March 2016 Archive

Talking umbrella keeps people out of the rain

Design News • 31 Mar 16

The Oombrella uses sensor technology to tell users when it is about to rain. >
The hidden graphic design behind flags

Design Frontiers • 31 Mar 16

Stories behind flags from an artist’s point of view. >
Pressed peat makes for ideal building blocks

Design Frontiers • 31 Mar 16

The natural ability of dried peat makes these bioblocks ideal for regulating the interior climates of spaces. >
Arrivals and Departures is about the connections between people

Design News • 31 Mar 16

Human relationships are at the centre of Jacob Aue Sobol’s haunting black and white series. >
UCT students appeal for funding for anti-rape device

Design News • 31 Mar 16

A team of graduates from the University of Cape Town (UCT) have conceptualised a wearable safety device in response to a spate of rapes, attacks and murders. >
Green Product: The Ragbag is made of old tea bags and recycled plastic

Product Spotlight • 30 Mar 16

Ragbag accessories and bags are sustainably and ethically made by women in India from old tea bags and recycled plastic bags. >
Algae-based water bottle decomposes when empty

Design News • 30 Mar 16

Product design student comes up with a 100 per cent natural alternative to the plastic water bottle. >
Collecting desalinated water through fog

Design Frontiers • 30 Mar 16

Fog harvesting is a sustainable way to harvest clean water in areas with regular mist. >
Sweet Kills: A designer’s impression of the dangers of diabetes

Design News • 30 Mar 16

Nattakong Jaengsem’s Sweet Kills campaign takes a gory look at the dangers of sweet treats. >
New, innovative material inspired by ancient design

Design Frontiers • 30 Mar 16

The designs found in Iran’s Kharraqan towers became the unlikely inspiration for an advancement in metamaterials. >
Immersive 360-degree world drawn with a permanent marker

Design News • 29 Mar 16

Accomplished artist Oscar Oiwa exhibits “Oiwa Island 2” at the Setouchi Triennale art festival. >
FlipFlic controls your blinds for you

Design Frontiers • 29 Mar 16

An automated blind controller equipped with light sensors and thermometers controls your blinds for you. >
Power plant makes electricity out of cheese

Design News • 29 Mar 16

Renewable energy group Valbio built a power plant that generates clean energy from a byproduct of cheese production. >
Would you chew on meat flavoured gum?

Design News • 29 Mar 16

This is one of the meat related questions served up by a temporary conceptual butcher in The Netherlands. >
Plantable pencils challenge use-and-chuck-away culture

Design News • 29 Mar 16

The Sprout pencil grows into a plant if you place it in a pot. >
A squid bacteria lighting solution

Design Frontiers • 29 Mar 16

The nocturnal Hawaiian bobtail squid uses bacteria to help it see in the dark and so can we. >
3D-printed vase collection upcycles plastic bottles

Design Frontiers • 28 Mar 16

DesignLibero’s 3D-printed vase collection brings beauty to the practice of upcycling. >
Buy one give one: A blanket drive from Cape Town

Design Frontiers • 28 Mar 16

Umbala blankets are designed and locally manufactured by a studio that donate a blanket to a baby in need for every blanket they sell. >
Pedestrian and bicycle tunnel opens underneath Amsterdam Central station

Design Frontiers • 25 Mar 16

A beautiful and advanced tunnel for cyclists and pedestrians has opened underneath Amsterdam. >
Cubetto: A coding tutor for kids as young as three

Design News • 25 Mar 16

Cubetto by Primo Toys is a kid-friendly, wooden robot that teaches kids to code in a way they can see and touch. >
Blurring the lines between art, architecture and design

Design Frontiers • 24 Mar 16

A design studio in Italy known for their anamorphic art have painted shape changing mural. >
Cape Town set to build its first blind-friendly outdoor park

Design News • 24 Mar 16

A park specially designed to accommodate those with impaired vision - the first of its kind in Cape Town. >
William Kentridge celebrates Rome’s history with a 550-metre frieze

Design News • 24 Mar 16

Using reverse graffiti, William Kentridge will wash his iconic stencils along the banks of the Tiber River in Rome. >
Notes on Blindness: A virtual reality experience

Design Frontiers • 23 Mar 16

“Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness” is a virtual reality film created from the audio diaries theologian John Hull kept as he went blind. >

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