Solving loneliness, a new way to sit, and the retrofit of the year
The arrival of March seems to have brought a new sense of hope and positivity. For us, the last few weeks have been full of special moments: the warmth and hilarity of our first Zetteler digital event all about connection; the wild success of the first Norwegian Presence event with close to 400 attendees; and the pleasure of reconnecting with the Design Can steering committee for the first time in 2021.
In other excellent news, we’ve joined forces with No Isolation, the company on a mission to eliminate loneliness; design powerhouse twentytwentyone unveils a new take on an old classic to celebrate their 25th anniversary; and our dear friends at Pearson Lloyd won an AJ Retrofit Award for Yorkton Workshops.
Find the full story below:
Connection problems? No Isolation has the tech to fight loneliness
For millions of us, lockdown has thrown the issue of loneliness and isolation into stark relief. At a time when our need for human connection has never been more apparent, we are so proud to be helping the people at the vanguard of solving the problem. No Isolation is the brand at the heart of ‘warm technology’ developing communication tools to rid the world of loneliness – starting with their brilliant robot AV1, which allows children with long-term illnesses to retain a physical presence in the classroom, and KOMP – the one-dial computer that lets analogue-orientated adults stay connected to their families, friends and wider social network.
Keen to hear more? Have a listen to Monocle’s On Design podcast where design editor Nolan Giles spoke with No Isolation’s chief product officer Simon Oliver Ommundsens. They talk about the difference AV1 has made to children’s lives, as well as how our understanding of loneliness has evolved during the pandemic.
Sling when you’re winning: TAKT’s new chair embodies a lighter – and more eco – way of living
Sector-disrupting eco furniture brand (and recently certified B-Corp) TAKT has just announced a bold new chair design by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industrial Facility. Different to everything the company has done before, Sling represents a striking new typology, consciously designed for the way our modern lifestyles have changed the way we sit.
Of course, all this formal innovation doesn’t mean that TAKT has moved a nanometer away from its staunch sustainability focus (in fact, TAKT has a specific set of 10 Eco System Design Principles to prevent that from happening). Like all TAKT furniture, Sling Lounge Chair has been certified with the EU Ecolabel – which guarantees each step of its production ticks every eco box going – and, in terms of lifetime carbon emissions, Sling generates 17.1kg CO2-e – that’s 50 café lattes, or a little over 1½ steaks.
Get in touch for full info about the Sling Lounge Chair and Hecht and Colin’s thinking behind the design – as well their set of superelliptical side and coffee tables that complement it.
Maker to museum: Norwegian Presence explores the role and value of craft
Norwegian Presence is back with a bang for 2021, with a three-part digital programme putting forward new ways of thinking about design, sustainability and the circular economy. On Thursday 25 March, the second event in the series focuses on the role played by craftsmanship and materiality in Norwegian design culture. The speaker line-up includes leading makers, manufacturers and museum professionals – they’ll be examining how craft is ingrained in the approaches of Norwegian manufacturers operating at even the largest scale.
The first half-day event – on designing for a circular economy – was highly subscribed and fascinating to attend, so don’t miss the sequel.
Turning 25 in 2021: twentytwentyone launches limited-edition Thinking Man’s Chair by Jasper Morrison
If you’re one of the most respected brands on the UK design scene, what better way to mark your 25th birthday than releasing special editions from the designers and brands that have shaped your history? This month, twentytwentyone and Cappellini unveil an exclusive new galvanised version of a seminal piece by Jasper Morrison: the Thinking Man’s Chair.
First designed in 1988, the Thinking Man’s Chair represented an attempt to devise a chair where every component is structural. Its serpentine curves of tubular steel and distinctly modernist, but inarguably novel, form made it an instant icon. The new limited edition version is galvanised with hot-dip zinc (“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier!” says Morrison), priced at £2,275 and released in a numbered edition of just 25 – so expect it to go fast.
Talk to us... about connection.
One Monday last month, we had a Zoom call. No surprises there. But this one was a little different. We brought together a few of our friends with the aim of capturing a scintilla of the magic we’ve enjoyed at the physical events we used to host in our studio in days gone by. Taking up the apt theme of connection, we asked four attendees to share their musings on the topic – and the results were fun and fascinating.
Reuben Christian discussed the value of vulnerability; Harriet Gridley outlined the dangers of loneliness and why she and No Isolation have made it their mission to reduce it; Dean Brown considered the intriguing concept of ‘presence without information’ and showed us his DIY Yo-Yo machines; and Nelly Ben Hayoun took us to outer space and back…
Creativity in crisis: Takram tells ICON why design mustn’t go back to ‘normal’
“The urgency of the present should make this our watershed moment. As crises act on the world, our values are changing. We can’t go back to normal. Neither should design.”
In the spring issue of ICON, Yosuke Ushigome, of the innovation-design studio Takram, has published a thoughtful piece arguing that the crisis of coronavirus can and should incentivise a radical systemic reassessment of the way we think as designers. Projecting imagined scenarios has to be more than a stunt; it’s time to consider not only the future we want, he argues, but the pathways we take to reach it.
As we’ve come to expect from Takram, it’s an elegant and thoughtful piece of writing, with some game-changing ideas behind it. Pick up a copy of ICON to read it now, and do let us know if you’d like to hear from Yosuke and Takram – there are more pieces in the pipeline about creativity, climate crisis and transition design.
Pearson Lloyd’s Yorkton Workshops: Retrofit of the Year 2021
For a lot of designers and architects, knocking down Yorkton Workshops would have been a no-brainer – by far the cheapest and easiest approach. Pearson Lloyd and Cassion Castle architects, however, took the scenic route instead. Their decision to preserve and renovate rather than starting from scratch has now paid off, with their sensitive, sustainable – and, frankly, stunning – reinvention of a neglected Victorian block taking home the Architects’ Journal’s Retrofit Awards in both the Workplace under 2,000m² category and the overall title of Retrofit of the Year.
To borrow the judges’ words: “Yorkton Workshops is a project that isn't just sustainable by saving on embodied carbon and reusing as many materials as possible, but is incredibly beautiful, despite the nondescript buildings from which it has been reworked, showing what can be achieved through thought, attention to detail and true collaboration.”
Read the full building study over at the AJ, and do get in touch if you’d like to hear Luke Person and Tom Lloyd’s thoughts about the project – and why it’s the end of the line for new-build architecture.
Accentuate the positive: Glimpse’s James Turner joins Justyna Green for latest On Design podcast.
If you’re familiar with Glimpse, you’ll know that everything they do – from launching the Choose Love stores to putting pictures of cats everywhere – is designed to make the world better. For the latest edition the excellent On Design podcast, the Glimpse co-founder, former Greenpeace communications man, and great friend of Zetteler, James Turner joined host Justyna Green to explain Glimpse’s mission to use creativity for something more than just selling stuff, and give a few behind-the-scenes insights into the numerous society-enriching projects that the global Glimpse Collective has brought about. It’s a great conversation – so tune in.
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