Designed as a peaceful place to display art, the small gallery combines the traditional barn form with modern construction techniques.
Boano Prišmontas design a barn-like building in Hertfordshire
“From the distance, this building is unmistakably a barn,” said Boano Prišmontas co-founder Tomaso Boano. “The small windows, large canopy overhang, wide door on the front facade, and use of industrial materials all sing from the same song sheet.”
“The aspect of modern design is the fabrication side of this project,” he continued. “As you get closer you will see the sharp edges and geometries that come from a digital fabrication workshop rather than a traditional construction site.”
An art gallery occupies the arched space
While its shape is informed by rural barns, it is also designed to create an interior that is an impressive space for displaying art.
Boano Prišmontas designed the curve of the arch to create a high space that can accommodate larger pieces.
It can be used to display large pieces of art
“The most impressive art galleries have cathedral-like qualities – from MOMA to Nottingham Contemporary or Tate Modern, you can always find the tallest ceiling, the largest spanning spaces, and the most impressive engineering,” said Boano.
“Our project was of a different scale with a much faster project timeline, but there is some interesting engineering, as a result of which the space lends itself to being a generous host for relatively large-scale artworks.”
It was designed to be a peaceful space
The arched roof was digitally fabricated from hundreds of pieces of timber that were CNC cut.
As the roof timbers are visible from the inside, and to reduce confusion on site, the studio aimed to design a structure that appears simple.
“Simplicity and efficiency were achieved through the digital design and digital manufacturing of the components that create this structure,” explained Boano.
“Although this digitally fabricated timber structure consists of hundreds of parts, the logic and strategy for the assembly are very simple, with many pieces having identical geometries it would have been impossible for the assembly team to get confused about the location of each element.”
It looks like a barn from the outside
The gallery’s interior is largely clad in timber, with lighting set within coves to illuminate the trusses. A black pendant lamp is placed to create a “reading corner” and a series of small square windows give glimpses of the surrounding countryside.
Boano hopes that people visiting the gallery space will appreciate the craft of creating the building and its calm atmosphere.
“We hope that people who are interested in manufacturing can see a way of creating large spaces using small pieces,” he said.
“We hope that those interested in architecture will be inspired by our fusion of traditional form and modern material choices and construction methods. We hope that people who are looking to escape from busy city life will enjoy the tranquillity of this space.”
Uniqlo is aiming to create “modern classics” that people wear for longer to be more sustainable, says the clothing retailer’s UK COO Alessandro Dudech, but questions remain over whether the strategy is working.
Speaking at the opening of the Japanese brand’s latest UK store in Covent Garden, Dudech explained how Uniqlo aims to differentiate itself from fast-fashion brands by incrementally improving the design of its clothes and focusing on longevity, including by launching repair services in its stores.
Alessandro Dudech, 34, is the UK COO of Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo
Known for affordable, preppy basics, Uniqlo’s popularity is on the rise across Europe and Dudech is charged with leading its expansion in the UK.
“What we go for is not big, outlandish design, it’s just subdued, subtle quality,” Dudech said of the brand’s ethos.
“We call them modern classics,” he continued. “So taking a classic silhouette but then adding a modern functionality like, for example, Heat Tech [thermal properties] or stretch. And I think the zeitgeist is very much behind this way of seeing clothing.”
Uniqlo’s latest UK store is a 1,450 square-metre space inside a Grade II-listed former Victorian carriage hall. Following the trend of retail spaces geared increasingly towards experiences, the three-storey shop features a cafe, a florist, a roof terrace and t-shirt personalisation service as well as a repair shop.
It is Uniqlo’s 17th store in the UK, almost all of which are in London.
Shoulder bag success “caught us by surprise”
The company is already a household name in Japan with more than 800 stores and now has a target to open 30 outlets a year across Europe, up from the current total of 67.
That ambition has been partly fuelled by multiple items becoming runaway successes over the past two years, most notably the banana-shaped round mini shoulder bag.
The bag has arguably become a design classic already, selling out seven times in the UK over the last 18 months following a young buyer’s viral TikTok video.
“It caught us by surprise,” admitted Dudech. “It became an overnight sensation.”
“That was very much a sudden realisation of the power of social media and just how quickly information disseminates, especially among younger people,” he added.
Uniqlo’s recently opened Covent Garden store is inside a former Victorian carriage hall
Rather than attempting to engineer further social media successes by manufacturing content, Dudech said Uniqlo is focused on using these viral moments to improve its products.
“We’re trying to leverage this information, but perhaps not in the way that other brands do,” he said.
“Meaning that what was very useful for us was actually to see what customers appreciate about this bag specifically,” he continued.
“They really liked how much you could fit inside, but at the same time one of the comments we heard on TikTok was, you know, what about more colours? So that’s when we decided to increase the colour range.”
“It’s about making small incremental improvements”
This approach, he claims, forms part of Uniqlo’s central philosophy for designing and selling apparel. Instead of changing its range every season like rival retailers, it introduces new lines one-by-one and seeks to steadily improve them over time.
“It’s a different understanding of what design is, right?” said Dudech. “It’s about making small incremental improvements to make the product ever-better.”
“As a company we are really focused on letting the products do the talking and building this relationship where our customers help us improve them continuously.”
The brand’s round mini shoulder bag became an overnight sensation after going viral on TikTok
Re.Uniqlo Studio, the new Uniqlo repair service currently in four London stores, but set to be in every UK outlet by the end of the year, has unexpectedly been contributing to this process.
“We can see first-hand where the product is deteriorating,” explained Dudech.
“We didn’t think about this when we introduced the service but it’s really helped our R&D team realise, ‘okay, our knit sweaters might get a bit weak in the shoulder after a few years, so we need to make that stronger’.”
The repair service forms a major plank of Uniqlo’s efforts to make its operations more sustainable.
“If we want to become sustainable, we need to make sure that products can last longer and can be utilised, passed down to the next generation,” said Dudech.
Next in the journey to make its products last longer, he hints, the brand could change its advice to customers about how to wash Uniqlo clothes.
“The way you wash your product has a huge impact on the wear and tear and durability,” he explained.
“Ultimately, the future of sustainability is going to be about providing more and more services to really extend the life of products that are already in circulation.”
Uniqlo is known for its affordable wardrobe essentials, which Dudech calls “modern classics”
Uniqlo argues that its “modern classics” approach makes it more sustainable than the standard fast-fashion brands.
“Fashion is inherently transient, but we want to make it more durable – not just production longevity but also emotional longevity,” said Dudech.
“Because when you have the confidence that something will not go out of fashion, you also wear it longer,” he continued.
“What’s the point of calling yourself sustainable if you’re just shooting out thousands of lines every season that nobody’s ever going to really need?”
Criticisms over sustainability strategy
However, questions have been raised over Uniqlo’s sustainability progress. A Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report published in February by Carbon Market Watch and the New Climate Institute rated Uniqlo parent company Fast Retailing “low” for integrity on its sustainability targets – worse than rival retailer H&M.
The report said Fast Retailing’s headline pledges equate to a 19 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 compared with 2019, “fall[ing] far short of what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius”.
“Fast Retailing’s emission reduction measures focus on emission reduction plans for supplying factories, but details on how the company engages with suppliers – the company’s main source of emissions – remain limited,” it added.
Rather than answer when asked about these criticisms, Dudech directed Dezeen to the Uniqlo press office.
In-store repair services are being rolled out at Uniqlo outlets across the UK
“The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report is an important resource for all corporations taking action to address climate change,” the press office said in a statement.
“Fast Retailing has been making steady progress in its sustainability initiatives after formulating its 2030 target and action plan,” it continued.
“We welcome dialogue and scrutiny of the company’s climate commitments and goals, and remain committed to continue to make progress and to share more information about our initiatives in the future.”
“Products should be brought to market when they serve a real purpose”
Across several industries including fashion, improved sustainability is often associated with higher price tags, but Dudech dismissed the idea that Uniqlo clothes could get more expensive.
“I think that trade-off, in my opinion, it’s a non-starter. Because why should the customer suffer?” he said.
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report warned that repair stations “would have a significant impact in emission reductions only if they would lead to a shift in consumer behaviour and a reduction in the volume of new garments purchased and produced”.
“Our goal is to make just the right amount of product, and absolutely, the industry needs to come to grips with the fact that, you know, products should be brought to market when they serve a real purpose,” he said.
“I think, rather than think of it as like, we’re just gonna sell less, it’s like, this is helping us innovate and continuously adapt to customers’ needs.”
Chair-shaped sculptures and a doughnut-shaped paper lantern were among objects displayed inside a Copenhagen apartment during 3 Days of Design.
Yoonede – derived from the word “unity” – was a group exhibition featuring the work of 20 artists, designers and brands.
Yoonede took place in an apartment on Gammel Mønt
The idea behind the show was to promote collaboration, with everyone’s work displayed together. Some designers also teamed up with other participants on their exhibits.
Objects were displayed in the rooms and courtyard of an apartment on Gammel Mønt, a street in the heart of the Danish capital.
Works included a chair-like sculpture by Maria Brunn and Anne Dorthe Vesyter
Line Øhlenschlæger, one of the three founders of Yoonede, told Dezeen: “The only stipulation we made to the artists, designers and brands involved was that they should be willing to combine with others who may or may not be on the same level.”
“Normally when you do a group exhibition, you have one designer in one corner and one designer in another corner, but the idea here was to lift everyone together,” she said.
Tables by Line Øhlenschlæger displayed objects by other participating designers
Øhlenschlæger, who works as an art director, put together the exhibition in partnership with product designer Sofie Østerby and interior architect Maaria Repo.
The trio, who are former colleagues, had long wanted to work together on an exhibition and decided to invite other creatives that they admired to join.
They only expected a few of them to say yes, so were shocked to see the list reach 20 participants.
Øhlenschlæger’s contribution to the exhibition is a series of circular tables, supported by three-pronged volumes made from either steel or aluminium.
Anne Brandhøj and Signe Fensholt created totems that combine skills in wood and ceramic
Østerby created a sculptural coffee table using wenge, an African hardwood, while Repo exhibited a bowl with a distinctive streaky glaze finish.
MBADV – an ongoing collaboration between designers Maria Brunn and Anne Dorthe Vesyter – was behind the chair-shaped sculptures, one made from oak and the other from stone.
Atelier Madirazza presented a grand marble-framed mirror
The paper lantern, by lighting designer Laura Fiig, was suspended above a bench made by Studio Oro using both epoxy resin and travertine.
Designers Anne Brandhøj and Signe Fensholt combined skills in wood and ceramic to create a series of totem-like sculptures, while Atelier Madirazza presented a grand marble-framed mirror.
A woven textile by Bettina Nelson hung from the wall
Cabinet-maker Antrei Hartikainen contributed a slender, curved shelving unit as well as mouth-blown glass vases.
Other key pieces included a minimal chandelier by Kasper Kjeldgaard and a woven textile by Bettina Nelson.
Sofie Østerby created a sculptural coffee table using an African hardwood
Brands on show included Kusiner, which presented wool carpets, and Danish audio brand Iril, which showed its minimal speakers.
The exhibition continued outside, where terracotta plant pots by heritage brand Bergs Potter sat alongside sculptures by artist Josefine Winding.
Objects by Bergs Potter and Josefine Winding were shown in the courtyard
The founders plan to run Yoonede as an exhibition platform, so that it can continue beyond this 3 Days of Design debut.
“The exhibition is built around the wish of bringing creatives together, learning from each other’s differences and sharing a passion for design, art, and objects,” said Østerby.
The name, Yoonede, is derived from the word “unity”
“We’re showcasing inspiring individualism while letting a strong and curated cohesiveness stand out,” added Repo.
The photography is courtesy of Yoonede.
Yoonede was on show from 7 to 9 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for information, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
The studio designed the Human Nature installation to take full advantage of the large vaulted space at art gallery Copenhagen Contemporary, hanging handcrafted biotextiles that were up to seven metres long from its ceilings.
“We created a lot of materials for this exhibition, I think around 150 square metres,” Natural Material Studio founder Bonnie Hvillum told Dezeen.
“But what’s been really exciting has been the length and height that we have managed to work with – the textiles are over seven metres long.”
Human Nature features metres-long biotextile installations
“It’s something that we are curious about, expanding the scale,” she added. “Spatially, it creates a completely different experience when the textiles come up in the scale and surround us, almost like trees.”
Natural Material Studio uses its own material processes to create its biomaterials. Among the ingredients used for the materials in Human Nature were natural softeners mixed with biopolymers, chalk and clay.
The textiles that were dyed with chalk had a fittingly chalky white hue, while those dyed with clay become greenish.
White textiles were dyed with chalk
As part of the exhibition, which was on show during annual design festival 3 Days of Design, Natural Material Studio wanted to showcase how humans and nature interact in the creation of the materials.
To that end, the biotextile pieces were cast in wooden frames to be handled as they were drying, but were otherwise were left to develop naturally.
Human Nature also featured sculptural seating designs that were made by casting Natural Material Studio’s self-developed biofoam in a three-dimensional frame, within which it was allowed to shape itself.
The resulting square seats come in a variety of colours, including pinkish ones made by using red clay.
Compostable biofoam forms sculptural seating
The material can be composted at the end of its life and will biodegrade in about a month, according to Hvillum.
“The material is biodegradable – you can give it to your chickens,” Hvillum said. “My chickens eat it, I can’t leave it outside!”
The exhibition also includes lighting works, which were constructed by attaching the biotextiles to a metal frame above an LED light, and which mark the first time Natural Material Studio has created lighting designs.
“For a long time we were trying to bring the materials onto the wall,” Hvillum explained.
“This is basically the material suspended over material frames and then we use a LED light to try to work with them like this.”
Natural Material Studio designed lights for the first time
Describing the installation as a “spatial art piece”, Natural Material Studio said the idea was also to allow visitors to touch and interact with the biomaterials, which represent years of research and prototyping.
The handcrafted nature of the biomaterial process comes through in the finished design, with the seats and textiles having kept their rough surfaces and textural qualities.
The natural materials were showcased in an industrial setting
The company is currently working with the Danish National Museum, which conducts research into the longevity of materials such as plastic, to look at how the biomaterials will age.
“They have taken in my materials and we’re going to be having a look at how they age over time,” Hvillum said.
“They can speed the process up so that one month is equivalent to 30 years, so we can very easily see what happens with these materials.”
The installation was on show at Copenhagen Contemporary
Hvillum is also interested in how the biomaterials can be “kept alive”.
“With this research project we try to understand how they change over time and what we can do to prolong life, for example, moisturising them,” she said.
“It’s keeping them alive, basically, which is mind-blowing – actually thinking that we need to water them, just like I water my plants because it’s organic material. You give them a little spritz to moisturise them.”
Bioxtextiles surround visitors “like trees”
Hvillum hopes that the Human Nature exhibition will showcase more of the process of working with different materials, as well as what the materials can do.
“I feel like we sometimes as designers want to force the materials into certain things, and I wanted to really be honest about the process and about what the materials actually do,” she said.
“I think it works quite well as an installation to come in and really start living with these materials, experiencing them and slowly start building these relations.”
Human Nature was on show from 7 to 9 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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Promotion: architects and designers are increasingly finding new ways to use cork outside of cork stoppers as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of their projects, according to Portuguese company Amorim Cork Composites.
The company describes cork as “one of the world’s most versatile materials”, as it provides both thermal and acoustic insulation on top of being naturally impact absorbent, anti-slip and soft to the touch.
Tom Dixon (above) and the Campana Brothers (top) have used cork in their projects
Cork has the ability to sequester carbon while replacing other, more polluting materials.
That’s because cork is a renewable natural material derived from the outer bark of the cork oak, which grows mainly in western Mediterranean countries such as Portugal.
Here, cork forests retain up to 73 tons of carbon dioxide for each ton of cork harvested every year in a process that, unlike timber production, leaves the tree standing and sequestering carbon.
Amorim Cork Composites supplied wall panels for the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion by Counterspace
Most often, cork is still used for the production of bottle stoppers. But manufacturers such as Amorim Cork Composites are increasingly exploring new ways to make composites and novel products by reusing any cork that went to waste in the manufacturing process.
This sees the material combined with other natural materials such as clay, foams, wood and metal in table, kitchen, office accessories, furniture and lighting.
“There are countless objects produced with cork that are stunning in their beauty and contemporary design,” said Amorim Cork Composites.
Amorim Cork Composites are exploring new ways to make composites and novel products
Another example is Cork Polymer Compounds, which are bio-composites produced through a process that mixes cork and polymers, which has the “malleability and durability of thermoplastics and on the other, the lightness, resilience, and sustainability of cork”.
“Cork’s low density allows it to reduce the volume of plastic consumed up to 60 per cent, representing a more sustainable alternative when compared to 100 per cent plastic-based materials,” said Amorim Cork Composites.
Eduardo Souto Moura used cork to clad a collection of door handles
Last year, the company created the ACC Design Studio to further push the boundaries of what can be made from cork.
The creative studio develops new innovative materials and concepts in collaboration with designers, architects and brands and provides them with ongoing technical support throughout their projects.
Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma created the Oltre Terra exhibition, curated by Hannah Eide, to unravel humanity’s past and present relationship with sheep and, by extension, the production of wool.
Oltre Terra includes a carpet made from discarded wool fibres
The exhibition features archival and contemporary objects, including life-size replicas of seven different breeds of sheep and tools for shearing, arranged across a diorama-style set within a single gallery at Norway’s national museum.
Among the first animals to be domesticated by humans, sheep were first culled by hunter-gatherers around 11,000 years ago.
Tools for shearing also feature in the exhibition
This marked the start of a complex relationship, according to Formafantasma.
“The National Museum of Norway [which commissioned Oltre Terra] was interested in us developing a body of work that relates to the local community in Oslo, because wool was an extremely important material in Norwegian culture before the development of the industry connected to oil and farming,” Trimarchi and Farresin told Dezeen.
The exhibition design nods to dioramas
Oltre Terra aimed to combine artefacts typically seen in natural history museums with ones more commonly exhibited at art and design galleries, in order to highlight the interdependency between biological evolution and production processes.
Among the pieces on show are a cream carpet by CC-Tapis made of four different wool fibres extracted from 12 Italian sheep breeds.
This wool was left over from production and would usually be discarded for its coarseness, but the carpet intends to illustrate how these rougher fibres can still be used to make products that are not in direct contact with skin.
The exhibition shows artifacts typically seen in natural history museums and art galleries
Also on display is a 1,700-year-old woollen tunic, which was found preserved under a mountain ice patch 200 miles northwest of Oslo in 2011, and woollen sails that were used for Viking Age boats.
At the centre of the installation sits a video that Formafantasma created with artist Joanna Piotrowska. Called Tactile Afferents, the film focusses on the sense of touch and explores the ways in which humans have interacted with sheep over time.
Pieces range from contemporary to historical artefacts
The exhibition also features replicas of notable examples of the species, such as Shrek, the Merino sheep from New Zealand who – like many others – was discovered in the wild with an overgrown coat in 2004 after he escaped his domestic flock six years prior.
This is an example of when sheep need humans, according to Formafantasma.
“Many people are against animal farming, which, when it is intensive farming, we also think is extremely problematic,” said the designers.
“But sheep at the moment are not like their wild ancestors, Mouflons – they do not naturally lose hair. They need humans to shear them.”
A 1,700-year-old woollen tunic features in the exhibition
The show’s exhibition design nods to the concept of the diorama – miniature or largescale models found in museums that are encased in glass and typically display three-dimensional figures.
For Oltre Terra, the diorama was “exploded” into sections and left open, rather than covered in glass, to allow visitors to feel more connected to the pieces and to question the boundary between art and science.
“For us, it’s about unifying narratives and showing how these are complex ecologies that should be displayed together,” said Trimarchi and Farresin of the installation.
“The scope of the exhibition is to explore this very intimate yet intricate relationship between humans and animals, in which the boundaries between tamer and domesticated fade,” continued the designers.
Tactile Afferents is a film presented in the centre of the diorama
Trimarchi and Farresin explained that one of the exhibition’s overarching aims was to promote mutual dependence and respect between humans and sheep, especially when it comes to farming practices.
“The relationship between humans and sheep is much more complicated and complex,” they added.
“As with human relationships, there are abusive relationships, and there are just relationships and constructive relationships. What we’re doing now [with livestock] is, in some cases, extremely abusive, but this does not mean that sheep and animals and humans cannot live in a process of symbiosis.”
Formafantasma created numerous sheep replicas for the exhibition
The show took its name from the etymology of the word “transhumance”, which is formed by the combination of the Latin words trans (across, ‘oltre’ in Italian) and humus (grounds, ‘terra’) and refers to the practice of migrating livestock from one grazing ground to another.
Founded by Trimarchi and Farresin in 2009, Formafantasma has previously presented other shows that investigate materials, including an exhibition on timber with furniture brand Artek that was held at Helsinki’s Design Museum last year. The studio also redesigned its website to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Formafantasma team: Sara Barilli, Alessandro Celli and Gregorio Gonella Curator: Hannah Eide
Oltre Terra is on display at the National Museum of Norway from 26 May to 1 October 2023.See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
Also featured are a fashion project that combines traditional Pakistani and Qatari silhouettes and a gothic clothing collection that aims to express “the darker emotions triggered by the pandemic”.
“The Department of Fashion Design at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) shared a theme of the collection named Paradox: Two Places At Once.
“Our identities, experiences and upbringings inform who we are; they are the subconscious forces that often clash with, or complement, the demands of our world and the relationships we build.
“The VCUarts Qatar Fashion Show 2023, Paradox: Two Places At Once, offers a glimpse into such contrasting and even contradictory universes.
“The designs created by our latest cohort of graduating fashion designers bridge the gap between the forces that form our personalities and our day-to-day lives.
“In doing so, they push the boundaries of fashion and embrace the diversity of the world we live in, discovering new forms of beauty and demonstrating that divergent ideas, when treated with respect, sensitivity and understanding, can balance each other to create a whole.
“Featuring vivid colours, bold silhouettes and intricate details that reflect the varied backgrounds of the designers, the show is an eye-opener that is at once unexpected yet harmonious.”
Houriyat Al Sahraa by Moza Jassim Al-Sharim
“The Arabic name of my collection translates as Desert Mermaid.
“As a Qatari fashion designer, I was inspired by my childhood spent watching Disney’s The Little Mermaid and my country’s heritage linked to the region’s pearl industry.
“My name – Moza – means the precious pearl. I chose the colour scheme of beige and turquoise to reflect the colour of Qatar’s sand and sea.
“The designs break the stereotype of a typical mermaid’s silhouette – it is modern, modest yet alluring.”
Student: Moza Jassim Al-Sharim Course: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design Tutors: Christopher Fink and Federica Visani Email: alsharimm[at]vcu.edu
Noori by Noor Rashid Butt
“I’m from Pakistan but was raised in Qatar. My collection’s story strikes a chord with all third-culture kids.
“Called Noori, my designs are inspired by my mother who I describe as a ‘bridge’ that connects two traditions, combining old and new craftsmanship with a modern twist.
“The ‘Noori’ collection utilises block printing and traditional embroidery. The silhouettes, inspired by kaftans, are a fusion of Pakistani and Qatari heritage.
“I see the collection as a journey of cultural exploration that embraces heritage from a contemporary perspective.”
Student: Noor Rashid Butt Course: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design Tutors: Christopher Fink and Federica Visani Email: noori.rashidbutt[at]gmail.com
Kandaka by Rana Elhadi
“The name of my collection is Kandaka, which is a symbol of women’s empowerment and freedom in my native Sudan. The collection was inspired by my mother, the definition of a strong, independent woman.
“The word Kandaka is associated with the Nubian queens of ancient Sudan who bravely fought for their rights and country.
“They wore traditional white Sudanese garments called thobs. These garments are popular in Sudan to this day.
“I took the drape element of the attire and fused it with streetwear fashion. The result was this interpretation that marries streetwear with elegance and practicality.”
Student: Rana Elhadi Course: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design Tutors: Christopher Fink and Federica Visani Email: elhadir[at]vcu.edu
Systematic Choas by Tiaba Nazir
“Called Systematic Chaos, my collection is an expression of the darker emotions triggered by the pandemic.
“My series showcases gathering and hand-distressing techniques across different textures. I blend unique shapes, silhouettes and materials into a thought-provoking range of designs.
“Systematic Chaos embodies the idea of finding beauty in chaos and disorder. The collection is a refined take on gothic fashion with a touch of Avant Garde and is inspired by Vanitas – the Latin word for vanity.
“The designs invite us to remember our own mortality while still finding beauty in it.”
Student: Tiaba Nazir Course: Bachelor of Fine Art in Fashion Design Tutors: Christopher Fink and Federica Visani Email: tiabanazir01[at]gmail.com
You’re Just As Sane As I Am by Iman Imran
“My collection spreads awareness of maladaptive daydreaming while showing how our childhood memories change and mature over time, transforming our perspectives of events gone by.
“Just As Sane As I Am allows you to take a break from reality and brings smiles back into the world. My collection makes you want to daydream and deeply explore the limits of your imagination.
“It reminds us to find beauty within our flaws. It celebrates the fact that we’re not perfect and that our imperfections are what makes us beautiful and unique.”
Student:Iman Imran Course: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design Tutors: Christopher Fink and Federica Visani Email: iimran2002[at]outlook.com
Partnership content
This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Dezeen Showroom: design studio Barber Osgerby has created the BetteSuno collection for German bathroom brand Bette, which includes minimalist free-standing and bowl basin designs.
The BetteSuno washbasins play with the basic shapes of a circle and a cone, combining a circular outer form with a conical shape on the inside that tapers down towards the waste outlet.
The BetteSuno collection includes a bowl basin design
BetteSuno is available as a washbasin bowl for countertops or as a floor-standing design that cantilevers the bowl above a narrow pedestal and that Bette describes as having a “graceful and sculptural appearance”.
The basins are made from glazed titanium steel, a material that Bette says is strong and durable, allowing the brand to produce visually light designs with slender edges.
The free-standing version situates the bowl atop a conical pedestal
“The collection has a beautiful, handcrafted character and its sculptural qualities are emphasised by the circular and conical design,” said Barber Osgerby co-founder Edward Barber.
BetteSuno is available in glossy or matt white finishes, with further colour variants to come in the future.
Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
If every tech reviewer who got to try on the Vision Pro after Apple’s WWDC event can be considered a reliable source, the Vision Pro is absolutely ‘magical’. Almost everyone who got to try it on (even Disney’s CEO Bob Iger) has the same feeling of being simultaneously sucked in and blown away by how incredibly immersive and intuitive the tech is. The resolution is flawless, the eye-tracking is brilliant, and the overall experience has changed the minds of quite a few skeptics. There’s a downside, however… This magical experience costs a whopping $3500 USD.
For YouTuber ThrillSeeker, this downside seemed a little too rich. Ultimately, the Apple Vision Pro’s unique interface could be boiled down to three distinct features – Passthrough (the ability to see the world through your headset), Eye Tracking, and Hand Tracking… and the $999 Meta Quest Pro had all those three features. “I’ve been in VR for half a decade, and have been making videos about AR and VR for most of that time,” said the YouTuber, “I struggle to believe that Apple has somehow created something so radically superior, so transformative, that it warrants the use of the word Magical.” A lot of the Vision Pro’s magic is the result of its highly intuitive UI, which lets you interact with elements simply by looking at them and pinching your fingers. The Meta Quest Pro is capable of doing all these things too, although nobody at Meta really built them out… so ThrillSeeker decided to give things a go.
ThrillSeeker started first by shooting a tweet to Meta’s CTO, Andrew Bosworth hoping for some leads and support, but understandably never heard from him (I assume everyone at Meta was just taking a while to recover from the Apple Keynote). Deciding to then take matters into his own hands (and eyes), he then went on to build the eye and hand-tracking system, designing a mock app drawer (the Vision OS home page) to test out his UI.
Hey @boztank , Still love Quest Pro but it would be amazing if used as a testbed to try new types of UI/UX given its hardware.
Is there anything on the way for Qpro owners to test out UX experiments utilizing eye tracking (like the Vpros look and pinch)
The entire interface was designed and coded within Unity, where ThrillSeeker tapped into the Quest Pro’s eye-tracking abilities and turned them into a controller of sorts. Most VR headsets ship with controllers, and these controllers use invisible lasers to point at objects, which the headset then recognizes as a cursor. ThrillSeeker simply turned the wearer’s eyesight into a laser pointer, allowing app icons to pop forward when you look at them (just like on the Vision Pro). Tapping your fingers would select/grab the icon, allowing you to manipulate it and move it around.
The pop-out 3D app icons
Even though highly preliminary, ThrillSeeker proved one thing – that Apple’s magical UI isn’t entirely inconceivable – it’s just that nobody at Meta (or Sony or HTC) ever thought of it in the first place. His demonstration proves that this eye and hand-controlled interface is absolutely possible with existing tech in a $999 Quest Pro device. ThrillSeeker is planning on making the APK for this demo available in the near future for all Meta Quest Pro users. We’ll add the link here as soon as he does!
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