Maxime Cardol intimately photographs the unbreakable bond between sisters

In her new series, the Dutch-Canadian photographer documents the indescribable connection found in sisterhood.

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Hop completes two-tone nut-butter cafe in Brussels

Nut-coloured walls and bronze mirrors feature in the two-tone Buddy Buddy cafe in Brussels, which serves up speciality coffee and nut butters that are made on site.

Designed by Amsterdam studio Hop, the 70-square-metre Buddy Buddy cafe is located on the ground floor of the city's UN Studio-designed Le Toison d'Or building.

The owners, who also run another popular cafe in the city, make their own variety of nut butters on site, which are served in the cafe on toast and alongside other ingredients.

To celebrate the fact that Buddy Buddy is both a cafe and nut butter atelier, the designers decided to create a two-tone interior.

The curved counter and high seating areas that line the back half of the space and are finished in warm, nut-inspired colours including a metallic red paint.

The other half of the space, nearest to the window, houses low seating areas and is finished in warm, milky-white colours that complement the building's grey facade.

The two-tone effect is applied to the walls floor and ceiling to create a sharp contrast. Hop describes the zone in the middle of the cafe where the two colours meet as a "free zone” where customers can "wait, wander, linger, look around or take selfies".

"The materialisation of the interior of Buddy Buddy plays a key role in the design," said Hop. "Every little detail within the interior of Buddy Buddy is carefully thought out and complements the colourful character of the owners and the tasty experience of their nut butters."

Almost all of the fixed furniture in the cafe is built from custom powder coated steel elements while the floor and service counter are finished with a vibrant mortex coating.

Large bronze mirrors were installed to create depth in the compact space.

The steel back wall was built up out of large and heavy elements that were prefabricated in the Netherlands and constructed on site by a team of workers.

The playful and colourful images that feature across Buddy Buddy's packaging and accessories were designed by branding company ByFutura.

In Athens design studio AK-A created a two-tone interior in this bright white restaurant by painting the bottom half of the walls in glossy green paint.

Photography is by Michael Cerrone.

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If boobs could speak, what would they say? Breast Friends is a hysterical animation on Western beauty standards

London-based animator Caitlin Young treats us to a laugh out loud adventure of mean inner monologues, and that fundamental question: Am I a bad feminist?

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This week's top architecture and design jobs include Soho House and India Mahdavi

Thinking about making your next career move? Here are five promising architecture and design job opportunities, including positions at Soho House and India Mahdavi.

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Intermediate project architect Soho House

Soho House is seeking an intermediate project architect to join its team in Los Angeles. The members' club has recently extended Dumbo House in New York, updating the rooftop swimming pool that overlooks Brooklyn Bridge.

Browse all roles in the US ›

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Junior interior designer at India Mahdavi

India Mahdavi designed the womenswear section of a historic department store in Berlin, which features sweeping walkways made from different shades of quartz that guide the movement of the store's customers.

The French architect's firm has an opportunity for a junior interior designer to join its studio in Paris.

Browse all interior design jobs ›

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Interior architects at Concrete Architects

Concrete Architects is recruiting interior architects to join its practice in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Dutch firm built an apartment tower composed of irregularly stacked blocks that cantilever over the ground, which at 69-storeys stands as the tallest residential skyscraper in New Jersey.

Browse more jobs for interior architects ›

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Part 2 architectural assistant at Michaelis Boyd

Michaelis Boyd has designed the interiors for an upcoming condominium tower in Brooklyn, which features an eclectic mix of materials including pale wooden finishes, grey-toned oak and marble bathrooms. The firm is looking for a Part 2 architectural assistant to join its London office.

Browse all roles for architectural assistants ›

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Junior technician or technologist at Guy Hollaway Architects

Guy Hollaway Architects is hiring a junior technician or technologist to join its firm in London. The practice built a studio for a British photographer in Kent, which comprises a corrugated metal-clad volume with a large angled wooden opening that provides views into the plywood interior.

Browse all roles in London ›

See all the latest architecture and design roles on Dezeen Jobs ›

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Tom Dixon designs furniture collection from "dream material" cork

British designer Tom Dixon is releasing a series of furniture made from cork, that has been charred to give it a rich, deep brown colour reminiscent of rosewood.

The Cork collection features a shelf, stool and three tables, with chubby, rounded silhouettes that are designed to let the material shine.

"When I was growing up we had cork floors and they had this amazing warmth and tactility," Dixon told Dezeen.

"It's also sound absorbent, fireproof, water resistant and lighter than water, which is why it floats, so it's easy to transport. In terms of a dream material, you couldn't really get a lot better."

The raw material itself is derived from the outer bark of the quercus suber tree, commonly known as the cork oak.

Today, the majority of it is used for the production of bottle stops, which are punched out of sheets of the bark. For the Cork collection, the remaining, pre-consumer waste material from this process was granulated and compressed into composite blocks.

At this stage the material was also charred, "a bit like popcorn" so it browns and expands. This means the final pieces are less susceptible to dirt, while also steering clear of an overly Scandinavian aesthetic.

The material was mixed with a small amount of PU resin to bind it at a ratio of 93 per cent cork to seven per cent resin.

"We experimented with using no filler at all when we trialled the furniture in our restaurant in Milan, but people would pick out the granules and we couldn't really let that happen with the final collection," explained Dixon.

"It can still be continually recycled, even with the resin. Combined with waste tyres in can be used for flooring or playgrounds. There is pretty much no waste in the process, even the dust from the production is used to power the furnaces in the factories."

Dixon sources the material via the same Portuguese manufacturer that is also supplying cork for the 2020 Serpentine Pavillion designed by South African architecture studio Counterspace.

Thanks to its waterproof, fire retardant qualities, the material has historically been used in the production of shoes, as well as for flooring and wall cladding.

Today, it is experiencing a resurgence in design and architecture due to the fact that is it also recyclable and, according to Dixon, carbon negative as it can be harvested without harming the tree that it grows on.

"You're not cutting a tree down like you would for a wooden table or chair – all you're doing is skinning it," he explained.

"So you're planting trees with the long-term in mind and you harvest every nine years," he continued.

"All this time, the material effectivel captures carbon as it grows. The tree continues to grow more bark, that bark captures more carbon and you're planting more trees to make more cork. Meanwhile, the carbon that's stored in the cork stays in the furniture pieces unless burn it."

To keep transport to a minimum, the pieces themselves are also produced in Portugal, with the round tables and stools made from solid cork while the rectangular table and shelf have a cork veneer over a plywood and cardboard frame.

"Because they are so long, they would warp if they were solid cork," said Dixon. "So they have a cardboard and plywood base to hold them up."

The soft, rounded edges are created through CNC milling machines, with the offcuts reused to form new composite blocks.

"I was very angular before I was a dad," the designer remembered.

"But once you've had a kid walk into the corner of a sharp table you suddenly start rounding everything off," he continued.

"It sort of happened without me realising. But on a practical level, corners and sharp angles will deteriorate very quickly in a soft material like cork so it was also about making them less destructible."

Dixon first conceptualised the round table and stools for his Gardening Will Save The World installation with IKEA, which won the silver metal at last year's Chelsea Flower Show.

But this latest iteration sees the material used across a range of different furniture pieces, which will be available for purchase from the end of March.

As the world wakes up the climate change there has been a marked rise in cork-clad buildings in recent years – from a Stirling Prize shortlisted house in Berkshire, England, to a Berlin home that repurposed waste from wine production.

British designer Jasper Morrison shared his own take on cork furniture last year, which was made from industry offcuts.

Photography is by Peer Lindgreen.

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