future-tense
By Melissa Sterry | Exploring the now, near and far future.
Beirut’s turbulent war-torn past is depicted in a new design collaboration
© TI Media Limited. Wallpaper* is part of TI Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.
France is giving young people €500 each to enjoy the arts
Art is an essential part of life, but how accessible is it? France thinks not very, especially for young people. In order to reconcile young people with culture, the French Ministry of Culture is currently testing out a multimillion-dollar app that will give every 18-year-old in France €500 credit …
FranceSpark & Burnish's ocean-plastic handles raise money for marine conservation
These pastel-toned cabinet handles may look like solid marble, but they are actually made from recycled ocean plastic.<p>Australian homeware brand Spark …
Marine ConservationETH Zurich makes lightweight concrete ceiling using 3D sand-printing
A lightweight concrete ceiling with formwork 3D-printed from sand is among the innovations to feature in an experimental robot-made house built by …
ETH ZurichPlastic furniture made from old toys introduces kids to the circular economy
Antwerp-based brand Ecobirdy has used recycled plastic toys to create a range colourful furniture for kids, aiming to raise their "awareness for …
SustainabilityFirst commercial DNA data storage service set to launch in 2019
BIG data could be about to get much smaller. Catalog, a start-up based at the Harvard Life Lab, has announced plans for the first commercial DNA data …
MIT engineers create 3D-printed magnetic shape-shifters
Engineers from MIT have designed soft, 3D-printed structures that can transform their shape "almost instantaneously" with the wave of a magnet.<p>The …
MIT engineers create low-cost prosthetic foot that approximates natural gait
Engineers from the MIT have developed a streamlined prosthetic foot that lets wearers walk with a fluid motion, and can be manufactured at a low cost.<p>…
Bravo! carves 80 vessels from volcanic rock for Monolith Series
Design studio Bravo! has exploited the textures and hues in rock from one of Chile's volcanos in this collection of 80 home accessories, featuring …
Iris van Herpen on the Importance of Handicraft and the Future of Fashion
There’s not many 33-year-old fashion designers who warrant their own career retrospective exhibition in a museum, but then again, Iris van Herpen is …
Rooms uses marble and concrete to create Life On Earth furniture
A marble table with a ball for a base and a collection of benches inspired by brutalist bus stops feature in this collection of furniture by Georgian …
Tellart creates topographic sandpit table that lets you move mountains
Users can "play God" on Tellart's Terraform Table – a sandpit imagined as a vast aerial landscape of mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers.<p>The …
Self-healing material could be a breakthrough for humanoid robots
Researchers at US university Carnegie Mellon have created a new electrically conductive material that can repair itself, presenting new opportunities …
New Hybrid Robot Uses Living Muscles to Move
Video<p>Researchers in Tokyo say they're a step closer to creating more complex and lifelike body parts made of living tissue and mechanical skeletons.<p>Video<p>As if the line between human and machine wasn't already blurry enough, researchers in Tokyo have developed a new method for using living rat …
Kosuke Araki turns food waste into tableware
Tokyo-based designer Kosuke Araki has created a range of tableware from recycled food waste.<p>The Anima collection features a series of cups, plates …
We're not prepared for the genetic revolution that's coming
When humans’ genetic information (known as the genome) was mapped 15 years ago, it promised to change the world. Optimists anticipated an era in …
The Human Trace is traditional tableware marked with the fingerprints of its makers
The production line of Poland's oldest porcelain factory has been temporarily sabotaged – so one batch of its traditional tableware is stained blue …
CeramicsHuge balloons inflate and deflate based on atmospheric conditions inside Nordic Pavilion
The Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale has been filled with huge inflatable blobs that slowly expand and contract in response to …
Waste polystyrene transformed into lightweight stools for El Celler de Can Roca
Plastic waste from one of the world's best restaurants is being transformed into hexagonal stools by Spanish designer Andreu Carulla.<p>Called RR201, …
FurnitureScientists 'transplant memories' between sea snails via injection
Science may never know what wistful memories play on the mind of the California sea hare, a foot-long hermaphrodite marine snail, as it munches on algae in the shallow tide pools of the Pacific coast.<p>But in a new study, researchers claim to have made headway in understanding the simplest kind of …
The World's First Plastic-Free Aisle
<i>By: Bill McCool</i>Plastics. Can’t live with em’, can’t live without em’ for at least 450 years while they decompose.While plastic isn’t going anywhere …
Adjaye and Toogood design affordable prefabricated houses for property start-up
London developer Cube Haus has commissioned Adjaye Associates, Faye Toogood, Skene Catling de la Peña, and Carl Turner Architects to design …
The artworks that predicted the future of the world
In 1889, author Oscar Wilde penned in <i>The Decay of Lying</i> that life imitates art. “The self-conscious aim of life is to find expression,” he wrote, “and art offers (life) certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy.” According to Wilde, what we find in nature and in life isn’t …
Raise a toast! New beers made from leftover bread help to cut food waste
Beer and sandwiches have gone together ever since Harold Wilson invited trade union leaders for talks at No 10. Now brewers have gone one better and created a beer made from leftover sandwich bread.<p>It is a tasty solution to the shocking daily waste of bread, with more than 24 million slices thrown …
Master in Design for Emergent Futures - MDEF
<i>Our Academic Committee is still reviewing applications. In the meantime, we will keep IAAC’s application process open until all Masters courses are</i> …
Es Devlin presents BIG's The XI towers in installation triptych
British designer Es Devlin has rethought the typical residential sales gallery, using a trio of installations to promote a pair of twisting towers …
Benjamin Hubert uses steam-bending to create curving wooden basket for Fritz Hansen
Benjamin Hubert's design agency Layer has created a pebble-shaped timber basket for Fritz Hansen using the brand's steam-bending techniques.<p>Named …
Furniture4D-printing method could allow flat-pack furniture to be assembled with heat alone
Researchers have created a series of 4D-printed plastic objects that fold themselves into predetermined shapes when heated, which they believe could …
'Urban mining' in South Korea pulls rare battery materials from recycled tech
GUNSAN, South Korea (Reuters) - Workers at a rural South Korean factory are busy extracting some of the world's most coveted metals, used in the batteries that power electric cars.<p>But they're not digging in the ground or refining ore. Instead, they are sorting through a pile of lithium-ion …