David Hockney’s new exhibition is a celebration of art’s future
Beloved British artist David Hockney may be 85, but he is still pushing the boundaries of what art can do. Known for his bold use of colour, astute portraiture, and intrepid depictions of queerness, David Hockney is a national treasure. His work has pushed boundaries in every way that art can;...
Current in Design
Pallet ‘pop up’ shelters used to help combat homelessness
What if you could build a house in less than an hour? The US company Pallet has created a shelter that does just that in an effort to fight homelessness. It can be a huge task building homes. Planning, construction, and plumbing can take months and even years, with...
Milan Design Week showcases innovative biofilm breakthrough
At the world’s most important design event, Dutch designer Lionne van Deursen presented an innovative biofilm made from yeast. The eco-material could one day replace pesky plastic films that are notoriously difficult to recycle. Phasing out plastics is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. With 9 billion tons...
RCA’s Virgil Abloh Scholarship fights underrepresentation in the arts
The Royal College of Art has announced a new scholarship honouring the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh – in an effort to support underrepresented communities. A new scheme by the Royal College of Art will see one ‘extraordinarily talented, but financially restricted, Black British student’ offered an annual scholarship...
Saatchi Gallery’s new exhibition spotlights Black visionaries
The New Black Vanguard features photographers Campbell Addy and Tyler Mitchell, spotlighting Black visionaries at the intersection of art and fashion. The Saatchi Gallery’s latest show, ‘The New Black Vanguard’, is – as its name would suggest – a celebration of Blackness. Photographer Campbell Addy, whose work features in the exhibit...
This lamp is made from just three recycled orange peels
One of the key challenges humanity faces is finding ways to turn ‘waste’ into items that are both functional and attractive to use. A design studio in Italy is utilising the country’s most popular fruit to create eco-friendly homeware. On the third day, God said: ‘let there be light.’ Not...
Two designers are turning food waste into home accessories
While minimising the amount of food we throw away should be a top priority in light of the climate crisis, the task of finding a renewed purpose for unavoidable agricultural waste has landed in the hands of talented creatives. In the age of upcycling, we tend to focus on reworking materials like wood, metal, and plastic in order to transform them into something new. But addressing one of the biggest...
This new sustainable lamp uses water to generate light
A Colombian designer has collaborated with renewable energy company E-dina and Wunderman Thompson to build a lamp that generates light using salt water. It could help over 800 million people worldwide with little access to electricity. Ever been stuck out in the wilderness without a torch? Phone run out of battery? It’s an inconvenience that can happen to any outdoor enthusiast. A new sustainable lamp could be the answer to...
Opinion – Kanye needs to stop using ‘art’ as an excuse for hate
Kanye West’s new ‘Wh*te Lives Matter’ T-shirts are more than a cry for attention. They’re dangerous. This year, Paris Fashion Week burst at the seams with viral conversation starters. Despite a disappointing lack of sustainable sentiment, it would be hard to deny the future-facing stance of Paris’ shows – with a large number of brands using the runway to explore fashion’s future in an increasingly digitised and divided world. From Coperni’s spray...
Student wins design prize for microplastic collecting robot fish
A student at the University of Surrey has designed a robot fish capable of filtering waterways to collect microplastics. The digital code is open source too, so anyone with access to a 3D printer can create their own. Microplastics are an ecological menace that have only really entered global discourse in the last few years. Making up close to 92% of the estimated 5.25 trillion plastic objects floating on the...
