Design news: a vertical forest, cat robots and Midlands craft
This month's news celebrates heat-sensitive tongues, forests in the air and the mind-blowing potential of stone. Everything you need to know about design this month.
While the Midlands is best known as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, the concurrent rise of creative and sophisticated craftspeople have received less space in the history books than the industrialists and mill owners of that time. That has been addressed by Made in the Middle, a touring exhibition which gives local craftspeople and artists a platform to show their work. Now in its ninth year, the latest exhibition showcases work by 37 artists working in textiles, ceramics, mixed media, jewellery, metalwork and bio-materials. Six were invited to show by guest curator Jazz Swali, with support by art historian Marta Marsicka, because their pieces reflect the cultural impact of global migration to the region.
Exhibiting artists include the likes of Christopher Day, a glass artist from Lichfield and Karina Thompson, who makes art quilts out of Yuzen printed fabrics. Michaela McMillan makes sculptural pieces out of recycled toys and ornaments.
'The exhibition shows how artists are playing their role in the cultural voice and identity of the Midlands,' Deirdre Figueiredo, director of charity Craftspace which is hosting the exhibtion, said. 'It gives artists an unusual opportunity to experiment, speculate and make work freely without commercial constraints and audiences will be amazed and inspired.'
Made in the Midlands is at Leicester Gallery, De Montfort University, until 22 March. The show then tour until August. See Craftspace for details
Anyone who's visited Milan in the last decade will remember the first time they saw the Bosco Verticale. This architectural development in the city's Porta Nuova area comprises two towers with staggered, overhanging balconies which let trees grow high above the city streets. From the pavements, the brown-coloured ceramic facade looks like bark. Admiring this futuristic development never gets old, but the award-winning design is now celebrating its first 10 years. To mark the occasion, the Stefano Boeri Architetti studio has worked with Rizzoli to create an art book covering the project from inspiration to impact, edited by architect Stefano Boeri. Tracing the importance of such disparate figures as painter Joseph Beuys and anthropologist Jane Goodall, this fascinating book isn't just a tribute to a remarkable development but to the humans who champion the importance of the natural world and a manifesto for the concept of urban forestry. As the final lines of the book point out: 'This is the most effective, convenient and inclusive choice with which to counteract the effects and root causes of climate change.'
Bosco Verticale Morphology of a Vertical Forest, edited by Stefano Boeri, is published next month by Rizzoli
Blowing on your hot drinks to cool them down probably wasn't a task you'd thought about outsourcing, but a new product by Tokyo robotics startup Yukai Engineering may change your mind. Nékojita FuFu is a cat robot that attaches to bowls and cups and blows onto liquids with varying strengths and rhythms in a way that mimics a human's effort to cool food. This is achieved using a fan and an especially created algorithm. 'Neko-jita,' translates as 'cat tongue' – the Japanese phrase used for someone who doesn't tolerate food; 'fu fu' is the onomatopoeia of breath blowing. Its use may seem niche, but it was inspired by Tsubasa Tominaga, chief marketing officer of Yukai Engineering, who found blowing on his children's baby food to cool it to be a multitask too far.
'We created Nékojita FuFu as a little personal meal partner,' said Tominaga. 'The robot can make it easier for seniors to down hot soup and reduce parents' chores by helping kids eat with less help. The hard-working robot will surely make you want to cheer it on.'
The Nékojita FuFu will be released later this year
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A24 is the film company du jour for innovation and creativity, known for films such as Aftersun and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Until now its links to the building trade have been scant. But the wonderful new documentary Architecton is set to change that. Directed by Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky as a companion piece to his 2018 water documentary Aquarela. This film is the story of the stone and concrete used in the built environment. These vast cities and empires are feats of architecture and engineering, pinnacles of human achievement, but which we then destroy through war or disaster. From bombed-out ruins and rubble left by cataclysmic natural disasters to the centuries-old remains of sites such as Baalbek megalith in Lebanon, Architecton's analysis is sometimes wayward, but as a vision of built work and humanity's relationship with the natural world, this documentary is hard to beat.
Architecton is in cinemas now
A new museum in Prague dedicated to the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha opens in February. Mucha is synonymous with the aesthetic of art nouveau and for works that captured life in fin de siècle Paris – especially his theatre posters and advertisements featuring portraits of actor Sarah Bernhardt. Many of his design techniques are still used in advertising today and his art style regularly resurfaces in popular culture, from 70s psychedelia to an enduring influence on Japanese culture and Manga art. The new museum is located in the Old Town Square inside the baroque Savarin Palace, which dates back to 1752. A major new development is being established in this area, which is being designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The opening exhibition will present previously unexhibited works, including research materials for The Slav Epic, a series of iconic paintings depicting Slavic history and culture, which is one of Mucha's masterpieces, curated by Tomoko from the Mucha Foundation.
'The Savarin Palace is an important cultural monument of the Czech Republic, as it was home of a famous social club frequented by prominent Czech intellectuals during the First Republic,' said Simon Johnson, CEO of Crestyl. 'Rescuing what was until recently a casino and replacing it with a museum for one of the most important Czech artists perfectly illustrates what's at the heart of the Savarin project. We are proud to be part of an initiative that brings Alphonse Mucha's remarkable body of work to the public in a spectacular new setting.'
The Mucha Museum opens next month
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