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      Christoffer Jansson passes off virtual apartment as Instagram home renovation project

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      Swedish designer Christoffer Jansson created a virtual apartment and pretended to live in it for months as part of a social experiment he exhibited at this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair.

      Over a series of 12 rendered images shared on Instagram, the Uncanny Spaces project saw Jansson spin a story about purchasing and renovating a home, which he designed based on a real flat on Stockholm’s Heleneborgsgatan.
      Christoffer Jansson designed a virtual apartment and pretended it was his homeThe digital replica was modelled on the actual dimensions of the 89-square-metre apartment – ascertained during an open-house viewing – and filled with virtual copies of some of the designer’s own belongings to complete the illusion.
      He even went so far as to photograph details such as the cracked wallpaper and weirdly placed electrical outlets found in the real flat, so that he could replicate them using 3D modelling and rendering software.
      He asked his Instagram followers to vote on what colour to use in the hallway”My intention was to explore the home as a tool for communicating status and identity on social media and to discuss the impact of rendered images within interior architecture,” Jansson said.

      “I also wanted to challenge my rendering skills and see if I would be able to convince the viewer that the apartment physically existed.”
      He placed a virtual version of his Marshmallow Table in the hallwayThe ruse proved so convincing that a major Swedish interiors magazine asked to photograph the nonexistent apartment. And fellow students at Konstfack university questioned Jansson on how he could suddenly afford a multi-million-pound apartment in central Stockholm.
      Over the course of two months, he posted the results to a dedicated Instagram account designed to mimic the separate profiles that homeowners will sometimes create for their renovation projects.
      Jansson pretended to paint an antique Lovö dining table pinkThe earliest renders show the apartment as an empty shell, slowly being filled with boxes and IKEA bags as well as like-for-like recreations of Jansson’s personal belongings, such as his Marshmallow Table, every single one of his books or the jacket he wore on that particular day.
      Jansson also populated the virtual home with internet-famous design objects such as Ettore Sottsass’s wavy Ultrafragola mirror or the Lovö dining table by Axel Einar Hjorth to comment on the rise of the “Instagram aesthetic”.

      Space10 proposes linking NFTs to furniture to encourage better care

      “The constant flow of images on social media is affecting our attention span and for interior architecture, it’s becoming increasingly important to find ways to quickly capture the viewer’s attention,” he told Dezeen.
      “A clear consequence of the fast flow of images is the so-called ‘Instagram aesthetic’, which is characterized by geometric or curved shapes, distinctive colour schemes, tiled floors that form graphic patterns and clear contrasts between glossy and matte,” he continued.
      “It’s not the physical aspects of the room that are prioritised, instead the ability of the interior to function well in the image is what is valued most, which negatively affects the physical experience of a space.”
      He also integrated Insta-famous designs like the Ultrafragola mirrorThroughout the project, Jansson worked to provoke and integrate the account’s followers into the design process, for example by taking a poll on what colour to paint the hallway or by pretending to paint a piece of priceless antique furniture bright pink.
      Towards the end of the experiment, the designer began to speed up the timeline of the fictional renovation, as well as making the renders evermore eerily perfect to see if his followers would notice that the apartment was fake – although none ever did.
      By exploring these reactions, the designer hoped to draw attention to the way we use images of our homes to present idealised versions of ourselves, which in turn sets unrealistic standards for our real living spaces.
      The project was a social experiment”Today, we have access to observe the everyday life of others and display our own to the public through social media,” he said.
      “The constant exposure generates unattainable ideals and gradually shifts the barrier of private and public, which makes it more important than ever to present each and every part of our home in a favourable way.”
      Jansson created a wood relief to represent the project in real lifeAt the 2023 Stockholm Furniture Fair, Uncanny Spaces was showcased as part of the annual Ung Svenks Form exhibition of work by young Swedish designers.
      To represent the project in real life, Jansson created a wood relief that depicts a flattened image of his 3D virtual home, realised with the help of digital modelling software Rhino and a CNC-milling machine.
      The project does not touch on the rise of the metaverse, for which designers are increasingly creating virtual furniture, clothing, buildings and entire cities. But Jansson expects the advent of a parallel virtual world will likely exacerbate the issues explored in his project.
      Uncanny Spaces was on show as part of the Ung Svenks Form exhibition at the 2023 Stockholm Furniture Fair from 7 to 11 February. Browse our digital guide to the festival or visit Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      NeueHouse opens third members' club in Los Angeles

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      Workspace brand NeueHouse has opened a work and social space in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, which is revealed in this video created for the brand by Dezeen.

      The club is the third community and co-working space that the brand has opened in Los Angeles, California, with other locations in Hollywood and in Downtown’s historic Bradbury Building.

      Workspace brand @NeueHouse has opened a work and social space in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/IzJQMvbV0g
      — Dezeen (@dezeen) January 31, 2023

      NeueHouse Venice Beach is located at 73 Market Street, in an area of Los Angeles known for its arts scene in the 70s and 80s.
      The interiors of the club were designed by Canadian studio DesignAgency, who were strongly informed by southern California’s history as a centre of modernism.
      The agency chose to use light, organic materials to reflect the Californian climate. Spaces are designed to be open-plan, in order to foster a feeling of informality and comfort.
      Spaces were designed to reflect the oceanfront locationThe building includes private and public workspaces, as well as a podcast recording studio, wellness room and social spaces.
      As with Neuehouse’s other venues, the club will host a regular cultural programme including exhibitions, screenings and events.
      The clubhouse is home to a collection of artwork curated by Caroline Brennan of design studio Silent Volume and Pamela Auchincloss of curatorial agency Eleven+. The collection combines the work of established artists with emerging talent from southern California.
      The clubhouse contains co-working spaces and creative production facilitiesThe Venice Beach club also houses Reunion, the first in-house restaurant and bar in a Neuehouse location. The restaurant is situated on a private rooftop space with indoor and outdoor seating.

      NeueHouse opens Los Angeles co-working space inside landmarked Bradbury Building

      “Our latest House is a response to a historic demand from the local Venice creative community,” said chief marketing officer Jon Goss.
      “We want to reimagine and pay homage to the block’s historic past, while offering a warm, design-first experience”.
      You can apply for membership at NeueHouse Venice Beach at its website.
      Last year, Dezeen and NeueHouse teamed up to host a series of events, including a panel discussion on Afrofuturism in art and design and a live talk on the metaverse featuring Liam Young, Refik Anadol and Space Popular.
      Partnership content
      This article was written as part of a partnership with NeueHouse. Find out more about our partnership content here.

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      Space10 invites public into its Copenhagen HQ with kiosk-like design library

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      IKEA’s innovation lab Space10 has worked with interior designers Spacon & X to transform the ground floor of its headquarters into a library and community space, with a look that is meant to recall a simple kiosk.

      Located in a former fish factory in the city’s Meatpacking District, Space10’s offices now include a library of 100 future-focused books, a snack bar and a design shop, alongside an existing gallery and event space.
      While the ground floor was already used for community-facing events, Space10 set out to expand the offering beyond “temporary” interactions and create a space that people could access at their leisure all day.
      A library, snack bar and design shop have been added to the ground floor of Space10’s Copenhagen headquarters”We wanted the ground floor to play a much stronger role in our mission to involve the many and diversify our perspectives,” Space10 designer Kevin Curran told Dezeen.
      “By opening a new library for the public, we suddenly have a space that feels alive, warm and welcoming, and it lets visitors spend as much time here as they like and explore Space10 on a daily basis.”

      The studio worked with its long-time collaborators Spacon & X on the interior design, which references kiosks and particularly the newsstands of New York to create an accessible setting.
      The design of the space was informed by newsstands with their racks of magazinesAccording to Spacon & X co-founder Svend Jacob Pedersen, the aim was to create a welcoming space where “nothing should be too curated or feel precious”.
      “It was important for us to work with understated but recognisable cultural symbols through materials and form so that the project itself encourages interaction and is perceived as public,” Pedersen said.
      The space is intended to be open to the public all day”From the beginning, the classic New York newsstand was a big inspiration as its layered setup with only the magazine’s headline and title visible piques curiosity and almost demands visitors to pick them up and browse,” Pedersen continued.
      “Furthermore, you can pick up a soft drink from the fridge, a souvenir cup from the shelves or some gum at the counter – an informal invitation to stay and browse.”
      This approach extended to the furniture choices, which blend custom pieces with more everyday designs, along with playful accessories such as metal pencil trays that recall hot dog holders.
      Accessories shaped like hot dog holders help to recall the kiosk environment”We shopped generic, almost iconic, cafe aluminum chairs and tables that many will recognise from their preferred kebab joint or touristy cafe, almost as an universal welcome sign,” said Pedersen.
      Among the custom pieces are shelves and seating with wooden cylindrical frames held together by looped steel joinery. The joinery is typically used to partition cattle farms and was partly chosen to reference the building’s location in the Meatpacking District, where meat businesses were formerly based.
      The steel joinery was fabricated for the cattle industry, where it is used for partitioningThe modular shelving for the library is finished with bright fabric pockets made of Hallingdal 65, a blend from Danish company Kvadrat with wool for durability and viscose for brilliance.
      At the centre of the kiosk space is Spacon & X’s industrial-looking Super Super table, made of sheets of bolted aluminium, and suspended above it is a custom lighting design made of upcycled office ceiling lights set in a wooden frame.

      Space10 proposes linking NFTs to furniture to encourage better care

      The studios chose materials and furnishings with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of transportation and supporting the local economy, selecting metal for its durability and aluminium in particular for its recyclability.
      They also sought to cultivate an aesthetic that could be replicated at Space10 projects around the world with local and preferably upcycled materials.
      Upcycled materials have been used to make elements such as a wooden suspended lighting featureThe library at the space features 100 books curated by Space10 on the subject of how to build a better future for people and the planet. These will be supplemented with titles put forward by guest curators and the community.
      The building also includes two private floors for the Space10 team — an upper office area and a basement fabrication laboratory and tech studio.
      Space10 will open the doors of the ground floor to the public on January 26. It plans to host two exhibitions each year and keep all its events free to attend.
      The library features 100 titles chosen by Space10 for their ideas about designing for the futureSpace10 and Spacon & X have worked together since 2015, when Spacon & X designed the first version of Space10’s office. They later updated those offices together in 2019 to move away from an open-plan design.
      Space10 works “with and for IKEA”, functioning as an independent innovation lab whose research feeds into the brand’s future planning.
      Its recent projects have included the Carbon Banks NFT concept designed to inspire better care for furniture and the Updatables concept for upcycling furniture using artificial intelligence.
      Photography is by Seth Nicholas.

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      Get your event listed in Dezeen's guide to Stockholm Design Week 2023

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      There is still time to feature your event in Dezeen’s guide to Stockholm Design Week, which will spotlight the key exhibitions, talks and other events taking place during the festival.

      Dezeen Events Guide will publish the digital guide a week ahead of the festival, which takes place from 6 to 12 February 2023.
      The trade show Stockholm Furniture Fair takes place in the city during the week, along with hundreds of fringe events.
      The Stockholm Design Week guide follows on from the success of our digital guides to Milan design week and London Design Festival last year, which received over 60,000 page views combined. In total, Dezeen Events Guide received over 400,000 page views in 2022.
      To be considered for inclusion in the guide, email [email protected]. Events will be selected by the Dezeen team to ensure that the best events are included.

      Get listed in Dezeen’s digital Stockholm guide
      Dezeen offers standard, enhanced and featured listings in its Stockholm guide.
      Standard listing: For only £100, you can feature your event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event.
      Enhanced listing: For £150, you can include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and an image in the listing preview on the Stockholm guide page. These listings can also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
      Featured listing: For £300, your listing will feature everything as part of an enhanced listing plus inclusion in the featured events carousel and accompanying posts on Dezeen Events Guide social media channels. These listings can also feature up to 150 words of text about the event, and can include commercial information and additional links to website pages such as ticket sales, newsletter signups etc.
      For more information about partnering with us to help amplify your event, contact the team at [email protected].
      About Dezeen Events Guide
      Dezeen Events Guide lists events across the globe, which can be filtered by location and type.
      Events taking place later in the year include DesignMarch 2023, NYCxDesign 2023 and 3 Days of Design.
      The illustration is by Rima Sabina Aouf.

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      Get listed in Dezeen's digital guide for Stockholm Design Week 2023

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      Are you putting on an exhibition, talk or other event in Stockholm next month? Get your event listed in our digital guide to Stockholm Design Week on Dezeen Events Guide, which will highlight the key events taking place from 6 to 12 February 2023.

      Stockholm Design Week hosts hundreds of events, including exhibitions, open showrooms, talks and parties, as well as the trade show Stockholm Furniture Fair.
      Dezeen’s guide, which will be published a week ahead of the design week, will provide visitors with all the key information about the festival with listings for the must-see events.
      The Stockholm Design Week guide follows on from the success of our digital guides to Milan design week and London Design Festival last year, which received over 60,000 page views combined. In total, Dezeen Events Guide received over 400,000 page views in 2022.
      To be considered for inclusion in the guide, email [email protected]. Events will be selected by the Dezeen team to ensure that the best events are included.

      Get listed in Dezeen’s digital Stockholm guide
      Dezeen offers standard, enhanced and featured listings in its Stockholm guide.
      Standard listing: For only £100, you can feature your event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event.
      Enhanced listing: For £150, you can include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and an image in the listing preview on the Stockholm guide page. These listings can also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
      Featured listing: For £300, your listing will feature everything as part of an enhanced listing plus inclusion in the featured events carousel and accompanying posts on Dezeen Events Guide social media channels. These listings can also feature up to 150 words of text about the event and can include commercial information and additional links to website pages such as ticket sales, newsletter signups etc.
      For more information about partnering with us to help amplify your event, contact the team at [email protected].
      About Dezeen Events Guide
      Dezeen Events Guide lists events across the globe, which can be filtered by location and type.
      Events taking place later in the year include Nomad St Moritz 2023, Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 and Design Shanghai 2023.
      The illustration is by Rima Sabina Aouf.

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      Space Popular reinterprets Aldo Rossi's architectural theories for the metaverse

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      Architecture and design studio Space Popular has unveiled Search History, an exhibition at the MAXXI museum in Rome that applies the writings of Italian architect Aldo Rossi to virtual worlds.

      The installation features bold and colourful images envisioning a metaverse city, with doorways that appear to be gateways between different virtual spaces.
      Search History features a physical installation exploring virtual architectureThe aim of Space Popular founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg was to show how Rossi’s ideas about the experience of real-world cities can be reflected in the immersive spaces of the metaverse.
      “The project Search History began as part of our research on issues of the virtual city,” says Lesmes in a video about the project.
      The project draws parallels with the urbanism theories of Italian architect Aldo Rossi”We have been studying how we move between virtual environments, basically places on the internet that are three-dimensional,” Lesmes said.

      “We found a lot of connections to theories of Aldo Rossi,” she added. “Even though he didn’t develop them thinking about the virtual realm or virtual worlds, we feel they are extremely applicable.”
      Multilayered images of virtual environments are printed on overlapping curtainsSearch History is the fifth edition of MAXXI’s Studio Visit, a programme that invites contemporary designers to reinterpret the work of iconic architects from the museum’s collections.
      The starting point for the project was Rossi’s seminal text The Architecture of the City, which describes urban areas as a multilayered sequence of spatial experiences.
      The colourful imagery suggests gateways between different virtual spacesSpace Popular believes that virtual environments should be equally multilayered, and that special attention should be paid to the way people move from one space to another.
      “What does it mean to click on a hyperlink? Do we open a door or do we slide something up?” Hellberg says in the video.
      A lamp within the installation is reflected in the printed imageryThe exhibition comprises a doughnut-shaped pavilion formed of overlapping curtains, each printed with multilayered imagery.
      Inside, Space Popular created the feeling of standing in a city plaza by adding a circular bench topped by what looks like a street light.
      A similar lamp is depicted on one of the curtains, alongside other pieces of street furniture that include a litter bin and a drain cover.

      Space Popular sets out its vision for digital portals made of virtual textiles

      The curtains also depict architectural elements like roof profiles and columns, as well as references to computing such as a keyboard and a search window.
      “This piece is a sort of simulator, a representation of what it could be like, the experience of browsing through immersive, digital environments,” said Lesmes.
      The images also depict architectural elements like roof profiles and columnsThe project builds on the manifesto that Space Popular presented for the Dezeen 15 online festival, which proposed using portals made of digital textiles to navigate virtual worlds.
      The duo have also created other works that explore the design of the metaverse, which they call the immersive internet. These include Value in the Virtual at ArkDes and The Venn Room at the Tallinn Architecture Biennale.
      The images also show virtual interfaces like search windowsSpace Popular: Search History is curated by Domitilla Dardi, senior design curator at MAXXI, and is sponsored by textile manufacturer Alcantara, which provided the material for the curtains.
      Previous editions of Studio Visit have seen Neri&Hu explore the world of Carlo Scarpa and Formafantasma examine Pier Luigi Nervi.
      The exhibition photography is by Matthew Blunderfield.
      Space Popular: Search History is on show at MAXXI from 7 December 2022 to 15 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Happy new year from Dezeen!

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      Happy new year from Dezeen! We’ll be back tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can read the most-read stories of 2022 and our full review of the year.

      The review looks at the most interesting architecture, design and interior stories from 2022. It includes roundups of the top houses, home interiors, staircases, skyscrapers, rebrands, furniture and much more.
      Read the review of 2022 ›
      The main image is from Matsuyama house by TTArchitects, which features dedicated spaces for watching fireworks. The photography is by Kei Sugino.

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      Merry Christmas from Dezeen!

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      Merry Christmas! We’ll be back tomorrow – in the meantime read our review of 2022 and enjoy this Christmas tree designed by Japanese studio Nendo.

      The review of 2022 rounds up the most interesting and popular architecture, design and interior stories from the past year. It includes roundups of the top houses, home interiors, staircases, skyscrapers, rebrands, furniture and much more.
      Read the review of 2022 ›

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