Researchers at the French engineering university have collaborated with Centre Technique du Papier in the development of the wallpaper, which is coated in conductive silver ink that can block particular electromagnetic wave frequencies. This means that users will be able to benefit from a secure wifi network, alongside maintaining access to radio and mobile phone services. Serving a dual purpose, the wallpaper can not only keep wifi signal within the confines of the home, office or venue, it can also stop surrounding signals from permeating the space. What’s more, some worry that electromagnetic waves could be harmful, and although this theory is unproven, the wallpaper’s ability to block out these waves could put these fears to rest. While the wallpaper is designed with a geometric pattern in the silver ink, blocking capabilities are not affected if homeowners or businesses want to place their own choice of decoration over the top.

Although a similar method for safeguarding business networks from security breaches was developed by BAE Systems in the UK, this has never been made commercially available. The ING researchers have granted Finnish company Ahlstrom exclusive rights to manufacture the wallpaper, and it is expected to go on sale in 2013. They explain that it should cost the same as a mid-range traditional wallpaper.

With security settings already available to those who wish to make their wifi network private, some may question how necessary this technology is. However, while it is perhaps less of a concern for homeowners, it may still prove useful for businesses who offer their patrons free wifi access or need to ensure against security breaches. Could the inovation prove useful for your company or venue?

Website: www.ahlstrom.com
Contact: info@ahlstrom.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Sales of nori reportedly took a downturn following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. In response, international ad agency I&S BBDO created for Umino its new line of designer nori: seaweed for sushi that’s laser-cut into artistic, designer patterns. Five precut designs are available — including “sakura,” featuring cherry blossoms, and “mizutama,” or water drops — each reportedly based on an element of Japanese history or symbology.

Umino’s designer nori was on exhibition earlier this year at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Tokyo and pricing on the nori rolls is reportedly JPY 840 each, according to a Design Boom report. How could your brand infuse its products with a similar splash of style?

Website: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/showcase/3
Contact: www.isbbdo.co.jp/#/contact

Spotted by: Denise Kuperman

Similar in appearance to the classic fortune teller created through origami, Resonant Chamber is built to be able to contract and expand its many folds to make the most of the sonic conditions of the moment. “The goal is not ‘perfect’ acoustics, but rather variable acoustics for different applications,” RVTR’s Geoffrey Thun told Co.Design recently. “To enable a single venue to provide ideal conditions for a range of music performance and audience configurations would be fantastic.” Toward that end, a mix of reflective, absorptive and electroacoustic triangular panels are suspended from a track and can reportedly shift positions as needed to enhance the sounds emanating from below. The video below explains the premise in more detail:

RVTR is currently working on a custom software interface for Resonant Chamber that will add additional capabilities; the company also aims to scale up its prototype into a 1,000-square-foot installation, Co.Design reports. Architectural entrepreneurs: one to get involved in?

Website: www.rvtr.com/research/resonant-chamber
Contact: www.rvtr.com/contact

The old Getty Images watermark consisted of the company logo placed in the middle of each image, the function of which was to ‘spoil’ the picture so it could not be used without paying for it. While useful in one respect, it also served to make it harder for legitimate customers to properly preview the product before buying. In the redesign, R/GA has replaced the logo with a shortlink to the Getty page hosting the purchase details for that image, as well as information about its creation and related photographs. This is useful for customers who find a watermarked Getty photograph online from a different source and want to use it, while the company benefits from viewers being driven back to its site. R/GA has also updated the watermark to include the author — giving photographers the credit they deserve for their work — and moved the text into a stylish translucent gray box in the bottom right of each image. According to Fast Company, the new watermark is being tested now, with a site-wide roll-out expected soon. The video below demonstrates the redesign:

By discarding the placement of its company logo and replacing it with a more practical shortlink, Getty Images has transformed an unloved — but necessary — feature of its business with a more useful alternative. How could your business re-think some core essentials to better serve the customer base?

Website: www.rga.com
Contact: web@rga.com

The city of Rotterdam is now hosting the 5th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) until August, and its main exhibit this year is entitled “Making City,” with a focus on smart new ways to make cities more livable. Launched recently by IABR and local architectural firm ZUS, the “I Make Rotterdam” project focuses on the area that stretches from Rotterdam Central District to Pompenburg and Hofbogen. “The area around the Hofplein used to be the bustling center of town, but now it is dominated by large-scale infrastructure, traffic and rear facades of buildings,” the project explains. “Our challenge is to use unconventional means to enliven the area rapidly by creating pedestrian connections and reinforce existing programs.”

Accordingly, a wooden pedestrian bridge dubbed the Luchtsingel will span 350 meters and require 17,000 planks. Citizens are invited to chip in and help fund the effort with donations of anywhere between EUR 25 for one plank and EUR 1,250 for an entire bridge section — whatever the size of their purchase, they can inscribe the result with their name or any other text of their choice. Perhaps most interesting of all is that the length of the bridge will depend on the number of planks purchased. With more than 1,000 participants to date, roughly 14 percent of the bridge has been built so far.

We’ve seen plenty of crowdfunded efforts over the years, but not often does a civic initiative ask citizens to “put their money where their mouths are,” so to speak. A model for emulation in other parts of the world?

Website: www.en.imakerotterdam.nl
Contact: info@imakerotterdam.nl

Customers first type in the location they would like to be depicted in their woodcut – whether it is a place dear to them or simply the area surrounding the spot where it will be hung. Users are then shown the Google Maps version of the location with a viewfinder laid over the top. The size and shape of the viewfinder can be changed by choosing the dimensions of the woodcut they would like made and by zooming in or out of the map. The site then renders the information into a geometric woodcut design created with three different types of wood. Woodcut Maps uses a range of exotic woods and customers can customize their item by selecting their desired border width, choosing how much detail is shown and opting for uneven edges. Prices range from USD 165 to around USD450, depending on the design, although the company also accepts bespoke requests such as coaster sets, table tops or wall murals.

Using Google Maps as the basis for its artworks enables people around the world to purchase a decorative item which feels personal, and Woodcut Maps also ships internationally, catering to customers globally. How else could online information be used for decorative purposes in the physical world?

Website: www.woodcutmaps.com
Contact: www.woodcutmaps.com/#contact_us

Spotted by: Zachary Love

The idea behind Mini Masters tiles is to provide decorative ceramic panels for locations such as restaurants, retail outlets or the home, which contain integrated QR codes linking to extra content. Currently, the company is offering four 15cm x 15cm tiles designed by Dutch artist Jeroen van der Most, featuring interpretations of iconic art images including one of Van Gogh’s self-portraits and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe print. QR codes embedded in the images randomly offer up a funny or philosophical quotation from a database to smartphone users with a suitable app installed. Reminiscent of Springwise featured QRawr, owners of the tiles are also able to add their own quotes to the database and, inspired by bathroom graffiti, can leave their name and location or remain anonymous. These quotes will then appear to anyone scanning Mini Masters tiles anywhere in the world.

Mini Masters tiles are a unique use of QR code technology and add a social element to a piece of decoration that might otherwise go unnoticed. How else could everyday objects be reinvigorated with the technology?

Website: www.mini-masters.com
Contact: jeroen@mini-masters.com

On/Off paint is grayish in color and is designed to serve as an undercoat on virtually any medium beneath traditional paints or wallpapers. Once applied, it enables touch-based control of electronic devices such as lamps or alarms. Including both paint and a hidden electronic device, the On/Off system is expected to hit the market this year, according to a report on e-lab, while Futura-Sciences reports that prices will be between 30 and 40 euros per liter.

On/Off paint could potentially remove the need for light switches around the home, controlling virtually any kind of electronic device and even acting as a dimmer switch when users touch with different pressures. Tech-savvy entrepreneurs: one to get involved in?

Website: www.peinture-interrupteur-on-off.com
Contact: nicolas.triboulot@wanadoo.fr

Spotted by: Francois Lavaste

Consumers visiting the site begin by creating an account with their email address. From there they can browse the range of products available for voting and place votes for their favorite items. The items with the most votes are then selected for production and, once built, customers who voted for those items are offered a five percent discount should they purchase. Consumers are allowed to vote on ten percent of the website’s products each month. Designers, meanwhile, can submit their ideas for Galatea to put forward for voting.

The crowdsourcing model helps designers to see what products are popular among buyers, while simultaneously providing manufacturers with a proof of concept. An idea to try out in other industries to the benefit of all involved?

Website: www.galateacasa.com.br/projetos
Contact: www.galateacasa.com.br/contato

Spotted by: Erica Oliveira

Users begin by downloading the Sculpteo app for free from the iTunes store; it’s available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad with iOS 5.0 or later. Next, they browse through Sculpteo’s selection of customizable objects, which includes the personal Pixel Cup, Profile Vase, Ego-Datamug and customized iPhone case. The basic designs of those objects were created by top designers, but users of the new app can customize numerous aspects of them. The Profile Vase, for example, lets users submit a profile photo of themselves or a friend and see it reflected in the shape of the ceramic vase; couples can even submit two photos to create a “Me & You” vase. In addition to customizing such objects with photos, users can also adjust all aspects of the object’s design, including size, dimensions, color and material. Designs can be saved and shared on Facebook or Twitter; they can also be ordered from Sculpteo for delivery within a few days.

Along with the recent launch of its new smartphone app, Sculpteo has also opened up its 3D printing service for integration into online retailers’ own offerings and websites. Stores can use their own customizable designs, it says, and Sculpteo will handle production and delivery. Retailers around the world: an innovative service to add to your bespoke line?

Website: www.sculpteo.com/en/app
Contact: www.sculpteo.com/en/contact

Sixty-one rooms in three historic buildings make up the Hotel the Exchange, and each has been designed and “dressed” by graduates and alumni of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. Custom fabrics cover the otherwise blank walls and furniture to create a unique look in every space, including a lavish Marie Antoinette-style room with a huge dress draped over the walls and bed, as well as a room based on the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes, “where nothing is what it seems,” in the hotel’s own words. For guests who get inspired by the designs and fabrics on display, sewing machines are available for use in the hotel. Room rates begin at EUR 75 per night.

Hotel the Exchange is part of an urban-renewal project focused on Amsterdam’s Damrak district. Hoteliers around the globe: one for inspiration!

Website: www.exchangeamsterdam.com
Contact: post@exchangeamsterdam.com

Spotted by: Murtaza Patel

Crafted by MIT startup Supermechanical from solid oak, powder-coated steel and laser-etched aluminum,
Rev–>Table’s digital blueprint is etched as a barcode into a durable aluminum plate on its surface. No internet connection is required to access the attached data; rather, any smartphone can scan the two-dimensional barcode to retrieve the stored DXF files. “Use your smartphone to read the digital design file embedded in each part and create replacements,” the company explains. “Modify the legs to make them longer or angled or art deco. This is furniture for the future of manufacturing.” Customization options, quantity discounts and trade pricing on the USD 499 table are available.

In the ongoing quest for sustainability in this eco-minded era, anything that helps consumers get the most out of the products they buy is bound to be a winner. Other manufacturers of products large and small: what about you?

Website: www.supermechanical.com/rev
Contact: connect@supermechanical.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Curface is an extended high-impact polystyrene thermoplastic board, the surface of which feels like a combination of chocolate, leather and stone, its maker says. Designed primarily for interior use, it can be easily manipulated using standard woodworking tools. It’s waterproof, and requires no coating or finishing; scratches are easily fixed with sandpaper, Re-Worked says. Sheets of Curface can even be welded together, and the company has just introduced an injection mouldable pellet form of the composite material. Best of all, however, is that Curface is made in the UK from 30 percent locally recycled coffee grounds along with waste plastic.

Curface is made to order in four sheet thicknesses — 5mm, 12mm, 18mm and 25mm — and a range of furniture using the material is also available. Re-Worked is now gearing up to open a showroom in West London in September. One to get involved in early?

Website: www.re-worked.co.uk
Contact: info@re-worked.co.uk

Spotted by: Matthew Smith

Now available for iPhone and iPad, PopBooth lets users take four “photo booth” snapshots using their device’s front-facing camera. Several filters are available, including black and white, “colorz”, 1985 and vintage. Either way, the result is a strip of four photos that can be posted to Facebook or sent via email; alternatively, users can also choose to have their photo strip printed instead. In that case, two photo strips — one to keep and one to share — are printed at 300dpi resolution on thick, glossy card stock and delivered anywhere in the world for USD 2.99. PopBooth is the creation of Sincerely Inc., which also makes the Postagram app for creating photo postcards.

While recent years have witnessed a surge in the popularity of social networks and online sharing, it seems clear from other examples such as the Social Print Studio that there is still a strong desire to share in the offline world as well. Keep the OFF=ON innovations coming!

Website: www.popbooth.com
Contact: info@popbooth.com

Spotted by: Judy McRae

Kuvva’s mission is to “turn dead space into creative space”. They launched in April 2011, publishing seven different high quality images by talented artists every week for users to add some “visual awesomeness” to their Twitter account. The platform has since quadrupled in size and been shared with 1.6 million Twitter users. In response to strong demand they have now released an application which brings Kuvva to a PC or Mac desktop, collaborating with Dutch artist Piet Parra to celebrate the launch. Kuvva are always on the look out for designers, brands, artists and photographers to partner with, and plan to stroke their creative brushes over mobile phones, tumblr and television next.

The success of Kuvva indicates that social media and “online natives” are keen for their online profiles to mirror their personal style, in pictures as well as words. A promising opportunity for creative professionals to get involved in?

Website: www.kuvva.com
Contact: contact@kuvva.com

Spotted by: Nalden