Transformable flying AirCar awarded airworthiness certificate

A flying car capable of converting from a road to an air vehicle has been granted an airworthiness certification in Slovakia, as its makers eye mass manufacturing.

The Slovak Transport Authority awarded the AirCar by Klein Vision a Certificate of Airworthiness earlier this week, after the vehicle completed more than 70 hours of successful flight testing.

The AirCar is a dual-mode vehicle with a petrol engine that can convert from a car to an aircraft at the push of a button.

White AirCar vehicle in sportscar mode drives on a highway
The AirCar is capable of driving on the roads like an ordinary car

In its testing it has performed steep 45 degree turns, reached maximum speeds of 190 kilometres per hour and flown a 35-minute inter-city journey between airports in Nitra and Bratislava.

Slovak company Klein Vision said its flight testing was in line with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, and that the certification aids its plans to … Read more

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Teknos interior paints provide "better indoor air quality"

Dezeen promotion: Finnish paint brand Teknos has released a range of paints designed to improve resident’s wellbeing by purifying indoor air.

Named Biora Air, the paints absorb and neutralise aldehyde pollutants such as formaldehydes from interior spaces.

According to Teknos, air contaminants are odourless, which makes them difficult for residents to detect before noticing health effects, such as irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and skin.

Depending on the concentration of aldehydes and the size of the space, surfaces painted with Biora Air paints can purify air for “five to 10 years”.

“Indoor air is polluted by many sources, such as the outside air, building materials and furniture,” said Teknos. “Impurities that can be found include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), small particles or harmful microbes such as mould.”

A wall painted in a cool toned mauve Teknos paint with a white desk, red desk lamp, pink diary and a jar of flowers
Biora Air paints have a matt finish and a purifying technology that helps reduce the amount of aldehydes in the air

Throughout … Read more

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Marjan van Aubel turns solar cells into art with glow-in-the-dark tapestry

Strips of colourful photovoltaic cells are arranged into a geometric pattern to form this artwork, conceived by Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel to bring solar panels from our roofs into our homes.

Named Ra after the ancient Egyptian sun god, the see-through solar tapestry is less than one millimetre thick and was designed to be hung in a window, so that it can cast vivid shadows on the surrounding walls as the light changes throughout the day.

Ra tapestry pictured at daytime hung behind a vase with flowers
The Ra tapestry (above) is made from transparent photovoltaic cells (top image)

When the sun goes down, a ring of electroluminescent paper embedded in the window hanging starts to glow, powered by the energy that was captured by the photovoltaic (PV) cells throughout the day.

Unlike a traditional solar lamp, such as the Sunne light that van Aubel unveiled last year, Ra’s purpose is not strictly to provide illumination.

Wallhanging made from solar panels by Marjan van Aubel pictured at dusk, hung behind a vase with flowers
It was designed to
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Sunken home forms setting for Virgil Abloh's final Louis Vuitton show

LA studio Playlab Inc. has incorporated surreal fragments of a home in the set for Louis Vuitton’s Autumn Winter 2022 menswear collection, which was the final collection from the fashion house’s late creative director Virgil Abloh.

Taking place on the 20 January in Paris at the Carreau du Temple, the 22 minute-show was an ode to Abloh’s eight previous shows as Louis Vuitton’s creative director – incorporating elements from each in a surrealist and whimsical medley.

A sunken house with a red roof forms the set at the Louis Vuitton Autumn Winter 2022 show
Playlab Inc. designed the set for Louis Vuitton’s Autumn Winter 2022 show by Virgil Abloh

Set within the Carreau du Temple, a 19th century-covered market in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, the set was designed by Playlab Inc. The LA-based creative studio transformed the glass and iron structure into a monochromatic, sky-blue dream-like scape titled “Louis Dreamhouse”.

“Imagining a metaphysical space of possibility, the Carreau du Temple in Paris is transformed by the wondrous … Read more

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Previously unrecycleable clothing made into Fibers Unsorted textile

Design studio Envisions has worked with engineering company Imat-Uve to make a recycled textile from used clothing usually considered unfit for recycling.

Their textile, called Fibers Unsorted, is a technical fabric made from mixed-fibre clothing that would otherwise have gone to landfill. Instead, it is processed into a product that is durable and high-quality enough to be used in the automotive industry, among others.

Even though recycled fabrics have become more commonplace, textiles are difficult to recycle and the bulk of such waste goes into landfill.

Abstract shapes wrapped in various textiles from the Fibers Unsorted project
The Fibers Unsorted project aimed to develop a high-quality recycled textile durable enough to be used in the automotive industry

“The challenge that Fibers Unsorted set was to develop a quality yarn out of the big waste streams of textile that are still today only down-cycled into a poor insulation material or get burned or end up in a landfill,” Envisions director Sanne Schuurman … Read more

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