Since bicycle ridership has thankfully been increasing during the pandemic, and because even cities with decent mass transit like Paris have created new cycling initiatives, you might wonder: Why would French authorities ban one of the first bicycle commercials scheduled to air on French TV?
Dutch manufacturer VanMoof created the spot to highlight their S3 and X3 e-bikes. Here’s the commercial:
The commercial–which has aired in the Netherlands and Germany with no problems–is totally non-offensive, isn’t it? Here’s the ban rationale, from the ARPP (Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité, in English, the Professional Advertising Regulatory Authority) as reported by VanMoof:
According to the ARPP, certain shots of the car’s reflections “discredit the automobile sector […] while creating a climate of anxiety.” It is notable that the ARPP rejected what would have been one of the first bike ads on French TV, despite recently pledging to reinforce the sustainability aspects of their policies.
Further down in the press release, we get to the bottom of it. First off the ARPP isn’t a governmental body, but “a self-regulatory organisation supported by the private sector.” And as it turns out:
The [banning] decision comes at a time when the French car industry is in trouble, with sales plummeting due to COVID-19 and widespread economic decline on the horizon. In a bid to support the sector – responsible for almost a third of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions – the government recently introduced a recovery plan worth €8 billion.
Well, that stinks. At the very least, I’m hoping it’ll give VanMoof some good publicity. Here’s their response, by the way:
“It’s puzzling that car companies are allowed to gloss over their environmental problems, but when someone challenges that situation it gets censored.” Ties Carlier, VanMoof co-founder.
VDF studio profile:Autoban is a multidisciplinary studio based in Istanbul, Turkey, which was established to “create meaningful designs that put forward enthralling narratives”.
Founded in 2003 by Seyhan Özdemir Sarper and Sefer Çağlar, who were later joined by Efe Aydar, the studio’s portfolio spans architecture and interiors, as well as product and experiential design developed for various sectors in cities across Europe and Asia.
Whatever the scale of the project, Autoban‘s ambition throughout is to act as a storyteller and provide end-users with characterful, unexpected and memorable experiences.
Key projects include its unconventional terminal interior for Heydar Aliyev International Airport
“Known for its signature multi-layered design approach grounded in storytelling, Autoban creates stimulating and sensory environments and experiences that are deeply rooted in cultural, social and geographic narratives, while pushing boundaries and challenging expectations,” said the studio.
“Our main concern is creating spaces or objects that touch people’s lives,” it continued. “Good design should offer a singular experience to those who encounter or inhabit it, it should be memorable, characterful and surprising – a timeless design that speaks powerfully to both place and people.”
In its home city of Istanbul, Autoban built the Kilimanjaro restaurant within an old brewery
The scheme involved the design and construction of cavernous, cocoon-like pods, built from wood, to divide up the terminal and create small, intimate hubs for passengers.
“Autoban’s design for the Heydar Aliyev International Terminal displays the studios experimental and genre-defying approach, and overturns airport conventions of vast spaces and impersonal experiences, offering a new experience entirely to passengers,” the studio explained.
Autoban’s portfolio also includes installations and furniture designs, like its Nest Chair
Other significant projects by Autoban include Joali Maldives, a collection of villas in the small island nation in South Asia. The villas feature organic shapes and interior details made from tactile, locally-sourced materials like wood and rattan, intended to capture the spirit of the Maldives.
In its home city of Istanbul, the studio’s most celebrated scheme is its interior design for the Kilimanjaro restaurant, which is located within a historic brewery.
The focal point of the restaurant is a sculptural, curvaceous bar that evokes an art installation, which is teamed with an industrial material palette to pay homage to the building’s former use.
One of its notable installations is The Wish Machine, created for the 2016 London Design Biennale
Autoban also has a significant presence in the design world, where it is best known for its immersive installations and furniture collections that are sold internationally.
Notable examples include the statement Nest Chair – a lounge chair distinguished by its protective shell-like form that offers users a secluded cosy space – and The Wish Machine installation.
Presented at the inaugural London Design Biennale in 2016, The Wish Machine was a pneumatic messaging system that transported the wishes of visitors, written on a piece of paper, to an unknown destination via a system of pressurised pipes.
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Il y a 5 ans, le studio NEON installait une réinvention de la hutte finlandaise commune (mökki) dans le cadre de l’exposition Barfotastigen à Korppoo, en Finlande. La structure « frissonnent » afin de s’adapter aux changements climatiques.
Aujourd’hui, une nouvelle édition a été créée pour célébrer l’anniversaire du projet, construite à partir de l’avion finlandais Ply.
« Alors que le monde s’adapte à la nouvelle réalité de Covid-19, je pense qu’il faut mettre davantage l’accent sur la façon dont l’architecture, l’art et le design peuvent être utilisés pour réduire l’anxiété, nous relier à la nature et rassembler les gens dans les espaces publics », a déclaré Mark Nixon de NEON.
From his upcoming album, Pleasure, Joy and Happiness, Eddie Chacon’s “My Mind is Out Of Its Mind” feels at once nostalgic and current—with a hint of ’80s smooth soul/jazz/pop, coupled with contemporary flourishes. The meditative, self-reflective song—produced by the brilliant John Carroll Kirby—proves Chacon’s immense songwriting ability. The music industry veteran started his first band when he was 12 years old, and was half of the ’90s duo Charles & Eddie. He also worked behind the scenes, writing music for various artists (including British R&B group Eternal) and engineering (he was second engineer on 2 Live Crew’s As Nasty As They Wanna Be), too. A photographer and later creative director for AUTRE Magazine, Chacon seems to have been hiding in plain sight since his fame with Charles & Eddie. This is the first time he has written and released music under his own name as a solo artist.
If you have a Macbook Pro with the butterfly keyboard (2016 – 2019 models) and one of the keys is stuck, try this fix:
Pick up your laptop and turn it upside down. Note the position of the stuck key. Using two fingers, simply give the bottom of the laptop a bunch of firm taps in the area of the problematic key.
Right the laptop and set it down. Push the problematic key repeatedly. It should pop back into place, if it didn’t during the inverted step.
This morning the “U” key on my Macbook Pro became stuck in the down position. I read three pointless articles and watched four videos until I finally found the trick I just described. I hope someone Googles for how to fix it and finds this faster than it took me.
Cupaclad 201 Vanguard is intended for use as a ventilated facade system that helps to improve the energy efficiency of a building, while also offering a clean and contemporary finish.
It is composed of slender slabs of slate, measuring 60 by 30 centimetres, which are installed horizontally and secured by two visible stainless steel brackets. For ease of installation, the metal rails onto which the slate is fixed are marked where the brackets should be placed.
Natural slate was chosen for the system for its durability and natural aesthetic, which Cupa Pizarras believes “fits perfectly into the contemporary architectural trends” and is suited to all types of architecture projects.
“The Cupaclad 201 Vanguard rainscreen cladding system stands out due to its stainless steel clips, which are slightly visible at the bottom, contrasting with our natural slate,” said the cladding and roofing manufacturer.
“The result is sustainable cladding with a modern touch.”
The roofing and cladding manufacturer is also showcasing its understated Cupaclad 101 Logic system alongside the textured Cupaclad 101 Random range – both of which are fixed with hidden screws.
All three series, now viewable at the VDF products fair, are designed for use across all architectural projects and function as ventilated facades to help improve a building’s energy efficiency.
The Cupaclad 101 Logic system is designed for balance and simplicity
Cupaclad 201 Vanguard is Cupa Pizarras’ boldest facade system, which it has developed to help users add “a modern touch” to projects.
The system marries large, horizontal slabs of natural slate with stainless steel brackets that are left exposed for a statement finish.
The most textured system is Cupaclad 101 Random, which combines three different sized slabs
Cupaclad 101 Logic and Cupaclad 101 Random are both designed to celebrate the natural textures of slate and rely on a system with concealed, self-drilling screws to help retain focus on the material.
The differences are that Cupaclad 101 Logic relies on consistently-sized slabs to deliver a “simple, balanced” aesthetic, while the Cupaclad 101 Random system comprises three different sizes of slate that can be overlapped and randomly arranged for a more “dynamic” finish.
Caesar Ceramics is another company that has introduced its latest surfacing collections at VDF products fair. Among the four porcelain surfacing collections are a range of tiles called Enchant that evoke aged and painted wood, and the Shapes of Italy range that resembles stone.
Other brands that have unveiled new designs include Danish brands Fritz Hansen and Muuto and Austrian bike brand Vello.
Dans son projet “Water World”, la photographe et directrice artistique Andrea Koporova livre une série de clichés surréalistes en effet miroir. Réalisées en 2016 dans une piscine en Slovaquie, pays d’origine de l’artiste désormais établie à Vienne, en Autriche, les images sont dominées par une esthétique géométrique et minimaliste particulièrement travaillé. Mise en scène, couleurs, occupation de l’espace : Andrea Koporova ne laisse rien au hasard, créant ainsi une atmosphère à la fois onirique et mystérieuse.
From aeroponics and cooperative farms to rainwater harvesting and freshwater marshes, Brooklyn-based visual artist Olalekan Jeyifous’ vision for his neighborhood of the last 20 years, Crown Heights, incorporates eco- and agro-futurism, while embracing Afrofuturism, too. The artist refers to his sci-fi concept as “implausible architecture,” but relishes in the opportunity to tell a utopian tale with his art. Jeyifous was slated to exhibit at this year’s Venice Biennale and within MoMA’s Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America exhibition, both of which have been postponed until 2021. Read more about the artist’s work in a new interview at Curbed.
Behold the ‘Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63’, a one-of-a-kind, limited edition motor yacht that turns Lamborghini’s adrenaline-pumping driving experience waterborne. Created as a collaboration between Lamborghini and The Italian Sea Group, the Tecnomar beautifully captures the raging bull experience, with design details that almost instantly make it synonymous with Lamborghini’s stile. We’re not going to dive into the technicalities of the Tecnomar, but rather look at how wonderfully the two design groups created a yacht that’s so innately Lamborghini, it’s hard to ignore!
The Tecnomar pulls inspiration directly from the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37’s design details (the two even feature together in the video). Outwardly, it’s pretty easy to draw parallels between a car and yacht, simply because they both need to be incredibly aerodynamic and streamlined, but the Tecnomar manages to do so much more to look the part (apart from the angular bodywork, of course). Take for instance the Y-shaped headlights, a detail that’s directly taken from Lamborghini’s playbook (remember the Terzo Millennio), or the zig-zag stepping on the rear of the yacht that’s inspired by the rear profile of the Aventador. The yacht even sports 3-bar taillights, a detail seen in most of Lamborghini’s racecars, and the hexagonal shape of the transparent paneling on its sides is a direct reference to the air-intakes found under the headlights of most modern-day Lambos. To top things off, the yacht even sports the same color schemes, although cooler hues like blue and green work better on water, while warmer tones like orange and yellow are more suited for land. It’s a remarkable replication of styles that really shows that Lamborghini’s brand of speed is truly universal, and can easily be carried anywhere!
The Tecnomar is a two-man yacht powered by two V12 – 2000HP engines that allows it to reach speeds of 60 knots. The interiors come with heavy Lamborghini influences too, including the cockpit that looks almost like you’re on a racetrack. There’s even that unmistakable “Start/Stop” button that you’d find in the Italian automotive company’s racecars! The ‘Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63’ (representing the company’s founding year in 1963) will be available from next year as a part of a limited edition run.
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.
