Hasta La Ideas

From Austin’s oddball indie-pop duo United Shapes comes “Fractalvision,” another mind-bending invitation to their forthcoming “first-ever studio album” (but ninth album overall), Compound Shapes (out 16 October). “We didn’t want the album to be about the compound words in the titles in a literal sense,” singer/multi-instrumentalist Joseph Devens explains about the concept album in a statement. “We decided to let the word inspire the song and its lyrics in an abstract way.” Abstract certainly defines “Fractalvision,” but it also happens to be fun from start to finish.

British furniture brand Ercol‘s Windsor centenary cabinet and Verso High sideboard are among the five products it is exhibiting for the Dezeen x Planted collaboration during this year’s London Design Festival.

The product showcase coincides with the brand’s 100th-year anniversary since its founding and celebrates some of its signature mid-century-style designs.

All five Ercol products on show are handcrafted from its eco-friendly 5,500-square-metre factory in Buckinghamshire, UK.

Here, they are made from high-quality hardwoods such as ash, elm, beech, oak and walnut – all of which meet the EU Timber Regulations and are chosen for durability to help reduce waste.

The first collection on show its Windsor centenary cabinet, an updated version of the original Windsor cabinet that first launched in 1962.

It was chosen for the showcase for being “intrinsically Ercol” – characterised by the brand’s signature clean lines and turned legs, all crafted from solid ash.

The Corso dining table is also on show, alongside the Verso High sideboard that has a “graphic” aesthetic achieved through an asymmetric, mirrored layout of doors and drawers.

Corso is informed by the classic Ercol Plank table and is designed to accommodate six to eight people comfortably. According to Ercol, it is made using a combination of the factory’s contemporary CNC technologies and traditional hand-finishing techniques.

Finally, Ercol is presenting its solid ash Aldbury chair and Marino chair, which each feature steam-bent details and exemplify the brand’s expertise in traditional craftsmanship.

Dezeen x Planted

Exhibitor: Ercol
Website: www.ercol.com

Planted is a contemporary design event that aims to reconnect cities with nature, which will make its physical debut as part of London Design Festival alongside an online trailer for next year’s main event.

The Planted x Dezeen collaboration presents a series of projects by international designers that align with the ideals of the Planted design event.

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Earlier we brought you the story of how LEGO, responding to letters sent in by children, has decided to ditch the single-use plastic bags used to wrap their products. Today we get to tell you who the design firm tasked with prototyping the paper bag replacements is: RKS, the L.A.-based design consultancy founded by Xerox PARC veteran Ravi K. Sawhney.

RKS Design Researcher Meghan Preiss reached out to us with the skinny:

LEGO came to RKS, a design consultancy in the Los Angeles area, to design a sustainable packaging solution that would remove the single-use plastic bags currently utilized in their packaging system. With the legislation looking to companies to reduce their carbon footprint and their mission to have all packaging be sustainable by 2025, the plastic bag was the initial challenge that the team wanted to tackle. Given the global scale that LEGO operates at, the challenge for this initial strategic initiative was to develop a solution that maintained or enhanced the play experience and was scalable to meet global sales demand.

“This is one of my favorite projects in my career,” writes Preiss, who served as Lead Design Researcher on the project. “Understanding children’s behavior when it comes to playing and learning was eye-opening. We were able to disprove theories and hypotheses on whether a clear pre-pack was needed or whether the white or brown paper was preferred. By working with an incredible design and engineering team, we were able to maximize the play experience with just paper. Then to add all of the complexities of true-sustainable design, manufacturing, and business needs, this was an incredible challenge, and I am so proud of the team!”

Ben Azzam, RKS Executive Vice President, added that “When approached with sustainability challenges, it is always imperative to understand the impact that these opportunities can have on business and how that will steer the execution of new design solutions.

“Working with a beloved global brand like LEGO was inspiring for the team because it was an opportunity to create a solution that would span the globe with a positive impact. With our research efforts across the US, China, and Europe and deep understanding of the LEGO team’s manufacturing capabilities, we were able to identify implementable solutions and improve the play experience across the broad age range of LEGO builders.”

No, we don’t have any sexy hero shots of the finished product to show you. But we’re posting this because the ID firms behind even big-name companies often remain anonymous and unsung, and it’s a breath of fresh air when we finally learn who they are and get to attribute some credit. ID is often a thankless field.

When we say “Swiss Miss” it probably makes you think of Tina Roth Eisenberg’s blog, but in this case we mean the hot cocoa brand. For years the company has been packaging their product in these round canisters:

The problem is, mixed-material canisters like this–which are typically made from a paper tube with a foil lining and a metal bottom–cannot easily be separated, and are thus considered unrecyclable.

Thus Swiss Miss parent company Conagra Brands, which seeks “to make 100% of its plastic packaging renewable, recyclable or compostable by 2025,” has commissioned a redesign from packaging solutions company Berry Global. Here’s the new packaging:

In addition to the recyclability, the company claims it’s easier to grip–and it further reduces their carbon footprint by costing less to ship:

“The new light blue easy-grip container is made of recyclable plastic with a wraparound in-mold label and a space-efficient tapered cube design that, based on an analysis conducted by Berry Global, reduces the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing and transporting the hot cocoa containers by 15 percent.

“The new design reduces the package’s carbon footprint by 98 metric tons each year due to less energy required to manufacture and transport the material. This is equivalent to avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions of driving a passenger vehicle 243,176 miles, which is further than the average distance from the Earth to the moon2. The new shape also allows Conagra to better utilize space in transit, saving more than 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually from fewer truck loads transporting plastic tubs.”

Independent of the green credentials, I’m digging the shape of the packaging. I think this is one of those containers that I’d hang onto after it was empty, as I’m sure I could cook up another use for it (holding it against the wall to catch sheetrock dust while drilling holes comes to mind).

Soaring arches reminiscent of those seen in Ricardo Bofill‘s La Fabrica feature in this decadent restaurant in St James, London designed by creative director John Whelan.

Whelan – who leads artist collective The Guild of Saint Luke – told Dezeen that, prior to his intervention, Maison François simply looked like “one giant concrete cube”.

The materiality of the space immediately encouraged Whelan to base his interiors scheme around La Fabrica – an abandoned cement factory just outside of Barcelona that Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill transformed into offices for his practice in 1973.

“I always try and find a creative route that respects the DNA of the building, and this felt appropriate,” said Whelan.

“Furthermore, the client wanted to reference historic brasseries but create a contemporary version – also reflected in the food.”

The exterior of Bofill’s La Fabrica is notably punctuated with soaring arched windows. These have been reinterpreted inside Maison François, which boasts terracotta-coloured stucco walls inset with shallow arch-shaped recesses.

“La Fabrica is probably the greatest home that I will probably never visit, and so the arches were a sort of ‘homage’ to that wonderful creation,” explained Whelan.

Walnut has been used to craft the restaurant’s seating banquettes – their latticed backs are inspired by the pews in Germany’s modernist Maria Heimsuchung church, which Whelan came across in a photography series by Robert Goetzfried.

Chairs have been upholstered in creamy linen to match the colour of the lacquered-wood dining tables. Tubular chandeliers have also been suspended from the ceiling, which has been finished with a faux-cement patina.

Mahogany has been used to craft a latticed hood above the open kitchen, where dishes that draw upon traditional French cuisine will be prepared.

Food will be served by both chefs and waiters, an attempt by the restaurant to diffuse the typical boundaries between front and back-of-house operations.

“Maison François will be everything a brasserie should be – welcoming, fun and hospitable, with classic dishes made with the best seasonal produce we can get our hands on – whilst also ripping up the rulebook when it comes to service,” said the restaurant’s founder, François O’Neill.

At the centre of the hood is a huge clock that Whelan had made bespoke from patinated nickel and bronze.

Weighing half a ton, the grills on the side of the clock are meant to subtly mirror those that feature on the front of vintage Rolls Royce cars, often seen outside the restaurant on the affluent streets of St James.

“The clock is a classic of historic brasserie design, and can be found around the world from Bouillon Julien in Paris to Fischer’s in London,” added Whelan.

“We wanted to have this iconic focal point but with our own style.”

Stairs lead down to Maison François’ adjoining wine bar, called Frank’s. This space is intended to have a slightly more industrial feel, so has been completed with exposed white-brick walls, polished concrete flooring and black-leather seating.

Bofill’s La Fabrica is referenced again at this level but this time in the form of arched mirror wall panels.

John Whelan established The Guild of Saint Luke in 2017, working with artists, artisans and architects to restore and revive historic French brasseries.

Earlier this year Whelan overhauled Parisian eatery Nolinski, filling its interiors with art deco-inspired details like gold-leaf “sunburst” columns.

Photography is by Oskar Proctor.

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