Meet Blis, a minimalistic office desk centered on the friendly, warm, and homely element – keeping in mind that it’s going to adorn your living space.
These days work from home regime is a common affair and hitting the sweet spot for a productive work routine is hard to strive at times. There’re so many distractions around (audio and visual) it gets super hard to concentrate. How the home office desk is set up has a huge bearing on the focus – reason enough for so much fuzz around such desks. The Blis Home Office Desk designed by Rodrigo Torres for MUMA is a testament to the fact that work from home setup doesn’t necessarily be brimmed with geeky stuff.
The cool desk design keeps the wire clutter to a minimum for a clean look, hiding them from plain sight in the funneled legs. While it gives the impression of a very simple desk, there are inclusions that enhance the tidiness aspect further. There’s a sleek groove on the back section to store anything from files, papers, or pens to folders or charging cables. This section has an embedded board on top to pin all your important tasks, reminders or calendar events, or photos of loved ones to be always in a blissful frame of mind.
The desk has an elevated section on the other side for planters, pen stands or other props to keep things organized without much effort. On the bottom, there is a storage box that can move independently in the vertical direction too. The designer has incorporated the wooden inserts with the highest quality surface laminates by Wilsonart for years of durability. The Blis Home Office Desk comes in cool white silver, black and dusted grey finish that will go with any home interior without a semblance of doubt.
The furniture piece is the ideal setup for any work from home regime – especially for people who value a very sleek aesthetic for anything they sport in their home interiors. I would definitely like to have this desk as a part of my WFH schedule for peak focus sessions!
This year, California’s Alexandre Family Farm was named the first dairy in the US to become Certified Regenerative. It took the fourth-generation dairy operators, Stephanie and Blake Alexandre, over three decades to perfect their sustainable farming practices, but their work paid off. With their compost—made on the farm from cow manure, along with other local waste—and pioneering rotational grazing practice, their system restores wetlands, bringing a bounty of wildlife, including the once-endangered Aleutian Geese. As a dairy that manages thousands of cows and acres, Alexandre Family Farm proves that regenerative agriculture is possible on a large scale—and without the help of corporate backing. Find out how the Alexandres are leading a sustainable movement within the agriculture industry and what this entails for the future at Civil Eats.
Here’s a wonderfully bizarre, terrifically imaginative project from Industrial Design student Segev Kaspi. Called Forest Ranger Druids, it’s Kaspi’s graduation project at Israel’s Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, and was intended to “stimulate public discussion of atmospheric CO2 levels and the importance of rehabilitating the world’s forests.” Kaspi has envisioned some startling forms at the intersection of robotics and character design:
“A series of robotic forest rangers were developed to support reforestation efforts and sustainable forest management.”
“Each robot is assigned a defined role in managing and preserving the forest. Their roles and design language reflect a long process of studying the work of forest rangers and an attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of the needs of the world’s forests.”
“The robotic foresters operate in systems that change in accordance with the forest’s needs, and can function as separate individuals or as members of work groups.”
“The project’s visual and conceptual power derives from the hybrid connection of two worlds that are perceived as opposites – nature and technology – to offer a possible solution for an urgent problem.”
American practice HK Associates has completed a geometric concrete home on a desert site at the base of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson, Arizona.
Deep cuts in the cuboid form of Ventana House create a series of shaded terraces and covered balconies for the home, which the local practice has designed to be a “window onto the desert”.
HK Associates designed the home with a covered entryway
“The two-storey dwelling rises from its mountainside setting like a geological outcropping, a rugged exterior form shaped from within by openings that afford panoramic views,” described the practice.
A cut in the southwest corner of the home’s ground floor creates a covered entryway. This leads into a double-height, skylit gallery space crossed by a small bridge above and containing a perforated steel staircase that allows light to filter through.
A large living space overlooks rocky terrain
The less-exposed ground floor contains a garage, media room and gym alongside a guest bedroom and bathroom. An external staircase along the eastern edge of the home provides direct access up to a first-floor terrace.
On this upper level, the home has been opened-up to create a large living, kitchen and dining space between two external terraces, contrasted by a more private block to the east containing two en-suite bedrooms and a study.
Minimal interiors are found in the kitchen
Throughout the home, large windows and glazed sliding doors frame views out onto the desert site, with larger openings set in deep recesses to prevent glare and overheating from the harsh sun.
“The spatial dialogue between interior volume and exterior form unfolds in a cinematic montage that complements the picture-window views,” said the practice.
Referencing the silhouettes of the surrounding mountainous, the living areas sit beneath a sloped alder wood ceiling that subtly focuses the space towards the south-facing terrace. A large skylight along one edge illuminates the centre of the plan.
“The ceiling becomes an organising datum, mapping activities and interactions below: dining, cooking, conversing and relaxing,” the practice continued.
The house features several glazed sliding doors
The interiors have been minimally detailed, with white wall surfaces and concealed built-in storage areas intended to create a “subtle backdrop” to the desert views.
“The interior of the home reveals itself as a series of discretely carved volumes proportioned in relationship to exterior apertures,” said the practice.
A discrete fire pit cuts through the terrace
In the entrance lobby, these white surfaces are contrasted by warm wooden panelling that covers the wall and ceiling, as well as creating a small bench.
A simple-looking ruler that’ll surprise you with its ability to measure everyday objects with pinpoint accuracy – sans any maths involved. The best thing is it fits in your pocket or in the backpack without taking much space!
Measuring things that have complex shapes involves a lot of mathematics – and frankly, it is not everybody’s cup of tea. Moreover, in day-to-day life, one wants to get complex measurements done in the most convenient way. After all who wants to search for complex tools or get hold of nerdy friends to do such calculations? This calls for a measuring stationery tool that can measure the length of 3D objects, curved shapes or anything else that falls in between.
Meet Ropler, a ruler designed to measure distance in 3D space while having the customary function of a ruler and a tape measure. The idea of the tool is pretty simple, yet very intuitive for practical usage. You can measure the circumference of a camera lens or take measurements of a complex vase with accuracy. The pointer on the Ropler moves as you pull out the rope, and the amount of rope pulled is pointed out by the number on the scale. To shorten the extra length of rope pulled, simply push the pointer back to the required point.
The nifty measuring tool comes with the added function of drawing perfect circles of radius up to 29.7 cm. The silver lining of the tool is its ruler-like form factor that fits in your pocket. When it’s time to measure complex-shaped objects the tool is right there to solve your problem in a jiffy. The designers have put a lot of thought into creating the Ropler, and I appreciate the effort for its pure ingenuity!
This building’s name is long: The Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
That’s the facility where the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum prepares aircraft to be displayed. One that’s in there now, getting prepped for showtime, has a name that’s as short as the building’s is long: “X-wing Starfighter.”
Specifically, it’s “a screen-used T-70 X-wing on loan to us from Lucasfilm,” Margaret Weitekamp, who chairs the museum’s space history department, explains to Tested‘s Adam Savage.
Weitekamp is as familiar with the fictional craft’s lineage as she is with the real stuff. “When you look at the difference between this and that T-65B that Luke Skywalker would’ve flown, you see a designer who is thinking about, well what would the next generation look like? How might they have developed the engines, developed the guns?” (Nerds will recognize that the T-70 was flown by pilot Poe Dameron in the more recent Star Wars installments.)
One challenge that Weitekamp’s crew has to work out in the hangar is how to suspend it from wires when it goes on exhibition. This T-70 was used for hangar shots in the films, and has been designed and built to support its own weight whilst resting on the ground. Hoisting it into the air, safely, requires a careful examination of the craft’s structure and some ginger testing.
Another challenge is figuring out where the craft may have sustained actual Earth damage during the shipping process, versus the convincing wear-and-tear that Lucasfilm’s fastidious modelmakers added to the vehicle. Weitekamp, in the video below, points out a damaged spot that caused her to fret, before learning it was intentionally painted on.
The video below, where Weitekamp goes over the X-wing with Savage, is well worth the watch. In it, she answers the question:
“Why does the premiere museum of real aviation and real spaceflight want an imaginary spaceship? Imagination and inspiration. Those are such important themes for everything that we have here. And we know that if you want to design and build and fly any of these things, you have to be dreaming it up, and a lot of that starts with these fictional visions and the power of that.”
Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin) celebrates his ninth studio album, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, with an extended version that features four new songs. One such track is a rework of “Tales From The Trash Stratum” for which the electronic producer teamed up with singer-songwriter Elizabeth Fraser—the vocalist for the iconic Scottish band, Cocteau Twins. Lopatin’s glitchy rework pairs beautifully with Fraser’s ethereal voice for a disjointed and haunting song.
New York interior design firm Roman and Williams has combined decorative Victorian elements with references to New York’s jazz age in its ornate interior for the NoMad hotel in London.
Set in the former Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station in Covent Garden, the hotel is the first international outpost from American hospitality chain NoMad.
NoMad London features 91 guest rooms (top and above)
Its Grade II-listed building, which dates back to the late 1800s, houses 91 hotel rooms, a glass-domed restaurant-cum-greenhouse, a bar styled like a classic British pub and a grand ballroom set within the original court.
Roman and Williams aimed to enhance the Victorian features of the complex while inserting new decorative accents that reference 1920s New York.
Each bedroom features a marble fireplace and gilded tracery wardrobes
“The challenge of integrating a newly built addition with the inherited architecture of the building materialised a space ripe with dichotomies,” said the firm, which was founded by husband-wife duo Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch in 2002.
“Old and new, hard and soft, New York and London – these principles abound and flourish throughout the building.”
The building’s glass-roofed police yard has been turned into a dining hall
Guests enter the hotel’s lobby through its original porte-cochere.
The reception is tucked to one side, with a paravent covered in a hand-embroidered version of Watts of Westminster‘s archival pattern Pear that took two months to produce.
A planting trough runs along the centre of the space
The design team added a new main staircase clad in mahogany and framed by a theatrical proscenium arch, while the lobby’s chandelier was found in Connecticut, restored and shipped to the UK.
“This space is the nexus of the hotel, both in its acting as the physical compass for guests and wanderers as in its aesthetic junction,” said the design team. “It embodies the dichotomy between old and new.”
The courtroom has been converted into a ballroom for private events
A steel catwalk suspended above the lobby leads guests to their bedrooms while the former police yard beyond the reception, which is covered in a three-tiered glass dome, has been transformed into an all-day dining venue.
The space is filled with greenery from freestanding trees to climbing plants draped down columns to create the impression of being in an Edwardian greenhouse.
Bench seating upholstered in green mohair leads the eye through the centre of the dining space and custom tiles developed by Bantam Tile Works cover the walls.
The walls are covered in a mural by Claire Basler
Tucked just off the Atrium, the hotel’s Fireplace Room offers a more intimate dining space while continuing the glasshouse theme with hand-painted botanical wallpaper framed with dark timber panelling.
In the library, which acts as the hotel’s living room, vintage velvet seating is surrounded by Sapele millwork shelves. Burnished brass picture lights illuminate oil paintings, paper ephemera and a collection of antique books.
The building’s original Magistrates’ court has been re-imagined as a formal ballroom with double-height walls covered in a mural by French painter Claire Basler.
Huge chandeliers hang from the original ceiling, which was uncovered by the design team, while hand-blown sconces spring from the surface of the mural to create a dark, moody atmosphere.
Lead-shaped sconces create moody lighting
Meanwhile in the former police station, Roman and Williams has created the Side Hustle bar as a modern take on the British pub.
Its interior references the golden age of locomotive travel, with walls clad in embossed leather upholstery and millwork panelling while blown glass globes and linen-shaded sconces hang between leather and mahogany booths.
The Side Hustle bar was designed to reference the classic English pub
The NoMad Bar in the Atrium on the other hand has an exuberant, maximalist design that celebrates the decorative arts.
It combines Delftware pottery, Italian modernist lighting and furniture in the style of the aesthetic movement – a late nineteenth-century art movement that championed pure beauty and “art for art’s sake”.
A golden damask fabric by Rubelli covers each of the ebonised mahogany panelled walls while hand-gilded, embossed leather by Atelier Premier fronts the bar.
The Fireplace Room is fringed in hand-painted botanical wallpaper
Each of NoMad London’s guestrooms features a stone mosaic bathroom, marble vanity and custom Lelievre damask wallpaper.
The 20 suites are designed to resemble well-appointed apartments with their own living and dining spaces as well as claw-foot tubs in the bedroom.
Dark timber panelling completes the intimate dining space
NoMad, which is owned by New York-based Sydell Group, also has an outposts in Las Vegas and one in Los Angeles, set within a former bank headquarters.
The chain’s original location, housed within a Beaux Arts building in New York’s NoMad neighbourhood, announced its permanent closure earlier this year as a result of the pandemic.
Photography is by Simon Upton unless otherwise stated.
Despite technology’s expansion and wide range of possibilities, its reputation for being dry and complicated can be a barrier to entry. Aspiring designers and engineers may feel unable to fit into a rapidly accelerating workplace without the proper tools and training.
Royal College of Art and Imperial College London instructors Arthur Carabott and Guillaume Couche have noticed the resulting strain on Master’s students.
“The environment of graduate-level design education is an environment that can all too easily foster insecurity, a sense of inferiority, and ‘imposter syndrome,'” they said in a statement. “With a broad range of student backgrounds and skill levels, and high academic expectations, many students may feel intimidated by what they do not know. This is especially true of technical skills, where the bar is continuously rising.”
In order to bolster confidence, Carabott and Couche created Intentional Interactions, a technology intensive open to the school’s Innovation Design students, as well as visiting students from Beijing’s Tsinghua University. In this three-week module, each student designed electronic programs around a simple robotic arm. Students were encouraged to take the project wherever they wanted, which led to a wide range of wild approaches. The team described a resulting “explosion of creativity, with students creating interactive lamps, physical games, dancing birds, interactive sculptures…a physical iPhone Spotify DJ [and] a shy lamp that avoids human touch.”
The course was irresistible for its focus on play, as well as its accessibility to students without prior coding experience. Carabott and Couche knew they could easily access high-tech equipment through their connection to higher learning, but wanted to make sure what they chose remained accessible to students after the course ended. The duo’s three criteria for planning the course required tools that were 1) regularly used in the industry, 2) available and affordable, and 3) provided [transferable] skills. They also wanted to make sure the resulting course was approachable to newcomers while remaining challenging to students with higher technical proficiency.
“We needed a common thread to assess everyone’s progress and make sure basic principles were understood, but the module would have to encourage bifurcations and creativity,” the team said. “After considering all of this, custom robot arms felt natural. With anthropomorphism and the uniquely human ability to transpose life into the [simplest] objects, we felt this concept could turn simple motions into delightful emotions.”
Students were first trained to operate a simulation of the arm on the popular software programs Unity and Arduino. After creating a control system, the students could easily design interactions between the physical and digital arm.
Each student was required to work by themselves, which Carabott and Couche hoped would encourage the sense of ownership often missing from group projects. They knew the more technically adept students tended to dominate in moments of shared responsibility, prioritizing a good grade over fully learning a process. Carabott and Couche wanted to make sure each student fully understood the tools they were using, as well as to encourage greater innovation in their professional lives.
“For the students, we felt we could provide the greatest value by objectively increasing their technical skills, with the underlying aim of increasing their emotional well-being as well,” they said. “This is why we taught fundamental and transferable skills, using industry standard tools, without any sugar coating…Students worked in an open environment, with time dedicated to peer review and support, in order to help them feel comfortable learning together, and being honest about the learning they still needed. We also wanted to mimic a full design project for the students: not only creating the work, but documenting it and presenting it to the world, ultimately creating something worthy of their portfolios.”
At the end of the year, the students presented their individual projects to the class, as well as guest lecturer and designer Durrell Bishop. The instructors then gave the class a surprise group assignment, where students had to dissemble, clean, and reassemble their tools in a collaborative light installation. The program was well-reviewed by participating students and ranked as one of the year’s best modules in the school’s end of year survey.
The success of Intentional Interactions provides a fantastic example of how educators and employers can take technological innovation out of the ivory tower. By fostering an inclusive environment that rewarded play and welcomed beginners, Carabott and Couche showed students and the design world that technology should be accessible and fun. Their focus away from dry, limited interaction systems like coding and UX encouraged students to dream big and focus on their own unique talents. With this kind of program, an aspiring engineer can make exactly the kind of technology they want to make, instead of what they think they should. A graduating student with that kind of training is more likely to enter the professional world with confidence, a heightened sense of creativity, and a sustained love for their chosen work.
Bishop was wowed by the course, and agreed wholeheartedly on its positive effect for students.
“It’s a workshop that lets people play…with the right tools [and gives] them a really nice foundation that they feel like they can build on,” he said. “It’s going to change those students’ lives.”
Dezeen Showroom: the Acre lounge chair by US brand Blu Dot combines a minimalist silhouette with enough back support to remain comfortable for hours at a time.
The Acre lounge chair is a riff on one of the brand’s earlier products, the Field chair, reimagined with a more compact form that works solo or in pairs.
The Acre Lounge chair is designed to support hours of reading
The chair has a tubular base made of stainless or blackened steel and an upholstered foam shell seat.
A tucked seam detail on the rear adds visual interest while also helping to create the lumbar support that makes the Acre armchair suited for hours of reading.
It is available in a range of upholstery options including copper velvet
“Prototyping taught us a key to comfort would be additional lumbar support to the lower back,” said Blu Dot. “Seeing an opportunity for an upholstery detail, we designed a subtle tucked seam that provided a smooth transition from arms to back.”
Acre is available in a range of upholstery options including two colours of velvet, a linen blend and a dark grey fabric made of 80 per cent post-consumer recycled polyester.
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.
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