Design Line: 25 November – 1 December
Petulant politicians; quiet architects; a WALL-E lookalike; and an architect changing social values one bra at a time – this week’s Design Line is full of all kinds of characters. Read on to meet them all, for better or worse.
A new bra brand doing important work to break down social stigmas (image courtesy of Uno).
Questioning symmetry
Uno, a new project from architect Katy Marks of Citizens Design Bureau, offers an important reminder of the capacity of product design to shape social values and expectations. Uno is a one-cup brand designed for those who have gone through a single mastectomy; while reconstructive surgery is possible, many chose to forego this option, put off by the attendant health risks and long waiting lists. Marks, whose work in this arena was informed by her own experiences as a breast cancer survivor, believes that the majority of post-surgery bras available on the market are principally designed to conceal the loss of a breast, and disguise the resultant asymmetry of the body. Uno, by contrast, is unashamedly single-cup (a considerable engineering challenge in itself, given that conventional bra designs are developed around the symmetry of the body), intended to support the body post-mastectomy and in rejection of the idea that asymmetry is a state of imperfection that should be hidden through prosthetics or clothing that may be uncomfortable or undesirable. It is a practical and socially important project (in the UK alone, 14,850 people undergo mastectomies every year), and one that has the potential to be both empowering and comforting. Our expectations as to what is beautiful are shaped, in part, by the options available to us through garments: designing a bra that celebrates a different, and more inclusive, interpretation of physical beauty is something to champion.
Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal embedding themselves, as usual, in architecture (image courtesy of Sir John Soane's Museum via X).
Hooray for the Quiet Ones
“It is clearly an honour to be here and to receive this medal.” The Sir John Soane’s Museum “is another extraordinary space made by architects. Another extraordinary story made by architects.” So began the Soane Medal 2023 Lecture given by Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal of Lacaton & Vassal on Tuesday evening as they were presented with this year’s award. Their acknowledgment, first and foremost, of the site in which they were presenting feels typical of the French architectural duo. In fact, it is their sensitivity to existing sites and the “generosity, thoughtfulness and compassion” of their work that led the the jury, chaired by Alice Rawsthorn, to select them as the medal’s 2023 recipients. Over the last 30 years, the architects have become know for an insistence on retrofitting wherever possible to avoid waste and a rigorous focus on the social impacts of buildings – things which, Rawsthorn says, has meant that they’ve “quietly produced some of the most important buildings of our time.” It is exciting to see the more quiet and humble architects being celebrated (similarly, last year’s Soane Medal went to Peter Barber) when, in recent weeks, architecture discourse has been dominated by a certain well-known designer insisting that contemporary buildings are BORING and we need flashy and loud facades (read more in Design Reviewed #3). Congratulations to Lacaton & Vassal for this achievement and an insightful accompanying lecture. And congratulations too to the Soane Museum and jury for honouring the buildings and designers that don’t have to shout to make an impact.
Getting ready for a new Reddit with a pixar-style 3D logo (image courtesy of Pentagram).
Redesigning Reddit
Rumoured to be on the cusp of an IPO, Reddit’s decision to refresh its brand should perhaps come as no surprise. The online platform (which, positively, is user- and community-driven; negatively, at times an absolute sewer and source of rampant misinformation) has turned to Pentagram’s Natasha Jen for its redesign, with Jen’s team having introduced a new logo, typeface and colour palette, as well as updating the site’s mascot Snoo from a flat graphic of an alien’s face, into a complete, 3D piece of character design (with a cutesy Wall-E-esque vibe). The results are likely to be debated. Pentagram’s work is neat, professional, charming and clean, promising to bring a degree of graphic order to a site whose various subreddits can often be chaotic and clashing. There is, however, a debate to be had as to whether “neat, professional, charming and clean” completely suits Reddit. The redesign is consummately done, but carries with it a more professional sheen that seems at odds with the kind of user-driven DIY aesthetic that stands at the heart of the platform: coming at a time when some Reddit users have been critical of changes to the platform made by the company’s management, it may feed into a feeling that Reddit is trying to overhaul its image and operating practices. Time will tell how the two fit together but, in the interim, a polished Pentagram design is hardly likely to put off prospective investors.
Everyone is loosing their marbles over these marbles (image courtesy of Carole Raddato via Wikimedia).
A flaky Greek tragedy
On Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had what has been described as a “hissy fit”, cancelling a meeting with the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the last minute, thus causing a diplomatic firestorm. His reason for this flaky behaviour? Sunak claimed that Mitsotakis had broken an agreement not to publicly speak about the ongoing debate of whether the Parthenon Sculptures should be returned from the British Museum to Greece. Others have speculated that Sunak used this mention of the artefacts as an excuse to cancel the meeting after taking offence that Mitsotakis had met with opposition leader Keir Starmer before him. Whatever the reason, Tristram Hunt, the director of the V&A and a former labour MP, has subsequently said that the marbles really shouldn’t be Sunak’s issue in the first place. He told the BBC that museums and their trustees should be the ones making the decisions about what is or isn’t repatriated or deaccessioned from their collections, arguing that museum professionals are being “infantilised” by the government. Hunt expressed particular frustration that national museums are being “hidebound by [parliamentary] acts dating back to 1963 and 1983” which are no longer relevant, and called for their reform. Power to the museums! Power to the experts! Power to those engaged with our material culture on a day-to-day basis! The message that Hunt seems to be sending to Sunak is this: stop treating museums like babies (especially if you’re behaving like a one yourself).
Ikea releases a ménage à trois of smart sensors that are cheaper than your sunglasses (image courtesy of Ikea).
Democratised monitoring
Ikea announced this week the addition of three new monitors to its growing collection of smart home devices. As opposed to focusing on entertainment, these new designs are geared toward safety and protection, taking the form of two motion sensors and one that detects water leaks. The devices can work as standalone products, or else be integrated with the company’s Dirigera hub and Home smart app. All three are small, discrete and most importantly cheap, with reports stating that they will be sold in Europe for €9.99. Parasoll is a door and window sensor and, in a similar vein, Vallhorn is a motion sensor that, when activated, lights up with with adjustable colour and intensity settings. Badring, meanwhile, is designed to be left near pipes, dishwashers and the like to warn of water damage. Ikea entering the smart home game presumably indicates that there is sufficient consumer demand for it to unleash a torrent of increasingly cheap consumer electronics: the Billy bookcase-ifciation of the smart home, if you will.
These cows are not impressed by the meatwashing meeting taking place this week (image courtesy of Jelle).
Here comes the meat lobby
COP28 takes place in Dubai this week with politicians flying into the UAE from across the world. It is first and foremost a political event, with what can feel like a somewhat far-off ambition to tackle climate change and reduce global emissions equitably. Like any political event, it attracts well funded, suited and booted lobbies; alarmingly, this year that list includes a constellation of meat companies and lobbies who plan to present meat as sustainable nutrition . Documents from the Global Meat Alliance (GMA) (seen by The Guardian and DeSmog) show the body asking its members to promote the idea that meat is beneficial for the environment. Whilst meat eating has arguably taken place in low impact ways historically, it feels hard to believe that the likes of the Global Dairy Platform, the North American Meat Institute and the world’s largest meat company JBS (“the world's leading animal protein processor” as it coyly puts it on its website) represent a sustainable, low-impact, low-consumption contemporary model. The dairy industry alone is responsible for 3.4 per cent of global human-induced emissions – higher than aviation – and many of the richer parts of the globe clearly eat far too many resource-demanding, methane-producing animals. The message of GMA at Cop28 is, frankly, a message we don’t need to hear.