Friday, April 17, 2015

Take Light with You with New Philips Hue Go

Get the Light That You Want, Everywhere You Want in and Around Your Home

Once again Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, is pushing the boundaries of how light can be used in and around the home to enhance a space, heighten a mood or simply ease day to day life. 

Philips Hue Go is an iF Design award winning, fully portable wireless lamp with all of the clever connectivity features of Philips Hue, meaning that it is now possible to experience the light that you want, wherever you want as you move around your house and garden*. With five new patented dynamic light effects to enrich special moments and interaction with more than 200 third-party apps, this newest addition to Philips Hue delivers total freedom with light.


"We envisage all lights to be connected. Put simply, lighting is now central to the Internet of Things and we see Philips Hue as the go-to lighting brand for the home", says Sridhar Kumaraswamy, Business Leader for Philips' connected home systems. "With Philips Hue Go we are building further on our ecosystem, enabling people to experience light in a new way. People can take the light wherever they want, creating the light that suits their moment, taste or mood. It gives people even more choice for how they wish to bring the fun and impact of connected lighting into their homes."

Move the light
Philips Hue Go is a versatile lamp that completely transforms the way light is used throughout the home; unplug it from the mains and it becomes a portable center piece. 


Lasting for up to three hours in battery mode, Philips Hue Go can be moved from the garden to the living room to the bedroom without the worry of wires; letting you create and enjoy a new ambience each time. It can also be positioned in different ways to adapt to your needs; enhance a living space by positioning it to face a wall washing it with light, add ambience to an intimate dinner by placing it as a center piece on the table or focused on a piece of work by directing the light where you need it. 

Taking good design up another level, Philips Hue Go's thick walled spherical body expresses solidity and material richness, while its translucent design gives the impression of pure light without clutter.


Control your way
With a control button on the product itself, it's easy to change the light when your smart device is not at hand. Choose from seven different light effects ranging from functional warm white light and cool energizing daylight, to one of the five natural dynamic effects - Cozy Candle, Sunday Coffee, Meditation, Enchanted Forest, and Night Adventure. 

Each dynamic effect has its own characteristic flow and mix of colors, delivering 'living' light that enriches a romantic dinner, a relaxing bath or a Zen moment. Through the Philips Hue app, you can select functional white light for everyday tasks and to find optimum settings to help you relax, read, concentrate and energize. You can choose from more than 16 million colors to personalize your lighting to suit any occasion, mood or moment.


Get connected
Just like Philips Hue, Philips Hue Go can discretely alert you to a new email or change in weather via a gentle 'light notification' wherever you are in your home, as well as deliver immersive moments that expand TV viewing into the whole room or take gaming to the next level through third party app integration. 


Philips Hue Go works seamlessly with all Philips Hue and Friends of Hue products, easily integrating into an existing network. However setting up a new network is also very simple, just make sure the Philips Hue bridge is connected to your wireless network, then simply download the Philips Hue app to your smart device and plug in Philips Hue Go.

Philips Hue Go costs €99.95 and is available in Europe from April 2015 and North America from June 2015.






All images courtesy of Philips - www.lighting.philips.com

Monday, April 13, 2015

Bolon and Mac Stopa Create Energizing Flooring for Milan Design Week

Swedish design company Bolon and acclaimed designer Mac Stopa have together created unique flooring that will be exclusively presented during Milan Design Week



Stopa, who was asked to develop a creative concept for INTERNI magazine's Milan exhibit, produced "Energy for Creativity" - a strong, color and pattern based three-dimensional environment in which Bolon's flooring is an important element of the execution.



As founder and chief architect of Massive Design, Mac Stopa is globally recognised for his innovative, unconventional interiors and design style. With a portfolio and client list that includes many global brands, his work in creating unique public spaces and within industrial design has received widespread acclaim. In collaboration with Bolon, Mac has created his own unique interpretation of their product for the Energy for Creativity INTERNI Press Room.

Consisting of two areas, the INTERNI Press Room integrates visitors in a creative zone, conveying the energizing and creative concept of mixing together multiple colours and materials. In consultation with Bolon's design team, Mac designed tessellating three-dimensional trapezoid floor tiles to form a key visual element of the space. To further optimise the flooring's potential, the tiles will be rotated over the period of the installation, creating multiple geometrical layouts. 

Mac explains - "Energy for Creativity refers to innovation in design, which involves constant experimentation in order to bring new solutions to life. It ́s about challenging existing thinking and technology and enriching it with an alternative and often experimental way of developing new designs and products. Driven by passion, sensitivity, and imagination, Energy for Creativity cures boredom by fuelling the need to experiment and find new alternative solutions."

During Milan Design Week, Bolon will also be installed in a number of places during including the stands of Missoni, Cappellini and Blå Station. In addition Bolon will be seen at the Elle Decoration 25 years exhibition, the Missoni exhibition at Maga Museum and in Luceplan's showroom.

Bolon is a Swedish cutting-edge design company managed by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund, the third generation of the family to own the company. They have developed the company from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand, with a focus on innovative flooring and creative interiors. Bolon's list of clientèle includes Microsoft, Google, Mercedes, Adidas, Reebok and Sheraton, as well as leading architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel and Cappellini. All development, design and production is 100% made in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

For more information, please visit: www.bolon.com

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Salone Del Mobile.Milano 2015: Furnishing, Lighting and Workspace Excellence

The 54th edition of the Salone del Mobile will fling open its doors from 
Tuesday 14th to Sunday 19th April, at the Rho Milan Fairgrounds. 


Quality and innovation, along with major collateral events and a comprehensive, wide range of goods are the ingredients that make the Salone such an unmissable event.

With over 2,000 exhibitors, more than 200,000 m2 of exhibition space and thousands of products making their market debut, the Salone del Mobile is the acknowledged sectoral international benchmark event year after year, attracting more than 300,000 visitors from over 160 countries.

The Salone is open to operators each day from 9.30am to 6.30pm, and also open to the general public on the Saturday and Sunday.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile, split into three style categories: 
Classic, Modern and Design, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and SaloneSatellite, will be flanked by the biennial Euroluce / International Lighting Exhibition in Pavilions 9-11 and 13-15 and Workplace3.0/SaloneUfficio, dedicated to the workspace, in Pavilions 22- 24.

Euroluce, the exhibition devoted to excellence in the lighting world, will showcase the very latest in outdoor, indoor, industrial, event/show, special use and hospital lighting solutions, lighting systems, light sources and illumination technology software and consulting. To mark the 2015 International Year of Light proclaimed by UNESCO, architect Attilio Stocchi has conceived "FAVILLA. To every light a voice" for the city of Milan - an installation/event telling the story of and exploring the essence of light.

Workplace3.0 is an exhibition with an innovative concept, devoted to design and technology for planning the workspace in the round. Workplace3.0 will bring together the top proposals from the furnishing world for office, banks, insurance offices, post offices and other public spaces, seating for offices and public spaces, acoustics, flooring and coverings, lighting and office accessories as well as audio-video technologies and communication.

"The Walk", a huge installation on exhibit inside the Workplace3.0 pavilions, was conceived by internationally renowned Italian architect Michele De Lucchi as an area for showcasing ideas and design triggers for planning workspaces in their many different contemporary interpretations. New activities and working modes generate new workspaces and new design requisites for "inhabiting them", with offices increasingly becoming a hub for social interface, meetings and living side by side.

Another event - IN ITALY - created by the architectural practice Four in the Morning to a design by architect Dario Curatolo, will feature 64 Italian manufacturers and a select group of designers, planners and architects, who will tackle the theme of products, design and planning. The firms involved will be presented innovatively through the medium of film, with the curator taking the audience through a virtual exploration of Italian know- how and uniqueness and the production processes behind each object. The film will become an installation, which in turn will become an App used to explore five apartments - in Lecce, Milan, Rome, Venice and the Sienese hillside - done up in five completely different styles.

SaloneSatellite will be back in Pavilions 22 and 24 - the same as Workplace3.0 - with free public entry from Cargo 5. Now in its 18th edition, the exhibition is dedicated to the theme "Life Planet", dovetailing with that of EXPO 2015: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. SaloneSatellite is an unrivalled meeting point for 700 young designers selected from all over the world, businessmen, architects, interior designers and the press. The exhibition showcases the work of designers under 35, and offers them a chance to be selected for the 6th annual edition of the SaloneSatellite Award for the 3 best prototypes on exhibit, relating to the product categories on show.

The Salone del Mobile can be followed on the social networks and through its website and the online magazine (www.salonemilano.it), its official Facebook and Twitter pages, a dedicated YouTube channel, Flickr gallery and profiles on LinkedIn and Pinterest.

The official hashtags for the 2015 edition on Twitter @iSaloniofficial are:
#iSaloni | #Euroluce | #Workplace | #SaloneUfficio | #SaloneSatellite

For the second year running, the Salone is renewing its ties with the Municipality of Milan, Councillor for Employment, Economic Development, University and Research, Cristina Tajani, and the city's design schools, which led to the setting up of the Welcome Project at the 2014 edition. Salone del Mobile information points at various focal points around the city will be manned by 100 students, on hand to provide visitors with information on how to negotiate the city, on the trade fair itself and the palimpsest of events in Milan organised by the Department.

The Salone del Mobile is also one of the supporters of the exhibition "LEONARDO 1452- 1519" - the greatest Leonardo da Vinci exhibition ever held in Italy - which will launch on 15th April 2015 at Milan's Palazzo Reale, just after the Salone opens. Promoted by the Municipality of Milan, the project was conceived and carried out within the framework of a partnership between Palazzo Reale and Skira going back over more than 15 years, and curated by Pietro C. Marani and Maria Teresa Fiorio - both prominent Renaissance art historians.

For the third year running, an agreement between the Salone del Mobile, Milan Fairgrounds and Milan's transport agency ATM - means that visitors to the Salone will be able to acquire a combined ticket, valid for public transport on Milan's urban network and for entry to the trade fair.

Trenitalia high-speed Frecciarossa, Frecciabianca and EuroCity trains will stop specially at Rho Fiera Expo Milano during the Salone. Frecciarossa and Frecciabianca will make three stops during both the morning and the afternoon, as well as two EuroCity train pairs to and from Switzerland.

Thanks to an agreement with SkyTeam Global Meetings, exhibitors, operators and journalists taking part in the Salone will be eligible for discounts of between 5% and 15% on flights, depending on flight class. Discounts are available on all international and intercontinental return flights to Milan, operated by SkyTeam member airlines between 9th and 24th April.

Negotiations are currently under way with Alitalia for discounted airfares on national flights to and from Milan during the Salone.

The Salone is also making the real-time Salone del Mobile.Milano 2015 App available for free download on iOS and Android devices, enabling people to plan their visits and orientate themselves at the fairgrounds.

Detailed information can be found on the website www.salonemilano.it

Salone del Mobile 2015: MINI and Jaime Hayon Present 'Urban Perspectives'

A Fantastical Installation on the Future of Urban Mobility


For this year's Salone del Mobile, MINI has teamed up with Spanish designer and artist Jaime Hayon to present an installation that conjures up visions of tomorrow's urban mobility in the form of an imaginary world.

The focus of the installation is the MINI Citysurfer concept, a flexible electric kick scooter that provides a smarter and more personalised way of getting around town. For Jaime Hayon it is the starting point of a fantastical journey through a modern metropolis, for which he is designing two variants of the MINI Citysurfer concept. He takes visitors along graphic paths and challenging routes through a surreal space, within which he applies his strikingly creative aesthetics to showcase the future of mobility:



"I wanted to create an incredible and immersive experience that pays tribute to MINI's sophisticated design developments for future mobility," says Jaime Hayon of his vision, which goes far beyond any fictional mobility scenario. He sees his installation as a collaborative design process that espouses the MINI claim to pioneering materials and high quality. For the execution of the overall concept, Hayon is working closely with the MIN Design Team and specialist craftspeople.


'Jaime Hayon Urban Perspectives for MINI' is a further highlight arising from the ongoing creative dialogue that MINI pursues with leading international designers. "For us, collaborating with creative designers from a wide range of disciplines is an important format that allows us to view automotive design from a different perspective," says Anders Warming, Head of MINI Design. "Jaime Hayon is a partner whose sheer inventiveness and unconventional formal language are inspirational."


In Jaime Hayon's illustrated urban jungle, progress is bright and colorful: the designer has dreamed up a road made of Carrara marble supported by luminous blue pillars, while shiny brass lamps point the way to an imaginary destination. Accessories specially developed for the installation, such as a helmet - part high-tech object, part playful mask - and a jacket likewise designed by Hayon, symbolize the fantasy realm in which the Spanish designer dismantles familiar perspectives. They are indispensable accoutrements on this dynamic ride into the future which Hayon imposingly visualizes through his personal play with functionality fantasy and creativity.


The installation 'Jaime Hayon Urban Perspectives for MINI' will be on show from 14 to 19 April 2015 at the Laboratorio Bergognone in Via Bergognone 26 as part of the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

All images copyright and courtesy of BMW Group - bmwgroup.com

Salone del Mobile - salonemilano.it