Audiophile Niclas Ekwall on vocal drum solos, the importance of play and the resonating body.
Swedish designer and artist Niclas Ekwall recently exhibited his project “The Resonance of Play“ as a part of the Graduation Show during Dutch Design Week, and this coming summer he will be showing his work during the design week in Milan. We had a talk with Niclas about his approach to design and his relationship to sound and music.
Material Alchemy #3: The Noble Potato
Potatoes are made up of starches and fiber components that are able to bond with each other and harden which makes them a versatile starting point for different materials.
Highlights from Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation 2021
The annual Graduation Show by Design Academy Eindhoven is one of the most visited venues during the Dutch Design Week, and this year it was located at the Beursgebouw in the center of Eindhoven. Maren Bang from the Elementa team was present, and has gathered some favorites from this years edition.
Nebil Zaman on lifting found objects out from digital space
In the work of Norwegian designer and artist Nebil Zaman, objects found in digital space are materialized and turned into unusual furniture and objects - sometimes with an almost otherworldly touch. We have met Nebil at his space at the Kroloftet makers space in Oslo to learn more about his work with found objects - digital and physical.
Material Alchemy #2: The Pleasures and Promises of Industrial Hemp
Loved dearly by many, misunderstood and feared by some - hemp carries a lot of cultural associations, most of which have little to do with its potential as a sustainable material in product design and architecture.
Hailed by enthusiasts as a potential ally in changing the way we make objects and buildings, many designers and scientists are researching new uses of hemp with interesting results.
Lorraine Legrand on clay, bread and making materials sing
The French ceramic artist Lorraine Legrand has spent the last years venturing deeply into the formal and artistic possibilities of clay. In her BREAD project, she takes on the adjacent art of making bread with the eye and hand of a ceramicist.
For Lorraine bread-making becomes a reflection about the basic sanity inherent in our most ancient crafts, and a search for an antidote to the neurotic relationship most of us have to modern food industry.
Material Alchemy #1: Eggshell ceramics & bio-plastics
Eggshell is one of the small wonders of nature and a biodegradable material with interesting properties. While used to some extent in agriculture, a lot of eggshell is scrapped as waste. The last couple of years several designers and researchers have looked into how eggshell can be used as component in materials for use in consumer products and objects and surfaces for use in interior design.
Bruno Baietto on going beyond the fake and the real
What can be found in the spaces in between the beautiful and the ugly, feminine and masculine? How can dragqueen culture inform and expand design thinking?
Maren Bang of the Elementa blog meets the Uruguayan designer and artist Bruno Baietto.
Oscar Honeyman-Novotny of Kroloftet on maker spaces and urban manufacturing
In the midst of the pandemic the communal coworking initiative Kroloftet has taken over an industrial complex formerly used as as a biker gang hideout - and turned it into a thriving hub of creative and social activity.
We have spoken to designer Oscar Honeyman-Novotny, one of the driving forces behind Kroloftet about maker spaces and design as a force of cultural change.
An emerging toolkit for biodiversity in architecture
Elementa is presently working with biologists and designers to develop a range of modular products that can help to open architecture and outdoor areas for co-habitation with other species.
Impressions from the Molecular Ballet at Henie Onstad Art Channel
We have entered a reality that is larger than the language we have to describe it. During the late summer of 2020, The Molecular Ballet and Ny Høvik Ballet helped transform the sculpture park at Henie Onstad into a laboratory of hieroglyphic dance.
Joost & Marten of Plasticiet on plastic as the new gold
Plasticiet is a Rotterdam based startup that has found a way to upcycle plastic waste into long living new materials for use in interior design. We have chatted with the founders of Plasticiet about recycling and the role of small companies in closing the loops.