“Fusion of Helios”—Andrew McCarthy and Jason Guenzel’s breathtaking composite of approximately 90,000 images—offers a rare glimpse at the sun’s outermost atmosphere, which is usually concealed by solar glare. To capture the corona, the astrophotographers tapped into NASA’s SOHO data to “geometrically transform Jason’s 2017 eclipse photo to match the features,” McCarthy says in a statement. “The result is a blend of science and art, and my favorite piece of work I’ve been a part of.” Read more (and see more fiery images, complete with wispy spicules) at Colossal.
Not to be outdone by Realme’s Coca-Cola Phone, Redmi is upping the ante with a special Harry Potter edition of its Note 12 Turbo phone. The phone comes with a built-in custom launcher as well as the Hogwarts insignia on the back, and ships in a rather eye-catching Hogwarts-themed box too, along with a branded case, an ‘Acceptance Letter’, a Marauders Map, and even Platform 9¾ SIM ejector pin. The special-edition phone’s launch aims at promoting Warner Brothers’ latest multi-platform AAA game, Wizarding World.
Designer: Redmi
Each phone ships in an incredibly decked-out box that looks like something right out of the Potterverse. Open the lid and you’ve got an acceptance letter on the left, and your smartphone on the right, underneath an ornate card. The phone ships with its own charger, packed within a lightning bolt-marked paper box, along with a faux leather case, a copy of the Marauder’s Map, a few HP-themed stickers, and an adorable SIM ejector tool with the iconic 9¾ symbol.
Quite like other themed smartphones, this wizardly Redmi device is merely an aesthetic overhaul, with the same performance specs on the inside. The phone comes with a 6.67-inch display with a 12-bit flexible OLED panel with an FHD+ resolution as well as 120Hz refresh rate, and is powered by a powerful Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor under the hood, along with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage. To keep things cool, it features a 3725mm vapor cooling chamber. The special-edition Note 12 Turbo is fueled by a 5,000mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging, although I wonder if it has an HP-themed fast-charging animation that uses the signature lightning-bolt scar design.
The cameras on the phone are cleverly Potter-themed too, with the two main lenses designed to look like Harry’s circular glasses and the scar right above it. The two main shooters are a 64MP main lens (with OIS support) and an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens respectively, with the third lens being a 2MP macro shooter. Flip the phone over and you’ve got a 16MP front-facing camera for selfies.
The Harry Potter-themed Redmi Note 12 Turbo is now available in Mainland China for 2399 Yuan ($348) for the 12GB+256GB variant, and we’re waiting to know whether Redmi plans on making this available globally too.
Whether on a clothesline or even within your wardrobe, the Flip Hanger helps take those wet clothes and aerate them faster, going from damp to dry in no time. The way the hanger does it is by ‘puffing its chest’ to promote ventilation inside the clothes. Not only does this help them dry faster, this clever feature helps clothes retain their shape better rather than simply sagging off hangers and getting stretched out near the shoulders.
Designer: Xi’an JIA PIN Creative Design Co., Ltd.
The hanger looks like any other clothes hanger you’d see in a wardrobe but has a few small details that make it so noteworthy. For starters, it comes with an elliptical base that flips between horizontal and vertical orientations. In the horizontal orientation, the hanger comes with a puffy chest that helps dry clothes faster by boosting ventilation, but in vertical mode, the ellipse becomes a perfect spot to hang a pair of pants either independently or along with your shirt.
Each Flip Hanger also comes with a secondary hook right below the primary hook, letting you hang one hanger upon another to save space on your clothes rod by using the vertical axis instead of the horizontal one. This effectively allows you to hang more clothes on the same line/rod for maximized space efficiency.
The hanger comes made from flexible and durable Polypropylene plastic, giving it years of use with minimal wear and tear. It’s designed to look sleek, but still have thick arms and support ribs that give it the strength to hold bulky coats and blazers or even heavy, wet clothes that would otherwise cause the hanger’s arms to sag downwards. “It has obtained 4 utility model patents and 6 appearance patents,” says the designer.
I spend a substantial amount of my day on my desk, typing away to glory. Most of the time I also end up eating my meals on it! And binge-watching on Netflix as well. And I’m sure that’s the case with most of us, since working from home became the new norm, and our home offices became our new hang-out spots. But having a great desk is really important. Simply a ‘good’ desk won’t do either. A great desk helps us work comfortably and effectively. It puts us in the right mindset, helping us achieve our daily productivity goals and checkmark all the tasks on our to-do list! Not only should our desks be clean, but they should also sport an ergonomic and functional design. And good looks are an added bonus. And finding a desk that does all of the above can be a Herculean task. But worry not. I recently came across a super cool desk called the Alada folding desk.
Designed by Daniel Garcia Sanchez for Woodendot, the Alada folding desk is a nifty space-saving desk that doubles up as a super cute decorative shelf. Within seconds you can transform the Alada desk into a display shelf that can hold your favorite souvenirs from picture frames to even potted little plants. All you need is one swift movement! Sanchez designed the Alada desk, as he witnessed an ever-growing need for smart and flexible desk designs for working at home. Since work from home is a pretty common norm nowadays, it’s important to have a transformative and space-saving workspace at home – one that can be neatly tucked away when your workday ends!
Sanchez hopes that with the Alada folding desk users will be able to efficiently distinguish between their work time and private home, allowing them to strike a perfect work-life balance, even while they’re working at home. “Separating your personal time from your work time when doing home office can be challenging. The need for that closing time, for that literal act of saying ‘work is over for today’ was something I couldn’t find no matter how much I looked. This is where the idea for Alada was born. What if you could just close your workstation and forget about it until you need it again?” said Sanchez.
The multifunctional desk has also been equipped with hidden storage spaces when it is folded up, to provide neat hiding spots for your laptop and notebooks. It can be mounted onto any height, and since it occupies a minimum amount of space it’s a great design for homes with space constraints. The desk is available in a natural or white lacquered finish, as well as in ash wood with an option of white or black lacquer.
To mark the UN Water Conference 2023, design agency Publicis Groupe Benelux has created a range of conceptual “supermarket” products that show what consumption could look like in a world with less water.
Publicis Groupe designed food to show what a supermarket experience in a water-scarce future may look like
The design features packaging with small amounts of food and discoloured water that reflect the portions and prices that may become a reality if the water crisis – which currently sees two billion people living without safe drinking water – continues.
“[The United Nations] wanted us to spread this message globally for people to understand the value of the water,” said Publicis COO Eduardo Marques, who was charged with developing a campaign to raise awareness of the ongoing issue.
The project was released alongside 2023’s UN Water Conference
Marques and his team chose a product-oriented approach because seeing items in this context would make the realities of water scarcity more “relatable” for people, the agency said.
This approach also led the team to create graphics and branding more familiar to the younger generations, as Marques believes they are more likely to be messengers for the initiative.
The packaging shows the absurd prices that may result from water scarcity
All of the items designed for the “supermarket” feature fictitious prices and realistic branding, such as a package with 35 grams of corn for $129 USD labelled as a “super offer!”
Various labels show the types of water events that would lead to the need for each product. These include “drought” for the production of bug protein when there is not enough water for livestock.
Through this visualisation, Marques said, the wide-reaching effects of water inaccessibility and pollution can be seen to affect wider aspects of the supply chain beyond just water itself.
Eduardo Marques believes pure water may become a “luxury”
“There is water in everything we eat and consume in our lives,” Marques told Dezeen.
“So instead of having nutrition facts on the labels of the product, we actually have how many litres of water you need to produce that type of product.”
The packaging is meant to be relatable and give information about water usage for everyday products
The actual water included as part of the project is present in small vials labelled “regular” and “pure” – with the regular vials having a murky and brown shade. The pure vials have clear water but are very small, containing only 15 millilitres.
This presentation was implemented to demonstrate the growing scarcity of pure water.
The text on the packaging includes information about how much water goes into the making of a product
“I think that will be the face of regular water in the future if we don’t take action,” Marques said.
“Drinkable water and pure clean water will be very, very scarce. That’s the message. We want people to understand that this is going to be a luxury in the future.”
The initiative is geared towards younger generations
Mitigating these problems will require better conservation of wastewater and management of water resources, diet and prevention of pollution in shared water sources.
While dietary habits like veganism have effects, Marques said that he also hopes corporations will see the message.
The team reached out to brands such as Domino’s Pizza and Burger King, under the assumption that with scarcity there won’t be enough water to “make [their] burger or [their] pizza”, Marques said.
The UN Water Conference took place from 22 to 24 March in New York City, with Tajikistan and the Netherlands as host countries.
The conference resulted in the adoption of the Water Action Agenda, an agreement that included a number of “non-binding” recommendations for buoying water security worldwide.
The group hopes that it will raise awareness about conservation
Already, the effects of lessening water resources have been felt in developed nations, which have previously been insulated from some of the worst effects of droughts felt in places like the Horn of Africa.
In January, six states in the western United States agreed to cut water usage from the shared Colorado River Water Basin as the water levels in the dams along that river reach record lows, which has had negative effects on agriculture and husbandry in the region.
Labels like “drought” and “pollution” highlight the product’s association with a particular facet of the water crisis
Agency: Publicis Groupe Benelux Client: Department Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Digital agency: Neverland Consultancy: HUMИN Design company: PLANT Audio: Massive Music Product design: Street Media Factory Web development: Owow
The Standard Hotel has teamed up with NYC-based design studio Jumbo for a collection of absurd pool toys shaped like pasta. Fully functional and ridiculous, the floats come in various iterations: rigatoni, tortellini, macaroni, ravioli and lasagna. Each inflatable toy even comes in packaging inspired by pasta boxes.
Brazilian architect Denis Joelsons has completed a renovation of a series of brick structures called Sítio Rio Acima near São Paulo, including a primary home with a vaulted ceiling and arched clerestory window.
Located on the outskirts of Jundiaí, the residential complex had been used for over forty years by the same family, becoming a hodge-podge of disparate forms constructed by different generations.
The renovation was completed by architect Denis Joelsons
In 2022, Denis Joelsons stitched the 34,425-square metre (8.5-acre) site back together with “a series of punctual interventions” that created a sense of unity through materials, while preserving the property’s sentimental value.
The area has a mix of rural and industrial elements, which Joelsons sought to maintain in the renovations.
An access road runs along a lake with a stone retaining wall
The studio renovated and extended the primary house, which was constructed in 1992, replaced a dilapidated wooden caretaker’s house and constructed a new pool kiosk.
The built area totals 329 square meters (3,540 square feet).
The home includes a brick cube with a ceramic vaulted ceiling and arched clerestory window
The property’s entrance sits at the lowest point of the site, and an access road runs along a lake with a stone retaining wall that forms a parking area and landing for the three-bedroom caretaker’s house, which is a low-profile structure with a gabled lap tile roof.
“The caretaker’s house alludes to the Brazilian caipira architecture, a vernacular type of construction from the countryside that can still be found in other houses within the Sítio’s neighborhood,” Joelsons explained, pointing out the structure’s shaded porch created by two blind volumes as a sign post for this style.
A board-formed concrete fireplace features inside
Further up the site, the L-shaped main residence – originally a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house – gained two new brick extensions, adding a living room, two bathrooms. To expand the program, Joelsons divided the main bedroom into two smaller ones.
The home’s new focal point is the living room: a brick cube with a ceramic vaulted ceiling and arched clerestory window that becomes “a lantern at night with its distinctive shape notable from a great portion of the plot,” Joelsons said.
The extension is connected to the original house
The extension brings light into the living and dining spaces and meets the original house through a deep brick wall.
A board-formed concrete fireplace sits in a wall of windows.
French doors open bedrooms to the veranda
The interior has a warm, muted palette with raw brick, white paint, and exposed wooden trusses.
The bedrooms all have French doors that open the space to the veranda, which is shaded by a wooden pergola.
Also on the site is a new spiral-shaped structure that holds a bathroom and changing space for the swimming pool.
This kiosk forms the third point in the triangle of modifications made to the property.
A spiral-shaped structure holds a bathroom and changing space for the swimming pool
All new structures are marked by solid, light-coloured masonry. The material – previously absent on the site – references the area’s common brick kilns and the surrounding industrial factories and railway structures.
Architect: Denis Joelsons Collaborators: João Marujo, Paula Reis Landscaping: Alexandre Freitas, Leandro Fontana Structural and foundation design: Alfredo Haydamus Facilities design: Renan de Sousa Construction: Nix Construção Engineering: Francisco Antônio, Hércules Castagna
Finnish design company Woodio has designed a wall-mounted toilet that is formed from wood composite.
According to Woodio, its production process generates 99 per cent fewer emissions than that used to create traditional ceramic sanitaryware.
The material used to create the toilet consists of 80 per cent wood by volume, but it still relies on several fossil-based resources including polyester resin, which is mixed with bioplastic resin to create a composite with the wood chips.
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From the upcoming Sun Ra tribute album Nuclear War (set for release 26 May) comes Georgia Anne Muldrow’s “Nuke’s Blues,” featuring trumpet player Josef Leimberg. It’s just as beautifully chaotic and avant-garde as one would expect from a track created to reimagine and reinterpret music from Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War“—a song from 1982 that Ra wrote in response to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, which was “the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history” according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Nuclear War EP is the first in the Red Hot & Ra series from the AIDS-focused non-profit Red Hot Organization.
We often underestimate the importance of great office furniture! When in reality we really shouldn’t. We spend the majority of our day sitting on our office chairs or typing away on our desks whether we’re working in our home office or a corporate one. Hence, these pieces of furniture need to be not only comfortable but ergonomic, and aesthetic as well. And one such furniture design I recently came across for our modern-day office spaces is the Hybe seating collection.
Designed by industrial design studio Form Us With Love for furniture manufacturer EFG, the Hybe seating collection is a dynamic and mobile seating collection, that is quite versatile and unique. The brand says that the seating collection, is in fact, defined by ‘versatility’. The collection was designed to be utilized for both professional and educational environments.
“The [furniture] family’s primary characteristic is versatility, as it provides seating areas and meeting spaces that meet your needs and assignments at any given moment,” said EFG. The furniture collection includes single to double-seated chairs and enclosed booths. They’ve all been equipped with wheels, to create seating solutions that are both mobile and flexible. The singe-seat versions have been amped with wooden armrests, although they come without as well. Partition screens can be attached to the single and double-seated chairs, to transform them into sound-blocking booths, that function as private and secluded spaces to work in. The chairs come with castors or swivel bases.
“In recent years, we’ve seen significant changes in working environments, and tomorrow’s workplace will be even more versatile. A single piece of furniture will have to do more than one thing, and Hybe is the perfect hybrid for relaxation and work. You can work in it, hold a meeting or take a phone call,” said Form Us With Love co-founder John Löfgren. The seating collection features tubular steel chair legs which the brand defines as “a classic Scandinavian design with a soft, playful twist”. Wooden accents and soft delicate upholstery in a wide range of colors mark the various chairs. All the individual elements of the Hybe collection can be replaced and recycled over time.
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