Design Wire November/December 2023
Created by Italian stone and tile designer GIOVANNI BARBIERI, a parquet flooring system called BLOOMING was given the prestigious Best of the Best Red Dot Design Award for 2023 for its creative innovation and thoughtfully designed pattern. Combining three sophisticated shapes with a simple installation process, Barbieri’s first foray into wood flooring offers either a uniform appearance or a striking floral pattern, depending on how the various colors of oak are combined. The multilayered parquet pieces, which feature a durable oak top layer and a birch plywood substrate, are produced by the Italian wood flooring company FLOOMA.
D.R. HORTON, the country’s largest home-building company, is installing panels made from pressed perennial grasses in a series of homes in North Carolina. The panels, which are intended as replacements for standard OSB (oriented stand board) and plywood, are produced by PLANTD using a process that pushes grass through machines and binds it together with pressure and heat. More durable and moisture-resistant than other materials on the market, Plantd’s panels are carbon negative and ideal for wall sheathing, roof decking, and subflooring.
The Olympic torch, a symbol that highlights the peace and unity of the international sporting event, is an iconic object that dates back to ancient Greece. For the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, French designer MATHIEU LEHANNEUR was selected to create a unique torch, which draws inspiration from three distinct themes. The torch symbolizes equality with its perfectly symmetrical design, the waves at the bottom recall the ripples and movements of the River Seine when a stone is thrown into the water, and its curves and rounded lines reflect a desire for peace. In total, 2,000 steel torches will be manufactured by ARCELORMITTAL for the Paris 2024 Games.
Maine Mi’kmaq artist and UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE alumna MARISSA JOLY designed and painted a colorful mural in USM’s McGoldrick Center for Career and Student Success acknowledging that both the campus and the city of Portland sit on unceded Wabanaki lands. Depicting a purple turtle with a circular medicine wheel on its back swimming through blue waves, the mural represents Turtle Island (North America) and the Dawn Land (Maine) where the sun first strikes the East Coast each morning.
Just in time for holiday gifting, LEGO has released a new Insect Collection conceived by lifelong brick fan JOSE MARIA PEREZ SUERO. Featuring a life-size blue morpho butterfly from the Amazon rainforest, a Hercules beetle with removable wings, and a Chinese mantis with hidden ladybugs, the collectible set is made up of 1,111 Lego pieces. Award-winning foley artist SANAA KELLEY designed an ASMR “Green Noise” to accompany the set that uses clicking Lego bricks and packaging materials to recreate the distinct sounds of each insect. The three-hour soundscape offers the perfect background noise for a Zen building session.
The iconic LAVA LAMP, designed by EDWARD CRAVEN WALKER, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. British lava lamp manufacturer MATHMOS is honoring the item’s storied history by teaming up with fashion and design figures including CAMILLE WALALA and STUDIO JOB to recreate the lamp’s first-ever iteration. A new showroom in southern England designed by COUNTERFEIT STUDIO will display the full range of lava lamp models and provide first access to the limited-edition anniversary collection.