Celebrating ten years of design, food, fashion, "conceptualization and cookery," the creative collective Arabeschi Di Latte welcomed design observers from across the world into their new Milan studios in the Ventura Lambrate district.

Working in collaboration with London-based DesignMarketo, the lovely ladies of Arabeschi Di Latte allowed Design Marketo to raid their archives in anticipation of their move from Florence to Milan. The project, Wundertute, is a whimsical game of chance where participants can play to win a bag of Arabeschi Di Latte memorabilia. For 2 Euros, you purchase a slice of homemade pie. Hidden inside select slices of pie are beans—if you discover a bean (sized small, medium and large) in your slice, then you win a corresponding prize pack off the wall.

The name of the exhibition, Wundertute comes from the common names for these surprise prize packs. Many cultures have a tradition of these grab bags—Wundertute in Germany, Pesca di Fortuna in Italy, Pochette Surprise in France and Lucky Dip in the UK. Divided into three "sizes" of archival materials—odds and ends of a decade-worth of design projects—the small bags are filled with extraneous design materials, medium bags are filled with tools and the large bags are filled with products.

Here's a decidedly niche electronic product with heavily retro looks: Yamaha's THR, "a cross between a hi-fi stereo player and a guitar amp." Intended as an amp for the home guitarist, the THR can also be used as a portable speaker for your iDevice or similar.

What we most dig about it is something that would've run us afoul of our design professors back in school: The design belongs to that retro class of objects that, independent of function, were all painted with the same broad design brush. In other words, if you transported this back in time to a home in the '60s, it wouldn't have looked out of place at all, but one person would guess it was a portable heater while another would assume it was a transistor radio.

The video below explains the features of, and thinking behind, the THR. (Non-music lovers may find the guitar demo parts get a bit long; for those of you who actually play guitar and are interested in the THR's aural properties, there's a series of videos more targeted towards you here.)

Fabian Dumas, The War of the Lights - Yokozuna suspension lamp (produced by DARK). Atame collection of suspension, table and floor lamps.

Celebrating it's fifth year in Milan, DMY Berlin presents Instant Stories, tauting the work of eleven of the city's finest young designers. Produced and presented as a traveling exhibition, the individual works were shown in "stage-cases" that felt like elevated dioramas—giving each piece a sense of theater. These stage-cases emphasized the narrative aspect of design and allowed each designer to create their own context, identify visual cues as inspiration and, like any good piece of fiction, invite the viewer to participate or reject the premise.

The format of the case-stages corresponds to the 4:3 proportion of digital images. Already pre-configured to be instantly turned into a two-dimensional, mobile and easy shareable medium, the sceneries help the objects to come to life not just within an ephemeral moment on the exhibition's stage, but as a handy snapshot you can take home.

Rasko Naibaf Furniture, This is Not an Umbrella - parapluie table (produced by Rasko Naibaf Furniture).

The pieces and their corresponding backdrops ranged from the predictable (Rasko Naibaf Furniture's umbrella-shaped "Parapluie Table" presented against a background of clouds) to the ethereal (HAW's topographical bowls set against an otherworldly landscape). The challenge of this type of scenographic display becomes the way the storytelling itself can devalue or overextend the framed object.

DMY Berlin presents Instant Stories
Overlite
via Privata Oslavia 8
Ventura Lambrate District
Milan
Through April 22

Mark Braun - Hama Chair & Lounge Chair (produced by Atelier Haussmann). Fortune Drinking set TS 283 (produced by J&L Lobmeyr).

We had the chance to talk to Israeli designer Michael Blumenfeld—one of several young designers who arrived at Milan's Ventura Lambrate district under the "TLV Express" moniker—about his work and that of his colleagues. Their mission statement:

TLV express collective represents a new Israeli design perspective, based on experimental investigation of materials and technologies. Israel is a small country with a small industry in comparison to the world therefore the designer becomes the manufacturer of his own designs.

Living in a young country with a short history and little craftsmanship tradition, the self production process becomes a journey to the unknown. Lack of tradition and support from the industry has benefits also,The Israeli designer feels free to experiment with no restrictions from the factory; often the mistakes hold all the surprises and the handmade practice leads to mastery.

As for his own work, Blumenfeld's "Trizin" series of stools and tables are based on a canonical simple machine: the wedge. The design expresses the process with an economy of form and materials.

Process video and work from his fellow Tel Avivites after the jump...

Architect Sally Mackereth certainly isn't the first established architect to try her hand at furniture design, but she's made a strong foray into that world of medium-sized design objects—material innovation and all—with CAST001, her first series of furniture, which recently debuted at Tom Dixon's MOST on the occasion of the Salone.

Mackereth has opted to forgo the easy stepping stone of the living room or kitchen and start with two matching articles of patio furniture, with future pieces to follow. CAST001 is an exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reconstructed stone that has been 'infused' with a small percentage of metal—bronze, silver or gold—which imparts a muted sheen to the highly tactile surfaces. The designer has called on "traditional molding and casting specialists Stevensons of Norwich" to cast the pieces with distinctive textures.

Senior Industrial Designer
Ingersoll Rand
Shanghai, China

Ingersoll Rand is seeking an experienced Senior Industrial Designer with proven success and ambition to create innovative products. As their first industrial designer in Asia, he or she will work in the Shanghai (Minhang) engineering center with primary responsibility to infuse design into new products for the Asia market while also designing for global markets. The Senior Industrial Designer will have hands-on, multiple project responsibility producing a regional and international portfolio of industrial tools and equipment, with a challenge to create desirable designs that optimize function, appearance and product value.

» view

The best design jobs and portfolios hang out at Coroflot.

Spazio Hayon is a solo exhibition by designer Jaime Hayon. Known for his uncanny gift for combining eye-catching Mediterranean flair with a minimalist design language, Hayon continues to refine his style across an ever-increasing variety of products, created for several manufacturers the world over.

"The Guest" series for Lladró Atelier; "Fantasmico" clock

"Hope Bird" (detail) for Bosa

"FORMA" porcelain by Jaime Hayon for Kamide Choemon-gama

"Halo" mirror

"FORMA" porcelain by Jaime Hayon for Kamide Choemon-gama

An overhead CGI rendering of Strand East situated in London. To the north is Olympic Park. All images courtesy LandProp.

IKEA's building a neighborhood. I recently read up on The Globe and Mail's Doug Saunders's visit to the site, dubbed Strand East, which will be managed by the property development arm of Inter IKEA Group.

The designs, available in an interactive web site, will be implemented in a stretch of property in east London and span some 26 acres, with 1,200 homes and apartments for families and dwellers of different sizes and incomes, as well as office and commercial spaces and a school.

A view of Dane's Yard and the Northern Quarter, the planned creative zone.

Indeed, Strand East's recent press release [PDF] points to five types of quarters, from a creative one in the northeast to a commercial one in the north. At the south, "The Hub" will serve as the primary social space, with a public square, a community building and cafes and bars. The residential area will pay homage to London's urban character, with "mews" and back alleys for privacy, and townhouses for larger families. With an eye towards sustainability and community, some areas will be designated solely for walking, and clean energy strategies are promised.

A company called Buff Labs has developed a see-through film that adheres to the front of your smartphone and provides an absurd level of protection. Check out this first demo, which resides at the intersection of materials science and anger management:

How ridiculous is that? And did you see how thin the stuff was when he peeled it off?

Wait, it gets crazier. And kind of Gallagher-esque:

The historic SCAD Trustee Theatre where panels and lectures took place.

The Design Ethos: Vision Reconsidered 2012 kicked off yesterday morning with Do-ference, the first part of the two-part conference focused on less talking, more doing.

Scott Boylston, a Professor of Design for Sustainability at Savannah College of Art and Design, founded Design Ethos a year and a half ago with the goal of having a conference that simultaneously offered participants the opportunity to take action.

A sign at a preschool on Waters Avenue, thanking the Do-ference participants.

Bringing together speakers, students, designers, and other locals, the Do-ference divided these participants into six 'teams' who, over the course of the next three days, will strategize ways to empower existing assets along Waters Avenue in Savannah, GA. Each group was assigned an area of focus, taken from the City of Savannah's Waters Avenue Revitalization Initiative: Empowering Community, Empowering Business, Empowering Youth, Empowering Culture, Empowering Place, & Empowering Renewal. In each group, roles were assigned for design voices, a regional voice, municipal voice, as well as a community leader.

Meadowlark Studio and Indigo Sky Gallery Community.

Jerome Meadows and some of the planter installations.

Team Empowering Culture, brainstorming in Meadowlark Studio.

I joined the Empowering Culture group, which met in artist (and RISD Alumnus!) Jerome Meadow's Meadowlark Studio, housed in a historic icehouse off of Waters Avenue. The stunning studio has an adjacent gallery, Indigo Sky Gallery Community, also run by Meadows, which serves as a community space for events and exhibitions. Given the task to initiate a unique, yet sustainable system that celebrates the culture of Waters Avenue, our group immediately set to work brainstorming and discussing various approaches to the problem.

Kate Bordine talking about the planters in the community.

If you started a made-in-America furniture design business during the financial doldrums of 2009, and have since grown from working out of your house to a dozen-person operation in a 20,000-square-foot facility, you're doing something right. And what Greg Hankerson is doing right is creating very specific furniture that a lot of people want.

Hankerson founded Arizona-based Vintage Industrial, a company making desks, tables, seating, shelving and more, all of it looking like it was pulled out of a French factory from the 1920s.

While Crumpler's Dry Red No. 3 rolling carry-on wound up providing a surprising amount of space, now we turn to another bag you'd rightfully expect to provide generous cargo room: Their Spring Peeper with Wheels, a duffel bag perfectly sized to carry-on standards and featuring a retractable handle.

If we put the unladen bags side by side, they seem to occupy the same-sized footprint.

However, being a duffel bag the Spring Peeper doesn't have inherent structure on the sides, and this flexibility allows you to swell the bag up to its full 40-liter capacity (versus the 27 liters of the No. 3). The top and bottom panels are stiff and the retractable handle's frame provides stiffness on the bottom, which is what enables the bag to keep its shape.

We typically use the term magnum opus to refer to pinnacles of artistic achievement.

His best body of work

But that Latin phrase was originally a term tossed around by alchemists, the materials scientists of medieval times.

They've got great chemistry

Specifically, magnum opus referred to the alchemical quest, believe it or not, to create the lapis philosophorum or "Philosopher's Stone, which wasn't a stone at all but a theoretical substance that would purportedly transmute lead into gold.

Box office gold

The magnum opus had four stages of creation: Nigredo, which turned the substance black; albedo, which turned it white; citrinitas, which turned it yellow; and finally rubedo, which turned the substance red. The term rubedo thus came to mean success in alchemical slang, if you can picture a bunch of alchemists standing around saying "Dude that is so rubedo."

So why are we telling you all this? Because this year Tiffany & Co., to celebrate their 175th anniversary, has created a new jeweler's metal and it's called Rubedo.

Tiffany's new RUBEDO metal, which marries the richness of gold, the brilliance of silver and the warmth of copper. Metallurgists experimented with different ratios over a long testing period until they achieved the desired color, radiant with the glow of "first light" that awakens a sense of wonder and ennobles the spirit. In addition, this unique alloy is lightweight yet strong, polishes to a smooth luster and is exceptionally flattering to the skin.

We probably could have just told you about the new metal without showing you pictures of a shirtless Tom Selleck, pre-game mock joust preparations and a poster of a movie about child wizards, but it's a Friday. In any case, you can check out some rubedo jewelry here, or hit the jump for more eye candy.

It's time to rally and ensure you make it into our awesome celebration of design enterprise. Tuesday April 24 is the final deadline for the Core77 Design Awards so take advantage of the remaining time to polish those answers, upload those files, and submit and pay for your entries. You've got until 9pm Eastern Time (6pm Pacific) to do this. Our all-star jurors are eager to see your best work from last year and amazing coverage both here and in print awaits, not to mention the trophy of trophies if you win your category. So what are you waiting for!

Click here to register and enter, or if you've begun the process, get to the finish line.

During Holon Design Week dozens of promising young designers made presentations to a panel of design week directors and global design leaders. We saw everything from jewelry, fashion, product, housewares, furniture and brand new materials. Meet five of the ten best designers emerging in Israel's growing design community.

1. Tal Zur

Only a few designers focused on Judaica, and the best pieces came from Tal Zur, the only designer to brazenly declare "I don't have a website" as she handed out handmade booklets of her work instead. Her portfolio included two different Kiddush glasses, one of which doubled as a wine stopper—a clever way to pass both the glass and wine bottle around the table. My favorite of Tal's designs are the self-slicing Hallah Handles, a clever silicone and ceramic device that bakes with the bread and then slices it when you pull the handles. It's a perfect example of how to make localized design appeal to a global audience. I may not be Jewish but I still love bread.

Architects Pascale Wakim and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte originally founded Carwan Gallery as a pop-up space in Beirut just two years ago. Insofar as the Salone is an excellent opportunity for Carwan Gallery to further its mission to "encourage students, artisans, designers, and the public at large to connect with each other and the world of design in the Middle East," they're presenting "Contemporary Perspectives in Middle Eastern Crafts" at Milan's Ventura Lambrate district.

With a concept that seeks to expand the vocabulary of traditional crafts, Carwan has commissioned a selection of international designers to create a series of new, limited-edition objects in partnership with local artisans in the Middle East. Each designer's project encapsulates the re-imagining of a distinct, time-honored craft, where the specialized technique of each artisan has formed the basis for the creation of a new object by the designer. The designers are Karen Chekerdjian (Lebanon), Khalid Shafar (UAE), Lindsey Adelman (USA), Studio mischer'traxler (Austria), Nada Debs (Lebanon), Oeuffice (Canada), Paul Loebach (USA), Philippe Malouin (Canada) and Tamer Nakisci (Turkey).

Milan's own Oeuffice created "Ziggurat" containers for the show, tapping the expertise of Lebanese craftsmen for the wood inlay of the architectural sculpture (Carwan's Bellavance-Lecompte and Jakub Zak are behind the collaborative effort). According to the designers, "the form evokes a simplification of traditional Muquarnas found in Middle Eastern architecture, and the inlaid ornamentation renders a new study of scale and an unexpected shift in direction of traditional pattern standards." The set of eight boxes comes in two color options (shown open below).

Khalid Shafar's "ARABI" chandelier is a modern pendant lamp composed from "circular handmade wool Egaals, the black headband[s] worn by men in the Arab region to hold the head cover."

Philippe Malouin's "Extrusion" series includes bowls, a stool, a tray and a table. The distinctive pattern of each of the gorgeous objects comes from the intarsia process of assembling wood slats; the form is shaped with a lathe. Both techniques are "ancient crafts that originated in the Middle East around 1200 BC."

Salone Satellite has been the showcase for emerging design talent for nearly a decade and a half now, and Swedish designer Jonas Forsman was one of many standouts at the jam-packed subsection at the end of Pavilions 22 & 24 at the fairgrounds. Designers from neighboring booths had nothing but positive things to say about his work... as did the team from the Design Report Awards, who deemed Forsman's work worthy of an honorable mention.

The "Arc" chair is an elegant update to the folding chair.

The articulation of the "Big Up" desk lamp (left) was perfectly calibrated; the spring (à la Anglepoise) is hidden in the base.

The "Parasol" table lamp, on the other hand, featured a freely articulating shade, thanks to its ball-and-socket joint.

Two fantastic SCAD students greeting at the door in their Do-ference t-shirts.

Friday marked the second day of the Do-ference and the first day of the Ethos Conference, with panelists and workshops running simultaneously across the city of Savannah. Ezio Manzini, Italian design strategist, sustainability expert, and founder of DESIS (Design for Social Innovation towards Sustainability), started the day off right for both events with his morning keynote, which left the audience a little more educated about the history behind 'social innovation,' as well as some of the driving factors behind it.

Manzini spoke about how designers had the power to create great social innovation through local, yet radical, change. Introducing the audience to a new, emerging world of "small projects to broad visions and vice versa," Manzini told the theatre of students, faculty, professionals, and DO-ers that the key issue and most powerful driver today is social innovation. Creatives, he said, hold the power to take the resources that exist and combine them in a new way.

"I've been one of the promoters of the idea of design for social innovation," spoke Manzini. "When people talk about social innovation, they talk in a language of organization. You talk about social management, social enterprise—and it's good! It's necessary, because the initiative has to be organized."

The Italian professor went on to discuss the importance of quality through all of this, particularly the "quality of the local-connected." A delicate balance, the idea of being both local and connected is a difficult struggle, as being local can mean to close oneself from the rest of the world. Manzini urged the crowd to be local and open—also known as "cosmopolitan local."

Nowadays, there is a lot of people talking about design activists, kind of politicians, designers that participate through political action—doing something to help directly, political meaning, that could promote social innovation.

Delving into the issue of time, Manzini used a metaphor of great wine, compared to a can of Coca-Cola. "You cannot consume deep qualities fast." While Coke is quick to make and quick to drink, people tend to savor and appreciate a bottle of great wine. After all, "in slowness, you can consume complexities."

In addition to "Objet Préféré" at the Triennale, Fabrica × Benetton presented a similarly geometric collection at Tom Dixon's MOST:

How do people sit? There are those who flop down on a staircase or on a sawn-off tree trunk, those who prefer a stool with turned legs or a classic straw-bottomed chair. Then there are those who use a chair as a tool, to get hold of something that otherwise would be out of reach.

"Searching for Cassiopeia" is a collection of 12 chairs conceived by the young designers at Fabrica and manufactured by the Italian Chair District, the exhibition is inspired by the constellation, in which "the five brightest stars of Cassiopeia resemble the shape of a chair. (A quick refresher, for those of you who don't know the tale by heart: "A vain Egyptian queen is tied to this chair, condemned to circle the pole star for all eternity.")

To those who have always thought that sitting is a banal and ultimately repetitive gesture, the project shows that a throne is very different from a step, a chaise longue very different from a bench, a stool entirely the opposite of a small armchair. It shows that to relax after a day's hard work, you need the right backrest, and that there is nothing better than falling into a soft padded mat with your loved one.

As for the Italian Chair District?

Located in the heart of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, this manufacturing cluster includes small, sub-contracting artisan firms and big industrial companies highly specialized in the wood/furniture sector and in each individual stage in the manufacturing process...

The Italian Chair District is synonymous with a collective, flexible and efficient system that absorbs contemporary sources of inspiration without betraying its roots, creates a dialogue with international trends, features cultural input by designers from a wide range of backgrounds and training, and grafts them onto well-established techniques and knowledge.

More after the jump...

During Holon Design Week dozens of promising young designers made presentations to a panel of design week directors and global design leaders. We saw everything from jewelry, fashion, product, housewares, furniture and brand new materials. See five of the ten best designers emerging in Israel's growing design community below, and be sure to check out the other five in Part One.

1. Lena Dubinsky
A gifted ceramicist and a Red Dot Design winner, Lena has a broad portfolio that includes a set of ceramic irrigation tiles as well as a collection of tools that pays homage to ancient measuring devices. She also might have been the only designer I met at Design Week who wasn't interested in producing a large run of her work or even selling it at all. When I asked her if she had a sales plan for a line of porcelain rings she had just made, each a unique, miniature sculpture crafted by hand, she told me she didn't feel right selling them, that it would be more honest to give them away to people to ensure they found a good home.

2. Lital Mendel
I saw several designers use materials in a surprising way, but none so surprising as Lital's jewelry made from vacuum-formed PVC wrapped stones. Her 'plastic-wrapped' pieces are a result of a search for a replacement for diamonds. No, there is simply no replacement for diamonds, but her clear, shiny gem stones might be a start. I like her Folded collection best. Each piece is made entirely from a single piece of intricately folded paper.