FOC Talents 1Nov2011

In the 2012 winter design competition Freedom Of Creation Talents are asked to create an ‘interior jewel’; an eye-catching item that gives a personal touch to an interior and revives it. Zaha Hadid has co-written this assignment and will personally take part in the jury.

Freedom Of Creation has commissioned an innovation group from Delft University to conduct research on the needs of interior product consumers. The results show that especially young people are very interested in small eye-catching items that give a personal touch to their interior: an object that customizes the standard Ikea cupboards, gives a second life to an inherited furniture piece or can hold a coat, but is almost too appealing to use it as that…

Z-chair, design by Zaha Hadid for ‘Sawaya & Moroni’

Design brief
3D printing is a perfect and competitive technology for small items that require a high level of detail and geometric complexity. The ‘interior jewel’ we want the Talents to design is a knob/handle/hanger that can be applied throughout the whole interior: on cupboards/drawers, doors and as a hanger on the wall.

These are the design guidelines:
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FOC Talents 16Jun2011

For the 2011-Q1 bracelet competition we have received a broad range of high quality entries. The jury consisting of Bart Ruijpers (Product Design Director of Karim Rashid), Frederik Roijé and good-old Janne Kyttanen have selected ‘Spring bracelet’ by Jan Kochański as best design of this competition.

This is what the jury had to say about ‘Spring bracelet’:

“The design has an elegant complexity, in which we can see a similarity to the sensual and ornamental works of Karim, yet with a personal interpretation. The functionality of the stretching spring is nicely ‘hidden’ in the overall design and a good way to take advantage of the properties of the material and manufacturing method.”

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FOC Talents 1May2011

We are excited to present the new Talents assignment in cooperation with Ross Lovegrove. In our FOC Talents program we aim to push the envelope of designs that can be created with state-of-the-art digital manufacturing technologies. Ross Lovegrove, just as our previous judges,  Karim Rashid, Ted Noten, Frank Tjepkema, Frederik Roijé and Janne Kyttanen, has produced many such exceptional examples. In this 2011 summer competition the Talents are challenged to come up with a necklace design that touches upon Lovegroves’ vision on design:

“I am an evolutionary biologist, more than a designer. I don’t know what design is anymore, I create form, I understand form and I’m enjoying the digital age to create it. I’m hoping to push that even further. my work also relates to nature,  in an evolutionary sense as I’m concerned with reduction.  I exercise what is called ‘organic essentialism’ which means using  nothing more – nothing less than is needed. I feel comfortable in this organic, isomorphic, anthropomorphic,  liquid age of making things, but I try not to force it into things that don’t need it.”

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FOC Talents 17Feb2011

The winner of the third Talents contest is Pekka Salokannel with his hanging light design ‘Cresco’. When creating his design Pekka conducted research into nature systems, instead of just nature shapes. Cresco means ‘multiply’ in Latin and the design is a mixture of nature mathematics and self invented shapes. The light is officially added to the FOC Collection.

The  2010-Q3 jury consisted of Janne Kyttanen, Saskia Bakker (owner of Edha) and Jeroen Jobse (partner of Now Is Here). Saskia and Jeroen are in daily contact with many lighting clients. They found that the classical look&feel, with an Arabic touch, matches a rising demand amongst their clients. The jury was also unanimous about the design having a strong unique identity as well as being coherent with the FOC Collection. The Cresco light is now for sale for €547 (incl. 19% VAT) and can be purchased from FOC distributors and retailers or in the FOC online store (more…)

FOC Talents 1Jan2011

We kick off 2011 with a great new Talents assignment. Karim Rashid, known for his fast forward designs, is co-creator of this assignment and will take part in the jury. This time the Talents are challenged to design a bracelet that will be manufactured in new Grey SLS Nylon. New addition is the possibility for Talents to receive feedback halfway from the FOC design team on their progress.

Below some examples of bracelets that are made from SLS Nylon. Clockwise, starting from the left top: Ted Noten – ‘Pig bracelet’, Lionel Dean – ‘Super Kitsch’, Nervous System – ‘Pinch bracelet’, Peggy Bannenberg (more…)