May design news: skateboards, stations and sculpture
Building for the future should be the aim of all good design. This month’s news stories have some great examples of architects and creatives trying to do just this. Charitable education initiative Skateistan is building safe places for children to learn and have fun in Afghanistan, South Africa and Thailand in the hope of reaching some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Meanwhile, creatives from six continents are exhibiting designs offering solutions to the challenges of our times at the London Design Biennale. Very different projects, both with the aim of making the world better.
London Design Biennale highlights
As artistic director of this year’s London Design Biennale, Es Devlin asked an urgent question: how can design provide solutions for the major challenges of our time? The installations from around the world aim to give her answers.
Alongside pavilions from countries including Norway, Japan, Ghana, Germany and Canada, there’ll be the first Pavilion for the African Diaspora which celebrates the evolution of heritage and creative work of people of African descent. The pavilion is being overseen by industrial designer Ini Archibong who wants it to be a catalyst for conversation around race and equality. Another initiative for 2021 is the Global Goals Pavilion, which celebrates the UN goals for sustainable development by installing a forest of trees in the courtyard at Somerset House.
Other highlights include Design in an Age of Crisis, an exhibition showcasing radical design innovations in the categories of society, work, health and environment. Exhibits include Lot, a London land bank which allows the public to claim unused land for community greening projects and a work-from-home clock that organises time spent between work, family and friends. Artist and musician Beatie Wolfe has created an artwork for the event. From Green to Red has been built using 800,000 years of climate data.
If Devlin is looking for answers – the design community have ensured she need look no further.
London Design Biennale is at Somerset House, London, 1-27 June
