News: the creator of an anti-diarrhoea pack for the developing world that was named product design of the year for the way it fits inside Coca-Cola crates has admitted that “hardly any” kits have been shipped this way, and has dropped the strategy in favour of more conventional packaging and distribution.
“Putting the kits in the crates has turned out not to be the key innovation,” admitted social entrepreneur Simon Berry in a radio interview broadcast last weekend.
Instead, he said he is now focussing on creating a “value chain” to incentivise distributors and retailers across Africa. “That pack, sitting in that Coca-Cola crate, gets everyone very excited but it is quickly becoming a metaphor for what we’re doing.”
Berry travelled to the village of Kanchele in Zambia, where the product is being trialled, with BBC global business correspondent Peter Day as part of the programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
“I have to say Simon though, this is a bit of a con,” Day said on discovering the innovative strategy had been dropped. “You got this award for the design product of the year, very ingenious, very clever, because it fitted into a crate of bottles. You’ve abandoned the crate of bottles distribution now, so it comes in very conventional, ordinary packs. You’re nothing to do with cola now. In other words, the design is almost incidental.”
Berry replied: “We are piggybacking on Coca-Cola in the sense that we’re using their ideas, we’re using all their wholesalers, who are very well respected and know how to look after stuff, but putting the kits in the crates has turned out not to be the key innovation.”
“In the end, hardly any of our kits have been put into [Coca-Cola] crates,” he said. “Instead, what has worked is copying Coca-Cola’s business techniques: create a desirable product, market it like mad, and put the product in a distribution system at a price so that everyone can make a profit. If there is demand and retailers can make a profit, then they will do anything to meet that demand.”
Kit Yamoyo means “kit of life” in several African languages. The pack contains oral rehydration salts and zinc to treat diarrhoea, and a bar of soap. The plastic outer shell, which was originally designed to fit in the gaps between bottles in a Coca-Cola crate, doubles as a measure and cup for the medicine.
Diarrhoea kills more children in Africa than HIV, malaria and measles combined. Last April, Berry’s kit was named winner of the product design category in the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year awards.
Architect Julien De Smedt has launched Makers With Agendas, a new design brand with products ranging from solutions to natural disasters and humanitarian crises to coat hooks and tea sets (+ slideshow + interview).
Makers With Agendas, co-founded by De Smedt and William Ravn of JDS Architects, launches tomorrow at Maison & Objet in Paris. The first collection includes a folding wooden trestle, coloured tea set, a wooden easel for displaying paintings and a butterfly-shaped coat hook that can also be used to hold keys or small accessories.
T.4.2 tea set
Future projects will address bigger issues, De Smedt told Dezeen. “We’re looking at displacement situations around the globe from either natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes or political conditions leading to civil wars or genocides – and will use our research to create a product addressing it,” De Smedt said.
Prior to founding JDS Architects, De Smedt worked with OMA/Rem Koolhaas and co-founded Copenhagen architecture firm PLOT with Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.
Here’s a transcript of the interview with Julien De Smedt:
Marcus Fairs: Why have you decided to launch Makers With Agendas?
Julien De Smedt: Makers’ comes for me at the confluence of three flows of needs and desires – to have a recipient for experiments, to address societal issues and to realise things exactly as I want them to be, rather than being a necessary compromise, however successful this compromise might be.
Marcus Fairs: What does the name mean?
Julien De Smedt: We’re a capacity. We’re designers, thinkers and producers. And since ultimately what matters is the result of our ideas, we put the emphasis on the act, the making. But it is not a random action, it’s intentional. We have agendas. Each of our projects tackles issues, provide answers and creates new meaning.
Marcus Fairs: What products you are launching and why? What’s different about them?
Julien De Smedt: We’re launching six products and have another six in the pipeline. Our first set is focusing on issues of transport, compactness and domestic needs. It sets the tone: even in casual settings we bring a different approach.
Swing serving tray
Our trestle, Accordion, folds into a single stick making it the most compact of its kind. T.4.2 is a tea set for two people where the cups embrace the teapot. It is our homage to conversation. Stilt gives people a new, nomadic, relationship to their interiors: with it you can move your paintings around the house. No nails are necessary to hang artworks. Butterfly is a coat hook that doubles as key and wallet holder. Who hasn’t run around the house trying to find his or her keys? Swing is a serving tray that allows you to carry full glasses, single handed and without spilling – even if you swing it over your head!
Finally, SMLXL is our first venture in fashion accessories: as one can expect from its name it is four different sized bags in a single design. From a woman stylish purse to a shoulder bag, a backpack and even a big shopper. This last design was also brought into the launch to make a statement and to show that we’re not confined to product design. We’re also working with other designers such as fashion designer Prisca Vilsbøl who was commissioned for this project.
Accordion trestle
Marcus Fairs: What else is different about the company, apart from the products?
Julien De Smedt: We’re organising ourselves and deciding our designs from another angle: we first take topics that we find relevant, interesting or urgent and we analyse them. From this analysis we extract objects. We’re now looking at displacement situations around the globe from either natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes, .etc) or political conditions (leading to civil wars, genocides etc) and will use our research to create a product addressing it.
We’re also working to create awareness of the different aspects of society where design plays a role, whether good or bad. In our poster campaign ‘Design Is…’ we’re discussing issues such as the relationship of the use of Coltan in mobile phones and the biggest death count since World War II, currently occurring in Congo. In a very similar way as Benetton did with [Oliviero] Toscani in the 1980s, we are working with a photographer, Nikolaj Møller, on the concept, message and its physical presence. We’re actually also the only retailer stocking COLORS magazine in our first store in Copenhagen.
Coat hooks and shelving
Marcus Fairs: Who are your partners in the brand?
Julien De Smedt: We’re two founders: William Ravn and myself. William comes from a more business angle. At age 22 he has already been running multiple successful businesses. He interned at JDS when he was 15! Wouter Dons is the third partner. He has been working for JDS for over 6 years on all my product designs. It felt natural and necessary to have him on the Makers’ team.
Stilt
Marcus Fairs: What do you plan to do in the future with the brand?
Julien De Smedt: Makers’ is a recipient for ideas for change. We’re not sure where it will go because we thought of it as a capacity rather than a company with a single business plan. For us, we see Makers With Agendas as the platform we use to discuss matters that interest us. So if we stay curious and creative it can go anywhere.
Shelves
Marcus Fairs: What can architects bring to the design of furniture, tableware etc that can’t already be done by other designers?
Julien De Smedt: I don’t think being an architect grants you anymore skills to do anything better than a designer can. There are good and bad architects just like there are good and bad designers. The difference is in the impact of the crime committed. Architecture is somewhat local only and even if the impact is long lasting, the location is unique. With design the damages go further. It spreads like a virus.
I can only speak for ourselves, as Makers With Agendas: our design orientation is one of ingenuity over beauty, of content rather than looks. Which is why our style is in fact very minimal. We’d like the focus to be on the function and its idea rather than a taste judgment. I function in a very similar way with my architecture. Which is why I often call it ‘performative architecture’. Maker’ projects follow that mantra.
Marcus Fairs: What do you think about the current state of furniture/lighting/homeware design?
Julien De Smedt: I’m not really aware of what is around and do not focus on that. At least not too much. Maybe that’s already a sign of the state of things. That said, I like a lot of products I see but not always for substantial reasons. I just like them.
Marcus Fairs: Your Stacked shelving for MUUTO has been extremely successful. How did that design come about?
Julien De Smedt: I was asked by MUUTO to make a modular shelving system. I have a wall of stacked shelves I collected here and there and from my family in my apartment. It became an immediate inspiration for Stacked. In a way it was a no-brainer: three interchangeable modules of varying capacity, linked together by a simple clip. I think the success comes from the fact that the design isn’t imposed – it’s understated and leaves space for people’s appropriation.
Marcus Fairs: How do you feel about the way Stacked has been so widely imitated?
Julien De Smedt: It’s kind of insane. Sometimes it’s really an issue we can address, but most times there’s nothing we can do. It’s also the risk one takes when one makes understated design: can you really claim to have invented a box? Of course the clip is a different story. That is really our idea.
William Ravn, Julien De Smedt and Wouter Dons
Marcus Fairs: What architecture projects are you working on at the moment?
Julien De Smedt: I’ve just delivered a large tower project in Mexico City and an entire neighbourhood design in Istanbul, where we’re also building a 100,000 m2 development. Apart from that we’re building our first projects in Asia, in Seoul and Hangzhou.
We’re also under construction of a public project for the city of Lille, a large cultural incubator in Brussels and of course we just delivered the Iceberg in Aarhus and the Kalvebod Waves in the centre of Copenhagen.
These magnetic headphone jacks by New York designer Jon Patterson split in two when tugged to prevent damaging devices when wires get snagged (+ movie).
“I always break my headphones from cord snagging and sometimes I break my device completely,” Jon Patterson said.
His Pogo connector comprises two parts joined by magnets – one with a jack that fits into the headphone socket on the device, and a second longer piece that accommodates the jack from the headphones.
The signal is transferred between the two parts via four pins, but once the cord is yanked away they disconnect and the music stops until the sections are reconnected. “The magnet is strong enough to hold the device but will break upon force,” says Patterson in the video demonstration.
It can be use as a straight connection or at a ninety-degree angle, where it can fully rotate.
Jack sections can be left in devices and a receiver piece can be kept on the headphones, so swapping between different equipment is simple.
German designer Samuel Treindl has made a clock, lamp and other products from shapes cut out of existing furniture (+ slideshow).
Samuel Treindl from Münster in Germany used what he called a “parasite strategy” to create new products from existing furniture items and intends for the final pieces to reflect the manufacturing process.
In the collection – called Parasite Production – Treindl created a clock from material cut from a peach cabinet and a desk lamp from shapes cut out of an Ikea PS cabinet.
More recently the designer cut a range of components such as a hooks and hinges from a brass book shelf.
His process means that the original cabinets can still be used. “In order to work in a more economic way, I superimpose different objects on a single metal sheet,” said Treindl. “So the same material would be used twice.”
All of the objects have been produced in Germany as limited editions. Triendl’s work will be exhibited at London’s Mint Shop during London Design Festival next month.
This work is based on a parasitic strategy. The cabinets and other products are produced simultaneously. The results therefore reflect the manufacturing process and history of the production.
As a producer and designer I have to pay attention to the manufacturing of a product, but also to offcuts and loss of material.
In order to work in a more economic way, I superimpose different objects on a single metal sheet. So the same material would be double used. And the question is, where is here the rest? According to which other objects are currently produced, the obtained ornaments as well as the thickness of the material of the shelf can differ.
Example: If an industrial company produces spoons and forks, I will make a spoon shelf. If lamps are produced, I make a lamp cabinet. That way, I don’t want to design furniture, but I create a process which uses industrial production for generating and designing objects.
Material: brass steel, aluminum, powder-coated, laser cutting method. The IKEA PS cabinet/lamp was hand-cut.
Royal College of Art graduate David Steiner has turned his house into a factory by adapting household appliances to create a range of tableware and lighting (+ slideshow).
“The project began as an experiment in self-sufficiency, to some extent a reaction against the growing prevalence of desktop digital manufacture,” said David Steiner, adding that he wanted to show what can be achieved using his existing possessions.
Simple interventions transformed everyday objects that can be found in most homes into tools that replicate industrial manufacturing processes, such as rotational moulding and steam bending.
A lampshade made from a baking tray was cut with scissors before being pressed into shape in the edge of a door frame.
An embroidery hoop and sections of a notice board frame were used to make a framework for a polypropylene mould that was put in a washing machine to create a device for rotation casting tableware.
Cutlery was cast from pewter in a mould made from a cereal box cut into shape and fixed to a chopping board.
Cork from notice boards was layered and turned on a lathe surface attached to the top of a blender.
A mixer was transformed into a pottery wheel used to throw a cup made from sugar paste.
Wooden rulers dunked in water were heated in a microwave and bent to form a tray in a process replicating steam bending.
Royal College of Art graduate Lauren Davies has designed a range of copper, maple and glass tools to make scented oils, creams and cosmetics at home (+ slideshow).
The Alchemist’s Dressing Table project by Lauren Davies features a three-tier distiller for making scented oils, a scent infuser for creating creams and balms, and a double-sided copper bat for mixing eyeliner.
“The tools I’ve designed will enable women to forge a stronger connection to their personal beauty rituals and a more magical relationship with nature’s intricate mysteries,” said Davies.
Distiller
The three-tier distiller features a glass globe and a stainless steel stand with a cork rim. Water can be boiled in the spun-copper bowl on the base, which is heated by an oil burner positioned underneath.
Steam passes up through scented plants that are placed on the first copper sieve and again through a second sieve. The top compartment is filled with ice and the spun copper funnel acts as a condenser, turning the rising steam underneath into a scented liquid that trickles into a glass, positioned in the centre.
Glass pan and copper hot plate, scent infuser and copper kohl plate
Davies has also created a pan for melting oils and waxes, and for mixing scents and pigments. The pan is made from borosilicate glass and has a maple wood handle. It sits on copper hot plate that is positioned on a stainless steel stand.
Glass pan with maple wood handle
For creating creams and balms from scented plants, Davies has designed a scent infuser. “The scent is built up over time as unscented fat traps the airborne scent molecules from the plant material above,” she explained.
Scent infuser
The final tool is a copper plate with a wooden handle for making kohl eyeliner. A single disc of copper is place over an oil burner. Carbon collects on the underside and then the disk is flipped over for making the eye makeup.
Copper plate with maple wood handle
“The black carbon deposit can then be mixed with almond oil for a smudged finish or aloe vera and witch hazel to allow a brush drawn line and used as eyeliner,” Davies explained.
Davies’ collection also includes a pair of copper tongs for picking up plant material, a maple wood stirrer, a mixing tool and four copper measuring spoons.
Hand tools include copper tongs, four measuring spoons and a mirror
All the products are made from five materials. “The palette of copper and maple wood are chosen for their traditional and folkloric symbolism respectively,” said Davies. “Cork is used for its insulating properties, borosilicate glass for its heat resistance and stainless steel for strength,” she added.
Here’s a short movie featuring the alchemist’s table:
The Alchemist’s Dressing Table is a collection of analog tools for the production of natural cosmetics at home, inspired by beautiful ancient rituals and the transformative powers of alchemy.
The palette of copper and maple wood are chosen for their traditional and folkloric symbolism respectively. Cork is used for its insulating properties, borosilicate glass for its heat resistance and stainless steel for strength. All components are fabricated in collaboration with London-based craftsmen.
Together, the tools form a statement piece; reigniting a dialogue about our relationship with nature and the materials we use. I believe this could be the future of cosmetics for the modern woman who has a desire to be more in control of what she uses on her skin and the impact they have on the environment.
The tools I’ve designed will enable women to forge a stronger connection to their personal beauty rituals and a more magical relationship with nature’s intricate mysteries.
The distiller can be used to make hydrosols and essential oils. Water is boiled in the spun copper bowl using an oil burner. Steam then passes up through the scented plant material sitting on the handcrafted sieve above. The top compartment is filled with ice allowing its spun copper base to act as a condenser. The steam carries the scent particles up through the second sieve and hits the condenser where it cools, turns into liquid and drips down into the collection glass below.
Oils and waxes can be melted in the pan over the hot plate and mixed with scents and pigments. The scent infuser is for the cold maceration of volatile scented plants to make creams and balms. The scent is built us over time as unscented fat traps the airborne scent molecules from the plant material above.
The kohl plate is for the preparation of black kohl eyeliner. Carbon collects on the underside of the copper plate from the almond oil burning in the oil burner below for a period of time. This black carbon deposit can then be mixed with almond oil for a smudged finish or aloe vera and witch hazel to allow a brush drawn line and used as eyeliner.
The hand held tools comprise of a pair of copper tongs to be used with plant material in the distiller or scent infuser, a stirrer for the pan, a mixing tool for use with the kohl plate and a set of measuring spoons (TBSP, TSP, 1⁄2 TSP, 1⁄4 TSP) to be used where accuracy is needed.
An elasticated egg cup, a fork that bends to pick up food and a glass tumbler with a cheeky bottom all feature in a collection of utensils by Royal College of Art graduate James Stoklund (+ slideshow).
Danish designer James Stoklund said he wanted to “challenge the traditional way we eat or pick up food but at the same time consider the food and its consistency in a playful way.”
Fresh Eggs
Stoklund’s rubbery egg cup, named Fresh Eggs, has a white silicone surface that stretches to hold different sized eggs. They can be pushed into the holder from underneath through a hole in the elastic membrane.
Lick It Clean
Lick it Clean is a round plate that also features an elasticated surface and stretches when pressure is added, allowing the user to scoop up all the food.
Flexible Fork
Stoklund’s curved fork has a flat surface and features eight long prongs that bend when pressure is added to pick up food from a normal plate.
Extend the Pleasure
An extra-long stainless steel spoon, called Extend the Pleasure, offers users a longer and bigger spoonful.
Extend the pleasure
A glass tumblr, named Shake that Booty, appears to sit at an angle and rest on two bum cheeks.
Shake That Booty
Pour Thing is a white silicone milk jug that looks like a tea cup and forms a spout when the liquid is poured in one direction.
Pour Thing
Pass the Salt is a salt shaker that features an empty egg attached to a spoon. The egg is fixed in place via two tiny interlocking tubes. Salt is dispensed from the egg when the spoon is tipped downwards.
Pass the Salt
Stoklund, who graduated from London’s Royal College of Art this summer, said that he wanted to challenge traditional tableware design.
“Everyone knows the feeling of having a spoon in their mouth or the sound of a fork against the plate,” he said. “These are experiences we have known since we were born. However, most of us do not question the function of these everyday life utensils and what a simple change can do.”
On a recent trip to Seattle, CH spent some time exploring the flourishing cannabis culture in the city, beginning with the NW Cannabis Market. While that gave us a unique perspective on the distribution of medical marijuana, we also wanted to…
This packaging for medicines changes over time to clearly show when its contents are no longer safe to use.
The proposal by designer Kanupriya Goel and biologist Gautam Goel addresses the problems of expiration dates wearing off, labels not being printed in a universal language, or text that’s too small to read.
The designers decided to tackle this issue after seeing their grandparents struggling to find and read expiration dates on different medications, but also believe their proposal could help in third world countries where the concept of medicines expiring is less well understood.
The packages and labels comprise several layers of a diffusible material, with information about the contents printed on the top layer and warning symbols hidden on the bottom.
Over a predetermined period, the ink on the lower layer bleeds through the material until it covers the surface with symbols that were chosen as universally recognised symbols of danger.
The timed process begins immediately when the medicine is packaged and is tamper-proof, reducing the likelihood of expired medicines being resold illegally.
Self Expiring is a packaging material for medicinal products that visually ‘self expires’ over a fixed period of time. This packaging will graphically display a ‘not fit for consumption’ message using universally accepted danger signs in regional languages. This solution will prevent illegal sales of expired medicines and fatalities arising from their consumption.
Consumption of expired medications can lead to prolonged illness, increased healthcare costs, and life-threatening situations. The current solution of imprinting the expiration date on medicinal packaging is ineffective for multiple reasons including non-universal choice of language (such as English), small and unreadable font type, and loss of information with usage or wear and tear. All of these issues can collectively lead to accidental consumption of expired medicines.
The proposed solution uses a packaging material that will visually ‘self expire’ over a designated time period. The packaging is composed of two layers of information: the foreground, which contains the medicine label, and the background, which carries a hidden expiration message. These are separated by multiple sheets of diffusible material through which the ink from the hidden message will seep through as time passes. This timing sequence will be initiated from the very point of packaging of the medication itself. It will prevent retailers from illegally selling expired medications for personal gains.
The choice of colour(s) and the design of the expiration pattern include universally accepted signs of danger. The ability of the packaging to alert a user visually takes a significant burden off the users. With this solution, the users would not have to struggle with reading fine print in a language they do not understand, or search for a printed expiration date around the packaging with limited visual capabilities and/or dexterity. This solution will prove to be more efficient and widely understood by the illiterate to prevent accidents and fatalities arising from the consumption of expired medicines.
Product news: Northumbria University graduate Josie Morris has created a range of copper-spun pendant lamps with chunky handles.
Product and furniture designer Josie Morris created the Handle Pendants in two different sizes; one is tall and narrow, and the other has a wide tapered body.
Small handles in either grey Corian or walnut are fixed to the top of the metal shades. “Scale and the common detail of the handle were used to create a family of minimalistic pendants,” Morris told Dezeen.
The hanging pendants can be displayed alone or in a cluster and are designed as part of a larger product range by the designer, which includes a coffee table and vase with copper accents.
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