Our exhibition Back to the Future held in modernist masterpiece of Ještěd hotel close to Liberec, Czech republic, represented the deep view into the world of futuristic and cosmic inspired design. More info about the exhibition in our Search section, where you can find all texts about it as well as special Future blog, which we have prepared this summer.

There is the short movie showing the installation by our collaborator Jaroslav Moravec.

Thanks!

We asked a graphic studio Ex Lovers from Prague to become our personal curators for a while. David Březina and Zuzuna Kubíková created for us two posts, where you can discover one possible way of graphic design in the future.

"Imagine to come up with an idea of solution. A concept. Set up a playground, a field with rules, algorithm, decide what should be constant and what variable, how and why, where the input data come from. And then...let the machines or the public play and come up with results. Maybe an infinite number of results.These are principles of generative design. Or we can call it open-ended design.

Some graphic designers have been experimenting with this way of designing already for few decades and more are joining this journey — open-minded observers of machines' wild processes and human appetite for playing and creating. The core idea is still in hands of the designer.

A great example of a strong idea allowed full play by involving softwares is Stefan Sagmeister's open-ended visual identity (2007) for Casa da Musica in Porto. Sagmeister based the whole system on the shape of the building. One way of completing it is by using a customized software, kind of a color picker."

"Our studio has involved more old-school machine in — a copy machine — when working on a visual system (2009) for an exhibition on decadent generation of Andy Warhol. We just continued with the Andy's principle of copying in a new way."

How will look the future of the high-heels? One possibility give us son of the famous italian shoemaker Sergio Rossi, Gianvito, who established his own label some years ago. Today he represented the best of the Italian shoe design. But his work is more experimental than shoe of classic italian shoe designers like Giuseppe Zanotti or Bruno Frisoni.

Gianvito debuted with his Carbon collection of sandals, which uses totally new material in shoe design. Thanks to carbon he could create new surprising look, where classic elegance meets futurist minimalism.

Arthur Radebaugh was influential futurist illustrator, airbrush artist and industrial designer. His visions of the new world in the future are exactly and well executed works of a big shining effect, which had to exude big emotions in 1950s America. He worked for automotive industry, as well as for U. S. Army. Here we present his two advertisings for Bohn Aluminum and Brass corporation company, which produced materials for airplanes. Under the thump of art-deco architecture and stream-line movement in design, Radebaught created his own vision of the flight into the future. These drawings are today still really impressive.

In our special review we present some of the most interesting futurist inspiration in modern and contemporary fashion. We show icons of the fashion design, as well as young contemporary designers, who create fashion with strong futurist content.

We can begin in 1960s with Paris couturier Paco Rabanne, who is famous for his costumes for sci-fi movie Barbarella and his futurist visions of the woman dress. On the picture you can see famous model Donyela Luna wearing his signature metallic discs dress.

Pierre Cardin is one the most prolific space-age visionarist of the 1970s. In this time he established his famous style emporium, which produced under the one label all from fashion to furniture and transport. His cosmic fashion is the icon of this period.

Hana Zárubová is one of the talented czech fashion designers. In 1999 she created dress called Smirnoff I, which is made from infusion tubes. The outcome is spectacularly futuristic.

Unexceptionable heavyweight of the contemporary fashion is a Hussey Chalayan. His famous Spring/Summer collection from 2007 is interesting experiment with new technologies in fashion, as well as with motion and kinetic character of the dress.

During this year Amsterdam fashion week local designer Iris van Herpen introduced her new collection Crystallization in collaboration with Daniel Widrig and Mgx Materialise. The pieces were made using computer modeling and rapid prototyping. The future is coming soon...

We have already posted something about italian futurist movement in our special future blog, but when we saw in one little bookshop in Rome this amazing album with collection of two italian post stamps with designs by late futurist painter Giacomo Balla, we have to post it again.

Space age lights is a name of the exhibition held in Triennale di Milano in Milan until 5 of September. The selection of the Italian lighting designs from 1960s and 1970s presents the typical space age aesthetic based on cosmic optimism of this period, which we exhibited also in our Back to the Future exhibition. On show in Italy you can see works by Joe Colombo, Vico Magistretti, Gino Sarfatti, Giotto Stoppino and many others.

We present it here through the short article in our favourite Italian magazine about design Case da Abitare.

In the past people imagined their future in a lot of fascinating visions. One theme in thinking about the future was also living in houses of tomorrow. The most examples, how people envisioned houses of the future, originated from 1950s and 1960s, when the future was more than optimistic.

In this article we show three of most famous future concepts in housing. All the projects are important examples of modern and utopian architecture of the last century. Mostly the houses were big attractions of the international exhibitions and fairs. Based on new materials, prefabrication and new everyday behavior, which would be depending on new technologies and revolutionary products, the houses are very interesting architecture victims of visualization of the future visions in the second half of the last century.

How will look our everyday life activities in the near future? One possibility give us the last project of London based designer Oscar Diaz, who is also one of the our collaborators for the second issue of OKOLO magazine. Diaz was commissioned for the exhibition New Simplicity prepared by curator Nuno Coelho in London to design something using technology of 3D printing.

Diaz designed new system of creating the keys called While you sleep, where we can make key from data made in parametric software.

There is a text by Diaz:
‘While you sleep’ was commissioned for ‘New simplicity’ and exhibition about simple design curated by design critic Nuno Coelho. Nine designers were asked to investigate the possibilities of using 3D printing technology as a manufacturing tool in the near future.

We decided to question the traditional key cutting service, and propose a product/service scenario where the use of the 3D printing technology will facilitate the copy and storage of keys as data.

Since 3D data can be managed by parametric software and allow easy customization, the type of head can be chosen, and also the texture or color to differentiate the garage key, from the one for the front door house.

Post Office branches could provide the scanning service, and from the data your key would be made easily. You can then send it by e-mail to the key-printing machine, or store it online on a virtual safety box. If you ever lose you key, it will be ready for you to download and print. Making a key could be as easy as using a photo booth or a cash point.

The keys head shape has been redesigned so they can be clipped together without using a key ring. Accessories include a wristband and buttons where is possible to clip one or two keys.

A part from the pieces built with 3d printers, a variety of products which value simple solutions over visual complexity are also exhibited.