Brave New Talents Tour

When paradigms shift it is hard to look at design with the same old eyes. We have new questions, new perplexities and new certainties. We might even ask ourselves, timidly: do we still need design? When we look at the work of some young talents that are bravely riding the crazy horse of our era, the answer is: probably yes. So let them take us by the hand through this strange world, with rising awareness and possible opportunities. We have selected ten new talents that presented their work in this virtual arena.

Projects range from the (mis) matches between humans and technology to a future where we develop symbiosis with all kinds of ecosystems; they question the dogma of time, envision peculiar systems to preserve individual biological identities and produce soft materials to reimagine the way we dress, present our bodies and reveal (or not) our personality. Fungi become part of fashion that becomes biofashion, the language of plants enters our daily alphabet and we can design our own protein resources. Some of them look at the past to strenghten their presence in the future, by drawing upon ancient arts techniques and translating the design knowledge of the recent past into videogames to better understand and navigate those concepts.

Looking at these projects can be scary or fascinating, it can propel attraction or rather distance, but this is our present and we see it through their genuine visions. Being them technologies, nature and flora, or ancient technical wisdom, all these works share an attitude towards reconstruction and tranformation, an innovative alchemy of materials that appear familiar and yet not seen before.