London Design Festival 2012
The London Design Festival opened yesterday at its main hub, the V&A. The festival sees a host of designers, showrooms, design organisations and retailers participating in over 200 events across the city. For a dramatic entrance to the V&A, designer Dominic Harris of Cinimod Studio has collaborated with lighting specialist Philips to create a temporary lighting installation in the underground tunnel entrance to the museum. Inside the... Read More
New visions in car design
Designing cars is tricky business. Not only do designers have to comply with strict safety regulations, they are also restricted by company guidelines be it in terms of budget or aesthetics. Which is why college years are the best, and possibly the last ones, for them to explore freely. At this year’s Royal College of Art graduate vehicle design show students exhibited a number of inspiring ideas. This London post-graduate college provides the... Read More
Salone del Mobile 2012 highlights
The design world congregated on Milan last week for Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Europe’s leading design fair in Milan. To mark its 51st year, the fair set its focus on technology and its influence on design. This is a vast show, spanning most of Milan with its hub at the exhibition centre in Rho. Read the report published in Wallpaper*. #gallery-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top:... Read More
Redefining the walled city
How do you define and redefine ‘walled cities’ within the metropolis setting? From physical historical defences to more liminal social boundaries, corporate estates or legislative territories, the impact of these structures is increasingly prevalent. With this theme in mind, architecture students at London’s Royal College of Art have proposed a series of existing walled cities, in the process generating their own critical approach. #gallery-4... Read More
Interview: Stefan Sielaff on Audi design
Stefan Sielaff joined German carmaker Audi in 1990 becoming head of design in 2006, and apart from a brief spell at Mercedes-Benz interior studio near Lake Como in Italy, he has largely worked within the Volkswagen Group. Here he discusses the marque’s involvement with architecture and urbanism through the Audi Urban Future Awards, and his thoughts on electric car design. Read the full interview published in Wallpaper*. Since the interview... Read More
New voices at London Design Festival
Around the corner from the main V&A London Design Festival hub, students at the Royal College of Art hosted a series of exhibitions at their South Kensington campus. Sustain showcased sustainable objects, ecological thinking and solutions from across the art and design disciplines. Vehicle design student Robert Hagenstrom’s Bamboo Utility Vehicle, for instance, is both ecologically and socially sustainable. It promotes people in... 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
Room divider wins James Dyson Award
A portable, retractable room divider has won the UK leg of the James Dyson Award. Designed by Michael Korn, KwickScreen helps healthcare professionals make the best use of their often limited available space – allowing for more privacy, dignity and protection to patients. The student at London’s Royal College of Art has explored the use bistable materials such as slap on bracelets and tape measures. He developed early prototypes drawing on... Read More
Shift Happens: Critical visions of London
Four young architects are looking to find innovative solutions for pressing issues facing London’s future. One proposes a partnership of private enterprises exploiting the happiness index in order to create a new social housing model. Another suggests how the London stock exchange can reach a mutual agreement with the Church of England to archive its data safeguarding both their futures. One young architect questions how environmentalism can... Read More
RCA students window dress Fendi
Luxury Italian fashion house Fendi is challenging a group of emerging designers to create temporary window and in-store displays as part of 2011 London Design Festival. In a special tribute to British design, product design students from the Royal College of Art have been asked to create work that incorporates Fendi’s signature craft techniques along with discarded materials. Under the guidance of British designer Simon Hasan, who has previously... Read More