Norweigan Siren Elise Wilhelmsen recently received the 2010 Time to Design Award for her project Developing Time—Time Developing, a clock that knits 48 meshes per day, and produces one two meter long scarf per year. I love how her clock allows time to becomes a measurable, wearable object.
Design by Gravity by Swedish Front design is a lamp that responds to your movements. It “wakes up” to brighten the room when you enter, and lays down when you exit.
FAT lamp by NEXT architects. As the heat from the lighting element slowly melts the fat contained within the , an intriguing process gradually unravels before your eyes. The light glows brighter and brighter and the lamp becomes warmer and warmer in a comforting way. After turning it off the fat returns to its original solid state.
Is it something mysterious, erotic, or rather, something like a fairytale? Lea Haefliger wanted to incorporate all these different aspects into a series of hairbrushes. Lea felt it was important to give the brushes a sustainable quality both in terms of material and emotion. Therefore, the hair on the brushes is not just a decorative element, but a functional one as well because it both is and protects the brush.
Lots Design layerONlayer project. While the designs are theoretical, the concepts behind them are fantastic. Creating interactivity between surfaces and their surrounding environment, and giving life to a static and mass-produced object. The image shows one of three designs: a corrosion sensitive paint that reveals a hidden resistant design as it is eaten away.
Stain Teacup by Bethan Laura Wood. An interesting example of a design that evolves through use. The interior of the porcelain cup is treated in a way that allows it its regular contents, i.e. tea, to stain its surface over time and reveal the pattern hidden in the design.
Ink Calendar by Oscar Diaz. Time is logged by the slow absorption of ink into the paper through capillary action, “printing” the numbers one day at a time.
Shi Yuan’s thermo-responsive wallpaper blooms colored flowers when it is exposed to heat. In the image the radiator is warming only a portion of the wall so only the paper in its close proximity is affected, however, one can imagine that on a hot summer day the entire room would be covered in pink flowers.
a blog devoted to materials and designs that engage the senses, respond to their environments, trigger meaningful interactions, evolve through use, and challenge us to rethink our relationships with objects. tara mullaney is a researcher and designer investigating the connections between our experiences and emotions.
