Hasta La Ideas

Following our interview with the set designer behind the house featured in The Girl Before, Dezeen takes a look at films and TV series in which residential architecture plays a starring role.

Parasite

The multi-award-winning movie Parasite takes place in the modernist home of a wealthy family in South Korea. Though it evokes a real dwelling, it was actually designed as a series of sets modelled on a sketch by director Bong Joon–Ho.

Brought to life by production director Lee Ha Jun, the residence features minimal furnishings and large expanses of glass, such as in the living room, where the window was specifically designed to the proportions of the ratio for shooting a widescreen picture.

Find out more about the house in Parasite ›

The Favourite

Production designer Fiona Crombie transformed a 17th-century country manor in England to create the set of The Favourite, a film set during the reign of Queen Anne.

While “taking advantage of the bones of the building” such as its natural light and ​​existing maximalist decor, Crombie said, the crew added secret passageways and a giant fake facade to help the house better resemble a royal palace.

Find out more about the house in The Favourite ›

The Girl Before

Minimalist Japanese architecture informed the design of the fictional one-bedroom house in The Girl Before. Production designer Jon Henson’s goal was for the house to act as “a fourth character”, shifting from a sanctuary to a prison-like space depending on the scene.

While the home’s exterior was constructed specially for the BBC television series, the majority of the interior scenes were recorded in a purpose-built set.

Find out more about the house in The Girl Before ›

Ex Machina

A fictional tech billionaire’s hideaway in Alaska is the main location featured in the science-fiction movie Ex Machina – though it was actually filmed in three different places.

One of the three sets was a wood-clad clifftop house in Norway designed by studio Jensen & Skodvin Architects. Furnished in a Scandinavian-retro style, the house was chosen for the film as it rejected “the literature of films and popular culture, which says that for the future it has to be shiny and bright,” according to production designer Mark Digby.

Find out more about the house Ex Machina ›

Crazy Rich Asians

A contemporary house in the jungle outside Kuala Lumpur was used as the home of wealthy matriarch Eleanor Young in the blockbuster movie Crazy Rich Asians.

Designed by local architecture firm 29Design, the dwelling comprises three volumes with an open-plan layout and an infinity swimming pool. According to 29Design founder Stephanie Maignan, it was used for the film as it accurately depicts the lifestyle of the movie characters’ real-life counterparts who are “very interested in modern architecture”.

Find out more about the house in Crazy Rich Asians ›

The post Five houses that take centre stage in films and TV series appeared first on Dezeen.

Sustainability will be the focus of the year ahead, but coronavirus lockdowns will make way for “unbridled frivolity”  in interior design, says Michelle Ogundehin in her trends report for 2022.

2021 was thus not a year for trends. It was a year of uncomfortable truths. At the end of my last trends report, I proposed 2021 as “the year for the interiors equivalent of speaking your own truth” understanding “that the best homes are about the feeling they give you not the stuff they contain, the ‘right’ colours or ‘hot’ looks.”

The most poignant of these was that we are all products of our environment. And we were making a right mess of ours. Not just on the wider climate scale, but also domestically. I’d even written a book drawing a direct line between our homes and our health: Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness. It was published as the first waves of Covid hit UK shores, but conceived way before the word pandemic had entered the popular lexicon.

Its message was simple: what surrounds you affects you. And while many of us know this intuitively, for the scientifically inclined, there’s a Stanford University study that proves environment is more important than genetics in determining the strength of your immune system.

Most fashionable trends are simply manufacturer dictated newness

All grist for the mill of intentional personal space creation. In other words, homes that reflect an occupant’s authentic likes and lives rather than being determined by anything dictated externally.

So where does this leave trends?

In truth we know that most “fashionable” trends are simply manufacturer dictated “newness” designed, in the loosest sense of the word, to shift product. But there are also bigger shifts that underly these seasonal fluctuations. These are the lateral moves we make as a society (highlighted by consumer research, or early adopters) that eventually bubble up to the mainstream as potent influencing factors. These are the “trends” worthy of comment.

As such, right now, sustainability is the obvious thread connecting anything relevant for 2022.

It’s finally dawning on the majority that it’s less about the planet being in jeopardy, than us. The planet has seen worse, we have not. We are the ones in danger of extinction. But it’s not too late (just) to do something about it.

Sustainability is the obvious thread connecting anything relevant for 2022

Albeit I’m leaping to the assumption that the bosses of our worst air, water and plastic polluting corporations (China Coal and Saudi Aramco to Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Unilever among others) start focusing their might on species survival rather than lucrative personal tenures. Things are happening, but too slowly.

Regardless, my faith still rests with the power of the everyman and the nudges for change we can make as individuals. A 2020 report by the IBM Institute for Business Value showed that six out of 10 consumers are ready to change their purchasing behaviour to minimise their environmental footprint. This has power because options exist, consumers switch and such direct impact on corporate bottom lines forces change.

Today the only question worth asking any brand, supplier or corporation is simply, can you make what you do responsibly, as standard ie without endangering our air, waterways, mammal or marine life? Because if you can’t, we don’t want you. And no company today wants to be open juried or cancelled via social media.

Any period of sobriety is generally followed by heady abandonment

But they will be as our eyes are increasingly opened to the obfuscation, deliberate spread of misinformation, lobbying against environmental measures, and hypocrisy employed to protect perilous corporate status quos. And this covers everything from the manufacture of washing-up liquid that’s legally deemed chronically harmful to aquatic life (read the label on the back of a bottle of Fairy Liquid) to high acrylic content paint, a major source of microplastic pollution.

In most cases, injurious options exist only because they cost pence to produce but sell for pounds aka ching ching, maximum profit. But the tide is turning.

However, while this is the backdrop against which everything else is measured, decoratively speaking, all herald unbridled frivolity, the return of joy and a dose of the pretty. It makes sense though; it represents an element of release after being so tightly wound that we cannot help but be intuitively drawn to.

Any period of sobriety is generally followed by heady abandonment; denial begets indulgence — consider the Roaring 20s after world war one. Cue then rooms drenched in full-fat colour and joyous prints applied with enthusiastic abandon to walls, floors, if not ceilings. Think wallpaper and rugs to parquetry and narrative mosiacs.

The success of the Netflix romp Bridgerton (pictured) was the torchbearer for this in my opinion. First aired on Christmas Day 2020, it clocked 82 million viewing households in its first 28 days (by the streamering company’s own reckoning). Steamy, indulgent and diverse, it was viewing manna for the sensory-starved and lockdowned at home. Stylistically speaking, it was also just incredibly pleasing to watch, all Wisteria drenched porticos, torch-lit colonnades, dapper men and pastel silks.

Waste made wonderful will be essential to support a new sustainable economy

Set in the homes of England’s 19th-century Regency elite, for the wealthy this was a period of artful elegance and decoration for the sake of it, founded on classical tropes but inspired by Egypt to India. The country was ruled by the fiscally extravagant, culturally adept and party-loving Prince Regent and life in the upper echelons was lush, fun and romantic.

An eagerly anticipated second series of the show will premiere on March 25th 2022. Rest assured this sentimental recolouring of history will prompt a Neo-Regency as we freshly appreciate the uplifting potential of architectural adornment, both inside and out.

The evolving wave of biofabricated materials taps into this romantic milieu too. Rather than toxic tanneries and slaughtered animals we have pineapple leaves (Piñatex) and Mexican cacti (Desserto) being turned into leather substitutes. Meanwhile, everything from discarded coffee grounds and shrimp shells, tea leaves and nut husks are being made into desirable products.

It’s just as well. Waste made wonderful will be essential to support a new sustainable economy. After all, consumerism isn’t going anywhere. We will still want to wear nice clothes, buy lovely things and drink takeaway coffee, but we need to do so in a way that gives back.

Even at the luxury end of the market, notions of repair, recycling and re-use will predominate with the emphasis on the uniqueness of the remade product. There will be no loss of style or quality. It will be the same artisans crafting the products. But the desire to own brand new no longer carries the allure it once did. We want heritage, stories and clear provenance instead. Plus, today’s acutely aware consumer wants to literally wear their ecological credentials on their arms and backs and sit on it in their homes.

A lot of the big trends of the last 10 years were driven by technologically enhanced convenience

Thus, from homes designed for Friluftsliv — the Nordic ideal of being outdoors in all weathers — to IKEA pledging to be a totally circular and climate positive business by 2030, and Hempcrete coming through as a credible alternative to concrete, the new normal home-making experience is changing. Even long-term furniture rental, rather than purchase, is gathering steam. So much so that British high street stalwart John Lewis are getting in on the act, partnering with Fat Llama, the world’s largest rental marketplace to offer a flexible, affordable way to experiment at home without waste. It all adds up to a reason for hope.

In summary, a lot of the big trends of the last ten years were driven by technologically enhanced convenience. We wanted everything quicker, smaller, faster and yesterday, regardless of the consequences.

Life sped up to keep pace, accrued air miles were shorthand for success, and cover up, smooth out, quick fix solutions were the go-to (from surface finishes to cladding via the feature wall) and damn the consequences.

We’re paying for that now. As the anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall says in her newly released, The Book of Hope, authored with Douglas Abrams and Gail Hudson, “If we keep pulling threads from the tapestry of life it will disintegrate and we will lose what supports us.”

Wisdom for the future then relies on us finally knowing our place, recognising our responsibility to the natural world. In short, for us to earn the right to stay here, there must be a new cultural revolution.

The most incredible opportunities exist right now for us and every single brand to be a game-changing trailblazer for the greater good. This could be the restoration era: repairing planet and people one conscious choice at a time. Our freedom to survive, let alone thrive, depends upon on those choices.

Michelle Ogundehin is a thought-leader on interiors, trends, style and wellbeing. Originally trained as an architect and the former editor-in-chief of ELLE Decoration UK, she is the head judge on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters, and the author of Happy Inside: How to Harness the Power of Home for Health and Happiness, a guide to living well. She is also a regular contributor to many prestigious publications worldwide including Vogue Living, FT How to Spend It magazine and Dezeen.

The post “Any period of sobriety is generally followed by heady abandonment” appeared first on Dezeen.

For our latest competition, we’ve teamed up with Colebrook Bosson Saunders to offer readers the chance to win a Flo monitor arm.

One of Colebrook Bosson Saunders’ most popular products, Flo is a spring-powered, fully articulated monitor arm with support for screens, laptops or tablets. It provides users with smooth fingertip adjustability, ensuring minimum effort is required to position the screen.

The competition, held in celebration of Flo’s anniversary, will see five Dezeen readers win a Flo monitor arm in their choice of black, white or silver.

As well as offering an over 40 degree up and down tilt that reduces unwanted glare, Flo’s 360 degree left and right rotation enables collaboration with others.

An integrated three-point cable management system creates a neat and tidy workstation, while users can adjust the screen height using an Allen key to ensure good ergonomic posture.

This is enabled by Flo’s signature D-ring head, which uses a virtual pivot point based on a monitor’s centre point and weight to hold the screen in place. Additionally, a visual indicator helps the installer to set the tension of the arm to match the screen’s weight.

“The initial thought was, we have a spring, how can we embrace that force? How can we design something around that shape to make it as clean as possible?” explains Colebrook Bosson Saunders. “You will see all the layers – it’s kind of like an onion. It’s built around a spring.”

Though Flo’s primary purpose is to support a single screen or monitor, its design can easily be customised to support dual monitors, a laptop or tablet.

Other products by Colebrook Bosson Saunders include the Ollin curved screen monitor arm, designed to take up minimal desk space, and the Lima Laptop Mount, conceived to position laptops at an angle that improves posture and reduces eye, neck and back strain.

The brand also offers space-saving power and connectivity solutions, including Ondo, a connectivity module that facilitates “clutter-free” connections between laptops and other devices, keeping unnecessary cables out of sight.

Colebrook Bosson Saunders is an award-winning brand specialising in ergonomic workplace products.

Based in London, the company was founded by Martyn Colebrook, Peter Bosson and Brenda Saunders in 1990, and “strives for new ways to enhance user experience through the seamless connection of people and technology”.

To find out more about the brand, visit its website.

Loading…

Competition closes 18 February. Terms and conditions apply. Five readers will win a Flo monitor arm in their choice of black, white or silver. Winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Readers in North and South America will not be eligible to enter this competition.

Partnership content

This competition is a partnership between Dezeen and Colebrook Bosson Saunders. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Competition: win a Flo monitor arm by Colebrook Bosson Saunders appeared first on Dezeen.

With an advanced 7-glass lens, a Sony CMOS sensor, and an algorithm that rivals even the ones found on a GoPro, the Lanmodo Vast M1 lets you easily capture what’s ahead of you and even behind you no matter the time of the day or the weather condition. It comes with an upgraded 75° FOV camera on the front, a wide 170° camera on the rear, and the ability to see as far as 984ft even at night, in clear 1080p Full HD… an industry-leading feature that other dashcams are yet to even catch up to.

Designer: Lanmodo Design

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $389 (48% off). Hurry, only 16/40 left!

The Lanmodo Vast M1’s secret sauce lies in its night-vision abilities. The dashcam’s starlight-level low light imaging technology utilizes a Sony CMOS sensor with a 7-glass lens array and an aperture of F1.0 to achieve 0.0001 lux of night vision that vastly outperforms other dashcams in its class. A simple side-by-side comparison of the footage shows the stark difference in quality as the Vast M1’s camera makes footage taken at dusk look like it was captured in proper daylight.

An algorithm also maintains the video’s brightness and exposure, accounting for and managing bright objects like headlights that get overexposed in artificially brightened night-vision videos.

The dashcam’s image signal processing capabilities even help boost visibility in the bad weather, allowing the camera to see clearly despite rain, fog, and snow.

The Sony CMOS low-light imaging sensor allows the camera to magnify even in extremely low light, achieving 0.0001lux starlight-level night vision.

Video from both the front and rear dashcams gets fed to the Lanmodo’s 8-inch large display while also getting stored onboard on an SD card, with a capacity of up to 128GB of storage. The 128GB storage can record up to 28 hours of continuous video (when only the front camera is recording), with new footage rolling over the old footage to ensure 24-hours of continuous parking monitoring. A built-in collision detection sensor also helps the dashcam instantly record footage during an accident or impact, storing and logging it separately for you to review at any time. This video doesn’t get deleted or recorded over unless manually removed.

The 170° Field of view (FOV) wide angle and 1080p resolution of the rear camera offer all-around protection.

The Lanmodo Vast M1 comes in two units, a front camera + display that you can independently install at a position that gives you the least amount of glare, and an add-on IP67 waterproof rear camera (with the same night-vision tech) that you can freely place inside or outside the car.

Both cameras record at 1080p, and the front and rear cameras have a FOV of 75° and 170° respectively. Lanmodo’s software supports multiple languages, including English, Chinese (Simplified + Traditional), Spanish, Japanese, French, Korean, and Portuguese. The Lanmodo Vast M1 dashcam is available at a super early bird price of $199, with deliveries in April 2022.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $389 (48% off). Hurry, only 16/40 left!

The post The Lanmodo Vast M1 dashcam’s state-of-the-art night vision lets you see as far as 984 feet in the dark first appeared on Yanko Design.

Hanging right above you like a branch of leaves on a tree, the Nana Lure Chandelier by Pelle adds tropical tranquility to your home. Inspired by the large overarching shape of banana leaves, the chandelier’s shades are entirely handmade from cotton paper, and come lined with LEDs on the inside. When switched off, the Nana Lure Chandelier has the allure of a tropical plant, however, when switched on, it turns into one of the most stunningly vivid nature-inspired lighting designs! At the risk of cracking a horrible pun, this chandelier certainly does drive me bananas!

Designer: Pelle

The Nana Lure Chandelier is a prime example of exactly what a chandelier brings to a table. Chandeliers aren’t utilitarian, they’re emotive. While most chandeliers communicate a sense of luxury, the Nana Lure expresses something more nuanced – the luxurious feeling of being carefree on a beachside, without a worry in the world! The lighting solution exists as a single leaf unit but can be bunched together to create leaf fronds that look like the upper half of a banana tree.

Each leaf comprises a handmade and handpainted cotton-paper shade, cut out to look exactly like a banana leaf complete with discolorations and even the ridges along the leaves. The shade is then affixed to a patinated steel frame that allows it to hold its shape, and the frame’s hollow inner is lined with an LED strip that faces downwards, illuminating the leaf from within to cast a soft light downwards.

The post Nature-inspired chandelier combines botany and luxury into one stellar lighting design for your home first appeared on Yanko Design.