There are a lot of different kinds of bags in the market, whether you’re looking for a luxury bag, a small and handy bag that’s easy to carry around, a tote bag that can carry a lot of things, a backpack, shoulder bag, etc. But there are probably not that many bags designed specifically for designers to carry all their swatches, materials, and project finishes around to present to their clients.
Designer: Jordan Cammarata
Swatch is a bag that was created for that very purpose. It’s branded as the “ultimate carryall for creatives”. The entire kit has a bag, a pouch, and even a mat that you can use to display the materials you’re carrying around. Not only does it make easy to bring all these things around for your presentation or for client approval, it organizes it in a way that is neat and presentable.
It is made from canvas and when closed and secure and seen from the front, it looks like any other tote or carry all bag. When you open it up, that’s when the magic happens. There are pockets to place your swatches, materials, and all other things that you need for your presentation. The mat makes sure that it looks more professional when you lay everything out, and protects the materials as well.
I’m not a designer and I don’t carry around swatches and materials but I do have a lot of stuff that I want to be organized, like my journaling stuff. While it’s not designed for “ordinary” people like me, there are also other ways that non-designers will be able to utilize a bag like this.
How do you create wealth? One answer is by enabling trade. British company Ox Delivers observed that the Global South is hamstrung in this regard; entrepreneurial individuals are hampered by unreliable transportation networks, and without an efficient way to ship goods, prosperity through trade is impossible.
The company thus designed their eponymous vehicle, the Ox. This is a truck that they ship to Africa flatpacked, and assemble near their deployment areas to save on costs. The Ox is electric, has a range of 150 km (90 miles), and a payload capacity of 2,000 kg (4,400 lbs). The company reckons they are nearly ten times less expensive to operate than existing delivery methods.
Rather than selling the trucks outright—which would be prohibitively expensive for their target market—Ox Delivers has rolled them out as trucks-as-a-service. Using an app, merchants book space on trucks to ship their goods at an affordable rate, the way you can split a shipping container. They can pay through the app and also, importantly, see where the trucks are with their goods, gaining an accurate sense of delivery times.
The positive impact on those using Ox Delivers cannot be understated. Here are some customer stories, where they discuss the night-and-day difference of their before-Ox and after-Ox experiences:
Ox Delivers launched in Rwanda in 2021 (initially with a diesel-powered version of the truck; they switched to an electric powertrain in 2022). Today they have over 5,000 customers in Rwanda, and this year signed a $163 million multi-year franchise agreement to expand into East Africa. Ox Delivers will soon be operating in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi.
There are some parents who feel guilty about making tablets or gadgets their kids’ babysitter when they are not able to fully interact with them at times. But there are of course times when they need to have something like “parental discretionary time”. There are product developers trying to think of things that parents can use without resorting to gadgets.
Designer Name: Hyewon Sung
Dodam is a concept for a fairy tale device that parents can use to help younger kids “read” when they still can’t read an actual book. It’s still a gadget of course but it is just specifically for reading and lets parents still interact with their kids even when they are using it on their own. Think of it as a View Master for this modern age. There are also other features that employ Text to Speak and AI technology to make it easier and more interactive for kids even as they’re reading on their own.
The device has an animal base with eyes that light up and change their emotion depending on the story that’s being read. There’s a rotating board so the kid can turn it to move the story along. Parents can record themselves reading the story so the child can still recognize their voice. There’s also an AI dialogue feature so the kid can talk to the device as they’re still in the early language education phase.
If you can’t tell a bedtime story to your child at night, you can also use the device to do so. Just remove the fairytale board and all they will be able to hear is your voice as you tell the story and get them to sleep. It’s an interesting concept and an option for parents or caretakers who don’t want to rely on a gadget to get their kids to do something.
Promotion: Italian manufacturer Meridiani has released a series of “full and soft” furniture pieces designed by its designer and art director Andrea Parisio.
It features a variety of seating concepts and a storage unit designed for use by creatives. Parisio conceived of four different seats for Meridiani, including an armchair and pouffe.
The collection was launched with a unified aesthetic that works in part, with each piece forming a different aspect of the narration, according to Meridiani.
Andrea Parisio has designed a new seating collection for Meridiani
“Each Meridiani product reveals a piece of the brand’s story, expressing a facet of its identity,” said the brand.
“And the new 2024 seating collection by Meridiani, created by designer and art director Andrea Parisio, is a choral, four-voiced narration that whispers new ideas for furnishing with personality.”
The collection includes the Cosette and Claudine chairs. Each has a circular backrest that wraps around a plush seat, differentiated by the style of leg and the size of the backrest, which also serves as the rear legs of each.
It includes a series of chairs and an armchair, all with curved backrests integrated into the back legs
Claudine has a single front leg that extends from the base of the chair and the backrest wraps further around, encompassing the seat, while Cosette has two front legs pushed to the front of the seat and a slighter backrest.
“The seat is rounded, and the wraparound backrests are seamlessly integrated into the back legs,” said Meridiani.
“They share the same artistic essence and the same combination of finishes for the legs, but each has its own character, making them both complementary and independent products.”
The upholstery for the chairs and poufs is customisable
Meanwhile, the Jeanette armchair takes the single-legged, deep-backrest approach used for Claudine and puffs it out, for an accommodating chair that still appears rather nimble, with a slight gap in the middle of the curving backrest, where it meets the ground.
The single leg under the seat is curved in order to “maintain visual continuity” with the edges of the semi-cylindrical backrest.
Meridiani described Jeanette as an armchair that “combines fullness and softness in an enveloping design”.
The Wallis storage system is modular and comes in multiple shapes and drawer configurations
Small and sturdy is the final piece in the seating collection, the Gino pouf.
“Gino is the original and a nice, practical and versatile pouf,” said Meridiani. “It has a round seat and customisable legs; it is the delightful and functional complement to any corner of the house”.
All of the seating pieces are available in a variety of fabrics, which can be chosen from a range of options from Meridiani’s collection.
Following in this spirit of customisation, Meridiani created the Wallis storage unit in two different finishes – glossy or matte lacquer, complemented by top material options such as marble, quartzite, travertine, back-painted glass, or leather.
The sleek system has an inset top and handles creating a practical and elegant system. It can be manufactured in a variety of shapes allowing for modular configurations that can fit a variety of rooms or workspaces. Some of the varieties function as a chest of drawers, while others have drawers that swing out.
The Wallis also has a wide variety of materials and colours available
“Wallis is a true design tool,” said the brand “It is conceived to shape and reshape environments, unlocking the potential for creativity and self-expression.”
It is ironic that wind turbine blades, which typically last for 25 years, have decidedly un-green deaths. The fiberglass blades are not recyclable, and when they are decommissioned, they’re typically crushed and burned as both fuel and raw material for producing cement. The crushing process alone burns a lot of energy, and burning the crushed parts as fuel creates CO2.
Enter Reverlast, a Finnish company that’s come up with a unique way to repurpose the blades. Company co-founder Johannes Peace, an engineer and sailor, realized that the fiberglass blades are made the same way as boats. And like boats, wind turbine blades are specifically fabricated to weather a harsh marine environment for decades.
What the company does is use the blades for useful waterborne applications. “We repurpose turbine blades to build floating docks and pontoon structures,” says company co-founder Ossi Heiskala. “This reduces the need for traditional pontoon materials like concrete and polyethylene plastic, making the solution even more environmentally friendly. Our prototype dock prevents roughly 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and the larger and more numerous the docks we build, the greater the impact.”
Peace and Heiskala launched Reverlast this year through Finland’s Kiuas Accelerator, a startup incubator. For their first project, they’re tackling a community sauna at Aalto University:
The sauna itself is a traditional wood-heated barrel sauna, assembled from a pre-made kit. But instead of being placed on land, it will be installed on a dock that floats on pontoons made from four wind turbine blades. The pontoons are filled with polystyrene, and each weighs over 300 kilograms.
The dock is more stable than a traditional floating pontoon dock and extremely durable. The fibreglass layer in the blade sections used for the pontoons is up to 6 centimetres thick—far more robust than the 1-centimetre layer typical in sailboats.
“The pontoon is incredibly strong—it won’t break, that’s for sure. Our job is to design the other parts to ensure they’ll last for decades as well,” says Heiskala.
The dock pontoons were cut from the midsection of the blade. The narrow tip of the blade, in turn, could be used for lighter structures, such as swimming platforms, Heiskala envisions.
“We’re starting with floating docks because our team has a lot of expertise in that area. However, we already have more ambitious plans—the sturdier sections of the blades could be used for larger structures, like breakwaters,” he explains.
The sauna should be ready by next spring. And as they grow, Reverlast will have no shortage of raw materials: Ten to 20 turbine blades are decommissioned each year, and that number is scheduled to grow in the next decade. Wind turbine operators, who are responsible for the cost of decommissioning the blades, will be happy to have them taken off of their hands.
Designed by Artisan Tiny Homes, the Gypsy was one of their first tiny homes which showcases their trademark features. It is built using artisan or handmade elements, vintage components, and contemporary amenities to form a living space that is modern, functional, and charismatic. The home merges contemporary, rustic, and vintage in one interesting body. It features a length of 26.2 feet while hosting a dual-loft configuration. The exterior is inspired by the traditional gypsy wagons, which is also the inspo for the home’s name.
As you enter the home, you are welcomed by a cozy and warm living space. The living room includes a custom-made sofa with storage underneath it. A full-height window offers the home its unique and bohemian-inspired aesthetic. You could add a TV and a breakfast bar with a few seats to create a relaxed and comfortable living space. A fixed ladder for the loft lounge and an open staircase in the kitchen furniture offers access to the loft bedroom. This leaves sufficient floor space downstairs while ensuring easy and convenient access to the loft.
You can enter the smaller loft through the fixed ladder, which includes a metallic railing for added safety. The loft includes a skylight, which could accommodate a single bed if needed. A few of the lower treads on the open staircase serve as open storage cabinets for the kitchen, displaying clever dual functionality. The master bedroom is truly quite lovely. It is spacious and amped with two skylights. It is lined with compact bedside shelves, which add a sophisticated flair to the room. The bathroom is also quite elegantly designed. It is equipped with an antique vanity, vessel sink, brass tapware, and penny-round tile backsplash.
The kitchen is quite spacious too. It houses a fridge, a two-burner cooktop, and a microwave. There is an additional nook which can hold an oven or dishwasher. This space is the perfect mix of charm and functionality, with a two-sided design that provides a generous amount of storage. The Gypsy seems like a great weekend getaway option, as it is a free-flowing and light-filled space that is instantly welcoming and inviting.
Dezeen Showroom: US textile company Designtex worked with artist Sophie Smallhorn to make Ribbon, a material that aims to bring colour and energy into spaces.
Ribbon features a linear motif that mimics the flow of a ribbon in motion, with angular folds that layer colours and transparencies.
The Ribbon textile features a linear pattern inspired by the movement of ribbons
The pattern is typical of Smallhorn, who is known for her mastery of colour and spatial dynamics.
“Our goal is to bring joy and a positive experience to interior spaces,” said Designtex executive director of design Sara Balderi.
It is intended to bring joy and energy into interior spaces
“Sophie’s distinctive approach to color and form, combined with her hands-on methods, resulted in a textile that can transform ordinary spaces into extraordinary environments,” she continued.
Ribbon is available as a high-performance coated coated textile made of 100 per cent polyurethane, and there are also two versions – DS Ribbon and Flat Ribbon – that have been added to Designtex’s Digital Studio online tool, allowing users to customise the pattern for upholstery and wallcoverings on various substrates.
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.
As the world descended upon the shores of Miami to take in and toast the world, one champagne house in particular was thinking about the larger impact that their harvesting was having not just on their own terroir but on the world at large. Perrier-Jouët, one of the week’s foremost purveyors of bubbles, opted to think about art and design in an entirely different way. Teaming up with the Milan-based design studio FormaFantasma, they launched Cohabitare, a partnership to bring regenerative viticulture to the forefront of not just champagne, but of the agricultural and design industries as a whole. We sat down with Simone Farresin of FormaFantasma and Caroline Bianco, the new cultural and creative director for Perrier-Jouët, to discuss how they’re reshaping the world of champagne, one insect at a time.
Courtesy of Perrier-Jouët
What drew Formafantasma to collaborate with Perrier-Jouët, and how does the maison’s heritage resonate with your studio’s ethos?
Simone Farresin: Perrier-Jouët’s heritage is in the arts, specifically Art Nouveau, and what is interesting about that is that nature was understood as a source of inspiration. I think in this century, we have to do a bit more work than that. It’s not enough to look at the world in terms of beauty, beauty is not going to save the world. We are trying to think about how design can do so by developing projects that are meaningful not only for the human experience, but also for other species. Seeing psychology is basically the idea that we are living on this planet, not alone, but with many other species.
Beauty is not going to save the world
Caroline, how did you land on FormaFantasma to sort of start this journey?
Caroline Bianco: Perrier-Jouët has been collaborating with artists and designers for more than 10 years and I agree with what Simone is saying, that we were at a moment where it was not enough. It was also a big shift for the brand. Normally each year we work with a new designer or artist, but when you start a new project like this, one year is not enough.
It’s also not only one person, there’s a group of people you have to bring to the table such as scientists, botanists, philosophers, and not only one voice who can offer answers. Therefore, my first job was to also make sure that the company would be okay with starting a project that could be outside the commercial realm of things and perhaps take more time. Our CEO, César Giron, is a visionary and gives me the freedom to do projects like this.
The project with FormaFantasma, for me, is really the beginning of a long-term collaboration because we decided that every two years we will conduct an experiment on-site. Not something that will travel, not something that is linked to anything commercial, but something that will be directly linked to the problem that we have on the territory. I think we’ll continue working together even after the project. FormaFantasma will be part of the family and we will continue to think about the next steps together.
Courtesy of Perrier-Jouët
The concept of sustainability is central to your work. How did this shape the design process for the latest collaboration?
SF: The way it shifted the most is the way in which we establish our work. For example, instead of coming to Perrier-Jouët with a brief, we came with a request to visit and provided a response to a context. That is, leading the project, which is not a product actually, but it is a larger intervention. We can talk about what we’ve started to do, because what we have been presenting is just the beginning of something larger. It is about reflecting what Perrier-Jouët has already enacted for regenerative viticulture. Essentially, promoting a much more responsible, inclusive of other species, way of cultivating the land and trying to understand how design can first of all communicate this.
Courtesy of Perrier-Jouët
In Cohabitaire, you explore coexistence with the natural world. How does this project expand on FormaFantasma’s ongoing dialogue with sustainability and nature?
SF: This is the first time we’ve worked with a company that is based on agriculture, and when you work with a company that is based on agriculture, there is a better understanding from their side of the struggle, the real struggles that are happening in the world and in nature. Also our interventions, for the first time, actually presented and intervened with the landscape, so it’s all outdoor. It is in direct contact with our species, but for other species.
Can you tell us a little bit more about what regenerative viticulture is and what it means in the greater context? To both of you?
SF: We can try to respond collectively because it’s something that I learned from Perrier-Jouët, but essentially I would say that it is a way of cultivating the land and introducing the fields, not only the vines, but actually other specimens of plants. For example, the flora are not only contributing to biodiversity, but enhancing the terroir with minerals and nutrients that are needed. At the same time, because of this sort of addition of plant coverage, that is fully covering the earth, this is also diminishing the quantities of water that is needed for cultivating the land. This avoids the need of, I think “scarification” is the word in English, to move the land, which is a process many people don’t know, but it releases a lot of CO₂.
CB: Regenerative viticulture is a process that is very interesting because it takes the full ecosystem, the soil, the flora, the fauna, and humankind. In the end, it’s not something that is totally new, rather something that was existing but it is just starting again, from the beginning, without all the big monoculture that we’ve committed. It’s not that the technique is complicated to apply, but it’s more that you are in Champagne and every square meter of the estate costs significant amounts of money, so when you would like to change something, it’s very complicated. You don’t have a lot of chances to fail.
You’ve spoken about bringing not just designers but philosophers, artists and others to the grounds. What is the thought behind that and how do you see this really helping the future of the house?
CB: Yes, I really think that there are several subjects that are too complex for one person or one skill and I really trust in the fact that together we can better find a solution. I also think the dialogue between a designer, a scientist, and a farmer is so interesting. It’s a part of my past experience, also. The pluridisciplinarity is really for me, the beginning of a good project. That is really the goal with the Cohabitaire project, creating a kind of biodiversity committee. Perhaps we will also look at some of the projects as a prize or residency program. I don’t know at the moment I’m currently working on it, but of course it’s for me the beginning of something.
SF: I must say that when we started the project, it was always implicit in what we were trying to do collectively with Perrier-Jouët. It is of course intervention in the field, but it is also about what that is actually creating in a physical space.
In the physical space, the fields need to have programming, which also means that it is about establishing a commitment. So it’s not only about presenting a project today, but it is about, say as much as Maison Belle talk, it’s about celebrating the heritage of Art Nouveau. I guess this is another location that is about looking forward to engaging in the years to come with biodiversity involving many different people because that’s the best way of working actually.
You mentioned that by 2030, the entire estate will be biodiverse. And so outside of the partnership with FormaFantasma, what other steps or how are you bringing that vision to life? If you can share.
CB: But to be honest, I’m not working alone on that. So Séverine, the cellar master, is doing a lot of experimentation. So that’s really, again, also in the company, a very collective thinking. I will not come and give ideas for the future. It’s really like I need to discuss with a lot of people also internally to imagine what could be the future of the Maison of Perrier-Jouët. Of course, our goal is to continue to have the best champagne that we can have because that’s part of the history.
Our mission is to preserve the soil and the land. My hope is that all the projects with Maison Perrier-Jouët could be shared and duplicated or be the starting point for different things that people can use on the vineyard. It’s not something that I would like to keep for the House of Perrier-Jouët. It’s really something that I would like to share.
SF: When we were working on this project, there were many aspects that were never shared. However, the idea of working in that location is really about connecting with the local context. Therefore, when you create an innovation like this, there are people that are resistant to it simply because they aren’t familiar with it. Also the idea of performing intervention in the field and working there, makes the project about coming together and meeting with the local community. Thanks to Perrier-Jouët, we were connected with the local school of design where many student’s parents work in the fields.
However, they have never worked on a project that revolves around thinking together about how this area can be re-designed and how we can contribute to biodiversity. I think this part of the initiative will also become part of the location’s future programming, which is about connecting with the global people, but also with the local context and actively promote the basic ideas of biodiversity and how design can engage with that.
CB: Yes, that’s true. We need to embark on this journey with all the people. Previously, we worked with our system designer to create the art piece that returned to the Maison Belle Epoque in Épernay. For the people facing difficulties and problems on the territory, looking at the art piece was nice. That was a very lovely moment for them to celebrate and appreciate the work, but it was nothing linked to their daily life.
I think that’s really important that now when we are doing a project it also means something for everybody working for the company.
The realities of climate change have driven another big year in material innovation in 2024. Here are 10 of the best solutions that have put a promising spin on cement, plastic, fur, linoleum, or even introduced something new.
For many designers and engineers experimenting with materials, the drive has been to replace high-emissions building materials as quickly and practicably as possible, with concrete regularly spotlighted for contributing as much as eight per cent of carbon emissions globally.
Others are targeting plastic, whether by replacing it with plant-based alternatives or taking different approaches to biodegradability and recycling.
Read on for 10 of the standout material innovations of this year:
Pentaform is a tech start-up focused on making gadgets from a type of plastic that dissolves in water, leaving behind only the electronic components for easy recycling.
The product – for instance, a computer or remote control – is given a thin waterproof coating on the outside to protect it from moisture, but when its housing is opened and the whole thing is submerged in water, it completely dissolves in six to eight hours.
The idea is that the plastic-water mixture is tipped down the sink or toilet so it can finish decomposing in the sewage system – a readily accessible watery composting facility.
There’s a lot of competition in the race to produce a zero-emissions concrete to meet the world’s construction needs, but one of the most promising in terms of how quickly it could be scaled up and brought to market is this solution from researchers at the University of Cambridge.
The method involves recycling old cement from demolished buildings by heating it up and reactivating the compounds within it. However, the key is how this process is executed: by piggybacking off the existing electric-powered furnaces used to recycle steel, where the cement is used in place of standard lime “flux” to purify metal.
This addresses both of the major sources of cement’s high emissions: the chemical reaction as limestone is turned into new cement, and the firing of fuels to power the high-heat kilns needed for that process.
Not everyone realises it, but fabrics that are marketed as recycled polyester are usually made from plastic bottles and other kinds of PET packaging, and not waste polyester textiles of the same kind.
One of the first textile-to-textile recycled polyesters is Kvadrat‘s Ame, which was developed with designer Teruhiro Yanagihara.
To create it, the company used chemical recycling, a group of technologies that is considered controversial. But the upside of this approach is that it can keep textiles within a closed loop and stop the death spiral of downcycling.
Sometimes the innovation is not in making something new but making us rethink something old. Christien Meindertsma aimed to rebrand linoleum and establish a new visual language for the misunderstood material with the Flaxwood tiles she created for manufacturer Dzek.
Unlike plastic-based vinyl and PVC, linoleum can be made entirely from renewable and reclaimed materials – typically linseed oil, pine resin, wood dust and chalk – and is biodegradable and endlessly remouldable.
In Flaxwood, all the pigments, coatings and backings that normally disguise its natural composition are stripped away to reveal a warm honey colour and mottled texture. The hope is that the work can help to reframe linoleum as a material of the future rather than just a holdover from the 1970s, which it is often perceived as.
The Remli lamp is made from We+‘s Remains material, a composite containing a mix of urban detritus that the studio describes as “hardly recyclable”.
The waste, gathered from construction sites around Tokyo, is ground into a powder, with molten glass acting as a binder to create a material with a finish similar to concrete.
“Remli reimagines waste materials from Tokyo as new vernacular materials,” said We+.
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co collaborated with consultant Droga5 Tokyo and fashion designer Kosuke Tsumura to create the Down-Less Down Jacket as a way of demonstrating the potential of its heat-producing Solament material.
The material utilises a particle developed by Sumitomo called CWO to absorb near-infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, and convert it into heat, warming the body “instantly”.
The material can also be used to block heat, and the company believes it could have multiple applications – for example on automobile windows.
One of the challenges with biomaterials is how to create them using sources that are abundant and won’t put further strain on the environment. Enter Omani design collective Nawa with RePit, a plastic-free filament for 3D printing made from waste date pits.
The pits are crushed and mixed with natural Omani clay and palm fibres to make an iteration of a traditional water-resistant lime mortar known as sarooj.
Nawa has made a series of decorative tiles with this material, which represents one way of making use of the nearly one million tonnes of date pits produced by the global date industry each year.
Transporting materials from Earth to the moon is prohibitively expensive, so space agencies are energetically exploring possible ways of building structures using lunar regolith.
Using meteorite dust as a substitute, the European Space Agency (ESA) 3D printed its own version of a Lego brick capable of being locked together like the famous toy building blocks.
“Our teams are working towards the future of space travel and take inspiration from not just what’s above us, but also what we can find on Earth,” said ESA science officer Aidan Cowley.
This one-off version of Ganni‘s Bou bag is made from a material by the start-up Biofluff, which claims to have developed the world’s first plant-based fur.
Unlike existing faux furs, the shaggy textile contains zero plastics or petrochemicals, according to the manufacturer. Instead, its hairy fibres are extracted from plants and agricultural waste using special enzymes that are also plant-derived.
As well as a faux fur, Biofluff makes a plant-based plush material for children’s toys.
A material innovation for the largest scale of human construction, the SM2ART Nfloor cassette panel is made of a mix of wood waste and bioplastic.
Thanks to the material properties and the shape it’s 3D printed in, it is strong enough to be used in place of conventional steel and concrete floor cassettes in high-rise buildings.
According to the research team behind it, it is also quicker to make and easier to recycle.
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