Who needs hideous scaffolding coverage when there’s faux-foliage from Camouflage? The original objective has diversified with Camouflage now used in indoors and stage-backdrops. Designed by Iikka Airas and Markus Wikar, Camouflage is created from sheets of tarpaulin and the installation is devised to incorporate a three-dimensional effect once it’s hanged. In a city with a proliferation of construction cranes and towering edifices, Dubai can certainly do with this scaffolding makeover. Additionally, I can’t think of a better way to eliminate unsightly advertising rife on the half-constructed, let alone finished, structures.

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Camouflage

While designing the space for the 2007 collection of 100% Products, Nendo decided to lock the entire exhibit – furniture and all on to the wall surface. The spatial hack was intended to create attention by allowing the viewer to see the exhibit from a floor above. In addition, any visitor the booth would end being part of the exhibit by appearing to be walking on the wall of the room.

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Nendo

Tjep was asked by the ROC professional training school in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands to design the new reception area of the economics department.

In return, they created a space that represented the complexity and diversity of economical processes in modern society: A conference room in the shape of a factory, the origin of industrial goods; A reception desk formed by abstracted crate shapes, representing transportation; a meeting table in the shape of a five meter long key, representing real-estate but also a world of opportunities for graduated students; Stools as calculator buttons, numbers being the language of economics; A table football game with it’s scaled down stadium, representing the economics of leisure; And finally, at the center of the floor design we find a student with a huge heart, a little reminder that the heart should be the starting point of economic decisions.

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Tjep

Sheikh Majed Al Sabah

With the amount of activity in the retail sector in the Middle East, you would think that there would be a lot more original retail ventures sprouting up in the region. But you would be wrong.

Instead, most of what passes for innovative retail are usually imported fashion chains except, of course for Sheikh Majed Al Sabah. A fashion aficionado from Kuwait, Majed has built a successful retail brand, called Villa Moda, that has built a reputation for his futuristic souq inspired retail locations by working with the likes of Marcel Wanders and Jaime Hayon. Marcel for his new Bahrain location and Jaime for the Dubai Festival City.

During the forum, he announced his projects and gave Marcus Fairs a little preview:

Marcel Wander’s vision of Villa Moda in Bahrain

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While designing the interior of Illoiha, a Japanese fitness club, Nendo chose a visual metaphor for the gym’s slogan – “becoming beautiful through movement” by creating an unusual rock climbing wall that combined the regular rough outdoorsy elements with interior design objects like picture frames, mirrors, deer heads, bird cages and flower vases to create a challenging wall with hard-to-find holds and unusual finger grips.

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Nendo
Illoiha

Japanese Designers, Wonderwall create this temporary in-store inspired by 100%ChocolateCafe. for Isetan Department store, which participated in the world wide “Salone du Chocolat” event. Various chocolatiers and patisseries from around the world participated to celebrate and promote “4 Seasons of Chocolate”.

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Design mavericks, Tjep were commissioned to re-design Radio 1’s lounge and they asked themselves: What does 1 do when designing the Radio 1 studio’s? Answer – 1 uses the 1, and they did, using it not only as a motif for the benches, but the radio and the lamp; and since the radio station had a diverse programming, they decided to combine a lot of different style elements rather than choose one dominant 1.

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Tjep

Alternative footwear brand, Camper takes a break from Guixe, their regular designer, to give latest design hotshot, Jaime Hayon, a chance by letting him have his way with their new store in London.

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Jaime Hayon
Camper

As part of celebrating their 100 years in Japan, English tea brand Lipton organized an event where japanese design group, Nendo designed a cafe for them based on the Mad Hatter’s Tea party from the famous book, Alice in Wonderland.

For the cafe, Nendo borrowed from a scene where Alice eats a cake and then finds her perception distorted where some of the chairs become too small for her to squeeze into, while others are so large that her feet cannot touch the ground.

Thus, the size of the long table in the installation and the rows of chair are distorted in order to heighten the room’s sense of receding depth. The walls also narrow towards the end to enforce the optical illusion.

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For those times when your sing-alongs don’t quite hit the tune, the heavenly Karaoke-tub has been especially designed to mimic the place where we all perform like Pavarotti- the bathroom.

The room is complete with a bathtub-like sofa, floor tiles and showerhead-shaped coat hangers- angelic singing not compulsory.

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Nendo: Karaoke Tub

Its simple really. By condensing the residential functions to one side, not only do you get to change the shape and function of the room by moving the furniture in and out of the wall, but you get to turn your place into a giant party trick.

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Using the help of his readers, Dilbert’s creator Scott Adams has created a virtual web-based home for his character complete with Cat Room, Basketball Court and Home Theater. Check it out.

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Dilbert Ultimate House

Dilbert

Name: Martela-Lab
Description: The metamorphisis room. A room where anything can be changed.
Design: Tatlin Design & Max Dymling

When Martela, a leading European furniture manufacturer, moved to its new location in Jarla Sjo, they wanted to do something different and fresh instead of the traditional showroom and thats how they came up with the idea of the Martela Lab – a room where anything can be changed – ceilings raised or lowered, walls moved, colors changed and lighting adapted.

“When you want to show the future office interior, usually the furniture is stacked up in a corner at the dealer’s or stored in a construction area at the new office. This creates insecurity for the personnel and also makes it difficult for us architects to show what we have in mind. The new lab opens up brand new possibilities,” says architect Max Dymling, one of the people behind the lab.

“The new lab really meets a need for us architects. Now we can preview solutions and choices on a 1:1 scale. We can quite simply simulate the environment down to the tiniest detail,” says Max Dymling.

Martela-Lab can quickly be transformed. In less than an hour the room can be converted from an open-plan office to a cellular office or conference room. By moving walls and ceilings, and changing colors and lighting, you can create a number of brand new rooms.

“The lab is a brand new concept and we feel it’s fun to offer our customers this service. We also believe that the lab is a great help and benefit for architects, a crucial target group for us. At this time the lab is only available in Stockholm, but if it works well we may also build labs in our other countries within the Group,” says director of marketing Bengt Flint Persson.

One important application for the lab is to facilitate change processes at companies. Often moving to a new office can create anxiety among the employees. By using the lab, personnel become involved and experience the new office almost exactly the way it will be in reality. They get a positive first impression and the opportunity to truly “try out” what it will be like to work in the intended work environment.

Using the lab will be free during the first year. Those reserving the lab may choose to use Martela furniture or furniture from other suppliers.

Designer: Monica Forster
Company: OFFECCT

Did you see the seesaw seats? well, this goes with that. :)

The self proclaimed “meeting place of the future”, Cloud is a portable inflatable meeting room in white ripstop nylon. The floor has a green gray colour. Bag with fan, in graysilver sound-decreasing textile contain room when deflated.

Update

Some more pictures: