Hasta La Ideas

Italian industrial designer Diego Vencato has created a collection of wooden textiles (+ slideshow).

The fabrics, called Wooden Mesh, were designed to transform wood into a soft and flexible material that behaves more like cloth, Diego Vencato says.

Thin pieces of wood were cut into small shapes and applied evenly onto a felt backing.

The patterns include neatly ordered triangles, sharply angled parallelograms and smooth-edged shapes that resemble a giraffe’s markings.

We’ve previously featured a carpet made from wood veneer offcuts and a T-shirt made from triangles of wood, while Icelandic fashion designer Sruli Recht presented garments made of wood in the menswear collection he launched earlier this year.

Other textiles we’ve featured include an installation of hundreds of fabric ribbons and fabrics printed with bleach to spell out coded messages – see all textiles.

Here’s some more information from the designer:

Wooden Mesh by Diego Vencato

A high-tech patented process to create the “wooden mesh”, a compound which combines a rigid material to a flexible support. The wood goes through a metamorphosis process to become a new kind of skin.

Transforming wood, making it possible that it not only could be flexible or soft, but it could also behave exactly like a cloth, was the idea behind the project.

To turn wood into fabric we had to break the continuity of its surface, which we obtained by dividing it into pieces. Wood, organised as in polygons, was then coupled with the fabric, which acts as a support and a binder at the same time.

This is how we created “Wooden Mesh”, a compound – realised through a high-tech patented process – that combines a rigid material (parent material) to a flexible support (secondary material).

The goal was to move beyond the hand-crafted production to create an industrial product that had a more suitable cost for the market. This was possible thanks to the major contribution of Sintesi Laser and Alberto Martinuzzo, founder of Albeflex and “father” of the soft wood. Now the two-dimensional surface of a piece of wood has been completely transformed to become as smooth and soft as fabric.

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Diego Vencato appeared first on Dezeen.

London-based design duo Raw Edges arranged hundreds of fabric ribbons around the edge of their display stand for Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat at this year’s Stockholm Design Week.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Raw Edges used a selection of 20 Kvadrat textiles to make the 1500 ribbons that surround the display stand, which they called The Picnic, at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.

The wooden structure, which was made with Douglas fir from Danish flooring company Dinesen, used angled panels to display fabric swatches.

The stand was intended to evoke “a wooden cabin, soft roof tiles, fish skin and a picnic under a weeping willow,” according to the designers.

Raw Edges was founded by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay after they graduated from London’s Royal College of Art in 2006.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Other projects by the duo we’ve featured on Dezeen include a shelf that splits in two to form a desk and a cork light fitting that lets you attach your own paper shade – see all design by Raw Edges.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Photographs are by Joël Tettamanti, except where stated.

The Picnic by Raw Edges

Renowned design duo Raw Edges has designed the Kvadrat stand for the Stockholm Furniture 2013. The Picnic features a massive wooden construction of Dinesen Douglas Fir and a textile installation consisting of 1,500 straps made out of a selection of twenty different Kvadrat textiles.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

The designers envisioned recreating a picnic in an enchanted forest atmosphere. Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay about the concept: “wooden cabin, soft roof tiles, fish skin and picnic under a weeping willow, all mixed in a massive pot with Kvadrat swatches. Served within a commercial fair with our aspiration to create a bit of relaxing surreal situation but very warm welcoming.”

The stand is built out of two main elements: the wooden structure and the textile straps hanging from the ceiling. The wooden structure functions as display for the Kvadrat swatches and corresponds with the appearance of a wooden cabin. Made from Douglas Fir from the Danish floor company Dinesen, the horizontal wooden panels have been angled in such a way so it can hold the textile samples allowing the visitors a closer look. The impressive textile installation resembles vertical roof tiles and create a three dimensional volume. Functioning as a space divider it was inspired byweeping willow trees, creating an intimate space within the big exhibition hall.

About Raw Edges

Raw Edges is a London-based design studio founded by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay. The duo, who attended the Royal College of Art together, collaborate on ideas and have complementary interests: whereas Yael Mer’s primary focus is on turning two-dimensional sheet materials into functional forms, Shay Alkalay is fascinated by how things move, function and react. Their output, which is the product of relentless experimentation, includes lamps, shelving, seating, flooring and museums installations.

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for Kvadrat appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: Dezeen is giving readers the chance to win one of five copies of the inaugral issue of Material Futures, a new publication about textile research.

The first magazine in this series from the Textile Futures Research Centre (TFRC) includes case studies, features and student projects grouped into three topics: science and technology, sustainable strategy and wellbeing.

The 80-page journal begins with an explanation about the background of the TRFC, followed by the latest news from the organisation.

Feature articles include an examination of crossovers between textile design, architecture and smart technologies, an exploration into the implications of open-source technologies and a look forward to future uses of biology and biomimicry in material development.

The publication was edited by Caroline Till and Kate Franklin of creative consultancy FranklinTill.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Material Futures” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers. Read our privacy policy here.

Competition closes 12 February 2013. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

See all our stories about textiles »

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to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

Every table, chair, lamp and light switch in this furniture collection by Italian designer Loredana Bonora is covered in crocheted yarns of cotton, PVC, plastic tape and even washing lines.

Bonora made the red and white chair and hat stand (below) by crocheting barrier tape that reads ‘work in progress’, while the decorative circular pendant is made from the plastic wire used for washing lines.

The pale grey chair has rings of crocheted cotton irregularly spaced on its legs and a plume of large black feathers on the seat back.

The white table and white chair are both crocheted with PVC.

Feathers have also been used to cover the bulbs of the two standing lamps, while the table lamps have crocheted shades.

The gold chair was made with the small wires used to tie up chocolates boxes,while the fluffy white chair was crocheted with wool thread.

Different crochet patterns appear in each piece of furniture, from simple circular designs on the white table to intricate flowers on the base of the recliner.

Nodi Contemporanei, which means contemporary knots, is Bonora’s first solo exhibition and can be seen at the Plusdesign gallery in Milan.

The exhibition continues until 10th November at Plusdesign, Via Ventura 6, Lambrate, Milan.

We’ve published lots of crocheted furniture on Dezeen, including a chair of resin-coated crochet flowers by Marcel Wanders and a set of handmade pendant lamps which decorated the Dezeen Super Store this summer.

See all our stories about wool »
See all our stories about knitting »
See all stories about furniture »

Photographs are by Carlo Beccalli.

Here’s some more information from Plusdesign:

On the occasion of the Start Milano’s incoming opening events, Plusdesign presents Nodi Contemporanei (Contemporary Knots), the first solo exhibition of the Italian designer Loredana Bonora. The show introduces a new collection of furnishings, tables, chairs, beds and lamps, entirely covered in crochet and artfully woven with unusual materials combined with traditional techniques.

Loredana Bonora covers the design icons, revealing new and unique personalities. Through the transparency, unexpected details and provocative combinations, she gives the furniture a new character, changing their the story and releasing them from their own objectivity.

With her crochet, Loredana Bonora does not redraw only the objects, but a whole world made of colours, feelings and soft lines woven with ability and extraordinary femininity. She draws on a scenario that belongs to her imagination and invites the observers to access a dreamlike dimension made of subjective feelings and emotions, free from all formal constraints.

Loredana Bonora combines the traditional technique of crochet with ongoing creative research and the experimentation of new materials aimed to design unique objects. Yarns of PVC, the red and white stripes work in progress tape, clothes hangers or packaging, but also more classic yarns such as cotton and wool, are skillfully woven maintaining the same ancient craftsmanship but overturning the traditional beliefs, taking a fresh and contemporary brand new personality.

Loredana is an Italian designer from Varese. She has been engaged for long time in a creative research that retrieves the traditional practice of the crochet to interpret the home furnishings in new ways. The use of non traditional yarns – such as plastic and raffia – and the experimenting of plot techniques with variable patterns, keep her updating this traditional handbuilt style with a contemporary taste.

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Loredana Bonora appeared first on Dezeen.

East London designer Donna Wilson will contribute a special installation to Dezeen’s Stepney Green Design Collection made up of a 1.8 metre-high knitted tree with a selection of her soft-toy creatures living in it.

The one-off knitted tree is from an exhibition called Endangered Species (above) that Wilson created earlier this year at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The tree is inhabited by a selection of Wilson’s signature creatures including Cyril Squirrel-fox (above) and his offspring Rill and Ralf (below).

Dezeen has been commissioned to curate a collection of products designed by east London creatives that live near to new housing development VIVO and we will be publishing more designs as they are added to the collection during the next month.

The designs will be on show as part of a collection of 30 works of art, fashion, sculpture and furniture celebrating local talent that will be exhibited at the Genesis Cinema in October and then donated to the VIVO residents – find out more here.

See all our stories about Donna Wilson »
See more designs for the Stepney Green Design Collection here »

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for the Stepney Green Design Collection appeared first on Dezeen.