Be Open think tank

BeOpenDESIGN Japanese designer Takuto Ohta has created a bespoke furniture set. It consists of wooden building blocks with 45-degree cuts, which can be combined in various configurations using colored masking tape to bind them together. The set allows the user to form an array of furniture pieces – from stools to benches and tabletops. Named Innocent, the set is conceived by the designer as a primitive’ tool bringing out the sensibility and imagination of stacking things according to intuition. ‘The creativity of building blocks, which can transform into rockets and buildings, shows the surprising complexity of letting things flow naturally,’ the designer reflects.

#BeOpenDESIGN London-based artist Luke Hope creates all kinds of objects, both abstract and functional, that are skillfully shaped from single pieces of wood using a combination of traditional and modern carving tools and techniques. His exquisitely crafted sculptures, reminiscent of biomorphic cityscapes, are made with an intimate appreciation soaring far beyond their functional resolve. As well as his sculptural work, Luke designs exclusive bespoke tableware for some of the worlds most renowned chefs and restaurants. Several have spine-like ridges on the outer shell, casting delicate shadows. Some have been gently warped; twisting and turning like branches grasping for sunlight.

#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART BE OPEN Art is happy to announce that Carlos Rodisnel Rodríguez, visual artist from Cuba, has been selected the Artist of the Year 2021 by the biggest vote among the monthly ratings at the gallery’s website. Aiming to showcase young talents, every month of 2021 BE OPEN Art invited art enthusiasts to choose the best artist among those exhibited in the online gallery. The artist whose works gained a majority of votes throughout the year was then named the Artist of the Year. Our congratulations to Carlos Rodisnel Rodríguez who will receive the cash prize of €500!

#BeOpenARCH Santa Maria Goretti Church in the town of Mormanno, Italy, has been designed by Bologna-based Mario Cucinella Architects with an ambition to create a building that was both contemporary and connected to the local community. The studio has reinterpreted the shape of Baroque churches in the Calabria region of Italy to come up with a modern design that comprises curving white walls surrounding the four-leaf clover-shaped main auditorium. The church is accessed through a cross-shaped incision that is lit up at night and becomes a beacon for the building.

#BeOpenART Cuisines differentiate us, yet they educate us about our differences and similarities. Aiming to show that what you see isn’t always what you get, in her meticulously realistic paintings, Tokyo-based artist Hikaru Cho turns oranges into doughnuts, watermelons into cabbages, eggs into eggplants. Inspired? Share your vision of how food reflects your identity with the global community by joining our #BEOPENFoodIdentity Instagram open call and be the one to receive a €300 prize. Find details at beopensocial.com

#BeOpenARCH Australian firm Koichi Takada Architects has completed a ten-storey mixed-use apartment block on Queensland's Gold Coast. The heritage-listed Norfolk pine trees, a natural icon of the region, gave the project its name, Norfolk, as well as informed the design of the building’s thin balconies that reference the form of a pinecone. Just like their pine cones protect its seeds from bad weather and open when in ideal natural settings, Norfolk's retractable slatted wooden screens serve to protect residents from the elements or opened up to take in subtropical sunshine and stunning natural surroundings. The building houses 15 apartments, two penthouses with rooftop pools and a ground floor of wellbeing spaces including a gym, pool and sauna.

#BeOpenART American social practice artist Matthew Mazzotta has created Home, a site-specific art installation in the Central Terminal of the Tampa International Airport that gives time and space for travelers from all over the world to take a deeper look at the flamingo, which is known to be one of Florida’s most iconic animals. Aiming to remind people that animals and humans share the same home, the artist the puts the birds, which are immensely popular in the area, in the focus through the exaggerated scale, while leaving visitors of the airport in awe as the flamingoes tower above them.

#BeOpenARCH A network of subterranean concrete galleries forms the UCCA Dune Art Museum, carved into a dune on a quiet beach in the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, China, by Beijing-based OPEN Architecture. The decision to create the art museum underneath the dunes surrounding it was born out of both the architects’ respect for nature and their desire to protect the vulnerable dune ecosystem, formed by natural forces over thousands of years. The museum’s programme comprises a series of differently-sized cave-like galleries and a café. The building’s numerous skylights, each with a different orientation and size, provide natural lighting for the internal spaces at all times of the year. The complex three-dimensional geometry of the building’s concrete shell was shaped by hand by local workers, some of whom were former shipbuilders. The architect deliberately retained the imperfect texture left by the formwork made from small linear strips of wood and other materials, allowing traces of the building’s manual construction to be seen. More underground architecture in our blog

A network of subterranean concrete galleries forms the UCCA Dune Art Museum, carved into a dune on a quiet beach in Qinhuangdao, China, by Beijing-based OPEN Architecture. More underground architecture in our blog.beopenfuture.com

#BeOpenDESIGN The book-inspired Pages chair by Japanese designer Noriko Hashida allows the user to virtually change the upholstery by a simple act of flipping a page. The playful design encompasses a wooden body and a file-binder with as many as 12 colorful fabrics forming its cushioned backrest. The flipping action serves a dual purpose. It transforms the appearance of the furniture revealing a new colour combination each time and allows the user to make the backrest’s cushioning thicker or thinner depending on the number of ‘pages’ flipped.

#BeOpenDESIGN Monchi is a leak-proof and airtight snack box that comes with a silicone lid with integrated finger grips, so you can eat with your hands without making a mess. Constructed from food-grade silicone and polypropylene plastic, the food container is compressible by design and can shrink in size to fit into small storage spaces. The grips are designed to fit hands of those aged three and up. Besides, with just two fingers, the user can create an adorable mealtime companion for a kid to persuade them to have a healthy snack.