Amanda Chantal Bacon’s little juice bar on Rose Avenue in Venice, California has turned into a thriving mecca for raw food. This summer will see Moon Juice expanding, with an opening in Silver Lake, and Bacon…
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Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in the first of a series of films recorded at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan last month, MINI head of design Anders Warming explains the thinking behind the brand’s presentation during the furniture fair while Johanna Agerman Ross, editor-in-chief of Disegno magazine, gives her opinion on the highlights of the world’s most important design week.
“The MINI Paceman Garage is centred around how people act within a MINI community,” says Warming (above), explaining why the presentation – set up inside a car repair garage on Via Tortona – included features such as a record store, a coffee shop, a barber and a cinema. “They end up talking about anything that involves their life. And that’s why we have these different stations. It’s sort of like the extended life around the MINI.”
As part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour, we set up a video studio within the garage, where we conducted interviews with some of the world’s leading design authorities to get their thoughts on the week.
Agerman Ross of Disegno, our first interviewee, believes a key theme this year was the renewed focus on the official fair, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, at the expense of the independent exhibitions that take place around the city.
“I have found in the last few years that going to the city and going to the independent exhibitions have been where things have been really happening and interesting,”she says. “But I feel there’s a return to the reason why we’re all here – the commerce of the fair, the wheeling and dealing and the showing off of new products by the bigger brands.”
“Milan this year was more subdued that previous years, with the ongoing economic crisis clearly affecting many companies. This has led to a more pared-back and business-like week without the frivolity of previous years,” says Agerman Ross.
“I think so. After all if the industry doesn’t work, the other things can’t happen either. There needs to be an economy and a network for these things to function. The designers and the brands need to make money in order to exist, and without a healthy commercial branch of design, the other things won’t exist either. One supports the other.”
“Everyone’s taking a step back, trying to be quite precise in what they’re putting out and trying to show products that seem quite close to hitting the market, rather than being just a product for show that won’t go into production,” she says. “It’s a tighter output altogether.”
See all our stories about Milan 2013.
The post “There’s a return to the
commerce of the fair” appeared first on Dezeen.
Michael Renard, executive vice president of bioprinting company Organovo, explains how 3D printing could one day be used to produce replacement tissue, vessels and organs in this interview conducted for our print-on-demand magazine Print Shift (+ transcript).
In the interview Renard describes how Organovo is applying 3D printing to cell biology and tissue engineering.
“We’re working with small pieces of tissue at the moment – a small piece of blood vessel or liver,” he says. “Once you have the cells ready, we can print something in a few hours.”
He also discusses how the technology can be used for experimental drug testing: “Being able to provide functional living human tissues will provide drug-discovery scientists with entirely new means to test drug candidates.”
Although supplemental tissues such as patches to assist heart conditions may reach the clinic soon, he thinks that use of “more advanced replacement tissues will most likely be in 20 years or more.”
The interview forms part of a feature on the way 3D printing is transforming the healthcare industry in Print Shift, our one-off, print-on-demand magazine about this emerging technology.
The magazine was created by the Dezeen editorial team and produced with print-on-demand publisher Blurb. For more information about Print Shift and to see additional content, visit www.dezeen.com/printshift.
Top image: cross-section of bioprinted human liver tissue.
Here’s an edited transcript of the interview, conducted by Claire Barrett:
Claire Barrett: Tell me how Organovo’s 3D printing research began?
Michael Renard: The concept for printing tissues came out of Professor Gabor Forgac’s research at the University of Missouri, enabled through a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. That work was about using living cells and depositing cells in an architecture that could create tissue.
It led to the creation of Organovo as a company, which acquired that intellectual property exclusively. Gabor worked mostly with non-human cell sources to build structures, layer by layer. Through that science we arrived where we are today.
Claire Barrett: Is it possible to print an organ?
Michael Renard: Bioprinting should be thought of as the first step in building fully functional tissue. The printing starts a process to create a continuous piece of tissue. That early tissue construct is moved to a bioreactor where it grows and differentiates into its final form. We’re the only company doing it. Our approach is consistent with other forms 3D printing because it’s an additive process, but what is unique to Organovo is our application of the process in the field of cell biology and tissue engineering.
Claire Barrett: How does it work?
Michael Renard: Tissues are built layer by layer, using a combination of hydrogel and cell aggregates deposited in specific spatial arrangements that are programmed into the bioprinter. A wide variety of shapes and orientations can be created using the combination of these materials.
When you deposit cells they have to be the right cells and in the right biological state; the hydrogel holds them in the right place. Then the cells fuse, form junctions, and the hydrogel can be removed to yield a tangible piece of material made up entirely of human cells.
Claire Barrett: How long does it take?
Michael Renard: It all depends what you’re trying to grow. We’re working with small pieces of tissue at the moment – a small piece of blood vessel or liver, for example, so our time from printing to maturity of the tissue can be quite quick. Once you have the cells ready, we can print something in a few hours. It will then take a few days for it to fuse and become anatomically correct, and begin to exhibit expected metabolic properties.
It is unknown how long it will take to build larger, organ-sized tissues. We are researching ways to grow a vascular system as part of the tissue design; that is needed to feed tissue grown on a large scale, without which cell death will occur as tissues expand in size.
Claire Barrett: Are certain tissues easier to grow?
Michael Renard: Virtually all tissues have a specific design and repeating patterns. Each tissue has a consistent set of characteristics, such as certain cell types that create capillary systems, nerves and collagens. These patterns and symmetry can help as the scientific advances and discoveries with one tissue will better inform how to approach the creation of subsequent tissues.
Claire Barrett: How is it used in drug discovery and what are the benefits?
Michael Renard: Being able to provide functional living human tissues will provide drug-discovery scientists with entirely new means to test drug candidates and study their effects in an environment most like that of the drug administered in the human body. This can both improve the safety of potential drugs and help determine whether a drug should be taken forward in very expensive human clinical trials. The end result can be a significant improvement in the efficiency of safety and efficacy testing.
Further to that, diseased tissue models can be built, giving the scientist a completely new approach for understanding disease and disease progression, with the opportunity to find new targets for building drugs with new mechanisms of action.
Claire Barrett: Is the public worried about the ethics of growing organs in a lab?
Michael Renard: People with chronic or degenerative conditions often live with the constant need for medical and assisted-living care. We can keep people alive, but at a cost to the healthcare system and at a reduced quality of life for the patient. What if we could reverse that process, or replace an organ? That’s what the focus is. There is public interest. People are waiting for transplants, but transplant surgeons lack the tissues to help all those in need. Eighteen people die every day in the US waiting for a transplant.
Claire Barrett: What about tissue rejection? Could you take cells from a person in future and grow tissue for transplant and therefore avoid this issue?
Michael Renard: It has become possible to harvest cells from a person’s own body and use them as a source of therapy. Research over the last decade or so shows that many sources of stem cells can be isolated and these often can be a valuable source of potential therapy from the patient themselves. In concept, a tissue engineered from a person’s own DNA should yield a match, with a much-reduced chance of rejection.
Claire Barrett: How far away are you from creating tissue that can be used in operations?
Michael Renard: In the next 10 years it is possible that supplemental tissues, ones that aid in regeneration, will progress through design, clinical and regulatory testing, making it to the clinic as therapies. Examples may include nerve grafts, patches to assist a heart condition, blood vessel segments, or cartilage for a degenerating joint. But more advanced replacement tissues will most likely be in 20 years or more.
Claire Barrett: What needs to happen to enable the next stage of innovation to take place?
Michael Renard: Supplemental tissues need to be shown to be safe, clinically effective and cost-effective in terms of reducing the total cost of care. Also, the ability to grow larger tissues – solving the challenge of creating a vascular and capillary network as an inherent part of the engineering solution – is the critical next step to advance the science.
The post “Printed human tissues
are ten years away” appeared first on Dezeen.
by Emily Millett Whether he is tapping his feet in tune to the music or drumming his fingers along to an imaginary rift, Joao Teigas lives by an unstoppable musical beat, an organic rhythmic flow that…
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News: next month’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York will be the first major design fair to place 3D printing and digital fabrication at the core of its programme, with a four-day series of workshops introducing the hardware and software that could change the face of design, manufacturing and distribution (+ interview).
DesignX, which takes place from 18 to 21 May alongside ICFF, will comprise 15 one and two-hour workshops on topics including 3D printing, online product customisation, parametric design and even 4D printing – the nascent technology of programming materials capable of self-assembly.
“At […] these trade shows, you typically have a very large audience who attend over multiple days,” explains Ronnie Parsons, a 3D printing expert from New York studio Mode Collective, who will lead the event’s 3D printing workshops with design partner Gil Akos. “There are talks that address design and technology, but there really isn’t anything that allows people to have direct access to industry leaders through an educational programming model.
“So we thought, why don’t we have a specially built classroom, a lounge space with a little gallery, and put that in the middle of the showroom floor and do educational programming throughout the course of the entire trade show? So that people who attend ICFF could take classes in the very tools and technology that are used to make the things that are surrounding them at the event.”
Partnering with The Architect’s Newspaper, Parsons and Akos have put together a programme of workshops led by experts from across the digital design and manufacturing industry, including MIT architecture and programming lecturer Skylar Tibbits, Duann Scott of 3D printing marketplace Shapeways, programmers Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jesse Louis-Rosenberg from Massachusetts design studio Nervous System, and Francis Bitonti, whose 3D-printed dress for burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese we previously featured on Dezeen.
Other DesignX workshops will include programmer Andy Payne’s introduction to using Arduino microcontrollers to control design environments, a look at the networked future of computer-aided design, and a session about online marketplaces for distributed manufacturing.
“3D printing is the thing that is most visible right now, that’s the thing that is most at the surface,” says Parsons. “But I think that the skill that is really important for designers in the future is not really 3D printing, but actually the processes of thinking through the design to production phase – beginning to think about how things are made and how the new tools and technology out there will change the way you think about design.”
Attendees can sign up for any number of workshops individually, but must already be registered to attend ICFF.
This month Dezeen launched Print Shift, a one-off print-on-demand magazine dedicated exploring the fast-changing world of 3D printing and the way the new technology is changing the worlds of architecture and design – see all our coverage of 3D printing.
The post 3D printing and digital design
lead ICFF 2013 programme appeared first on Dezeen.
by Katie Olsen Back in 2009, buddies Indhra Chagoury and Jeremy Somers had a great idea for what was potentially just a side project. What began with five sample products is now Australia’s We Are Handsome, a…
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In the few short years since forming Sugarkane, Milan-based duo Nicolò Cerioni and Leandro Manuel Emede have come to work with some of the most esteemed names in entertainment. The passion with which they take on…
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Dezeen and MINI World Tour: designer Ron Arad launched a range of 3D printed eyewear in Milan earlier this month. In this movie he discusses his pioneering 3D printing experiments in 1999 and his views on the technology today.
The glasses feature one-piece frames of printed polyamide with flexible joints instead of hinges. “It’s the first pair of glasses that I know about that is one component,” says Arad. “It’s monolithic.”
The frames are the latest concept designed by Arad for new brand pq eyewear, of which he is co-founder. Yet he says the fact that they’re printed is uninteresting: “Who cares?” he says. “What we care about is does it work well? Does [printing] give you freedom to do things you can’t in other techniques? Not the fact that it’s printed.”
Arad was an early pioneer of 3D printing as a way of making finished products rather than prototypes. His 1999 show Not Made by Hand, Not Made in China, which featured lights, jewellery and vases, was several years ahead of other designers’ experiments in with a technology that at the time was called “rapid prototyping”.
“There was a lot of excitement in the technology,” says Arad. “It was obvious that it would be embraced by lots of people, and then that technology would be less exciting. You could do more exciting things but the technology would be, and should be, taken for granted.”
Arad compares the one-piece construction of the printed eyewear with the multi-component, hand-assembled A-Frame glasses he recently designed for pq.
“If you ask my studio to send you a movie of how say [the A-Frame] glasses are made you’ll see there’s so much manual work around it and so much fiddling,” says Arad, explaining that the glasses require a skilled workforce to assemble. “I don’t want to take the jobs from these people, but [printing] is a different way of doing something.”
Arad helped come up with the pq logo and brand name, which refers to the spectacle-like forms of the letters p and q. “It’s a new brand that we started from the ground up,” Arad explains. “We had to invent a name for a brand of eyewear, we had to do the logo. [It’s called] pq because when you write p and q you draw glasses, and they are palindromic, so you can look at it from [the other side].”
The glasses are featured in Print Shift, our one-off, print-on-demand magazine about 3D printing.
The products were launched at luxury eyewear store Punto Ottico in Milan during Milan design week. We travelled to the opening in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. See more Dezeen and MINI World Tour reports from Milan.
The music featured is a track called Where are Your People? by We Have Band, a UK-based electronic act who played at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan.
The post “It’s the first pair of glasses
that is one component” appeared first on Dezeen.
Fashion designer and 3D printing pioneer Iris van Herpen tells us how printing and scanning technologies could transform the fashion industry in an exclusive interview for our print-on-demand publication Print Shift (+ transcript).
Advances in material and printing technology mean that flexible, washable clothes are now possible, says Dutch designer Van Herpen, whose latest ready-to-wear collection includes printed garments.
“I’m really happy that 3D prints finally act with the movement of the body,” she said. “[My] last show was really a big step forward because it was totally flexible and the jacket we created, for example, you could put in the washing machine.”
Van Herpen is one of the first fashion designers to investigate the potential of 3D printing to create clothes and accessories. Her 2010 Crystallisation collection featured dramatic printed items resembling body armour while her more recent Voltage collection features more delicate and wearable items.
“I always collaborate with architects or someone that specialises in 3D modelling because I don’t specialise in it myself,” she says. “I know a little bit, but not as much as the people I work with.”
She also ponders how 3D scanners could revolutionise the way we order our clothes in the future. “Everybody could have their own body scanned and just order clothes that fit perfectly.” See all our stories about Iris van Herpen.
Print Shift, a one-off, print-on-demand magazine, was created by the Dezeen editorial team and produced with print-on-demand publisher Blurb. For more information about Print Shift and to see additional content, visit www.dezeen.com/printshift.
Here’s an edited version of the interview with van Herpen, conducted by Claire Barrett:
Claire Barrett: What was it about 3D printing that first interested you?
Iris van Herpen: With 3D printing, it was the first time I could translate the 3D image I had in my mind immediately to the 3D model in the computer and then the 3D printer.
With hand work or with the usual fashion designing I have something in my head that’s three dimensional, which first has to be translated into something two dimensional, like a drawing, then it goes to three dimensionality again, so it feels really, really old-school. It’s a strange way of working – you have a step in between.
The things I have 3D printed I could never do by hand. It would just be impossible. The beauty of handwork is that it’s always a bit different and you can never have something totally symmetrical. At the same time, I think that’s the beauty of 3D printing – it is one hundred percent symmetrical in the smallest details, even the printing layers. That’s the fingerprints of the technique.
Claire Barrett: Was the use of digital technology something that you were exposed to in college?
Iris van Herpen: No, it’s actually really funny. When I was young I was raised without television and we didn’t have a computer. I think we were the last people to have the internet and when I was at the academy I didn’t have a computer myself. I actually had computer lessons but I didn’t like the computer at all. I had discussions with my computer teacher and he said “you can’t work without a computer,” and then I was really stubborn and I thought “I can, watch me”. I did everything by hand all the time.
With 3D printing I suddenly saw how many possibilities it would give me in terms of three dimensionality, which convinced me to start working with technology.
Claire Barrett: Did your collaborations start from wanting to work in a more digital way?
Iris van Herpen: With 3D printing I always collaborate with architects or someone that specialises in 3D modelling because I don’t specialise in it myself. I know a little bit, but not as much as the people I work with. If you start from the beginning with something that someone else is already experienced in, I think that’s a waste of time.
Even if it wasn’t necessary, I would still do it because I don’t want to start to walk in circles, like being in my own mind all the time. For this collection, for example, we worked with Neri Oxman, Julia Koerner and Philip Beesley. It’s really bringing two worlds together because I think fashion is super interesting, but the architects who are bringing other things are just as important to me.
Claire Barrett: Why do you largely seem to be alone in pushing the use of 3D printing technology within fashion?
Iris van Herpen: I’m really open to sharing ideas and working with somebody, but I feel in fashion it’s quite a locked industry. Fashion designers are used to collaborating but usually with musicians they dress or an artist that makes a print for them. Working with scientists, architects or people that have different knowledge is just not a part of fashion and that’s something that surprises me.
Claire Barrett: Do you foresee a time when you might work with a material scientist to try and create something different?
Iris van Herpen: I always get inspired by materials, but I feel that I’m choosing them, not designing them. Of course it takes a long time so you can’t design materials for every season, but if you’re at least able to create something new every one or two years then I think you have more control over your design process.
Claire Barrett: Do you agree that your pieces are becoming less like sculpture or armour and more like garments?
Iris van Herpen: Yeah, I’m really happy that 3D prints finally act with the movement of the body. Now a girl can even dance in it. This last show was really a big step forward because it was totally flexible and the jacket we created, for example, you could put in the washing machine. You could sit on it. It’s really a garment now.
With [the Voltage collection] I really tried to make that step away from sculpture and find a field in between traditional weaving fabrics and 3D printing. With 3D printing you can decide how much flexibility you want in millimetres or centimetres on a specific part, for example the knees or the shoulders, and you can just include that on the file.
Also, something that’s really interesting is that they can include colours in the 3D prints. The colouring is in the file, it’s not something that they add later on. That’s a big step. If we continue with that you can create 2D prints within the 3D prints and then it feels like you’re creating something 4D.
Claire Barrett: How long do you think it will be before 3D-printed clothing becomes mainstream?
Iris van Herpen: I would love to be the first to include 3D printing in ready-to-wear. The flexibility is there, I think now the focus is on developing the materials, the long-term quality and size, because there are no printers that can print a whole dress yet.
But fashion is a super big industry. You have all the factories with the traditional sewing machines, so I can imagine maybe the industry will not be ready for such a big change because you need technical people with knowledge of 3D printing, 3D printers and software, instead of people that know how to sew a seam. I can imagine the technology is there but the industry is not ready for it or the change is too big.
Claire Barrett: Can you foresee a time when people will be able to download and print out an Iris van Herpen dress at home?
Iris van Herpen: Yeah, I can really imagine everybody has their own 3D skin and you can just order something online, but I don’t know if people will print it out at home. I can imagine you could have printing factories, order your dress and maybe the customer gets a little bit of a say in it as well. They could say “well, I want this one but with longer sleeves”.
Everybody could have their own body scanned and just order clothes that fit perfectly. I think it’s super old-fashioned that it’s only the 100 richest women in the world who have clothes that actually fit them and I think 3D printing can really fill up a gap there.
The post “Everybody could have their body scanned
and order clothes that fit perfectly” appeared first on Dezeen.
In the 25 years since taking the reins at Kartell, owner and CEO Claudio Luti has collaborated with nearly every industrial designer of note, transforming the over 60-year-old company into the king of polycarbonate furniture and…
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