Car design trends: Frankfurt Motor Show 2011
We are at the start of the second life of the automobile. Up until recently, cars were more of less about individual mobility, personal space, about ownership. It has been about creating beautiful or quirky sculpture. With our diminishing fossil fuel reserves, concerns for the environment and world economic recession, the closeted, cosy world of the automobile has had to shift. I recall going to see controversial ex-BMW design boss Chris Bangle... Read More
London Design Festival 2011 higlights
At the Grand Entrance to the Victoria & Albert Museum sits a giant installation cascading down the steps – the dramatic and soaring Timber Wave responding to the museum’s vast, ornamental and multilayered façade. This is the work of London firm Amanda Levete Architects who, with the help of structural engineer Arup, has created this complex three-dimensional latticework spiral from American red oak, using lamination techniques normally... Read More
Objects of desire: Virage Volante
What constitutes good design, and is this mutual to desirable design? This is what crossed my mind as I glanced at the Aston Martin Virage Volante test car that was delivered to our London office – the Lightning Silver coloured soft-top oozing the sort of unfussy elegance this marque has mastered. #gallery-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width:... Read More
Marek Reichman on Aston Martin’s Cygnet
Luxury, bespoke, customised – overused words that run the risk of losing their true meaning. But what does it really mean to design a car in today’s saturated market that encapsulates all these words yet is relevant to our changing world? Aston Martin has created such a car – co-created is probably the more accurate definition given that the base is the work of Toyota. In a nutshell the Cygnet is a very small commuter runaround designed... Read More
Dixon, Hadid, Béhar, Baccarat, Aston Martin at Milan
The global design community descended on Milan last month to celebrate creativity as established and new voices presented their latest innovations at the coveted Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the international furniture fair. We have reported on some of the highlights including Zaha Hadid and Mini in Mutant Architecture & Design, Royal College of Art’s Intent and BMW, Flos and Paul Cocksedge’s Sestoseno. Here are some... Read More