#DITakover on Instagram: Studio Formafantasma

Italian design duo Studio Formafantasma took us on a strange and wondrous journey through their creative process in their takeover of our Instagram account.

Posted 8 Jun 15 By Design Indaba Art & Photography • Design Thinking • Product Design Creative Work / Lookbook Comments

We knew to expect the unexpected from a pair of designers who experiment with fish skin, cow bladders, animal blood and even lava. Never ones to do anything half-baked, the Italian designers Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of Studio Formafantasma gave us an in-depth look at their ideas, work process and influences in their Instagram #DITakeover.

They started off with a bang – a video of the eruption of Etna, the biggest active volcano in Europe, in Farresin’s native Sicily. The most loved picture from their takeover was a beehive vase by Tomas Libertiny, which was created by placing a basic beeswax mould printed with a honeycomb pattern into a beehive.

Check our IG account for more images from Formafantasma’s takeover. This week the #DITakeover goes to Stevo Dirnberger and Chanel Cartell of How Far From Home, who are currently on a creative sabbatical travelling the world after being inspired by Design Indaba 2014 speaker Stefan Sagmeister and his theory of time off.

#DITakover on Instagram: Studio Formafantasma

"Palazzo Steri Abatellis-Palermo, 1400/1952. This building host the Gallery of Art for the Sicilian region, beautifully restored in the 1952 by Carlo Scarpa. #DITakeOver"

"Metahaven-SeaLand Identity Project, 2003. Sealand Identity Project a national visual identity for the Principality of Sealand. Sealand is a mini-state, situated on a former anti-aircraft tower in the North Sea. The fortress was built in World War II to help defend the British Isles against an upcoming German invasion. By 1946, the tower was abandoned by the British armed forces. The structure was squatted in 1967 by an Englishman, Roy Bates. He and his wife proclaimed themselves Prince and Princess of Sealand. Since then, the Principality of Sealand has issued its own passports, currency and stamps. In 2000 became a DataHaven. Metahaven proposed a National visual identity.#DITakeOver"

"Nina Gautier-UrticaLab/Wellbeing Department, 2014 Sometimes the most unlikely of raw materials can provide the richest of resources. This is the case with Urtica – better known as the stinging nettle. This unwanted weed has a bad image because any contact brings on a painful rash. And yet, as Nina Gautier reveals, the plant’s properties mean it can be used for everything from medicines to fertiliser. Nina focused on the nettle’s potential for textiles. She used every part of the plant in woven blankets that are surprisingly strong, soft and silky. She mixed nettle fibres into her fabrics and made dyes in multiple shades of green, letting the hidden merits of Urtica shine through.#DITakeOver"

"Celine Gabathuler-Stone Kitchen/Wellbeing Department, 2014. In times gone by, stone was a valued mainstay in the kitchen.The shape of her stone Knife Sharpener ensures that you hold the knife at the right angle during sharpening. Further impressed by the physical properties of stone, Céline went on to create a limestone hot stone, a marble cooler and a natural mineral water filter of Valser Quartzite. Each piece presents stone as a precious and everlasting resource.#DITakeOver"

"Maddalena Selvini/S-POT-Wellbeing Department, 2014. Last of this selection (we could continue for days, we have brilliant students!) Maddalena designed a range of heat-holding vessels Made of a soapstone traditionally quarried and crafted in Italy. Her series can be stacked on a single heat source and used for cooking, or for spreading warmth around the interior. Maddalena also repurposed sand left over from smoothing the soapstone to make compatible stoneware plates, cups and a teapot. #DITakeOver"

"Botanica 2.0-Formafantasma, 2014 Insects collaborate with humans . In partnership with the Dutch Polymer Institute and The Wageningen University we investigated two of the most interesting materials of the Botanica collection: Shellac and Bois-Durci. Shellac, a resin produced via the refining of excrements of insects (lack bug) that colonize trees in several areas of India and Thailand, has been tested on a 3d printer customized with a new extruder. With the project we draw a comparison between lack bug and silk warms and propose a possible scenario where polymers could be farmed in a similar way as silk. #DITakeOver"

"omas Libertiny-Bee Vase, 2008 Insects collaborate with humans The vases are created by placing a basic beeswax mould printed with a honeycomb pattern into a beehive. The bees then do the rest. It takes 40,000 bees a week to make each vase, each of which is completely different.#DITakeOver"