Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen promotion: there are just three weeks left to enter the Timber Trade Federation’s Conversations about Climate Change design competition.

The competition challenges designers and craftspeople to create innovative, playful and thought-provoking designs using sustainably sourced tropical timber, in a bid to show the importance of the natural resource.

Creations can be anything from a piece of furniture or a sculpture to an installation or a functional design object. The competition closes for entries on 24 August 2020.

Entrants must develop designs that spark discussion about material provenance and the role of forests and wood in lessening climate change, as well as being both aesthetically and technically impressive.

Creations must also address the role of the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – the UK and EU’s Action Plan to combat illegal logging, subsequent trade and deforestation – in ensuring legal and sustainable forestry and timber supply.

“Entitled ‘Conversations about Climate Change’, we want people to come up with design ideas that stimulate conversation and encourage thought about the provenance of materials used in design, their origins, and the impacts they might have,” said Timber Trade Federation CEO David Hopkins.

“We’ve intentionally left the brief fairly broad for submissions to foster greater inspiration and creativity,” he continued. “Our only requirement is that the conversation pieces encourage discussion around the role of forestry and timber in the climate emergency.”

According to Hopkins, responsibly foresting and sourcing timber is an “essential part of the solution” in reducing harmful carbon emissions. However, tropical forests are often taken advantage of, and forest land is cleared for other uses.

The FLEGT initiative helps combat illegal logging, subsequent illegal timber trade and deforestation.

“We have focused on tropical timber as this is the main area that needs attention internationally,” said Hopkins. “We are trying to encourage better and more responsible sourcing of product, along with better understanding of the UK & EU’s FLEGT Action Plan.”

“FLEGT is designed to improve governance and management of forests in the tropics, encouraging investment and trade as a result. We’re very much in favour,” he continued.

“Research shows that timber harvesting from sustainable forest management sources will actually keep the forests standing, provided that governance and legal reforms are in place,” added Hopkins. “We can support this by keeping trade alive and money flowing back to those countries making the positive changes.”

Six winners will be announced at the beginning of September 2020, and each will be provided with timber sourced from VPA countries working towards FLEGT-licensing – responsibly sourced through the Timber Trade Federations’ members – and a £1,000 maker’s bursary.

Where necessary, provisions will be made to match up designers with workshops for designs to be developed and fabricated.

Winners will be chosen by an expert judging panel, made up of Hopkins as well as Brinkworth CEO Adam Brinkworth and the Building Centre’s creative director Vanessa Norwood.

Other names include London-based designer Yinka Ilori, Julia Barfield of Marks Barfield, Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects and Leah Riley Brown of the British Retail Consortium.

The final creations will be exhibited in an online gallery, and a shortlist will be displayed in the exhibition at the Building Centre in London in November – the month when the COP26 was set to take place.

The competition is organised with the support of the Department for International Development and in association with the Building Centre in London.

Entries to the Conversations about Climate Change competition close on 24 August 2020.

More information on the competition, including details on how to enter, can be found via the Building Centre website.

The post Last chance to enter Timber Trade Federation’s Conversations about Climate Change competition appeared first on Dezeen.

CEO Emily Miller shares why she founded a cereal company and how she made it look and taste so good

In the upper echelons of food nostalgia, breakfast cereal often conjures colorful memories of school days and mornings with the family—often a sweet but hurried start to the day. The founder and CEO of new cereal brand OffLimits, Emily Miller, recognizes this but she doesn’t want anyone to live in the past; her two debut products feature purposeful, premium ingredients and deliver delectable flair in opposition to the artificial heritage of the category. Though the duo of flavors coincide with cartoon characters that embody their distinct spirit, these aren’t the cereals of anyone’s youth. OffLimits is a thoughtful addition to the quality cereal market and an entire world of ideas circulates through the brand.

Miller’s professional history made her the perfect candidate to imagine cereal for the future. She spent three years researching and writing Phaidon’s BREAKFAST: The Cookbook, which highlights traditional breakfast recipes from around the world. Even before that, Miller hosted a global event series that brought creative people together over breakfast—in restaurants that weren’t typically open in the morning. Through passion and information, and by partnering with Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One on character development and Pentagram on design, Miller found a way to make OffLimits as visually memorable as it is tasty. Miller took time to explain to us how it all came together.

What came first: the flavors or the characters? Or something that linked them?

The characters and flavors were all developed in tandem but are designed to oppose each other. DASH for when you need a kick and ZOMBIE to max your relax. Cartoons don’t need to be happy all the time. I wanted characters that represented human cycles of emotion. DASH and ZOMBIE have big moods, which brings big flavor. DASH is a go-getter, but deals with anxiety because she’s held to such high standards. Her cereal is coffee and cacao and turns the milk to cold brew. ZOMBIE is an introverted artist who suffers from spurts of loneliness and depression. Their cereal needed to be chill, so we added adaptogens and soothing flavors like vanilla and pandan, which is a Southeast Asian plant often used in desserts.

We’re curious about flavor development. How did these two cereals come together?

I’ve spent my career learning and cooking the most comforting meal of the day, so the development of my own breakfast item was a labor of love. It took a year to get the color of ZOMBIE just right using only natural ingredients, and DASH’s recipe took at least 40 goes to get a balanced, quality coffee flavor. Every ingredient tells a story and these characters are here to amplify that.

Mirroring that, can you share with me the process/players behind the design?

This is not your average cereal brand because there’s nothing average about the people who created it. I came to Astrid [Stavro] and her incredible Pentagram team with a cartoon universe of cereal characters and emotions floating in my head. They extracted, organized and created the rules for this world and the characters who live there. With Shepard Fairey’s Studio Number One on the cereal character designs, we had this surreal meeting of design perspectives, which for OffLimits was an unstoppable force of pure defiance mixed with mindfulness.

Art infuses the brand. Can you talk about art activations you’ve done? And why you offer art on the site?

We’ve set up a partnership with creative agency Studio Number One, founded by Shepard Fairey and his gallery Subliminal Projects, to tap into a global network of artists and influential voices to participate in content and events surrounding art and cereal. Pre-COVID, we hosted a BREAK THE RULES themed show at Subliminal. This was intended to be our pre-launch event before we delayed due to COVID.

Our digital art gallery was created as a response to worldwide gallery closures during COVID-19. We support diversity and counterculture by encouraging creative abilities, turning doodles into dollars. We wanted a place for artists to share work based on defiant themes with a portion of the proceeds going to fund youth art initiates. The gallery will always be driven by social impact, sometimes in the form of art and sometimes limited, collaborated drops.

The ’90s was weirder than you remember

Everyone has a nostalgic reaction toward cereal. How did you work with that and how did you defy it?

Hanging in the past is comforting but boring. It’s like when Disney+ came out it was the best day ever until you watch Brink! and one episode of Lizzie McGuire and decide you’re ready to come back to reality because the ’90s was weirder than you remember. OffLimits provides that comfort but then rockets you into a whole new dimension. The cartoon dimension.

Can you tell us about the exclusive minis?

The mini boxes are as functional as the flavors. They’re our solution to on-the-go snacking. Each box has a perforated top that you tear off and pour milk right inside. The minis are currently sold at Intelligentsia coffee-bars with some exciting new announcements on the way.

How do you take your cereal?

Depends on my mood. I have a cereal-dispenser on my counter which has proven to be dangerous because every time I walk by I have to decide if I want a handful of DASH or ZOMBIE. I’ll typically eat a few handfuls dry before deciding to actually sit down and have a bowl. Then comes the oat or almond milk.

Hero image of Emily Miller by Kiki Fox, all other images by Katie Burton

Latex glove manufacturer Supermax has commissioned new headquarters in Malaysia designed by London architecture studio Szczepaniak Astridge as demand for their product surges due to coronavirus.

As makers of personal protective equipment (PPE), Supermax has seen a huge rise in orders for its products during the pandemic.

In March 2020 the Malaysian latex glove makers had 88.5 million gloves – Supermax’s entire stock – bought by the British National Health Service (NHS). Supermax’s share price has risen by 500 per cent this year and made its owner a billionaire.

Two factories are being built to keep up with this increased demand, along with the new headquarters in the town of Klang designed by Szczepaniak Astridge.

The headquarters will abut these new factories, surrounded to the west by fields of oil palms, the leaves and husks of which are used to power the factories’ machines.

Szczepaniak Astridge impressed the competition jury with their vision for greenery-filled offices behind a facade that will pay homage to the natural origins of the latex gloves.

The office’s gridded facade will feature slim vertical elements that echo the slim trunks of the rubber trees that are tapped for latex, creating an intricate pattern of markings echoed in the office’s design.

“We designed the facade carefully to mitigate from direct solar gain and glare whilst allowing air movement through to provide a thermally comfortable external amenity space in this humid climate,” studio co-founder Simon Astridge told Dezeen.

“We created voids and atriums within the plan to help carve light into the spaces. We then wrapped green belts around the perimeter and within the internal courtyards that act as shaded amenity break out spaces for the occupants,” he added.

These zones filled with tropical plants will sit between the interior offices and the brise-soleil, and office workers will be able to walk out among the planted terraces during breaks. Ceiling fans will circulate the air inside.

“Every office has a view of the green belts and this will be used to improve mental wellness,” said Astridge. “We wanted the people to feel like they were in a forest or the rubber plantation itself while working.”

The six storey building will contain a restaurant, exhibition spaces and a 1,000-seat ballroom for events along with offices, training rooms and a whole level dedicated to car parking.

Szczepaniak Astridge is working closely with Supermax’s in-house Feng Shui expert to ensure the offices comply with this set of design principles.

“The positioning of water and moving water is very important representing harmony and large atriums that invite wind and positive energy,” said Astridge.

“Small things to know that become important for Feng Shui include positioning stairs and lifts at an angle and not facing the entrance to prevent wayward spirits entering.”

Construction on the Supermax headquarters is due to commence in 2021.

Szczepaniak Astridge was founded by Simon Astridge and Nicholas Szczepaniak. Astridge previously worked under his own name on projects including house extensions featuring white-brick portholes or pink concrete walls.

Also working under his own name, Nicholas Szczepaniak designed a barbershop in Dubai with moody interiors of dark wood and concrete.

The post Szczepaniak Astridge designs Malaysia headquarters for PPE maker Supermax appeared first on Dezeen.

The Step table by Michigan designer Erika Cross features an interchangeable top and base that can be stacked on top of each other at different heights, thanks to their ridged mating surfaces.

The design is based on a mechanical device called a step block, which consists of a pair of metal wedges with teeth running along one side and is used in workshops to clamp objects in place.

For the Step table, this geometry has been blown up to oversized proportions and turned into a deep black stepped wedge and cylinder duo, which can be arranged into different configurations with either placed on top.

“The same type of mechanical interface is present in the step blocks as in the two parts of the Step table, with the articulating teeth providing height adjustability,” Cross told Dezeen.

“With a larger scale and with refined geometries, simple industrial tools have been repurposed into household furniture.”

Thanks to its two reconfigurable elements, the table can offer a smaller or larger surface area depending on need and can be adjusted in height from a low coffee table to a taller side table.

According to Cross, facilitating this kind of active relationship with an object is a key aim of her design process.

“I believe that interaction creates value,” explained the designer, who won Best in Show for the Step table at this year’s NYCxDESIGN Awards.

“A piece that can be customised or reconfigured is an invitation for the user to get involved with it. This interaction strengthens the user’s bond with the object.”

The piece was originally rendered as a lacquered MDF model as part of an intensive, year-long prototyping phase, with the aim of creating a streamlined batch production process.

Based on this master model, the designer made moulds in which the final piece was cast using a plaster and resin composite called Jesmonite.

The result is a production process that relies on only two elements – the mould and the casting material.

“I was concerned with reducing cost, decreasing lead time and minimising waste,” she explained.

“I wanted to be able to reproduce the design in a streamlined and resilient way without the need for specialised tools or workspaces during the production phase. The casting phase could be accomplished in a workspace with very modest infrastructure and staff, even a residential basement or garage.”

Although Cross didn’t design the process with a global pandemic in mind, she says recent events have reinforced the importance of fostering resilient, flexible production.

“I believe that the ability to adapt to changing consumer demand and varying resource availability in the production phase may be the new normal moving forward,” she explained.

“With social distancing, lockdowns and other consequences of the pandemic, we cannot take it for granted that the staff and facilities that were available yesterday will still be available today.”

Earlier this year Jonas Petterson, the CEO of Swedish design studio Form Us With Love, told Dezeen that the pandemic could lead to more localised supply chains across the industry.

“The virus is making us consider how supply chains work, how global business can be decentralized and less dependant on central hubs,” said Petterson.

Similarly, in Dezeen’s most-read story of the year, trend forecaster Li Edelkoort argued that the pandemic could offer us a chance to “build a new economy with other values and ways of handling production, transport, distribution and retail”.

The post Erika Cross models convertible Step table on industrial tools appeared first on Dezeen.

Thanks again to everyone who entered Dezeen Awards 2020. As longlisting, the first stage of the judging process, comes to an end, here’s what will happen next.

10-13 August: longlists published

The longlists will be published on Dezeen, on our social media channels and in a newsletter. Each longlisted entry will receive its own page on the Dezeen Awards website.

Architecture longlist: 10 August
Interiors longlist: 11 August
Design longlist: 12 August
Studio longlist: 13 August

Early September: shortlists published

The shortlisting stage of the judging process has already started. It involves our star-studded panel of 75 judges, who will select a shortlist of between four and eight entries in each project category using an online scoring system.

We’ll be in touch in early September to let you know if you’ve been shortlisted. All shortlisted projects will be published in full on Dezeen.

Late September: master jury day

In previous years, up to 15 judges gathered in London to convene and ratify the suggested project category winners and select the overall winners in the architecture, interiors and design project categories.

This year, the master jury day will still take place but the format may have to be different due to coronavirus. We will keep everyone updated about this and make an announcement closer to the time.

Late October: winners announced

Winners will be announced in late October. We’ll be sharing more details of this year’s Dezeen Awards ceremony soon.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please email awards@dezeen.com and someone from the team will get back to you.

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