Hasta La Ideas

This site-specific urban furniture designed for the seafront in Rijeka,Croatiavisually merges two landscapes: the harbour and the city. Boat buoys hav..

Milan 2012: visitors were invited to sit in a chair hooked up to advanced stress-analysis equipment normally used in the car industry at an installation by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram for car brand Audi in Milan last month.

Above: Alice Rawsthorn, New York Times design critic

Data collected from the R18 Ultra Chair Public Beta tests will be used to hone the structure and shape of the final chair, which will be presented at Design Miami in December.

Above: Paola Antonelli, MoMA curator

Movies of every test can be viewed on the project website.

Above: Max Fraser, deputy director of London Design Festival

Weisshaar and Kram previously worked with Audi to install eight robotic arms in London’s Trafalgar Square to scrawl messages across the sky.

Above: Marcus Fairs, Dezeen editor-in-chief

See all our stories about their work here.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April.

See all our stories about Milan 2012 here, plus photos on Facebook and Pinterest.

Here’s some more information from Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram:

Audi and the designers Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram are pleased to announce their project for the Salone Internazionale del Mobile Milan 2012:

R18 Ultra Chair – Public Beta

Designed by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram for Audi

For their groundbreaking new venture, the designers are developing a chair within a public testing environment in collaboration with Audi’s Lightweight Design Centre using methods borrowed from the future of automotive manufacturing.

The R18 Ultra Chair consists of three main components: a carbon composite seat, a carbon-rubber composite back rest and aluminium alloy legs which can be compacted and transported in a lightweight flat-pack box.

Its genesis incorporates crowd-sourced data acquired through thousands of testing sessions using advanced industrial sensors whose data is processed by custom algorithms to adjust the final geometry and construction of the end product accordingly.

Visitors to the installation are invited to use the chair and view their unique physical impact on it displayed via a video wall inside the testing booth. Hundreds of industrial sensors integrated into the prototype capture every movement and simultaneously display it as a realtime false colour force simulation, thus exposing and visualising the flow of forces normally hidden from the human eye.

The purpose of this live laboratory is to gather user data in order to optimise the final product and shed every gram of excess weight. Every testing session will be documented as a personalised video and sent back to each visitor by email link to watch and share with friends. After the PUBLIC BETA phase, all crowd-sourced data will be fed into the chair’s design parameters and its production adapted as necessary.

The R18 Ultra Chair – Public Beta installation will take place in the courtyard of the 18th Century Palazzo Clerici, Milan from April 17 to 22, 2012 during the 51st Salone Internazionale del Mobile. The final product will be presented to the public in December 2012 at Design Miami.

The chair’s namesake is the 24 Hours of Le Mans winning Audi R18 race car. Audi has dominated Le Mans with its cutting edge technology for the past decade and won 10 races since 2000. As part of the installation the Le Mans 2011 winning Audi R18 will be exhibited alongside the PUBLIC BETA testing lab. The carbon fibre monocoque chassis with an Audi TDI 3.7 litre V6 engine and total weight of only 900kg represents the ultimate in lightweight construction – Audi ULTRA.

Audi Ultra stands for state of the art lightweight construction, technology and design aimed at streamlining and optimising efficiency across the board. This begins with the raw materials sourced for production all the way through various manufacturing stages, the operation of the vehicle, its fuel consumption and its deconstruction and recyclability at the end of its life cycle.

Each stage of the chair’s design, construction and transport is guided by the rigorous principles laid out by the ULTRA paradigm and its holistic application. ULTRA’s specific focus on the intelligent combination of materials stresses the implementation of the optimum material for every given purpose resulting in a sophisticated multi-material space-frame.

The legendary Domus Magazine will be hosting a concurrent exhibition entitled OPEN DESIGN ARCHIPELAGOS curated by editor-in-chief Joseph Grima on the upper floors of the historical Palazzo Clerici.

The legendary designer on art and design, working with a rock star and staying fresh after 20 years with Kartell

Known nearly as much for his confident and quirky personality as for his innovative use of single mould injected polycarbonate, Philippe Starck has spent the last few decades changing the norm in product design. From an alien-like lemon juicer for Alessi to organically-inspired sofas for Cassina, Starck has expanded minds with innovative—and sometimes questionable—designs as one of the most prolific designers in contemporary culture.

While in Milan for Design Week we had the rare chance to catch up with the “über designer” himself during the debut of his latest collection for Italian furniture brand Kartell. Standing among a sea of cameras and curious fans, Starck reflected on his history with the iconic brand, working with a rock star-turned-furniture designer and the relationship between art and design.

After roughly 20 years working with Kartell, how does one continue to find inspiration?

Kartell is not a company, it is a philosophy. Thirty years ago I had this intuition that the future must be democratic, and I invented the idea of democratic design. Which is rising the quality, cutting the price and trying to give it to everybody. The only weapon, the only tool I found to do it was monolithic injected plastic. Twenty years ago it was not easy and the only company that had this philosophy was Kartell.

That’s why today everybody says that this booth is the center of the fair. Yes, it is because we deserve it. Because 30 years ago, even before the family of Claudio Lutti, Kartell had this vision. And I can tell you at this time it wasn’t very fashionable to speak about injected plastic this way—it meant cheap, bad things for low people and things like that. We had the courage to built a real proposal, a philosophical proposal, a political proposal. And finally we won. Because we are now at the beginning of the decline of Western Occidental civilization. People have less money but still want quality because we know what is quality, it’s difficult to change. And we must reinvent ourselves and reinvent our new economy of poverty. And Kartell is in the right place to do it.

Speaking of reinvention, we recently spoke with Lenny Kravitz about his collaboration with you and Kartell. Can you tell us a bit about how it all came about?

Lenny is a friend of my daughter’s and finally after years she introduced me and we became friends. One day Lenny told me ‘I want to become an architect, a designer’. I said Lenny you are smart, very smart. When I see your different houses I am very impressed. Perhaps you can become a designer, become an architect. That’s why I brought him into the new SLS Miami Hotel and I brought him to Kartell. And you know where the design is boring him. You have thousands of models here and it’s always the same proposal—the same angle of view. Lenny can bring the fresh air of the night. Designers, we are from the day. He is from the night. We wake up at seven, he goes to sleep at seven. That changes the angle of view. We shall see. He is a young designer, he starts today. He has to work, so we shall see. But he is in a good position, he is very very smart.

How do you feel about the transformation of your work through the materials he chose?

It’s him. You know I don’t want anybody to tell me what I have to do. I don’t want to tell Lenny what he has to do. We gave him a chair. We gave him a nice opportunity to play with it and make what he wants. It’s life, we have to keep his freshness in mind.

Do you find bringing younger people into your office helps to keep your design fresh?

Not the design. The life. Myself. I don’t try to be young, I try to be timeless. And to work with young people, to be married with a young beautiful wife, to have a young baby of 10 months—that makes me timeless, because I’m old now. That makes a difference. For example Friday morning we leave and Friday at noon I will be at my table working like a devil.

This liveliness and a lack of a strong geometric presence seems to shine through in your latest candlestick design, Abbracciao. What else inspired its form?

I’ve never just been about strict geometric, I’ve been known even more for organic lines. I have enough imagination to make both, or more. But this candle piece I made with Maggiar is about the magic of love. Because if you see the two pieces alone they cannot stand up, but together they make an art piece. This is about love. That’s why we decide to do it and I thank Maggiar for bringing this very nice idea, this very iconic and simple idea.

You referred to Abbracciao as an “art piece” just now, for you is there a difference between art and design object?

Clearly, it’s not the same word. It is not an art object, just a symbol of love. I am not an artist. I am just trying to be a designer, but it is not enough. And I’m not sure that the confusion now between art and design is very good for design. It is very good for art, because they have nothing more to say. But in design, finally we are more rich than in art.

Our interview with the honorary designer and co-curator of the NYC-based art and design showcase

by Matt Domino

BOFFO was founded in 2008 as a means of fostering artist collaboration and inspiration in the design world during a time of financial and, for many young architects and designers, spiritual crisis. Nearly four years later, Faris Al-Shathir and Gregory Sparks, BOFFO ‘s founders, asked designer Andrew YES to be the honorary designer and co-curator of the first BOFFO Show House, running from 15 May through 4 June at NYC’s Madison Jackson building.

To create custom designs specifically tailored for the space YES has been working closely with various designers and architects. The show itself will sprawl across four duplex condominium units with each separate unit expressing a theme—Work, Nature, Future, and Play. YES will also present some of his own designs and work at the BOFFO Show House. Some of which will include Persian Helmet Lights, which are draped with chain mail and would seem to fit at home in a medieval gathering hall; a Van Eyck Mirror that alludes to the legendary Arnolfini Portrait and is framed with recycled wood and hand-made Flemish suede; a 62″ Fossil Meeting Table inspired by the equality implied in King Arthur’s round table and made of grey marble with real mollusk fossils embedded in its matrix; and Surreal Pillow Balls, which are Andrew YES latest creation.

We recently talked with YES about the BOFFO Show House, his ongoing work with Mr. Al-Shathir and Mr. Sparks as well as his aspirations as a rising designer in New York.

What is your primary thought when designing an item? Functionality? Overall design?

I see functionality in every piece I create. Some things that we think are not functional actually have a deeper function in our psyche. Materials and art inspire me. I think about who will enjoy the design, and how it will improve the lives of people experiencing it.

What piece of yours that will appear in the show is your favorite?

I’d say my “Pillow Ball” collections, which are spherical, down-filled pillows made in sets of three. The set comes with pillows in diameters of 9″, 12″, 15″ and clients can personalize larger sizes if they want. Collection themes include: Batiks, Cosmic, Tapestry, and Surreal. I feel that each different theme has a color or texture that will find a match for each different person.

How do you decide on a color scheme when you design something?

Colors are determined by the pieces of art and design that I find in my clients spaces, as well as the energy of a space and the light. Yellow and happy colors have always been big colors for me.

How did you get involved with BOFFO?

My work caught the attention of Greg [Sparks] and Faris [Al-Shathir] during the 2009 BOFFO artists residency in an old Bible factory in Brooklyn Heights. This year they invited me to develop the first BOFFO Show House for which I am also curator.

How does your work fit into the BOFFO aesthetic and story?

BOFFO’s modern, multifaceted, and young spirit resonates with my work.

Can you describe what each different section of the show (Work, Nature, Future Play) means to you?

I thought that the common denominator for every New Yorker’s apartment was embodied in those four themes. “Work” is designed with creative and physical work in mind. “Nature” is meant to be psychedelic and vibrant and full of surprises. “Future” features sacred geometries and “alien” light. “Play” is designed as a super cool space that is still in progress and features a bedroom for someone with a sense of fun, of daring.

What result from the show would satisfy you?

Prove one more time that BOFFO is a germinator of great talent. I want to see everybody to succeed.

Milan 2012: Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc presented a set of outdoor furniture and lamps like huge pink bubbles at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan.

The Summertime collection includes folding chairs with metallic pink frames and black leather seats, and a table with turnkeys at the sides so the top flips upright to become a blackboard.

The Bubble lamps are blown from pink glass with black holders and come in 45 or 60cm diameters.

See more work by Nika Zupanc on Dezeen here.

Bubble lamps were also presented by Swedish designers Front at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, although theirs blow actual soap bubbles every few seconds – check it out here.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here, and check out photos on Facebook and Pinterest.

Top image is by Saša Hess. Product photos are by Dragan Arrigler.

Here are some more details from Zupanc:

Another year, and a bunch of new poems for taking Milan out of its comfort zone. This time, Nika Zupanc is bringing with her a squat of innocent looking pieces that mindfully explore the limits of the industry when it comes to emotional effect and the juxtaposition of materials.

Zupanc has no intention of taking anything lightly so she makes something as forgiving as summer a hostage for the quest of finding novel expressions to transgress the rationalism, utilitarism and practical common sense. To accomplish this, she uses her poetic judgment, inner battles with stereotypes and long-lasting affairs with technologies.

The ultimate design repertoire, consisting of a lamp, a chair and a table, are now taken into a completely wild territory: the summery outdoors. Numerous interpretations of their generic nature equip the objects with a disturbing beauty and defamiliarization of collective summer memories brings an uncanny allure to the Summertime collection. The Bubble lamps are made of an extraordinary pink glass, produced by Vistosi brand with centenary tradition in glass of Murano for Nika Zupanc. But the flourish blow up of rosa antico is what makes them an intruder to the mise-en-scène of dying glory of Lord Byron’s Venice. Foldable Summertime chairs with their red gold embroidered seat cushions are unsettlingly engaging, while the Summertime table in its noir surface and toy-like winding mechanism hides the potential of an impromptu blackboard or a mirror, your own private vanity fair.

Summertime

The sweet feeling of forever and the permanent bitter lack of nowness are the main characteristics that Nika Zupanc extracts from summer and multiplies in her objects du jour.

The Summertime pieces are stripped down to pure form, to their utilitarian value only to be inflated with poetic longing.

In the quest of finding new ways to transgress the practical common sense and to test its limits of emotive effects, Zupanc argues technologies and ways predominantly associated with the so called boys club and their playground. To accomplish this, she uses her poetic judgment, inner battles with stereotypes and long-lasting affairs with technologies.

The repertoire with which Nika Zupanc likes to play hard consists of a lamp, a chair and a table. A true classic is this time taken into a completely wild territory: the summery outdoors, resulting in numerous interpretations of their generic nature. The iconic summer elements and sounds of seagulls have to survive in a new context. Defamiliarization of viewer’s perception of these memories is something that brings an uncanny allure to the collection.

The Bubble lamps are made of an extraordinary pink glass, produced by Vistosi brand with centenary tradition in glass of Murano for Nika Zupanc. But the flourish blow up of rosa antico is what makes them an intruder to the mise-en-scène of dying glory of Lord Byron’s Venice. Foldable Summertime chairs with their red gold embroidered ancors and tubular metal frames are unsettlingly engaging, while the Summertime table in its noir surface and toy-like winding mechanism hides the potential of an impromptu blackboard or a mirror, your own private vanity fair.

Bubble lamp – a natural born intruder

Taking Venetian street lamps for a hostage of its poetic needs is what you will come to expect from this illuminator of the most mischievous kind. That it unprecedentedly blows up the proportions of Murano glass and does so in pink implies its role of an invader to the mise-en-scène of Lord Byron‘s Venice. Perfectly shaped, it silently glows with no buzz or fuzz, like it is just waiting for the next vaporetto. Its misplaced beauty is noticed instantly, even from across the room.

Materials: glass, metal
Glass blowing produced by Vistosi brand with centenary tradition in glass of Murano.
Colours: pink glass, black lamp holder
Lamp diameter: 60 and 45 cm

Summertime chair – the disruption of the outdoors

With its strong foldable tubular metal frame it could have been just another well-behaved object, resisting the demanding life in lush gardens, however, it has a more subversive role to play. Dipped in red gold colour it brings an uncanny allure to the sweet tackiness of summer memories. In the meantime the embroidery of an iconic summer visual, an anchor, stirs up a palette of novel connotations, finally allowing you to have an affair with this post-suburban bad boy gone red gold.

Materials: tubular metal frame, shark outdoor textile, embroidery
Colours: black upholstery, red gold frame

Summertime table – an afternoon painted noir

Designed as a surface of purification and temptation, it makes a staggering first impression and a lifelong obsession. Of course it can take all the challenges of a sleek coffee table, but its toy-like winding mechanisms hint at the potential of switching perspectives. On the one side it is, how very cerebral, an impromptu blackboard for taking down emotional bits and bobs. On the other, your own private vanity fair with a full length mirror, waiting for the first blink of an eye.

Materials: tubular metal frame, enameled tin plates, mirror foil
Colours: blackboard, red gold legs