Design 2 Device

30/04/2018

This past weekend, the sun decided to come out in Los Angeles during this year’s Dwell on Design show. We walked the floor and the city on the to discover new design and chat with the city’s local makers and artisans. Here are some of our favorite moments…

Design Milk walked the Dwell on Design show and the city on the to discover new design and chat with the city's local makers and artisans.

28/04/2018

the project is born from the idea of ​​creating a ‘self-sufficient organism’ capable of exploiting the sun and photosynthesis to produce energy, food, oxygen, and water necessary for the vital support of those living in it. it is mix of smart and sustainable design with the innovative solutions to be applied to one of the oldest methods of wood construction, the blockhaus system.

27/04/2018

in contrast to typical buildings that simply stack floors one on top of the other, the design considers contextual elements, such as the street and other exterior spaces. this creates what the architect calls a ‘tangled’ space that is characterized by ambiguous indoor-outdoor relationships. ‘a tree consists of different parts such as roots, a trunk, branches, leaves and flowers, but these parts are not totally independent,’ explains akihisa hirata.

26/04/2018

Dave Nelson, Microsoft’s principal creative director, is one of the design team’s brightest stars and is a key player in this seismic shift. Training in calligraphy at the age of 12 made Nelson realize that he would one day work in design. He studied under former students of luminaries Paul Rand and Katherine McCoy, receiving a rigorous design foundation before breaking into the commercial world. Nelson has been a catalyst for change at Microsoft by adopting a small and agile team model that not only forces designers and developers to collaborate, but also requires that every team member interact directly with customers in the field so they can witness how their products work in the real world.

The company's principal creative director on how the small-team model works inside a big company with such a global reach and why the team's ultimate goal is bona fide, possibly-quantifiable user love.

25/04/2018

weiwuying is one of mecanoo’s most ambitious buildings and embodies all the key elements of our philosophy,’ says francine houben, founding architect of mecanoo. ‘inspired by the beauty of the local banyan trees with their iconic canopies of leaves, the vast, undulating structure is composed of a unique skin and roof under which generous free spaces can flow. we have aimed to deliver a flagship cultural destination for taiwan, a beacon to attract performers and audiences from around the world.’

24/04/2018

Every designer has their favorite bookstore, a place they go to savor the delight of different paper stocks, to admire various typographic treatments and cover designs, and to uncover great tomes investigating design history and theory in thoughtful detail. If you want to get to know a city’s design community, there really is no better way to do so than to explore its independent book and magazine stores: These are the source, after all, of great ideas. From ramshackle, historic zine shops to luxe, modern, and spacious art book temples, here’s our list of the world’s best design-oriented bookstores for the jet-set creative. (Disclaimer: We take no responsibility for any excess baggage weight you might incur as a result of these recommendations.)

From an international zine shop in Shanghai to New York's iconic bookstore for designers, here's our list of the top design-oriented bookstores.

23/04/2018

We broke our learnings down into five parts: self-improvement, honing your craft, client relations, collaboration, and ‘big picture,’ which is a fancy way of saying everything we couldn’t fit neatly into another category. Onward!

You know what they say: learn from the past or you’re doomed to repeat it. So, we’ve rounded up some of the most profound advice we're heard in recent memory to help us focus on what’s important and answer the question: Where does the best work that we can make start? With ourselves? With our ...

22/04/2018

“With fly fishing, you’ve got all this equipment you’ve gotta lug around with you—it’s almost like golf, but without a caddy,” says Fuller. “So much depends on the species of fish, the time of year, and how long you’ll be out there—you don’t want to end up without the equipment that you need.” To hold all that gear, anglers generally choose between a cheap plastic storage bin and a $400 bag with dozens of straps, pockets, and zippers.

Every designer has a side project, but there’s a huge, yawning chasm between the vast empire of Swiss Miss and that Etsy shop you abandoned back in 2012. Meet a few designers turning their hobbies into full-blown businesses.

21/04/2018

What follows is a dive into some of the muddier parts of the freelancer taxation waters. With the help of certified financial planner Susan Lee and accountant Amy Northard—both specialists in preparing taxes for creative souls—we debunk some widespread myths freelancers might stumble across while doing their taxes.

We debunk common myths and set the record straight.

20/04/2018

Located on Berggase in Vienna, a stone's throw from the city’s neo-Gothic marvel that is Votivkirche and just two blocks away from Freud’s former office and apartment, now housing the Sigmund Freud Museum, krypt. bar couldn’t be more conspicuously located and yet you’ll be surprised to know that the existence of the underground space it occupies was unknown for several decades. It wasn’t until the late 18th century heritage building was undergoing renovations that a bricked up staircase was revealed leading to a hidden 250 square metre cellar. The cavernous space used to be a semi-legal music club in the 1950s and 1960s, part of the city’s flourishing jazz scene, so it was only fitting that it has now been transformed into a contemporary cocktail bar.

Located on Berggase in Vienna, a stone's throw from the city’s neo-Gothic marvel that is Votivkirche and just two blocks away from Freud’s former office and apartment, now housing the Sigmund Freud Museum, krypt. bar couldn’t be more conspicuously located and yet you’ll be surprised to know ...

19/04/2018

Art and technology has always had a contentious relationship, from the invention of the photographic camera, to video recorders, to computers, artists have both passionately appropriated and decried technological advancements. For Greek visual designer and art director Dimitris Ladopoulos, who has always been inspired by both the arts and technology, their confluence only holds great potential, exemplified by his recent project “Portraits” where a bespoke algorithm re-interprets classical oil paintings though a contemporary, technological lens.

Art and technology has always had a contentious relationship, from the invention of the photographic camera, to video recorders, to computers, artists have both passionately appropriated and decried technological advancements.

18/04/2018

To see them now, you wouldn’t guess that the tightly knit team had ever been at odds. Working closely, the five lead buyers are responsible for curating a selection of roughly 6,000 products each year, available online and in MoMA’s five locations (three in New York and two in Japan). One buyer handles books, and another personal accessories; furniture, lighting, tabletop, and kitchen are a department all their own, as are kids, desk, tech, and household, and paper goods, holiday items, art reproductions, and artist collaborations. Each buyer works with an assistant, bringing the body count to a lean 11.

Travel the world, buy up great design—yes the life of a MoMA Design Store Buyer really is as exciting as it sounds.