I been selected to take part on the on the Design Parade 04, an exhibition/competition at the Villa Noailles in Hyères. The Villa Noailles, designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens, is an early modernist building, which host now the Design Parade every summer.

The jury comprises this year:

Jasper Morrison, designer - Londres / Paris,  jury's president.

Miguel Fluxà, CEO Camper - Majorque (Spain)

Anniina Koivu, journalist, Abitare - Milan (Italy)

Lars Müller, publisher - Wettingen (Switzerland)

Inga Sempé, designer - Paris (France)

Michel Charlot, designer, winner Design Parade 2008 - Lausanne (Switzerland)

Dates: 3-5 July.
Venue: Villa Noailles.

"Found"is a super light, metal-coated cutlery, made by editing plastic bottles found at the local supermarket.

Since there are so many shapes already available, the spoon, fork and knife have all been made by just selecting some parts of existing bottles. Working more as an editor rather that a designer, the cuts where selected so the cutlery is easy to pick up from the table and performs like any other cutlery.

The design process starts on the supermarket were the bottles are selected for their curves. The use of those available shapes, allows the production a small batch without the need of moulds. Each set is unique due to the hand cut nature of each piece.

Using a process normally used to produce intrincated metal instruments. The plastic cuttings are coated with copper and chromed for a metallic finish.

Found was designed for the Airmail exhibition at GOODD.

Production: Self-production.
Materials: Metal coated plastic.
Specs: Prototype.
Exhibitions: "Airmail" 28 May - 29 June 2009.

As part of the ongoing collaboration with Henny van Nistelrooy, we are now curating an exhibition called "Airmail" that will take place at Goodd in Glasgow at the end of May .
Airmail will bring lightness to everyday objects and offer the possibility to see twelve fresh approaches to design .
The twelve projects will be produced in small batches specifically for the exhibition, and a good mix of projects ranging from stationery to handbags will be available to buy.

Since the exhibition is going to be In a gallery/shop space, and we will have to send the projects over there, we came up with the idea of having the same box size for all the projects and based the show on the theme of lightness. That should solve the problem with the packaging for selling the objets in the shop, while also reducing transportation costs.

Apart from setting the brief and selecting the projects, Parallel Projects will be doing the graphics and the exhibition design. 


More info: www.parallel-projects.com and www.good-d.com

Facebox and Zoobox are two creative stencil set for children. Usually stencils contain predefined shapes to transfer to the paper, which make them predictable and not that fun.

By decomposing the shapes in different elements endless combinations are possible.

The sets assist children to draw but at the same time allow them to be creative by combining the different features on the stencils.

Children naturally start drawing the animals or faces they are more familiar with, and then start creating their own ones.

Available here and here.

Client: Worldwide Co.
Material: Injection molded plastic.

I have been invited to take part in "Nowhere / Now Here" and exhibition about projects "Investigating new lines of enquiry in contemporary design". Curated by El Ultimo Grito, the exhibition opened last week at LABoral Centro de Arte y Creacion Industrial located in Gijon, Spain.

The exhibition features works from more that 70 designers including Fernando Brizio, Tord Boontje, Daniel Eatock, Dunne & Raby, Martino Gamper, Jerzey Seymour and Marti Guixe among others.

Dates: September 09.10.2008-20.04.2009.
Exhibition Design: Patricia Urquiola & Martino Berghinz
Graphic Design: The Studio of Fernando Gutierrez
Related URL: www.laboralcentrodearte.org

A simple family of lamps inspired by aluminium extrusions.

All elements on the lamp are clipped on the profile reducing the number of holding parts. The cable, which is clipped on the central channel, covers the fixings on the wall and becomes the central element on the light, rather that something to hide.

"Profile" can be easily produced from an aluminium profile as a freestanding or wall mounted lamp.

Specs: Prototype.
Exhibitions: "Changing Dimensions" London Design festival 2008.

Initially commissioned by the ICA for a fundraising auction sponsored by Veuve Clicquot champagne, the RGB vases started an interpretation of the Veuve Clicquot yellow-orange identity color.

With the help of the computer, Veuve Clicquot yellow-orange identity color is divided and transferred the resulting RGB colors into three hand blown glass vases. When nested, the three colors mix again with the light passing through and Veuve Clicquot yellow-orange color reappears. The colors mix visually, but not physically, creating a very subtle but vibrant perception of it.

The RGB vases combine the excellence of a process refined through more than two thousand years, with references to the contemporary culture, were screens are extremely common, and its colors, based on the RGB color system.

The vases are produced as a limited edition. For enquiries about colors and availability drop me a line.

Client: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
Specs: Hand blown glass, Limited edition.
Awards: Veuve Clicquot / ICA "Design challenge".
Exhibitions: "One object, one lifetime." ICA, London 2008.
Photography: © Sylvain Deleu.

"Ink Calendar" make use the timed pace of the ink spreading on the paper to indicate time.

The ink is absorbed slowly, and the numbers in the calendar are "printed" daily. One a day, they are filled with ink until the end of the month. A calendar self-updated, which enhances the perception of time passing and not only signaling it.

The ink colors are based on a spectrum, which relate to a “color temperature scale”, each month having a color related to our perception of the whether on that month. The colors range from dark blue in December to, three shades of green in spring or oranges, red in the summer.

The scale for measuring the “color temperature” that I have used is a standard called ‘D65’ and corresponds roughly to a midday sun in Western / Northern Europe.

The "Ink Calendar" was developed for “Gradual “, an exhibition featuring works, which were evolving during the exhibition time at the London Design Festival 2007.

Production: Self-production.
Specs: Ink on paper, various dimensions.
Exhibitions: "Gradual" 5, Crownwell Place, London Design Festival, 2007.

A mirror that takes the cartoon speech bubbles as a reference and acknowledge the fact that we think in front of mirrors. The mirror as a container which filled by our image and thoughts.

Production: Domestic.
Exhibitions: "Maison et Object" Paris September 2008.

A three-dimensional socket structure where you can plug lights at any angle.

Inspired by observing how sockets and extensions, could be used as structural elements.

I developed a three-dimensional socket structure where to plug lights at any angle without the prescriptions of a typical spotlight track system.

The lamp consist of a set of light spots and a three dimensional socket-like structure. The structure is conductive all over, which allows

users to plug spotlights at any angle all around. The shapes of the structure reflect the light against the wall or illuminate a specific area on a room. When clipping the light spots into the structure they light up, providing a playful interaction with the lamp.

Production: Prototype.
Specs: Electro conductive fabric, resin, LED's, rubber.
Exhibitions: "The Summer Show 2006." RCA, London, 2006.

The changing patterns of living and communication, combined with wireless technologies has given rise to a less sharp division between home-space and workspace. More people work from home, and more people also move often house or even country.

Novis consists of four legs, which hook onto each tabletop corner and are held together in tension by a strap, which in turn is tightened using a ratchet to create a load-bearing structure.

The table is quick and simple to set up, as it does not require any tools or fixings to assemble or disassemble.

A grip on the tabletop situated at arm’s length from the front edge makes it easy and comfortable to transport, and is used once constructed, to pass the various cables through from appliances such as a computer or lamp.

Prouction: Prototype.
Specs:  Powder coated steel tube, nylon strap, and ratchet.
Exhibitions: "Design London" Super Studio , Milan, 2005.

10w is a regular shape candle with a molded light-bulb E27 screw fitting  at the end.

You can screw it in almost every lamp in your house.

A parasite object, which uses existing lamp fittings as a candleholder.

The Gandy Gallery commissioned this project for "Waxfab", a collection of objects in wax curated by Matali Crasset.

Production: Gandy-Gallery.
Specs: Wax.
Photography: Patrick Gries..
Exhibitions: "Fab" Prague, 2004 / "Espace Paul Ricard", Paris, 2004.

The i-pod viewers were designed for a video installation by Quentin Walesch made in collaboration with music composer  Stephen Lumenta.

In order to provide a mini-space to experience the videos intimately,  the for viewers were designed to accommodate an i-pod inside.

the viewers were made of metal sheet to avoid having a thick frame around the perspective cone, and were coated with a light absorbent paint on the inside which reduced the excess of light coming from the screen, allowing for a better immersion on the piece.

The videos were exhibited at the Summer show 2007, an exhibition organised by the Royal College of Art at Kensington gardens.

Made out of 1.2 mm laser cut and folded steel,  with light absorbent black coating inside and white satin finish on the outside.

Specs: Laser cut and folded steel.
Exhibitions: "The Great Exhibition" Kensington Gardens, London, 2007.

Parallel Projects design and produces design exhibitions with a holistic approach.

We wanted to show that, and we designed and built the website to show the work as in a classical museum display, with captions and  numbered items referring to each past or future exhibition.

A basic and intuitive interface, borrowed from the way maps are displayed on the web, allows to zoom and pan around the items on display.

Visitors to the page can wander around and make their own path while getting the information they want, just as in a gallery or museum.

Designed in collaboration with Henny van Nistelrooy. 

More: www.parallel-projects.com

Commission of a table centre for the Brit Insurance Awards Gala at the Design Museum, London.

The menu for the dinner Gala was written using a technique similar to the one used to write on cakes, but in this case made using rubber.

The gaps between the handwritten letters become as important as the letters themselves, making the information look like decoration.

Specs: One-off.
Date: March 18th, 2008.
Thanks to: Okay Studio.