Think magazine 005

Page 1


2 | ON THE COVER

Editor-in-Chief/ Creative Director

Jacqueline Carlisle

Design Production

Samm Jordan

Contributing Fashion Editor

Jacqueline Carlisle

Contributing Technology Editor

Jennifer Darmour

Contributing Design Editor

Alexander Horne

Contributing Architecture and Design Logo Design Site Services

Karyn Linnell Sunny Fong Samm Jordan

ON THE COVER

He & She from Eden by Desislava Sredkova


ISSUE 005

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The idea of this magazine has always been to look towards the future of design instead of looking backwards.

If Jackson Pollock or

Andy Warhol were alive today they wouldn’t by any means look to the past in order to repeat work they’ve already done. They would have

IN THIS

created new work, explored a new direction

ISSUE

and continued to grow. I look for influences everywhere with a limitless eye and more often than not I see influences in nature. This is how this magazine came together. I wanted to report on designers that showed limitless potential in their work why they explore new techniques and materials. We searched the globe for designers that were changing the future and came across a hidden group of designers in Bulgaria. We wanted to draw attention to the Bulgarian industry because it is an untapped resource for designers that can shape our homes and how we live in them. I also had a lovely chat with a clothing designer whose outlook is not only charming but refreshingly absolute. As always we’ve included wearable electronic which has been slowly cropping up amongst the celebrity culture. And lastly an explanation for using the colour white and all the advantages that come with it. With this said this issue is aptly called The White Issue we hope you enjoy it. Have a great summer where ever you may be.

Fashion Interview with Peter Ingwersen

5

Technology 11 Technology, Expression, and the

clothes we wear

Architecture The New Bulgarian Renaissance

19

Design Carte Blanc

27



Interview with Peter Ingwersen What propelled you to become a clothing designer?

offered to other brands who want to

I actually wanted to be a rock musician

The cotton is grown in Uganda, Africa

but could not play any instruments so I

where the workers are trained in organic

thought the closest thing to music was

farming and educated in HIV/AIDS and

fashion and I then became a designer.

Malaria prevention.

What is your educational background?

What influenced you to create the garments for this project?

I went to the Design School in Denmark

The idea behind Illuminati II was to

but dropped out in the 3rd year.

showcase that ethical designs did not

Tell us about the Illuminati II project. Illuminati II produces organic and fair traded cotton fabrics for the NOIR and BL L ACK NOIR collections and is also

buy ethically produced cotton fabrics.

have to be granola or made out of fabrics so thick you could smoke them. I would like us to be known for turning corporate social responsibility sexy.





TEXT: JACQUELINE CARLISLE editor

Someone once told me that sustainable design is just a fad, what are your thoughts? I also thought that banning of smoking in restaurants was a fad, driving with your safety belt and so on...I think sustainable

| 9

Every brand, small or large can embark on sustainability. It all depends on the focus for the brand and innovation in your core strategy.

designs will become a fad if the industry

What does the future hold for your company?

does not design great, innovative styles.

I do not own a crystal ball so I do not

Is ethical fashion a difficult process?

have a clue.

Ethical fashion is a more challenging process however once you go there it becomes routines and easy..

Can larger brands following suit or will be a difficult task to use ethical materials?

Are you intending to grow the brand, possibly creating accessories or even menswear? Yes, we might go for menswear or accessories....or designing a cool electric car.



Technology, Expression, and the clothes we we ar


There’s a new breed of garments on the horizon. Garments that sense changes in the wearer’s body and environment, react and adapt to the environment and the wearer’s context, and connect to each other and larger software systems. But this new breed isn’t really new. Designers, artists and innovators have been exploring the possibility of technology embedded clothing for years such as wearable computing pioneer, Steve Mann, and a variety of disciplines exploring this field today. However, most solutions separate the fashion and technology design process resulting in solutions that attach technology onto the garment or hide it in pockets. What’s new and on the horizon is the idea of seamlessly intertwining the aesthetics of the garment with the materiality of the technology. As an outcome, rather than simply attaching technology to clothing, this new breed of clothing investigates garments that have electronics built directly into them resulting in a new aesthetic of form and behavior that become a core part of our expression, our identity, and our individuality. Aesthetic: Intertwining fabrics and technology

eTextiles and smart fabrics are gaining

momentum. There’s a lot of innovation happening with eTextiles and smart fabrics. Overall, the industry is gaining momentum and opening up new ways to seamlessly integrate the technology into clothing textiles. An example of this seamless integration is a project called Ping: A Social Networking Garment. The Ping’s concept prototype uses a variety of sensors including flexible sensing and conductive threads that are flexible, sewable and washable. All of which are integrated directly into the fabric of the garment. The two side panels consist of geometric patterning made from the circuit’s wiring that connects the sensors to the “brains” of the technology. So rather than hiding the electronics in pockets and compartments inside the garment, portions of the circuit are exposed and used as part of the aesthetics and graphic patterning on the outside. In this case, not only is the wiring critical to the functionality of the circuit, exposing it creates the graphic




TEXT: Jennifer Darmour contributing technology editor

| 15

patterning, which adds to the overall of their culture. And if you look around aesthetics.

at how people wear and interact with their clothes, there’s already built-in

Interactions: Gestures and self-expression

mechanics. People already perform a variety of gestures adjusting, zipping,

In the gaming industry, there is a push lifting, shifting, opening, buttoning and toward spatial gestures that you can even fidgeting with the garments they perform using body movements. For wear. This gives fertile ground to merge example, the Nintendo Wii and the the mechanics of the clothes we wear Playstation Move allow’s you to interact with technology and the trend of gestureand navigate by moving your hand and based interaction. So why not use these even your entire body. You can think of interactions to stay connected to your those devices essentially as a computer friends and groups of friends simply by mouse that you hold and move around in performing natural gestures that are the air. In the Fashion industry, clothing built into the mechanics of the garments is a way for people to express themselves we wear. Ping connects to your social in many different ways and in the context networking sites, such as Facebook,



wirelessly and from anywhere. Lift up a hood, tie a bow, zip, button, and simply move, bend and swing to ping your friends naturally and automatically. No phone, no laptop, no hardware. Simply go about your day, look good and stay connected. As a result, it is an example of how we can use our clothing to interact with our technology. You can think about our clothes as another “device� that can replace the computer mouse. With Ping, rather than having to hold a device in your hand, you can perform the gestures that you would naturally do anyway based on our clothing mechanics. These movements and gestures are turned into interfaces that allow us to connect with our friends and family and allow us to express ourselves in new and unique ways.

The new breed By merging the intimacy of clothing with the empowerment of technology, this new breed of clothing strives to enhance our lives by offering a much richer language for self-expression. These smart garments connect, react, and adapt in ways that enable a richer connection with people, our environment and result in a new aesthetic of form and behavior that become a core part of our expression, our identity, and our individuality. www.electricfoxy.com jennifer@electricfoxy.com



The New Bulgarian Renaissance Inspiring modern design emerges from one of Europe’s oldest countries. An essential element of humanity is our creativity. Like the shark, we are compelled to continually move forward. While talent and inspiration can be found all over the earth, there are notable times and places where new ideas and striking expressions of genius and beauty are in abundance. Bulgaria, an Eastern European country with a long and rich history, has given birth to several gifted individuals, including Svilen Gamolov, Desislava Sredkova and Nikolai Mihaylov, who are capturing international attention with cutting-edge design.


Svilen Gamolov Svilen Gamolov is an original and prolific designer who finds that the more he works, the more ideas he discovers. Gamolov is a believer not only in diligence, but in cherishing the soul, and he strives to create functional art that inspires people to find harmony and beauty in life. Thumbing through his portfolio is like taking a glimpse into another world. While the familiar balance of straight and curvy lines is readily apparent, the majority of his pieces are highly unexpected, and the broad range of shapes from creation to creation shows a truly unlimited mind. One would not be surprised to learn that Gamolov is inspired by a vast array of sounds, sites and memories.

Push Table


Embrace Chair

Unafraid of being too personal, he allows multiple aspects of his life; relationships and aspirations influence the direction of his pieces, both in the origin of the idea and in the end goal. Design is a science and an art, fulfilling need and providing comfort, fascination and joy. Gamolov makes no attempt to strip the expression of the human soul from his work. From the edgy and playful distorted webbed pattern of his Push table, to the simple, graceful petal-like folds of his Embrace chair, Svilen Gamolov’s work has the uncanny ability to evoke wonder and to stand out from the crowd in one moment, and in the next, to blend harmoniously with other decor to create a synergistic environment. His work is art and is a testament to both his dedicated efforts and naturally talented mind.


He & She from Eden

Desislava Sredkova Desislava Sredkova is a talented young designer who puts heart into every piece she creates. She is fully aware of the strong structural and practical elements of design and our modern obsession with technology but manages to bring a softer, emotional element to her work, highlighting several timeless elements of humanity. She is unafraid to allow the differences between genders to inspire her creations, yet does not allow them to limit expression of ability. Her work celebrates the complimentary differences in men and women, the beauty of domesticity, and the tenderness and joys of youth and family. Always aware of the importance of finishing and detail, she is fulfilled by her work, and considers it a natural and essential expression of her personality and passion.


TEXT: Karyn Linnel contributing architecture and design editor

| 23

Her unique perspective is seen clearly in her Ladybird Smart Device. This invention harnesses Bluetooth technology in the shape of a cute little ladybug to help a woman easily run the appliances and tools she uses to maintain her home and her life. Exploring the balance of relationship, He and She from Eden is a set of two chairs symbolizing man and woman. While different from one another, they are harmonious, with simplyshaped frames supporting intricate patterns of glass and metal. Her graceful baby swing, Fiore, hangs delicately like a floating tulip almost belying its practicality. By incorporating her own personality in her designs, Sredkova invites us into a world of beauty, a grown-up fairytale that resonates with us on a more emotional level than traditional industrial design.

Flore


Nikolai Mihaylov

Nikolai Mihaylov, a Bulgarian visionary and tapered to fit one another to form who both individually and corporately his sophisticated symmetrical lighting wishes to see his country make a sculptures

including

significant impact internationally in Cradle of Light.

Zax,

Eli

and

Multi-dimensional

the area of design, obtained a degree in with a unique space for a customizable industrial design at the University of centerpiece, his Second Floor table quietly Rousse in 2005 and garnered attention captures instant attention and approval. for his work, winning a scholarship Throughout Mihaylov’s work, a theme of to study in Italy.

After returning to change is readily apparent. Many of his

Bulgaria and gaining experience working works are easily moved or modified to with companies specializing in various suit varied needs, even further reducing aspects of design, he opened his own the limitations of an already uninhibited studio in 2008. Since then he has joined modern design aesthetic. A vast number forces with several other contemporaries, of patrons with differing points of view including Svilen Gamolov, to form can own the same Mihaylov creation and Cherga, a group devoted to cultivating and feel as if it had been custom designed. expanding Bulgarian design. His award- Mihaylov plans to continue to bring his winning work is simple, thoughtful and work to international competition, an thorough.

He is appreciably adept at area in which he has found much success,

merging geometric lines in unexpected to further his efforts to increase awareness ways. Cylinders and spheres are edited of contemporary Bulgarian design.

Cradle of Light


Eli

Bulgaria has made many significant contributions to world culture throughout its lengthy existence, and our modern century is no exception. We can expect big names and innovative breakthroughs to stem from this nation and grace the halls of international design. This is only the beginning, and the world waits with eager anticipation to see what these talented individuals will accomplish next.



Carte Blanc


28 | TEXT: ALEXANDER HORNE contributing design editor

As the summer months approach, we

the realms of materials where technology

yearn for clear blue skies without the

mixes with science and design, white

blight of heavy clouds blotting the

means a lot more than one product.

anticipated golden rays. Ironic then that

Materials such as Outlasts ‘Adaptive

at the same time of year when many are

Comfort’ textile, conceived through

wishing away amorphous white forms

NASA research, stretch the visual impact

from above that an ever increasing group

of white into one of high performance.

of avid followers of a certain fruit logo

Used by outdoor focussed brands such as

are rushing to pick up the latest seductive

Bison and Peak Performance, ‘Adaptive

white form on the high street. With a

Comfort’ is a thermo-regulating textile

New York headquarter that registers as

which works much like a second skin,

many tourist camera clicks as the Statue

storing heat to be released when it is

of Liberty and lines of eager consumers

cold and vice versa to cool the garment

paving the streets in anticipation of their

wearer down. Quite an evolutionary

latest gadget, Apple are on course to

breakthrough when compared to the

becoming the reference point for white

white washing of houses most typically

in contemporary societies consumer

seen in Greece that serves much the same

recognition palette.

temperature control function.

However, white

has been synonymous with more than one societal movement in history; from

The primitive bumps and grooves of

the white washing of Greek houses to

white washed stone gleam from a distance

keep them cool in the blistering med

and charm while walking through

heat to Le Corbusier and other Modern

the cobbled streets they are often next

architects signature structures. While

to. A recent wall panel material from

this most recent colour association maybe

Spain splashes a whole new dimension

one purely based upon trends and brand

of detail and aesthetic on to the surfaces

identity - white more often than not

of outdoor structures and also comes

provides function as well as an aesthetic.

with a compelling story of its origins. Duralmond is a composite material with

Often associated for its heat and sun

a forma-able surface - be that bumps and

repelling abilities as much as it can be

grooves or detailed patterns. The core of

heavenly and theatrical in presence,

the material is made from a silicone resin

white is a colour of impact. Indeed, in

mix while around 40% is actually



comprised of crushed almond shells!

to have more of an evolutionary stamp

As well as giving flexibility in terms of

than the latest coveted consumer objects.

finish, the material is water-repellent,

In fact, within the design industry today

resistant to insects and has good thermal

such knowledge is feeding an emerging

and acoustic properties.

Despite the

economy for design services such as

almond shell content, this material is

material libraries. Perhaps as this desire for

not edible but, it certainly is a mouth

more in depth and accurate knowledge of

watering prospect for designers keen to

subjects such as use of materials increases

explore decorative facades that would

and becomes more readily available, the

usually be difficult to achieve.

question consumers will ask retailers and producers before opening their cheque

Two materials with compelling stories

book will not be what a gadget does but

beyond their surface appearance that

where does it come from and how was it

may not be readily available at high

made.

street stores but, ultimately could be seen




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