Above: Marcos car racing against others

Hulme discusses the ideas that designers should be open and willing to collaborate, as well as using new platforms for promotion. "I'm always concerned when I see designers that are not prepared to put stuff out in the wild," he says. "In the past we were forced to cart around portfolios because the barrier to do anything else was enormous, but publications like [Dezeen] are giving people visibility."

Above: a bag Hulme designed for flip-flop brand Havaianas

"The tools are becoming accessible to be creative around how you sell stuff, marketing, branding. I think designers can do that like never before," he adds.

Hulme built a company around an engineering component he designed that is now used in Ferrari Formula One cars (above). He also shares the rest of his professional journey during the talk, from car brand Marcos where he found it easier to become managing director than designer, to working on new ideas for flip-flop brand Havaianas, and finally becoming design director of design consultancy IDEO UK.

Above: a design challenge set by IDEO with Jamie Oliver

Dezeen Live was a series of discussions between Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs and a number of designers and critics that took place as part of the talks programme at 100% Design during this year's London Design Festival. Over the next few weeks we'll be posting all the movies we filmed during the talks.

The music featured in the movie is a track called Black Widow by east London band Strong Asian Mothers. You can listen to more of their music on Dezeen Music Project.

The post "Designers should be more entrepreneurial"
- Tom Hulme at Dezeen Live appeared first on Dezeen.

Designers William Boujon and Julien Benayoun of Bold-design created Memorabilia Factory for the Design Exquis project that invites four designers to respond to each other's objects in turn, like the parlour game where one player draws part of a character then folds the paper over and passes it along for the next player to make his contribution.

Bold-design was asked to respond to a portable machine designed by Mikael Metthey and Milan Metthey, which lets parents test sandy beaches for harmful bacteria to find the safest place for their children to play.

"Since we both ate sand when we were little and are still healthy, we immediately thought about finding a positive quality about these bacteria living in the sand," the designers explained.

The designers came up with Memorabilia Factory, a family activity kit that uses a harmless bacterium to turn sand from the beach into solid stones in the shape of local rock formations.

The kit includes a bacteria solution, a fixing agent, a tool to fix and shape the sand and three moulds, which represent Durdle Door in the UK, the dune of Pilat in France and the Kon Phi Phi islands in Thailand.

The designers worked with soil technology specialists Soletanche-Bachy and their Biocalcis process, which the firm is currently developing on a larger scale as a way of preparing sandy ground for building work, Boujon told Dezeen at the launch of Design Exquis during London Design Festival this year.

"We are talking about tons of litres of this mix with bacteria," he explained, "and after that they add the second solution, which is a kind of feeding solution. The bacteria get bigger and bigger and they create a small bridge in between the grains of sand that turns the sand into a kind of stone. It's not real stone, but it's like concrete or something. And after that they can build architecture on top of it."

Boujon and Benayoun founded Bold-design in 2007, having met at L'Ecole Supérieure d'Art et de Design in Reims, France.

We've featured lots of other projects involving sand on Dezeen, including a robotic 3D printer that builds architectural structures from grains of sand and a tractor that prints stars onto sandy beaches.

See all our stories about sand »
See all our stories about London Design Festival »

Photographs are by Bold-design except where stated.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Memorabilia Factory

Children (and adults) can play for hours on the beach. They create memories together by sharing time. With Memorabilia Factory, they fabricate personal and unique souvenirs using local sand, harmless bacteria and a mould inspired by native landscapes.

Memorabilia Factory is a project created on the invitation of Design Exquis, exhibition that first took place during the London Design Festival 2012. Design Exquis was a dialogue invitation on design through design, a challenge. Four designers were asked to respond in turn to the object created by a predecessor through their own design language.

Bold-design had to imagine an object after receiving a Sandpit Detector and a Beach Detector (concept design for Design Exquis). These prospective instruments are meant to analyse the quality of the sand "to pinpoint the safest environment for kids to play on the beach."

Since we both ate sand when we were little (and still healthy), we immediately thought about finding a positive quality about these bacteria living in the sand. During our project development, we found the Sporosarcina pasteurii, a bacteria that naturally calcifies sand. This phenomenon of biological calcification is also well known for building the ‘Stromatolites’ around the coast lines of Australia and New Zealand.

Above: Memorabilia Factory displayed at the Design Exquis exhibition. Photograph by Milan Metthey

With our discovery of Soletanche-Bachy and their Biocalcis® process to use the sand in construction, we found our perfect partner for this project. When we proposed the scenario to the company, the open minded management was delighted by our idea to combine nostalgia, science and technology and gave us the opportunity to work with their scientists.

William and Julien had the chance to study and experiment with the bacteria directly into the laboratory with the help of an enthusiastic biologist. It was there that the Memorabilia Factory started to get solid. By understanding the whole process, we were able to design a handy kit for people to create their own personal souvenirs. The colour palette of sand all around the world is incredibly diverse and we want you to enjoy that diversity by bringing a piece of coloured earth home with you.

Above: the Dune of Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe

Three shapes for our prototypes were inspired by iconic landscapes. We chose an English landscape because the project was first exhibited in London, a French one because we are French and Koh Phi Phi Islands because that’s an amazing place.

Above: Durdle Door in Dorset, UK

Memorabilia Factory kit content:

A mould inspired by native landscapes – different shapes are available regarding your place on Earth.
A two way tool to press the sand and engrave the souvenir to personalise it with a name or a date.
The two key components to calcify the sand: a bottle of 'Memorabilia Builders' and a bottle of 'Memorabilia Fixing Agent'.

By treating sand with biocalcification, the final product can be compared to a calcareous sandstone. The BIOCALCIS®: process was developed by Soletanche Bachy for the consolidation of soil in situ by injection.

Above: part of the Kho Phi Phi islands in Thailand

Partners and Credits

Technical team:
Soletanche-Bachy with the Biocalcis® process
Annette Esnault-Filet, project manager
Julie Mougeot, biologist

Creative team at bold-design:
Elise Lalique, designer
Alexis Diers, designer

Design Exquis curators:
Florian Dussopt, designer
Géraldine Vessiere, journalist

The post Memorabilia Factory
by Bold-design appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: these candle holders by French designer Marie Dessuant come with handy inner compartments and were designed for British furniture brand Another Country.

Launched at the London Design Festival last month, each candle holder has a ceramic lid that can be removed to allow small objects to be stored in the base.

The base is made from turned oak and comes in three different sizes, each with a handle that protrudes from one side.

See more collections by Another Country, including a hand-crafted pottery collection by Hackney designer Ian McIntyre.

See all our stories about candle holders »

See all our stories about the London Design Festival 2012 »

The post Another Ceramic Candlestick by
Marie Dessuant for Another Country appeared first on Dezeen.

The trestle table rests across two sets of tripod legs, each supported by a rolled sheet of steel, while the bench sits over a single long strip of steel.

"The rolled steel allows for a great strength to weight ratio as well as economy of materials," explained Hubert. "It also has the benefit in the bench of giving suspension to the user and some flex to the seat."

The Bow collection launched at the designjunction trade show during London Design Festival last month, where Hubert also showed a lighting collection made of mesh fabric and a chair constructed from a piece of T-shirt-shaped curled plywood.

The pieces were produced in collaboration with Portuguese manufacturer De La Espada, who last year invited Hubert to design his first complete collection.

See all our stories about Benjamin Hubert »
See all our stories about tables »
See all our stories about benches »

Here's some more information from the designer:

Bow by Benjamin Hubert x De La Espada
Bow is a series of furniture including a trestle table and bench launching at the London Design Festival in collaboration with Portuguese manufacturer De La Espada.

Bow is a system of simple timber frames and surfaces held in tension by a rolled sheet of mild steel. The rolled steel allows for a great strength to weight ratio swell as economy of materials. It also has the benefit in the bench of giving suspension to the user and some flex to the seat.

The integration between the steel and timber has been CNC cut to maintain a fluid integration of the two materials and geometries. The timber and steel system has also been designed to be knockdown for cost effective shipping to reduce its carbon footprint. The system has been developed over a period of 12 months after several interations of prototying and testing.

Materials:
Solid Ash Mild Steel
Dimensions:
Bench H 450mmx L1800mm x D400mm
Trestle H 740mmx L1800mm x D900mm

The post Bow by Benjamin Hubert
for De La Espada appeared first on Dezeen.

The owner of each vessel chooses their own combination of rings and each configuration will only be sold ten times.

Traditional materials and techniques can be seen in the decanter style base made from cut glass (above) and the various rings of turned wood in walnut, maple and oak.

Other rings have been made using contemporary processes such as rapid prototyping, seen in the black diamond-patterned piece (above), and CNC cutting, seen in the burgundy plastic piece (below). The other materials used include gold, silver, polished steel, ceramic and granite.

The vessels were inspired by a stacking children's toy brought in by one of the studio's designers. "The noise of the wood connecting, the feeling of quality in the materials and the stacking nature really appealed to us all," explained Vitamin's James Melia.

Element Vessel was shown at the designjunction trade show during London Design Festival last month. See all our stories about London Design Festival here, including Benjamin Hubert's range of lighting made from underwear fabric, also shown at designjunction.

Other products by Vitamin we've featured previously include gnomes decorated with street art and a vase that feeds plants with an intravenous drip.

See other stories about Vitamin »
See other stories about vases »

Here's some more information from the designers:

Vitamin Launch their Limited Edition Element Vessel Range

The birth of CNC and Rapid Prototyping has in recent years contributed to a fall in the amount of traditional processes used in modern design. The drive for cheaper and cheaper mass produced parts and security in numerical operated machines has left skilled craftsmen fighting to keep their professions alive. Vitamin’s Element Vessel range explores mixing both traditional and modern processes showing that they can be used together in contemporary design.

The Limited edition objects have three variations of base. Around this base the owner can arrange and build their own shape using the many variations of ring made from the numerous material options. This unique purchase method does not only encourage owner interaction, but also ensures truly limited editions. Once a combination has been sold ten times, it will never be sold in this configuration again.

The rings are available in wide range of materials, including: Rose gold, Amber Gold, Silver, Polished Steel, Glass, Ceramic, Marble, Granite, American Black Walnut, Maple, American White Oak, Rapid Prototype and Cork. Modern processes include: Computer Numerical Control, otherwise known as CNC and Rapid Prototyping. Traditional processes include: Wood turning, Glass blowing, Metal turning, Metal Plating and Glass cutting.

The post Element Vessel
by Vitamin appeared first on Dezeen.