharge channel to aid the flow of water.
This negates the need for bulky, angled pipes on which traditional systems are usually dependant, and in turn, helps to maximise floor area and ceiling heights.
The third product is the DuoFresh odour extraction unit module
Users can select one material to cover the entire fixture or combine two different finishes for use on the plate and its buttons. The intention is to ensure the collection suits any bathroom interior.
The DuoFresh odour extraction unit module is the final product Geberit is presenting. Designed as an alternative to air fresheners, it automatically purifies bad odours through a filter concealed behind actuator plates.
Other brands who have unveiled new designs at the VDF products fair include the Ukranian design studio Faina and the Danish brands Fritz Hansen and Muuto.
Austrian brand Vello is also introducing three of its folding bicycles, including “the first bike to combine electric, self-charging and folding features”.
Open now through 21 June, presented in weekly installments, a cooperative virtual fair from New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) shares 20% of all sales equally among its 200 participating galleries and another 20% with all exhibiting artists (and 10% goes to the organization, in lieu of an entry fee). Simply dubbed “Fair,” NADA’s online event aims to foster a collaborative spirit in the art world. In fact, NADA extended invitation to past participants in their live fairs, not only current members. NADA also launched a relief program, awarding artists with grants of up to $5,000. Read more at artnet News and visit for free at This is Fair.
A photographer and his family live in this boxy house clad in cedar that architecture practice Ras-A Studio has designed near the ocean in Los Angeles County.
Ras-A Studio completed Walk-Street House in the city of Hermosa Beach for the professional photographer, his wife and their son, who is a keen surfer.
Comprising a series of stacked volumes clad in slats of western red cedar, which are milled in different ways to offer contrast and texture, it is similar to a home that Blue Truck Studio recently renovated nearby in Manhattan Beach.
When designing Walk-Street House, Ras-A Studio aimed to create the maximum amount of living space and a two-car garage – two important requests of the homeowners – while observing the city’s zoning requirements.
One of the main challenges was the limitation of the site, which is fronted by a walk street that allows residents to walk up to their homes rather than drive.
“The challenge was the home’s tight 30-foot (nine-metre) by 70-foot (21-metre) lot flanked on one end by the pedestrian-only street and on the other with a narrow alley,” said the studio.
“Our clients wanted an open concept on the ground floor that leads to natural grade and outdoor areas, but zoning mandates a large two-car garage that would otherwise force the living spaces of the small footprint to be split between multiple levels,” it added.
Scaling two storeys, the home’s footprint takes up its entire 2,100-square-foot (195-square-metre) site.
To meet the clients’ requests, Ras-A Studio built a garage along the alley side of the home with a mechanical parking lift that fits two cars stacked vertically in the footprint of one. The studio says it’s the first one to meet Hermosa Beach’s zoning requirements.
The parking design frees up space on the ground floor to allow for an open-plan kitchen, dining and living room. A foyer with a black baby grand piano, a den and a bathroom are also located on the main level.
At the front of the home, facing the walk-street on 31st Street, the team created a porch with ipe wood, drought-tolerant plants and screens made from white concrete masonry blocks.
A glass pocket door stretches 27-feet (eight-metres) along the side of the home and accesses a second terrace.
This side yard setback was also a zoning requirement, and Ras-A Studio designed the area to allow the interiors to borrow over six feet (1.8 metres), thus “making the modest-sized footprint live larger than its square footage”.
The second level contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office and two balconies – one of which has views of the Pacific Ocean and stairs that access another patio on the roof.
Interiors feature white walls, cedar ceilings and accent walls, and floors in either white oak or polished concrete. Most of the furniture and fixtures are white, wood or leather. Red bar stools by Hay add a pop of colour.
Several sustainable design details complete Walk-Street House, including a solar water collector on the south part of the roof that provides hot water and supplements a boiler for an in-floor hydronic radiant heating system.
A turf-block driveway next to the garage allows rainwater to percolate into the water table, and operable doors and windows utilise the sea breeze for passive cooling.
The bottom line is, people are not good at wearing things on their face–even if it might save their lives. Look at these people on an airplane that has just gone depressurized, as one example; for another, look at the variety of casual facemask-wearing “styles” at your local supermarket, if they’re even observing mask protocols. And even with a standard N95 facemask, I have zero confidence that the average layperson can competently execute a nurse-level mask fit check.
This is a design problem. If masks fit perfectly in the first place, they’d stay in place on their own while minimizing uncomfortable pressure points. But masks need to be mass-produced, and the shape of everyone’s face is different. So what’s the fix?
Boston/Toronto-based design firm LuxMea Studio believes they’ve cracked the problem. According to them, end users can take a series of basic measurements of their faces, send them in, and LuxMea’s algorithm can accurately deduce the shape of their face without requiring a 3D-scan. A custom-fit mask design is then generated, 3D-printed and shipped to the end user.
These Nuo 3D Masks, as they’re called, were successfully crowdfunded to the tune of $243,348 ($118,647 on Kickstarter, $124,701 on IndieGogo).
I love the idea, but would have needed further clarity on one issue and resolution of another before I’d have been convinced to pledge.
The first issue is the self-measuring process, the details of which are unclear to me. “All that is needed for input is a basic set of measurements that mark the distance between your eyes, nose, and chin,” the company writes. While this sounds simple in theory, I’d need to see precisely how to execute this, and what level of accuracy is required, before I’d be convinced that I or a layperson could competently provide the necessary data. A simple real-time video demonstration with a layperson would suffice.
The second issue I’d need resolved before I ponied up would be the longevity/reusability. The company states that the masks are “paired with a set of replaceable filters,” and the FAQ on their Kickstarter says these filters are N95-compliant. However, also in the FAQ, their answer to the question “How do I get filters afterward? How much are they?” raises a concern: They are in the process of “securing filter material supply. We are currently working on filter pricing with the secured US manufacturer; there is a shortage in the material where the cost of filter material is relatively high.”
Without a guarantee that I could easily purchase replacement filters for the foreseeable future, I’d worry that this would become another one of those tech-based objects whose support simply evaporates in the future, and is then rendered worthless for want of a part. If this thing is custom-fit to my face, I want it to be a lifetime object.
Overall I think the idea is great, and I really hope that LuxMea can address the two issues I’ve named. If they can, I’ll be first in line to buy the retail version. Pandemic aside, I need a well-fitting mask on this farm constantly; for my indoor workshop, for power tool work outside, for cleaning out the stables and mucking out the chicken coops. Right now I use a full-face 3M respirator because it is the only marginally-tolerable solution that provides a complete seal. And it is hot, uncomfortable and difficult to wash.
Creative director Andrew Kessler must feel like a psychic or visionary right now. In 2013, he struck upon the idea of developing scarves and bandannas that contain woven carbon filters that can “achieve a 99% efficiency rate for filtering viruses, bacteria, and pollution.” Today his company, Scough, produces them.
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Seven years ago there was no such thing as COVID-19; Kessler had asked himself “Can we normalize the act of wearing a protective mask?” and was merely thinking of stylish ways of filtering urban pollution and avoiding catching the flu on airplane flights. Those needs are still relevant today, and as the pandemic gained steam, Scough went totally out of stock in early March.
The scarves/bandannas can be machine-washed, though you need to remove the filter first; additionally you can wash the filter if desired, but it must be done by hand. The filters are projected to last for three months, and Scough sells replacements.
It should be noted that these don’t provide the same seal as a properly fitted facemask, so while you won’t see these in hospitals anytime soon, I imagine they’ll be seen as adequate by the average consumer.
There’s currently a waitlist, but the company writes that they’ll be restocked and shipping again by next week. In the meantime, you can get a pre-order in here.
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.
