Hasta La Ideas

Stunning explorations in physical interface design from an MIT Media Lab student

by Meghan Killeen

Boasting a list of innovations of sci-fi proportions, designer and researcher Marcelo Coelho paints a future that is both accessible and immediate. Referencing daily materials and human behavior, Coelho creates objects that feel technologically tailored and socially integrated. After completing his BFA in Computation Arts at Montreal’s Concordia University, Coelho relocated to Cambridge, MA, where he is currently a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab as a member of Fluid Interfaces Group. Focused on enhancing the human-computer relationship, Fluid designs interfaces that are as informational as they are experiential by seamlessly integrating digital content with the physical world.

Projects include luminary technology like Coelho’s magnetic lighting installation, “Six-Forty by Four-Eighty,” created in collaboration with studio partner (and co-creator behind the Rube Goldberg music video for OK Go) Jamie Zigelbaum for the 2010 Design Miami/Basel forum. The 220 pixel-tiles that comprise the installation are modified in color, wall placement and lighting speed, with the human touch serving as an inter-connective conduit between each tile. By bringing the pixels off the screen and on the wall, the focus is on “the materiality of computation itself”—an innovative concentration that earned Zigelbaum + Coelho the 2010 W Hotels Designer of the Future Award.

Merging the fundamentals of technology with edible essentials, Coelho (in collaboration with Amit Zoran) have pioneered the culinary futurism of “digital gastronomy” with a conceptual design called Cornucopia. Featuring four prototypes, the project examines the fusion of ingredients in harmony with new cooking modalities. “Cornucopia emerged from a desire to imagine what it would be like to cook with the aid of computer-controlled machines, which could not only help with the food manipulation process but also bring in massive amounts of information,” explains Coelho. Ranging from a customizing candy maker (The Digital Chocolatier) to a 3D food printer (The Digital Fabricator), each prototype encourages experimentation with food.

Coelho proves that the discerning palate isn’t just relegated to cooking with his Art-O-Meter prototype, a device that evaluates the artistic taste of an attending audience at an art exhibition. Using a sensor, the Art-O-Meter records the amount of time that the viewer stands in front of the artwork, which is measured against the total length of time for the exhibition. Despite the ingenuity of the product, Coelho indicates that the response was divided into two camps—”the people who loved it because now they could finally tell the good art from the bad art, and people who hated it because they believed that now science was able to measure the quality of an artwork in a quantitative way.”

Again mixing organic materials with scientific application, Coelho creates computers out of a substrate of paper and circuit boards using a method dubbed “pulp-based computing” Coelho says this project “shows how we can create artifacts that behave in computational ways but still carry with them the physical and cultural qualities that we normally associate with paper.” He envisions this method as manifesting in the potential forms of self-updating boarding passes or digital newspapers that mimic the texture and behavior of the printed format.

Coelho continues to explore human interaction with technology through kinetic clothing designs created in conjunction with electronic textile studio, XS Labs. “Developing a new kind of kinetic fabric was a way to create a textile display that looked and felt like fabric, rather than an LED screen,” states Coelho. The designs display anthropomorphic functions like body heat activated coloration and a floral accent that blooms every 15 seconds.

Looking towards the future, Coelho observes, “Technology plays an incredible role at reconfiguring how we experience the world and the really exciting part is that the human-computer chapter has barely started.”

Coelho’s luminescent installation project, “Six-Forty by Four-Eighty” will be on display at the W Hotels St. Petersburg Premiere Event and then at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in June 2011.

The Audi Icons series, inspired by the all-new Audi A7, showcases 16 leading figures united by their dedication to innovation and design.

Upcycled bags, flip-book necklaces and more in our picks from three satellite design fairs

by Alexandra Polier

As ICFF kicks into high gear this week in NYC, so do a number of satellite design fairs showcasing the work of hundreds of talented international designers. Alternatives to the ICFF provide a venue for the many independents who find the big tradeshow prohibitively expensive, but not all the offshoots are necessarily created equal. Some, like Model Citizens, have a few years of experience that positions themselves as a serious outlet for independent design. Other less-established exhibitions as well as more critically-minded formats make for showcases with more edge then standard fare.

Model Citizens

Since starting three years ago, Model Citizens has grown to include 100 designers from Holland to
DUMBO. Founder Mika Braakman hopes to track the trajectory of
these strong individuals, who will no doubt be trend-leaders a decade
from now.

Brooklyn-based John D’Aponte playfully weaves history into his designs, upcycling vintage textiles into bags and luggage.

Boston-based artist Debra Folz designs and manufactures contemporary furniture and tabletop accessories. Her Whole Story Photo Albums are a hybrid of traditional
bookbinding and contemporary engineering that allow them to stand
independently but also to expand.

Industrial designer Emily Rothschild, whose work has been displayed at Cooper Hewitt
National Design Museum, brings whimsy to jewelry with “pinky wings” and flip-book necklaces that create a low-tech animation when spun.

Brooklyn-based designer Niels Cosman’s handcrafted CMYK Cabinet features highly-decorative doors composed of hundreds glass hexagons. The RISD Glass Department adjunct and alum took inspiration from Shaker furniture and traditional farm-style furniture that used chicken wire in place of glass.

Most inspiring at Model Citizen were Mike Seto and
David Kim of Click Boom Pow, whose
holistic design approach focuses on user experience and cultural
impact. Their NRM Project (New Role Models) are benches that have been
painted by a select group of artists including Milton Glaser and
installed throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan. The idea is to give New
Yorkers a place to sit and reflect this summer, while inspiring others to
donate good design.

Snug-it, a modular furniture system, uses three joiners to configure wood or glass planks into a variety of pieces—from beds to shelves—that can then evolve with your needs.

Shown as part of Duran Vanderpoort’s “How it’s made, and why it’s so f*cking expensive,” this “Ready-Made” ($11,410) by Dutch designer Borre Akkersdijk is the result of his use of mattress-production machines to create prefab pattern pieces that he then sews into garments.

Wanted Design

Just a few blocks down from ICFF is another new independent, Wanted Design. Sprawled out over most of the first floor of the Terminal Building, this hardly looks like an independent design fair and more like a well-styled showroom, complete with a coffee bar from Le Colombe.

Founders Claire Pijoulat and Odile Hainaut brought their French sensibility and 29 established designers together to create a stunning event. From lighting designers
like Les Heritiers, Francois Brument and Triode to furniture-makers Tabisso and Olivier Dolle (“Bibliothèque Branche” pictured above), the French genius was well represented.

Ligne Roset showed off their new Philippe Nigro-designed collection, which included a series of metal pendant lamps that can hang solo or be clustered together to hang as a chandelier.

The dramatic lighting of David Trubridge, whose colorful Seed System packs flat and then expands to all sizes—including floor to ceiling.

Voos, the Brooklyn shop devoted to work by local designers, introduced two items that bring a little nature indoors. Fort Standard’s Terra terrarium ($6,550) is a free-standing icosahedron for 360-degree viewing of the 20-year-old bonsai inside. The Dino Lamp by Deger Cengiz combines a flexible neck with a small container, all covered in felt for the fuzzy ultimate in practical desk accessories.

A transcontinental collaboration between Vienna-based designer Christiane Büssgen and Mexican designer Jesús Alonso led to Project Avolution, an experiment in food resulting in a beautifully simple set of wooden serving dishes and a ceramic bowl modeled after an avocado.

Finally the Whyte Label by Joe Doucet, a new
collection of bespoke furniture and objects that pushed the boundaries
of concept and craftsmanship, was a standout.

Doucet also had on view his Presence piece, which highlights the “rarefied craftsmanship of porcelain artisans,” as well as a beautiful marble puzzle that is as perfect for some grown-up fun as it is displayed on a coffee table.

Brokenoff

The idea of concept was very much on everyone’s mind, as a few of the
participants at Wanted (including Doucet) have also worked to create the Brokenoff exhibition at Gallery R’Pure in tribute to their friend, the late designer
Tobias Wong. Blurring the boundary between conceptual art and design, Wong’s work questioned the value system of objects and pretensions of designers with wit, satire and humor.

Wong launched onto the scene in 2001 with “This is a Lamp”—a take on the famous Philippe Starck chair. Ten years later he was gone. Doucet and other
celebrated NYC-based designers such as Brad Ascalon, Stephen Burks, Josee
Lepage, Frederick McSwain, Marc Thorpe, Dror Benshetrit, Todd Bracher
and David Weeks spoke in a round table about their tribute exhibition,
sharing their favorite Tobi moments with the crowd, a rare insight
into the personality of the young designer.

The group had been
working together with Wong in 2010 to create an exhibition of their
own just weeks before Wong’s tragic death. “When we started meeting
and talking about this exhibition we weren’t sure what the outcome
would be,” said Thorpe. “Now we know, this is the point, this is the
outcome.” Doucet adds, “He wanted us to get uncomfortable.”

Materials for Product Development, Design & Architecture International Trade Fair & Conference Top industrial companies present the entire ran..

Light up your skin with a tattoo inspired by Marcel Wanders’ intricately designed lamps for Flos

Creating a true “only in New York” moment during the upcoming ICFF happenings, Flos has teamed up with one of the city’s top tattoo artists to celebrate Dutch designer Marcel Wanders‘ new lamp for the renowned Italian lighting specialist. The event marking its launch will leave a few lucky guests with a permanent entry stamp, as tattoo artist extraordinaire Scott Trerrotola applies one of three custom-created tattoos, each modeled after previous designs Wanders’ made for Flos.

The three designs on offer during “Get Lit, Get Ink’d” are interpretations of Wanders’ Skygarden, Can Can and Chrysalis lamps—the latter two just introduced at the recent Salon del Mobile in Milan. The tattoos will be done by appointment only, at the Flos showroom in SoHo on 15 May 2011. To make an appointment, call +1 212 353 1383.

Back in February, you might recall, the Smithsonian‘s American Art Museum launched a kind of crowdsourced curating effort, asking people to vote for titles to display as part of next year’s The Art of Video Games exhibition. So popular was the site that it crashed due to the volume of visitors almost immediately and then was extended for several weeks to make sure they’d be able to both capture all the votes and garner that much more attention for what’s sure to be one of their most popular exhibitions in recent history. Now the list of the 80 winning games has been announced (pdf). Browsing through the list, you’ll see of course you have your expected fare, like Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers, but there are a handful of surprises in there as well, like 1983′s Commodore 64 game, Attach of the Mutant Camels, which is the first thing we’re eager to check out when the exhibition opens in March of 2012. Here’s video of the official announcement of the winning games, apparently shot inside of the Smithsonian’s private spaceship:

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