product design

Let’s face it. Not all of our mansions are conveniently located right next to our docks. Some are even so far away that we might even have to drive to them. We hate that cars are bad for the environment, but how else are we going to get to our eco-friendly mega-yachts? Enter eco-friendly, mega-yacht designer Philippe Starck. This week at the Geneva Auto Show, the designer has unveiled the “V+ Volteis by Starck,” an electric automobile (and not a golf cart at all). Says Starck:

I wanted to offer an alternative. A different answer to return to the minimalist definition to a vehicle. A simple vehicle. Almost a child’s play. With 4 wheels. A steering wheel. And electricity. A vehicle just here to transport. Transport us and our business. Almost nothing.

The V+ itself is as bare bones as it gets, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the non-golf cart’s chairs are made of PVC cord, the roof is textile, and the trunk is a sort of wicker-like basket. It also doesn’t have any seat belts, airbags, or really anything else that would keep you in any way safe as it reaches its top speed of around 40 mph. Also, lest we fail to do so, we should make sure to mention that this is in no way a golf cart, even though it looks like one, will likely be used as one, and sounds like it functions that way as well. No, this is a $40,000 vehicle of Mr. Starck’s sole creation.

The ever-lauded and design-focused British company Dyson is now a bit more German and American. Longtime CEO of the company, Martin McCourt, has stepped down and has been replaced by Max Conze, former member of the German Army and recent head of Dyson’s North American arm. Conze has promised that Dyson will make more money, as CEOs are wont to do, but it’s his plans to expand the business that seem most interesting. In an interview with the Telegraph, Conze says he plans to hire hundreds more engineers and designers, as well as continuing to expand the company’s product offerings, further branching out from what had previously been “a one product company” and into more of “a technology company.” With sales last year already having broken past the billion dollar mark, and with new products like their fans and heaters, it should be an interesting transition to watch.

New York Fashion Week is in full swing, and on Friday morning, Kate Spade presented a Paris-infused fall 2012 collection dappled with polka dots and painterly prints, all smartly styled by Brad “Pop of Color” Goreski. “I’m kind of the Kate Spade girl but a boy,” he says. “I connect very well with the clothes and the aesthetic.” Meanwhile, Deborah Lloyd‘s ever-sharper, retro-chic brand is also busy rolling out cheeky spring offerings, a tribute to Australian textile designer Florence Broadhurst (1899-1977; we like to imagine her palling around with a young Edna Everage and going by the nickname “FloBro”), with the help of a boldly patterned bus-cum-pop-up shop. The collection is part of a larger collaboration with Helen and David Lennie‘s Signature Prints, which controls the Broadhurst design library. In addition to handbags, shift dresses, and Tretorn sneakers in her mod-nouveau Japanese Floral pattern, Kate Spade has debuted homegoods awash in graphic FloBro patterns. Now on offer at the brand’s just-launched Florence Broadhurst Decor Shop are eye-catching cushion covers, old-school luggage, china, and, of course, wallpaper. Bedding and other items incorporating Broadhurst prints will be added in the months ahead.

Before planning your next trip, be sure to review the newly crowned winners of the Travel + Leisure Design Awards, which will be featured in the magazine’s March issue (on newsstands next Friday). The 2012 winners range from the Zaha Hadid-designed Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi to the ultimate in travel-friendly apparel (the 1964 by Scott James blazer and Issey Miyake‘s eminently packable origami folding clothing). Many of this year’s favorites will come as no surprise, including the city-friendly Fiat 500 (best car) and Leica’s drool-worthy D-Lux 5 Titanium Set (best camera). Preston Scott Cohen‘s smart and sculptural Herta and Paul Amir Building at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art got the nod for best museum (edging out the Brad Cloepfil-designed Clyfford Still Museum, alas), and two NYC destinations—Jane’s Carousel Pavilion in Brooklyn and the Freitag Store—won for best public space and best retail space, respectively. Meanwhile, 2012 T+L Design Champion H.E. Mubarak Hamad Al Muhairi, the driving force behind Abu Dhabi’s transformation and evolution as a cultural and design capital, joins past honorees such as ubercollector Micky Wolfson, André Balazs, and Amanda Burden. Tasked with choosing “the best new examples of design” in 20 categories was a jury moderated by Chee Pearlman that included architect Billie Tsien, fashion designer Derek Lam, High Line pioneer Robert Hammond, and artist Michele Oka Doner. Keep reading for the full list of winners.
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According to VW design chief Klaus Bischoff (pictured), the designers were given the brief to “design a new original” rather than updating the New Beetle, introduced in 1998.

“The new car retains the round headlights of the New Beetle as well as the angular aero chin of the new generation of Volkswagens. A bar along the rocker panel — a vestigial running board, if you will — visually emphasizes the car’s length.

It is the rear end that nags the eye. The symmetrical double arcs of the previous model’s fenders have given way to an elongated rear fender. The lines of the fender, roof and hatch meet haphazardly, like the intersection of three meandering country roads.

Then there is that squashed roof. It makes the car seem deflated — the pneumatic New Beetle with a slow leak. As you look at it you get the feeling that when the designers finished the car they gave it a final whump on top — like the pat you’d apply to fat Dagwood sandwich before you took it to the den to watch the second half of the game.”

-Phil Patton, reviewing the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle in The New York Times. Read his full assessment on the “all-new,” bud vase-free Bug here.

Even the most demanding design purist is hard-pressed to avoid marring that freshly Venetian plastered or de Gournay wallpapered wall with a dull disk of white—or worse, beige!—ribbed plastic: the inevitable smoke detector. A little bird told us that’s all about to change. Meet the Chick-a-Dee, perched perpetually on a branch and ready to emit an 85-decibel-alarm at the first sign of smoke. Originally hatched by Dutch designer Louise van der Veld with an eye to residential interiors, the Chick-a-Dee has winged its way across Europe and is finally bound for North American nests, having been given the all-clear by Underwriters Laboratories. Brooklyn-based neo-utility, the sharp-eyed promoter of “products that are inherently useful but also bring a new and dynamic approach to design,” debuted the device stateside at last week’s New York International Gift Fair (where it was our top pick for the Bloggers’ Choice Awards) and will offer the product on its website this spring for around $75. The whimsical smoke detector, equipped with a battery that lasts 1.5 years, will also be available at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA) Store. Stock up early, Portlandia fans, because this bold new opportunity to “Put a bird on it!” is sure to fly off shelves.

David Stark has made a name for himself with design that is simultaneously innovative and playful, monumentally scaled yet welcoming and thoughtfully customized. His Brooklyn-based firm’s events, for clients ranging from Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and New Yorkers for Children to West Elm and discerning brides often transform quotidian materials—Post-Its, paint chips, bundled newspapers—into one-night wonderlands. Guests have been known to marvel, look closer, and then ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Stark’s latest production is WOOD SHOP, a “surprise ambush” of Nina Freudenberger‘s Haus Interior in New York. “For about a month, all of the product that Haus usually carries will be removed and replaced with our limited-edition WOOD SHOP collection that is inspired by the iconic wood worker’s atelier,” explains Stark of the collaborative concept store-cum-art gallery, which opens to the public on Friday at 11:00 a.m. (sneak a peek at some of the goods and buy them online here). “We’re excited to take the pop-up store to the next level.” Stark took time away from last-minute preparations to answer our seven questions about wooden must-haves, his start in event design, and how he created a “garden of Versailles” out of shredded paper.

1. What are a few of your favorite products in WOOD SHOP?
Oh, I love so, so many of them that it is hard to name one or two, but I am particularly happy with the hand-crocheted paint can and brush pillows, the turned poplar vases, and I do love the “Pining for You” poster/valentine. It’s a fantastic card to send in the mail, and it is also cool to frame and put on a wall. This pieces is the newest in our company tradition of newsprint cards that we have sent to friends and clients over the last couple of years. Those cards have become so popular that they are commonly saved and framed as wall art.

2. You went to art school at RISD. How did you get your start in event design?
Totally by accident! I didn’t even know there was a career called, “event design”! Back in the day, I worked with flowers and a partner, making arrangements for parties to support my fledgling painting career. Over time, I did more and more floral work than painting and got better and better at it. One day we were invited to interview for the job of designing the décor for New York City Opera’s fundraising gala. Carolyn Roehm, a noted florist in her own right, was the chair lady of the evening, and she took one look at our book and said, “Well, there is no question that you make the most beautiful flower arrangements, but this evening is not about flowers at all.”

All of a sudden a light bulb went off! It was a real a-ha moment. The revelation that flowers were not the only decorative tool for a party was mind-blowing. It seems real obvious of course, but at the time, it was radical. Now flowers are just one of the tools in my tool box, and the rest of the world of options is readily at my fingertips.
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Sure to boost compliance in double-blinded clinical trials the world over are these streamlined pill keepers from Sabi, a new company that is looking “to transform life’s small tasks into moments of joy” through lifestyle and wellness products designed by Yves Behar and his Fuseproject team. “We designed the Sabi brand, products, and packaging to express smarter ergonomic functionality, and instill pride of use rather than the stigma of being singled out by daily physical challenges,” says Behar. “I believe Sabi will make sense to an older generation in need of solutions, but also to a younger set of users that simply expect good design everywhere.” Named for the Japanese aesthetic construct (think “wabi-sabi”), the Palo Alto-based company was founded by entrepreneur Assaf Wand, who points to Method, Bang & Olufsen, OXO, and Dyson as brands that inspire him. His idea for Sabi came as he watched his then-pregnant wife struggle to find an easy-to-use and visually appealing prenatal vitamin case. Pill organizers and related accessories (vitamin pulverizers, sleek carafes) comprise the company’s first line of products, Vitality. In the works are Agility, products designed to alleviate the pain and inconvenience of lifting, reaching, and carrying everyday items around the house, as well as Mobility, a line of travel accessories and gadgets that assist in transporting health and wellness essentials. Grab a Sabi Holster ($8.99) and take a chill pill, as the second two lines—including, at long last, a shower caddy that you won’t be ashamed to show houseguests—will debut later this year.

It’s shaping up to be another eventful year for Tom Dixon and his addictive forms. On Friday, the self-taught designer-maker will debut his collection of everyday home accessories and design objects at Maison & Objet in Paris. “Eclectic by Tom Dixon” includes gift-ready goodies made of materials such as copper, marble, cast iron, and wood. But that’s nothing compared to what he’s got in store for Milan Design Week. Come April, Dixon and friends will transform the National Museum of Science and Technology Milan into MOST, a new cultural hub that will showcase the creations and wares of a handpicked group of designers, curators, and companies.

“In a fit of spontaneous madness we decided that the world’s most important meeting place for global design obsessives needed a new epicenter, a space for quiet contemplation or chaotic energy—a platform for the exchange of big ideas,” said Dixon in a statement announcing the project, which kicks off on April 17. “We have created a place where we can demonstrate the new democratization and hyperactive innovation of technology in art, food, fashion, manufacturing, and communication.” His creative partners on the project are Design Miami veteran Ambra Medda and Milan native Martina Mondadori, who is working with TAR Magazine to assemble a slate of lectures and seminars that will take place in the museum’s gorgeous auditorium (pictured). MOST will provide each exhibitor with an individual space within the approximately 400,000-square-foot museum, and there will be an overall exhibition theme. Exhibits of various sizes, positioned inside and outside of the museum, are expected to create a carnival-like environment. Interested in exhibiting? Contact Alice Foster (Alice.Foster@tomdixon.net) for more information and an application.

Over the years, we’ve occasionally poked fun at designers who create a product that’s perhaps just a bit out of the realm of nearly the whole out of humanity. We’re thinking things like Phillippe Starck‘s mega-eco-yacht or Yves Behar‘s $60,000 cell phones. However, both those examples seem to pale in comparison to the joint collaboration between designer Jean-Paul Gaultier and the Dallas-based Dillon Gage Metals: a one-ounce hunk of gold, stamped with a Gaultier design. Granted, yes, an ounce of gold is significantly less expensive than a yacht or a $60,000 cell phone (as of yesterday, an ounce was selling in the $1600-$1700 range), and people with means certainly have been known to spend plenty more on other logo-emblazoned jewelry, clothing and cars, but perhaps we’re most taken aback by this product wearing its idea on its sleeve. At least with clothes or cars or mega-yachts, there is some function there. Other than perhaps an investment, this purely exists for you to show someone that you not only have a big chunk of gold…you have a big chunk of designer gold. But do with this information as you please (including sending us one in thanks for telling you about it). Here’s a description:

One side of the gold bar is engraved with a heart – with Gaultier’s trademark sailor stripe – amid radiating rays, and above that is a banner displaying the name Jean-Paul Gaultier.

And here’s the really fun quote, from the president of the company:

“Never before has a fashion icon designed a gold ingot. The Gaultier bar is a one-of-a-kind, limited-quantity collector’s piece that not only is a great investment but it will also become a a piece of history. The price of gold has risen more than fivefold in the last 10 years, outperforming almost every other investment,” says Terry Hanlon, president of Dillon Gage Metals. “The Gaultier one-ounce bar is the perfect Valentines, birthday or graduation gift for someone special, he adds.