Located in the heart of city next to the Chénghuángmiào (or City God Temple) and Bund waterfront area, Yuyuan Station is an essential transportation hub for passengers traversing Shanghai’s 2,400-square-mile area. It is especially important for delivering tourists to nearby cultural landmarks. While the busy metro station was once simply a place to wait, XING’s renovations have transformed it into an immersive, entertaining experience.

With the help of a specialized design software, the architects cut, bent, and spliced together thousands of aluminum sheets in wave patterns. They were then suspended in cascading swells, adapting their shapes to fit perfectly between support columns. The resulting undulations are reminiscent of both the waves of the neighboring City God Temple and the ripples of the Huangpu River, which flows above the metro station.

Because Yuyuan is the deepest-underground station on the line, bringing ample light to the space was crucial. The waved ceiling panels were fitted with customized LED lighting that courses through a program of colors, pulsating like the symbolic heartbeat of the city the station has come to represent. The lights ebb and flow from one bright hue to the next, moving in sync with the rhythms of passenger traffic.

The LEDs can be programmed to perform specific color and pattern sequences for special occasions and holidays. Chinese Red throbs overhead for National Day and the Spring Festival, while pinks and other floral colors flash on Valentine’s Day.

XING Design has been creating innovative designs in the realms of architecture, interiors, landscape, and urban planning since it was founded in 2016. The name has a double meaning, being both the moniker of its founder, Xing Xiong, as well as a common abbreviation for “crossing.” The studio’s work has frequently been at the intersection of different disciplines, finding inventive solutions all across the creative spectrum.

Xiong brought extensive training and experience with him to XING Design. After obtaining a bachelors and master’s degree in architecture from Tsinghua Univsersity in Beijing, he went on to earn another master’s degree in architecture from Harvard. Before founding his own firm, he worked for notable companies like Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, BIG in Copenhagen, and UNStudio in Amsterdam.

XING Design has completed numerous noteworthy urban architecture projects, but they are also well-known for their art installations. The Yuyuan metro station beautifully embodies the firm’s name with a design at the crossroads of art and functionality. It went on to be a jury winner in the 2022 Architizer A+ Awards category of Transport Interiors.

The post Shanghai’s Yuyuan Metro Station Gets a Light Show Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

The Lumina webcam offers three essential features that set it apart from all the others. First, it uses artificial intelligence and a CMOS sensor to auto-correct for ideal color. The user simply holds up the included color card and it automatically pairs with the camera, giving the system a baseline “for realistic color which is used to repair color deficiencies, find the perfect exposure levels, and correct for lighting temperature.” Users can customize even further, if desired, by fine-tuning the camera’s 30-plus settings and parameters.

Second, it allows for a DSLR bokeh effect with its innovative blurring techniques. Inspired by the way 3D gaming engines use blur functions, Lumina can keep the user looking crisp and crystal clear while softly fading the background, allowing the focus to stay entirely on the person in the center. Users can manually adjust the amount of blur and even add RGB/HSV transformations if desired.

Third, Lumina includes an auto-framing “cameraman” feature that tracks the subject’s face and body position. This means the background will be ideally composed no matter how often a person moves around during a call. The ultra-wide 95-degree field-of-view lens works with the AI Cameraman software to “adjust everything from video framing, transition speeds, reaction time, and even the transition easing curve to be more fluid and natural.”

The camera’s compact body is made of aluminum, with a choice of four sophisticated colors: gold, rose gold, dark gray, and silver. And at just 2.75 inches long, it’s even smaller than a tube of lipstick. The Lumina package also includes a magnetic privacy cover “that snaps on like magic,” a camera mount, two USB-C cables, and a 17-patch color card for calibration.

Being able to appear perfectly photogenic on each online interaction is apparently a prevalent desire, as Lumina’s Indiegogo campaign raised over 5,000 percent of its funding goal from more than 4,000 supporters with six days left to go.

Lumina’s CEO Raymond Lei is no stranger to finding a need and filling it. After a frustrating interaction while trying to order t-shirts for his high school tennis club, Lei was inspired to improve the online shopping experience for everyone. Starting with just $2,000, he started his own t-shirt company “ooShirts.” After its massive success, he dropped out of UC Berkeley to create Scalable, a multi-million dollar firm that builds e-commerce infrastructure for entrepreneurs. After a year of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized the universal lack of video quality for conference calls and decided to solve that problem, too. Together with Chief Technology Officer Mike Xia, they created the Lumina 4K webcam to give everyone a leg up on Zoom.

Early bird backers of the crowdfunding campaign were offered the AI webcam package for $170, a 32-percent discount from the intended price. The website says Lumina will start shipping sometime after mid-October 2021.

The post Lumina: World’s First AI-Powered Webcam Brings Hollywood Effects to Your Zoom Calls first appeared on Dornob.

In an interview with Fast Company, Dixon recounted the childhood experience that inspired him to embrace automotive industry techniques in his HYDRO chair design. As a five-year-old back in the 1960s, he was left alone in a parked Citroën 2CV, a small French car reminiscent of a Volkswagen Beetle. As any curious young child is bound to do, he pulled a lever in there that happened to release the parking brake and send the car rolling backwards down a hill. Its momentum was stopped by a crash at the bottom of the road.

Perhaps because that was such a traumatic and vivid experience for him, the design of that Citroën has always stuck in Dixon’s mind. Made from a light, tubular frame base and thin stamped steel walls, the hood’s subtle ridges give it a distinctive character. Partnering with Norwegian firm HYDRO (and naming his design after their company), Dixon worked with those shapes to create an ultra-lightweight aluminum chair that’s both stackable and 100-percent recyclable.

“The future needs circular materials and we need to design products that live longer, can be recycled or reused,” says Hilde Kallevig, Head of Brand and Marketing at HYDRO, adding that “understanding material properties and manufacturing processes will help create more sustainable products designed with recycling or reuse in mind, and that is why we believe it is important for designers and manufacturers to collaborate.”

In addition to sustainability, the HYDRO chair is incredibly playful in its aesthetic.

“I wasn’t attempting to make something that had such a pop sensibility. It’s quite recognizable, I think,” says Dixon. “I was seriously trying to think of an economical way of getting soft edges and strength into the sheet.”

That combination required the skill of a Canadian auto supplier that also subcontracts with Tesla. They used an automotive technique called superforming to pull off the job, spraying molten aluminum into a one-piece mold and then allowing to harden. The result is a single piece that can have more precise lines and details than you’d get with molds or stamps.

“You get a lot less scarring on the metal, and it can go into tighter radiuses, which allows you to make the structure,” Dixon explains.

The legs of the HYDRO, however, cannot be incorporated in the superforming process and are instead attached with an industrial-strength adhesive.

Dixon enjoyed working with the auto industry on this project. “The advantage of working with car companies is they have more advanced everything,” he says, adding that “the furniture business is lagging behind in ergonomics, material science . . . all sorts of stuff.” He also says that “being able to work with the top aluminum and material experts in the industry was an opportunity I couldn’t refuse.”

Because his chair is so light – just eight pounds – and so easily stacked, it’s easy to imagine in all sorts of commercial settings. “I think it’ll be used a bit more in museum cafeterias and car showrooms…but my hope would be, if we can get it to the right price…it would be a great chair for prisons and kindergartens, as well,” says Dixon. “It’s very indestructible.”

In this limited edition run, each chair comes marked with both a unique number and a signed certificate from the designer himself.

Dixon is a self-taught designer who first gained acclaim in the 1990s for his ‘”Jack” creation: the original “sitting, lighting, stacking thing.” After collaborating for decades with other famous designers, he’s now the creative director of his own eponymous brand that specializes in lighting, furniture, and accessories.

The post Cutting-Edge Car Tech Makes the HYDRO Chair Ultra Lightweight and Strong first appeared on Dornob.

This elliptical hanging solar light offers three lighting modes: Sunne Rise, Sunne Light, and Sunne Set. “Rise” simulates early morning sunrise with shades of purple and yellow; “Light” is a warm glow that can be adjusted for soft ambient lighting or bright reading light; and “Set” is a fiery glow designed to help you relax and unwind. The fixture hangs from the window frame using two thin, barely visible steel wires.

To switch the light on and off, choose the setting, or adjust the brightness, you can use touch controls on the top of the light or use the native Sunne app for Android and iOS, which also allows you to monitor how much energy the light is harvesting and its battery level.

Van Aubel consulted with European energy research firm ECN.TNO to develop Sunne’s solar panels, which are built into the back of the light facing the window. Testing the cells with the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, the designer made sure they’d work in various light conditions, even if it was a little cloudy outside. They also chose the best solar cells for indoor use, pairing them with their own circuit board connected to an integrated battery.

The nicest aspect of the Sunne is probably the minimalism of its pleasing design. It looks gorgeous in the window, and the way it glows after dark to mimic the gradual process of a sunrise or sunset is an unusual feature that could help support our internal circadian rhythms. If there’s one thing it seems to be lacking, it’s the ability to set a timer so the light automatically begins to “rise” at sunset. It would also be nice to be able to change the temperature of the light according to your mood or the time of day. It’s not quite a solar-powered version of a smart light, but what it can do is still pretty cool.

The Sunne is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter for a pledge of €750 or more (about $896 USD), with an estimated ship date of August 2021. You can choose a frame color of original rose gold, black, or silver, and a limited number of patrons will receive a special edition hand-engraved by designer Marjan van Aubel.

A little more about the designer, via her Kickstarter page: “Marjan van Aubel is an award-winning solar designer. She brings solar energy into daily life through objects. Van Aubel’s most notable works are Current Table, Power Plant, and the roof of the Dutch Pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Her work is in permanent collections of museums such as MoMA New York, the V&A London, and Boijmans van Beuningen in the Netherlands, amongst others. She has collaborated with global brands such as Cos, Timberland, and Swarovski with the aim of accelerating global energy transition to solar.”

The post Sunne: Solar-Powered Window Light Harvests Daylight to Release It After Dark first appeared on Dornob.

Stronger than glass, various military and commercial applications for this remarkable material are already being tested. What was once used in the science-fiction Star Trek movies, see-through aluminum is now something that – through test mixing with rubies, sapphires and more – is now being tried out in all kinds of ways to create transparency where strength is also required.

For now, it is used in static-free transparent aluminum wrapping for computer parts and other electronics. It is also being tested in otherwise-conventional see-through soda cans and military shielding for vehicles where windows once were. At over ten dollars per square inch, however, it is still not cheap enough for mainstream everyday use – but may be someday soon.

Here are some more details from Science Daily.

“‘What we have created is a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before,’ said Professor Justin Wark of Oxford University’s Department of Physics, one of the authors of the paper. ‘Transparent aluminum is just the start. The physical properties of the matter we are creating are relevant to the conditions inside large planets, and we also hope that by studying it we can gain a greater understanding of what is going on during the creation of ‘miniature stars’ created by high-power laser implosions, which may one day allow the power of nuclear fusion to be harnessed here on Earth.’”

“The discovery was made possible with the development of a new source of radiation that is ten billion times brighter than any synchrotron in the world (such as the UK’s Diamond Light Source). The FLASH laser, based in Hamburg, Germany, produces extremely brief pulses of soft X-ray light, each of which is more powerful than the output of a power plant that provides electricity to a whole city. The Oxford team, along with their international colleagues, focused all this power down into a spot with a diameter less than a twentieth of the width of a human hair. At such high intensities the aluminum turned transparent.”

The post Transparent Aluminum: A Real See-Through Metal first appeared on Dornob.

Set to open this spring, the tower will include artist studios, research facilities, workshops, and seminar rooms. The architect took inspiration from limestone cliffs visible at the edges of the city, devising a jagged, irregular silhouette for the building’s exterior. The tower’s 11,000 aluminum panels are set around a concrete and steel structure, with a glass and stone cylindrical base inspired by the city’s Heritage Roman sites. It will also host exhibitions of some of the art world’s biggest names.

The city of Arles is best known in the art world for being home to Vincent Van Gogh during one of the most creatively productive periods of his life, when he created dozens of paintings and hundreds of drawings. But its income is mostly reliant on tourism, and the new arts center could draw in more visitors than ever before, with Gehry’s tower standing as a shimmering central beacon.

The project is located on the site of an abandoned rail yard that’s been vacant since 1986.The Luma Arles Arts Center, already completed, is currently hosting a range of contemporary art exhibits, and its expansion will also include a public park called Parc des Ateliers, designed by Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets.

Maja Hoffman, daughter of art collector and patron Luc Hoffman, heiress to the Hoffmann-La Roche pharmaceutical fortune, and President of the Van Gogh Foundation’s board of directors, envisions the new Luma Arles as a chance for the city she grew up in to transform. More specifically, Hoffmann hopes the center will make Arles an international art world destination.

Bold as they are, Gehry’s works can be controversial, so it’s no surprise that not all the locals are thrilled by the tower’s design. Some argue that the center is, in its own right, enough of a tourist draw, and that the tower is a gaudy, unnecessary addition.

“In fact, the original plan included two towers and was rejected by France’s Commission for Historical Sites and Monuments,” ArtNet reports. “Indeed, visiting the campus in late August, it is clear that the restoration of the existing, defunct workshops is warmly welcomed by locals: the generous exhibition spaces are well-visited, and the restaurant area, embellished with the bright, large-scale pictorial puns of Maurizio Cattelan’s TOILETPAPER, is bustling. And so the nagging question that lingers throughout the visit is ‘why is this tower here?’”

Whether you think Frank Gehry’s constructivist style is dazzling or too flashy by far, it certainly never fails to get attention. The Canadian-born American architect, who resides in Los Angeles, is also known for such landmarks as LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, Barcelona’s Olympic Fish Pavilion, the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, and Dancing House in Prague.

The post Frank Gehry’s Futuristic Luma Arles Tower to Host Art Studios in Southern France first appeared on Dornob.

Vaguely mushroom-shaped when not in use, the Overcast Light transforms once you turn it on, mimicking the look and feel of a cloud passing in front of the sun. Knauf made the shade from blended paper pulp, providing an uneven texture that controls the transmission of light from the bulb underneath.

“The LED light source is dimmed unconventionally via proximity to the shade, instead of using a dimmable driver. This is done by pulling the leather tab up or down along the side of the cylindrical base, moving the light source closer or further away from the shade,” Knauf explains.

While so many unique and sculptural home furnishings and fixtures tend to be prototypes, Overcast Light is actually available for purchase at 1stdibs for $2,200.

While Knauf has an entire portfolio full of cool furniture and decorative objects, lamps happen to be where his talents truly shine. Another notable piece is the “Alumette Floor Light,” a tall and slender LED lamp created around a structural aluminum form. Instead of using a conventional lamp shade to diffuse the light, Knauf partially encloses the bulb in a metal frame that acts as a wide angle reflector to cast softer light around the room.

The “Lloyd” lamp works in a similar fashion. A panel of LED lights hovers above your desktop, supported by two delicate steel wires sunken into a pedestal base. The panel casts a broad, even beam of light and can be swiveled to illuminate new angles or reflected off the wall for a softer effect.

The bases of floor lamps have to be quite heavy to remain stable, which is fine if you’re shopping from a local store, but gets little trickier when shipping. To address the problem, Knauf designed the “Water Based Lamp,” a collapsible floor lamp that preserves the archetype of the “solid mass” base but weighs much less.

Knauf took inspiration from the outdoor industry to create a base made of welded Duratec fabric, which is commonly used in the construction of inflatable kayaks. You just fill the base with water to keep the lamp upright. The shade is flexible nylon mesh supported by tent pole-style aluminum tubing.

A bio for Knauf on the official IDS Vancouver site reads: “Calen Knauf is a Canadian designer living and working in Vancouver, Canada. Calen studied Industrial Design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Shortly after graduating, Calen won best student lighting for his thesis project ‘Standard Lamp’ at Design Plus 2014 in Cologne, Germany. His first produced design was licensed to Esaila in 2012.”

“He has worked closely with life long-friend Conrad Brown from 2013 to 2019 on a range of projects including product design for mass production, furniture, custom editions, interior design, and graphic design. Their work together has won several awards, including The Rising Star Award at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2017 and [the shortlist] for the Dezeen Awards for Lighting Design in 2018.”

You can keep up with Knauf’s work on Instagram.

All photos courtesy of Conrad Brown

The post Overcast Lamp Mimics a Cloud Passing Over the Sun first appeared on Dornob.

Due to the high safety standards of the aviation industry, even minor damage to certain parts is enough grounds for them to be scrapped. Rather than allow these pieces to be stripped and broken down in a scrap yard, Craviations takes them and worsens the damage to make them all more distinctive. Their aviation-inspired creations offer a certain charm to those who love planes and unique furniture.

For over two decades, Mike and Carolynn Rancourt have been running an aircraft structural repair company in Eastern Ontario, close to the Canadian capital of Ottawa. M.R. Airframe Ltd. fixes many types of aircraft, from helicopters to small airplanes and even large passenger models. They also make flight training devices and specialized equipment for machinists and technicians in the industry. Their years of experience and depth of knowledge regarding materials like titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, fiberglass, aramid fibers, and honeycomb panels have given them countless ideas for unique furniture pieces.

Their first transformation was that of a helicopter-airframe-turned-bunk-bed. It can be placed over an existing queen bed, or the space under it can be utilized as a desk area. The user climbs into bed on a horizontal stabilizer placed at the back with slats that have been punched through to create small steps. The cockpit contains storage — and space for a monitor so kids can play their favorite video games.

When Craviations displays their products at design events and furniture expos (like they did in January 2019 at the Interior Design Show in Toronto), they usually attract visitors pulled in by curiosity. People are especially drawn to the Radome Lounger, which comes from the nose of a British Aerospace 146 and the aft section of a Canadian-made helicopter. It’s not the most comfortable chair you’ll ever sit it, but it is one of the most unique seats you’ll probably ever see. The mechanical aesthetic of other pieces, such as a turbine engine coffee table with cast metal and titanium sheeting, is charming for its simplicity. The helicopter gaming station, which can also be made into part of the bunk bed, is a quirky play space that would make a dream hideaway for any child.

Craviations have created many types of furniture and home accessories in the past, each with its own unique character. They make desks from landing gears, gear-top bar tables, sheet metal love seats, horizontal stabilizer coffee tables, main rotor blade candle holders, aft-section bird cage stands, gear transmission clocks, and polished aluminum benches. Regardless of the part or material, if it used to fly but has been permanently grounded, Craviations will find a way to keep it in use.

The post Craviations Turns Aircraft Salvage into Luxury Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

In New York, one can find relaxation in the middle of Central Park, since its size and countless trees provide a nice buffer from the commotion happening all over Manhattan. But not so much in the much smaller Union Square Park, where a car horn blown on the eastern side could be heard quite well from the western side. Nonetheless, people continue to frequent the latter precisely because they’re so desperate to unwind.

In Tampa, “Form of Wander” is set on a concrete pier above the Hillsborough River, right by Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. In 2018, it opened as a place of quiet reflection for the surrounding communities. From a distance, its aluminum structure and green hues give off an otherworldly appearance, but it’s actually meant to resemble a group of inverted Floridian mangroves. Commissioned by Hillsborough County Public Art and designed by THEVERYMANY, the public art piece is made from 3,123 individual parts that have been riveted together. Given a look of perpetual swirling despite the fact that it’s standing still, From of Wander has already proven its sturdiness by withstanding the brutal category-four winds of Hurricane Michael.

Rising from the pier are seven trunks, each dividing the waterfront pathway into three distinct sections. Each trunk connects to the others high up in the air, going around and through gaps to form a net of glistening green metal. During the day, shadows move below and around the piece with total unpredictability. At night, Form of Wander glows under the recessed lights that line the surrounding area. It works as both a canopy and a signal to all those looking to gather and (most importantly) relax.

“A destination for your Sunday stroll, a meeting point for your morning runs, [and] an obstacle course for games of tag,” reads the website of THEVERYMANY. In a way, it’s kind of like placing several trees smack dab in the middle of the river. It’s an added layer of peace in a spot that was already tranquil, and it gives the wanderer a reason to venture out above the water and experience a unique part of the city’s pier network.

Cities know how to develop busy destinations, but they don’t always know how to do it successfully. When this happens, the result is most commonly visual pollution in the form of electronic advertising, flashing notices, and bright brand names. Creating a place that promotes relaxation, especially in a space of nothingness like the middle of a river, requires more a more nuanced solution. In Tampa, Florida, that solution took the form of public art.

The post Is Tampa’s “Form of Wander” Really a Place for Relaxation? first appeared on Dornob.

This ethos is very much apparent in their Tunnel collection, which drew from a variety of different contexts and sources for inspiration.

Influenced by tubular pipes, the timber trestles used for the cutting of lumber, and the material properties of aluminum, OS & OOS’s Tunnel collection straddles the line between industrial design and minimalism. Every piece was crafted using hollow aluminum tubes, whose slender feet are reminiscent of sawhorses. Peet describes his affinity for this carpenter’s helper, saying: “[b]eing from Canada myself, I frequently used a sawhorse for cutting fallen trees into smaller pieces to be later split and used for firewood. The construction of the sawhorse is rather clever and beautiful due to its simplicity and how well it fulfills its task. We saw a relationship between the extruded aluminum pipes and the logs and combined it with the sawhorse base to imagine a furniture collection.”

The duo decided to use aluminum because of its ability to be laser cut. This also allowed them to combine the pipe elements with glass (which can also be cut with a laser), giving them greater reign over the detailing and freeing them from traditional connection methods like gluing, fastening, screwing, and welding. Instead, they created made-to-order joints to work around the extremely tight constraints they were dealing with. The laser cutter allowed these parts to interlock, and with the help of a few minute, tapered aluminum elements, fit together in such away that prevents them from ever moving apart. Aluminum also proved to be an ideal material because of its lightness, durability, and recyclability. Still, its greatest advantage is easily its ability to be anodized, which means it can be turned a variety of different colors simply by oxidizing it.

OS & OOS’s Tunnel designs fall neatly into the specific category that their designers have carved out for themselves in the world of furniture production: “The majority of work borders the line of design (in the industrial/functionality sense) and autonomous objects; best described as contemporary objects derived from concept, yet rationalized to give them purpose.” The studio’s stylish chairs, tables, benches, and coat racks are available in five different colors, including champagne, deep red, rose, and anthracite black.

The post Pipe Dreams: OS & OOS Create New Line of Ultra-Minimal Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

The deep aluminum roof is a 19 x 19-meter rectangle with a series of waffle-like perforations along its edges and a central infill, the underside of which is made up of a grid structure that’s been fitted with rows of colored lighting tubes to illuminate the space below. Beneath the roof are two banks of tiered seating: one fixed into a planted bank along two sides of the pavilion, and another that can be moved as needed, allowing the ground plane to serve several different purposes. The seating itself is formed from a metal frame and timber planes on which visitors can sit, providing a nice visual contrast with the grayness of the aluminum roof overhead.

The planted mound surrounding the pavilion has been embedded with 12 different species of Australian flora to incorporate the area’s natural vegetation into the project. This green bank also provides a buttress for the roof, giving it solidity on one side while reading as being separate from the mound on the other, creating a visual juxtaposition of heaviness and lightness.

Speaking about the concept behind the pavilion, Koolhaas, a highly regarded architectural theorist and writer, says that Australia is the perfect place to create a space for the exchange of ideas, especially in the current climate of globalization, urban expansion, and city densification. He says that because ofmpa the huge concentration of people in urban areas, society as a whole risks losing touch with the countryside, which he sees as an integral and fundamental part of a fully-functional global entity.

The increasing divide between city and country folk is having immeasurable effects on economics, politics, and culture all over the world, as seen in events like Brexit and the election of President Donald Trump, both of which occurred in large part because of a disenfranchised rural class who felt like they had been left behind. Koolhaas sees architecture as playing an important role in bridging the gap between these disparate sects of society, and he also notes that Australia is an ideal place to test this theory out, being that it’s a huge landmass and that large portions its population are spread out across rural areas. MPavilion is a place that offers people a place to come together and discuss these important matters. Koolhaas has long advocated for a “rebalancing of our attention spans,” or getting more city dwellers to focus on the countryside’s needs in order to regain balance in global society.

The post OMA’s MPavilion Boasts Floating Roof first appeared on Dornob.

It seems that creative designers are always finding new ways to join materials in beautiful combinations. Designer Hilla Shamia combines natural wood pieces with cast aluminum to make slick yet rustic furniture pieces. The materials combine in an unexpectedly lovely manner. Shamia pours molten metal directly onto and into the wood, filling the natural cracks and conforming to the uneven shape of the wood.

Where the molten metal hits the wood, small scorches appear on the surface. This interplay between the two materials emphasizes the inherent loveliness of both.

The legs and bases of each piece are cast in place, naturally joining the wood and metal and creating smooth gradient tones where the two meet.

These works of art are incredibly sought-after, and they come with price tags to match that demand. You can find these beautiful “wood casting” furniture pieces at 1stDibs, Pamono and other fine furniture retailers ranging from $500 to $9000 USD.

About Artist Hilla Shamia

“Hilla Shamia was born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1983.  She studied industrial design at Holon Institute of Technology (Israel) from 2007 to 2011, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree. The following year, she established her eponymous design studio in Tel Aviv, focusing on product design with an emphasis on material research. She draws inspiration from nature, the progression of time, and material exploration.”

“As of this writing, Shamia is arguably best known for her Wood Casting^TM furniture. First launched in 2012 while Shamia was still a student, the series centers round a unique technology of casting metal in wood. Using mostly locally sourced, whole tree trunks, Shamia cuts the wood lengthwise and inserts it into a mold, which defines the furniture’s overall form. She then pours liquid metal over the wood. The resulting, unique pieces are defined by the two contrasting, but balanced, materials.”

The post Molten Metal and Raw Wood Form Surprisingly Beautiful Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

The humble pen just got a little more stylish. London design group Beyond Object re-thought the boring, uninspired form factor of the ink pen, making it into a sophisticated object with a novel operating mechanism.

The minimalist Align pen is composed of three sections. When not being used, the middle section is offset from the rest of the body. When you want to use it, you twist the middle section so it’s in line with the lower part of the body. It pivots so the lower and middle sections are straight, and the top section is offset.

Based on intuitive movements and high quality, the Align pen is a departure from the throwaway versions most of us use every day. The body is lightweight aluminum, making it durable, beautiful and affordable.

It’s just human nature to want to play with something that looks out of order, so the twisting motion seems like something that we would do without even thinking about it. The hidden clip completes the sleek design and makes a pen that looks like the high-end super-fancy ones, but – according to the designers – will come without the massive price tag.

The post Do the Twist: Sleek Minimal Pen With Smart User Interaction first appeared on Dornob.

A chair so sharp and angular that it looks like it could cut into your skin may not be the most welcoming piece of furniture to relax into after a long day at work, but it certainly makes a bold statement in a room.  The Triangulation furniture series by Nova Obiecta sculpts lightweight aluminum into eye-catching, minimalist works of art.

The most complex and alien-looking of the series was created by artist Aimeric Chay, reflecting Nova Obiecta’s belief that the aesthetics of an object can be even more important than the function.

Each piece is hand-made in France usage aluminum alloys and a matte black finish. The designers chose aluminum because it is “lightweight, malleable and resistant to the passing of time.” With all of their geometric folds, some of the pieces resemble origami rendered in metal.

The chair, tables and sculptural objects are each available in a limited edition of 8-15 pieces.

More from the designers

“Nova Obiecta is a house of creation and edition of furniture and works of art. The house’s editions share an aesthetic where form can take precedence over function. The creations gain their singularity in the precise choice of materials and through the forms that arise from the singular imagination of the creators, designers and artists edited by Nova Obiecta.”

“Technicality and precision contribute to the sobriety of the pieces. And when it comes to creating its own collection, Nova Obiecta observes a single line of conduct, giving birth to innovative works that all come together in their minimalist and refined character. Nova Obiecta thus seeks to enhance the simple, the refined, through strict and calculated forms.The house, in search of the essential and timelessness, breathes new life into geometry.”

About Nova Obiecta

“When the two founders meet in the heart of Paris, they merge their approaches to aesthetics and find themselves at the crossroads of two worlds: that of heritage, of history on one side and that of creation, of the future. the other.
From their passion for raw materials, craftsmanship and industrial processes, Nova Obiecta was born. Kinetic art, design and contemporary architecture and this proven desire for the two autodidacts of the “after” are at the origin of the refinement of the concept. If the ideas are born from the effervescence of the capital, it is in the south of France that each of the pieces sees the light of day.”

The post Furniture So Sharp, You Might Be Afraid to Sit Down first appeared on Dornob.

This refined object is a lovely melding of traditional and contemporary stylings. The Kangeri Nomadic Radiator from Satyendra Pakhalé (for Tubes Radiatori) provides portable heat that can come with you as you move from one room to the next in your home.

The name comes from traditional low-tech radiators called kangers: pots filled with hot embers used in Kashmir to keep individuals warm. While the traditional kanger was placed beneath the user’s clothing, the Kangeri warms the air in the area directly surrounding you. This cuts down on the need for central heating, which is expensive and often wasteful.

Another difference between the traditional kanger and the contemporary Kangeri is the addition of an electric heating element. Rather than placing hot coals into the pot, you plug it in and take it with you from room to room. The handy oak platform on top protects your hands from the hot aluminum body of the radiator.

Depending on your point of view, the Kangeri either resembles a huge teapot or a shiny snail. But however you see it, it is a sleek, lovely update on an indispensable home object.

The post Portable Aluminum Radiator Follows You Around Like a Pet first appeared on Dornob.

In São Paulo, the vast majority of can recycling is done by individuals called catadores. They collect discarded drink cans in their carts to recycle for money to help support themselves. London-based Studio Swine took to the streets to create a project that would help catadores get much more money for their work.

The duo behind Studio Swine made an improvised mobile foundry to smelt the aluminum from the cans. They then pressed locally-found objects into sand found at a nearby construction site to make molds. After pouring the liquid aluminum into the molds, the team had created interestingly-shaped stool seats. Each stool requires around 60 cans to produce. This may sound like a lot, but a catadore can collect thousands of cans in one workday.

Coletivo Amor de Madre commissioned the project and arranged for the designers and catadores to work together, scouring the city for interesting materials and building their one-of-a-kind stools. The designers and the catadores alike learned to see the city in a new way – rather than looking around and seeing garbage, they began to see interesting materials and opportunities to use them.

Thanks to this half art/half can recycling vocational training project, the can collectors of São Paulo now have a new way to earn an income. The mobile foundry was gifted to the catadores with the intention that it be shared between them. The can collectors have a wide array of objects that they can make with the melted aluminum, taking ephemeral street objects and turning them into a kind of snapshot of the city.

“Can City is a collection of aluminium objects made from waste on the streets of São Paulo. A mobile foundry was created from salvaged materials to melt aluminum cans using waste vegetable oil collected from local cafes as a fuel. Waste collectors known as Catadores mine the streets for materials to create objects with vernacular aesthetic, providing a portrait of the streets.”

The post Aluminum Can Recycling Just Got Way More Profitable Thanks to This Genius Mobile Foundry first appeared on Dornob.