Bottega Veneta announced today a design competition organized in partnership with the world-renowned University of Tokyo. The competition, for students of the architecture department of the School of Engineering, will culminate in the presentation of three winning designs in April at Bottega Veneta’s 2010 Salone del Mobile presentation at their new headquarters in Milan.

Portrait of Tomas Maier together with Manabu Chiba, very famous Japanese architect and associate professor at Tokyo University.

The competition challenge, which was presented to students in early October, is to design a piece of furniture that serves a function for someone seated, taking into account Bottega Veneta’s traditions of quality, timeless design, and handcraftsmanship. Each student had the opportunity to present his or her initial sketches and ideas in person to Bottega Veneta Creative Director Tomas Maier, who flew to Tokyo specifically for the design review. Students are now in the process of refining their design proposals for formal submission, after which ten finalists will be selected. On December 18th, the three winners will be announced. For these young designers, winning is the beginning of an experience that will take them to Bottega Veneta’s atelier in Vicenza in January, where they will inspect the design prototypes being built for them, and then back to Milan in April to present their projects to the design world and global press attending Bottega Veneta’s 2010 Salone del Mobile presentation. Finally, the winning designs will be available for special order through the Bottega Veneta stores worldwide and on display in Ginza later in the year.

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The conclusions from the BoostChat (workshops) at DesignBoost 2009 - Design for Life has been published. In total it was 40 unique BoostChat all concerning the overall theme ‘Design for Life’. The questions touched subjects like “How can design understand our cultures?”, “How can we make real change?”, “How to design for urban life?” and “Who has the responsibility?”. Among the people involved in the BoostChat were designers Ineke Hans, Richard Hutten, Ilse Crawford and Katrin Olina to mention a few. Representatives from the industry included companies like Electrolux, Audi, E.ON, Iittala, Skanska and SAS.

Below are a couple of images as well.

Here follows a couple of snapshots from the BoostShow at DesignBoost 2009 - ‘Design for Life’ in Malmö. It will be up and running until November 14. The address is Beijerskajen 8 and opening hours are Thursday/Friday 11am to 6pm and Saturday/Sunday 12am to 4pm.

We are planning to take the exhibition on tour. Do you know any organization, museum etc that could be interested in showing ‘Design for Life’? Drop Designboost a mail at info(at)designboost(dot)se. The exhibition is a mix of interesting best practice examples of design for life combined with several interactive quiz and numerous films and interviews (Ross Lovegrove, Tom Dixon, Konstantin Grcic, Patricia Urquiola, Ilse Crawford, Bouroullec brothers and many more). There is also a small shop with carefully selected items attached to the exhibition.

Andrea, the air purifier that uses indoor plants, designed by Mathieu Lehanneur & David Edwards will soon be on sale. Since its outline design two years ago Andrea has gone thru stringent tests to ensure perfect efficiency, enabling the system to step into the real world. Its market début could not have come at a better time, with calls last month by consumer watchdog UFC-Que Choisir? that public authorities ban dangerous chemical used in common household products. The safe-goods whistle-blower pointed out - ahem, cough, splutter, wheeze - that the air we mortals breathe in the places where we live and work can be 5 to 10 times more noxious than what it is out on the street! Heading the XXX death’s head list of invisible poisons are glues and plastics that give off formaldehyde particles.

Starting with 2006, the Romanian avant-garde fashion label Rozalb de Mura, is rediscovering fresh moments from the past, that he sets in utterly contemporary contexts, unflinchingly mixing real and imaginary characters, coolly playing with time and space. Moreover, the Rozalb de Mura label is developing as a multidisciplinary platform that commissions and supports unexpected and exciting collaborations with visual artists, musicians and writers

Outstanding performers such as Patrick Wolf, Roisin Murphy or Mikhail Karikis wear its sophisticated mixture of masculine and feminine cuts; influential magazines the likes of Dazed and Confused, CRASH, Double or British Vogue feature its sharp style and intriguing stories. It’s no wonder young label Rozalb de Mura is gaining a cult status in Europe. After a series of events in Vienna, Berlin, Seoul and Beijing, the last three seasons saw Rozalb de Mura’s collections within the prestigious OnIOff, London Fashion Week.

If you are in Stockholm, The Romanian Cultural Institute has a “Double Game” talk about cutting-edge fashion label Rozalb de Mura and interior design duo Liste Noire and their special interest in fashion storytelling and emotional interior design. The event will take place on October 22, 6.30 PM at Skeppsbron 20 in Stockholm.

Here follows some snapshots from the BoostTalk at DesignBoost 2009 in Malmö. The speaker list included Ken Yeang, Ilse Crawford, Richard Hutten, Eero Koivisto, Max Fraser, Colin Drummond, Ineke Hans, Ary Perez, Katarina Graffman and Kristina Börjesson, Magnus Lindqvist, Roy Antink, Mathias Eriksson, Brent Richards and Philip Allsopp, Behrang Miri, Rapper, Filipe Balestra, Jonas Pinzke - Harry MacNeil, Katja Gry Carlsen and Johan Berhin.

Ken Yeang, Architect at Llewelyn Davies Yeang

Ilse Crawford, Creative director and Designer at Studio Ilse

Richard Hutten, Designer

Ineke Hans, Industrial designer

Katrin Olina, Illustrator and designer

Colin Drummond, Director of Cultural & Business Insights at Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Eero Koivisto, Architect and designer

Jonas Pinzke, Innovator for the greater good at The Good Guys

More to come from DesignBoost 2009 in Malmö. Stay tuned!

Still magic…

What will the fuel of the future be? There are many candidates but one of the most promising is the initiative with fast-growing algae to produce hydrogen. Scientific research has come quite far and we at LOTS like to visualize and explore how algae farms can be a part of the urban landscape. Included in urban objects and structures, the algae farms are creating patterns, colors and forms making an attractive meeting between nature and the urban landscape.

The issue is in focus when researchers and business developers meet up to explore future possibilities with innovations inspired by nature at Bioinspired Forum at Albanova/KTH in Stockholm on October 15. The aim of this event is to catalyze both design and technology transfer among science, entrepreneurship, design, and architecture. It will allow business developers and investors to identify a vast new field for investments.

This is a post by David Report contributor Hanna Ljungström.

Måltidets Hus (The House of Food) is the new 9000 m2 national and international resource centre for food development, host of the Gastronomic Institute and Norwegian chef team. Ralston & Bau was commissioned by Figgjo to make a permanent installation in the reception hall. A central wall that runs three flights high was transformed into a generous, vertical feast table. Combined iconic Figgjo dishes form organic shaped plates and bowls of the table, the wall was covered with an innovative laminated wood material simulating a linen table cloth. The wood was engraved with the shapes of ghost silver ware and glasses, while a classic chair backrest on the wall top completes the illusion of the vertical table. The installation was opened to the public on the 16th of September.

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