River Cousin’s surrealist airbrushed worlds are borne from a mathematical approach

The London-based illustrator creates his vivid, dreamy scapes digitally, inspired by artists such as Magritte and Robert Beatty.

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Made by Choice launches cartoonish chairs and tables that embody “nordic happiness"

Finnish design brand Made by Choice has released a series of furniture and products that typifies its playful Nordic style, including a cabinet punctured by hundreds of holes and a collection of colourful wooden boxes.

Made by Choice was one of the young brands to exhibit at the recent Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, where it unveiled additions to its collection that offer a modern take on traditional Nordic design.

Each of Made By Choice's playful products offers a modern take on traditional Nordic design

The often cartoonish shapes, quirky details and bright colours of the products contribute to a playful attitude that the company describes as "nordic happiness".

The new releases include chairs by Matti Klenell, Shane Schneck and Thomas Sandell, as well as two tabletop products designed to function as boxes by Hanna Anonen.

Shane Schneck's Punc chair has been made from moulded plywood for optimum comfort

The Punc chair by Stockholm-based American designer Schneck has a cantilevered seat supported by a geometric frame with an architectural profile.

The ash frame's solidity is softened by the curved seat and backrest, which are made from moulded plywood to ensure improved comfort.

Matti Klenell's Laulu cabinet has been punctured with hundreds of holes

Klenell's Laulu cabinet is made from birch plywood that has holes of varying sizes cut into the surfaces to create a bold pattern. The cabinet is intended for storing and displaying items as well as dividing a room.

The Goma chair and armchair by Sandell feature chunky, rounded frames made from laminated plywood that support upholstered seat cushions.

Hanna Anonen's Beebee containers take design cues from Fabergé eggs

The brand also presented a pair of wooden boxes by Finnish designer Anonen. The Beebee container is inspired by Fabergé eggs and comes in a range of sizes, while the multicoloured Plizé box features a serrated outer edge and a lid topped with a spherical handle.

The latest products build on the success Made by Choice has enjoyed since it was established in 2016 by former financier Niclas Ahlström and designers Lasse Laine and Sebastian Jansson.

Hanna Anonen's Merry side tables come in an array of vibrant colours

Speaking to Dezeen at the fair, Ahlström and Jansson explained how they work with designers to develop products that respond to contemporary needs, whilst also allowing for flexibility and bespoke alterations.

"Our goal is to establish a design house for the 21st century that is rooted in the traditions of Finnish woodwork but merges this with modern technology and interesting creators," said Jansson.

"We're trying to nourish this idea of collective creation and turning the whole operational model a bit on its head, bringing the client into the process together with the interior architects and designers," Ahlström added.

Matthew Day Jackson's Kolho dining chair features a wiggly wooden frame

The company's founders initially worked at the intersection of design and production, using their experience and contacts within the manufacturing industry to help creative agencies realise ideas for their clients.

Moving into producing their own furniture was a logical step that enabled them to take advantage of the artisanal skills and production facilities available in southwest Finland.

The brand's first products were items it had produced for earlier client projects, but it gradually began working on its own designs and collaborating with external designers.

In 2018, Made by Choice launched a collection of wooden furniture by Joanna Laajisto that the designer initially developed for a bed and breakfast in the Finnish town of Turku.

In 2019, the company worked with artist Matthew Day Jackson and surface specialist Formica on a chair that combines a curved formica seat with a wiggly wooden frame.

Hanna Anonen's candy-like Plizé boxes feature serrated outer edges

All of the designs Made by Choice presented in Stockholm can adapt to the user's specific needs, allowing them to specify different sizes, materials, colours and finishes.

The founders explained how this agile approach to manufacturing informs the development of products that are straightforward to produce in bespoke configurations.

"We work on open product platforms, so we encourage designers to create a product family that is customisable," said Jansson. "We cannot be the ones telling people what they need. People know what they need and these needs change over time."

Each of the Made By Choice products can adapt to a user's specific needs

To support this way of working, Made by Choice has also developed an augmented reality app that allows customers to alter the design of the products and view them in context using a phone or tablet.

The company continues to work on large-scale commercial projects such as offices, hotels and restaurants, whilst also opening up new retail channels around the world to sell direct to consumers.

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MVRDV and Airbus investigate how vertiports could be integrated into cities

Architecture firm MVRDV has collaborated with aircraft manufacturer Airbus to research how landing hubs for passenger drones, called vertiports, could become part of transportation networks in future cities.

The report, called Urban Air Mobility (UAM) City Integration, focused on how vertiports could serve aerial vehicle technology and supplement existing transport networks.

Vertiports for drones could slot into the urban landscape of Sao Paulo

MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas said he imagines "a city where my mobility is at my balcony!"

"As cities become denser and technologies improve, it becomes increasingly clear that the truly three-dimensional city – one that includes flying vehicles – is surely one of the city models of the future," added Maas.

Vertiports could help people fly above roads in Los Angeles

Airbus currently operates Voom, an on-demand helicopter booking platform, and is developing an autonomous air taxi passenger drone that runs on electricity.

The Dutch architecture studio looked at how vertiports could integrate aerial and terrestrial transport links in cities around the world including Shenzhen, Jakarta, Sao Paolo, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

MVRDV imagined one scenario where people arrive at Coachella by passenger drone

One case study looked at how passenger drones could take people to the Coachella music festival.

Others looked at how tourist destinations could be linked up in Shenzhen, or fly above traffic in Los Angeles.

In Shenzen vertiports could connect tourists to activity hotspots

Vertiports, said the report, could connect disparate neighbourhoods or provide transport links to areas currently underserved by more traditional rail and road routes.

The report stressed that it investigated how these transport hubs could be placed so as to minimise noise pollution and be "beneficial for people of all backgrounds".

San Fransisco airport could have landing hubs for flying taxis

Disadvantaged neighbourhoods and remote urban areas could be connected by air without the need for the expensive infrastructure needed for trains or cars.

In developing countries, cities that don't have established public transport networks such as a subway system could leapfrog straight to vertiports, suggested the report.

Shenzhen's central business district could be connected by vertiports

Sustainability, both environmentally and in terms of urban planning, was also taken into account.

"Vertiports are thought of not just as stations, but also as hubs of renewable energy, data, and public amenities, that can scale while remaining sustainable and resilient," it said.

"Air transport incentivises an ecologically responsible contribution to the local smart grids of energy and data."

Disparate parts of Jakarta could be connected by flying vehicles

The UAM report also looked at how vertiports could double up as "opportunity hubs" by hosting education and medical facilities, or serving as incubators for new businesses.

MVRDV worked with Squint\Opera to present their findings in an immersive exhibition called The City and the Sky Above for the 2019 Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen.

MVRDV researched how vertiports could be developed sustainably

Many companies are thinking ahead to the future of flying vehicles. Uber has already released designs for UberAir Skyports, aerial taxi landing pads that could serve vehicles that can take off vertically. In London, a different company called Skyports is buying up rooftops that could be converted into a network of ports for drones.

Boeing has completed a test flight for an autonomous passenger drone that runs on electricity.

Dezeen's first documentary, Elevation, examined how drones will transform cities and the way people travel within them. In the film Architect Mark Dytham outlined a future similar to the one MVRDV and Airbus describe.

"Parking for the drones would be all on the roof, recharging for the drones would potentially be on the roof," said Dytham. "In the future you're going to be entering buildings in a completely different way. You're probably going to be entering from a roof, from a balcony."

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Architect: MVRDV
Founding partner in charge: Winy Maas
Director: Enno Zuidema
Design team: Jeroen Zuidgeest, Bertrand Schippan, Kris Schaasberg, Irene Luque Martín, Halina Zarate, Chun Hoi Hui, Laura Huerga, Rocio Calzado, Alexandra Farmazon, Sophia Armpara, Francesco Barone, Boris Maas, Vedran Skansi, Monika Novkovikj, Paul van Herk, Yayun Liu, Leo Stuckardt, Chiara Thomassi, Nika Jazaei, Isabella Suppa
Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Luca Piattelli, Francesco Vitale, Pavlos Ventouris, Kirill Emelianov, Magda Bykowska, Jaroslaw Jeda, Angelo La Delfa
Strategy and development: Jan Knikker, Bart Dankers, Daan van Gool, Greetje Wieringa
UAM Team: Systra, Tractebel Engie, ETH Zurich, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, MIT, Upstone
Biennale video production: Squint Opera

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“The desert looks best in black and white”: Bryan Schutmaat on his latest series Vessels

The Texan photographer documents the unique people drifting through the American southwest.

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Dominic Kesterton squishes, stretches and slices things in his repetitive illustrations

The London-based illustrator recently completed a master’s where he began exploring “volume, repetition and variation with drawing,” producing hundreds of works at a time.

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