Hasta La Ideas

Nexus animation director Celyn has created a lovely film using hand drawn 2D animation to promote the Map Table, a new product from furniture brand Vitra and designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby.  

The Map Table is a flexible system that can easily re-configured: multiple tables can be stacked or connected in a range of formations, and Vitra says the product is designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of studios, offices and homes.

To highlight the product’s versatility, Celyn directed and designed a film that follows the life of a young designer who sets up her own studio. As the film progresses, the company grows and so does the number of Map Tables she needs:

The simple shapes and bold colours are inspired by picture books from Celyn’s childhood – in particular, Satomi Ichikawa’s A Child’s Book of All Seasons, which he recently re-discovered in a box in his parent’s attic.

“The beautifully illustrated book was elegantly unassuming. [It] captured the transition of the seasons in subtle detail, with a composition that implied limitless space, even within the confines of a room,” he says.

The film was commissioned with children in mind before market research revealed an older target audience, but Celyn says the picture book visuals remained a fitting concept, capturing “the process of joyful play for artists and children alike. We are all big kids at the end of the day,” he adds.

It’s the second film Nexus has produced for Vitra – Jonny Kelly used stop motion animation to create a film promoting the Tip Ton chair in 2011, below – and the latest in a series of charming productions from Celyn, who has directed music videos (including Wagon Christ’s Chunkothy, below) and spots for WWF, Coca Cola and the Guardian. See more of his work here.

Credits
Concept – Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
Direction and Design – Celyn
Producer – Beccy McCray
2D Supervisor – Dave Walker
2D animation – Stuart Doig, Maki Yohikura, Manav Dhir & Luca Toth
Composer – Dan Arthure

Visitors to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games are being given the opportunity to create giant self-portraits in a pavilion created by designer and architect Asif Khan and commissioned by Russian telecoms company MegaFon.

The pavilion is situated at the entrance to the Olympic Park and judging by these photos and the video shown below, is pretty darn cool. The 2,000 metre-squared cube features a kinetic facade that can recreate the faces of visitors from 3D scans that are made in photo booths installed within the building.

The finished portraits appear three at a time, with each one displayed eight metres tall. Created by Khan in collaboration with Basel-based engineers iart, the portraits are formed by the use of 11,000 actuators.

“Each of the 11,000 actuators carries at its tip a translucent sphere that contains an RGB LED light,” says Valentin Spiess, CEO at iart. “The actuators are connected in a bidirectional system which makes it possible to control each one individually, and at the same time also report back its exact position to the system. Each actuator acts as one pixel within the entire façade and can be extended by up to two metres as part of a three-dimensional shape or change colour as part of an image or video that is simultaneously displayed on the facade.”

According to Spiess, the process of creating a selfie at the pavilion is as “fast and simple as using a commercial photo booth”.

Khan has form with Olympic pavilions, having created the Coca-Cola Beatbox pavilion for the London 2012 Games. That piece featured a series of interlocking ETFE cushions with sound embedded within them, meaning that visitors could ‘play’ the pavilion like a musical instrument. Both the London and Sochi pavilions reflect Khan’s general interest in creating transformative structures.

“For thousands of years people have used portraiture to record their history on the landscape, buildings and through public art,” says Khan of the Sochi work. “I’m inspired by the way the world is changing around us and how architecture can respond to it. Selfies, emoticons, Facebook and FaceTime have become universal shorthand for communicating in the digital age. My instinct was to try and harness that immediacy in the form of sculpture; to turn the everyday moment into something epic. I’ve been thinking of this as a kind of digital platform to express emotion, at the scale of architecture.”

Credits:
Concept, design and architecture: Asif Khan
Interactive engineer: iart
Structural engineer: AKTII
Services engineer: Atelier 10
QS/Project management: Davis Langdon
Local/digital architect: Progress
Agency: Axis

Elroy Klee, studio de design, nous fait découvrir une série photo en utilisant des blocs de construction « Lego » en guise de perruques. Les différentes coiffures traduisent des types et des couleurs de cheveux différents, en utilisant des pièces noires, rouges et jaunes. Une nouvelle façon de voir la construction d’une coiffure.

Cheltenham Design Festival is back for a third year bringing together top names from the creative industries to explore how great design can make a difference and improve our lives.

Two days of talks and workshops this year fall under the banner of ‘Design Can…’, taking place at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham.

D&AD President Laura Jordan Bambach discusses why purpose is essential for the future of the creative industries; design luminaries Kenneth Grange and Ken Garland will be in conversation, and Garland also presents a separate event on publishing; and Erik Kessels of KesselsKramer explores the ever-expanding toolbox of the designer when it comes to telling the story of a brand.

Other speakers include Jack Schulze, founder of design consultancy BERG, on new technologies and the creative industries; hat-trick design’s Jim Sutherland discusses the joys of doing as well as viewing design; and Harriet Vine, one half of Tatty Devine, talks to the BBC’s Fi Glover about how challenging traditional design can help a business flourish.

And not forgetting graphic designer Morag Myerscough talking creativity and belonging; the European Space Agency explain how good design is a mandatory requirement in space; architectural theorist Alistair Parvin on his plan for democratizing architecture, and artist Dominic Wilcox shares his thoughts on combatting creative block.

Tickets go on sale in mid-February, with individual events costing an affordable £6, and day tickets at £20 (£10 for student and under 18s).

For more info visit cheltenhamdesignfestival.com, and follow this year’s speakers on Twitter at Twitter: twitter.com/CheltDesignFest/lists/cdf14

Cheltenham Design Festival 2013 from Cheltenham Design Festival on Vimeo.

Sometimes silly works best in advertising. Testament to this is a new campaign for McVitie’s biscuits that stars Corgi puppies, British Shorthair kittens and a big-eyed tarsier, all to highlight just how ‘sweeet’ the brand’s biccies are.

Despite featuring cute animals galore, the spots (which are by Grey London) are actually a little on the surreal side, which thankfully prevents them becoming too saccharine. And to add to the bizarreness, they are all set to retro TV show themes, including Blockbuster, Fawlty Towers and Murder She Wrote. Watch and enjoy…

Credits:
Agency: Grey London
Creative directors: Nils Leonard, Jonathan Marlow
Creative: Chris Chapman
Production company: Passion RAW
Director: Owen Trevor
Post: Absolute