The glasses feature one-piece frames of printed polyamide with flexible joints instead of hinges. "It's the first pair of glasses that I know about that is one component," says Arad. "It's monolithic."

The frames are the latest concept designed by Arad for new brand pq eyewear, of which he is co-founder. Yet he says the fact that they're printed is uninteresting: "Who cares?" he says. "What we care about is does it work well? Does [printing] give you freedom to do things you can't in other techniques? Not the fact that it's printed."

Arad was an early pioneer of 3D printing as a way of making finished products rather than prototypes. His 1999 show Not Made by Hand, Not Made in China, which featured lights, jewellery and vases, was several years ahead of other designers' experiments in with a technology that at the time was called "rapid prototyping".

"There was a lot of excitement in the technology," says Arad. "It was obvious that it would be embraced by lots of people, and then that technology would be less exciting. You could do more exciting things but the technology would be, and should be, taken for granted."

Arad compares the one-piece construction of the printed eyewear with the multi-component, hand-assembled A-Frame glasses he recently designed for pq.

"If you ask my studio to send you a movie of how say [the A-Frame] glasses are made you'll see there's so much manual work around it and so much fiddling," says Arad, explaining that the glasses require a skilled workforce to assemble. "I don't want to take the jobs from these people, but [printing] is a different way of doing something."

Arad helped come up with the pq logo and brand name, which refers to the spectacle-like forms of the letters p and q. "It's a new brand that we started from the ground up," Arad explains. "We had to invent a name for a brand of eyewear, we had to do the logo. [It's called] pq because when you write p and q you draw glasses, and they are palindromic, so you can look at it from [the other side]."

The glasses are featured in Print Shift, our one-off, print-on-demand magazine about 3D printing.

The products were launched at luxury eyewear store Punto Ottico in Milan during Milan design week. We travelled to the opening in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. See more Dezeen and MINI World Tour reports from Milan.

The music featured is a track called Where are Your People? by We Have Band, a UK-based electronic act who played at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan.

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that is one component" appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: pulses of electricity change the colour of this workstation unveiled by designer Ron Arad at Salone in Milan this week (+ movie).

No Bad Colours by Ron Arad is presented as part of Jean Nouvel's Project: Office for Living installation in the SaloneUfficio space, which sets out the architect's vision for offices of the future.

The workstation is a simple black box with a desk and shelves against a colour-changing wall, which uses a patented technology developed by UK materials firm Versatile Technologies.

The colour of the wall changes instantly or fades slowly as pulses of electricity are applied to a layer of fluid held between transparent sheets.

The user can change or programme the colours with Bluetooth technology using their desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone application.

The wall doesn't require artificial lighting and once a colour has been selected it needs no extra power to be maintained.

"We are talking about reflecting rather than transmitting colours, so we don't require backlit panels and the surfaces enjoy rather than suffer from external light," said Arad.

Yesterday we reported on Arad's new range of 3D-printed spectacles and sunglasses for eyewear brand pq and Dezeen editor Rose Etherington posted a round-up of highlights from the Salone, including an aluminium sideboard by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and monochrome pendant lamps by Zaha Hadid.

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Here's some more information from Versatile Technologies:

In a blink, a beautiful block of green-veined marble is transformed into a rich shade of gold. At the touch of a button, a spectacular restaurant transitions from its winter theme to spring. The walls of a corporate office brighten to lift the spirits and productivity of employees near the end of the workday. And as caterers prepare for the arrival of guests, a family kitchen becomes the backdrop for a high-class cocktail party.

Introducing Active True Colour from Versatile Technologies, Ltd. — a dynamic surface material technology that enables infinite and instant changes in colour, design and pattern. Active True Colour is being introduced in Milan at Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2013. The revolutionary, patented Active True Colour technology enriches living spaces, workspaces and public spaces by dramatically expanding and enriching the way people experience colour and design. Using Active True Colour, surfaces are no longer static; they become adaptive and vital expressions of mood, tone, season and environment.

Ron Arad is presenting the first Active True Colour piece, an integrated colour-changing workstation containing a desk, shelves and wall, within his new project, No Bad Colours, as part of a Jean Nouvel-curated exhibition, Office For Living, taking place inside the Salone Ufficio Pavilion during the Salone del Mobile. This is the first outing of Arad’s ongoing development of products and projects incorporating Active True Colour in his role as lead designer and art director of the product.

"I was very excited to join this project as it offered a genuine new possibility to alter colours at will in both architectural spaces and small products,” said Mr. Arad. “The main ‘news’ here is that we are talking about reflecting rather than transmitting colours, so we don’t require backlit panels and the surfaces enjoy rather than suffer from external light. We immediately started work in a variety of scales and contexts. This is just the beginning."

Active True Colour delivers a nearly endless spectrum of yet-to-be imagined original designs, natural colours, patterns, and architectural finishes that can be applied to virtually any surface (interior and exterior walls, floors, table/counter tops, furniture, etc.). Active True Colour delivers vivid and beautiful colours, reflecting the ambient light, just like natural colour. The technology is nothing like the harsh, intrusive and more energy intensive light-emitting design solutions offered through LED, LCD or Plasma.

"Active True Colour is the foundation of a game-changing surface material and there is no better place to introduce it to the design and architecture community than the Saloni 2013," said Ran Poliakine, chairman, Versatile, Ltd. "The potential for incorporating Active True Colour into the design of all the places we live is as infinite as the boundaries of your imagination."

"As Active True Colour becomes a new standard for innovative, adaptive surface materials, we’re no longer going to ask what colour an object is without adding the word 'now,'" said Eyal Cohen, CEO, Versatile, Ltd. "We’re not going to choose colour when we buy, we’ll choose colour as we go. Active True Colour opens up a colourful new world of design possibilities that can evolve based on life’s ever-changing moments in time."

Initially, Versatile Technologies, Ltd. will partner with a select group of the world’s top designers, architects and real estate developers. Subsequently, Versatile plans to offer an electronic catalogue of stock and original colourful designs and patterns to all architects and designers seeking to work and design with this new medium. Versatile will deliver an array of architectural finishes: stone (marble, granite, etc.), wood, fabric, metals, glass, leather, sand, stucco; plus original surfaces that spring from the imaginations of designers.

How Active True Colour Works: For the layman, the foundation of the revolutionary, patented Active True Colour technology is organic chemistry. Versatile, Ltd. has pioneered and developed a proprietary, very low power technology that can be used to indefinitely change surface colours. The coloured layer of Active True Colour consists of a fluid held between transparent sheets that can selectively reflect a range of colours. The colours can be easily changed – either instantly or by fading – by applying pulses of electricity to the fluid film, which reorients the molecules of the fluid to create other colours. Active True Colour does not require any artificial, projected backlighting. Once the colour is generated, no further power is required to maintain the natural colour. Dr. David Coates, chief technology officer and the creator of Active True Colour, has
published more than 80 articles and eight scientific textbook chapters, and is named as an inventor on over 200 patents.

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by Ron Arad appeared first on Dezeen.

Speaking to Dezeen yesterday at the launch in Milan, Ron Arad explained: "The brand wanted to advertise the fact that it's printed but I said let's not go on about it. But it's printed. It's the first pair of glasses that I know about that is one piece of material; it's monolithic. It's polyamide."

The frames are built entirely from nylon powder using selective laser sintering (SLS) technology, with hinges made by scores in the material rather than from additional metal parts. "It has a stem that's flexible one way and stops the other," said Arad.

Above: Archway style from the Springs collection
Top: Angel style from the Springs collection

Each style is name after a station on the London Underground's Northern line, including Old Street, Kentish Town and Golders Green. The Angel shades have droplet-shaped lenses, the Colindale models come with round lenses and the Highgate and Archway designs both feature an exaggerated bridge.

All frames are available in a selection of colours and the sunglasses some with tinted lenses in various shades. Arad has also designed a range of glasses that can be adjusted to fit any face for the same company.

Above: Highgate style from the Springs collection

Arad was one of the first designers to work with 3D printing in 1999. "In 1999 we had our first outing with what in those days was called rapid prototyping," he said. "We did vases, lights and jewellery. There was a lot of excitement in the technology then, it was obvious it was on the cards and would be embraced by lots of people."

Other 3D-printed designs released in recent months include American football boot studs and a dress for Dita Von Teese, while a race to create the first 3D-printed house is on between a canal house in Amsterdam, a plastic dwelling to be assembled in three weeks and a home modelled on a Möbius strip.

Above: Balham style from the Springs collection

See all our stories about designs by Ron Arad »
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Read on more more information from pq:

Pq eyewear designed by Ron Arad introduces Springs

Pq, the original eyewear brand designed by Ron Arad adds Springs, a new collection to the pq family this spring.

Springs are a one-piece, one-material, monolithic creature. The gill-like sides allow the arms to hinge inwards freely but restrict them from opening outwards beyond the perfect width and perfect pressure for the head. A progenitor to Angel, and Corbs, now they are just part of one growing Springs family.

Standing out from the crowd, they are as playful as they are individual. Seven new styles within the SPRINGS collection share the cleverly integrated vertebrae giving a fluid continuous line unbroken by hinges and extraneous details. These unique frames enjoy curvaceous shapes and volumes, and are lightweight yet highly durable.

Made in the UK, embracing technology to overcome the constraints of traditional production techniques, Springs are made using SLS (selective laser sintering), a technique pioneered by Ron since the early 1990’s.

Pq launched in 2012 as Arad asserted; ‘There are very few ideas in the world of glasses.’ Pq’s name emanates from two letters side by side in the alphabet which together resemble a pair of glasses.

Springs also includes the distinctive Corbs, the first in the family produced from solid and laminated acetate.

The post Springs 3D-printed glasses
by Ron Arad for pq appeared first on Dezeen.

The same wire forms a hinge mechanism that automatically closes the arms when the glasses are taken off.

Each design in the collection is named after a different London Underground station.

These are the first in a series of frames by Arad for new eyewear brand pq.

See all our stories about Ron Arad »

See all our stories about spectacles and shades »

The details below are from pq:

With frames designed by the artist, architect, thinker, designer and teacher Ron Arad, pq is here to bring something new to the world of glasses.

New ideas are important. Most trousers look like trousers, most sweaters look like sweaters, most glasses look like glasses, but there is room for something new as well. That’s what pq is here to bring.

Individuality is a big part of pq. Not only frames that are a little bit different but frames that can make you a little bit different too.

Quality is another big part. It’s one thing to make prototypes that are enjoyable for days and another thing to make real frames that are reliable for years.

pq is about being a little playful too. pq has some serious frames and is serious about its frames but is not a fully signed-up member of the serious club. It plays a little on the outside.

Take the name for example. The brand is called pq because p and q are very good friends, nestled next to each other in the middle of a hostile alphabet, the mirror of each other, meaning nothing, and importantly meaning nothing in Japanese. pq stands for nothing but the shape of a pair glasses.

Afraid of “boredom, fundamentalists and philistines,” Arad has spent a career creating studio pieces and buildings that are innovative and uncompromised.

He sees pq as an opportunity to develop a product that, for the first time, will take his unique approach to design and “rest it on the ears and noses of a great many people.”

A-Frame:

In pursuit of coming up with a pair of frames to fit any face, we created the A-Frame. It’s a simple name for new kind of glasses idea that puts an A-shaped wire structure into the middle of the frame. The A in the bridge can be easily adjusted, to move the two lenses and frames closer or further apart.

To explain the nuts and bolts of the A-Frame; quite simply there aren’t any...

The wire that forms the A also forms the invisible sprung hinges. The magic really happens when you take the glasses off; they close effortlessly.

The A-Frame is constructed from the following materials: titanium, known for its durable, corrosion resistant and hypoallergenic properties; aluminium which is both light weight and corrosion resistant; acetate for colour fastness and comfort; corrosion resistant steel and the alloy, Monel.

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for pq appeared first on Dezeen.

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