Intimacy is a fashion project by Daan Roosegaarde about the relation between intimacy and technology. Its high-tech garments ‘Intimacy White’ and ‘Intimacy Black’ are made out of interactive technologies and smart e-foils which become transparent based on personal interactions.
Here social interactions determine the level of transparency; creating a sensual play of disclosure.

www.studioroosegaarde.net

UNStudio is an international architectural practice, situated in Amsterdam since 1988, with extensive experience in the fields of urbanism, infrastructure, public, private and utility buildings on different scale levels. At the basis of UNStudio are a number of long-term goals, which are intended to define and guide the quality of our performance in the architectural field.

www.unstudio.com

The design for an existing loft located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan explores the interaction between a gallery and living space. The main walls in the loft flow through the space, and together with articulated ceilings create hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas. While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas.

By UNStudio
Ben van Berkel with Arjan Dingsté, Marianthi Tatari and Collette Parras

Source: UNStudio

www.unstudio.com

Sam Hecht is a British industrial designer born in 1969. Hecht studied industrial design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and received his degree in industrial design from the Royal College of Art in London. Hetch also worked for architect David Chipperfield and travelled in the US and Japan before becoming head of design at IDEO.

In 2002 Hecht founded Industrial Facility with designer Kim Colin. Some of their clients include Muji, Yamaha, LaCie, Epson, Magis, Lexon and Whirlpool.

www.industrialfacility.co.uk

D_raw design studio have completed the interior for the Bond & Brook Restaurant located inside the Fenwick department store in London.

Designed by D_raw, in collaboration with the hospitality consultancy A Private View and brand specialists Made Thought, the site, as one of a very small number to offer food and drink on Bond street, will boast not only a daytime restaurant but also a less formal café area and a large, sculptural, showpiece of a cocktail bar central to the no-expense-spared space. The restaurant also has a fashion library of books and magazines and a ‘champagne burst’ chandelier rising above the pewter wrapped cocktail bar.

www.fenwick.co.uk

Gala Darling is a fashion curator for ChinaShop, a speaker at SXSWi and one of the most influential fashion bloggers in the world. Born in Sweden and living in New York City, Gala was also a columnist for cosmopolitan Magazine (Australia) and Filament (United Kingdom). She has been featured in New York Times’ T magazine, New York Post, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Time Out New York, Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, Next, Cleo, Girlfriend, The Age,Sunday Herald Sun, The Dominion Post, Glasgow Guardian & on ABC News, among others.

French designer Ora-Ïto has conceived a movable white kitchen for Slovenian brand Gorenje, built from a single bloc made of a high-tech composite material resistant to all kinds of weather. The house hold appliances in black glass are displayed within: touch-sensitive multifunctional built-in oven, hob, wall hood, inte¬grated dishwasher with decorative front panel and microwave.

www.ora-ito.com

Photos: Fernando Mañas Chic Too Chic

Local vendor aCure from Japan installed the first operational touchscreen vending machine at Tokyo´s Shinagawa Station. Japanese are obsessed with touch screens and vending machines so it was a matter of time for this to come by. The idea was first introduced by Samsung and Coca Cola at the 2009 version of CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow.

W Hotels Worldwide, the hotel category buster and industry innovator, has unveiled W Retreat & Spa – Vieques Island designed by Patricia Urquiola. The W brand’s 37th hotel globally and its first retreat within North America. W Vieques is located only eight miles off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico and opens as the second W Retreat in the world, following the successful opening of W Retreat & Spa – Maldives in 2006. As W Hotels continues its transformation into a global powerhouse, on track to expand its portfolio to more than 50 hotels by the end of 2011, W is slated to open nine new hotels this year, including two retreat properties in Bali and Koh Samui, Thailand.

www.wvieques.com