Inside Outside

The summer has started now for real! Hopefully, we have had the worst rain showers for now and it’s finally time for the sun to start shining. The overlap between outside and inside in the interior design industry already has been happening for a while. Urban jungles are created inside the house and outside they are being decorated as a second living room with rugs, cushions, benches and outdoor workplaces included. We also see a growing number of big interior brands who start to present their own exterior collection next to their decoration collection, so you can keep on using the same style for both indoor and outdoor.

Is your 2nd leaving room already summer proof? Check out the serveral inspiring examples to connect your garden and living room.

Simon Watson – Lost in time        Hay – outdoor collection

 

TINY K HOME                     ZEN GARDEN

 

Bron: Blood and Champaign

 

WOOLLAHRA

 

LE SINOPLE, PARIS             GIANNI BOTSFORD – SUTHERLAND PLACE

 

Bron: Thestylebox             Francis Brodi House 

 

ZW6                          JJLOCATIONS

 

FERNANDA MARQUES

 

PIA ENGHILD            NEUMAN HAYNER ARCHITECTS

 

INSIDE OUT           NATHAN BURKETT 

 

Restaurant Vegetal                  Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer

 

Transparent

In the past two months, the Rotterdam based firm of architects MVRDV has realized three projects in which glass and tranparency were central, are the focus.

According to Winny Maas, one of the founders of MVRDV, “The glass enables global brands to combine the overwhelming desire of transparency with a couleur locale, and modernity with heritage. It can thus be applied everywhere in our historic centres.”

Transparent spaces are often experienced as more accessible, they are more open and spacious. We lose the dark corners because of more transparency and can therefore illuminate the entire space better. According to MVRDV, the use of so much glas and transparent materials can be traced back to the changes we see in our society.

“We are moving into a transparent society, businesses are becoming more open with the public, and people care more about what goes on behind closed doors,”  Winy Maas told Dezeen.

Crystal Houses – MVRDV

De big bubble – Alex de Witte              0,1,2,3,4 – Shaun Harris

Infinity Kitchen – MVRDV

133 WAI YIP STREET – MVRDV

Tribute to Domus – Fabrica / Benneton                             Drift Sconce  – Grain

Brute Platform – Gashetka              Urban Philosophy – Nissa Kinzhalina

Commodore – Glas Italia / Lissoni

Layers – Glas Italia / Nendo

Perspective no.2 – OS ∆ OOS

 

 

 

 

Mirror Mirror

I see I see what you don’t see.
I see an object, a consumer item, a piece of furniture design. I see myself, my surroundings, light and reflection.

Mirrors are no longer just an object. They are a surface, a material, that you can use to design withand create new shapes, perceptions and surroundings.

Lately, we see more and more often mirrored furniture and objects (and also in fashion). The mirrors will retain their original function but at the same time they add a new dimension to what they reflect. By playing with ‘Surface reflections’ the designers ensure that their influence goes beyond the furniture or the product. For instance, the designer affects the whole environment in which the object is placed. Mirros become more than the piece of equipment they were once before, they are transformed into art, furniture and objects that reflects both the users and the environment and it shows it from a different angle.

Nendo – Manga chairs

 

Fernando Mastrangelo – Drift (Mirror Series)

 

Elisa Strozyk – Ceramic Surface Reflections

 

Rooms – Raw meets geometric

 

Patricia Urqoila & Georg Jensen – Urkiola

 

Studio Roso – Eden

 

Cristina Celestino for Tonelli – Opalina Collection

 

German Ermics at Rossana Orlandi – Ombre Glass

 

Jordan Soderberg Millis – Anaglyphic

 

Moire effect

In interior design and architecture, nowadays, we see that the moiré effect is being used increasingly.

Moire patterns are created whenever one semitransparent object with a repititive pattern is placed over antoher. A slight motion of one of the objects creates large – scale changes in the moiré pattern.

David Derksen is one of the designers who used this effect in his designs, and showed it at last years Salone del Mobile 2015  with his Moiré lights.  He calls it ‘a celebration of the intriguing moiré effect. These lamps invite to play and become fascinated by the moire principle. Squares, hexagons or rings seem to appear and to move, making this into an almost hypnotic effect.

David Derksen – Moire Lights

One of David’s projects that was launched on Salone del Mobile last April in Milan were his Lucid lights. De collection consists of light objects with a perforated casing, which are carved out of aluminium.

David Derksen – Lucid Lights

‘There’s a lot to love about a humble shape that’s cut out repeatedly, creating large patterns across big scales. So many variations are possible with perforations overlaying them creating a moorish effect. Cutting out thick boards will express the edge of the material which creates a completely differen look to when a thin sheet is punctured, etc. Scale, proportion and material selections play a huge role when choosing and designing these types of patterns’ (yellowtrace).

Let inspire you trough the variety of products, fashion, interior and architecture from the past years >>>

Lululemon / Murdock Young Architects   

Agata Bielen – Gold Line                     Architecture 00

 

Nina Mair – Mashrabeya       Arch Studio 

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec – Stampa Chair

Junpei Tamaki + Iori Tamaki – Snowscape cabinet

 

 

Álvaro Díaz Hernández – Wire Collection        Robert Morris – Sprüth Magers Berlin

 

MLZD – Janus Museum, Switzerland       Studio Gang

Tom Dixon                     Jesse Visser – Harold

Creating Spaces

Open, Transparent and Flexible. This is required by many people for a living and working space.

A space that posesses all these functions and fulfills all the requirements challenges the user to utilize the entire space, to engage and to interact. But a room with these features can also have it’s disadvantages. For the acoustics, privacy and the possibility to focus it’s not the best option.

Furthermore, in te interior of your offices you want to take into account different types of employees in order to get the most out or your people and the environment.

We are noticing that more and more designers come up with solutions to reduce the feeling of privacy and intimacy in open workplaces and public areas. The space is then often divided into various zones in a transparent manner. Hereby, you can both enjoy the openness and the privacy and it gives you the possibility to create multiple characters in one room.

The trend ‘creating spaces’ offers protection from overstimulation, it allows intimacy in varying degrees, meets the changing needs of both humans and environment and it shows the way in which design affects the space.

Fringe – Thijs Gilde

Free Standing Screen – Matteo Grassi & Franco Poli

Trois Conversations – Constance Guisset

Ear Chair – Jurgen Bey & Prooff

Tuango – Anne Sophie Goneau Design

Focus – Zilenzio

Standalone – Axia Design & Prooff

Modular Screen System – Benjamin Hubert

 

 

Touchable walls

Nowadays, we choose for walls with more statement, both inside and outside.
Trough the use of different shapes, materials, colors, reliëfs and textures, ”ontstaat er een bijzonder decoratief spel element van licht en schaduw”.

Trough this, a typical wall will be transformed into a three-dimensional visual festival. The wall won’t only become important for it’s function, it will also be used as a decorative element for interior and exterior. It provides additional space to show identity and adds tactility in and around the house.

We see, that the issue about tactility, is an important aspect for various architects and designers, not only for the young generation also for the established names.

There is an increase in experimenting with how tactility and texture influence, behavior, needs & perception and the need to add it to a physical environment, what the designer is feeling, reacts as a response to the digitalisation of our society.

Image copyright Assemble info@assemblestudio.co.uk

Assemble – Yardhouse                                 Bruce B./ Emmy B. –  Stuttgart, Germany

Buro Belen – Thomaskerk

Pauline Gorelov – Hyperstructure

Luffalab – Indigo

Zilenzio – Fazett                                                            Culdesac – Urbatek

            Giles Miller – Hemsworth leather                                   Kowa collection – Ichimatsu

Pia Jensen – The infinity of a room

 

Forbo – Bulletin Board Collection

 

Prismatic

In Februari started my internship at Broeinest. It’s a material library & meeting space where creators of physical environments get inspired, work, meet, learn & play.
During my internship I have learned a lot of aspects that are important for my development as a future lifestyle professional. One of my tasks, and the reason why I’m writing this blog,  was writing blogs for the website of Broeinest, focussing on materials and interior design that will inspire all the visitors of Broeinest’s website.

The first blog that I’ve wrote for Broeinest is: ‘Prismatic’ 
This link will guide you to the original blog that I’ve written in Dutch at the website of broeinest: http://www.broeinest.nl/blog/prismatic/

To make it readable for everyone, I like to share it with you on this blog in an English version.

In the interior and fashion industry the usage of Dichroic glas is increasing.
‘Dichroic’ means ‘two colours’, this material was developed in the late fifties by NASA to protect against the potentially harmful effects of direct sunlight and cosmic radiation. This type of glass has the unique characteristic that the transmissive color, totally differs from the reflective color.

Several designers respond to the infinite interplay of light and reflection.
The designs seem somewhat surrealistic and it creates a sense of illusion.
The objects protect natural phenoma of light in daily life and can make any dull room lively by creating complex patterns of light and shadow, that change depending on the position of the viewer or the light source.

Mise & Abyme Tunnel – Allegri & Fogale

 

PRISM – Studio22

 

HOLON – Jetske Visser & Michiel Martens

 

Anno Tropico – Formafantasma

 

Shimmer – Glass Italia & Patricia Urquiola

 

Eastpack – Sabine Marcelis  |  Seeing Glass – Brit van Nerven & Sabine Marcelis

 

Day & Night Light – Éléonore Delisse

 

Prismatica – RAW

 

Dichroic Glass – Chriss Wood

 

Biobased

In Broeinest, the place where I’m doing my internship, we have a permanent exhibition of ‘Materia‘. It is the global network in the area of innovative materials and every four months the theme off the exhibition changes. From January till April the theme off the exhibition was called ‘Biobased’. I wanted to get to know more about the various projects based on this theme and I want to share my selection of projects that caught my attention!

People use different meanings off the term ‘Biobased’. One of the explanations could be: ‘Derived from living organisms, both plant and animal, biobased materials feature a low CO2 footprint, low energy costs and generate no – or minimal – pollution. Examples include bioplastics, compostable materials, fungi and algae as a new raw material, ‘waste’ materials such as coffee grounds and nut shells or chitin from shrimp shells, and new materials made from wool, leather, hemp and nettles. The source of raw, biobased materials available is inexhaustible. Residual materials from the agriculture and forestry sectors also offer economically interesting material inspiration’ (Materia).

Studio Thomas Vaily – Reconfiguration of a tree
by David Derksen, Thomas Vaily, Gardar Eiolfsson & Lex Pott

The project of Thomas Vaily, ‘reconfiguration of a tree’, is a proposal to go back (return) to the basics and to develop new materials with natural building blocks. With this project, Thomas Vaily, is examing the pinus pinaster, a resinous tree that was cut down for the production of pitch.

Because of the wide range of synthetic alternatives for resin, the harvesting of resin has become a vanishing industry.

To re-examine the production system, studio Thomas Vaily focuses itself mainly on the qualities of the material. In this way, not only the tree, but all the parts of the pinus pinaster have been used to transform it into a black substance with completely new properties.

Then, four designers have been asked to create new objects with resin and wood.

Studio Thomas Vaily

Gardar Eyjólfsson

 

Lex Pott & David Derksen

Marlene Huissoud – Of insects & Men

Marlene Huissoud is a French material designer who comes from a family of beekeepers. She is ‘interested in the viability of utilising insects and their wase streams to create future craft artefacts'(M, Huissoud).

Insects & Men explores the beauty of honeybee bio resin. Her new piece has been shown on Salone del Mobile in Milan at La Terrace. Her stunning new piece continues her exploration of bio resin, the material produced by the honey bee as waste, but now combining it with commonly discarded human glass waste. The pieces question the idea of how two waste materials, natural and industrial can complement each other (given an up-cycling approach)
The honeybee ressin is used to bind the glass pieces together in those sculptural ‘alien look’ pieces.

‘It is questioning and underlying the way of how we use materials nowadays and in the future’ (Domusweb).

 

Fruit Leather

Designers from Willem de Kooning have been asked to design something to prevent food waste. They discovered that on a market near/close to the academy, more than 3,500 kilos of unmarketable fruits and vegetables remain everyday. They decided to use these products to create leather. ‘Food isn’t trash, you just need to find a different purpose for the existing material’ they said.

‘What we want to achieve with this project is to create awareness of the problem of food waste and show that there is a solution’.

By using the name ‘Fruit leather Rotterdam‘, the designers are experiencing with the material. Back in the days the technique has been used to produce candy and snacks (still). And now they have already created a bag made of mango’s!

Mandy den Elzen – Goat stomach Leather

Mandy den Elzen is a visual artist who approaches materials with a scientific and meticulous approach. Working with special left-over animal parts, den Elzen looks to expand the number of animal parts that can be tanned an used for leather, thus making better use of available resources.

With her work ‘The Equine Digestive System’, Mandy den Elzen continues her extensive research into the process of making leather from animal organs. She has worked with cow stomachs and now with goat stomachs as well. The stomachs of herbivorous animals especially, have beautiful structures. Possible applications include fashion and accesoires (Materia).

Her work questions’ society’s attitudes towards the use of animal parts in our everyday world and within the leather production industry in particular.

 

 

what to do with the water

In the Netherlands we have been living below sea level for over 800 years, so I think we can say that we are experts when it comes to the defense of water. With the climate change and the increase of large weather fluctuations it’s necessary to experiment with new flood protection solutions.

Those who want to win the battle against flooding, can’t leave it to a coïncidence. Meteorologists worldwide have agreed already for times: disaster floods, sometimes with devastating consequences for residential areas or wildlife, are becoming more common. Effective flood protection is therefore essential. Mobiele Dijken is a new take on flood protection solutions. With Mobile dikes there is a new, highly efficient system designed, and already tested many times. With the help of Mobile Dikes a temporary barrier can be realized in a very short time and with no additional equipment or heavy machinery with a maximum height of 2.6 meters.

How do you fight against water? Well, with water. The mobile dikes of fireman Dirk Bon and Sailmaker Bart Viscount, are created with sail and filled with water. In case of emergencies they have built a temporary dam within a few hours.  There is no need for sandbags anymore. Their innovative idea earned them a spot in the final of the Challenge City.

Climate-resistant constructing, designing, housing and living asks for a change in thinking and doing. It requires governments for example, to deal with the design of public spaces differently. To arrange the climate-proof cities they should work together with other parties. City deals, alliances between cities, state and other stakeholders can make a contribution  by experimenting with issues such as climate change adaption. The mobile dikes are a good example of this.

 

Sources:

http://popupcity.net/mobile-dikes-protect-the-dutch-against-floods/

Mobiele Dijken-Stop water met water

http://www.mobieledijken.nl/mobiele-dijken

 

 

 

Transformation of the inner beauty

Hanneke Wetzer

 

Isaac Monté is a design activist and designs objects and installations as a response to the social, ecological or economic problems. At the moment his work called ‘the art of deception’ is been featured in Kazarne, Eindhoven during the exhibition of guest curator Jeroen Junte, called ‘next up’.

Ruud Balk

 

‘We have taken discarded pig hearts and transformed them into elegant vessels for new life by decellularizing them and re-populating them with various techniques, into aesthetically improved hearts for humans’ (Monte).

The work consists of 21 cylinders, each containing a transformed porcine heart. With this collection, Aterlier Monté, explores how biological intervention and aesthetic manipulation can be used as tools for the ultimate deception: transforming the inner beauty, from extreme to perfect. Isaac thereby asks the question on how muslims and vegetarians respond to receiving a donor heart.

Isaac Monte

The project is about improving and beautify the human body, it is about the deceptiveness  of beauty and the scientific developments in the field of tissue culture and organ transplantation. Isaac examines the future scenario in which the scientific improvement of an organ such as the heart does not result from medical necessity, but out of greed and coquetry.

You could see Monte as an explorer in a possible future world. His findings ask fundamental questions. What does it mean that our body, the most familiar, that is composed of material that we can analyze and manipulate as desired? What does it say about our identity? Does it exist independently from our bodies? In other words, what is humanity?