Movie: behind the scenes making Dominic Wilcox's stained-glass car. Behind the scenes with Dominic Wilcox Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: in the first of a series of preview movies running up to the Dezeen and MINI Frontiers exhibition next week, designer Dominic Wilcox shows us the car he is making out of stained glass for the show. Wilcox's piece for the exhibition is based on the idea that, in a future of fully automated, computer-controlled vehicles, traffic collisions will be a thing of the past. This, he suggests, will give car designers total freedom of form and material. As an example of the kind of vehicles we might be travelling in one day, Wilcox is building a stained-glass car with a bed inside, which people can relax in as they are transported to wherever they need to go.
The shell of Wilcox's car is being made by soldering pieces of cut glass onto a wooden frame. "We're using the 'copper foil' technique, which is the same way they make Tiffany lamps," he explains. "It's a really meticulous process and there's a lot of improvisation going on. " Movie: Lucy McRae's experiments prepping the human body to go to space. Lucy McRae experiments with negative pressure to "prep humans to go to space" Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: artist Lucy McRae shows us the experiments she's been doing with emergency blankets and vacuum cleaners in our second behind-the-scenes preview of next week's Dezeen and MINI Frontiers exhibition.
McRae's piece for the exhibition is a speculative vacuum chamber designed to prepare the human body for long-distance space travel. Interplanetary travel will become common, McRae believes, but first we need to develop ways of helping the body withstand the rigours of zero gravity during lengthy journeys through space. "NASA has been developing these lower body negative pressure devices used to increase bloodflow [and] reduce hypertension," she explains. "There are all these different body improvements happening through pressure around the body. "The material kind of drips off the body like a metal, which is weirdly beautiful," McRae says. More Dezeen and Mini Frontiers: Designers react to the Apple Watch. Leading designers have shared their thoughts on the Apple Watch with Dezeen Watch Store, with responses ranging from "a great design" to "not something I desire to wear".
Dezeen Watch Store's blog spoke to a range of figures who have designed watches to gauge their reaction to what could become a significant rival to the traditional timepiece industry. Hong Kong-based designer Michael Young described the product as "a great design" and "an ethereal product that might take over the world" but dismissed fears that it would have an impact on the existing watch market. "I've been working on smart watches for two years," he said.
"The Apple Watch does not come close to what we are doing in China. " Yves Behar described the Apple Watch as “an evolution” of the Apple design language, adding that it was "obvious looking at the design" that Australian designer Marc Newson had been involved in the product. “It fits perfectly with the iPhone, iPad and laptop design ethos. Polo Ralph Lauren debuts SS15 collection in holographic fashion show. Four-storey-tall holographs of models were projected onto a moving screen of water for American brand Polo Ralph Lauren's womenswear show during New York Fashion Week (+ movie).
Used to debut the new Polo women's line, the holographs were projected onto a water screen that towered above The Lake in Manhattan's Central Park at the event earlier this week. "I really wanted to do something big for the new Polo Women's brand — something set in the city — that felt modern," said Ralph Lauren. "We returned to Central Park, a place I love, and captured the spirit of Polo with a truly innovative mix of fashion and technology. " A backdrop of hyper-realistic New York landmarks including the Brooklyn Bridge and the High Line were used in the sequence. Models appeared to strut through brownstone-lined streets and green spaces, and at one point appeared on the balcony of a lighthouse.
Multiple elements of each shot were captured simultaneously to generate "4D effects". AeroMobil flying car creators propose moving traffic to the skies. The creators of a flying car called AeroMobil say that transport networks are "in crisis" and suggest that a potential solution could be shifting road traffic into the skies (+ movie).
The designers of the AeroMobil, a working "pre-prototype" for a flying car, claim that the vehicle is the "ideal solution" for mid-range journeys and could offer a solution for the congestion problems faced by road users globally. "Most of the personal transport solutions in the world are in crisis," Juraj Vaculik, CEO of the company, which is also called AeroMobil, told Dezeen. "I think if we can shift some of the road traffic to the air it can make personal transportation more efficient and sustainable. " "A flying car is the ideal solution for middle-distance travel of up to 700 kilometres," industrial designer and chief technical officer of AeroMobil, Stefan Klein told Dezeen. "According to our calculations, there is no better or more efficient solution for door-to-door travel.
" "Technology adds an incredible advantage to fashion design" Fashion and technology: in the first part of a series focusing on designers who are introducing the fashion world to new technologies, Dezeen speaks to architect Julia Körner about how advances in 3D scanning, modelling and printing are creating a "revolution in customised fashion pieces within ready to wear" (+ interview + slideshow). 3D-printed garments have become a common sight on the Haute Couture catwalks of designers like Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen.
Austrian architect Julia Körner, who collaborated with Van Herpen on these digitally fabricated garments, is now working on transferring the technology used to create the elaborate garments into everyday clothing production as part of what she calls an "exciting moment in fashion design". "Body scanning and 3D-modelling techniques allow you to design towards a perfect fit, and through minimal changes in the code I can create variations of adaptations in the design," she told Dezeen. Francis Bitonti creates 3D-printed shoes using cellular automation. BB.Suit 0.2 cleans the air around the wearer. Fashion and technology: a Dutch team is presenting a garment that purifies the polluted air surrounding the wearer, at this week's Beijing Design Week. Designers Borre Akkersdijk and Eva de Laat collaborated with Martijn ten Bhomer from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Daan Spangenberg Graphics, StudioFriso and Want to create a one-piece suit that has electrical threads woven into the fabric, enabling it to provide GPS, Wi-Fi and air-cleaning technologies.
"The BB.Suit started because everyone was talking about wearable technology, the bracelets, the glasses," Akkersdijk told Dezeen. "We thought about how we could really integrate the electrical threads and sensors and not just stick them on. " The BB.Suit uses cold plasma technology to create a bubble of clean air around the wearer. "Cold plasma technology is a really high voltage that splits up the particles in the air," Akkersdijk explained. "There's always issues about air pollution in Beijing," said Akkersdijk. Microsoft's RoomAlive turns rooms into augmented interactive displays. News: technology company Microsoft's research branch has combined projection mapping with motion sensors to turn enclosed spaces into immersive augmented experiences. Microsoft Research has released a film demonstrating its "proof-of-concept prototype" for RoomAlive, which uses a series of projectors and depth cameras to overlay existing surfaces with images – turning the entire room into a giant interactive screen.
The experience is created using ProCam units, which combine a field-of-view projector, a Microsoft Kinect motion sensor and a computer. A series of these units are mounted onto the ceiling, facing in different directions so the fields of view overlap. The units automatically calibrate so they can be easily installed by users. Each ProCam – which can differentiate between horizontal, vertical and floor-plane surfaces – provides depth maps that form a digital model of the space. Tesco and Chauhan Studio launch Hudl2 tablet device. News: British supermarket giant Tesco has followed up its Hudl device – one of the first "affordable" Android tablets – with a second model by product designers Chauhan Studio, which goes on sale today. Chauhan Studio worked with Tesco's hardware product development team to design the Hudl2, which the supermarket says is "bigger, better, faster" than its predecessor whose popularity appeared to take Tesco by surprise, selling out twice within four months of launching.
"The [Hudl2] project was conceived by Tesco to deliver a truly holistic user experience, encompassing industrial design, an intuitive software experience and great, easy-to-use services, for a broad audience," said a statement from Chauhan Studio. The new tablet retails at £129 or £65 for Tesco Clubcard customers and features an Intel Quad Core processor, Dolby sound and an 8.3-inch high-definition display – larger than the seven-inch screen of the first Hudl design launched last year.
Coming soon: driverless trains, planes and automobiles. Following the unveiling of designs for London Underground's first fleet of driverless tube trains by Priestmangoode, we've rounded up seven of the most intriguing and disruptive driverless vehicles from the pages of Dezeen. From the first fleet of Google cars to flying delivery services and automated cargo trucks, driverless vehicles are set to transform transport networks for both commuters and businesses. But, despite promises to improve efficiency and safety performance, the technology has proven controversial.
New Tube for London by Priestmangoode and Transport for London London studio Priestmangoode has unveiled its vision for the future of London's underground trains, with an air conditioned, wi-fi enabled, driverless design that could be running on the rails as soon as 2020. "Automation is going to come," said London mayor Boris Johnson at the launch. "As a design team we have to allow the thing to evolve through its life," studio co-founder Paul Priestman told Dezeen.
GER Mood Sweater by Sensoree indicates emotions with LEDs. The collar of this sweater by San Francisco studio Sensoree changes colour depending on the wearer's excitement levels (+ slideshow). Sensoree's GER Mood Sweater, which goes on show in the UK for the first time today, has a series of LEDs embedded in fabric around the high collar that illuminate to display the wearer's emotional state. Sensors that the studio calls galvanic extimacy responders (GER) are placed on the hands to read and interpret electric currents produced by chemical action in the skin.
These are connected along translucent wires to a node inside the garment, which translates the readings into specific colours created by the lights. The white sweater glows red when the wearer feels nervous or in love, turns blue to show calm and can change to purple to represent excitement and yellow for contentment. The technology presents an opportunity for individuals who are unable to communicate their mood to show others how they're feeling.
Google launches Android Lollipop and updated Nexus devices. News: tech giant Google has released the latest version of its Android operating system called Lollipop – the first to use the company's "flat" design guidelines unveiled earlier this year (+ slideshow). Google's Lollipop update, previewed at the Google I/O developer conference in June, will work over all Android-powered devices and share information across a user's different screens. The interface features redesigned buttons, colour schemes and uniform typography laid out in accordance to Google's Material Design guidelines, which it is now rolling out across all its platforms. The company is launching the redesigned operating system on three new devices – the Nexus 9 tablet, Nexus 6 phone and Nexus Player. "With more devices connecting together, your expectation is that things just work," said an official blog post from Google.
"Here, buttons are often simply text, blocks of colour are used to guide the eye and finger, and smooth animations respond to each interaction. "