In this series, Matthew Sullivan (AQQ Design) highlights some designers that you should know, but might not. Previously, he looked at Donald Judd's furniture designs.

Alan Buchsbaum: Born in Savannah, Georgia, 1936. Died in New York City, 1987.

Alan Buchsbaum was a key figure in three significant, consecutive design phases: Supergraphics, High-Tech and postmodernism. An upwelling of a particular style is a communal affair, though probably really only caused by the few people that have the strength to erupt it. That strength seems to require a love and care of precedent, as well as a commitment to synthesize this knowledge into a material form. From the expressed synthesis usually blossoms what is termed a "new" style. In the case of Buchsbaum, his career took its first real form with the congealing of Supergraphics in the late '60s. Supergraphics was a style of design (most commonly realized with interior decorators and architects) where large-format text, blown-up photographs and/or oversized patterns were superimposed onto buildings or interiors to effect an augmentation of a space. The augmentation, however, is purely visual, with zero physical change to the actual structure. Perhaps Supergraphics is best understood as a marriage of ad-hocism and pop art—taking ad-hocism's additive collage technique but eliminating its often folksy handmade quality by tightening it up with pop art's assimilation of large-scale advertising. Buchsbaum had many designs that promoted this approach. His use of a giant, blown-up photo of a pink rose blossom is completely paradigmatic of the Supergraphics method—and, to my eye, perfectly beautiful.

Above: interiors for the Tenenbaum house (1972). Top image: a Buchsbaum kitchen from 1978 (left) and a 1980 bedroom with a custom platform bed

A 1973 modular-dining design for a show sponsored by the fiberglass manufacturer Owens Corning

Arden Companies, a growing Bingham Farms, Michigan based leading manufacturer and distributor of Patio and Outdoor Lifestyle products partnering with prominent retailers in the USA and Canada, has an exciting opportunity for a Director Product Development & Design to be based in the corporate headquarters.

Reporting to the Vice President of Bombay Outdoor Living, a division of Arden Companies, this position will oversee the process and execution of the development of outdoor living furniture and select hard-lines. The position will also assume the responsibility of assessing, defining, designing and developing a complete Outdoor product assortment.

If you like to travel and fit the requirements on the next page, Apply Now.

While we all know IKEA, it's rare that we actually get to hear from any of their designers. So we were excited to receive some extended Q&As with not one, but a half-dozen of the designers behind their forthcoming PS 2014 Collection.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to design for IKEA, or how these guys and gals arrived there, read on. (Please note that in the following interviews, the designers are apparently referring to the "Secretary" and the "Bureau" as if they are two different names for the same piece; it's possible that was not worked out at press time.)

Designer:
David Wahl

Products:
- IKEA PS 2014 Pendant Lamp
- IKEA PS 2014 Work Station
- IKEA PS 2014 Plant Stand

What is your background as a designer?
I have been working for IKEA as an in house designer for 3.5 years. Previously I worked as an industrial designer in Stockholm, and before that I graduated from Beckmans College of Design in 2008. Now I am working as a designer for IKEA PDC in Shanghai.

How did you get to work with IKEA PS 2014?
I participated in the startup workshop together with the other designers in 2011.

In the process of co-creation, as with IKEA PS 2014, what are the challenges and what are the benefits with working like this?
It is fun and creative to meet other designers and see how they work and think. The difficulties are to continue working on the products after the workshop, when everyone is stationed at different locations around the world.

What is your personal experience of moving and living in small spaces?
My flat in Sweden is around 25 square meters; it takes a bit of extra effort to furnish in an efficient way. I use a projector for watching movies, instead of a TV. It is small and easy to move with you, and all you need at home is a white wall.

What was your design inspiration for IKEA PS 2014? What was it you wanted to achieve or complete with your design?
The inspiration for the Pendant lamp came from science fiction and video games. I also wanted the customer to be able to change the shape of the shade.

How does your design relate to "small space" or "on the move?"
I wanted the products to be small enough to fit my own apartment; by doing that I know that other people with limited space can use them as well.

How do you think that your products will be used by people?
I hope that people will find new ways of using the products, and that they will customize them to fit their personal style.

What are you most proud of, or like the most, with IKEA PS 2014?
The pendant lamp.

Is there anything from the collection you would like to get for yourself?
I like the open metal wardrobe.

What are you still waiting for to design?
A time machine.

This is so awesome we're surprised no one else has done this yet!

L.A.-based Corridor Digital is a tiny production company that makes full-time YouTube videos. Their latest combines a Dronefly and a GoPro, which we've seen before on the 'Tube—but they've also added the Man of Steel, which we haven't. Enough talk, behold:

The subtle attention to detail is what got me—did you notice how they got the lighting just right, in virtually all of the shots, including the barrel roll? The suspension of disbelief barrier is broken as handily as that guy's AK-47.

So given that Corridor Digital's videos are free, where does the funding come from? In two words, youse guys. CD is made up of directors Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer and producer Jake Watson, and the trio has a kind of no-deadline Kickstarter business model: They scrape up the scratch to make awesome vids that they release for free, then accept donations to both recoup their costs and set future videos up.

To accomplish this they've partnered up with Patreon, an organization set up to back creative content producers through crowdsourced funding. Sadly I don't see much application for the service to industrial design, but for those of you curious, here's how the Patreon system works:

Now that you've met part one and part two of our jury team announcements, we want to introduce our next round of stellar individuals that you get to impress when you enter the Core77 Design Awards. Don't forget that our deadline is just two days away, on Thursday, March 20, so submit your work now!

This is the latest installment of our Core77 Questionnaire. Previously, we talked to Mathieu Lehanneur.

Name:Jonas Wagell

Occupation: Architect and designer

Location: Stockholm

Current projects: There are many, but a couple worth mentioning are a line of glassware for the German company WMF and a desk lamp for Design Within Reach that should be launched in October. It's our first project together. Next weekend I'm going to Taipei to look at prototypes, which is quite exciting.

Mission: What I try to do is basically make a simple, intuitive product—something that's not too complicated and not decorative, but that can be used every day. That's the aim. For instance, with kitchenware and tableware, I don't think there should be "fancy" plates and glasses; it's much more interesting to make stuff that's actually being used all the time. So I suppose that's my niche.

Left: Wagell's Cloud pendant for Bsweden. Right: Punch, a recent lighting prototype

Prego, prototype serving utensils in molded plastic

When did you decide that you wanted to be a designer? I decided fairly late. I studied economics in high school, and although I was always really fond of drawing and painting as a child, I had almost forgotten about that. Then, when I was around 18, a friend of mine started studying graphic design, and I realized that was really interesting. So I started to study graphic design as well, when I was 19 or 20.

Education: I studied graphic design for a year, then I started working. After a while I switched to working part-time and going back to school part-time. First I studied communications and marketing for a year, then I went to Konstfack for five years, for a Master of Fine Arts.

First design job: After studying graphic design, I got a job at an ad agency in Stockholm—first as a graphic designer, but then quite soon I became a project manager. That was my first and only job before going back to school at Konstfack.

Who is your design hero? I don't really have a design "hero"—I think that's a big word. But I appreciate what Ettore Sottsass did with the Memphis movement. That came after the functionalist moment in design, and they did a lot of things that were more artistic—basically, where the aesthetics of the object were one of its functions. I think that's still relevant.

I also admire the Castiglioni brothers, although their work is almost the opposite of Memphis. They made a lot of functional items, but they also made a lot of experiments and tried out a lot of things that act as a sort of commentary on design.

The Tonic armchair for Mitab

Jack, a prototype desk lamp made of flat panels attached with phono jacks

Reporting by Morgan Walsh, photos by Ray Hu

Cose Nuove's Reindeer Antler Opener topped the list of statement bottle openers we saw at this year's International Home + Housewares Show. Though seemingly small on a scale of animal horns, the Antler Opener is large on a the scale of beer gadgets and the opener's unusual shape means it cannot be discretely stored in a standard kitchen drawer. Set atop the bar or hung on a wall, this opener is meant to be seen.

The Antler Opener puts on a bit of a show when performing its job, in the same vein as other antlers-as-utilitarian-objects: Greg Buntain of Fort Standard uses his to hang coats, while designer Taylor Simpson repurposed them into a set of bicycle handlebars. Fully functional, the opener imposes upon the viewer a moment of pause—determining the best grip and bottle position took a few seconds longer than with my standard keychain opener and added an aspect of deliberateness to the normally reflexive job of opening a beer.

Once again, the folks at Alessi are pleased to introduce several products this year, presenting a mix of playful yet functional items for the home, hearth and beyond. New and noteworthy items include the "Eat.It" silverware set from Wiel Arets, including the first ever butter knife and latte/iced tea spoon by the Italian company; Miriam Mirri's "Petnic" multi-purpose picnic basket; the "Noè" collection of wine rack and accessories, designed by Giulio Iacchetti; and the pentagonal "Territoire" tray by matali crasset, among other items

"Eat.It" collection by Wiel Arets

"Cha" by Naoto Fukasawa (photo at right by Benjamin Gross)

But beyond the product itself, Alessi announced a rather more comprehensive update to their entire product line. We caught up with Matteo Alessi, International Sales and Development Director for Alessi Europe & U.S.A., who walked us through a few of the new products and unveils the new "Super & Popular" campaign in his own words:

Image via Seadraggin

Love it or hate it, the U.S. Mint's forthcoming 3D coin seems to be capturing people's imaginations. And while we previously looked at the cool production methods behind making coins here and here, reader Dan pointed out that we were remiss in not mentioning Don Everhart, the U.S. Mint Sculptor responsible for turning Cassie McDonald's baseball design into reality:

Images via Coin News

Numismatic website Coin News has a feature up on Everhart, where you can see shots of him sculpting as well as the CNC mill they use to cut the steel blanks.

As for the rest of us who don't have access to such technology, there are DIY ways to make domed coins: Hobbyists and tinkerers use something called a doming block to hammer coins into sweet bowl shapes. Check out how the woman behind the Epbot "Geekery, Girliness, & Goofing Off" blog turned these pennies into buttons:

Images via Epbot

Inch is a clever and scrappy engineering and product development consultancy founded in 1990. They work hard on improving nutrition, exposing children to great books and providing breathable oxygen to small clinics for the first time. They work with clients that they respect, and create products that they believe in. This New York, NY team would love to hire you if you fit their various needs for Mechanical Engineers, a Product Design Intern and a Mechanical Engineering Intern.

For the three open Engineer positions, you'll need varying levels of experience but all three roles require a strong passion for, and ability to build and make just about anything. The best interns for this will be natural problem solvers who love to take things apart and put them back together as well. If it sounds like you fit the bill for any of these roles, don't hesitate, Apply Now.

While much of the Northern Hemisphere clenched its collective teeth through yet another week of bitter cold, the end of February was a rather multifaceted celebration of art and design in South Africa when Design Indaba, World Design Capital 2014 events, the Cape Town Art Fair, and the Guild Design Fair converged in Cape Town (surely not by coincidence, as 2014 also marks the 20th anniversary of the nation's independence). The latter event was organized by the same folks behind Southern Guild, who made a strong showing at the very first Collective Design Fair last May, and like the NYC event, Guild skewed toward the Design Miami crowd. Not that there's anything wrong with that—I wish I'd had more time to explore the eclectic offerings on view (not that the multi-building venue was that big anyhow).

Nacho Carbonell exhibition in the courtyard

Instead, I chanced upon an exhibitor whose mission is precisely to engage the Cape Town design community and public at large in a meaningful way. I recognized Daniel Charny immediately—I posted a video of his talk from Design Indaba 2013 just a few days prior—and he proudly gave me a tour of the Maker Library at Guild.

As its name suggests, it's a variation on a makerspace, a community hub that serves as a library-like resource for designers even as it transcends the scope of a mere repository of information. Rather, the Maker Library is designed to be a workshop and studio as much as it is a gallery, and the 'Librarian in Residence'—Heath Nash, in the case of Guild—is not only a knowledgeable administrator but a well-connected member of the local design community.

The Maker Library initiative finds its origins in the British Council, an organization is tasked with "educational opportunities and cultural relations" around the world. This year sees a focus on South Africa: As 2014 sees the nation enter its second decade of independence, so too is the first generation of "born-frees" on the cusp of adulthood, and an arts program called Connect ZA (sometimes styled as "Connect/ZA"; pronounced "Connect Zed-A," per the local flavor) is intended to meet them halfway.

Although the exhibition closed on March 9 along with the rest of the Guild Design Fair, the British Council / ConnectZA have posted an open call for other Maker Libraries in South Africa; applications are due on April 4. Here is a selection of the work from the Maker Library at Guild, which Charny organized with V&A curator Jana Scholze:

Are you ready for a spring season filled with celebration of design thinking and how it impacts successful businesses? The Industrial Designers Society of America announced their annual District Design Conference season with a line up of events that no one should miss. These local and affordable events will cover topics designed to help you meet expanding business demands and take advantage of new opportunities, all while networking and sharing ideas with like-minded design enthusiasts.

To get involved in the IDSA District Design Conferences, here are the important dates and locations:

On April 5th, Denver, CO - The Western District Design Conference: Running with the Bulls will be at the SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown at Metro State.

Also on April 5th, Grand Rapids, MI - The Central District Design Conference: Unfolding Design takes place at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

On April 12th, Savannah, GA - The Southern District Design Conference: Design: Mind. Body. Soul. is being held at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

On April 26th, Chicago, IL - The Midwest District Design Conference: Industrial Evolution takes place at Lane Tech College Prep High School.

On May 15th, New York, NY - The Northeast District Design Conference: Design it. Build it. Fund it. will be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

For more information on the conferences, including pricing and why you should attend, check out their FAQs.

Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77

There was an abundance of inspiring contemporary art on display at The Armory Show last week at Piers 92 & 94 in New York—we should note that our picks in the gallery skew more towards the 3D wall art and sculpture, which is arguably more interesting to Core77 readers (and photographs much better than two-dimensional works behind glass).

The show was a noticeable improvement from recent years, with much a stronger curation and slightly more space for the exhibitors—clearly organizers are feeling the pressure from the Frieze Art Fair, which takes place again as part of NYCxDesign this May. The Armory Show partnered with start-up Artsy, who are quickly becoming the IMDB of the art world to provide a digital guide for visitors and real-time feed of trending artwork during the event.

There was no shortage of selfie-inducing art, and while good taste, for the most part, is subjective, one of the most fascinating pieces was Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed's La Chine est proche, 2013, a full-scale bicycle intricately carved from camel bone. The oversized figures from Cajsa von Zeipel's HOLES IN THE WALL series were striking and I've recently become a huge fan of London-based sculptor Tom Stogdon's work, made from washed stone, steel and found objects.

» View Gallery

Some people just work better under the pressure of a looming deadline. If you're one of those people, this reminder is for you! Tomorrow is the last day to submit your design for the 2014 Core77 Design Awards—make sure you enter your work before 9pm EST. You've met the juries, the categories are all laid out and we've shared the top ten reasons for entering. Now the only thing left to do is to head on over to the website and submit your design. If a day doesn't seem like enough time to you, here's a list of five things that can be accomplished in the same amount of time that might flip your attitude around:

Reporting by Morgan Walsh, photos by Ray Hu

One of the more beautifully displayed lines in the Discover Design section of the IH+HS, Finell is the most recent endeavor by Rebecca Finell, who'd previously founded the Boon Inc. I was immediately drawn to the sleek and minimal booth, where I discovered an array of what Finell calls "neo luxe housewares and accessories."

JOIN, in Bubble and Facet, is a a series of triple-threat textured pieces. Singularly used as a placemat or a trivet, they can also be placed side by side, giving the illusion of a continuous table runner or matted surface. The silicone material was incredibly smooth to the touch and for those who geek out on packaging the magnetically closing box, spray-coated to mimic the silicone product inside, is almost as desirable as the piece.

Around these parts—these parts being the self-righteously damp Northwest—most seasons bring rain, which means icy cyclist-vs.-nature battles are rare, but soggy feet are a common woe.

Most all season commuters hate the idea of switching from clipless pedals they like for the sake of donning a waterproof walking shoe, and shoe covers are an ill-fitting non-guarantee against the creeping wet. Waterproof SPD-compatible shoes exist... on the bulky, heavily insulated, sweatmonster end of the spectrum. In short, where the hell is Chrome's waterproof SPD shoe? Someone check out Urbanized, Jillian Tackaberry's fun and approachable design for waterproof cycling shoes, and then give her a contract because I need them. Today.

There is an exciting development in the works regarding materials science, one that will have a huge impact on product design.

Developing new materials has traditionally taken an extremely long time. For example, in 1991, SONY and Asahi Kasei launched the first commercial lithium-ion battery, which is now the most popular battery powering our portable electronics today. The process to get this thing right was long and chock full of failure, requiring thousands of researchers working over a 20-year span of fruitful moments and many more dead ends. This is, unfortunately, how materials science works. Researchers have hunches, leading to ideas, followed by years of testing with various compounds, new synthesis of molecules, experimental chemistry—it winds up being just a lot of frustrating trial and error. Meanwhile, companies invest billions in new materials design and the wins are rare.

But things are about to change, dramatically. The rise of supercomputing paired with simplified quantum mechanics will bring in what scientists are claiming to be the supreme "Golden Age of Materials Science."

The idea is pretty straightforward: Supercomputers will study and model thousands of chemical compounds searching for the best possible foundation for a new material, it could be a new kind of semiconductor, a new alloy, a new plastic. So the initial guesswork and testing is entirely removed from the old process, exponentially cutting the time and effort. This new process is called high-throughput computational materials design and its poised to change everything.

We saw some pretty crazy snowflake photos back in January, from physicist Kenneth Libbrecht. Libbrecht uses a scientist's tool, a digital microscope, to capture his images.

Moscow-based photographer Alexey Kljatov, however, is an artist. And by using conventional camera equipment (more on this in the next post) and a special postprocessing technique called "focus stacking," whereby he overlays and averages multiple RAW shots, he has captured macro photographs of snowflakes, some partially melted, that blow Libbrecht's out of the water.

Here's one of the more interesting partnerships we've seen: Local Motors has announced that they're teaming up with consumer applicance giant General Electric "to launch a new model for the manufacturing industry."

Called FirstBuild, the idea is to combine Local Motors' crowdsourcing and rapid prototyping experience with GE's market access (and presumably deep pockets) to develop the latter's next generation of products—quickly, using both crowdsourcing and digital manufacturing.

Focused on speeding the time from mind to market, the partnership will leverage advanced manufacturing processes and an open innovation approach to engineering—delivering benefits for consumers and enterprise alike.

The partnership will source collaborative ideas online from a community of engineers, scientists, fabricators, designers and enthusiasts who will focus on identifying market needs and solving deep engineering challenges to unlock breakthrough product innovations. As part of the partnership, a new microfactory—a specialized facility focused on prototyping and producing a small batch of products at a rapid pace—will be established where community ideas will be built, tested and sold.

I don't know what this new "microfactory" is, exactly, but I like the way it sounds.

Ramp-up's gonna be pretty snappy; though the partnership has just been announced, they plan on having actual appliances on the market this year, which seems pretty staggering for an old-guard company like GE. The inaugural project will start crowdsourcing this summer and it will be something cooking-based, with the FirstBuild community intended to submit, discuss and improve ideas for "select major kitchen appliances." And if you want to be part of that community, you can sign up here.

Volvo's recently introduced a trio of concept cars: The Concept Coupe, the Concept XC Coupe and the Concept Estate. It is the latter that has most caught our eye because it is, quite oddly to us Yanks, a two-door station wagon. In America, the station wagon has always been about families, but by omitting rear doors, Volvo seems to be aiming this concept at the childless couple that likes to ski.

The Concept Estate brings with it Volvo's bold new styling direction, both inside and out, that's a million miles (er, kilometers) away from the Swedish carmaker's designed-by-Etch-a-Sketch look that we grew up with: