Design

Swedish tech startup Einride has designed T-log, a fully electric and autonomouslogging truck, which is designed to hit public roads by 2020.While many car companies, including Jaguar and Tesla, are developing vehicles with driverless capabilities, Einride have gone a step further and removed the driver’s compartment altogether.As a more powerful version of the startup’s previous T-pod model – an all-electric, autonomous truck revealed last year – the T-log boasts advanced off-road capabilities and is designed to navigate through rough forest roads.

Dezeen’s US editor Dan Howarth selects his highlights from this year’s NeoCon furniture fair, which took place 11-13 June 2018 at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

New York design studio Jumbo has created a dark purple chair and three matching lamps, all from curved tubes of steel.The curved tubular forms serve as the chair’s structure and the lamps’ bases, in the pieces that comprise the Neotenic collection.The small series, which was launched at the NYCxDesign festival last month, was designed by friends and designers Monling Lee and Justin Donnelly – who established a studio called Jumbo in 2016.The duo, who are based in Brooklyn, created the items in the collection from matching chunky, tubular forms in a dark purple colour.

Graduates Saki Maruyama and Daniel Coppen have designed a set of children’s toysthat encourage “free and open-ended play”.Called Knotty, the collection features three inputs, a push button, shake sensor and sound sensor, which can be connected by a “special rope” to one of three outputs – a motor, LED light, and a buzzer.

Central Saint Martins‘ graduate Magda Sabatowska has devised a cooking kit to help isolated elderly female residents of housing estates in Poland socialise with their neighbours.Called Social Oven, the kit provides the elderly residents, who are often isolated in their homes, with the tools needed to exchange homemade meals with their neighbours.

Australian practice Breathe Architecture has transformed the former headquarters of Paramount Pictures in Sydney into a boutique hotel with warm and tactile interiors.The Paramount House Hotel is situated on Commonwealth Street in the trendy Surry Hills surburb, set within the former headquarters of film studio Paramount Pictures and an adjacent warehouse.The two buildings were restored and linked together with a two-storey extension in a nine-year project by local practice Fox Johnston.

Dezeen promotion: adidas Originals has reimagined a cushioning system it developed in the 1990s to create a shoe that is “built for natural motion”.The sportswear brand revisited designs it originally developed for running shoes when creating the form of its new P.O.D.System sneakers.The shoe’s distinctive feature is a “podular” outsole made up of three components. The modules are designed to offer shock absorption and stability to the foot at key points of impact.The P.O.D.System sneakers feature an outsole made up of three modular componentsThe high-rebound EVA (ethyl vinyl acetate) element offers a soft and responsive cushioning to the forefoot, while the Boost heel is designed to offer support to the rear of the foot.These are connected by the third element, the Point of Deflection Bridge, designed to support the natural twist and curve of the foot. The name P.O.D.System takes it name from this element.

Latvian designer Arthur Analts has created a €5 coin with a tessellating honeycomb shape, to highlight the abundant natural resources of his home country.The Honey Coin coin imitates the hexagonal cell structure of honeycomb, where bees store larvae, honey and pollen.It has six sides, with wavy edges created by the shapes of the cells. Some of these cells are shiny, as if filled with glistening liquid honey, while others are frosted.Analts won an annual design competition organised by Latvijas Banka to create the coin. It was minted by the Lithuanian Mint and has now been issued by the bank as a collectors’ item.