Hasta La Ideas

In our second movie filmed at the opening of the new Camper store in New York, Japanese designer and Nendo founder Oki Sato admits to Dezeen that he is not very good at drawing, but that his sketches are an important first step in all of his designs. 

“I’m not a good sketcher,” Sato says. “But it’s really the story that’s the most important thing for myself. When I meet a new client, if I can’t come up with a nice story for them then it’s really difficult for me to proceed with that project.”

Despite his limitations as a draughtsman, Sato says he still starts every project with a sketch, because he believes it helps him to convey the story behind the design in the most simple way.

“The process is fairly basic,” he says. “I start from rough sketches, stupid sketches, and then we move to renderings and models. I have a feeling that when you’re a good sketcher, when you draw pictures and sketches in a very beautiful way, it makes the story a bit blurry.”

He continues: “Since I’m not good at [sketching], it helps me. [They’re] really awful sketches, but it has to be something that everyone can understand and I think that’s important. The simpler the sketches, the better the story is I think.”

Once he has sketched out his initial ideas, Sato says that it is also very important for him to make models of his designs.

“We make a lot of models,” he says. “We have three rapid prototyping machines in the studio which work 24 hours a day. We’re considering buying one or two more because it’s really important to see the form physically.”

Nendo works in a wide range of disciplines, designing large interiors like the new Camper Store in New York as well as tiny products such as Data Clip, a USB drive shaped like a paperclip. Sato says that he approaches all projects in the same way.

“I enjoy designing anything,” he says. “Whether it’s a paperclip or a big interior, it’s basically the same for me. I’m just addicted to design and I just enjoy whatever it is I’m doing.”

The key to good design, Sato believes, is simplicity.

“A good idea has to be something that you can tell your mother or a small child who knows nothing about design,” he says. “If she thinks it’s interesting, I think that’s good design.”

Watch our interview with Oki Sato on Camper’s New York store  »
See all our stories about Nendo »

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– Nendo’s Oki Sato appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our final movie from New York, design journalist Monica Khemsurov takes us to exhibitions around the Noho Design District and imparts an optimistic outlook for young designers in the city.

Khemsurov, along with her online design magazine Sight Unseen co-founder Jill Singer, set up the Noho Design District in 2010, aiming to provide an alternative platform to the ICFF trade fair.

“The idea was to be an offsite show for New York design week, in which young designers could show their work,” she says. “We wanted to make a neighbourhood that felt more intimate and had more of a fun, experimental feel than what has been shown at New York design week in the past.”

Noho is named after its location north of Houston Street in Manhattan, bounded by Broadway to the west and Bowery to the east. On the first stop of our tour, Khemsurov takes us to the district’s hub exhibition Noho Next, curated by Sight Unseen and featuring new work by twelve American designers.

Next up is the Here & There of design for travel at the showroom of design studio Various Projects, which features a canoe made from Dacron, kevlar and wood by designers  Colgate Searle and Matthias Pliessnig that Khensurov assures us is “fully functional, water safe and can be floated on a lake.”

A braided textile piece woven by New York artist Dana Barnes is picked out at the preserved 19th Century Merchant’s House Museum. “Sight Unseen invited seven American designers to install their work made with modern craft techniques,” Khensurov explains.

We then go beneath the Standard East Village hotel to the Chez Andre nightclub to see the American Design Club’s exhibition titled Trophy. “This show is about everyday trophies or objects that are momentos or that commemorate moments of your life,” Khemsurov says.

Finally, she shares her thoughts on New York design scene’s current status: “In the past five years, a lot of young designers have gone out on their own and started their own studios.

“A lot of people are producing their own work, which gives them more freedom to express themselves and make interesting and exciting design, so I think there’s never been a better time for the New York design scene.”

We drove around New York in our MINI Cooper S Paceman.

The music featured in the movie is a track called You Go To My Head by Kobi Glas. You can listen to the full version on Dezeen Music Project.

In our previous reports from New York, Willy Wong introduces the NYCxDesign festival and Stephen Burks takes us on a tour of the city’s High Line park.

See all our coverage of New York 2013 »

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time for New York design” appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: these sofas with exaggerated seams by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola are now in production with Italian furniture brand Moroso.

Thirteen modular pieces make up Urquiola‘s M.A.S.S.A.S., an acronym for Moroso Asymmetric Sofa System Adorably Stitched.

The solid forms are crossed with raised seams over the arms and backs, plus some modules have discrete pockets that sit on the outer sides of the arms.

Moroso originally debuted the prototypes in Milan last year and the production models were also displayed at ICFF 2013.

In Milan this year Patricia Urquiola presented a family of chairs influenced by the shape of a hood and a seat with a backrest wrapped in rush, both also for Moroso.

The latest sofas we’ve featured include chunky grey seating resembling jagged icebergs and a settee that breaks down into a bed, two armchairs and two footstools.

See more sofa design »
See more design by Patricia Urquiola »
See more products for Moroso »

More information from Moroso follows:

M.A.S.S.A.S., an acronym for Moroso Asymmetric Sofa System Adorably Stitched, is Patricia Urquiola’s delightful new modular sofa system that makes full use of this Italian company’s unique and highly skilled abilities as haute couture producers of soft seating. A compact and controlled shape is well-defined by cuts and lines that map out the asymmetric fabric placement. Visible, raised stitching runs around the perimeter to deconstruct the otherwise solid surface. While the structure is of polyurethane foam, its softness is the result of a bonded combination of fabric and polyester fiberfill.

There are 13 individual pieces, including chairs and sofas that can be formed into corner turning shapes in a range of sizes. Designed to go with this seating group are the Fishbone Tables. Both of these products, introduced in Milan 2012, are now in production.

Urquiola’s partnership with Moroso began in 1998 when she was asked to produce designs under her own name, making Moroso the first manufacturer to produce her work. Since then Urquiola has been working with Moroso, designing not only furniture but also her first US interior project- the New York City Moroso store. Over the years, Patrizia Moroso, creative director and Urquiola have become great friends, as evidenced by Ms. Moroso’s cherished new home in Udine, designed by Urquiola.

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for Moroso appeared first on Dezeen.

New York 2013: designers Young & Battaglia debuted a glass pendant lamp with a tiny chandelier inside for design brand Mineheart at ICCF last month.

A miniature brass chandelier sits within a hand-blown glass shade that is shaped like a light bulb but with an open bottom. Minute candles set on two tiers each give off a small glow.

Designed with chrome fittings, the lamp hangs from the ceiling on a two-metre-long braided cable. A longer cable can be supplied on request. The King Edison lamp is named after Thomas Edison, the inventor of the lightbulb, and references regal chandeliers.

Young & Battaglia have also designed wallpaper to turn any room into an Italian palazzo for Mineheart. Dezeen’s most recent stories about lamps include a chalice-shaped set with concrete bases and terracotta table lights with conical shades.

Other products launched in New York included a tap by Philippe Starck that uses half the water of a regular faucet and an elongated chair with a faceted back. We travelled to New York design week for our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. Watch Stephen Burks give a tour of the city’s High Line park here and see all our coverage of the event here.

See more lamp design »

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Young & Battaglia for Mineheart appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta showed this range of blankets in New York.

Snøhetta first presented the Mountain Fold blankets as prototypes for traditional Norwegian firm Røros Tweed tweed last year, but they’re now going into production alongside two new designs by the firm called Color Noise and Islandskap.

The Mountain Fold design features a seemingly abstract geometric design, but is meant to represent the Snøhetta mountain – after which the firm was named – when folded in a certain way.

It comes in six different colours representing six different architecture projects by the studio.

The two new designs were chosen from an internal competition between all the company’s designers.

All the blankets are made of 100% Norwegian sheep’s wool.

The range was on show at ICFF in New York last month, when Dezeen was in town as part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. Watch our first movie report from New York, in which Stephen Burks talks about how the city is evolving.

Based in Oslo and New York, Snøhetta recently broke ground on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art extension.

See all our stories about architecture by Snøhetta »
See all our stories from New York 2013 »
See more blanket designs »

Here’s some more information from Røros Tweed:

At the 2013 ICFF, Røros Tweed, the traditional Norwegian Blanket manufacturer, announced the American launch of several new blankets designed by Snøhetta: the Snøhetta Mountain Fold, Color Noise, and Islandskap.

The first design was announced last year when the Mountain Fold was commissioned by Paul Makovsky of Metropolis Magazine, curator of the Inside Norway booth at ICFF 2012. The design was produced as a prototype but due to the overwhelmingly positive response, it will be available at American retailers in August 2013.

By following the strict graphic pattern, the Snøhetta Mountain Fold can be folded into the profile of the mountain Snøhetta at Dovre in Norway, the namesake of the architecture and design studio. The blanket is available in 6 different colors representing 6 different architectural projects designed by Snøhetta.

Each blanket can be also arranged or folded in a different way, presenting itself with different amount of pattern and color, and may serve as a blanket pillow due to its puffy nature when folded.

Following the success of the Mountain Fold blanket, Snøhetta has developed two additional designs, both representing a graphic presentation of architecture in abstract forms. Islandskap and Color Noise were developed after Snøhetta held an internal contest amongst all of its designers from New York and Oslo.

Retailers carrying the Røros Tweed brand include Anthropologie, Design Within Reach and Scandinavian House. Røros Tweed blankets are made out of 100% Norwegian high quality sheep wool.

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for Røros Tweed appeared first on Dezeen.