9th June 2021

Three biennales; the fight for urban quality; and Note’s circular spectacular

Summer is finally here and a solid sense of hope is no longer just hovering over the horizon. People are founding new businesses, reconnecting with the environment, thinking about how to change the world – and actually putting those plans into action.

Morag Ofili, courtesy of Kiltered. Portrait by Rick Pushinsky.

Evolving awareness into action: Meet Morag Ofili, founder of Kiltered

As a seasoned barrister Morag Ofili is up for uncomfortable conversations. And as the founder of the newly launched workplace diversity consultancy Kiltered, she is on a mission to help leaders shift from basic awareness of the lack of equity in working cultures to actively doing something about it – and recognising the broader business benefits that result.

Last week, Morag spoke to journalist Shawn Adams and outlined her data-driven approach to embedding diversity in business: “I believe that diversity and inclusion should be treated like any other business issue, and the first step should be developing a clear strategy. Studies show that companies that have leaders who are committed to and confident in their strategies grow faster and are more profitable than their peers.”

Image from Invocation for Hope, courtesy of Superflux. Photo by Stefan Lux.

The forest and the feast: Superflux’s twinset of installations at Venice and Vienna Biennales now open

It has been a truly massive month for Superflux, who have unveiled a double dose of speculative-design-meets-visual-poetry at two of the biggest and most influential events on the global design calendar. Both installations explore broadly the same idea – the post-Anthropocene world – but from very different perspectives, and have both won attention and praise from those lucky enough to see them.

In Vienna, their Invocation for Hope is physically leading visitors through a wildfire-ravaged forest to a resurgent oasis, where they confront their relationship with the non-human world. In Venice, Refuge For Resurgence – a meticulously realised vision of multi-species banquet in a world after the climate crisis – is both a celebration of ecological interdependence, and a plea for us to embrace a ‘more than human’ future. Incredibly detailed, logistically complex and oddly moving, they’re both extraordinary projects, so please let us know if you’d like to find out more or speak to Anab or Jon.

A new showroom by Note Design Studio for Tarkett. Photo by Jonas Lindström.

A new circular showroom by Note Design Studio for Tarkett

Note Design Studio has an enviable history of working with some of Europe’s leading brands in sustainability, including the likes of furniture powerhouse Vestre and flooring titan Tarkett. Having wowed Stockholm Furniture Fair with stand designs for Tarkett for several years on the trot, and memorably featuring the brand’s innovative eco products in projects such as Douglas House in London, Note has now collaborated with them on a something much more personal – an innovative new showroom space in Stockholm’s design quarter.

Clad from top to toe in Tarkett’s market-leading recycled and recyclable lino and vinyl products, Tarkett Ateljé takes the brand’s circular-economy manifesto and translates it into 3D space. Responding to the changing role of the showroom, Note have conceived the space as not just somewhere to look at product samples, but as a multifunctional material library, meeting venue, workshops area and event space, where designers and architects can come to exchange ideas and find inspiration.

Now You Know cover design by Joel Antoine-Wilkinson. Image courtesy Sound Advice.

Building equality: Sound Advice launches Now You Know

Nothing underlines the inequality inherent in architecture and urban landscapes like a virus that spreads through proximity and a nationwide stay-at-home order. Sound Advice founders Pooja Agrawal and Joseph Henry are known for vocally exploring spatial inequality in the built environment (and recommending great music on the side) but last year the twin effects of a pandemic that disproportionately impacted people of colour and the shockwaves of George Floyd’s murder have spurred them to produce their first publication.

In 160 pages, Now You Know gathers the thoughts of more than 50 architects and urbanists of colour in a compelling series of essays, poems and personal reflections on the change we need to make to our cities if they are to be truly equitable spaces. Out on 14 June, it’s an architectural manifesto for the future that couldn’t be more urgent. If you don’t think you need to read it, you need to read it.

Tulipwood trees. Photo courtesy American Hardwood Export Council.

*New client* – American Hardwood Export Council

We're very excited to be working with one of the most influential bodies in the world of sustainable materials: the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC to its friends). Representing producers and exporters of hardwoods across the US, the council champions hardwoods as practical, renewable and highly aesthetic design materials through a non-profit programme in more than 35 countries around the world, with its Europe HQ in London.

We’ll be supporting the AHEC team on a range of high-profile creative projects for 2021, including an upcoming exhibition at the Design Museum and the Enric Miralles retrospective in Barcelona – watch this space.

Photo courtesy: Under restaurant in Norway.

DOGA celebrates natural connections at London Design Biennale 2021

A sauna on a lake. An underwater drone. An electric catamaran. A subaquatic restaurant. For this year’s Biennale, themed on ‘resonance’, DOGA is exploring how the principles of inclusive design are being used to connect people and nature, with a particular – and characteristically Norwegian – focus on waterscapes.

Featured projects include the Soria Moria public sauna by the architects Feste; the strikingly designed, zero-emission sightseeing vessel, Legacy of the Fjords; the Brim Explorer drone which brings people face to face with marine live 150m below the surface, and the pioneering Snøhetta-designed restaurant, Under, on the bed of the North Sea. A video of the projects currently on show at Somerset House (and here) will be accompanied by a digital event on Thursday 17 June. Hosted by Amy Frearson, the 90-minute programme will include films and discussions from the figures behind each project, exploring how inclusive design can sustainably reconnect us with nature.

Exterior of A1, Barozzi Veiga's first UK building. Photography by Taran Wilkhu.

Design District opens its first building – A1 by Barozzi Veiga

It's a big day down on Greenwich Peninsula, where Design District’s grandest of grand schemes is taking its first step into reality. The first building in the district, A1, is finished, open, occupied and operational, with the staff and postgrad students of Ravensbourne University now enjoying their brand new Institute for Creativity and Technology. As well as being the first of Design District’s 16 buildings over the line, A1 also has the distinction of being Barozzi Veiga’s first completed UK project in the Spanish-Italian practice’s 17-year history.

Consisting of four storeys within a gleaming grid of aluminium, with vast, playfully asymmetric windows, the silver block of a building is bright, modern and optimistic, the first step in Design District’s mission to build a thriving creative ecosystem. Other buildings will follow very soon, and a host of tenants are waiting in the wings – do get in touch if you’d like to know more about Design District’s ongoing opening plans before the official launch this autumn.

Annie Nicholson, aka Fandangoe Kid. Photo by Tara Darby.

Artist Annie Nicholson kicks of national tour for mental health – tackling taboos in a colourful ice-cream van

It began as an ambitious crowdfunder from artist Annie Nicholson – aka the Fandangoe Kid – to fund a UK-wide tour to kickstart a conversation about mental health under Covid. She’s raised over £9,000 to transform this dream into reality – a bright, colourful one.

Fandangoe Whip is an eye-catching mobile installation and workshop space that uses the comforting, natural and familiar icon of the ice-cream van as a conduit to encourage open conversation about our collective mental health, our personal experiences of loss, and the way we process our grief.