Constructive Lives by Multistorey

Graphic designers Multistorey have designed the interior, exterior and branding for a homeware shop on Portobello road in London.

The designers decided to cover the exterior with brightly-coloured tiles, which informed the graphic products, branding and website for the store.

The project was completed in September last year.

Here are some more details from the designers:
We have designed the first in a new chain of shops in London that will sell furniture and accessories for the home. Initially approached to design just the branding element, we proposed to the owners that we take on the entire art direction of the shop including the interior design and fit-out, the external cladding and all the printed and screen based requirements [carrier bags, website, stationery etc].

Our concept was led very much by the shop’s location on Portobello road – an area with a diverse cultural community and strong and vibrant visual identity, the shop premises which had a large external wall, and the owners mixed African, Irish and West Indian heritage.

We wanted to make the exterior of the shop very high impact so that it would stand out yet feel at home on what is a visually busy street. Whilst researching African and West Indian patterns and decorative arts, we discovered the geometric wall murals of the Ndebele community of South Africa which were simple, striking and painted in the most beautiful colours.

We liked the cultural origins of these murals being hand painted by the womenfolk of the tribe to assert their individuality in a strictly patriarchal society. Taking these as a starting point we created our own version in a contemporary ceramic tiled permutation for the large exterior wall of the shop.

In breaking up the shapes to a bitmapped tile version, they began to take on a whole new life of their own, even resembling and playing off the large zebra crossing and street lighting directly outside the shop.

With the pattern itself being so striking, the typographic element of the branding needed to be quite simple and utilitarian so as not to clash. We applied the typographic sign to the windows of the shop — giving them space to breathe, away from the pattern.

For the interior of the shop space, we felt that a pared down palette would be more functional for the display of products, but continued the tiled element inside with a black ceramic tiled floor. Four built-in units of window display plinths, cash desk and shelves were constructed from wood or white painted MDF, and each piece finished with a black frame giving a structured, geometric yet warm feel to the space. The sun casts shadows of the shop’s name into the shop, which create ever changing typography on the units.

For the carrier bags, stationery and website, we have used the tiled pattern as a decorative device, with the aim of the tiled pattern becoming a key part of the brand recognition.

Habitat 2020, The Eco-Architecture

As you probably realize, eco-architecture is not a new element, and it consists of carefully designed projects, using green materials and an eco-friendly look. The latest project based on such techniques is Habitat 2020, an urban megalopolis concept that aims to develop a sustainable housing system.

The China-based construction will blend biochemical functionalities and electronics with the materials, that are supposed to act as a membrane and harness energy. The membrane will separate the habitat from the exterio, and will absorb vital factors such as air, light and water and transit them to the interior.

The skin will move in the best position to get as much sunlight as possible, to increase the efficiency of the energy absorbing process and solve the need for electricity. With Philips as its designers, the system has covered all the needs of its future residents.

Even the air and wind are perfectly controlled and integrated into a natural air-conditioning system, which will also clean the building of the exhaled CO2. The membrane will not be affected by the rain, furthermore, it will use it, and channel the water inside. Another important element from this superstructure’s design is that the organic waste will be converted into biogas energy, used for domestic purposes.

The Battle of Trafalgar by Jaime Hayón

Spanish designer Jaime Hayón will create a giant chess set in Trafalgar Square, London, as part of this September’s London Design Festival. Update: Hayón has sent us many new drawings, renderings and research materials, which we’ve added below.
The installation, announced today at the festival’s press launch, is billed as “a design reinterpretation of the Battle of Trafalgar”.

The Battle of Trafalgar

At the centre of the Festival will be a gigantic chess board in Trafalgar Square. Spanish designer Jaime Hayón has designed thirty-two ceramic chess pieces, each up to 2m tall that will be located in the centre of Trafalgar Square.

Posted by Marcus Fairs

Blown Fabric by Nendo

Milan 09: Japanese designers Nendo will display lighting called Blown Fabric at exhibition Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware in Milan later this month.

The lamps are made of a thermoplastic, non-woven polyester fibre using a process similar to glass-blowing.

LED bulbs in machined, aluminium sockets provide the light source and anchor the light, hollow forms.

Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware takes place 22-27 April at La Triennale di Milano.

Here’s some more information from Nendo:

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“blown-fabric” at La Triennale di Milano

nendo created blown-fabric for Tokyo Fiber ‘09 Senseware, an exhibition intended to convey the possibilities of new materials developed with Japanese synthetic fibre technology.

‘Smash’ is a specialized long-fibre non-woven polyester that can be manipulated into different forms through hot press forming technology.

Because it is thermoplastic, light and rip-proof, but glows beautifully when light passes through it, we wanted to create lighting fixtures in the style of vernacular Japanese chochin paper lanterns with it.

The structure of standard chochin consists of thin strips of bamboo wrapped around a wood frame and strengthened with vertical stitching.

Japanese mulberry paper pasted over the frame completes the lamps, and gives them their characteristic glow. But we realized that Smash’s particular properties would allow us to shape it like blown glass into a seamless one-piece lantern. It is impossible to completely control the process, so each fixture takes a unique form as heat is added and pressurized air blown into it.

As in glass-blowing, we can intervene during the production of each piece, resulting in a collection of objects whose infinitely varied imperfections are reminiscent of the infinite formal mutations of viruses and bacteria in response to environmental changes, and a far cry from the standardized forms of industrial mass-production.

The fixtures are weighted at the base by the light source. This simple, straightforward contrasts with the careful selection of materials.

Smash changes form if the interior temperature rises above 80˚ C, so we mounted low-heat LED bulbs in machined aluminium sockets that double as a heat-sink to maintain a low interior temperature.

V&A washrooms by Glowacka Rennie

London architects Glowacka Rennie have completed the interior of the ladies toilets at the V&A museum in London.

The design includes a black, stone wall, black cubicle interiors and brass fittings in a white-painted interior with a high ceiling.
A blue, painted installation by Swiss artist Felice Varini resolves into a pattern of circles when viewed in the mirror above the wash basins.

Here’s some more information from Glowacka Rennie:
In May 2008 Glowacka Rennie won an invited competition for the design of the Women’s Amenities off the Grand Entrance hall at the V&A.
Competition extract:

“Their location means that they are well used by visitors and guests who attend major V&A events and parties in the Grand Entrance. The intention is to completely overhaul these toilets to create beautifully designed, stylish, elegant, comfortable and well-considered facilities.”
The purpose of the museum’s foundation was to raise standards in and promote fine and decorative arts; craftsmanship and materiality are therefore a very important part of the design.

A new stone datum unifies the space - a heavy ‘base’ into which the visitor descends down a new staircase. A light vaulted ceiling works with the rhythm of the existing windows and exaggerates the generous height of the space. This ceiling is slowly ‘revealed’ to the visitor as they descend down the stair and turn the corner to see the full effect.

Felice Varini, a Swiss artist known for his geometric perspective-localized paintings has added a fantastic, painted installation to the completed works. The hidden shape is ‘revealed’ in the basin mirror.

–Posted by Rose Etherington

furniture friday: knit chair

Posted by: Michelle on February 27th, 2009











Designer Emiliano Godoy, whom we adore, believes that sustainability “is no longer a choice that companies can afford to ignore, and consider[s] it the primary framework within which to develop products and projects.” Perhaps you can understand why we adore him. On top of his eco-friendly ethic, he’s an incredibly talented designer. Take for example his super inventive Knit Chair. Composed of wooden panels bound together by cotton rope, the chair might remind some of Frankenstein’s monster if it weren’t for its elegant honeycomb patterned. Available in either FSC-certified beech or white oak, the handmade knit chair is also VOC free and won a Bronze Leaf at the International Furniture Design Award in Asahikawa, Japan in 2005. It’s available for purchase at Branch.com.

sam hecht: 'table, bench, chair' for established & sons at milan design week 09

'table, bench, chair' by sam hecht
image © designboom

sam hecht's 'table, bench, chair' was on view at established & sons exhibition at milan design week 09.the idea to combine several seating opportunities and functions into a single product was initiated by a trip on the tokyo metro by sam hecht. here individual seating spaces are designated along a communal bench. hecht used this principle as a starting point and has similarly differentiated various functional
areas along the length of his bench with the help of traditional stream bent beech frames.these appear to slice through the solid wood bench that is the constant element in the design. three versions of 'table, bench, chair' are available; a chair, bench and love seat. designated seating space is profiled into the solid oak base




















'table, bench, chair' by sam hecht
image © designboom