Hasta La Ideas

After he completed his Masters degree at the Institut Supérieur de Design in his home country, Maxence Derremaux left France for San Francisco, which he describes as “the intersection of art and commerce, high style and DIY, globabl awareness and local engagement.” His concept for a new approach to earbud assembly, a personal project with a certain high-end audio company in mind, recently caught my eye.

Citing headphones’ general lack of repairability, Derremaux set out to design a more versatile earbud, figuratively dismantling the glue-based assembly process of cheap ‘phones.

The result is indeed worthy of B&O: the geometric form factor is based on a keystone-like wedge, which slots into a Y-shaped clamp element. Additional images in his personal website illustrate the parts—a series of rings, spacers, plates and caps—which strike me as perfect candidates for 3D-printable replacement parts.

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Alexandra Baker is one half of Asheville, NC-based studio DNA Illustrations, specializing in medical graphics for editorial and commercial clients. Along with partner David Baker, she has some “20 years of experience working with images dealing with surgery, anatomy, disease process, patient education and immunology.”

Baker’s been on track to be a medical illustrator—a highly specialized niche which requires an eye for detail and a steady hand, not unlike medical practitioners themselves—since her undergrad days at UGA, and her work has garnered many accolades over the years.

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Industrial designer Jean-Marc Sheitoyan is currently a Project Manager at Quebec’s Mawashi Protective Clothing, Inc., where he’s designed several ‘personal equipment’ products since he started working there over five years ago. In keeping with the company’s commitment to developing “new solutions and made significant enhancements to existing products for law enforcement, corrections, military and industrial personnel,” Sheitoyan’s portfolio includes protective gear as well as apparel for industrial applications.

The Tactical Knee and Elbow Protection is perhaps the most explicitly biomimetic of Sheitoyan’s designs: in order to improve the flexibility and range of motion of knee and elbow pads for tactical situations, he started by 3D scanning a lobster tail and refining the model for manufacturing.

Similarly, the Blunt Trauma Protective Suit, for which Sheitoyan was responsible for product management and marketing, took “inspiration from an Armadillidium Vulgare to develop articulated rigid armor plates to enhance the mobility and flexibility of protective suits.”

The Industrial Load Transfer Belt, on the other hand (or torso, as it were), is an adjustable, one-size-fits-all belt that is designed to “transfer the load of a wireless crane controller onto the body’s musculoskeletal center axis.” Specifically, Mawashi created the belt for an industrial aluminum client—”molten metal transfer crucibles” were the cargo in the original brief. “The system features two telescopic arms with adjustable angle, and a quick-release mechanism.”

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The sculpting of ice for most New Yorkers involves rainbow-colored shaved iced cones in the summers or yellow snow in the winter. Fortunately for the natives of Tannforsen, Sweden, they can enjoy winter the way nature intended. One such person is Susan Christianen who recently completed this interior design project for the Tannforsen Igloos. A graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven, Netherlands, Christianen has worked with several ice hotels. Several of these projects and others can be seen here on coroflot.

The Tannforsen Igloos are located on the slope of the Tannforsen waterfall which freezes every winter. Among these cold months construction begins on these igloos, usually finished around Christmas time. The constructors of the space realized that similarly to a solidified interior, this ice igloo would require decoration. In collaboration with Anna Ohlund, Susan Christianen produced these stunning, sculptural facades that bring multiple elements of nature into this visceral space. Inspired by the tree of life Anna utilizes the root work of the tree to harmonize two different spaces, or contain a given room.

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Within this world of rapid prototyping and sleek renderings the notion of something being created to evoke deterioration, or a worn look, seems a bit nostalgic. Every product seems to be sporting a brushed aluminum surface or otherwise a sterile finish.

The case however for Sayan Chanda’s project “Fabric Construction” would suggest otherwise against this new-old look. Unlike the trend of retro products that have been sprouting up, Chandra is replicating a natural process onto a different medium—akin to the rust and patina that a vintage car wears or wooden doors constantly exposed to the elements wither and peel.

That natural chemical reaction is reproduced and controlled to create the exposed and distressed fabric you see before you. A multitude of processes were used to create this effect, almost all involving acid and basic stitching techniques.

Using skills that he learned at India’s National Institute of Design, Chanda’s fabric designs mimic the wear of the paint and wood. The fabrics display the weave and at times highlight the flaws of the fabric. The idea of creating the inconsistencies in a product aligns itself to making a retro product. Both are tapping into the texture of time yet these textile designs wear with time just as the wooden doors have.

As a textile design major Chanda is always seeking ways to create something new from already existing materials as reflected in his other works.

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