New Unique Italian Design Tiles Collection

Le fabricant de céramique italien Mutina a lancé une collection de carreaux de surface décoratifs en collaboration avec l’artiste-designer Nathalie Du Pasquier de Mattonelle Margherita. Ce projet, qui se distingue par son aspect saisissant, est conçu pour personnaliser les espaces grâce à des motifs variés et des configurations infinies de carrelage d’art, le résultat étant à chaque fois unique.

Dans cette collaboration, le studio et l’artiste milanaise ont développé un projet complexe combinant différents moyens d’expression esthétiques et formels, une approche du design qui témoigne du savoir-faire unique et expérimental de Nathalie Du Pasquier.








Ten key projects by RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner David Adjaye

Adjaye roundup

To celebrate the news that David Adjaye has won the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for 2021, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most notable buildings designed by the Ghanaian-British architect.


Ruby City by David Adjaye

Ruby City, USA, 2019

Crimson-coloured concrete panels envelop Ruby City, a contemporary art centre built by Adjaye in San Antonio, Texas, with local firm Alamo Architects.

Its vibrant design evolved from a sketch by the building’s patron – the late artist Linda Pace – which she drew and presented to Adjaye following a dream about the museum.

Find out more about Ruby City ›


Mole House by Adjaye Associates

Mole House, UK, 2020

Mole House is the three-storey live-work space of the artist Sue Webster, which Adjaye’s firm crafted from the shell of a derelict house in London.

Its name and design derive the history of its previous owner, nicknamed the Mole Man, who dug a labyrinth of tunnels beneath it. As a nod to this story, the home has multiple entrance routes and a concrete basement extension.

Find out more about Mole House ›


Spyscape by David Adjaye

Spyscape, USA, 2018

The interactive Spyscape museum was designed by Adjaye following response to consultations with former members of renowned hacking collectives and directors of intelligence agencies.

Visitors are invited to act like spies as they meander its theatrical, multi-sensory exhibition spaces that are lined with smoked glass, bespoke fibre cement, mirror-polished steel and grey acoustic panelling.

Find out more about Spyscape ›


Aishti Foundation, Lebanon, 2015

Fashion boutiques, a curated bookshop and restaurants are among the offerings of the Aishti Foundation, a mixed-use complex that Adjaye’s firm built in Beirut.

It has a layered form, composed of a glazed box slotted into a frame of red ceramic louvres shaped like lightning bolts. The interiors are positioned around a maze-like atrium filled with mirrors and a maze of escalators.


Specere, UK, 2009

One of Adjaye’s firms smallest built projects is Specere, an angular cabin made from douglas fir, which is located at the summit of Deadwater Fell in Kielder National Park.

It was built for walkers and mountain bikers to use as a shelter and viewing platform – though it can only accommodate up to 10 people at a time.


Sugar Hill, USA, 2015

Sugar Hill is an affordable housing block in Harlem, New York, which has a distinctive staggered form that gives rise to a cantilever and an outdoor terrace on the opposite side.

It contains 124 apartments, a children’s museum and a nursery, and is wrapped by dark, pre-cast panels that are imprinted with floral motifs – referencing the building’s setting within the city’s Heritage Rose District.

Find out more about Sugar Hill ›


Steven Lawrence Centre, UK, 2007

The Steven Lawrence Centre Built was built to improve opportunities for young black people in south London, in honour of an architectural student who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993.

One its notable features is a patterned facade by its entrance that was based on a drawing by the artist Chris Ofili and reflects playful patterns of light inside the building.

Find out more about Steven Lawrence Centre ›


Smithsonian NMAAHC, USA, 2016

The 29,000-square-metre Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture occupies the last plot at the National Mall in Washington and was designed to celebrate America’s African heritage.

It is distinguished by its three-tiered structure and shimmering facade, which was crafted from 3,600 cast-aluminium panels cut with motifs that honour the skills of African-American ironworkers. Adjaye completed the project as part of a team known as Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup JJR, which includes US firms The Freelon GroupDavis Brody Bond and SmithGroupJJR.

Find out more about Smithsonian NMAAHC ›


Adjaye roundup

Dirty House, UK, 2002

Dirty House is a stark, black-painted art studio and private residence that Adjaye built from a 1930s warehouse in Shoreditch. It was the first of the two houses that Adjaye’s firm has built for artist Webster.

The warehouse’s original ground floor windows, which appear to have been sealed up, are filled with mirrored glass to maintain the privacy of the building’s occupants.

Find out more about Dirty House


Idea store, UK, 2005

The multifunctional Idea Store in Whitechapel, London, serves as an alternative to conventional community libraries and education services in the UK.

Its design, which was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist in 2006, is intended to be highly permeable, with two ground-floor entrances and a transparent facade made from layers of green, blue and translucent glass.

The post Ten key projects by RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner David Adjaye appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch Design Week 2020 forced to take "unbelievably painful" decision to cancel physical shows

Dutch Design Week cancelled

All physical events at next month’s Dutch Design Week have been cancelled due to a rise in coronavirus cases in the city.

Eindhoven’s mayor John Jorritsma announced the decision today, less than three weeks ahead of the biggest design event in the Dutch calendar.

Mayor “cannot decide otherwise”

“When I see the increasing numbers of infections in our city, with the images of the overflowing healthcare system in spring still vividly in mind, I cannot decide otherwise than to prioritise fighting the virus and preventing new infections,” Jorritsma said.

“Welcoming or facilitating large groups of people who visit DDW in the city, is not part of that.”

Dutch Design Week (DDW) usually attracts around 350,000 visitors to the city and bills itself as the largest design event in northern Europe.

This year’s festival was due to take place from 17 to 25 October with a cut-back physical schedule and increased online activity due to the pandemic.

The week will now only feature digital activities.

Decision “saddens us deeply”

“We knew this would be an odd year, but that the live festival now, with only 2.5 weeks to go, cannot take place at all saddens us deeply,” said Martijn Paulen, director of DDW organising body Dutch Design Foundation.

“Of course this cannot replace the live week, but we are going to scale up the virtual programme to support the design field as much as possible in creating relevant connections.”

“The designer’s community was ready to show the world how they can contribute in offering new perspectives,” Paulen added. “It is unbelievably painful that, in a year they need it more than ever, we are overruled by this.”

Digital activities to be scaled up

An ambitious digital festival, initially planned to work alongside a programme of studio tours and socially distanced activities, will now become the centrepiece of the festival.

“Of course this cannot replace the live week, but we are going to scale up the virtual programme to support the design field as much as possible in creating relevant connections,” Paulen said.

The decision came as exhibitors were starting to build their shows around the city.

“It’s a huge loss for us”

“We’re still reeling from the news and the students are pretty disappointed,” said Joseph Grima, creative director of Design Academy Eindhoven, whose graduation show is one of the key attractions at DDW.

“We were about to start the build in a couple of days. It’s a huge loss for us.”

“We understand,” Grima added. “It’s the right choice. The decision is to put collective safety above the interest of individual schools and institutions.”

“We need to make the most of the situation online and maybe do something more ambitious next year.”

Fears for 2021 events

The cancellation of Dutch Design Week’s live elements comes as coronavirus cases are once again rising in Europe, leading to concerns that the architecture and design events calendar could be impacted into 2021.

Today the Royal Institute of British Architects announced the cancellation of this year’s Stirling Prize since judges have not been able to visit all competing buildings in person due to the pandemic.

Earlier this month there were tentative signs of a return to normality, with 3 Days of Design and London Design Festival taking place in Copenhagen and London respectively.

Exhibitors reported a celebratory mood at the Danish event while designers and brands used the much reduced London Design Festival as an opportunity for digital experiments and one-on-one meetings.

The main photo is courtesy of Dutch Design Week.

Dutch Design Week will run from 17 to 25 October online. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Dutch Design Week 2020 forced to take “unbelievably painful” decision to cancel physical shows appeared first on Dezeen.

The Swiss Army Knife of outdoor bottles lets you brew coffee/tea, or even infuse your water

There’s more you can drink on a camping trip than just coffee and beer, you know? It’s possible to have other beverages, both alcoholic and not, in the great outdoors… you just need to look beyond your portable coffee brewer and your beer-cooler. Yes, you could carry teabags, CapriSun pouches, juice-boxes, or a variety of other paraphernalia that would end up generating waste… or you could keep an All-Day Adventure Flask handy.

The All-Day Adventure Flask by Hibear helps you expand your options when it comes to drinking in the outdoors. To begin with, it comes with an insulated stainless steel body, functioning as a thermos that keeps your drinks hot or cold for hours. The flask itself works as intended, but its split-body design lets you quickly unscrew the top of the bottle and invert it, turning it into a wide-mouth pour-over kit for your coffee. Just line it with a filter, fill it up with your grounds and you’ve got yourself some fresh coffee… but wait, the same setup works well for decanting wine too, aerating it to bring out its flavors and notes. The bottle’s internal glass finish prevents your wine from tasting like your pourover.

Aside from its split-top design, the flask even features a variety of modules that let you create a myriad of drinks outdoors. A mesh container lets you infuse water, brew tea, or cold-brew coffee, while a slatted lid turns the flask into a cocktail shaker. If you need to instantly chill a beverage, the flask’s thermal core fits right into it, bringing your drinks to the perfect chilled temperature without diluting them with ice. You could go ahead and drink directly from the bottle or just pop out the silicone tumbler built into the base for a nifty cup to drink from. The cup’s material withstands high temperatures and is non-toxic, making it a great drinking vessel for humans as well as accompanying pets.

For something this versatile, the All-Day Adventure Flask also comes with a robust, durable design, fit for the rugged outdoors. A Red Dot Design Award winner for the year 2020, the flask’s outer body sports a powder-coated finish to give it a vibrant color as well as a protective layer from the elements. The inside of the flask features a non-breakable glass-finish that’s easy to clean, doesn’t impart a metallic taste to your drinks, and prevents the growth of mold. When you do want to clean the glass, it opens up to give you wider access for your hands. The silicone cup rinses easily under water, and the fact that it fits into the base of the flask allows it to act as a shock-absorber in case you ever drop your flask. Whether you’re at a campsite, a beach, trekking up a hill, or trudging through snow, the All-Day Adventure Flask gives you the gift of variety, letting you brew coffee or make hot-chocolate in cold weather, or have cucumber-infused water or a boozy screwdriver while you’re lazing in the sand overlooking the ocean. The flask comes with a 32-ounce capacity, a 5-year warranty, and is available in a variety of colors. It’s built to be carbon neutral, and the fine folks at Hibear even pledge to commit a percentage of the profits from the All-Day Adventure Flask to help the environment with 1% for the Planet. You can go ahead and say cheers to that with a beverage of your choice!

Designers: Mark Tsigounis from Hibear & Matic Lenaršič & Jernej Koželj of TAK Kolektiv

Click Here to Buy Now: $69 $85 ($16 off). Hurry, less than 9 days left!

The All-Day Adventure Flask by Hibear

The All-Day Adventure Flask crafts beverages from coffee to cocktails, yet simple enough to be used as an everyday water bottle.

The team spent over three years to optimize versatility through smart design. It is the solution to maximizing space and getting more out of the stuff you travel with.

Pour Over, Anywhere

Their innovative insulated lid inverts so that you can make pour-over wherever, whenever.

The blade gasket on the strainer creates a firm fit to prevent it from tipping over.

Cocktails by Campfire

Celebrate the summit with the only cocktail shaker built for the wild.

Fill it with your favorite beverage, mix in a few ingredients and shake it to a delicious drink.

Aerate, filter, chill, & leave the glass at home.

Tea Remotely

Mellow the mood with a green tea!

Cold Brew Off the Grid

The flask’s oversized steel filter lets you make super strong cold brew on the go.

Infused Water

Spice up your life with a little infusion of flavor to your H2O.

Hydration

It’s simple enough to use as your everyday water bottle.

Easy to Clean & Durable

With an ultra-wide mouth and an internal glass finish to combat nastiness. Hands work really well with a non-abrasive sponge, cloth, t-shirt, or friend’s sleeping bag. Leave the bottle brush at home.

Glass Shield Technology – An unbreakable internal glass finish that protects against mold, flavors and smells.

Over-engineered for maximum durability –  The Flask is made of double-wall stainless steel and coated in a durable powder coat. It even has a silicone sleeve to protect the bottom against small drops.

Removable & Insulated Mug

Keeps colds cold and hots hot.

Thermal Core – Keeps colds cold without diluting them with ice.

What’s in the Box

The All-Day Adventure Flask and its complete components to get crafting!

Click Here to Buy Now: $69 $85 ($16 off). Hurry, less than 9 days left!

Autodesk University's List of 750+ Free Online Sessions is Now Viewable

Autodesk University, which will be free and online this year due to COVID, has just published the list of this year’s sessions. There’s over 750 on-demand sessions scheduled, including 350-plus live classes with Q&A’s–and unlike the real-world sessions, there’s no limit on class size.

“There’s something for everyone at AU 2020—from expert-led industry talks and demos to live panels and roundtables. Discover sessions from across industries, including architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and media and entertainment.”

750 is a lot to wade through, but if you drill down to just the industrial-design-relevant offerings with the search box, you’ll see the ones most likely to interest you: Deep dives with Alias, how to set up virtual design reviews, modeling walkthroughs, automated workflows for industrial design, Fusion 360 freeform modeling tips and tricks and more.

AU will run from November 17th thru 20th this year. (I’m guessing things will be calm and the election will be decided by then, right?) You can register here.

Super Enzyme Capable of Speedily Breaking Down PET

The Centre for Enzyme Innovation at the University of Portsmouth announced a new discovery this week: a “super enzyme” capable of breaking down plastic to its building blocks at a rate six times faster than their previous innovations. This comes just months after French research organization Carbios announced a similar discovery, which they plan to test at a plant in 2021. While promised to be similarly speedy, Carbios’ formulation uses PET hydrolase, while the University of Portsmouth relies on a combination of PETase and MHETase—”effectively stitching the enzymes DNA together to create one long chain.” This implies, if all of the testing goes well, that PET (the most commonly used thermoplastic) could be properly recycled—and with minimal energy. Read more at CNN.

Image courtesy of Pixabay

The eRove, a Battery-Powered, Solar-Rechargeable Cooler

This week appliance manufacturer Furrion unveiled the eRove , a battery-powered and solar-rechargeable cooler with a 50-quart capacity. While it can be plugged into a socket or your car, or powered by its rechargeable battery, those of you seeking true off-grid independence will want to opt for their solar charging system. On a single charge the eRove can provide up to five days of cooling–14 days if you add ice–and has a temperature range of minus-8 degrees Fahrenheit, up to 50 degrees.

There are also USB and USB-C ports for charging other devices, as well as a wireless charging pad.

The eRove was successfully crowdfunded in a single day, having launched yesterday. Buy-in with the battery starts at $999, but the fully loaded kit with the travel wheels and solar charging panel cost $1,899. And that’s the pre-order price–once the eRove goes retail, that price jumps to 3 grand.

Here it is in action:

There’s still 30 days left to pledge.

Amazon launches autonomous flying security camera for the home

The Ring Always Home Cam by Amazon

Amazon has debuted its Ring Always Home Cam, an autonomous drone-style camera that can fly around the home to record disturbances when the resident is away.

Connected to a series of sensors in the home, the flying security camera is designed to automatically fly to predetermined areas in the user’s residence if one of the sensors is triggered by a potential break-in.

When the sensors are triggered, the owner will receive a smartphone alert that allows them to watch the footage live.

A camera is embedded into the lower part of a central rod, which is attached to a flat, fan-like element on the top of the device that allows it to fly.

When not in use, the drone-like device is designed to fit snug inside a cubic dock with a central opening. Once activated, it rises up from the dock and flies on its pre-set path.

The Ring Always Home Cam by Amazon
Amazon’s Ring Always Home Cam can autonomously fly through the home

This rids security camera owners of the need to set up multiple devices across the house by offering various viewpoints in a singular, mobile camera.

The Ring Always Home Cam cannot be controlled manually and will only fly where the user has programmed it to.

Amazon's Ring Always Home Cam connects to smartphones so users can watch live footage remotely
The drone records footage in the home in response to alarm triggers

“Something I frequently hear from customers is ‘I have a few Indoor Cams from Ring, but sometimes I would leave the house and couldn’t remember if I’d left a window open and wished I had a camera there’,” said Ring founder Jamie Siminoff.

“Instead of simply encouraging customers to buy more cameras and set them up in more locations around the home, how could we solve this problem with one solution?”

“We wanted to create one camera that could give users the flexibility of every viewpoint they want around the home, while delivering on our founding principles of privacy and security,” added Siminoff.

The Ring Always Home Cam by Amazon
The Ring Always Home Cam sits in a dock when not in use

Designed with privacy at the “top of mind”, the Ring Always Home Cam only records when triggered and in flight.

This is ensured by the camera being positioned at the bottom of the device’s rod-like base, so it is physically blocked when inside the dock.

It also makes a low, humming sound when in motion, so users know when it is recording. “This is privacy you can hear,” said Siminoff.

To avoid any accidents, the device features obstacle avoidance technology and has a casing around its propellers.

Amazon's Ring Always Home Cam connects to smartphones so users can watch live footage remotely
Users can watch the live footage remotely from their smartphone

The Ring Always Home Cam is currently in the development stage, and has not yet been authorised for sale. However it is set to cost $250 (£192) when it becomes available.

This is not the first time Amazon has utilised drones. The e-commerce company previously launched its fully electric and autonomous Prime Air drone, which is designed to deliver packages weighing up to 2.2 kilograms to customers in less than 30 minutes.

More recently, however, drones were used to fight the coronavirus pandemic towards the beginning of the outbreak. Viral video footage showed drones with loudspeakers directing individuals in rural areas in China to go back inside.

There were also reports of the devices using thermal imaging to detect people with fevers from the air.

The post Amazon launches autonomous flying security camera for the home appeared first on Dezeen.

Behind the Bar: 50 Cocktail Recipes from the World’s Most Iconic Hotels

Frequent flyers (and many city-dwellers) know the joy of settling into a signature cocktail at an acclaimed hotel bar. With travel presently paused, Behind the Bar: 50 Cocktail Recipes from the World’s Most Iconic Hotels allows the adventurous to tour the world with their tastebuds. Budapest-based writer/editor Alia Akkam penned the celebratory collection, drawing inspiration from her years on the road, reporting about developments in hospitality. She’s peppered the pages with anecdotes that support the recipes, too.

Cover image of Behind the Bar by Alia Akkam (Hardie Grant) Illustrated © Evi-O.Studio, Kait Polkinghorne and Susan Le

Jaguar Consul is an autonomous coupe way ahead of its time

Jaguar is a brand synonym with style, masculinity and class that is definitive in the automotive realms. The luxury and performance combo of the Jaguar sports cars, the new F-Type in particular is exemplary. Taking design cues from 2020 F-Type, to shape the future of Jaguar sports cars that’ll be eco-conscious, the Jaguar Consul is a glimpse of things to come. Seasoned automotive designers Gregoire Mory and Hanchang Liu have pondered over the design of a Jaguar coupe thirty years down the line, and this is what it looks like.

Consul has the aerodynamic flowing lines, ever sharper than the current generation of Jaguar cars. In particular, the rear which flows from the front and seems to be stretched right up to the taillights. The rear end is so sharp you can virtually cut a slice with it! There is some semblance of the E-Type in the exterior design as well, and why not, it is one of the most iconic sets of wheels that Jaguar has envisioned. The autonomous coupe looks bold and intimidating up-front with sharply designed squinting LED headlights. From the sides, the car bears a very toned character with the wheel arches giving it a definitive road presence. Consul is made to go at high speeds with the encapsulated windshield design that gives the riders the sensation of whizzing through on the highway. To match the sporty look overall, there are gull-winged doors that open up to the back.

The interior of the Consul has an equally distinct setup with a four-person sitting configuration. Two at either side of one seating position which extends further back. The extreme left position is equipped with a steering wheel, just in case you feel the urge to drive the car. The fourth position is right where the dashboard would be, facing the other three passengers. All the sitting configurations have a laid-back setup for the ultimate comfort. The car design is quite practical and with a bit of more inputs could see daylight in the coming years.

Designers: Gregoire Mory and Hanchang Liu