The traditional ceiling light is given a new twist for Calipso Linear, a lighting design made up of geometric tubes.
Light shines through small circles of varying diameters, which are arranged side by side to create a “honeycomb” effect along its length.
Top: different configurations of Calipso Linear lights. Above: a honeycomb effect is created by different-sized circles
“This honeycomb pattern in an elongated shape adds visual interest and comfort with a soft light to an otherwise traditionally shaped fixture,” Artemide told Dezeen.
The honeycomb grill was created by inserting a photo of the moon into an image-based algorithm on a computer. A shell was then placed over a thermo-formed screen to hide the LED circuit while maintaining its distinctive “dot effect”.
The light comes in a range of sizes that can be attached together
Calipso Linear can be used in both workplaces and homes thanks to its even and comfortable light emission.
“Calipso is suited to a variety of applications expressing Artemide’s traditional approach to deliver high performance lighting with a unique and emotional expressiveness,” the brand said.
The light is suitable for offices as well as homes
Straight parts of Calipso Linear can be added together to create a longer light. Alternatively, a joint can connect two Calipso lights at a 90-degree angle. This functionality allows users to create multiple shapes.
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Braun launched the Good Design Masterclass video series, which is led by British designer Crawford, to inspire “good design for a better future” and to mark its centenary. The second episode focuses on useful objects.
“Fundamentally, ‘useful’ is about functional things that people really need,” said Crawford in the video. “Genuinely useful design creates the building blocks of our lives.”
“Sometimes, ‘useful’ can make things more convenient. But it can also improve lives in quite profound ways.”
The VanMoof S3 bike aims to be “the sustainable future of mass transportation”, according to Crawford
One example of useful design featured in the video is the VanMoof S3 electric bike, which Crawford described as a “beautiful piece of functional design”. The design aims to be “the sustainable future of mass transportation”, according to Crawford.
“This is a municipal object, it’s a commuter tool,” she said. “And you see it in what is in front of you. It is sturdy, everything is integrated into the frame, everything is embedded. And when they develop new models, they don’t mess around with new styles or novelty. Every upgrade is based on improving the functionality of this bike.”
Össur’s i-Limb Quantum is a myoelectric prosthetic hand
Another example of useful design featured in the video is the i-Limb Quantum prosthetic hand by Iceland-based company Össur.
The device is myoelectric, which means that it can be operated with the electrical signals generated by a person’s muscles to enable the user to regain the functionality of a missing hand. Crawford described the design as “unashamedly robotic” and said it is something the user would want to show off.
“This really has been a shift from the times when to have a prosthetic limb was a matter of shame and social stigma to today when a prosthetic is not only functionally useful – technological shifts have made it a wonderful accessory in terms of dexterity – but also a thing of beauty,” she said. “So it’s now also useful from a social point of view – it’s something to be proud of.”
Braun’s Parat BT SM 53 electric shaver (right) could be powered using the cigarette lighter in a car
The third design Crawford discussed in the video is Braun’s Parat BT SM 53 electric shaver by Dieter Rams and Richard Fischer, which she said is an example of how usefulness shifts and changes over time.
Crawford described the shaver as “a pioneer of the unplugged lifestyle” because it could be powered via the cigarette lighter socket in a car.
“But, of course, ‘useful’ is not something that is pinned down in stone,” she said.
“Tastes shift, values shift. And, of course, change continues. Because now beards are back so now there are new typologies for clippers and trimmers. So what is useful is continually tied into the cultural and social shifts of any time.”
Braun’s Good Design Masterclass series is led by British designer Ilse Crawford
“The right mouse is the most critical weapon in your PC-gaming arsenal,” says product designer Gary Lin, who admits he has “glands that produce excessive sweat while gaming.” Lin, a designer for PC hardware manufacturer Marsback, was in a position to do something about it.
Lin designed the Zephyr Pro, an anti-sweat gaming mouse with a built-in fan and the RGB lighting that this market segment apparently demands. The fan reportedly directs air to “blast directly into your palm [to] effectively evaporate sweat,” allowing you to keep your grip.
“The surface of Zephyr Pro features a delicate matte coating, which is both greaseproof and fingerprint-proof. The mouse feet are made of PTFE material to ensure a smooth movement. and with a 1.8m paracord cord, which is soft enough to reduce the interference caused by friction while being durable.”
…but became more interested in the wheeled green thingie than the jig. I looked them up, and found these knee creepers go for about $40 on Amazon or from suppliers like Global Industrial.
I also learned that a company called Milescraft sells a split version called KneeBlades; they’re basically kneepads with wheels.
The wheeled dolly parts can be detached from the kneepads.
I’m not sure if the KneeBlades are any better than the one-piece knee creepers–I’d be worried about inadvertently doing a painful split–but they are pricier, at $60.
Dezeen Showroom: Inma Bermúdez has designed Gan‘s Roots collection, a series of jute and cotton rugs in ode to the designer’s Mediterranean heritage.
The Roots collection features four different styles of flat-woven rugs, each made with jute fibres as the weft and cotton as the warp.
Gan’s Roots rugs are made of jute and cotton
The rugs have a richly textured look highlighting subtle differences in material and colour, with hues ranging from beige to ochre and brown.
Bermúdez made the collection to honour her own Mediterranean roots and those of the Gan brand. Both are based in Spain.
All feature a variation on a square pattern
Each of the four models features a pattern of square shapes that repeat at different scales and rhythms to give them their unique character. The rugs are available in four sizes ranging from 96 by 144 centimetres to 240 by 288 centimetres.
All are made by hand in India and the collection also includes two stools woven from the same materials.
About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
After years of living in NYC, Jean and Joe moved to Minneapolis, where they could afford to build a house. But one thing that wasn’t in their budget was the freestanding garage required by local housing ordinances. They took bids from contractors, and the price for building a garage from scratch came in at $30,000. Their story was captured by Fair Companies in the video below.
To summarize the garage story: After doing some research, Jean found a company in Canada that manufacturers Quonset huts to custom sizes. While she doesn’t mention the company by name, I looked at several fitting that description and believe they went with Mississauga-based Metal Pro Buildings.
MPB cranks out prefabricated sheet metal arches to whatever dimensions you need. They’re shipped to you in pieces, and all you need to do is bolt each arch together, stand them up, bolt them to each other, then bolt the end pieces on.
By going with the prefabricated Quonset hut approach and DIY assembly, Jean and Joe paid just $6,000, versus the $30,000 cost of a stick-built garage. (One thing they don’t mention in the video is the cost of the concrete slab, which they apparently did have in their budget.)
While the “shotgun”-style layout dictated by their plot seems inconvenient, I’m amazed that you can get a two-car garage for six grand. If you’re seeking a similarly cheap outbuilding, you can check out MPD’s different Quonset models (it looks like Jean and Joe went with the S-Series, but there are five styles total) here.
Liverpool is set to lose its World Heritage status, according to a UNESCO report citing detrimental waterfront developments “eroding the integrity” of the site.
In its report into sites currently at risk, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recorded a draft decision to remove Liverpool’s docks from the World Heritage list.
“Decides to delete Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) from the World Heritage list,” said the report in its list of action points.
UNESCO, which maintains the prestigious list of sites of significant historical and cultural interest, will make a final decision next month.
Liverpool Waters
The report cites several developments including the £5.5 billion Liverpool Waters development and in the waterfront and northern dock as the reason for the site losing its status.
“The inevitable process for the implementation of the Liverpool Waters project and other large scale infrastructure projects in the waterfront and northern dock area of the property and its buffer zone have progressively eroded the integrity of the property and continue to do so as the most recent project proposals and approvals indicate,” said the report.
The planning application for a new football stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock was also cited as “adversely” impacting the “authenticity” of the site.
World Heritage status under threat since 2012
The decision to remove Liverpool’s status is set to be made following “repeated requests” from UNESCO to the local and national government to protect the site.
“The committee has considered several times the possibility of deletion of the property from the World Heritage List owing to the clear deterioration and irreversible loss of attributes conveying the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property including its authenticity and integrity, arising from the ‘Liverpool Waters’ development.”
Two high rise towers, The Plaza 1821 and Hive City Docks by UK studios Hodder and Partners and Brock Carmichael Architects, were given planning approval as part of the Liverpool Waters in 2011 despite growing fears of the impact.
At the UNESCO committee’s annual meeting in 2017, it again considered removing Liverpool from the World Heritage List over the plans, which were approved that year.
Flying cars will be in our cities “by the latter part of this decade”, according to Michael Cole, chief executive for European operations at South Korean automaker Hyundai.
“Urban air mobility will offer great opportunity to free up congestion in cities, to help with emissions, whether that’s intra-city mobility in the air or whether it’s even between cities.”
Michael Cole, chief executive for European operations at Hyundai
Cole told the conference that Hyundai, which is owned by the world’s fifth-largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group, is currently investing in the development of flying cars.
“If you’d asked me a few years ago were flying cars something that I would see in my lifetime, I wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.
“But it’s part of our future solution of offering innovative, smart mobility solutions.”
Hyundai revealed its flying car concept at CES
The Korean manufacturer unveiled a full-scale model of the flying vehicle it is developing with Uber at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in 2020.
Created as part of the company’s Urban Air Mobility (UAM) plans, the eVTOL – electric vertical takeoff and landing – vehicle is named S-A1.
Designed for short flights in and between cities, it would be built from lightweight carbon composite materials and seat five people, including a pilot.
“We are looking at the dawn of a completely new era that will open the skies above our cities,” said Hyundai executive vice-president Jaiwon Shin at the time.
Hyundai’s S-A1 flying vehicle
Hyundai is one of the numerous companies developing manned eVTOLs.
While Cole believes that we will see flying cars in our cities by 2030, others are more optimistic. Lilium expects to launch an all-electric air taxi service in multiple cities by 2025, while Uber is planning to launch app-based flying taxi service Uber Air in 2023.
Hemp can capture atmospheric carbon twice as effectively as forests while providing carbon-negative biomaterials for architects and designers, according to Cambridge University researcher Darshil Shah.
“It’s even more effective than trees,” he said. “Industrial hemp absorbs between 8 to 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare of cultivation.”
“In comparison, forests typically capture 2 to 6 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year depending on the number of years of growth, the climatic region, the type of trees etc.”
Darshil Shah (above) conducts research into biomaterials made from hemp (top) at the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at Cambridge
Carbon-negative bioplastics and construction materials made from the plant can be used to “replace fibreglass composites, aluminium and other materials in a range of applications,” he added.
The Centre for Natural Material Innovation, part of Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture, conducts research into biomaterials in order to “transform the way we build to achieve zero carbon emissions.”
Hemp is a “multi-purpose crop”
Shah’s work covers engineered wood, bamboo and natural fibre composites as well as hemp, which he described as “a multi-purpose crop that offers materials and resources in multiple forms.”
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant but contains very low levels of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) compared to marijuana, which is another variety.
The fast-growing plant has been grown for thousands of years for its fibres, which were traditionally used for rope, textiles and paper.
Today it is increasingly being used to make bioplastics, construction materials and biofuels as well as products containing cannabidiol (CBD), an active ingredient that is touted for its alleged health benefits.
The strong, stiff fibres that form the outside of the stem can be used to produce bioplastic products including automotive parts and even wind-turbine blades and cladding panels, Shah said.
“With the hemp bioplastic cladding panels, we find that they are a suitable alternative to aluminium, bitumen-plastic and galvanised steel panels, requiring only 15 to 60 per cent of the energy in its production.”
The shives, which are the woody inner part of the stem, can be used to make “hempcrete“, a non-load-bearing wall infill and insulation material.
Shah pointed out that in contrast to conventional agriculture, which emits large amounts of carbon, hemp farms do the opposite.
“Agricultural land in the UK, on average, emits around 3 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year,” he said. “Hemp offers an incredible scope to grow a better future.” In addition, hemp produces more usable fibres her hectare than forestry.
“We can produce bioplastics that can replace fibreglass composites”
The farm grows industrial hemp organically, which further reduces emissions compared to conventional agriculture, where between 30 and 40 per cent of emissions come from fertilisers and pesticides.
Shah is working with the farm to develop new carbon-negative materials that could be used in manufacturing and construction.
“With Margent Farm’s hemp fibres, and using 100 per cent bio-based resins, we can produce bioplastics that can replace fibreglass composites, aluminium and other materials in a range of applications,” he said.
“We can use the wealth of textile science knowledge that humans have gathered over thousands of years to produce a range of textile fibre composites with properties suitable for non-structural products.”
Carbon revolution
This article is part of Dezeen’s carbon revolution series, which explores how this miracle material could be removed from the atmosphere and put to use on earth. Read all the content at: www.dezeen.com/carbon.
Counterspace‘s Folded Skies installation comprises a series of large iridescent mirrors. Each mirror features a different colour gradient, which was created using pigments found in dust produced by the mines that surround Johannesburg, South Africa.
“The Folded Skies project draws on some of my earlier research around Johannesburg’s mine dumps” explained Vally in the video, which Dezeen filmed in London.
Counterspace’s Folded Skies project comprises three mirrored sculptures
Beautiful sunsets can often be seen over the city of Johannesburg. However, this unusual iridescent light is thought to be a result of the toxic dust that is released by the mines around the city.
“They’re brilliant colours – copper, cobalt, nickel, potassium – [but they’re] very toxic substances,” said Vally.
“This is what gives us the most brilliant quality of light and brilliant qualities of sunset because the dust is iridescent.”
The iridescent colours of the mirrors refer to the unique pigments caused by mining waste
The three mirrors are meant to recreate the light of Johannesburg at sunrise, sunset and midnight, but also act to question the social geography behind this phenomenon.
The pieces were installed at the Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch as part of the Spier Light Art Festival in late 2018 and early 2019, but they were originally designed to be installed at a mine.
“They’re meant to be installed on a Johannesburg mine,” Vally said. “The mirror would bring together the mine landscape, but also the inner city of Johannesburg and the surrounding townships that work to service and mine the land.”
“And so on the one hand, the project is working with translating this phenomenon, this atmospheric condition that is so beautiful. On the other hand, it’s also interested in bringing together a conversation about the complexities of land.”
Vally is the architect behind this year’s Serpentine Pavillion. She founded her architecture studio Counterspace at the age of 23 and is the youngest architect to receive the prestigious commission.
“In 2018 we made the Folded Skies project, which draws on some of my earlier research around Johannesburg’s mine dumps. The project consists of three mirror installations commissioned by Spier and installed at Spier Light Art Festival in Stellenbosch.”
“The mirrors are coated with the same chemical compounds that we find in Johannesburg mine runoff. They’re brilliant colours. Copper, cobalt, nickel, potassium, [they’re] very toxic substances. There is a myth that this is what gives us the most brilliant quality of light and brilliant qualities of sunset because the dust is iridescent.”
Each mirror mimics this unique atmospheric phenomenon
“The mirrors also fold together different contexts in the surrounding area and bring together areas that are very separate on plan, but very entangled in how they function and in how they work. They’re meant to be installed on a Johannesburg mine.”
“The mirror would bring together the mine landscape, but also the inner city of Johannesburg and the surrounding townships that work to service and mine the land. And so on the one hand, the project is working with translating this phenomenon, this atmospheric condition that is so beautiful. On the other hand, it’s also interested in bringing together a conversation about the complexities of land.”
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