Nominations for Design of the Year Award announced
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The Olympic torch, the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress and an earthquake-proof table are among the designs nominated for the Design of the Year Award 2012.
The longlist, which goes on show at the Design Museum in London next month, celebrates the quality and diversity of design work from around the world in seven categories: architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, product and transport.
As well as showing some of the best creative work produced over the last year, many of the nominated designs also give a fascinating insight into the event's and concerns that have dominated the pubic consciousness.
The wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and worn by the Duchess of Cambridge, for example, represents a significant resurgence in popularity for the British royal family following last year's wedding fever, while the nomination of design duo Ed Barber and Jay Osgerby's Olympic torch (pictured above) reflects the sense of pride many British people feel at hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games this year.
The news last year was also dominated by natural disasters, conflict and revolution and some of these issues are also evident in the work. In the graphics category, One Thousand Cranes for Japan (above) by design studios Anomaly and Unit9 encouraged donations to help the relief effort after the Japanese tsunami, while in the transport category the T27 Electric Car (below) by Gordon Murray Design responds the growing threat to our environment from greenhouse gasses.
As in previous years, the longlist includes a strong furniture category including Bethan Laura Wood's Moon Rock Tables (pictured below), Jasper Morrison's Lightwood chair, and Waver, a chair by German designer Konstantin Grcic.
London-based Barber Osgerby has three nominated designs across two categories: the Olympic torch, Tip Ton Chair (below) and Ascent, an exhibition of lighting and furniture, which took place at the Haunch of Venison Gallery in London last year.
Previously known as the Brit Insurance Design Award, the Design of the year Award was established in 2008 and previous winners include a folding plug and an energy saving light bulb. Category award winners and the overall winner of the Design of the Year Award 2012 will be announced at an Awards event in April 2012.
The nominated designs will be on show at the Design Museum in London from 8 February.
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Mosaics: a centuries-old idea for a 21st century home
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Mosaics have a timeless grace that transcends millennia - never mind centuries. The earliest examples of mosaics were discovered in what used to be ancient Mesopotamia, which have been dated back to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. These used fragments of coloured stones, ivory and shells, and it was only in 1500 BC when glazed tiles - the most predominant modern material used in mosaics today - were introduced properly.
Obviously, mosaic tiles aren't just square and small - they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and materials. Unglazed ceramic tiles are produced for outdoor environments, while more attractive glazed options are perfect for the home. Vitreous glass tiles provide both translucent and opaque sheens for your room of choice, while enamelled glass can be bought in the form of Italian smalti tiles. Millefiori, meanwhile, gives the DIY enthusiast a wide array of glass beads, producing colourful and geometric patterns for the home.
Installing such tiles is easy, though because of the nature of the job, it must be done in a slow and steady manner. This is because you don't want to put down too much tile adhesive as it is liable to set before you get round to setting the mosaic tiles into the mix. It's worth sorting colours into different piles regarding colour or shape and having the design you want at hand. It may be worth drawing guidelines or major parts of the mosaic-to-be before smoothing over the adhesive; you'll more than likely be able to see the guides underneath.
The most important thing about mosaic tiles is to have a little bit of fun. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work; luckily, it'll still look attractive, all the while being unique.
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Build 'temples for atheists', urges philosopher Alain de Botton
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Tom Greenall Architects' design for a secular temple
Look across London from the summit of Primrose Hill and you'll see the topography of a truly diverse modern city. In the distance, lies the famous dome of Saint Paul's cathedral, and rising up behind it, like a colossus of glass and steel, London's newest skyscraper, Renzo Piano's The Shard. But is something missing from this picture? On the one hand we have a cathedral, a temple of Christianity; on the other, an office building which many people have come to see as a totem of unfettered capitalism. Perhaps neither of these impressive buildings truly represents who we are. In his new book, Religion for Atheists philosopher Alain de Botton argues for an entirely new kind of building, one that might take the place of the church in an increasingly secular society. 'Why should religious people have the most beautiful buildings in the land?' asks de Botton. 'It's time atheists had their own versions of the great churches and cathedrals'.
De Botton has already begun working on the first Temple for Atheists, a huge black tower designed by Tom Greenall Architects which is to rise up among the office buildings in the City of London.
Standing 46m tall, the tower represents the age of the earth, with each centimetre equating to 1 million years. At its base, a tiny band of gold a millimetre thick represents mankind's time on earth.
De Botton suggests that atheists like Richard Dawkins won't ever convince people that atheism is an attractive way of looking at life until they provide them with the sort of rituals, buildings, communities and works of art and architecture that religions have always used.
'As religions have always known, a beautiful building is an indispensable part of getting your message across. Books alone won't do it,' says de Botton.
Do we need secular temples? And if so, what should they look like?
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Seminar: Land.Water.Time.
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The lighting of Outdoor Landscapes, Health Spas and Historical Buildings On Wednesday 22nd February there will be an interesting free seminar dedicated to the lighting design and techniques used to enhance lighting for architectural projects.A journey through three design themes using light for artistic expression. See all details.
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Cathedral built with LED lights
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A spectacular festival of lights took place in the Belgian city of Ghent last weekend. From 26 to 29 January, the second Light Festival Ghent brought the whole city centre alive with beautiful light shows and installations. Among these, a massive replica of a cathedral built from LED lights, especially for the occasion, was one of the highlights.
The 28 metre tall replica of Renaissance cathedral, named Cagna Illuminations after the Italian lighting company who produced it, took over one of the main streets of Ghent and offered passers-by an experience filled with light and colour. The carcass of the cathedral was built from wood and then covered with large curtains made of 55,000 LED lights in an array of colours.
And the use of LEDs meant that despite the amount of lights used, the whole installation consumed just 20kW/h of electricity.
The company behind this installation is an Italian family business Luminarie De Cagna that was established in 1930. It started out providing public lighting with oil and carbide lamps, but now travels the world with LED installations that light up streets and town squares.
It is the second time that the Ghent Light Festival has taken place, and the theme this year was Happiness and Music. The first half of the theme was inspired by Ghent-born writer Maurice Maeterlinck's world-famous fairy tale Blue Bird, which deals with matters of happiness, and the second by the fact that Ghent is one of UNESCO's Creative Cities of Music.
Almost 30 installations and events took place during the festival over the four days at the end of January with more than 200,000 people attending. Some of the other highlights, alongside De Cagna's cathedral, included a tree filled with illuminations of exotic birds - a direct reference to Maeterlinck's fairy tale - and a telephone box that was turned into an aquarium.
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Turning the tables
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The tree of dining by Helen and Hard
Some of the greatest and most enduring pieces of furniture ever designed have been by architects. Think of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, whose chairs and tables are as iconic as his architecture; or of Le Corbusier, who applied the same rigorous standards to the design of his classic chaise longue as he did to the design of his buildings.
Turning the Tables, a new exhibition opening this evening at Great Western Studios in west London, continues this tradition by exhibiting 12 tables designed by architects including Will Alsop and Heng Zhi.
The Laid Table by Will Alsop
The result is a diverse collection of tables by some our best contemporary architects and designers. Whether any of the pieces in this show will become design classics, it's too early to say, but by focusing on one type of furniture -the table - this exhibition gives us fascinating insight into the possibilities that exist for an item that is often overlooked by designers.
Phable by Cinimod Studio
Turning the Tables opens to the public tomorrow and is on until 18 February.
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Design Council Road Show to help small businesses
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Design associates from the Design Council advise clients on how they can use design to improve their business.
Times are tough for small and medium-sized businesses. But according to the Design Council there are many ways struggling manufacturers can use design to become more competitive. This week, the Design Council has launched a new road show that will travel the country offering advice on how small and medium-sized businesses can use design to boost sales, protect jobs and compete in the tough economic climate.
Starting next week in Nottingham and continuing around the country during February and March, the road show is aimed at persuading small and medium sized manufacturing firms that subsidised mentoring programmes, offered by the Design Council can make a real difference to a business's bottom line.
One such opportunity, the Design Council's business mentoring programme, Designing Demand, is a service that works with SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to develop a design-led project with the power to transform their business. The programme has mentored some 650 SMEs in recent years and according to the Design Council, a recent independent evaluation showed that businesses can expect, typically, over £25 return on investment for every pound invested in design. The initiative is supported by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which provides a 50 per cent subsidy towards the cost to businesses wishing to join the programme.
For details of the events taking place, including free interactive workshops and opportunities for one to one consultations visit the Design Council website.
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