Product Design: The Latest Architecture and News

PRACTICE is a Seoul-based studio founded in 2020 by designers Sisan Lee and Sehou Ahn, and one of ArchDaily's 2024 Best New Practices. With backgrounds in architecture and interior design, they explore a wide range of creative fields, from spatial and exhibition design to custom furniture, art objects, and material experimentation, and had been highlighted last year due to their fast design approach which "matches the fast-evolving iterations at the world's bustling hub of fashion and design". The studio brings a unique depth to each project by creating custom-designed elements, furniture, and objects that reflect their diverse creative capacities. Pieces within their projects are crafted from a deep understanding of its purpose and materiality, demonstrating the studio's commitment to thoughtful, integrity-driven design.

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Simone Farresin is the co-founder of Formafantasma, a research-driven design studio exploring the ecological, historical, political, and social influences that shape the design industry. Most recently, the studio participated in Milan Design Week 2024 and Salone del Mobile.Milano with various products and exhibitions. Onsite in Milan, ArchDaily had the chance to speak to Simon Farresin about the studio’s installation for Cosentino at the historic Teatro Gerolamo, and the broader Formafantasma design practice.

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Ever since humans first looked up towards the heavens, we’ve wondered what is up there. From 1923 when Edwin Hubble first discovered galaxies beyond our own, our hunger and obsession for knowledge of the cosmos has grown almost as quickly as the universe itself.

As our technology advanced throughout the 20th century, we realized that ‘space’ is, in fact, filled with a huge array of ever more colorful galaxies, gasses, and stars. And the world’s leading product designers were taking note.

Milan Design Week is an annual festival that returned to Milan this April, with as a main event, The Salone del Mobile, which runs from April 18 to 23, 2023, at the Fiera Milano exhibition venue. Over 370,000 people attended the furniture fair this year, while thousands of design studios presented furniture, lighting, appliances, kitchen, bathroom, outdoor and workstation products. To highlight furniture and object design and the broader context of Milanese architecture and culture, many architectural offices collaborated with various businesses to make architect-designed items and construct architectural installations.

Reputable architects participated in the week-long event as they do every year, using products, furniture, and installations to share their expertise, address some of the most pressing issues facing the field, and demonstrate how their work can benefit the environment and society. Many firmly established architecture studios, from Foster + Partners, Mario Cucinella, and Hassell, designed various products. Furthermore, architects such as The New Raw, Snøhetta, and Studio Etienne Bastormagi have designed products focusing on efficient and sustainable systems that can inform future decision-making.

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Subscriptions are quickly becoming an integral part of everyday life. For example, streaming platforms have completely replaced the need to own video cassettes, while ride-sharing services partially cover the need to own a private car. Subscriptions have been largely understood as digital services, but a new trend suggests that the same concept could be transferred to physical objects in the near future. Instead of owning a fridge, a washing machine, or even light bulbs, one could acquire a subscription to ensure the freshness of produce, clean clothes, and a well-lit home.

The concept is known as the “subscription-based economy,” a variant of the “circular economy” notion. It postulates that instead of owning some of the objects used every day, one could subscribe to a service to gain access to the same benefits, but without the need to own, maintain or dispose of the object in question. Consumers no longer buy products; they buy access to services. Sometimes, it would mean simply leasing the object instead of purchasing it, but the model goes one step further. It inscribes a shift of responsibility and mentality. Because consumers no longer own the objects, the responsibility to reuse and recycle falls to the producers, who are now in charge of the entire life cycle of the objects they create.

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Along with the participation of thousands of designers, artists, and craftsmen at this year's 2022 Salone del Mobile at Milan's Rho Fiera, renowned architects collaborated with some of the biggest local and international manufacturers to create installations, products, materials, and furniture pieces that explore the future of living, as part of the annual Fuorisalone.

This year's architectural contributions, which were on display across the busy streets of Milan, Brera design district and botanical garden, Alcova, BASE, and other cultural venues, highlighted this year's Milan Design Week theme of sustainability and environmental awareness with respect to furniture production.

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After a year of absence in light of the pandemic, Milan Design Week, one of the most anticipated design events to take place in Italy, will finally open its doors to visitors. From the 5th to the 10th of September, more than 350,000 architects, designers, artists, and craftsmen from all around the world will have the chance to explore new design innovations and exchange ideas about the interior design, furniture, and lighting. During the week-long event, Salone del Mobile, the awaited furniture and interior design event of the year, will be hosting local and international exhibitors at the Fiera Milano, Rho, along with interventions by world-renowned architects across the city.

ArchDaily will be attending the Salone del Mobile so stay tuned for exclusive interviews and collaborations, and read on to discover what to expect during the week-long exhibition and how architects are taking part of the event. 

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Design studio Project Room has been announced as the winner of the competition to design and create a new standard streetlight for Los Angeles. Initiated by the City of L.A. and led by the Mayor's Office with the Bureau of Street Lighting, the competition asked designers to create a lighting system that would incorporate new technology, include space for text on each pole, and provide shade to help ease the impacts of the climate crisis.

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It is often difficult to detect structures' potential deformations and behaviors with the naked eye, which is why interactive education and model-making have proved to be some of the most beneficial methods of learning about structural design.

To help with the learning of structures in a more playful and intuitive way, Brazilian brand Mola, have developed Mola Structural Kits, a selection of interactive physical models that simulate the behavior of architectural structures and create countless design combinations.

Following the success of the Structural Kits 1 and 2, Mola will be launching the Mola Structural Kit 3 in a Kickstarter campaign in a couple of weeks, and to celebrate, the innovative company has once again teamed up with ArchDaily for another exclusive giveaway, offering 10 of our readers the chance to win a complete structural kit, along with additional accessories.

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Zaha Hadid Design has released images of its latest collection set to be featured at the Maison et Objet 2019 in Paris later this month. The collection, embodying Zaha Hadid’s inventive process, features a Swirl bowl in crystal glass, and a monochromatic marble collection from the Cell range.

The Maison et Objet festival is described as the international authority for home décor, interior design, architecture, and lifestyle culture, with its bi-annual Paris trade fair taking place from January 18th to 22nd 2019.

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From city master plans to pocket-sized products, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have explored architectural formalism through innovative digital design methods. In 2006, the collaboration with furniture-makers and fashion houses led to the creation of Zaha Hadid Design that served both as an iterative process for and a resultant of ongoing architectural design.

A pop-up exhibition, located suitably on the ground floor of ZHA's renowned condominium along the High Line in New York City, features a scale model of the building itself on display. To honor and present the work produced by the firm in the last four decades, the Zaha Hadid Gallery showcases a series of projects in a wide range of mediums including the six 'Silver Models' that represent eight of the firm's key works.

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If you think you’ve seen this handsome fella before, you have; except he was wearing a flashy red hat and an old blue robe, attempting to protect your house from thieves. Luckily, gnomes have gotten quite the modern makeover. Thanks to the collaboration between Plato Design and designer Pellegrino Cucciniello, you can finally get rid of the kitschy little guy, and replace him with NINO, the modern, brutalist gnome.

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