Gothenburg, Sweden-based designer Love Hultén sent me a project called The Senescent Desk, a project about natural change without maintenance and a story about interaction. The Senescent Desk is basically a self-sufficient gardening system based on a water-tank, mist makers, two fans, a growth substrate material made from recycled plastic and a digital time. The idea is that over time, the vegetation will flourish and (hopefully) eventually “attack” the artifact without the need of human interaction. In this design, untreated wood is also used so that the wood itself will change over time as a reaction to its environment

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The Senescent Desk by Love Hultén

The Typeshelf is a part of a new series by designer Ufuk Keskin called flat objects designed for Thirtyfive Creative Works , an up and coming design studio in NYC that specializes in creating simple and clever products. This series takes 2D objects and with interaction from the user transforms those objects in to 3D functioning products. Share This: Twitter | Facebook | Discover more great design by following Design Milk on Twitter and Facebook . © 2011 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments

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Typeshelf

Noa Dotan is a recent graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design whose final project explores family and healing. Family Matters is a family of toys for family therapy. Born from her love of toys and inspired by the need for 3D objects in the professional therapy environment, Family Matters is a series of relate-able objects for both therapists and patients. Noa explains that the toys can be incorporated into therapy at three different levels: 1) The family experience; The family is introduces to the characters who allow, by projecting, a beginning of a conversation and an open dialoged where one does not exist, creating family interaction and connections. 2) The individual experience; Each family member can choose his own personal character and give it its own Identity

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Family Matters by Noa Dotan

Beam is a small table lamp that is focused on the materials and feeling at the interaction moment with the user. Created by Christian Vivanco , Beam is made of a solid block of pine and a thermoformed mma sheet. Christian explains that the project came about accidentally after talking with various local lumberyards, “There I got the chance to realize how beautiful wood can be against an urban background, planks and beams stacked one above the other, some of them rough and other refined. Then it struck me, how interesting it could be to give proper respect to the material and its basic physical qualities; weight, texture, appearance, etc.” Intrigued by the possible relationship between a visibly heavy object and something ephemeral and inert as light, Christian selected materials that seemed to fit together perfectly into a pre-defined grid. To enhance the lamp’s relationship with the user, he rounded the edges, creating a hugging effect of the hand when holding the lamp.

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Beam Table Lamp by Christian Vivanco

Scale 1:1 is a contemporary furniture and lighting company that creates unique and playful designs that demand interaction. Their current offerings include the Supernova “huggable” light, Floppy the “flop and lock” table, and Finger Couch, a multi-hued and modular offering suitable for numerous applications. Founded by Clara Reis — who left the fashion industry — and David Winston (founder of Cleanroom design firm), Scale 1:1 has joined Ford&Ching , who represent a number of other innovative designers. Discover more great design by following Design Milk on Twitter and Facebook ! © 2010 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments | Tweet This | Share on Facebook

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This lamp was designed by recent grad Kylie Vickers in response to her own investigation into creating a greater interaction between a product and its user. She explored how this could extend the longevity of a design.

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Lamp by Kylie Vickers

This isn’t new, but I recently came upon it for the first time and felt it was something worth sharing.  Called the Paper Table, this table is actually made of recycled paper and features an oil finish.

This table is the work of Matt Gagnon, a graduate of the architecture school at Cornell University who now has his own studio in Brooklyn. Gagnon experiments with proportional relationships and the interaction between people and the space that surrounds them. He likes to push the limits of each medium, which in this case results in quite a stunning table. I wouldn’t have thought paper, especially recycled paper, could be pushed that far. I guess that’s why Gagnon is the artist and not me! See more of his work here.