While their newest innovations include two ground-breaking refrigerator models, a revolutionary induction stove, a stackable cube cooling system for multiple rooms in your house, and an incredible shoe storage system, the real star of Samsung’s newest line this year was the futuristic Family Hub.

Family Relations Made Easy

John Herrington, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Home Appliances for Samsung Electronics America, was brimming with pride and enthusiasm as he introduced the 2020 Family Hub to the CES crowd. “In the five years since we launched Family Hub, we have introduced innovations that reflect the new ways that busy, modern families are managing their daily lives,” he said. “The latest Family Hub is the most innovative yet, with more personalized, intelligent features that enable busy families to stay better connected to one another.”

Indeed, the 2020 Family Hub not only simplifies meal planning and grocery shopping, it also includes communication features that enable family members to share events, interests, and milestones from remote locations. No one misses a thing, regardless of whether they’re out of town or just stuck in traffic and unable to be home in time for dinner.

The Family Hub Refrigerator

AI-improved cameras inside this smart refrigerator scan what you have on hand, plan meals around those ingredients, and provide smart recipes based on a set of dietary guidelines you customize. It can plan meals for up to a week and prepare a shopping list of food items you need to replenish. In addition, Whisk, an AI invention recently attained by Samsung NEXT, adjusts recipes based on how many people are on your guest list, compiling a shopping list with items that can be used in multiple recipes.

Family Affairs

Besides making meal planning and shopping easier than ever, Samsung’s new “Family Board” display allows every member of the family to share audio and video favorites from their personal devices on a virtual bulletin board.

Safety and security are huge concerns for most families, and Family Board also lets any family member observe and have power over more than 1,000 SmartThings-compatible products throughout the house. Inside and outside lights can be turned on or off, the inside of any room in the house can be monitored, and you can even remotely adjust the temperature of any room.

More Life-Enhancing Appliances

Samsung continued to wow at CES with more a couple more home systems that make life better and easier. The BESPOKE refrigerator is not only customizable to meet your practical needs and aesthetic tastes, it also boasts a “Flex Zone,” which is easily adaptable to chill or freeze, depending on your needs. The unique new Cube Refrigerator series includes three mini-refrigerators in multiple colors made to store Wine, Beer, and Beauty Products. They can be stacked or stowed anywhere in any room and are so quiet you can have one next to your bed with no sleep interruption.

The Portable Slim Double Induction system lets you prepare meals anywhere in the house. The two induction burners have nine different settings and can be used separately for smaller pots or as one large cooking surface for grills or oversized pans.

Samsung’s Shoe Care System pampers those pricey shoes of yours so they last longer, feel fresh, and always look brand new. It also deodorizes, dehumidifies, and dries whatever types of shoes the members of your family might wear.

The post Samsung Debuts Pioneering Lifestyle Home Appliances at CES 2020 first appeared on Dornob.

One eye-catching installation not only perfectly embodied the “Autumn” theme for the event, but also brought together multiple organizations in its creation and sent out a powerful message about the environment at the same time.

The highlight at the DIFC’s “Gate Village” location is “Deciduous,” the first-ever 3D-printed art installation in the Middle East. That’s especially notable in a city that’s far from a stranger to the technology. In fact, Dubai has been recognized several times for its work towards more sustainable architecture with the use of 3D printing.

The large pavilion is meant to be a reflection of nature, with an abstract botanical form that loosely resembles tree branches rising from the earth. The goal is to encourage visitors to walk through the art and be inspired to reconnect with their natural surroundings.

The term “deciduous” refers to plants that shed their leaves annually, typically in the fall, thus lining up with the “Autumn” theme for this year’s Art Nights event as a whole. The tip of each curved “branch” is colored orange to further express the sensations of the season. In addition to emulating an abstract sense of nature, the piece also represents the conservation of nature with the use of three different materials chosen specifically with sustainability in mind.

The project came together through a collaboration of partners, starting with the design team at MEAN (Middle East Architecture Network). Lesly Lobo joined in to tackle the CNC birch plywood fabrication, and AI Build converted 30,000 upcycled water bottles into a usable polymer. Last but certaitly not least, BESIX 3D joined forces with local 3D printing service 3DVinci Creations to provide the concrete mold.

Computational modeling provided the framework for “Deciduous,” which allowed the design to marry with large-scale 3D printing processes quite smoothly. The entire installation was created off-site and moved into place in sections. No heavy equipment was required to move or put the piece together. Instead, it’s simply been fitted with joints for manageable assembly and disassembly.

Although “Deciduous” is both installation art and a statement for nature, it also represents the City of Dubai’s new goal to infuse similar additive manufacturing to 25 percent of all its new buildings by 2025. This year’s DIFC Art Nights also displayed the work of 21 other artists, as well as nine galleries. With over 7,000 visitors each year, the event continues to solidify the DIFC’s status as a reputable art center.

Peyman Al Awadhi, Senior Vice President and Official Spokesperson at DIFC Authority, says: “Art Nights is one of DIFC’s most popular and important lifestyle events of the year, representing a real celebration of the vibrant and cosmopolitan community in Dubai and the UAE. It is also a reflection of our commitment to the creative industry by delivering on Dubai’s Culture and Arts strategy to boost the Emirates’ position as a global cultural center and an incubator for talent. With so many spectacular art exhibitions, entertainment, and dining experiences for everyone, we look forward to welcoming visitors to the DIFC to experience this exciting cultural event.”

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Wood-fired ovens produce pizzas of a singular quality, searing them at incredibly high temperatures to produce a slightly charred, crispy crust that’s still tender on the inside. Traditionally, the ovens are made of fireproof bricks in materials like terra-cotta, stone, clay or cob, and they’re very large and heavy.

But fans of crispy, smoky wood-fired pizza can now achieve similar effects at home without investing in a space-hogging conventional oven of their own. The Ooni Karu is a portable wood-fired pizza oven that breaks down into such a compact package, you could take it camping, tailgating, or to the beach.

Cooking with real wood and charcoal, the oven is capable of heating up to 932° F, just as hot as the ovens you see at pizzerias. It also gets to work a lot faster than you’d imagine. Just fifteen minutes after starting a fire, you’re ready to cook, and then it takes just sixty seconds to heat up a pizza to bubbly perfection.

The Ooni Karu features a thick stone baking board to retain heat, as well as a removable click-lock chimney and folding legs. It’s made of high-grade stainless steel and packed with ceramic fiber insulation with a perforated fuel tray that maximizes airflow. It weighs just over 26 pounds (12 kilos) which the creators say is about the same as a case of beer.

What is likely to consume the most time out of the whole pizza-cooking process is just waiting for the oven to cool down after use so you can pack it back up. Show up with this thing to a party and you’ll probably be the most popular person there.

This model is the most recent (and most advanced) iteration of the stove by Ooni, which launched the world’s first portable pellet pizza oven on Kickstarter in 2012. They’ve taken feedback from early users and translated it into an updated design that can be used with an optional gas burner for even more convenience.

“Cook with real wood and charcoal, or both, with Ooni Karu. Designed for use with high-quality solid fuels, it becomes a roaring inferno so you can fire out epic pizza. Ready to start cooking in 15 minutes, Ooni Karu heats to 932°F, or 500°C, and cooks incredible pizza in just 60 seconds. Ooni Karu is also ideal for cooking wood-fired meat, fish and vegetable dishes.”

“The oven’s extra thick stone baking board retains heat for longer, whilst the superior insulation means Ooni Karu holds onto more heat for an efficient burn and less fuel needed to reach those soaring temperatures. Ooni Karu is also compatible with the Ooni Gas Burner if you prefer to cook with propane.”

There’s still time to hop on the Ooni Karu Kickstarter campaign as a backer for early bird deals. $259 gets you a single oven at 26% off the retail price of $349, or you could choose from a tier of other rewards that add carrying covers and pizza peels to the package.

The post Who Needs Delivery When You Have a Portable Wood-Fired Pizza Oven? first appeared on Dornob.

The lines include more than 80 stunning, unique pieces that can complement rooms of almost any size or color palette. Styles range from sleek and modern, to retro and iconoclastic, to classic and antique. Materials vary from metal and rattan to rubberwood, lightweight Scandinavian wood, and mango wood. Any collection you or piece you choose can help make your home the ideal place to kick back, relax and enjoy the onset of autumn.

Aria Curved Metal Collection

Concentrating on tubular forms for frames and bases, the Aria Curved Metal Collection cuts a minimalist profile from bedroom to living room. Thin legs and inset fine points give the beds a delicate quality, a rack built to showcase record collections is ideal for a den or living room, and the white-on-white theme throughout is smartly smashing. Prices for beds are under $600, racks and small tables are under $200.

Huxley Mid Century Modern Collection

Tree-huggers will love the Huxley Mid Century Modern Collection for its stylish use of rubberwood—hailed as “environmentally friendly” since it comes from plantation trees that have already served a practical purpose. The dense grain of rubberwood is aesthetically appealing, and less likely to warp or shrink than other materials.

The rich wooden finish of the pieces in this line is warm and inviting, and the collection features nostalgic pieces from the mid-20^th century. The assortment is designed for smaller spaces and is priced mid-range.

Lita Wood Slatted Collection

If you’re a fan of sleek, modern lines and light-as-air wood that pairs well with casually draped upholstery and chic slatted styles, the Lita Wood Slatted Collection will fulfill your decorating desires. From storage cabinets with adjustable rods and drawers, to kitchen carts that make entertaining easy, the pieces in this group are a little pricier than the others, but accordingly elegant.

Mikko Rattan Collection

Combining rattan and metal, the Mikko Rattan Collection harkens back to the diverse styles of the 60s and 70s, updating those older designs with refinement and class. Curved rattan over sections of exposed iron add a welcoming flair to the beds, and from settee sofas to bedroom dressers, the pieces have a warm, comfortable feel. Prices range from $180 for a nightstand to $800 for beds and chests of drawers.

Virginia Carved Wood Collection

Classicists will swoon over the Virginia Carved Wood Collection. This bedroom set features carved mango wood accented by metal, and includes a simple, mid-century vanity with a curvy tri-fold mirror. Whether you choose a natural wood finish or opt for the white collection, the vintage lines and tastefully underplayed details evoke old-fashioned romance. This collection is priced in the midrange—from the vanity listed at $480 to the queen bed at $800.

The new collections are available in full online. Select pieces are for sale in designated showrooms nationwide.

The post Urban Outfitters’ Fall Furniture Lines Have Something For Everyone first appeared on Dornob.

Remember how confident Google was that everyone was going to want to wear its smart glasses? The tech giant’s vision of wearable augmented reality devices hasn’t quite come to fruition. At least, not yet. There are a lot of factors that went into the failure of Google Glass, not the least of which is the fact that they just didn’t seem to do anything our less expensive smart phones can’t already achieve. But more than that, they were ugly.

Put on a pair of Google Glasses, and you’re broadcasting to the world that you have a camera aimed at everyone, and you may or may not be recording them at any given moment. The ultimate effect was more “creepy dweeb” than “aspirational innovator.” But augmented reality glasses are probably in our future whether we’re concerned about privacy or not, and other manufacturers are learning from Google’s mistakes.

Take “Norm Glasses,” for example. Created by the startup Human Capable, Inc., these smart glasses offer a host of functions, and they’re far less conspicuous. Designed like a fairly normal pair of mirrored sunglasses, “Norm” is equipped with a wearable mini-computer, camera, speakers and a “heads-up display” (HUD) that can display information like text messages, the time, the weather or navigational directions in your field of view.

Taking photos or videos with Norm Glasses is a lot less conspicuous than whipping out your phone, which some people might find convenient and others concerning. You can also use them to surreptitiously scan barcodes to find online reviews of products or make price comparisons, if you’re the kind of person who likes to go into a brick-and-mortar store to check things out in person and then find them cheaper on Amazon.

The features don’t stop there.

“All components are embedded discreetly inside the frame, people around you won’t be able to tell any technology is present. Norm Glasses can be hung on your shirt or blouse when not in use, just like normal sunglasses. The sleek design also folds up into a standard eyeglass case.”

“With an Android-based system, Norm’s functionalities can be extended with apps in the same way as on smartphones. In addition, Norm supports integration with voice platforms such as Alexa — their functionalities are available to you anywhere you go.”

The lenses come in tinted, transition, polarized or clear varieties, with or without a prescription. One would imagine that the clear prescription lenses would be the most useful, so people don’t wonder why you’re always wearing sunglasses indoors.

When the creators set out to crowdfund production costs for Norm on Kickstarter, they smashed their goals, with nearly 2,000 backers pledging over $590,000 to bring the project to life. The Norm Glasses are now available for pre-order on IndieGoGo with shipping expected to start in April 2020. The retail price will be $449.

If you’d rather wait for a new and improved iteration of Google Glass and you’re willing to pay a premium, you’re in luck. Google seems to have learned from its mistakes, too, and its new frames are a lot more — well — normal-looking.

The post With Norm, No One Will Know You’re Wearing Smart AR Glasses first appeared on Dornob.

Fashion sense has long been considered a reflection of the way we want to be perceived by others — a complicated picture that makes an impression before we even speak. Not as transparent but equally important is the visual impact of our home interiors, which echo our personal philosophies and mirror the things that give us comfort and consolation.

Natalie Shirinian, a celebrated filmmaker and journalist, saw the links between fashion and interior design almost 10 years ago when she founded the communications agency NES Creative. During this time, she gathered and organized information from several fashion, furniture, and product designers, as well as artists and style trailblazers. NES celebrates the melding of those worlds and how they interact and thrive on each other.

Today, the agency has gone on to be featured in such prestigious publications as The Coveteur, Elle Decor Italia, ELLE Korea, Openhouse, RUM ID, Surface, T Magazine, Variety, Vogue, and Vogue Living. Even better, they’ve just played a big part in the creation of a new documentary film that explores the very same intersections they do.

Inspiration Behind Interior Motives

Shirinian was intrigued by the transitions between the fashion and interior design industries, and the all ways they seemed to so easily complement one another. Interior Motives explores those same relationships, revealing how the bridges were built between them in the first place. It’s the first film to look closely and seriously at the links between the clothes people wear and the spaces they inhabit.

The experience revealed that whenever fashion designers expanded into home décor or interior design icons delved into creating clothing and accessories, their creative processes proved vastly different from the norm. Shirinian noted how unique each artist’s journey was, and how each of them followed a unique path “whether it be in textiles, different forms in their products, and so on. From that, the lightbulb moment of making this into a documentary was formed.”

She adds: “I wanted to offer a portal view into this otherwise very exclusive world through my point of view. Almost like the viewer is Alice falling into Wonderland.”

Making The Film

It took five years to actually make Interior Motives. Shirinian started by revisiting the 1980s, when the intersection between interior décor and fashion truly began. Tommy Hilfiger was a pioneer in the movement at that time, easily transitioning from designing a groundbreaking line of sportswear to creating interior design products. His reasoning was simple. In the film he states, “I wanted to build a total lifestyle brand. I wanted to decorate the home.”

As the country at large started spending more time at home, the trend of home cooking took hold, and the importance of creating an environment that was more personalized soon followed. Not only was decorating a space that reflected personal interests and experiences more affordable than haute couture for most people, it also last a very long time and could easily be modified as tastes changed. In short, dressing the home to be a safe haven became more important than wearing designer clothes.

Goal Attainment

Shirinian summed up the goals she had for Interiors Motives succinctly, stating: “A person’s self-expression is important to me. When you walk into someone’s home, you want it to reflect who they are, what they love, where they’ve been, the energy they reside in, and what they want to live amongst. Interiors offer you a sense of artistic expression but also a feeling. You’re entering a world, and if you want someone to feel something when they enter your world – interiors are incredibly important.”

Interior Motives premiered at the IFS Film Festival in Los Angeles on May 19, 2019, taking home the prize for Best Documentary Short. It’s available to stream online at select sites.

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Located in the heart of Manhattan, this living exhibit is modeled on the terraced paddies of Asia, which supply 90 percent of the world’s rice. Green leaves sprout up from three tiers of paddies, which are expected to produce five varieties of rice during one four-month growing season. It will remain in place through the Harvest Moon Festival in late September, according to officials, and the September 28th finale will feature dozens of chefs preparing special dishes with the rice grown on site.

The installation also shares a spirit of remembrance and renewal with the site, which itself famously contained the original Twin Towers before the terrorist attack of September 11th, 2001. The 16-acre World Trade Center campus is now home to the 9/11 National Memorial and Museum, along with three towers hosting 35,000 office workers. On top of that, millions of international visitors pass through the Oculus Plaza each year.

“Rice paddies are a common sight in Asia, yet foreign to many New Yorkers,” says LUCKYRICE founder and CEO Danielle Chang. “Our public art installation follows small rice seedlings as they go through the life-giving transformation that feeds much of the planet and that symbolized luck, fortune, fertility, and global connections through culture and food.”

The curved wooden planters of the paddies double as seating, and across their backs visitors can find facts about rice. The five varieties of rice growing inside them include Purple Jamon Upland Rice from Italy, Mamoriaka Upland Rice from Madagascar, Yukikihari Lowland Rice from Japan, Amaura Upland Rice from Uzbekistan, and Carolina Gold Rice from the United States. While the seedlings are very small now, they’ll grow up to four-and-a-half feet tall by late September.

The Rice Paddy installation is just the latest “community activation” to be staged in Oculus Plaza as part of the Port Authority’s plan to provide cultural, educational,and entertaining programming.

“The Port Authority has invested billions of dollars rebuilding this sacred site and takes its continuing stewardship of the nearly completed campus very seriously,” says Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole. “We welcome unique displays and activities to this campus such as LUCKYRICE that will provide the downtown community and those who work here with a family-friendly environment that will be a dynamic destination for tourists from around the world.”

The installation was produced by a team of local and multicultural New Yorkers and minority, women-owned businesses, and was specifically designed to foster community engagement, according to its creators. It’ll also host school tours, culinary demonstrations, and multicultural public art talks throughout the summer. To learn more about the programming and the people involved in the project, be sure to check out the LUCKYRICE website.

Photos courtesy of LUCKYRICE

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Sears has been part of America since 1893, with landmarks dotting its history on several occasions. After all, they had the first-ever mail-order catalogs to sell prefab houses, published an annual Christmas catalog that kids dog-eared every year when making their wishlists, and were one of the first true department stores to sell everything from clothes, linens, and home appliances to quality power tools.

Now, the retail giant is reinventing itself yet again — this time with smaller stores that concentrate on home goods, services, and appliances. While traditional Sears stores are typically about 150,000 square feet in size, these new stores =only average between 10,000 and 15,000. The biggest omissions from the new shops are apparel, electronics, home furnishings, and toys, in keeping with the company’s new focus on home, heart, and, as their latest slogan states, “Making Moments Matter.”

The pilot “Home and Life” stores opened on Memorial Day weekend in 2019 in Anchorage, Alaska, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Overland Park, Kansas. Based on the current success of those locations, the company is already considering expanding to major cities all across the nation.

Improved and Expanded

Although the stores may be smaller in size, the Home and Life product lines and services have undoubtedly built upon the company’s already-impressive inventory. Everything from bedding to home appliances and repair services is bigger and better, largely owing to the fact that the stores were designed based on sales and feedback from Sears Appliances & Mattresses stores, which themselves were introduced in 2017 in select cities across Colorado, Texas, Hawaii, and Pennsylvania.

Home and Life Focus

In hopes of making the shopping experience as enjoyable as possible, Sears Home and Life stores have been jam-packed with convenient features. For starters, each Home and Life store features Kenmore and other best-selling appliance brands laid out in scenarios that reflect common laundry room and kitchen layouts to help customers visualize how the items will fit into their homes. On-site experts in these areas offer free advice and decorating tips.

The new stores are stocked with all the most popular small kitchen appliances from trusted brands, including a full line of home cleaning tools and eco-friendly cleaning products. You’ll also be able to snag high-end mattresses from respected names including Simmons, Beautyrest, Stearns & Foster, Serta, Tempur-Pedic®, and Sealy here, as well as a diverse collection of smart home products that are compatible with Google+ and Alexa devices.

Super Service Options

Many people believe true customer service is a dying concept, but Sears seems determined to change that opinion with the service options offered by their new Home and Life stores.

Online Shopping, Both In-Store and at Home

By joining the store’s “Shop Your Way” program, customers gain access to the in-store “Search Bar” kiosk, where they can request products and services from the comfort of a computer. On-site experts stand by the kiosk to answer your burning questions and offer advice.

Customers can also shop at home online at sears.com and pick their purchases up for free at the nearest store, where they’ll be given a reserved parking space and have everything loaded in five minutes or fewer, a Sears guarantee.

Repairs, Replacements, and More

Sears Home Services has always been a big hit with shoppers. They offer a full line of replacement parts and accessories for appliances, as well as experienced repair personnel. Patrons can elect to have one of these experts install any roofing, flooring, windows, countertops, or kitchen cabinets purchased at a Home and Life store.

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The commitment to avoid harming living creatures extends to interior design, too. As vegan interior designer and founder of VeganDesign.org Deborah DiMare explains, a vegan, humane, or cruelty-free product is one which does not originate from any living creature, is not an animal byproduct, and is not at any point tested on animals.

She adds: “A vegan designer offers products, materials, and fabrics that do not harm, torture, or exploit any conscious living being, human and non, nor harm our planet. Vegan design acknowledges that all living creatures have emotions, feelings, and should not be sacrificed or abused for society’s idea of luxury. We fortunately live in a time in which there are endless man-made and natural, durable, and truly fabulous materials that are not made from living creatures and do not contain poisons that are lethal to workers on farms and factories and the end user — you!”

The Vegan Design website is a great resource for design industry statistics supporting veganism, educational courses for professionals, and opportunities for membership in a vegan design council, which itself aims to help businesses reach ethically-minded consumers. Some of those statistics include the number of geese it takes to fill a single down comforter (32) and the number of cows required to upholster a sofa (eight). DiMare also published a book called Vegan Interiors to illustrate what these spaces can look like — and there’s more to it than you might imagine, since animal products tend to show up where you least expect them.

Avoiding leather and fur might be obvious, but what about down, angora, wool, and silk? While there’s no strict consensus on them, and some vegans are comfortable with using wool from animals raised on humane organic farms or synthetic plastic-based materials that contribute to environmental pollution, others focus primarily on natural, sustainable, and biodegradable materials that are cruelty-free in both their origin and manufacturing. That might include organic cotton, hemp, sisal, jute, linen, and various down alternatives, as well as choosing soy candles over beeswax.

Even wood products and paint can contain sneaky animal products like milk protein binders and animal-based glues (or components that were at some point tested on animals). Cruelty-free low-emissions paints are available though, like Benjamin Moore’s “Natura” line and a rainbow of hues from Farrow & Ball. To avoid non-vegan wood products, go for solid wood that’s certified by a third-party organization like the Forest Stewardship Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.

You don’t have to give up the luxurious feel of leather to go vegan. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we now have natural, sustainable alternatives to both the real thing and non-renewable synthetic faux products, like Piñatex leather, which is made of pineapple, and Mylo, which is made of mushrooms. A new kind of vegan “silk” even sources fibers from banana plants rather than silkworms, and pulp made from mulberry tree leaves can be used to coat cotton for a patent leather-like result.

If giving your home a vegan makeover seems a little too large take on, try starting with one room at a time and picking something small, says DiMare. And if you need more evidence that vegan interior design is every bit of stylish as its conventional counterpart, check out this vegan space curated by famous vegetarian designer Stella McCartney and design studio Antrobus+Ramirez for the sixth annual “Design House” exhibition by Artefacto in 2016. Only cruelty-free, humane organic, and synthetic materials were used to produce its glamorous effect.

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When global organizations like UN-Habitat, UNEP, and UNESCO get involved in a summit and collaborate with design federations from multiple disciplines, it becomes obvious that any self-indulgent perspectives — too often seen at design events — will be taking a back seat to substantive objectives. It’s not enough to celebrate the aesthetics and personalities of new designs. You also have to demonstrate their effectiveness in a troubled world in need of solutions.

Over the course of the 10-day summit, a 10-year action plan was established to address the ways design could be used to respond to environmental, social, cultural, and economic issues around the world. With any luck, this action plan will be used as a guide by designers and public officials to improve the quality of life for people everywhere. Though the WDS considers itself to be a “design policy and advocacy initiative,” its value is much more than just the creation of an action plan.

When designers begin to see their work as a practical part of people’s lives, it makes them stronger as professionals. From industrial design to architecture, creating something just because it will look good to fellow designers and the media is no longer good enough. People are wise to that now. Instead, they want to see how are designers helping to make the lives of low-income people easier, how are they tackling issues like climate change, and how design can be used to bridge cultural divides. Responding to these global issues is the best way for designers to speed up their professional development and hone their craft.

To improve people’s quality of life, designers need to continue transcending silos. This multi-disciplinary approach has been happening for several years, and it needs to keep happening. Events like this one, where design is discussed from many different perspectives, help to show the interconnectedness of different professions. A building can create environmental waste, but so can the packaging of a product. If they can both contribute to the degradation of the environment, then how can they both contribute to its improvement?

The improvement of quality of life by strong designers is only possible if cooperation is present. This is the real value of design events like the WDS. It’s more about networking and building awareness than it is about selling products and making deals. Value comes from professionals uniting their broad range of interests, talents, and personal goals behind even broader objectives.

Global events like the World Design Summit can still serve as places where design is celebrated — not just for aesthetics and personalities, but also for they ways it’s improving our world. As people continue to demand more and more from designers, they will be obliged to think further outside their silos and media mentions, and that’s a valuable outcome.

The post Do Global Design Events Have Value? first appeared on Dornob.

For most people, the act of sitting for the majority of the day is a relatively new phenomenon. Historically, people have always walked, stood, or crouched a lot more than they do now (at least in the West), burning calories, maintaining muscle tone, and promoting good circulation. Today’s sitting trend puts people at risk of a host of major health problems, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and more. Students and people with desk jobs are especially prone to sitting in chairs all day and then coming home to just lounge on the couch before going to bed.

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To combat these health risks, experts recommend taking a break from sitting every 30 minutes, standing while watching television or working at a computer, positioning work surfaces above a treadmill, or encouraging friends and colleagues to go on walks instead of hanging out around a table during meetings. But ditching the most tempting places to sit at home could be an even easier way to follow that advice and move more in general.

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Advocates of furniture-free living explain that their lack of a couch and dining room chairs keeps them more active than ever, encouraging them to stand, lean, squat, and sit on the floor without support, thereby forcing themselves to engage their bodies. Even the simple act of getting up off the floor helps strengthen muscles in your legs and core, which can dramatically improve posture and reduce bodily aches and pains. Plus, the less furniture you have, the more space there is for you — and your kids — to be active.

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A typical furniture-free home might have anti-fatigue mats and cushions on the floor, along with low table surfaces for dining and working. Alternatively, it might offer tree stumps, stools, and/or yoga balls as seating options. Some proponents of this lifestyle simply reduce the amount of seating they own, while others go as far as ditching their beds, opting instead to sleep on the floor. Of course, none of these ideas are new. Many of them have been considered the norm for millennia in some parts of the world (The so-called “Asian Squat” is one interesting example). But evidence is mounting that sitting too much kills, so giving them a little more exposure certainly couldn’t hurt.

Furniture-free living isn’t for everyone. People with disabilities and/or chronic pain, the elderly, and patients recovering from medical procedures are always going to need a comfortable place to sit, and if you have a very active job, you might not need to worry about sitting less, anyway. However, if you are interested in exploring a furniture-free life, getting started is as easy as temporarily putting your couch in storage. “How to Go Furniture-Free in 8 Steps” by movement coach Petra Fisher offers a great primer on the subject.

The post Furniture-Free Living is Less Crazy Than It Sounds first appeared on Dornob.

Although we generally take our health seriously, judiciously watching what we put into our bodies, our desire to experience spaces that are healthy is minimal at best (but growing). According to the Institute of Health by Design and Architecture at the Université Panthéon Assas in Paris, the global market for buildings and projects designed to improve health and wellness is valued at around $119 billion US. As we look for more ways to stay healthy, we will also start looking for spaces that help make that possible. As Anne Robert, who chairs the institute, says, “the built environment and design are set to become the third pillar of prevention, alongside food and lifestyle choices.”

The Institute offers training to building product and furniture manufacturers to help them to understand how their goods can be used to improve the health of users. These courses are also available to architects and interior designers looking for insight when specifying healthy products for their projects. As more users of our built environment, both exterior and interior, become aware of the harmful chemicals inside some building and furniture materials, designers will be forced to be more mindful of the ways they can harm those who use their spaces.

A good first step would be to lower the amount of chemicals used in the production of building materials, many of which are harmful to our health. In October of 2017, for instance, Lumber Liquidators settled $36 million in U.S. class-action suits due to the harmful hardwood flooring that it sold. The suits alleged that between January 1, 2009 and May 31, 2015, the retailer sold products from a foreign supplier that contained a cancer-causing chemical known as formaldehyde. Lumber Liquidators did not hold themselves responsible for the harmful products, but the bad publicity from the class-action suits was enough to get them to settle and work on improving their quality control.

Building materials containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can damage the respiratory system, trigger allergies, and cause asthma. “Designing Communities, Shaping Health,” an interactive graphical chart by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is an informative tool for understanding how buildings affect our health. The goal is to raise awareness and get people to ask themselves a familiar grocery store question: “what is in this?” We are already in the habit of asking that question about a building related to the environment, but not as much as we should be for our own health.

When we look beyond products and move into the realm of furniture, there is still the fear of toxins in some pieces. With furniture, however, there’s a greater concern about pieces that encourage a sedentary lifestyle. To counter this, some designers have that started creating furniture that helps improve posture and reduces the effects of sedentary working. Take, for instance, the two-legged balancing chair by French designer Benoît Malta. When sitting in this chair, the user has to regularly adjust their legs to keep themselves from toppling over. The user’s legs effectively become the other two feet of the chair, forcing them to exercise their muscles while seated. When images of the chair were released in 2014, Malta explained that he wanted to bring a “bearable discomfort” to furniture design to help people exercise even when they were stationary.

When was the last time you entered a building or public space and asked “what is in this place?” No parent wants their infant crawling on hardwood floors that contain a cancer-causing chemical. Choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator is good for your heart, just as not sitting all day is good for your overall body. As people become more aware of how buildings, their components, and their furniture can either help or hurt their health, we will begin to demand more from our built environment.

The post Why Healthy Design Matters first appeared on Dornob.

The designers at Distil Union have a healthy sense of humor as well as an uncanny knack for developing products to fit the needs of an increasingly digital world. Take, for instance, the Wally Ether. It’s a cell phone case that protects an iPhone but also acts as a mini wallet. The creators want to help you shake off the “Costanza clunker” (Seinfeld fans will appreciate the reference to George’s humongous, overstuffed wallet) phenomenon and protect your clothes and pockets with a trim profile.

The design team’s description of their wallet continues their tongue-in-cheek attitude:

“This slender hard-shell case with dashing leather exterior has unsuspecting super powers….The Clark Kent of iPhone cases, Wally Ether is the planet’s most unassuming case with hidden card-carrying capabilities–and only you and those with x-ray vision will know it’s a wallet….”

The Distil Union website promises to help you slim down your wallet contents so you’re ready for the switch to the Wally Ether, which has space for a lean three cards and two bills. The key take-aways: Pick your essential, every-day cards and leave the rest at home; go digital when you can (Distil Union suggests apps to help); and of course don’t carry wads of cash.

The slim profile of the Wally Ether and its dual-purpose phone case and wallet combo appeal to us, as you can imagine. But it might be the clever way of removing your credit cards that pleases us the most.

The designers describe the process as being akin to reading a pop-up book as a kid and pulling the tab to reveal hidden characters or movements. “We use a fine grosgrain ribbon and that same pop-up book pull-tab action for the same magical reveal,” they explain. “It’s low-tech, but it works!” Once you’ve completed your transaction, simply push the cards to slide them back out of sight.

Distil Union knows its wallets. The company also offers a slim model called the Wally Micro as well as stick-on mini wallets that attach to the back of your phone. The Wally Sleeve lets you safely stash folded bills and cards inside its trademark FlexLock pocket as well as cards in the standard Wally Pull-Tab section.

The Wally Ether fits the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and is currently available in four colors–Ink, Rust, Slate and Hickory–all of them finely crafted from premium leather. The company stands by the quality and workmanship of its product with a one-year warranty on the case. (Have an older phone? The Wally Case fits the iPhone 6.)

As for the phone protection part of the equation, Distil Union has you covered there too. The Wally Ether case is lined with cushy microfiber to protect the phone’s camera. While it’s not a heavy-duty case, it will protect your phone against light knocks and spills.

Now you just have one essential to grab off the table as you run out the door in the morning. And as an added bonus, you can use the free Find My Phone app to track your wallet too.

The post Hide Your Cards with the Wally Ether iPhone Case first appeared on Dornob.

It seems such a waste when people go to the trouble of hiring an architect only to build a boring or generic home – if you are going to go to all of that trouble, why not include the kind of unique functionality you have always dreamed of?

Be-Fun Design is an aptly-named architecture studio and the mastermind behind this a small-lot, two-story dwelling for a Japanese couple – a pair of clients that, as you might have guessed, lead a rather active lifestyle.

The crown jewel of this simply-titled ‘WareHouse’ is a climbing wall that reaches up above the top story of the house, surrounded by skylights to let indirect daylight filter into the second story and main level below.

A core-and-circumference strategy works its way down in the plan, from these rooftop windows to a wrapping staircase that hugs the exterior walls down to the lower floors.

Combined living, kitchen and dining room spaces thus become one large open central area ringed with circulation, while the hollowed climbing volume above leads up to a roof deck accessible only by a ladder.

“The house is a small two-storey dwelling for a couple in shinagawa-ku. Aiming to create a space that honestly reflected the clients’ activity-driven lifestyle, the design features a vertically-open area that is topped off by a rock-climbing cove. The layout revolves around a central bathroom. The kitchen, living, and dining room ,arranged as one open space, are located on the second floor which opens up to a generous stretch of glazing and terrace.”

“Bands of void space above the staircase ensure natural sunlight to the lower levels of the house. To assure some privacy, the exterior form lends no views of the interior from the street level, however, we maximized the point of contact with the outside to bring natural light and air circulation into the building. Reversaly, it stands as a garden light in the neighborhood from dusk. While sitting through a cityscape where buildings are crawling next to each other, the project plays between privacy and openness to offer an enjoyable living space.”

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