First shown at their graduation from the Design Academy Eindhoven, the solar-powered system rotates a mould to wrap thread round itself, first drawing the cord through a tank of glue and a tank of dye.

When there is more sunlight the mould spins faster, so the material builds up thicker and in a lighter colour, meaning the resulting piece is striped with the passing of clouds and moments of bright light.

The items are priced by length and pieces made in the winter are shorter to match the days.

Read more about the project in our earlier story.

Watch Mischer'Traxler talk about their Collective Works machine that only creates baskets when someone's watching in our earlier movie.

See all our stories about Mischer’Traxler »
See all our stories from Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 »

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at Clerkenwell Design Week appeared first on Dezeen.

Called Collective Works, the machine uses sensors to detect an audience and starts to glue together strips of wooden veneer.

When more bodies join, felt tips pens make contact with the veneer and apply colours for as long as the onlookers remain clustered round it.

"If the process ends with just something to look at, it's not enough," says Katharina Mischer when describing their projects, "the outcome needs to be as strong at the process".

See all our stories about Mischer'Traxler »
See all our stories from Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 »

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at Clerkenwell Design Week appeared first on Dezeen.

Clerkenwell Design Week 2012: Vienna designers Mischer'Traxler present a basket-making machine that stops working when nobody's looking at Clerkenwell Design Week in London this week.

When sensors in the framework detect the presence of one person, a strip of oak veneer is drawn through a basin of glue and wound round into a basket.

If a second person is detected, colour will be applied to the veneer by a marker pen.

More spectators cause it to add more colour, so the resulting object becomes a record of how much interest was generated at different times during its production.

Called Collective Works, the machine only works while it holds the attention of its audience and if spectators completely lose interest, the piece will never be completed.

The project was initially developed for the W-hotels designer of the Future award exhibition at Design Miami/Basel 2011 - see our earlier story.

Clerkenwell Design Week takes place from 22-24 May and includes our latest Dezeen Watch Store pop-up at the main venue at the Farmiloe Building, 34 St John Street until 9pm tonight - more details here.

See all our stories about Mischer'Traxler »
See all our stories about Clerkenwell Design Week 2012 »

Here's some more information from the designers:

‘Collective works’ is a production process which is just fully functioning when people pay attention to the producing machine. Reacting to its audience, the process translates the flow of people into an object. The resulting outcome varies in colour and size just like the level of interest is varying during the time of production.

As soon as one person is coming close and looks at the machine, the production process is started: A wooden 24mm wide veneer-strip is pulled through a glue basin and slowly coiled up around a 20mm thick wooden base. Since the turning platform with the base moves downwards the veneer strip slowly builds up a basket. A mould is not needed since the material supports itself and does not collapse when being coiled up. As soon as somebody else joins to look at the process, colour is added via a marker onto the veneer.

The interaction is possible due to sensors in the frame of the machine. If one sensor is activated/one person is watching, the machine starts winding. When two are activated, the marker with a light tone colour is pressed to the veneer to colour it. The third person results in one more marker with a gradiently darker colour. This goes up to four markers at the same time staining the veneer-strip black.

Depending on the overall interaction time the baskets' height is defined. The more often somebody stops by to watch the process the higher the outcome gets.

The machine directly reacts to each observer and thus the outcome is as well directly depending on the audience. Every spectator leaves a mark on the object and therefore each basket becomes an unique record of the people's interest in the object's production. A basket – a vessel used to collect something, becomes a collection of data by itself. If nobody is interested in the project, it stops producing at all and the final object just does not get made. This can be seen as 'production on interest'.

'Collective works' also questions the relation between man and machine. The audience is turned into workers even though their effort is basically just their time they spend with the machine - but time is what most of us lack. Somehow. Normally many machines in factories just need some technician to monitor the production and suddenly one machine needs some audience to produce colourful outcomes.

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Milan 2012: process and outcome are literally given equal weighting in this installation of work by Vienna designers Mischer’Traxler, shown on weighing scales at Wait and See shop in Milan this week.

The Balanced exhibition includes their Reversed Volumes cast from vegetables, The Idea of a Tree furniture made according to how much sunlight is available and jewellery that incorporates seeds.

See all our stories about their work here.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile takes place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here.

Here's some more information from Wait and See:

For the 51st edition of the Salone del Mobile, mischer’traxler and Wait and See, present BALANCED.

mischer’traxler, the well known new generation designers from Vienna, teamed up with Wait and See to exhibit an installation which represents their work and forma mentis.

Equilibrium, the fil rouge that threads through their life credo into their creative concepts, culminating in the outcome of their work, is represented in this exhibition.

The chosen medium is scales: carefully arranged, in precarious equipoise, narrating their continuous bet and research on the concept of cause and effect, showing inspirational material, experiments and theory on the same level as the final product itself, thus becoming a three-dimensional collage of mischer’traxler’s modus operandi, filling Wait and See’s space with tension and curiosity.

Wait and See, the concept store and exhibition space created by Uberta Zambeletti, exudes an atmosphere reflective of its name and has a strong correlation with the theory of mischer’traxler which has thus fostered a creative and fertile collaboration.

The narrative of transformation together with the concept of pause and suspension, is the basis of the mission and ambition of their collaboration.

BALANCED
Via santa Marta 14,
17 - 22 April
10am - 8pm

P.S. breathe slowly

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Design Miami/Basel 2011: here are some images of installations at Design Miami/Basel by this year’s W Hotels Designers of the Future award winners Studio Juju, Asif Khan and mischer'traxler.

Above: In the Clouds by Asif Khan

London designer Asif Khan created floating clouds of foaming bubbles by filling soap suds with helium and forcing them through fishing nets.

Above: Dyadic Conversations by mischer'traxler

Thomas Traxler and Katharina Mischer of mischer'traxler present mirrors that only work when more than one person is standing in front of them, alongside their Relumine lights (see our earlier story).

Above and top: Juju Has Us Talking by Studio Juju

Singapore designers Timo Wong and Priscilla Lui of Studio Juju have created a meeting place with flexible metal strips that frame little blue chairs.

Above: In the Clouds by Asif Khan

Design Miami/Basel continues until 18 June.

Above: Dyadic Conversations by mischer'traxler

See last year's W Hotels Designers of the Future installations here.

Here are details from Design Miami/Basel:

W HOTELS 2011 DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE REVEAL INNOVATIVE WORKS AT DESIGN MIAMI/ BASEL

Winners of the Coveted Award Display Their “Conversation Pieces” at the Global Forum for Design

Continuing its dedication and passion for innovation in design, W Hotels Worldwide today unveiled the works of the 2011 W Hotels Designers of the Future award winners during Design Miami/ Basel.  Now in its second year, the successful alliance between W Hotels and Design Miami/ seeks to expand the benefits that the award brings to the winners, giving the emerging designers a global platform on which to showcase their work.

“W Hotels DNA stems from innovative design and we are always looking toward the future at what is new and next,” says Eva Ziegler, Global Brand Leader, W Hotels Worldwide. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Design Miami/ and celebrate these three forward-thinking design studios as they present their work to the world.”

The 2011 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award looks beyond traditional product and furniture design, seeking work that is truly groundbreaking and innovative.  This year, the recognized designers were commissioned to draw inspiration from “Conversation Pieces,” a theme provided to the design candidates by Design Miami/ Basel and W Hotels.

The 2011 W Hotels Designers of the Future Awards winners were announced during Salone del Mobile in Milan and include:

• Asif Khan
• Mischer’Traxler - Thomas Traxler & Katharina Mischer
• Studio Juju - Timo Wong & Priscilla Lui

These three winners were chosen by a selection committee comprising of Wava Carpenter, Associate Director, Design Miami/; Aric Chen, Beijing Design Week; Li Edelkoort, Edelkoort Inc.; Marcus Fairs, Editor-in-Chief, Dezeen.com; Alexis Georgacopoulos, Director of the Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne; Constance Rubini, School of Decorative Arts, Paris; Kenya Hara, Creative Director, Muji; Konstantin Grcic, KGID; Zoe Ryan, Art Institute of Chicago; and Mike Tiedy, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Design & Innovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.,  the parent company of W Hotels Worldwide.

“Being at the forefront of design is an ongoing goal for W Hotels,” says Mike Tiedy, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Design & Innovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. “To identify and connect with these emerging designers will continue to drive design forward at W Hotels across the globe.”

The “Conversation Pieces” created by the 2011 award winners are three distinct designs that showcase each studio’s range of talent.  Asif Khan turns foaming bubbles into an architectural yet whimsical element of design, while Studio Juju constructs a social space where people can convene.  Mischer’Traxler creates conversation by using mirrors that work only when two or more people stand in front of them.  All of the pieces trigger an immediate response in the viewer, from serious to fanciful, creating conversation that is sure to last beyond the Design Miami/ Basel exhibition halls.

The winners of last year’s W Hotels Designer of the Future Awards - Beta Tank, Graham Hudson, rAndom International, and Zigelbaum + Coelho - are continuing to celebrate their successes.  W Hotels created a global platform for these designers, helping them take their work from a conceptual stage to a level where they can expose their work to consumers and design enthusiasts alike.  The winners traveled to W locations across the globe during key design weeks, setting up on-site installations at W Barcelona, W Doha and showcasing their work during Istanbul Design week.  Zigelbaum + Coelho and rAndom International were also integrated at the W Taipei premiere event in March 2011, where rAndom International had also created a permanent installation for the hotel. Zigelbaum + Coelho was commissioned to create installations for the W St. Petersburg premiere event, which took place earlier this month.

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at Design Miami/Basel 2011 appeared first on Dezeen.