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Photo courtesy of neriandhu.com
Neri&Hu designs the Fuzhou Teahouse as an ode to Chinese history.
+ Neri&Hu was tasked with designing the Fuzhou Teahouse around one large Chinese artifact: a wooden structure of a high-ranking Qing Dynasty official’s residence.
+ The final result of the Fuzhou Teahouse is a design based on a historic temple, with the artifact at its center and natural light surrounding it.
Courtesy of hermanmiller.com
In other design news, Herman Miller and 19 other brands launch Diversity in Design Collaborative to increase diversity in the industry.
+ DID’s first focus is to grow the number of members and collaborate on projects that address the immediate issue of the lack of representation of Black creatives in design, such as increasing career opportunities. Herman Miller Group, Knoll Inc., Adobe, and Pentagram are among founding members of the group.
+ “As a professor of design, who has not taught any Black students in the last two years, and only three students of color in total, I’m very excited about this initiative,” said DID Advisor Lesley-Ann Noel in a press release. “Access is an issue that we all can work together to overcome by creating many pathways into design for students of color, rural students, students with disabilities, and students who are facing barriers to access to great design education.”
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Similarly, Instagram’s @design channel has announced that it will award $130,000 in grants to emerging Black designers.
+ The grants are part of the new #BlackDesignVisionaries platform, a project in collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum that aims to uplift, support, and invest in Black creatives.
+ Each grant recipient—which includes three $10,000 Aspiring Designer Grants for Black designers between 18 and 30 and a $100,000 Small Business Grant for a Black-led design business that’s been in operation for less than 10 years—will be connected to mentors to help them grow their practice.
Tatiana Bilbao talks social housing and urban life in Mexico City.
+ Originally from Mexico City, the architect referred to the current housing crisis there as a crime.
+ “In order to move forward and generate better opportunities to improve quality of life, we must be open to accept diversity in housing models,” Tatiana said to The Architect’s Newspaper.
Photo courtesy of lommeditions.com
Léonie Alma Mason launches LOMM Editions with furniture designed by her nonagenarian artist grandmother, Odile Mir.
+ “We spent many afternoons together in my grandmother’s basement, looking for documents, old pictures, original prototypes,” Léonie told Wallpaper. “I felt like an archaeologist.”
+ The result of her research was a collection of approximately 40 pieces, designed by Odile and forming the foundation of LOMM Editions.
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3D designer Joseph Töreki explores craftsmanship in the digital world.
+ How do you glaze a digital object? Inspired by ceramics and an “enormous fascination with craftsmanship,” Joseph calls his practice “super random” and experiments with different digital techniques that make hyper-realistic objects.
+ “[I’m] interested in making something look unnaturally natural, which turns out to be super difficult even if it’s with real clay,” Joseph told It’s Nice That.
Photo courtesy of ikea.com
Frame or speaker? This new design from Sonos and Ikea does both.
+ The new SYMFONISK picture frame smart speaker has an interchangeable front that users can customize with different designs.
+ Like a non-speaker picture frame, SYMFONISK can be hung on the wall like art or placed on a tabletop.
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Limdim House Studio creates a calm retreat in Vietnam full of arched doorways.
+ Called the Brown Box apartment, the home features terrazzo throughout for a gentle effect. “We use terrazzo all the way from the kitchen island, like a stream going down the floor and spreading everywhere,” Limdim House Studio founder Tran Ngo Chi Mai told Dezeen. “Choosing this type of material helps the colour in the house to become light and soothing.”
+ To open up the apartment, the studio removed existing walls and added curving partition walls and arched doorways in their place.
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