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    Space Projects creates Amsterdam store with thatched hut for Polspotten

    A curvilinear thatched hut has been paired with terracotta-hued tiles at the Amsterdam store for homeware brand Polspotten, which was designed by local studio Space Projects.

    The studio created the store to straddle a shop and an office for Polspotten, a furniture and home accessories brand headquartered in the Dutch capital.
    Visitors enter the Polspotten store via an oversized triangular entrancewayCharacterised by bold angles and arches, the outlet features distinctive terracotta-coloured walls and flooring that nod to traditional pots, Space Projects founder Pepijn Smit told Dezeen.
    “The terracotta-inspired colours and materials refer to the brand’s first product, ‘potten’ – or pots,” said Smit, alluding to the first Spanish pots imported by Erik Pol when he founded Polspotten in the Netherlands in 1986.
    The interconnected spaces are delineated by cutoutsLocated in Amsterdam’s Jordaan neighbourhood, the store was arranged across a series of open-plan rooms, interconnected by individual geometric entryways.

    Visitors enter at a triangular opening, which was cut away from gridded timber shelving lined with multicoloured pots that mimic totemic artefacts in a gallery.
    A curvilinear thatched hut provides a meeting spaceThe next space features a similar layout, as well as a plump cream sofa with rounded modules and sculptural pots stacked in a striking tower formation.
    Travelling further through the store, molten-style candle holders and Polspotten furniture pieces were positioned next to chunky illuminated plinths, which exhibit amorphously shaped vases finished in various coral-like hues.

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    Accessed through a rectilinear, terracotta-tiled opening, the final space features a bulbous indoor hut covered in thatch and fitted with a light pink opening.
    The hut provides a meeting space for colleagues, according to the studio founder.
    “The thatch, as a natural material, absorbs sound as well,” explained Smit.
    The store provides an art gallery-style space for homewareNext to the hut, Space Projects created an acoustic wall illustrated with “hieroglyphics” of Polspotten products, which references the gallery-like theme that runs throughout the outlet.
    “The store was inspired by Polspotten’s use of traditional techniques combined with a collage of their reinterpreted archetypes,” said Smit.
    It is also used as an office spaceElsewhere in Amsterdam, Dutch practice Studio RAP used 3D printing and algorithmic design to create a “wave-like” facade for a boutique store while interior designer Linda Bergroth created the interiors for the city’s Cover Story paint shop to streamline the redecorating process for customers.
    The photography is by Kasia Gatkowska.

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    Helle Mardahl fills Copenhagen apartment with candy-coloured glass

    Danish designer Helle Mardahl has unveiled The Sensory Society, a 3 Days of Design exhibition that takes cues from Wes Anderson’s film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

    Mardahl filled an entire Copenhagen apartment with her colourful glass objects, creating installations that include a playful bar and a grand dressing table.
    The Sensory Society includes a grand dressing table filled with glass objectsThe exhibition showcases new additions to the designer’s glassware range, called the Candy Collection, including hand-blown pendant lamps, characterful wine glasses and Mardahl’s take on “the perfect bowl”.
    The aim was to create an exhibition that appeals to all of the senses.
    Tiered shelves allow hundreds of candy-coloured glass objects to be displayed”We’ve transformed this old, amazing apartment into a world of imagination, mystique and humour,” Mardahl said.

    “Inspired by the amazing Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, I implemented colours from our newest addition to the Candy Collection, such as grapefruit, blue jelly, champagne and spearmint. Absolutely yummy!”
    Glass pendants are on show in the red-painted lobbyMardahl first launched her Copenhagen-based studio in 2017, after “falling in love” with glass. Her pieces typically have a candy-like aesthetic, with rich colours and round shapes.
    The designs are all hand-made by artisans mostly based in Denmark.

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    “The process of creating the glass is magical,” said Mardahl.
    “It’s hot, it’s sweaty, it’s absolutely perfect. It is truly a love story between the glass and the artisan.”
    A bar showcases tableware objects at different heightsWhen you arrive at The Sensory Society, the first room you encounter is a lobby where almost every surface is red, creating a bold backdrop to glass pendants hanging down from the ceiling.
    In the bar area, glass tableware objects – including the popular Bon Bon cake stand – are displayed at different heights, while wine glasses are hung around a cylindrical column.
    Wine glasses take centre stage in a turquoise-painted roomA grand dressing table is finished in pale shades of lilac, pink and blue. It incorporates tiered shelving, supporting hundreds of glass vessels.
    There is also a turquoise-coloured room where the new wine glasses take centre stage.
    The glasses form part of a range of tableware objects by Mardahl. Photo is by Amy FrearsonSmall details throughout the apartment are also made from glass, including drawer handles and orbs fixed to the sides of the chairs.
    “It’s a candy world of flavours and colours, a universe that simulates your senses and feelings,” added Mardahl.
    The Sensory Society is on show from 7 to 10 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. Follow live coverage on Dezeen live: 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, or see Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Printed textiles are “not just an accessory but something that can create a space” says Marimekko creative director

    Bold colours and prints can enhance interiors in the same way as architectural details, argues Rebekka Bay of lifestyle brand Marimekko in this interview.

    Bay was appointed creative director of the Finnish design firm in 2020 having previously held top roles at fashion brands including Everlane, Cos and Uniqlo.
    Founded in 1951, Marimekko is known for its bright and bold prints that are applied to clothing, ceramics and homeware.
    Bay talked to Dezeen about how printed textiles can add spatial design to interiors. Photo courtesy of MarimekkoMore than just decorative pieces, Bay believes Marimekko’s patterned surfaces can be used as features to define and create interior spaces.
    “Often printed textiles are confused with this idea of just being like a drape or a tablecloth, but really when we develop printed textiles at Marimekko we see them as architectural elements, something that can also add spatial design or architectural elements to your home,” she told Dezeen.

    “They are not just an accessory, but actually something that can create a space.”
    Marimekko collaborated with IKEA on a homeware collection informed by wellbeingIn the wake of coronavirus lockdowns, the ability of colourful prints to improve wellbeing and happiness in the home has become increasingly valuable, Bay added.
    “The role of the home is increasingly important because we have all been forced to relate to what our home environment is and how it supports our wellbeing,” she said.
    “There is a renewed understanding of the importance of creating a home environment that will allow you to both rest and re-energise.”
    “Being surrounded by bold beauty is something that evokes happiness or optimism,” Bay continued.
    References to Marimekko’s and IKEA’s Nordic heritage are seen throughout their collaborationPicking up on this trend, Marimekko recently collaborated with Swedish furniture retailer IKEA to create a homeware collection named Bastua, which includes furniture, glassware and textiles informed by nature and the self-care rituals of the Nordic sauna.
    Drawing on the brands’ Nordic heritage, the Bastua collection features practical home objects made from wood and glass.
    Bay said the collaboration aimed to focus on circularity and longevity.

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    “What we share both at Marimekko and IKEA is that in the design process, we are concerned with how to design for circularity, how to design for longevity, how to design objects of timeless value and also multi-use objects,” she said.
    “Our intent in this collaboration was to design objects that will have this timeless value, both in terms of the design but also in terms of material.”
    “We have worked in very honest natural materials with glass and wood and other materials that improve over time and also focused on how the materials can be either recycled or upcycled.”
    The rhubarb leaf is a repeated motif in the Bastua collectionMarimekko developed brand new prints for the Bastua collection, including a large rhubarb-leaf design that references the plants often found growing beside sauna buildings in Finland.
    This print was applied to bath robes, seat cushions, shower curtains, trays and the iconic IKEA carrier bag.
    “Functionalism and pragmatism joins this idea of celebrating everyday objects, which is very much a product of Marimekko’s mission – to bring joy to people’s everyday lives,” said Bay.
    “I think for Nordic designers, we have strong design traditions in creating very beautiful but very functional, democratic design.”
    Bay believes bold, colourful prints can add happiness to the homeIn addition, she emphasised a desire to inject an element of humour into the designs.
    “At times it’s very subtle and very serious, but I think what is unique to both Marimekko and IKEA is this intent also to bring a smile or a wink,” she continued.
    “There’s something outside of the seriousness, wanting to develop truly high-quality, timeless design but also wanting to bring this little wink.”
    Bay enjoys creating collections that “bring a smile or a wink”Marimekko has accrued a large portfolio of prints over its seven decades of production and still reproduces archive designs.
    The brand’s historic prints are used to inform new print designs that it hopes will resonate with modern consumers.
    “I think there’s always this danger if you only look back that you end up being self-referential, or you end up being an archive or a museum piece,” said Bay.

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    “I would hate to create something of only museum value and not create a proposal for the future,” she added.
    “There is this always looking back in order to look forward, always understanding what has resonated, what has broad relevance and then see if we can reposition or refocus that.”
    Other projects recognisable for their bold textile designs that have been featured on Dezeen include a collection of upholstery fabrics informed by Iranian culture and an exhibition that celebrates a 1940s print by using it to cover walls and seating.
    The photography is courtesy of Inter IKEA Systems BV unless otherwise stated.

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    MUT Design clads modular Valencia Pavilion in thousands of wooden scales

    Valencia studio MUT Design has designed five modular pavilions clad in scales made from leftover wood for a travelling exhibition in Spain.The pavilions will showcase work by 50 designers in five different sections to celebrate Valencia’s title of World Design Capital for 2022.
    Each section – design and art, the circular economy, industry and craftsmanship, technology and the transformative economy – is housed within its own mini pavilion formed from two semi-cylinders.

    Top image: the exhibition is broken down into five mini-pavilions. Above: each is formed from two semi-cylinders

    These consist of four metre-high curved walls, which can be placed separately or together to create a labyrinth of winding corridors and secluded alcoves.
    Inside, the units’ pinewood frame and construction are laid bare, while the convex exterior is clad in hundreds of small, overlapping wooden fins, adding up to around 220,000 across all five pavilions.

    The units are arranged to form a labyrinth of corridors and alcoves
    The wood was originally meant to be turned into the parade floats that are ceremonially burned as part of Valencia’s historic Fallas festival every March, but the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
    Instead, the wood was used for this installation, which is on view as part of the Madrid Design Festival until 14 March before becoming a travelling exhibition.

    The pinewood frame is left exposed inside the pavilions
    “Here in Valencia, we have a lot of traditional wood ateliers that create works for the Fallas festival,” MUT Design co-founder Alberto Sánchez told Dezeen.
    “But it was cancelled due to the pandemic and a lot of materials were left on the shelf. So we decided to collaborate with one of the ateliers to give a new life to the wood and create some work for the builders.”

    The pavilions are clad in wooden scales
    Each scale was handmade by local woodworker Manolo García and trimmed to three standard sizes of 14, 16 and 18 centimetres. These were then lined up and alternated to create a textured surface not dissimilar to tree bark.
    “We wanted to bring together tradition and the avant-garde while recovering something that is really ours – deeply rooted in our city,” Sánchez explained.
    In particular, the studio drew on natural textures found in the Albufera National Park just south of Valencia, as well as on the thatched roofs of traditional houses known as barracas.

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    Breaking each pavilion down into two semi-cylinders allows the individual units to be combined into “infinite compositions” that can be adapted to different spaces for the travelling exhibition.
    “Because it is a travelling exhibition, we want to create one-of-a-kind experiences in each of the several places it will be visiting,” Sánchez added.
    The units were also designed to be taken apart into separate pieces, which can be stacked for ease of transport.

    Each scale was handmade by Manolo García
    Contributors to the exhibition include designer Jaime Hayon, brands Andreu World and Expormim, and a number of emerging studios showing projects including self-ventilating graphene facades and homeware made from olive pits.
    “We wanted to bring to Madrid a different selection of projects that are leading a silent transformation of society,” explained Xavi Calvo, director of World Design Capital Valencia 2022.

    Displays are fixed to the inside of the pavilions
    MUT Design has previously collaborated with Expormim to create a chair modelled on the shape of a flower petal and an outdoor rug made from braided ropes, which were exhibited at the products fair of Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival.
    Photography is by Ernesto Sampons.
    Valencia Pavilion – The Future is Design is on view at the Fernán Gómez Cultural Centre as part of the Madrid Design Festival until 14 March 2021. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Eight designs that make use of waste products

    The Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagined exhibition at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art features projects that repurpose waste products. Here are eight highlights including vases sculpted from PVC pipes. The exhibit comprises over 30 projects that reimagine discarded materials and byproducts – sourced from manufacturing, agriculture, food and human waste – including building materials, home furnishings […] More