Hasta La Ideas

In contrast to the FLIZ bicycle we saw yesterday, designer Andrew Mitchell’s Ultra Long Distance Wheelchair concept is an as-yet-unrealized mobility solution for exactly what it sounds like: “Touring bicycles aren’t as stripped back as their race equivalent. Grand Touring cars exist to make race cars for the road. This wheelchair follows those principles, make a race wheelchair for ultra long distance use.”

In order to “take advantage of the research that goes into weight reduction and performance” in the high-end bicycle category, Mitchell has incorporated components such as disc brakes and the design language of cycling. He also acknowledges this reference point imparts “highly visible cues to the performance nature of the design.”

Indeed, Mitchell notes that the distinctive form has a psychological advantage in addition to the physical one: not only does the aggressive inverted teardrop shape—characterized by its hummingbird-like proboscis—extend the wheelbase for stability, it looks fast.

Much work has been done on the psychological performance that can be gained from having equipment and kit that looks like it is meant to perform. That is why many of the performance components on the design have attention drawn to them through colour and placement in a prominent position.

Of course, these features aren’t just for show—Mitchell has done his homework in terms of ergonomics, and physiological considerations are paramount:

The positioning of the rider is very important to ensure maximum efficiency. By keeping the shoulders over the front edge of the driving wheels, the whole body position can be engaged by the rider to provide maximum power. The body and legs are in a more open position, giving good breathing potential, and placing less strain on the lower limbs.

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The clever rEvolution wineglass (above) is exactly the sort of potentially-iconic design that might be distinctive enough for Martin Jakobsen to make his name… but in case it’s not, the Czech designer has some glasswares to show for Danish houseware brand Mojoo.

Kkis—the name a twist on the romantic gesture—is billed as the “first ice cream canapé.” It’s literally an extension of the original idea behind the rEvolution wineglass, albeit the final form is rather less intuitive, something like an abstracted flower turned into a glass lollipop.

Meanwhile, the KarPPi pitcher and Himo stemless glass are also part of the rEvolution collection. The “attractive organic design resembles the shape of a fish and a water drop,” respectively, alluding to the fact that just as “a fish needs water to live, a man needs to drink.”

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We’ve (flot)spotted some of NZ-based Richard Clarkson‘s work before and we’re always curious to see what he’s working on. His latest project, the f(x) Chair, has more in common with his more cerebral Rotary Smartphone concept than his rather more straightforward, papasan-like Cradle.

The f(x) chair is an exploration of mixing and mashing different seating contexts. At its core is an application created through Processing & Grasshopper, a powerful generative 3D modelling plugin for Rhino. The app allows a user to mix and match any standard context with any standard “seating task.” For instance if a user wants a seat in the kitchen with which to also work in the outcome would look somewhat like a stool—office chair hybrid. The power of the app then comes from the ability to adjust the percentages of the mix, i.e 20% kitchen / 80% work.

Where his fellow Kiwis’ “Sketchchair” was based on a similarly digital concept, Clarkson’s f(x) Chair generates results that might be considered as the polar opposite of the SketchChair: both programs allow for customization, but Clarkson’s application suggests the drawbacks of a pseudo-scientific approach to furniture design.

Ironically this mixing of contexts often creates a hybrid which rather than suiting both contexts actually doesn’t suit either, but I argue that this is the beauty of this system. These hybrids allow users to interpret seating in new ways, derived away from the conventional seat to customizable “body support systems.”

Although the final product—doughy globs slapped onto a wire frame—looks like a fascinating experiment in itself, it would be difficult to deduce the design process from any given prototype.

The location, size and fluidity of the blobs are predefined within the app by the user and can be adjusted to suit the users desired comfort levels. The base frame is exported out and CNC bent into sections which are welded together. A nylon web like mesh is then ‘spun’ on the frame. Expanding Polyurethane foam is then robotically blobbed onto points of the web. This manufacturing technique allows for true customization by doing away with moulds or wasteful subtraction manufacturing processes. The intermingling of these elements, rod frame (structure), web (sub-structure) and blobs (comfort) form a relationship in which each element enhances the qualities of the other, for instance the blobs strengthen the web and in return the web gives extra flexibility and thus comfort to the blobs.

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From Milan via Coroflot: the “Teka” OLED lamp, a sculptural lighting object “inspired by Vienna museum displays, first microscopes and scientific instruments in brass.” Industrial designer Alessandro Squatrito spent the eight months leading up to this year’s Salone working for Aldo Cibic and Tommaso Corà of Italy’s CibicWorkshop, the designers behind the piece and three others for the Wonderoled exhibition at the Triennale.

The 15 OLED discs—the “result of the latest advances in nanotechnology”—are arrayed on a brass chassis, set within an aquarium-like vitrine. It’s like a vaguely steampunk-y version of Humans Since 1982’s artier “Collection of Light” or People People’s Invisible Speaker, a design object that’s entirely at home in a museum setting.

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As in Bruno Serrao’s take on a minimal workspace with plenty of hidden storage, which is something like a desk-sized tacklebox (or jewelry box), the minimalist form of Michael Bambino’s “Tambour” table belies a clever storage solution. Where Serrao’s desk might be suited to OCD-types, Bambino’s version is like something that Dieter Rams would design for a computer geek.

While the “Tambour” table is a cable management system at heart, it’s based on a clever mechanism that allows easy access to a shallow storage area beneath the surface.

The tabletop can be gently pushed away to reveal power, usb connections, and compartments that allow the user to store items or quickly clear the table surface. The tambour of the tabletop allows the table to be placed against a wall. To plug into an outlet or usb the user opens the table, plugs in, and closes the table to find that the wire has been maneuvered into the cutout in the tabletop, keeping all wire clutter protected and out of sight.

Its name refers to the traditional enclosed writing desks, a sectional rolling-door mechanic that is now more commonly seen drawn (á la blinds) on urban storefronts during non-business hours. The Brooklyn-based enigneer-turned-ID’er has updated the classic design by setting the slats at slight angles—radially from the axis of rotation—such that the fall flush with the back edge of the desk. When the surface is fully rotated, the desk resembles a large box with the lid set off-center, with one corner ‘folded’ down.

Those are USB charging slots in the top right corner; it’s easier to see them in the video below:

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