Be Open think tank

#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART We are thrilled to announce Sasha H Porter as the June winner of the ART LIMITLESS competition. A 21-year-old disabled and queer artist, Sasha is currently studying at the Adelaide Central School of Art (ACSA). Through her vibrant and deeply personal practice, she channels lived experience into powerful artistic expression and community advocacy. A proud wheelchair user living with chronic illnesses, Sasha uses both her art and online platforms to champion accessibility, visibility, and solidarity within disabled and chronically ill communities. As the July winner, Sasha is now in the running for the €1,000 grand prize to be awarded in September 2025. Her practice exemplifies the power of art to illuminate lived truths and foster collective strength within marginalized communities. Congratulations to Sasha on this well-deserved recognition!

#BeOpenDESIGN PRODOGT is a smart, compact refrigerator designed specifically for pets, combining food storage, cooling, and automated meal dispensing into one sleek unit. Created by designer Hyesung Yun, this wireless, portable appliance rotates its central chamber like a fan to keep food fresh and evenly mixed, while a built-in tray slides out to serve precise portions at scheduled times. With its user-friendly control panel and space-efficient design, PRODOGT is ideal for modern pet owners who want to streamline feeding routines—whether at home or on the go. More innovative dog feeders in our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN In Wood Pleats, designer Didi Ng Wing Yin redefines our relationship with wood by sculpting it to mimic the fluidity of fabric. Each carved surface flows in gentle, rhythmic folds that resemble draped textiles rather than rigid timber—inviting viewers to question what they’re seeing and feeling. Through meticulous handcraft and surface treatment, Ng transforms solid oak into something that appears soft, flexible, and almost weightless. Discover more projects using materials that masquerade as something else on our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN Designer Vadim Kibardin is redefining sustainable furniture by crafting one-of-a-kind pieces entirely from recycled paper, challenging traditional notions of material strength and aesthetics. With over 5,110 hours dedicated to handcrafting each design, his work not only showcases exceptional artistry but also embodies a deep commitment to environmental responsibility—recycling 2,000 pounds of cardboard and saving the equivalent of 17 trees.

#BeOpenART #BeOpenNEWS BE OPEN Art is proud to announce Rizpah Amadasun as the Artist of the Month for July 2025, chosen through a public vote among emerging artists featured on our online gallery. A multidisciplinary artist based in London, Amadasun brings a deeply expressive and experimental approach to her work, weaving together visual art and performance. Originally from the Cotswolds, she is currently pursuing an MA in Painting at the prestigious Royal College of Art. Amadasun’s work centers the Black British figure, using painting, poetry, and performance to explore identity, emotion, fantasy, and realism. With her fearless voice and multifaceted practice, Rizpah Amadasun embodies the spirit of BE OPEN Art’s mission to celebrate creativity without boundaries. At the end of the year, one Artist of the Year will be chosen from the 2025 monthly winners. The selected artist will receive a €1,000 prize and a promotional campaign to support their artistic journey.

#BeOpenDESIGN Daon is a creative project by designers Jungeun Kim, Chaeyeon Yoo, and Mingi Cho that tackles the often-overlooked waste in pottery studios, where many flawed or broken pieces are discarded. Instead of treating these ceramics as trash, Daon transforms the discarded fragments into new, meaningful pottery inspired by birds and their nests, symbolizing upcycling and community. Through experimentation with materials and forms, the team developed a process to blend recycled ceramic shards into cohesive, functional designs, showing how imperfections and waste can spark innovative, sustainable solutions in art and design.

#BeOpenARCH Installed for the Concéntrico Festival in Logroño, Spain, Round About Baths by Leopold Banchini Architects transforms an overlooked traffic roundabout into a temporary public bathhouse. Featuring cold-water basins, steam rooms, and changing areas, the timber-clad structure reclaims car-dominated urban space for communal use, evoking the civic spirit of 19th-century public baths. Enclosed by high wooden walls for privacy, the installation promotes material reuse and circular design. While temporary, the project challenges conventional uses of urban land, offering a provocative rethinking of public space in contemporary cities.

#BeOpenARCH At the heart of Aldar’s upcoming nature-first community in Dubai, The Wilds, stands The Nest—a striking timber-lined pavilion designed as both a social hub and a gateway between architecture and landscape. Tucked within the woodland canopy, The Nest serves as a shaded threshold where residents can gather, relax, and connect with nature. Inside, it houses communal spaces and a children’s exploration area for observing birds, insects, and ecosystems, encouraging curiosity and environmental awareness. Surrounding The Nest, nearly 1,700 residences are thoughtfully integrated into a biodiverse masterplan, with green corridors, native plantings, and multispecies habitats like beekeeping zones and duck houses.

#BeOpenDESIGN During her exchange semester at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, SCI-Arc student Sara Gonzales took on the compelling challenge of redesigning the Great Pyramid of Giza. Her project, equal in scale to the original, draws from the techno-optimism of the 1970s to explore conflicting architectural ideals—monumentality versus modularity, monarchy versus democracy, permanence versus adaptability. The result is a striking reinterpretation: a pyramid that resists the promises of high-tech architecture, appearing both rigid and porous, monumental yet exposed.

#BeOpenDESIGN At Expo 2025 Osaka, Japanese beverage company Suntory is showcasing Lidris, a compact robot that creates intricate 3D illustrations inside drinks using food-safe, natural inks. Unlike traditional surface-level latte art or optical illusions on glass, Lidris injects designs directly into the liquid with remarkable precision, thanks to advanced drink-drawing technology. The resulting artwork remains stable even when the drink is gently moved or shaken, adding a mesmerizing blend of robotics, fluid mechanics, and food science to the beverage experience. Compact and powered by a standard outlet, Lidris offers a futuristic way to personalize and elevate drinks in homes, cafés, or events.

#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART BE OPEN Art is proud to name Andrea Terceros, a talented visual artist from Bolivia, as its Regional Artist of the Month for July in the South America stage of the 2025 competition. Running from July to September, this stage highlights emerging artists from across the region, including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, French Guiana. With a background in architecture, Andrea brings a unique depth to her practice. Now based in Bolivia, she draws from the country’s rich culture and landscapes. Each month during the South America stage, one artist is selected from across the continent. Andrea now joins the pool of finalists who will compete for the title of Regional Artist for South America. The winner will receive a €3,000 prize and further promotion through BE OPEN’s global art platform.

#BeOpenDESIGN Fountain Studio’s Tamable Chair rethinks styrofoam as a living material—one that adapts to the human body over time. Made entirely from expandable polystyrene foam and shaped by CNC milling, the conceptual lounge chair uses the material’s natural tendency to compress under pressure to offer evolving comfort. Its surface subtly changes with repeated use, turning a static object into one that responds and conforms—transforming disposable packing material into a surprisingly ergonomic and enduring design. More styrofoam furniture on our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN Tokyo-based studio we+ reimagines styrofoam waste as a viable design material in Refoam, a furniture series produced entirely on-site at a Tokyo waste treatment facility. By bypassing conventional recycling—an energy-intensive process involving overseas transport and reprocessing—the project compresses and reshapes styrofoam locally into monolithic benches, stools, and tables. This streamlined, hyper-local approach not only reduces environmental impact but also proposes a new model for circular design embedded directly within urban infrastructure. More styrofoam furniture on our blog.

#BeOpenDESIGN Bluemorph, a project by Carola Castiglione and Francesca Ercolini, students at Politecnico di Milano, reimagines beach toys through a lens of sustainability and marine ecology. The project transforms invasive algae and seafood industry waste—such as discarded shells—into biodegradable, tactile biomaterials. These living materials evolve over time and dissolve naturally, offering a poetic alternative to plastic while fostering a deeper, more conscious relationship with nature, temporality, and the sea.

#BeOpenDESIGN The Literacy Pen, developed by The World Literacy Foundation and Media.Monks, is an open-source educational tool designed to help illiterate individuals begin reading and writing instantly. By attaching to any standard pen, the device uses voice dictation to transcribe spoken words onto a digital screen, allowing users to copy letters directly onto paper—reinforcing learning through written and visual repetition. Compact, lightweight, and ergonomically designed for all ages and abilities, the Literacy Pen addresses the global literacy crisis by offering an inclusive, accessible alternative to traditional methods, many of which falter due to social, psychological, or geographic barriers.

#BeOpenARCH International architecture firm BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, in collaboration with Doug Aitken Workshop, unveils The Impact—a transformative public realm project that reimagines three major plazas around Copenhagen’s DR Concert Hall, Bella Arena, and Royal Arena. Rather than adding more to the city’s surface, the design subtracts—carving into the ground to reveal a living, interconnected landscape shaped by water, light, and greenery. A glowing sculptural "crack" runs across the site, linking the plazas and symbolizing a unifying force within the urban fabric. Blending sustainable materials, native biodiversity, and interactive features, The Impact turns underused concrete expanses into climate-responsive, socially vibrant spaces that welcome both everyday life and cultural events.

#BeOpenARCH Nestled in the contours of the Sabarmati River near Gandhinagar, India, the Alloa Hills Weekend House by Studio Sangath is a serene retreat shaped by the land it inhabits. Designed as a haven for stillness and creative reflection, the brick and terracotta home centers around a courtyard that anchors the living spaces while drawing nature inward. Built with recycled brick kiln waste and shaded by wide verandahs, the house blurs boundaries between shelter and landscape, inviting light, air, and time to move freely through its rooms.

#BeOpenDESIGN Dutch design studio Modem has introduced the Dream Recorder, an open-source AI device that transforms spoken dream recollections into short, grainy videos. Designed as a standalone bedside companion, the Dream Recorder encourages reflection, contrasting with the hyper-connected, multi-functionality of most modern devices. Users simply describe their dreams upon waking, and the AI generates a visual interpretation on its soft-glowing screen. Created in collaboration with technologist Mark Hinch and designers Ben Levinas and Joe Tsao, the device embodies a tactile, ambient aesthetic meant to blend quietly into the bedroom.

#BeOpenDESIGN The BareBag, an award-winning innovation by designers Ke Zheng and Shuhao Xuanyuan, redefines everyday carry (EDC) through a hands-free, modular approach that merges functionality with accessibility. Originally developed to support individuals with disabilities and dexterity challenges, the BareBag is offered in two thoughtfully engineered models—Classic 2 and Nano 2—each addressing distinct carry needs. The Classic 2 is a versatile crossbody bag equipped with an external dual-hook exoskeleton and expandable compartments, ideal for users who prioritize preparedness. The ultra-lightweight Nano 2 features a minimalist profile enhanced by a patented Disc System and RFID protection, catering to users seeking discretion without sacrificing utility. Both designs incorporate BareBag’s proprietary ButterSlide adjustment system, sustainable materials, and modular, repairable components—demonstrating a holistic commitment to ergonomic performance, urban mobility, and inclusive design.

#BeOpenDESIGN The Hollow Pencil, a concept by designer Hideo Kambara, reimagines the traditional pencil by replacing its solid wooden body with a lightweight, hexagonal honeycomb structure made from stiff recycled paper. This innovative design not only drastically reduces raw material use—by over 80%—but also enhances ergonomics through its slight flexibility, offering a more comfortable grip. By challenging long-held assumptions about how rigid a pencil needs to be, Kambara introduces a sustainable, functional alternative that eliminates the need for standard sharpening and significantly lowers environmental impact—all while maintaining the core purpose of a pencil: to write clearly and comfortably. More sustainable pens and pencils on our blog.