Flectron, manufactured by Laird Technologies, is a flexible, lightweight, and highly conductive technical textile used in the building industry. Its non-woven copper-coated polyester structure makes it ideal for preventing electromagnetic interference in areas which need to be shielded, such as conference rooms, offices, and MRI rooms. Flectron is meant to be used and installed like...
Designer Suzanne Tick has shown that design can be functional, sustainable, innovative, and aesthetically pleasing. For example, in a recent video made on the occasion of Earth Day, Tick wove interesting colorful textiles using foil balloons recovered from the beach, as well as wire hangers discarded by the dry cleaners. In creating this hanging lamp,...
For much of the twentieth century, telephones were standard issue, designed for durability and function rather than consumer appeal. After 1953, color transformed the telephone from a basic technology into an alluring consumer product. AT&T ran ad campaigns encouraging women to see the phone as an element of home decoration. What if new phone models...
Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’. If there is one design on view at the 2010 Triennial that affects the lives of every...
Why? Oceangoing ships present significant health, pollution, and efficiency challenges. The concept vessel E/S Orcelle is designed to be propelled without oil. Made of lightweight materials, it relies on energy sources obtained at sea—solar energy collected through photovoltaic panels in the sails, wind energy obtained through propulsion sails, and wave energy from fins, which can...
Why? Most folding bicycles are heavy and difficult to collapse. Conceived as portable luggage, the IF Mode is made of lightweight materials and eliminates oily chains, complex tubes, hidden dirt traps, and much of the clutter of conventional bicycles. As mobility systems become more interconnected, portable, folding designs like this will facilitate transfers between different...
