Jun 21

David Thulstrup revamps Donum Home at Sonoma County winery

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The Donum Home by David Thulstrup

Granite, oak and rattan are among the materials found in a California winery‘s hospitality building that has been refurbished by Danish designer David Thulstrup.

The Donum Home facility is part of the 200-acre (81-hectare) Donum Estate, which sits within the rolling hills of Sonoma County, just north of San Pablo Bay.

The Donum Home is in Sonoma County
The Donum Home winery building features rattan elements

Founded in 2001, the winery is well known for its pinot noirs, along with the dozens of distinctive sculptures that dot its estate. The collection features work by famed artists such as Doug Aitken, Yayoi Kusama and Ai Weiwei.

Donum Home – which functions as a venue for tastings, dining and entertainment – opened in 2017 with a design by Matt Hollis of MH Architects in San Francisco. The modern-style building has a crisp profile and white cladding.

Oak features in the project
Sonoma County’s hills can be seen from the winery

In advance of the winery’s 20th anniversary this year, designer David Thulstrup – who leads an eponymous studio in Copenhagen – was brought in to freshen up the interior.

The project entailed adding new finishes and decor, along with reconfiguring the space to form three new tasting rooms. The aim was to create an environment that felt refined yet relaxed through a careful use of light and local materials.

“The outcome is an honest, simple and not over-designed place that reflects its surroundings, while also paying an ode to my Scandinavian roots without any Nordic clichés,” said Thulstrup.

Rooms feature neutral colours and earthy materials, such as oak-and-rattan screens designed by Thulstrup, and walls and floors covered in oak.

Rooms in the Donum Home feature earthy tones
A rounded walnut table is surrounded by woven chairs in a tasting room

In one room, a rounded walnut dining table by e15 is surrounded by woven chairs by Thulstrup. An exuberant light fixture from Louis Poulsen hangs overhead.

In another room, a streamlined walnut table by Thulstrup is paired with a row of simple pendants designed by architect Peter Zumthor for Viabizzuno.

Pendant lights are part of the home's design
Original artworks feature all through the building

For the building’s great room, where skylights usher in soft daylight, Thulstrup created a table made of California granite.

Floating near the ceiling are three mirrored-glass balloons that were created by Danish artist Jeppe Hein. The sculpture, called Three Colours for Donum, moves gently with the wind and refracts sunlight.

Skylights feature in the Donum Home's great room
Skylights bring soft light into the building’s great room

“Their mirrored surfaces reflect the surroundings and you at the same time, so you become a part of the artwork,” said Hein.

The Donum Home also features a custom, hand-blown-glass vase by Danish artist Lene Bødker, and artwork by Chinese artists Yue Minjun and Liu Xiaodong. There also is a neon piece, titled Surrounded by You, created by UK artist Tracey Emin.

A neon artwork by Tracy Emin
A neon work by Tracy Emin can be seen through a doorway

Studio David Thulstrup has designed a wide range of spaces and decor, including a photographer’s studio inside a former factory building and the Michelin-star Noma restaurant in Copenhagen.

Last year, the studio teamed up with Danish furniture brand Møbel to create a pair of tables – one made entirely from ceramic and the other from powder-coated steel.

Photography is by Eric Petschek.

Project credits:

Designer: David Thulstrup
Styling: Dung Ngo
Client: The Donum Estate

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Jun 21

Ten innovative approaches to tackling climate change from our carbon revolution series

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Carbon revolution logo

As we reach the end of the first week exploring the carbon revolution, here are 10 highlights from our research so far including carbon-neutral concrete and machines that suck CO2 out of the sky.

Concrete masonry unit by Carbicrete

Carbon-neutral concrete

Montreal company Carbicrete is exploring ways of using industrial waste to create carbon-neutral concrete, potentially offering a solution to the huge carbon footprint of the cement industry, which is responsible for an estimated eight per cent of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

“We’re taking CO2 out of the system every time we make a block,” Carbicrete CEO Chris Stern told Dezeen.

Read our interview with Stern ›

Concrete made from olivine by Green Materials

Olivine sand

Dutch designer Teresa van Dongen has created a library of products that capture atmospheric CO2, including olivine, an abundant mineral that can absorb its own weight in carbon.

“It absorbs CO2 very easily,” van Dongen told Dezeen. “One tonne of olivine sand can take in up to one tonne of CO2, depending on the conditions. You just have to spread it out and nature will do its job.”

Read our interview with van Dongen ›

Climeworks direct air capture

Direct air capture

Swiss startup Climeworks builds direct air capture machines that suck CO2 out of the sky. The greenhouse gas can be buried underground or is in products including fuels, foods and construction materials.

“We capture CO2 from the atmosphere,” said Christoph Beuttler, head of climate policy at Climeworks. “We’re mining the sky because there’s too much carbon in it. And it’s a sustainable resource.”

Read our interview with Beuttler ›

Polestar 0 project

Climate-neutral cars

Electric-car brand Polestar is striving to build a vehicle that generates zero emissions anywhere in its supply chain by 2030.

“This is truly a moonshot goal,” the brand’s head of sustainability Fredrika Klarén told Dezeen. “We’re putting the goal out there and then we’re building the roadmap as we go along.”

Read the interview with Klarén ›

Bulb solar farm

Renewable energy

UK renewable energy supplier Bulb is helping the nation switch away from fossil energy.

“We’re now at a starting point where we’re beginning to see many, many more homes become participants in that two-way grid,” Wood told Dezeen.

Read our interview with Wood ›

Nori CEO Paul Gambill at a talk

A new carbon marketplace

Seattle start-up Nori is building an online marketplace that incentivises people to capture and sell atmospheric carbon.

“If we want people to do something they’re not currently doing, the best way to get them to do it is by paying them,” Nori CEO Paul Gambill told Dezeen.

“So what we need is a financial incentive for pulling carbon out of the air,” he said.

Read the interview with Gambill ›

Shopify Sustainability Fund illustration

Shopify’s Sustainability Fund

E-commerce platform Shopify is spending $5 million per year to help fledgling businesses including Climeworks and Nori scale up. It is sharing its research on its website to help others learn about potential solutions.

“We want to be able to use our $5 million annual climate fund to kickstart demand in carbon removal,” said fund director Stacy Kauk.

Read the interview with Kauk ›

Cross Chair by Pearson Lloyd for Takt assembled and disassembled

Net-zero furniture

Danish furniture brand Takt is using design to eradicate carbon emissions from its products and expects the entire company to be net-zero within two or three years.

“We can calculate the expected CO2 footprint of a product when we see the first drawing,” founder Henrik Taudorf Lorensen told Dezeen. “We start to reengineer the products at that point.”

Read the interview with Lorensen ›

Pollution from a steel and iron works

Turning emissions into products

Australian company Mineral Carbonisation International buys CO2 from polluting factories and turns it into construction materials.

“Our aim is to lock a billion tonnes of CO2 into usable products by 2040,” said MCi’s chief operating officer Sophia Hamblin Wang. “We turn waste into new products.”

Read the interview with Hamblin Wang ›

Serpentine Pavilion by Counterspace

Carbon-negative architecture

This year’s Serpentine Pavilion sequesters more atmospheric carbon than it emits, making it a carbon-negative building.

“The total cradle to grave embodied carbon emissions of the pavilion are -31,000 kg of CO2 equivalent,” according to a life cycle assessment of the project prepared by construction consultant AECOM.

Read our interview with the AECOM team ›

Carbon revolution logo

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.

The sky photograph used in the carbon revolution graphic is by Taylor van Riper via Unsplash.

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Jun 21

I IN overhauls 80s Tokyo apartment to change perception of renovations in Japan

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The Life concept apartment by I IN

Reeded glass partitions, stucco walls and red walnut joinery feature in this renovation of a compact apartment in Tokyo by local studio I IN.

Created for Smarg, the renovation arm of Japanese real estate firm Goodlife, The Life concept apartment was designed to reframe the way that Japanese homeowners perceive renovated apartments.

Built-in walnut wood wardrobe with decorative vase in The Life concept apartment
Red walnut joinery features throughout the apartment (top and above)

“There is a common image of renovated apartments in Japan, which is not always positive,” said I IN.

“The majority of people prefer new buildings and spaces because of their appearance and reinforced structures as we have earthquakes.”

Kitchen with walnut wood shelves in Tokyo flat interior by I IN
The kitchen cupboards are rendered in the same wood

To combat this preconception, I IN was commissioned to turn a 56-square-metre one-bed in a 1980s residential building into an understated luxury residence.

Set within Tokyo’s eastern Suitengūmae neighbourhood, the flat features an open-plan layout with the kitchen, living room and bedroom all located in one connected space.

Reeded glass partitions and wood cupboard in The Life concept apartment
Reeded glass partitions separate the bathroom from the living area

The kitchen sits at one end of the flat while the bedroom sits at the other, with the bed hidden from view behind a built-in walnut sideboard that the architects said serves as a “soft separation”. To separate these two domains, the living area was placed at the centre of the space.

I IN incorporated a palette of neutral colours and subtle textures throughout to create a light, restful and calming ambience.

Bathroom entrance with glass walls and decorative vases in The Life concept apartment
The screens allow light to filter into the windowless bathroom

Reeded glass partition walls allow light to penetrate into the windowless toilet and bathroom while red walnut joinery, polished chrome lighting fixtures and off-white stucco walls were chosen to evoke a sense of luxury.

“We wanted to show the wooden architectural essence from old Japan through the texture of the wood and the three-dimensional layers of light, which you see in sci-fi movies,” I IN told Dezeen.

“The soft ambience from the slit light and textured glass was also important.”

In the future, the studio says the plan is to roll the design out to other buildings in central Tokyo.

I IN, which was founded by interior designers Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama in 2018, was previously shortlisted for small retail interior of the year at the 2020 Dezeen Awards.

Bedroom with built-in wooden wardrobe and reeded glass partitions in interior by I IN
The bedroom is hidden from view thanks to another glass partition

Other renovated Tokyo flats featured on Dezeen include an overhauled 1960s apartment by design studio Minorpoet, which has its kitchen hidden behind folding wooden doors, and a refurbished flat by architect Masatoshi Hira where a family of four shares one bedroom, living space and wardrobe.

Photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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Jun 21

Covid-19 to cause four "macro shifts" for the future of the workplace, finds Steelcase

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Steelcase

Dezeen promotion: working from home during the pandemic has changed people’s expectations of their workplaces, according to research from office design leader Steelcase.

The Steelcase Global Report finds that issues concerning safety, productivity, comfort, control and a sense of belonging – all stemming from experiences over the past year – will lead to changes in the way that offices are designed in the future.

“After spending months at home during a crisis, workers have never been more in touch with what they want from their work and workplace,” reads the report.

“They have new and increased expectations of their employers and workplaces — desiring a dramatically different and better experience than the one they left.”

The report identifies four “macro shifts” that it believes organisations will need to address as employees return to working at the office.

These trends were already developing before the impact of Covid-19, the research suggests, but have been accelerated as a result.

Design for Safety

Safety has emerged as the primary cause of change in office design going forward.

Companies will need to reassure their employees that the office is a safe environment, by enforcing measures that minimise risk of infection.

“Pre-pandemic, when organisations addressed safety in the workplace, their focus was primarily on occupational health and safety standards,” reads the text.

“Now, they will need to take a multifaceted, systemic approach that prioritises mitigating the spread of disease.”

Steelcase
Steelcase’s research found that offices will likely become multi-functional environments

Social distancing measures, such as spaced-out furniture and partition screens, could form part of a long-term safety strategy, while advanced HVAC systems can monitor and maintain safe levels of humidity, filtration, air dilution and air movement in a contained space.

Companies will also need to optimise cleanability, by specifying materials that reduce the spread of infection. Sensor technology could also be introduced, to identify high-traffic areas that need to be cleaned more regularly.

Design for Productivity

During the pandemic, many suggested the office would develop into a social hub, primarily centred around group work and meetings, while focus work would primarily be carried out in the home.

However, the research indicates that the office is more likely to develop into a multi-functional environment.

In all 10 countries surveyed for the report, employees identified “collaboration” as one their top five requirements for their workplace. However, eight out of 10 also listed “focus”.

“Moving forward, organisations will benefit from creating multimodal spaces that support collaboration and focus work equally,” reads the report.

“The workplace can’t simply be a social hub that brings people together with the expectation that individual work will happen at home. Research tells us this is not an inclusive strategy since many people struggle to focus at home.”

It is recommended that workspaces provide spaces that support four types of activity: in-person collaboration, virtual collaboration, privacy and movement.

Design to Inspire Community

In every country surveyed, people identified connection to others and a shared sense of purpose among their top reasons for wanting to return to the office.

Although working from home offered some benefits, many also found it to be an isolating experience.

Steelcase
Workers desire comfort and flexibility from their workplaces, the report discovered

Going forward, the indication is that the most successful offices will promote community amongst their employees.

“Organisations will need to rethink the purpose of the office from simply a place to work to becoming the infrastructure for building social capital and fostering a sense of purpose and belonging,” reads the report.

Design for Flexibility

The research identified a clear need for comfort and control in the future workplace.

Those who have been comfortable working from home, in terms of their physical, cognitive and emotional needs, will demand the same from the office. Whereas those who have been uncomfortable at home will be more acutely aware of their comfort needs.

Similarly, people report being more able to reconfigure their home environment to suit their needs, whether that means moving furniture or changing the temperature.

As a result, flexibility looks likely to become more important than ever in the office.

“Organisations need to design spaces that can be easily adapted, especially as more flexible work policies are implemented,” reads the report.

“The workplace must be designed to provide individuals and teams greater control over their environment so they can change it on demand.”

Steelcase’s Design Principles 

Additionally, Steelcase has compiled four design principles for workspaces that meet new employee needs. These include Me + We, Fixed to Fluid, Open + Enclosed and Braiding Digital + Physical.

Me + We involves balancing the needs of individuals and teams. It aims to create environments designed for both focused and collaborative work to ensure a professional working environment.

Fixed to Fluid encourages greater flexibility and mobility, championing spaces that can change to fit individual and organisational needs.

Open + Enclosed provides both enclosed “me” and open “we” spaces. According to Steelcase, individual workers may require shielded working environments “to control privacy and safety”. It also references how teamwork may require increasingly flexible spaces that can change based on their activities.

Braiding Digital + Physical advocates enhancing human experiences with technology. It aims to create solutions for group and individual video interactions – not constrained to phones or laptops – to support artificial intelligence-guided or data-driven experiences.

The full report is available to read or download on the Steelcase website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Steelcase as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Jun 21

These leather-bound power banks were designed to help increase the lifetime of your phone’s battery

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Apple made the headlines in 2019 when news leaked that the company was purposely making their older iPhones slower ‘to help conserve their batteries’. While they did have to end up paying a $500 million settlement after a major lawsuit, there’s a point to be made about phone batteries… especially lithium-ion ones. Batteries don’t last forever. All batteries eventually degrade, and charging them only accelerates their degradation. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Here’s an explanation. Every battery comes with a limited number of ‘charging cycles’ beyond which the battery degrades and needs to be replaced. Over or undercharging your battery can cause it to degrade faster, and those ‘fast chargers’ are notorious for promising fast charging cycles, while conveniently hiding the fact that they also massively degrade your phone’s battery. That’s where the CLOU steps in.

Styled like a tiny little hip-flask, the CLOU is a miniature power-bank that charges your phone ‘the right way’. It does so by ensuring your battery level never goes below 20% or above 80%. This sweet-spot is perfect for your phone’s battery, allowing it to last longer, both during the day as well as in the long run. The CLOU comes with a compact form that plugs into the base of your phone almost like a little dongle. Its internal chipset helps it ‘intelligently charge your phone’, automatically starting or stopping a charging cycle to ensure your battery remains healthy.

Just plug the CLOU in and it does the rest for you… the 2,400 mAh power-bank automatically determines whether your phone needs to be charged. It reads your battery status as well as its temperature to determine when to supply power to it, extending your battery’s lifespan by more than doubling it. The CLOU comes with the option of a lightning port as well as a USB-C port and a MicroUSB port, allowing it to work with all Android and iOS phones. Aside from working as a power-bank, the CLOU works as an intermediary device with wired chargers too. Instead of plugging your charger directly into your phone, plug it into CLOU’s input instead while it’s connected to your phone. This basically allows the CLOU to act as a ‘power broker’, allowing or cutting power delivery based on what’s best for your phone’s overall battery. Ideally, the CLOU ensures your battery never crosses 80%, but just in case you’re in a bit of a hurry or you’ve got a long day ahead of you, you can circumvent its protective charging protocol and just juice your battery to 100% by simply pressing the power button on the center of the CLOU.

Going above and beyond what most regular power-banks do, the CLOU actually increases your battery and your phone’s lifespan. While most regular power banks bring your battery’s charging cycles down to just 350-500 (so you begin seeing battery degradation in less than a year), CLOU pushes it up to approximately 900-1200 cycles, virtually tripling its lifespan so your ‘older’ smartphone runs as good as a new one.

Designed to be compact enough so you can carry it with you wherever you go, the CLOU is just about as wide as the average smartphone, making it easy to slide right into your pocket as you step out or travel.

Moreover, its aluminum and Danish-leather design is absolutely pleasing to the eye, and goes really well with most phones, especially if you’ve also got a complementing leather case on your phone too… and if you don’t have one, just grab your CLOU as a super early bird backer and the company will ship a complimentary leather case, a charging cable, and even a free screen protector along with your handy, classy, battery-saving smart power-bank!

Designer: Frederick Rickmann MDS

Click Here to Buy Now: $79. Hurry, only 176/200 left!



Click Here to Buy Now: $79. Hurry, only 176/200 left!

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Jun 21

Weird and wonderful product designs that combine our love of fun visuals + strong design!

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There are certain product designs, that bring the word ‘quirky’ to mind when you have a look at them! They’re unconventional, and so unlike the products we are used to coming across and using. But somehow, they manage to pack in a whole lot of functionality in their unique form. You can call these products weird yet wonderful! And, we’ve curated a collection of intriguingly weird yet wonderful product designs for you. From a synthesizer that features 25 singing dentures to a watch made from repurposed electronic waste, these eccentric product designs will leave you mesmerized!

Pizza! It is safe to say that this food is almost universal now. Crispy buttery crust, spiced and balanced sauce, and that molten cheese, there are few things on this planet that pizza can’t fix. So, it does make sense to have this slice readily available for anyone who’s having a bad day.

Meet the VOC-25, a rather weird little synth from our favorite mad scientist, Love Hultén. It sports a 25-key synth that’s directly hooked to a, well, display and control board that sports 25 plastic teeth that open to singing out the notes you play on the keyboard. Inspired by a musical instrument originally created by Simone Giertz, the VOC-25 takes things to quite another level, with controls that let you fine-tune the synthesizer’s sound. Four mod-knobs below the teeth allow you to tweak the sound, while a circular display works as an oscillator, showing you the waveform. The surrealist synth comes with an Axoloti Core microcontroller board on the inside, that’s hooked to a 25-key keyboard.

Toilet Brushes are the bane of an Instagram-worthy bathroom. We can’t live without them nor can we live with them mudding up our aesthetics! The Cacbrush is here to your rescue. Doubling up as a toilet brush, this clever little design hides the brush in plain sight without any accidental pricks to your business area.

Meet the Garbage Watch, a watch made by repurposing the electronic waste we throw out every year. Rapidly changing technology has given rise to a culture of disposable electronics – everything from phones to TV, gadgets are not designed to last long. This electronic waste contains many of the world’s precious metals like silver, platinum, copper, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, and zinc. You’ll find 7% of the world’s gold in e-waste! Vollebak changed their approach to the problem, they explained “So our Garbage Watch started with a very simple idea. What if garbage isn’t garbage? What if it’s simply pre-assembled raw materials that we can use to make new things.

Popping bubbles on bubble wrapping paper is a guilty pleasure of its own, something we’ve all indulged in at some point or the other. The Burst Your Bubble Belt Buckle™ allows you to strap bubble wrap onto your belt using this special utility device. Feeling stressed at work, or just simply saturated with life? Keep bursting bubbles all day along with this buckle, relieving yourself of all your worries!

Here’s the Eyecam… a webcam that creepily stares right into your soul. In a world where tech spies on you (sometimes blatantly), the Eyecam adds a layer of realism to it. Designed by researcher Marc Teyssier, the Eyecam is more of a social project that aims at turning the humble camera into something more relatable – for better or for worse. The resulting device is eerily similar to an eye. Sure, it comes covered with faux flesh and has eyebrows and eyelashes, but the Eyecam doesn’t just look like an eye. It behaves like one too. The eyeball can independently pivot inside the eye socket, looking around the room. A facial recognition software runs in the background, allowing the Eyecam to detect humans and look them directly in the eye.

I’ll admit, the word ‘virus’ probably gives you a bit of anxiety. It definitely isn’t associated with any pleasant experiences, although designer Andrea Cingoli is trying to make the word virus sound less scary and more harmless. In an attempt to have us get over our fear of microorganisms, Cingoli’s furniture borrows from the very design of the virus. Meet Oleg, a series of multifunctional furniture with ‘spike proteins’ that allow them to be stacked in multiple ways! Oleg aims at rebuilding our association and relationship with viruses. Rather than associating its shape with something bad, Oleg showcases how the almost naval-mine-like furniture can be used and arranged in multiple ways.

Candles are mesmerizing when they are unusually shaped like these Twist candles. Pott plays with the flexibility of wax as a medium and reimagines the traditionally straight pillar candles in a way that doesn’t require an exclusive base. “In this project, we tried to combine both base and the candle in a single material shape. Resulting in one candle double ends candle. By bending and twisting candles a new typology appears combining form, function, and fun,” says Pott. The candles come in various colors and the most mesmerizing ones are those featuring bright ombré combinations. Twist is a modern and elegant upgrade to your side table or even your dining table if you are hosting a formal dinner – they look artistic lined up or by themselves.

The OldSpice Hat Hoverer 2000XL™ lets your wavy locks shine while your sport your favorite cap, hovering a few inches above your head! The innovative vacuum suction machine comes with an easy-to-wear harness, allowing you to lug your hover machine with ease while your good hair day will go ahead with ease!

The “Emergency Aid” project by @neveritadesign aims to transform broken and unusable objects into creative products. The FlaminRose is a wine glass prosthesis inspired by the form of flamingos as they sleep.

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Jun 21

This tiny convertible A-frame structure is a part kiosk + part shelter designed to aid Ecuador’s unhoused population

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Natura Futura Arquitectura, an architecture and design firm based in Babahoyo, Ecuador builds structural solutions that redefine community engagement. Committed to finding and bringing to life solutions for unhouse individuals who face societal challenges in everyday life, Natura Futura Arquitectura conceived The Ambulantito.

Conceptualized through the lens of those experiencing poverty in Ecuador, The Ambulantito was designed to be woven into the urban fabric of Latin American cities. The mobile kiosk provides privacy and a canopy with its A-frame structure for times when the weather requires shelter. Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito is as much a stationary shelter as it is a traveling kiosk from which unhoused individuals can sell goods to generate income.

Designed to be protective, yet simple, The Ambulantito’s frame is built from welded metal rods, which are then overlaid with panels of locally sourced timber. The structure’s A-frame roof is complete with two eaves, one that unfolds to reveal The Abulantito’s storage shelf, where goods can be placed and sold, and the other fixed. The versatile frame of The Ambulantito at first provides a sort of mobile safebox, where folding lattice doors secure people’s belongings and goods intended for sale and then transform to become a traveling kiosk or bed with an overhead roof come night.

The changing personality of The Ambulantito was created by Natura Futura Arquitectura to adapt to the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals in Ecuador. With indigence rates steadily growing, the mobile shelter functions as a first step towards more permanent solutions for the societal struggles that overwhelm unhoused communities across Latin American cities.

Speaking on the design and its intended purpose, Natura Futura Arquitectura remarks, “The Ambulantito is a first small step towards raising awareness of urgent needs such as shelter, productivity, and human safety, seeking to be an engine of consciousness that opens up new possibilities and reflections on our role of responsibility regarding the realities of the city.”

Designer: Natura Futura Arquitectura

Mounted on wheels, The Ambulantito was designed to integrate the mobile lifestyle of unhoused individuals living in Ecuador.

Designed to be versatile and inconspicuous, The Ambulantito changes and blends in with the urban framework of Ecuador.

A foldable lattice wooden door provides protections for goods intended for sale and unhoused individuals’ personal belongings.

One eave folds up to reveal storage space that functions as a sales shelf for goods to purchase.

The Ambulantito comes complete with a chalkboard where the goods can be advertised for sale.

Come night, unhoused individuals can transform The Ambulantito into a sleeping space with coverage from the natural elements.

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Jun 20

This modular ebike flaunts swappable battery packs & optional hub motor wheels to go from work to outdoors!

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Ebike designs may leave us wanting more simply because of their well-thought-of design and practical functionality. The Pelikan is one of the exceptions with its pure design ingenuity and modular function – letting it change the character depending on the rider’s needs. Designed by industrial designer Fabian Breës, this ebike takes pride in its components like the battery and the hub motor. Rather than hiding their electric-assisted character behind the body frame design, Fabian believes in exposing them. That is the core sentiment of the project, as he wanted to use the “battery and the motor as visual centerpieces for the bike.” This approach brings a very muscular, dynamic flow to the two-wheeler. The result? A sculpted body somewhere between a motorcycle and a bicycle. In fact, you can call it the iPod of ebikes – just like Fabian believes too.

Named Pelikan, the design name takes inspiration from the expanding characteristics of the bird’s beak – apparent in the expanding modular bodywork of this ebike. It took Fabian almost four iterations of the basic design blueprint before settling for this mindful concept design. The bike’s frame bears a very triangular aesthetic with a front-loaded battery pack situated along the downtube. Power to the wheels is delivered via a dual-drive wheel system. The ingenuity comes in the form of a swappable standard rear wheel with Pedelec Motor having a top speed of 25km/h. You can choose the powerful version having a heavier Speedelec Motor with a top speed of 60km/h powered by its own integrated internal battery pack.

Understandably, the Pelikan ebike lets users choose from two battery options for urban commuting or long-distance travel. A smaller elegant battery pack of city commutes or the larger rugged battery for speed enthusiasts on freeways. Fabian even plans to design an off-roading capable version of the Pelikan with a swappable rear triangle for mounting a mountain bike suspension and aggressive wheels. The ebike comes in three color options Jet Black, Serious Cyan, and Beautiful Beige to appeal to urban riders. Genuinely, this is one of the best concept ebike designs I’ve seen lately, as its practical modular functions open up many opportunities to take your life’s adventures to the open roads!

Designer: Fabian Breës

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Jun 20

This unique joinery toy lets kid connect with nature and utilize their creativity to build engaging structures!

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Connecting with nature as a young kid brings out some of the most imaginative and tactile experiences the world has to offer. Each one of us can think back on afternoons spent blazing through our grandmother’s forested backyard or early morning swims at our favorite beach. While being in nature by itself is an experience that brings out our most creative and peaceful potential, collective global design house Studio 5.5 takes afternoons spent in nature one step further with a new collection called The Things To Make.

Primarily composed of a series of odds and ends that connect different items found in nature together to create items like kites, magnifying glasses, tents, and any other item our imagination allows, The Things To Make is a collection of accessories that help guide creative building processes for little kids. Complete with end sockets, fabric, and string, kids find the rest of the building materials, like twigs, branches, and leaves, in their backyard or nearby forest.

The kite’s building kit comes with end sockets that can connect tree twigs and branches to form a cross that can then be covered with the included kite fabric. Similarly, the 3D shape building kit comes with a collection of end sockets that children can get creative with and connect twigs to form 3D geometric structures like cubes or pyramids. To literally bring kids even closer to nature, Studio 5.5 includes a deconstructed magnifying glass that kids can put together and use sticks for the handle. Studio 5.5 then completes the collection with a tent-building kit, which includes end sockets and a camouflage tarp to be overlaid on top of the tent’s frame, giving kids a nature-made hideout.

Designer: Studio 5.5

The kite building kit comes with a spool and end sockets to make kites from twigs and branches.

Kids can connect two branches together to create a T shape and ultimately a flying kite.

End sockets allow kids to connect twigs together to create shapes.

Kids can also create their own geometric structures using the provided end sockets.

Studio 5.5 also included a magnifying glass for kids to construct together.

To complete the collection, Studio 5.5 devised a tent building kit for kids to escape to when the playtime is done.

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Jun 20

Listen Up

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Exuberant indie-pop, ’80s influences, bright melodies and more music from the week

Kat Cunning: BOYS

Every individual in the cast and crew of the music video for recording artist Kat Cunning’s exuberant single “BOYS” identifies as either transgender or non-binary. This purposeful act underscores the ebullient visuals and lends deeper meaning to the anthem. “I wanted to do my part to help represent the diversity and beauty of the transmasculine community that is so often erased, exploited or hardly peppered into the media,” Cunning says. “Representation matters, especially to young people.”

Mykki Blanco feat. Blood Orange: It’s Not My Choice

Another track from Mykki Blanco’s highly anticipated Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep, “It’s Not My Choice” features vocals from Blood Orange. With a tinge of the ’80s, the track tells the story of a troubled relationship via Blanco’s distinctly energized rhymes. The album (out 18 June on Transgressive Records) will feature cameos by Jamila Woods and Blanco’s brother Jay Cue, with writing contributions from Big Freedia and Kari Faux, and production by Daniel Fisher (aka Physical Therapy).

anaiis: reverie

South London-based, French-Senegalese soul artist anaiis returns with the laidback, jazz-tinged “reverie.” She composed the pretty song—which is written through the eyes of somebody watching a loved one deal with fear and regret—with Itai David Shapira. With slightly raspy, breathy vocals, delicate percussion and soft horns, the song is set to appear on her upcoming second album.

Valborg Ólafs: Holiday

Icelandic indie four-piece Valborg Ólafs returns with “Holiday,” a bright and melodic track, driven by the thoughtful vocals of Valborg Ólafsdóttir and underscored by majestic harmonies. The upbeat, beautiful ode to vacations will appear on their forthcoming album, Silhouette, which they self-produced inside a church under the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on the southern coast of Iceland.

TEMPOREX: New Lane

Off San Diego musician and visual artist TEMPOREX’s multidimensional 10-track LP Bowling, the single “New Lane” infuses ’80s and ’90s cartoon and video game pop culture into funky, electric bedroom pop. TEMPOREX (aka Joseph Flores) recorded most of the album at home, aligning layers of diverse sonic influence into imaginative tracks that sometimes encourage wonder and other times instigate dance parties.

Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero courtesy of TEMPOREX

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