Be Open think tank

#BeOpenDESIGN True to its name, Origami ceramic tableware crafted by German designer Angelina Freigang of Moij Design is inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding. All pieces of the collection, including espresso cups and saucers, plates and small serving trays, are folded from square paper according to the principles of origami. The creases and folds that are incorporated into the plaster mold give the dishes an authentic character, as if they were made of paper.

#BeOpenARCH Aiming to showcase the possibilities of timber construction, architecture studio Elding Oscarson has extended the National Swedish Museum of Technology with Wisdome Stockholm, a timber building topped by a curving roof that bulges over a spherical structure, which the designers refer to as a "visualisation dome." Inside, surrounded by 3D screens there is tiered seating. The structure is crafted from 277 pieces of triangular cross-laminated timber (CLT) using a novel hybrid method of timber construction - the first timber layer of the gridshell was pre-shaped and acted as a mould for the other four layers, which were fabricated as flat panels and bent into shape on site.

#BeOpenDESIGN What makes Linky 2.0 electric longboard by Italian startup Linky Innovation stand out is its foldable design. It can be folded in half to become the size of a paddle racket and be easily stowed in a backpack. The all-terrain wheels allow the longboard to traverse bumpy roads and their anti-hydroplane properties ensure a firm grip regardless of road conditions. The board is equipped with two 750W belt motors and a 185 Wh long-range battery, giving the rider a speed of up to 42 kph. More innovative longboard designs in our blog.

#BeOpenNEWS On the 21st of February 2024, the closing day of the 2nd International Conference on Sustainability: Development and Innovations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, BE OPEN took part in the culminating panel discussion dedicated to the role of international organizations in promoting sustainability aspects. The 2024 ICSDI conference and exhibition were organised with support from BE OPEN by the Prince Sultan University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It focused on the best engineering practices employed in achieving sustainable development goals.

#BeOpenDESIGN Product designer Lee Huang has conceptualized a scale that is shaped after a skateboard. The device incorporates a magnet at the back that allows it to be hung on a magnetic surface, as well as a gravity sensor - once put in a vertical position, the gadget automatically switches to clock mode. Besides, the Skateboard Scale is equipped with solar power panels, which makes it an environmentally friendly design eliminating the need for recharging and reducing the user's carbon footprint. More designs informed by skateboards in our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN Seoul-based artist and designer KKEKK has launched a collection of bags inspired by human anatomy. The playful Hand Bag series is manufactured using plush doll-making techniques, with cotton stuffing inside the fabric providing a soft and inviting texture. According to the designer, envisioned as mutated parts of the body, the bags can be used in various ways – she suggests putting your hand in the bag to use the giant hand to wave or shake hands.

#BeOpenDESIGN Developed by OWL University of Technology in a collaboration with Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA, under the project management of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Schulte, the Monocab is a prototype of a compact gyroscopically stabilized monorail vehicle, which uses xisting abandoned railway lines to serve as a means of transport for people living in rural areas in Germany. The most notable feature of the fully automated vehicle is that it can be booked for individual trips from the village to the city and back, much like a taxi, using an app, around the clock, 365 days a year – as a more convenient alternative to what feels like eternal waiting for the rare country bus.

#BeOpenDESIGN Poland-based designer Dawid Karonski has 3D printed a wall clock that doubles as a smart lamp thus offering a more creative way to display the time. The Hexaclock, named for its unusual shape for a clock, is an open source design available for free. After the design is 3D printed, all you need to do is cut an LED light strip into small pieces to fit into the hexagon-shaped compartments of the lamp. It also supports a light sensor that can dim all LEDs except the ones displaying the clock itself so that the bright lights won’t disturb your sleep at night.

#BeOpenDESIGN Developed by Turkey-based industrial designer Gökçe Nafak, Uuma is a portable piece of furniture that functions as a table and a chair. The seating unit features a sliding system and four modular parts that can be easily put together and removed. To transform the item into a table, the user needs to adjust the metal pole, extending or shortening it to adjust the table surface. The use of fiberglass as its main material makes the furniture highly resistant to impacts such as bumps and scratches.

#BeOpenDESIGN The Puffer lounge armchair is the result of a design exercise by Jeremy Volk of Talt to imagine a design resulting from the combination of two or more existing objects by hybridization. Inspired by the Eames EA335 management chair, the designer used a simple steel frame of Talt's Eros chair and covered it with a puffy Patagonia jacket to provide the same ribbed surface.

#BeOpenNEWS BE OPEN Art is happy to announce that Imile Wepener, an artist and illustrator from Johannesburg, South Africa, has been voted the Artist of the Month by the visitors of art.beopenfuture.com Every month we invite art enthusiasts to choose the best artist among those featured in our online gallery. In April, illustrations by Imile have gained him a majority of votes. We also take the opportunity to applaud all the featured artists and thank everyone who voted.

#BeOpenDESIGN Designed by Korean designers Hyeyoung Han and Hanyoung Lee, the Fortune Chair is really a mix between a bean bag, chair, and a pod. As its name suggests, the piece is inspired by a a fortune cookie. The signature feature of the chair is a wooden outer wall, which serves as a covering frame element that encloses the user creating a calm, comfortable and private space. When not in use, the chair can be closed, much like an unopened fortune cookie, which helps efficiently store away the chair. More extraordinary office chairs in our blog.

#BeOpenARCH Completed by Portuguese firm NOARQ in collaboration with AM2 Arquitectos and engineering firm Arenas Y Asociados, Halo is the winning project chosen unanimously among the proposals submitted for the contest for a connection between two streets in Vigo, Spain. The project encompasses a soaring urban elevator with a circular aerial passage offering sweeping panoramic views of the city. The architects divided the pedestrian access to the roof into two arches that form a ring, which gave the project its name.

#BeOpenARCH Shreyas Patil Architects has built KLE Sanskruti Pre-primary School in Nipani, India, like a toy house. Entire forms of playful construction in projected cantilevers with recessed windows alongside triangles punctuating the facade make the elevation of the school block. A space designed by the drive of climate responsiveness is an essential criterion for learning spaces. Made possible with architecture responsive to stack

#BeOpenDESIGN At Milan Design Week, a group of researchers and students from the Swiss design school ÉCAL presented a new approach to flat-pack furniture. Dubbed Under Pressure Solutions, or UPS, the furniture collection is crafted from thin and compressed sheets of cellulose sponge, which when immersed in water blows up to around 10 times their original size in a few seconds to reach its final form. When hardened, the pieces form a sturdy and self-supporting form of furniture that can support the weight of a person. Some of the objects are compact enough to be pushed through a letterbox, facilitating more efficient shipping.

#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART Samar Alzaidy, young Iraqi painter, has been selected the Regional Artist of the Month (April 2024) and has become the first of the three candidates to the Artist of the Region (Middle East), as an artist who best represents the artistic tradition of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In 2024, BE OPEN Art continues to run BE OPEN Regional Art, the regional competition for emerging artists, whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities. The second stage of the second year of the programme run will cover the countries of Middle East. The stage will last 3 months, with a winner named and awarded 500 euro at the end of June. Samar Alzaidy studied at the Ceramics Institute in her native Iraq and participated in many exhibitions around the world. Experimenting with watercolors is an important thing in Samar's creative work.

#BeOpenDESIGN Stretching across 600 square metres inside a redeveloped industrial building near Porta Venezia during this year's Milan Design Week, Making Sense of Color installation created by research studio Chromasonic for Google allows visitors to experience the colours through two different senses simultaneously, simulating the experience of having synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon where people experience one sense through another. Changing patterns of coloured light are projected onto a maze of semi-transparent screens, accompanied by localised sound in frequencies equivalent to the real wavelengths of the various shades. As a result, participants get the experience approximating that of mindfulness meditation. More stunning installations from Milan Design Week in our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN Italian furniture brand Paola Lenti has teamed up with Japanese design firm Nendo to create Hanara-shi, a series of furnishings and complements inspired by Japanese culture. Crafted from 100% polypropylene waterproof fabric, the collection features suspended lamps, baskets, floor lamps, armchairs, and ottomans. The properties of the material, which is rigid, marbled in colour but textured, flexible, and malleable, enabled the team to fold and wrap these bespoke pieces of furniture.

#BeOpenDESIGN Envisioned by NIFT New Delhi student Sonakshi Gupta, the minimalist Euclid chair, aptly named after the ancient Greek mathematician, draws its shape from a simple cube. To make the chair more environmentally friendly and promote sustainability, it is handcrafted from reclaimed wood. A mortise and tenon joinery is used to provide stability eliminating the nee for screws or glue. This makes it easy to later take the chair apart if some pieces need to be replaced.

#BeOpenDESIGN Conceptualized by Yunshang Edu, Ii Jianfeng, and Szesam Oze, Modular Design desk accessories pay homage to the world-famous Lego building blocks. The various devices, including a wireless speaker, storage boxes, a night LED light, a card holder, and a small fan, can be used on their own to add some fun to the workspace or be assembled together in various combinations. More "deskterior" accessories to bring more joy into your workspace in our blog