Home Design and Lifestyle Highlights from Dubai Design Week’s Global Grad Show 2018

In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa and Palm Jumeirah have become the architectural icons of the city’s strive to become a modern, business metropolis. Sure, one may sit on a balcony of a high-end dessert restaurant overlooking the Dubai Fountain show—the world’s largest choreographed fountain system— and leave with the notion that the city’s design culture is focused on grand spectacle. But every year, outside downtown Dubai, in the Dubai Design District, the city also hosts the largest annual exhibition of student designs in the world. It’s not the Dubai you may have first associated with: the old, ancient crafts, souks and spices, or glassy exteriors and metal frames that house corporations. These products on show are modest, crafted by students, and more often than not are created to solve a social problem. This is Dubai Design Week’s Global Grad Show.

Students outside the Dubai Global Grad Show exhibition hall in the Dubai Design District. Photo by Keshia Badalge.

The Global Grad Show is touted as “an expo of life changing inventions from the world’s largest design and technology schools.” Students come from 40 countries, and represent schools from all over the world such as Harvard, MIT, Pratt, RCA, the National University of Singapore, Keio University and the University of Tehran. Outside, students spin on Thomas Heatherwick designed chairs. Dubai’s unique approach to visas has made it the top choice for this expo, says Brendan McGetrick, curator of the show. “Whether you’re a student from Turkey, Pakistan, India, it’s not difficult to get a visa to come here to present your work. This can’t be said about many other cities in the world.”

Dubai Global Grad Show Main Exhibition Area. Photo by Keshia Badalge.

The products range from fashion to home furniture, from technology to help you keep track of loved ones to inventions to deter you from using too much technology (be it through online spending or curbing your internet use.)

Here at Design Milk, we’ve hand picked some of the best home and lifestyle items you should look out for.

Photo by Keshia Badalge

MOWO by Lisa Stolz is a collection of furniture made out of birch plywood, designed to inspire a more active approach to sitting. The flexibility and innate spring reactions of the plywood to body weight supports the user’s natural balance and fulfill’s the body’s need for motion. Because the furniture can be formed into multiple shapes, this gives the user a variety of postures to assume while seated. (No more stiff backs!)

A family of stools offers several fun, casual postures to engage your body’s muscles, whereas a woven plywood structure adapts to each body’s body’s weight and form and reshapes itself when in use.

Mowo by Lisa Stolz

Even though each piece has the feel of bespoke furniture, MOWO is designed for mass production.

Flip by Jukka Jokinen. Photo by Keshia Badalge.

Flip by Jukka Jokinen is a minimalist scooter without unnecessary handles, displays or brakes, and it folds down flat. You wouldn’t think upon looking at it, but it is in fact an electric scooter. The battery and electrical control unit are housed within the scooter’s pipe structure, which gives the scooter an overall clean, simple silhouette.

This is Grown by Jen Keane. Photo by Keshia Badalge.

This is Grown by Jen Keane is a sneaker partly grown from bacteria. The project utilizes a biological approach to material design and is based on manipulating the growth of k. rhaeticus bacteria so that it forms a new kind of ‘microbial weave’ in the process. The natural properties of bacterial cellulose form a hybrid material that is strong and lightweight. Furthermore, complex patterns and products can be designed with this weave and shaped in many ways with little or no wastage of materials.

Tiny Home Bed by Yesul Jang was designed for those of us who live in small spaces and want our furniture and storage unit to be minimal, easy to assemble, and maybe even combine as one coherent piece. While pull out shelves under the bed can take up space or be rendered completely useless if you’re placing your bed against the wall, these fabrics covering the storage cavity allow you to reach for your belongings from multiple access points.

Alice Bleton’s Monade Capsule

Alice Bleton’s Monade Capsule offers a modular extension of a living space in the form of a transparent rooftop pod. The pod is to be mounted on the edges of roofs, and offers a quiet solitary breathing space to reconnect with ourselves. She was inspired by mountain refuges, except that the idea is this can be put on any ledge, in any city.

From the projects on show, it’s easy to believe why McGetrick chose to showcase student projects. Unlike working designers who have to take care of the financial realities of production and marketing, and who have to earn money from their designs, McGetrick feels students are more free to dream up inventions: that’s how we get products like a capsule pod or a bacteria-grown shoe. It may take a while for them to get on the market, but as a student, ideas are currency. And this exhibition banks on it.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/home-design-lifestyle-highlights-dubai-design-weeks-global-grad-show-2018/

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/181201249684

A House in Chile That’s Split in Two to Accommodate Adults and Children

The idea behind this vacation house on the edge of Lake Rupanco in Chile was to separate the adults and the children into their own private spaces. To make that happen, hsu-rudolphy architects divided the house into two volumes, one for the adults and one for the kids, that connect together by a gallery at the front entrance. Appropriately named the Split House, the angled structures are situated in such a way that ensures both have views of the lake and the Osomo volcano.

The dramatically sloped roof lines extend out over floor-to-ceiling windows that give each space lots of natural light and views of the surrounding area. Living spaces flow right outside to the large decks.

The ceilings and floors are clad in warm woods making the home feel cozy during vacation times.

Photos by Ian Hsü.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/a-house-in-chile-thats-split-in-two-to-accommodate-adults-and-children/

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/181200217689

Celebrating Global Design: Germany

Today our tour of global design brings us to Germany. For some Germans you’ll hear from below, the practical side of decorating reigns supreme, meaning function comes before form. Instead of being carefree with design choices, these creative individuals tediously think through how a space should be used and what will work best within it. Furthermore, every piece they pick must reliably fulfill its purpose and then some. All in all, homes in this style are very considered.

This laser focus on functionality doesn’t mean all the spaces in Germany are rigid or lifeless. In a way, this attention to detail actually makes homes there even more interesting and humanistic. With every corner thoughtfully planned and each detail given much attention, even the most streamlined houses become extensions of those who live inside. They showcase their owner’s way of thinking, and that’s the most personal accessory of all. Scroll down to learn more, and enjoy! —Garrett

P.S. Check out everywhere else we’ve celebrated in this column here.

from Design*Sponge https://www.designsponge.com/2018/12/celebrating-global-design-germany.html

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/181199236764

Aljoud Lootah Continues to Explore Emirati Culture Through Product Design

Dubai-based multidisciplinary artist Aljoud Lootah creates by mixing traditional silhouettes and concepts with modern elements. Patterns, folds, and geometric shapes are all a big part of her inspiration. When designing products, Lootah looks to interpret the Emirati culture, traditional craftsmanship, and contemporary design – and she’s just released three new product designs.

Lootah’s Mandoos collection finds inspiration in an important part of UAE culture and tradition, wooden chests that are embellished with brass nails called mandoos. Each mandoo is covered with designs and engravings, and while still displayed in many UAE homes, they no longer hold a person’s most valuable possessions as they once did.

The Mandoos collection celebrates the importance and history of the mandoo through the addition of modern design elements such as an intricate camel leather weave, embellished metallic studs, and leather straps. Each box is lined with teal colored suede, a color often found in Khous weaving, for a modern touch. Created in several different sizes, each handcrafted box has separate drawers and compartments with their own specific purpose.

The medium-sized box in the Mandoos collection was designed to hold Oud, a valued item by most people in the UAE, and a hidden compartment holds a metallic tong used in the Oud burning process. The squared box with leather straps allows for versatility to create multiple spaces according to need, while the larger box is created to hold jewelry and watches, it’s even fit with a removable tray that’s convenient for today’s jet-setters.

Photos on grey background courtesy of Mark Cocksedge.

Lootah designed the Takya Stool as a reimagined memory from her youth, when it was common for seating areas to have cushions against the wall for people to lean on for comfort. They were also perfect for building walls and forts and growing children’s imaginations!

The Takya Stool’s cushions can be stacked upon one another, with accented camel leather trimmings and rings that allow each to slip easily on and off the ash wood base.

The Khous Sofa was designed to have a modern appeal with a nod to the past. The strip of camel leather that’s been placed in the center is woven in a pattern that mimics Khous weaving, a traditional style of weaving that used dried palm fronds. The illusion of the strip being woven and in and out and around to the back of the sofa makes it a beautifully thought out design element that really makes the piece.

See more of Aljoud Lootah’s work at aljoudlootah.com.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/aljoud-lootah-continues-explore-emirati-culture-product-design/

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/181199234379

The Tesla of Electric Motorcycles: The Arc Vector

Futurists in the mobility sector have a fondness for imagining the decades moving forward navigated upon electrically powered two-wheels (and for a great deal of the world, it’s already happening). Electric bike brand Arc takes the vision and makes it a reality, engineering a riding experience with a technologically intimate connection between rider and machine.

Launched in Milan at the EICMA Motorcycle show last month, the Arc Vector purports to be the most advanced electric bike in the world, integrating a combination of smart technologies into what the British company calls its Human Machine Interface. The Arc Vector electric engine is good for 133bhp and 292ft/lbs of torque, resulting in 0-60 acceleration numbers of just 3.1 seconds.

But electric bikes are numerous these days, even wickedly fast two-wheelers like the Vector. What makes the Arc Vector most notable is the inclusion of the “Origin” rider jacket, a protective rider’s layer with haptic sensors woven in, permitting touch-feedback notifications about traffic and positioning while riding, and even bass amplification while listening to music in a Tesla-ified “Euphoric Mode”.

An accompanying Heads-Up Display helmet (“Zenith”) projects instrument cluster info directly to the helmet’s visor; when you’re riding a vehicle capable of neck-snapping acceleration, it’s best to keep eyes on the road. The combination of the rider accessories in coordination with the Arc Vector’s electric drivetrain and striking carbon-composite silhouette results in a holistic experience Arc calls the “Human Machine Interface”.

London design studio Made Thought created a promo video in evocation of the early days of motorcycle racing in the 1950s and 1960s.

Consider yourself lucky if you ever spy one of these Arc Vector electric motorcycles on the road in the future. With only 399 models planned per year and priced at around $118,000, the future will arrive fleeting and fast.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/arc-vector-electric-bike/

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/181198252534