LONDON and MIAMI, December 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
- The BE OPEN Forum at Design Miami/ reveals the sensory visions of today's most innovative designers
Imagine if you could design a product that appealed to the sixth sense - something that felt intuitively 'right'. This is the focus for the BE OPEN Foundation's research over the next year, a project that launched at the 2012 London Design Festival with a series of events about sound.
On Saturday 8 December, the BE OPEN Forum, held in collaboration with Design Miami/, showcased five designers and the latest thinking on sensory powered design.
BE OPEN Founder Elena Baturina said: "For the BE OPEN Forum, we decided to invite young creatives who are being recognised for their individualistic approach to sensorial design. They are all true innovators, brand new voices who combine the five senses and emotions with their own sensibility to focus on distinctly different fields like bioengineering, computer science, food and scent. We are excited to be hosting this event ahead of a year of global research dedicated to the senses."
Marianne Goebl, director of Design Miami said: "Design Miami/ is dedicated to fostering discourse amongst the leading protagonists in a diverse range of design disciplines, a focus we are proud to share with BE OPEN. Thanks to the BE OPEN Forum, we are able to give our visitors direct access to the creative process of outstanding talents, whose research will have a strong impact on our lives far beyond the physical product."
Speaking to a packed talks theatre, moderator and creative consultant Jeffrey Miller commended BE OPEN's focus on finding the great design minds of our time, rather than simply creating more product and the speakers reiterated this by presenting projects that aim to stimulate thought and emotion.
Dawn Goldworm, co-founder of olfactory branding company 12.29, said she works with 'touchpoints' that speak to a whole range of people: familiar, 'comfort' scents, such as beauty, baby and food products that can generate positive feelings when used in a space.
Eating designer Marije Vogelzang talked about the emotional and cultural connection that people invest in food, but also showed how, as the only material that enters our bodies, food becomes part of us and is therefore the ultimate 'design' material.
Design practice Zigelbaum + Coelho revealed their brand new project 'Pulse', which relies on the phenomenon of entrainment, to synchronise everyone's heartbeat when they touch the Pulse pyramid. Could this offer a way to harmonious co-existence?
Tuur Van Balen, of design duo Cohen Van Balen, has similarly aspirational thoughts, creating 'encounters' that are designed to make us reflect differently on our environment and think of new potential solutions. His most enjoyable example a project to make pigeons defecate soap, a thought provoking approach to cleaning up our cities.
Carter Cleveland, founder of art and design portal Art.sy, talked about how he had created the ultimate synthesis of art and engineering with this website that gives us free and intimate access to art around the world, breaking down preconceptions about technology as an unfriendly interface as here it helps us discover creativity.
Jeffrey Miller summed up the talks by saying that all of the speakers have an open-mindedness to creativity that sits at the heart of BE OPEN's philosophy. The way that these designers use technology to create accessible, emotional experiences is a fascinating insight into the future of design practice.
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