Tom Dixon and Prolicht CEO Walter Norz speak to Dezeen live about the striped-back LED lighting product they launched at VDF today. Watch the broadcast from 12 noon UK time.

Dixon and Norz will speak live to Dezeen’s founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs to coincide with the release of Code, a collection of LED track lights that Dixon created in collaboration with Austrian architectural lighting brand Prolicht.

Code, which was featured in VDF’s product fair earlier today, is composed of bare LEDs mounted on printed circuit boards that can be arranged in numerous configurations to create “graphic lighting sculptures”, according to the brand.

Dixon, who recently featured in an episode of Dezeen’s Face to Face podcast, is a British designer who produces furniture, lighting and accessories under the Tom Dixon brand name.

After dropping out of school with one qualification, a brief stint at Chelsea College of Arts curtailed by a motorcycle accident and a period playing bass in disco-punk band Funkapolitan, Dixon began producing welded furniture made from scrap metal.

Alongside designers like Ron Arad and Mark Brazier-Jones, Dixon came to prominence as part of the Creative Salvage movement, in which handmade objects are created from found materials.

In this period Dixon opened Space, a creative think-tank and shop front where he worked alongside other young designers, and designed the iconic S-Chair, which was produced by Italian design brand Cappellini.

Dixon went on to act as creative director at both Habitat and Artek, and founded the Tom Dixon brand in 2002, which now has locations around the world.

Norz, a creative engineer, founded Prolicht in 1993. The lighting brand, which is based in the alpine region of Tyrol in Austria, embarked on its first notable collaboration when it designed the lighting for Zaha Hadid‘s Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg.

Prolicht has been awarded both a Red Dot Design Award and an IF Award for its Invader and Hangover lights.

The post Live interview with Tom Dixon and Prolicht as part of Virtual Design Festival appeared first on Dezeen.

Stuck inside our makeshift WFH offices and trying to escape the bleakness of daily death tolls, many of us have taken to windowside daydreaming over the last few months.

It was while daydreaming out the window and imagining what the future might hold that Pentagram’s Giorgia Lupi and Phillip Cox conceived the idea for their new lockdown project, Happy Data, which spotlights some of the more uplifting statistics linked to the pandemic.

“We’re searching far and wide for Happy Data: small but mighty numbers that, while insignificant to the more urgent statistics about the virus’ toll, help us to picture a new reality post-pandemic,” the duo tell CR. “Heartwarming, surprising, encouraging – we hope these numbers brighten people’s day and help us all cope with this unprecedented moment.”

Lupi, who joined Pentagram’s New York office as a partner in 2019, has a background in information design, but her work is a far cry from what you might first imagine that means. Speaking to CR recently about her designs, she said: “I feel that data, if it’s seen as an abstraction of reality, can reveal hidden patterns of our own human nature and society that we can then understand better, and understand through design experiences.”

This approach is clearly present in Happy Data, which shows Lupi’s handdrawn graphs and charts overlaid onto real-life views from people’s windows. In one image, Lupi’s own view of the New York City skyline is accompanied by towering gold coin skyscrapers, which represent the donations professional athletes are making during these difficult times. In another, the blue sky over an apartment block in Milan is transformed into a graph which shows the huge decrease in air pollution since the pandemic began.

“We wanted to be as wide-ranging as possible in the types of data we visualised,” say Lupi and Cox. “The one uniting factor is that all the data is publicly available or, in a way, ‘hiding in plain sight’. While more depressing statistics about Covid-19 mortality and positive cases tend to dominate the headlines, we wanted to spotlight stories which are still happening out in the world and being reported on, even if we don’t always notice them.”

Over the coming weeks, the team behind Happy Data will be taking photo submissions for the project and experimenting with other publicly available resources such as the Google search data found on Google Trends, with a view to releasing more visualisations from around the world to help brighten up people’s days.

The practical and ethical challenges of data visualisation during coronavirus is a contentious topic at the moment, as CR explored recently when we spoke to data journalist Mona Chalabi and Information Is Beautiful founder David McCandless about what it’s been like creating infographics at the moment.

Lupi is all too aware of the delicacy of working with data during these uncertain times, and it’s something she has considered carefully with Happy Data. “As data practitioners of all kinds, we need to take into account the level of data literacy of our general public, and design specifically for audiences who are not necessarily used to looking at charts every day,” she says.

“How do we invite them in? How do we make sure they understand what’s in the data, where it comes from, how it is collected, what is left out, what is its context? How do we engage them to come back and stay informed? Then, visually, how do we make sure that what is in the numbers speaks to our human nature and to the stories and lives they represent? It’s only then that people will relate and feel moved by numbers. And at the same time, obviously maintaining rigour, accuracy and truth in the data.”

Read CR’s interview with Giorgia Lupi here; happy-data.co

The post Pentagram’s new project shows the human side of stats during coronavirus appeared first on Creative Review.

What do you get if you cross Martin Parr’s ironic and colourful documentary photography with the witty tableaux of biannual art magazine Toiletpaper? A visual feast, of course, which comes in the form of the aptly named new photobook, ToiletMartin PaperParr.

Since 2010, the creatives behind Toiletpaper, Maurizio Catellan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, have carved out a niche for themselves crafting images that fuse the vernacular of commercial imagemaking with surrealism.

The duo have worked with Parr on a number of occasions, but first teamed up with him in 2018 on a special edition of the magazine, which saw some of Parr’s classic photographs paired and juxtaposed with their own images.

The same approach has been taken with ToiletMartin PaperParr, a new 200-page tome, where images from the artists appear alongside each other in its pages.

Speaking to Magnum Photos about the new book and their working relationship with Parr, Cattelan describes him as a “brother that sometimes you admire and sometimes you would would like to kick in the balls”.

“If Martin didn’t exist we would have to invent him. Finding Martin was like finding another part of ourselves: we always had this feeling that we were twins divided at birth, that we’ve grown up in different environments, and that we finally reunited under the umbrella of the same publisher,” Cattelan adds.

ToiletMartin PaperParr is out now, and a special collector’s edition is available from here; damianieditore.com

The post Lose yourself in Martin Parr and Toiletpaper’s weird and wonderful new book appeared first on Creative Review.

VDF products fair: British design brand Tom Dixon and Austrian manufacturer Prolicht have launched Code, a new collection of stripped-back LED track lights that expose the intricacies of electronics.

Code is composed of bare LEDs mounted on printed circuit boards (PCBs) that can be arranged in various configurations to create “graphic lighting sculptures”, according to Tom Dixon.

The collection is the result of Tom Dixon and Austrian manufacturer Prolicht‘s joint ambition to rethink conventional track lighting systems, which typically conceal PCBs, and offer a stripped-back alternative that celebrates and exposes the devices.

At 12:00pm today (UK time), designer Tom Dixon and Prolicht’s founder Walter Norz will speak to Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about the new product and their collaboration in a live talk as part of Virtual Design Festival.

“Our collaboration with Prolicht started high in the mountains of Innsbruck where we shared our first thoughts on a minimal track system that would attempt to remove the superfluous and reveal the light engine in all its naked glory,” explained the brand’s founder, Tom Dixon.

“The mystery to us was why so much time and effort had been expended hiding and minimising these extraordinary boards that have become so ubiquitous,” Dixon continued.

“The question was how we could expose and explain the simple and intricate beauty of the circuit board and strip away any peripheral decoration or structure.”

Code is available with three different shapes of LED light sources named Dot, Dash and Grid. These can be combined to create blocks, spheres, strips or columns of light, offering designers and architects a kit-of-parts with “infinite possibilities”.

According to the duo, the collection was a mutually dependant effort, marrying Prolicht’s expertise in light engineering with Tom Dixon’s design vision to create a uniquely technical and decorative lighting collection.

“It was amazing how quickly the connection with Tom and his team started,” concluded Prolicht’s CEO Walter Nora.

“Our first joint adventure, Code, represents the epitome of our collaboration: something neither of us could have done without the other. Two different backgrounds and complementary skills merging to create the perfect product.”

Product: Code
Brand: Tom Dixon
Contact address: customerservices@tomdixon.net 

About VDF products fair: the VDF products fair offers an affordable launchpad for new products during Virtual Design Festival. For more details email vdf@dezeen.com.

The post Tom Dixon and Prolicht launch Code track lighting at VDF appeared first on Dezeen.

Digital household companions and tableware that caters for multi-sensory dining experiences are among the products exhibited in this Virtual Design Festival school show by Edinburgh College of Art product design students.

The seven projects featured in the digital exhibition were completed by students studying the BA Product Design course at the school, which is part of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Taught by Larissa Pschetz, Bettina Nissen, Jonathan Rankin and Jon Barnes, the course invites students to “question existing ways of doing things” and build a unique portfolio tailored to their personal interests.

Edinburgh College of Art

University: Edinburgh College of Art
Course: BA Product Design
Tutors: Larissa Pschetz, Bettina Nissen, Jonathan Rankin and Jon Barnes

Course statement:

“At the University of Edinburgh, students gain a broad perspective of the product design universe.

“They approach contemporary themes and work through design briefs that range from electronic artefacts that mediate data transactions, human interactions and new economic models, to new ways of working with craft materials and both traditional and novel modes of fabrication.

“Our small cohorts allow for tailored teaching and learning where students are encouraged to follow their own interests and construct a unique design profile.

“Throughout the programme, students are invited to take risks, to work with others and carry out an iterative experimental process to design artefacts and systems that question existing ways of doing things, in line with the tradition of innovation and cutting-edge practice and research that has been at the core of the university’s values for centuries.”

Social Stabilisers by Amos Wheeldon

“Social Stabilisers is a project raising awareness surrounding the experiences of neurologically diverse members of society.

“The ‘Overload Lamp’ is part of a series of responses that portray these experiences through the behaviours of everyday artefacts.

“In this instance, the Overload Lamp changes the exposure and direction of light in reaction to high and low frequency sounds in its immediate environment. This embodiment of a sensory overload exposes neurologically normative people to this experience. Encouraging the development of empathy and diversifying our emotional intelligence.”

Student: Amos Wheeldon
Project: Social Stabilisers
Website: amoswheeldon.com
Contact address: 4moswheeldon@gmail.com

Gyrophone v.1 by Ben Manders

“In an increasingly online and disjointed society, Gyrophone technology encourages genuine human connection through music and movement by stimulating face-to-face interaction.

“The Gyrophone v.1 is the first synthesiser that harnesses a gyroscope to allow spontaneous, collaborative music-making. It utilises GPS technology to allow you to venture out into the world to unlock a variety of sounds and instruments.

“In hunting for these hotspots, jammers can encounter others to collaborate with, using their shared collected sound library. As the Gyrophones dance together, sounds are manipulated in harmony with one another to generate spontaneous and original new music.”

Student: Ben Manders
Project: Gyrophone
Website: www.benmanders.com/gyrophone-v1
Contact address: mandersben@gmail.com

Voro by Findlay Macdonald

“Our future relationships with smart assistants will become symbiotic, we will view them no longer as characterless assistants but as household digital companions.

“Building relationships much like we currently have with pets, these digital lifeforms will demand the user to feed them data and in return provide access to hyper-personalised full functionality.

“This leaves the user with a paradoxical question, whether keeping their pets alive and functioning at their fullest warrants breaking boundaries in relation to their own data privacy.”

Student: Findlay Macdonald
Project: Voro
Website: www.finmacstudios.com
Contact address: finmacstudios@gmail.com

Metamorphose by Ladina Brunner

“Metamorphose is an interactive installation focused on designing an experience that encourages perceptual shifts through a co-production of the narrative.

“This installation works to address the importance of breaking away from the habitual spaces and mindsets we inhabit by stimulating our senses in a completely new way. Enabling participants to alter their surroundings and experience within Metamorphose births a new understanding of the relationship between their bodies and the space.

“Metamorphose’s main goal is for no participant to leave with the same perceptions of the relationships between their bodies, minds and environment as they had before entering the installation.”

Student: Ladina Brunner
Project: Metamorphose
Website: www.ladinabrunner.com
Contact address: ladina.brunner@gmail.com

Assaporando by Micol Zardi

“Assaporando is a project that explores multi-sensory stimuli in eating experiences, manipulating the five senses to achieve enhanced dining.

“Sensation transference is what links our senses with flavour and allows for multi-sensoriality to induce new experiences by the diner. Shape, colour, texture, noise and weight are elements that if combined, change the way in which we perceive flavour. When the five senses are manipulated and controlled while eating, the diner’s perceptions of flavour are changed.

“This tableware intensifies the eating experience; the shape, texture, colour and weight enhance the diners’ perception of flavour, creating an out of the ordinary dining experience.”

Student: Micol Zardi
Project: Assaporando
Website: zardimicol.com
Contact address: zardimicol@gmail.com

Climate Summit by Preston Kneen

“The Climate Summit game informs, engages, and creates discussion around what action the governments of the world are taking within climate change.

“An experience tested and approved for ages ten and up, Climate Summit brings the learning of in-depth research into a game that can be played with friends and family.

“Do you want to learn about what you can do for our planet? Feel confused by politicians and empty promises of change? Get competitive with the other players to be energy sustainable first, and learn about how you can influence your nation right now to make a better future.”

Student: Preston Kneen
Project: Social Stabilisers
Website: jpkdesign.me
Contact address: jpkneen@me.com

Incognito by Shannen Dorothee Tioniwar

“Incognito is an intelligent offline device which allows users to determine whether they would like to share their data to the ‘always listening devices’ with the respective consequences.

“This is done by allowing users to categorise and classify the perceived level of privacy of data, allowing them to consciously share data at their own discretion.

“This interactive intermediary device gives users the ability to customise the boundaries of a device in regards to data collection. Incognito gives a user the chance to explore challenges and the opportunities provided by AI-supported devices.”

Student: Shannen Dorothee Tioniwar
Project: Social Stabilisers
Website: www.shannentioniwar.com
Contact address: dorothee.shannen@gmail.com

Virtual Design Festival’s student and schools initiative offers a simple and affordable platform for student and graduate groups to present their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for more details.

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