Across Europe, India and other countries, communities—and organizations like IVN Nature Education in The Netherlands—have been developing basketball-court-sized native forests. On a small scale, these are “hyperlocal responses to large-scale environmental challenges,” according to National Geographic. But these areas also provide a patch of peace and serenity that bring nature closer to children in cities. They offer shade and even attract other plants, insects and regional animals; they often also repurpose spaces used for things like parking lots. By the end of 2021, IVN Nature Education intends to have roughly 200 ultra-small forests in The Netherlands, which can be created in under a year. Read more about their broader impact, and how their density sets them apart from parks, at National Geographic.
Dezeen Showroom: the Bloom lighting range by Shakuff references the “metamorphosis” that flowers undergo when they blossom.
The collection is designed by Joseph Sidof, Shakuff’s creative director and founder, and Erno Saller, senior engineer at Shakuff.
The Bloom collection features hand-blown glass pendants
Pieces include the Bloom chandelier light with hand-blown pendants of varying sizes. “Like buds on a branch, the Bloom chandelier’s orbs emerge from a brass beam at different angles and disperse light throughout the room,” said Shakuff.
The Bloom floor lamp is a multi-light piece equipped with a reading light, and available in black marble or white onyx.
The range is designed by Joseph Sidof and Erno Saller of Shakuff
A table lamp made from brass also features in the Bloom range, composed of a half-sphere balanced upon another brass half-sphere attached to a marble base.
“This composition reflects a transition from brass to blown glass as one into a higher form, like from a seed to a blossom,” said the brand. “The asymmetry accomplished through the orb’s differing sizes lends consequence and excitement to the design.”
The designs reference the moment that flowers change from bud to blossom
The range features touch technology – users can tap the spherical brass switches to turn the lights on and off, or dim their brightness.
“The Bloom collection allows you to bring natural beauty indoors, and its clean look lends itself especially well to minimalist spaces,” Shakuff added.
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.
With the new full-length album Disco!, prolific NYC “loop rapper” MIKE once again affirms his position as a present-day hip-hop pioneer. “Leaders of Tomorrow (Intro),” a collage-like track stylistically split down the middle finds MIKE delivering potent lyrics atop soulful guitars, which are frequently punctured by horns. On the LP, which MIKE self-produced under his DJ BlackPower pseudonym, this track follows up the previously released single and album opener, “Evil Eye” and the enrapturing “alarmed!” which features Sideshow. From there, it’s hard to stop a complete listen through.
By perfectly translating a visual metaphor into a product idea, the Clipbulb binder clip lets you capture your ‘lightbulb’ moments on paper!
The Clipbulb by the fine folks at Peleg Design is an incandescent-bulb-shaped binder clip that you can attach to a notepad or your bunch of post-it notes. Its design, aside from looking like a quirky lightbulb, has a dedicated spot to slide in a pen or pencil, allowing you to carry a writing instrument with your paper!
The binder-clip and pen-holder combination is a match made in heaven. You can turn a loose bunch of papers into your instant idea-jotting pad, or share documents with colleagues, fellow employees that they need to read/annotate/sign too. Talk about a literal ‘eureka’ moment!
Over 100 organisations have come together to create a virtual pavilion to draw attention to the built environment’s contribution to carbon emissions at the COP26 climate conference in November.
The UK Built Environment Virtual Pavilion will contain an exhibition of exemplary low-carbon projects “within a bespoke virtual reality space” and host speeches and panel discussions.
Coordinated by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), the pavilion aims “to give the sector a voice at COP26 and generate a reach and legacy that can stretch beyond COP itself”.
“Eyes of the world will be on COP26”
COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, takes place in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021.
“The eyes of the world will be on COP26, for what must be a key milestone moment and a historic turning point in our battle against climate change,” said Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive at UKGBC.
“It is an opportunity for nations, cities, businesses and civil society to demonstrate that the Paris Agreement is effective, momentum is unstoppable and – perhaps above all else – we are moving from targets to action.”
Pavilion to highlight built environment’s role in causing climate change
COP, or Conference of the Parties, is an annual conference that brings together signatories of the 1994 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Hosted by the UK, COP26 was due to take place last year but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pavilion is one of many activities being planned to highlight the built environment’s role in causing climate change. The sector causes around 40 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions.
COP26 to have dedicated built environment day
Earlier this year, international organisations including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) wrote to COP26 president Alok Sharma requesting an official day dedicated to the built environment at the conference.
“The built environment is fundamental to many of the themes of COP26,” said Hirigoyen.
“It has a critical role to play in mitigating climate change, responsible for 39 per cent of energy-related CO2 emissions and is central to building resilience against climatic extremes too late to avoid, through nature-based solutions.”
“It is key, also, to the aspiration of building back better after COVID.”
Designer Ilse Crawford has launched the first episode of Braun’s Good Design Masterclass by discussing examples of simple design. The German design brand is collaborating with Dezeen to share the masterclass, created by Braun to mark the brand’s centenary by inspiring “good design for a better future”.
Led by Crawford, the Good Design Masterclass series explores Braun’s three key design principles: simple, useful and built to last. The series considers how these principles can inspire young designers to shape the products of tomorrow and for society to embrace good design in our day-to-day lives.
The first episode of the three-part series explores “simply designed” objects. Crawford discusses how simple design can be applied to the design industry today and how it relates to sustainability and consumption.
According to Crawford the design of the spoon has remained “remarkably consistent around the world”
Crawford discusses how some of the most simple designs are those closest to the human body, such as eating utensils. According to Crawford, they have evolved and adapted over time, until their aesthetics have been reduced to the most simple of forms.
Crawford compares a carved wooden spoon with a silver version of the utensil, commenting that the basic form of the spoon has remained “remarkably consistent around the world and over time.”
The S bend is a u-shaped part of a pipe designed by Alexander Cumming
Crawford then discusses more “simple designs” throughout history, including the S-bend, the curved part of a waste pipe on toilets, which was invented in 1775 by Alexander Cumming.
Cumming’s design prevents smells rising from sewers, stops unwanted flow and is what Crawford describes as “probably one of the most ubiquitous, least-known, simple designs that we all have come in contact with”.
Ilse Crawford presents Braun’s Good Design Masterclass
According to Crawford, the design became popular in the mid 19th century due to the rapid urbanisation that came with industrialisation.
“There was the Great Stink in London in 1858 which was a catalyst to make this massive shift to what we now know as modern hygiene and the mass production of the WC,” explained Crawford.
“It’s so effective that it hasn’t changed. It is in millions of bathrooms around the world. And yet, we never see it. It’s the background to our life.”
Enzo Mari’s chair was designed to “reframe the future”
Crawford then discussed how the simplicity of design sometimes does not only apply to the design itself but in its “message”.
She gives Enzo Mari’s Sedia 1 wooden chair as an example, which was designed for people to be able to easily construct themselves using basic tools.
“This is a really clear example of open-source furniture,” said Crawford. “These were plans that were published and available for anybody to use.”
“This was a message, not in a bottle, but in a chair,” she continued. “He was a 1970s activist who wanted to shine a light on the culture of consumerism and inbuilt obsolescence. Aesthetics was really not the point. This was simply an intention to reframe the future.”
The first episode of Braun’s Good Design masterclass explores “simple design”
According to Crawford, principles of simple design are undesigned, almost invisible, easy to understand and often ingenious.”
“We need to be thinking more about the three principles of Braun’s design and more about sustainable systems.”
Over the coming weeks, Dezeen will publish further episodes of Braun’s Good Design Masterclass, which are also available to watch on Braun’s website.
Dezeen Showroom: French fireplace manufacturer Focus has created a suspended and rotating fireplace with a closed hearth porthole.
Named Bathyscafocus Hublot, the fireplace is an evolution of the original Bathyscafocus design, which has an open fire.
Like its predecessor, the suspended fireplace has a distinctive sphere shape and can rotate. However, unlike the original, it has a closed hearth.
Focus has created the Bathyscafocus Hublot fireplace
“The obvious evolution of the open Bathyscafocus, from which it inherits its main features and dimensions, the porthole Bathyscafocus has the additional advantages of a closed fire,” said the brand.
“The personality that this sphere radiates remains a happy mystery to those in its presence.”
The spherical fireplace has an enclosed hearth
Each of the Focus fireplaces is hand-crafted in the South of France and designed to stand the test of time.
“We have made a reputation for design innovation and technology over our 50-plus-year history and are constantly developing new ideas and pushing the boundaries of fireplace design.”
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.
Les surfeurs sont les témoins de la beauté du monde. Que ce soit les reflets lumineux sur la mer, les vagues puissantes, les levers ou coucher de soleil mais aussi les sourires ravis de ceux qui viennent de terminer une session et ont les cheveux remplis de sel. Tasya Kordyukova est l’une d’entre eux. Basée à Bali, cette artiste, voyageuse et amoureuse de la mer exprime au travers de ses illustrations toutes les joies que lui procure son sport, qui est en fait un véritable mode de vie. « Le surf est une chose incroyable, il vous maintient dans le moment présent, il nous donne l’opportunité de mieux nous connaître, comment nous sommes tous connectés avec la nature et les autres. Il y a là quelque chose d’époustouflant pour moi, alors je continue à dessiner. Des gens qui dansent dans l’eau – quoi de plus beau que ça », explique-t-elle.
Carpet-tile manufacturer Interface aims to achieve negative carbon emissions by 2040, according to sustainability leader Jon Khoo.
The brand has set itself an ambitious pathway to becoming a net remover of atmospheric carbon in less than 20 years. It claims all its products are carbon neutral and it launched its first carbon-negative carpet earlier this year.
“Our mission is called Climate Take Back, which is to run our business in a way that reverses global warming,” said Khoo, who is head of sustainability for Europe, Australia, Asia, and Africa at the American brand.
“Our big long-term aim is to be carbon negative by 2040. We’re currently working on our science-based targets.”
Above: Jon Khoo is sustainability leader at carpet brand Interface. Top: Interface produces a range of carpet tiles it claims are carbon-negative
Interface is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carpet tiles. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it has annual revenues of over $1 billion and employs more than 4,000 people worldwide.
The company was founded in 1973 by industrialist Ray Anderson, who came across carpet tiles in Europe and took the idea home to the USA.
Interface founder set the goal of having zero negative impact by 2020
Anderson became a committed environmentalist in 1994 when a customer asked what the petrochemical-dependent company was doing to address its impact on the planet. He was unable to answer the question.
He later read The Ecology of Commerce by environmentalist Paul Hawken, a seminal book that set out how businesses could help mend the ecological damage they had helped create.
This triggered a “spear in the chest” epiphany for Anderson.
One of Interface’s new carpet ranges it claims is carbon-negative is called Embodied Beauty
“I was dumbfounded by how much I did not know about the environment and about the impacts of the industrial system on the environment,” he reportedly said, pledging to turn Interface into a sustainable company.
Anderson, who died in 2011, set the company a goal called “Mission Zero”, which aimed to ensure it had zero negative impact on the planet by 2020.
Company aims to be carbon negative by 2040
The brand claimed to have achieved this in 2019, a year ahead of target, and has subsequently set itself a new target to become carbon negative by 2040.
“We intend to be regenerative, to go beyond net-zero carbon to become carbon negative, where we remove more carbon than we put into the atmosphere as a result of our entire value chain,” said Khoo.
To achieve this, the company is measuring its own emissions as well as those of its supply chain to determine its carbon impact. This involves calculating the three classes of emissions as defined by the Scope 3 Standard, including those created by suppliers and customers.
“We are measuring and reporting our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions as part of our total carbon impact as an enterprise,” Khoo explained.
“This accounts for all of the carbon we’re responsible for putting into the atmosphere as a result of our business activities through our operations, our products and our supply chain.”
Company uses offsets for emissions it is unable to remove
Interface has hired consulting giant Apex to audit its efforts. “Checks and balances are key,” said Khoo. “Getting a third party to verify your claims is how we address the greenwashing claims. And when they find something they’re not happy with, it’s how we improve our programme.”
The company has been working since 1994 to reduce its environmental impact, increasing its use of recycled and biobased materials to 60 per cent by 2020 and running its facilities on renewable electricity.
It uses offsets to compensate for emissions it has been unable to remove, calculating that it has offset more than four million tonnes of carbon dioxide since it introduced its carbon-neutral carpet tiles in 2002.
The company claims its Embodied Beauty carpet range delivers a net carbon saving of 300 grammes per square metre
The company uses a portfolio of offsets, although not all of them involve permanent removal of atmospheric CO2, which is the standard required to reach the United Nations’ definition of net-zero.
“We wanted to balance renewable energy with reforestation, which is slightly more expensive, but then we also wanted to use one-third of our portfolio or more social-based projects such as fuel-swapping cookstoves and water purification,” said Khoo.
Interface is now trying to move beyond carbon neutrality and make its entire product range carbon negative. Last year, it launched a carpet backing that it claims contains more embodied carbon in its recycled plastic and biomaterials that it emits from “cradle to gate”.
Interface launched two “carbon-negative” carpet tiles this year
This year, it has launched two carpet tiles, called Embodied Beauty and Flash Line, which it also says are carbon negative. The former delivers a net carbon saving of 300 grammes per square metre while the latter achieves 1.1 kilogrammes per square metre, according to the company.
Again, these products are negative from “cradle to gate,” meaning that the brand doesn’t take account of what happens once the products leave the factory gate.
“It’s not carbon-negative for its full lifecycle because elements of transport and end-of-life use we can influence but we can’t control at this stage,” Khoo explained. “So we wanted to focus on going carbon negative with what we can control.”
Khoo admits the company still has a lot to do to reach its goal of becoming carbon negative but is hopeful that it can help trigger change among both suppliers and customers.
“Carpet tiles are very boring things,” he said. “It’s not the kind of thing you see on the news normally, but if we can change, if we can do that across our entire portfolio and lead in the market, many offices all around the world are going to start using a much more sustainable solution.”
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.
Foster + Partners worked with the technology company to renovate the historic building, which was originally designed by American architect S Charles Lee in 1927 in the baroque revival style.
The movie theatre was built in the 1920s
At the intersection of Eighth Street and Broadway, Tower Theatre was the first theatre in Los Angeles to be wired for showing motion pictures with sound , but it had been shuttered since 1988.
Apple and Foster + Partners undertook the renovation in a collaboration with the City of Los Angeles and expert preservationists.
The entry hall was originally modelled on the Paris Opera House
The project included restoring the theatre’s corner clock tower and renovating the blade sign that projects from its side.
Tower Theatre’s terracotta facade was also cleaned and a canopy that extends over Broadway was rebuilt.
Inside, a grand entry hall designed in the style of Charles Garnier’s Paris Opera House, complete with bronze handrails and marble columns, has been restored to its former splendour. The staircase features a plush red carpet.
At the centre of Apple Tower Theatre is the Forum, a large retail space with a display screen hung in the restored arch where the cinema screen would once have been.
The movie theate has been transformed into an Apple Store
The movie theatre’s original balconies remain in situ, and Apple plans to use the space as an auditorium for daily skills workshops and presentations from local filmmakers and musicians.
Original cinema seating on the upper level has been reupholstered and turned into a Genius Bar.
A digital screen sits in the archway of the old cinema
An original stained glass window with a pattern that includes coiled strips of film has also been painstakingly restored, along with a fresco of a blue and cloudy sky that arches over the double-height space.
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