Storing magazines is often a messy business and magazine racks don’t always help to solve, but hide, the problem. MINI GIRAFFE I is an unusual magazine rack. Its triangular profile allows the magazines to be stacked in a very intuitive way and helps mark our favourite page. Mini Giraffe I disappears underneath the stack of paper as if it weren’t there. Finding a balance between privacy and openness in the contemporary office environment is an ever-growing concern. MINI GIRAFFE II is a simple desk divider, which separates contiguous working spaces without becoming intrusive and also serves as electrical hub and personal

The quality of natural light that penetrates our daily environments deeply affects our mood. IRIS LOUVER is a modular and easy-to-use louver and partition system. It shrinks to become opaque, and it magically expands like a diaphragm to become porous, thus creating a latticework and giving a special hue to the entering light.

(siesta cushion for office, 2011) Working patterns are constantly evolving. We gradually spend more time in our working environments, and this in turn means that we often need to make work and rest fully compatible within the same space. Some cultures have assimilated this concept more naturally than others, but in general the workplace has rarely adapted to this new working-resting paradigm. OSTRICH offers a micro environment in which to take a warm and comfortable power nap at ease. It is neither a pillow nor a cushion, nor a bed, nor a garment, but a bit of each at the same time. Its soothing cave-like interior shelters and isolates our head and hands (mind, senses and body) for a few minutes, without needing to leave our desk.

(Dustpan, 2011) DUCTPAN is not a standard dustpan; it includes an ingenious funnel duct to simplify the process of emptying it out.

(Lamp for plants, 2011)Indoor plants often play a secondary role in our living environments, and their combination with light is often disregarded. CHLOROLIGHT is a lamp conceived to interact with plants at different scales, thus giving them prominence and creating a subtle green atmosphere. Its interchangeable supports enable a versatile use in different configurations.

(Trestles, 2009) The CATERPILLAR series of benches and tables elaborates on the notion of lightness and redundancy. The CATERPILLAR TRESTLE is a table trestle consisting of a bundle of legs that seem to be set in perpetual motion. It can also be used as an informal stool.

(Sound enhancing device, 2010) We use earrings as symbols of distinction since time immemorial, however they are not particularly useful items. The EARSHELL is a simple, efficient and elegant sound enhancing device. It can be used to improve our listening of music or opera. Its refined and sleek profile gives it a jewellery feel.

(Depository of scents, 2010) One particular scent can bring back more memories than a thousand pictures. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to store smells the same way we store photographs? SCENTER is a depository of scents. Concentrated personal fragrances can be stored inside compact cartridges, their scent being released through a nozzle upon pressing the bellows thus evoking the memories embedded in them.

(Toothbrush, 2011) Nomadic lifestyles lead to lightness and optimisation. TWIST&BRUSH is a toothbrush that incorporates a toothpaste deposit. The traveller decides before departing how many doses of toothpaste will be needed for the trip and just twists the grip to push the paste before brushing.

(Water collector - Watering can, 2010)We often forget to give a second life to many objects of daily consumption that surround us. Funnel neck is a bottle top that screws on conventional PET water bottles. Thanks to its funnel shape it collects rainwater or helps to fill the bottle up with tap water while facilitating the action of watering plants.

(Cushion/Shelter, 2009) Contemporary domestic spaces tend to be sleek and cool but often miss cosy intimate corners. Oyster is a versatile piece of furniture. When folded it is a cushion, when unfolded it creates a cosy and comfortable private shelter.

(Bin, 2009) Many of our daily routines require several tools for specific actions. Many of these tools could be combined together in order to facilitate their use and to minimise the space they occupy. BINPAN is a dustbin when it stands up and a dustpan when it lies down; a very convenient hybrid for office and domestic environments.

(Spatial divider, 2010) Contemporary office spaces are based on the flexible open plan principle. However, this lay out jeopardizes individual space and dilutes group dynamics. GIRAFFE is a portable spatial divider. It creates a visual enclosure for those who are sitting behind it but does not interfere in the general openness of a room. It is also a pin board and a hub for wired connections (Ethernet, electrical). A perfect office companion.

(Exhibition bench, 2008) These series of long and narrow benches (60, 120 and 200 cm lengths) elaborate on the notion of lightness and redundancy. Their multiple legs seem to be set in perpetual motion thus questioning the static feeling of stability often associated to a bench.

(Book stand, 2008) Most book stands are conceived for reading out in public while standing up. Alternatively, people tend to do silent reading resting the book on a table or holding it up with their arms in a rather tiring position. READ-IN-PEACE is a low book stand aimed at making the reading ritual more comfortable. It has the right height for using it while sitting on a bench, sofa or on the toilet.

(DIY modular partition system, 2008) Our everyday environments -offices, living rooms, waiting lounges, restaurants...- often require flexible and permeable separations that generate privacy without compromising spatial generosity. STICKINGRINGS is a modular partition system that can be assembled freely, intuitively and very fast. The adjustable density and porosity of the resulting screen allows different degrees of privacy. The system consists of an array of diverse diameter rings that click onto each other thanks to the Dual-Lock system. This product has been conceived in collaboration with the company 3M.

(Creativity-boosting chair, 2008) 11 % of Britons admit that they have their most ingenious thoughts whilst sitting on the toilet seat. The NO-BULLSHIT CHAIR is specifically conceived for creative meetings and brainstorming sessions. It is manufactured as a toilet seat with four supporting legs and can be accompanied by a low table. The forward-leaning elbows-on-knees position which one is encouraged to adopt facilitates the outflow of creative ideas and draws together the energies of people sitting around a table.

(Modular partition system, 2008) Stickingsticks is a product designed in collaboration with the company VELCRO. It consists of a kit of PVC tubes of different lenghts that are wrapped in strips of VELCRO hook and loop. The high degree of versatility to connect the elements of the kit allows a very intuitive and quick use of it, along the principles of D.I.Y. The possibilities of Stickingsticks are infinite, from ephemeral room divisions to garden fences or pergolas and small stands, and even domestic furniture and children games. A first real scale prototype was presented in the Casa Pasarela 2008 fair in Madrid. At present a production and market study is being developed in order to start producing the kit.

(Lamp system, 2007-2008) The location of electrical sockets at home conditions to a great degree the position of our most commonly used devices and pieces of furniture (television, sofa, lamp, bed, table), hence conditioning our life styles. We have challenged this static relationship that limits our domestic freedom. Instead of “plugging-into” a fixed socket on the wall, PLUG ON allows a more dynamic and free arrangement of the source of electricity, also turning the action of connecting a device into an interaction. PLUG ON comes in different formats such as a column or a table top, onto which the electrical accessories can be attached. Its technology is based on a simple “Blindosbarra” mechanism that allows punctual displaced transmission of current.

(Drink heating device, 2007) Can our computer peripherals help us cook? Can digital technology enter our kitchens? USB’s universality stands not only for its multiple-device compatibility, but also for its multipurpose capacity of use: data transfer channel as well as power supply. The latter function allows for a myriad of further applications that go beyond the strictly digital world and touch on the field of every-day commodities in ways such as warming up our drinks and food.

(Computer charger, 2007) Human mobility is developing at a speedy pace whilst in parallel our energy requirements are becoming increasingly wasteful. The field of portable technology is obsessed with energy saving. How can our mobile electrical supplies respond adequately to our limited energetic resources? We have created a solar micro-panel and transformer device with an electrical current output of 12v to charge your portable computer helping to keep energy production and consumption at an optimised equilibrium. SOLAR PLUG helps reduce our constant energetic redundancy and overheating problems.

(Universal socket, 2007) Air travel is due to double in the next 10 years and as we travel from country to country so do our electrical devices. This increasing trans-national mobility seems to be in contradiction with the still-unsolved incompatibility amongst socket-systems of different countries. The U.N. SOCKET provides a universal solution to this recurring nightmare of the contemporary global traveller. The device allows for multiple electrical plug connections and has an in-built current transformer too.

(Metal detector, 2007) In the last 2 years the number of metal detectors in London increased by a 27%. This means that an average citizen could waste as much as 3 days per year queuing for and being searched at metal detectors in public buildings, airports, schools... BEEP is a user friendly domestic metal detector that helps us identify, before leaving home in the morning, the items of our daily outfit that would give us trouble at the metal detection routine in the office, airport or school. BEEP FREE is a guarantee label applicable by brands of every day objects (clothes, accessories, key holders…) to their products, thus indicating that they will not trigger the metal detector alarm, consequently saving time and hassle to their users.

(Water dispenser, 2007) Water is key when we think of inhabitation. WATER TIME explores how water’s presence in our domestic environment can be made more perceptible and evident, thus paying homage to is great importance. Water time stores drinking water. Water time provides a tap, sink and shower house. Water time provides a plant watering hose.

(Cutlery, 2007) There is an unwritten etiquette rule that says “Don’t eat with your fingers”, however most of our daily-life munching requires our fingers’ help (nuts, chocolate bars, toasts, sandwiches, tapas…). EAT WITH YOUR FINGERS consists of a set of three mini-pieces of cutlery (knife, fork, spoon) that fit at the end of our fingers reinventing to a small degree the experience of eating and finding a hygienic middle ground between the etiquette rule and our daily routine.

(Domestic tray, 2007) The amount of food wasted in western society is extreme to the point that 68% of the fruit in a domestic environment ends up in the trash because it is kept at an inappropriate room temperature. This is the challenge that we set ourselves to overcome. The refrigerated tray is a household product that can be electrically operated. Its temperature can be easily regulated to better preserve the qualities of the fruit or vegetable it contains. Smart materials technology allows the transfer of gradient to occur only upon direct contact of surfaces, thus not wasting any energy when the tray is not in use or only half full.

(Recycling device, 2007) Have you ever stop to think how many times a day you press a light switch? DIM LIGHT aims at transforming this mere automatism into an interactive experience with an object (a light) that we want to put into use. DIM LIGHT is a wall-mounted light diffuser that reacts according to its rotation, dimming more o less the intensity of the light into a space. Through the use of simple colour filters the light can be given texture and character. This capacity allows for a customisation of the mood in the room and therefore in our selves (12% of our emotional state of mind is conditioned by the physical context in which we are).

(Light filter, 2007) DIM LIGHT is a window-mounted light colour washer that gives a subtle colour tone to the light entering a space. Through the use of simple colour filters the light can be given texture and character. This capacity allows for a customisation of the mood in the room and therefore in ourselves (12% of our emotional state of mind is conditioned by the physical context in which we are).

(Audio product design, 2007) New portable sound devices have had an explosive entry into the market and as a result the number of new hifi systems per household has fallen by 23% between 2005 and 2007. The advantage of surround sound are unquestionable but the size of its devices make it very uncomfortable to use. Speaker wall is a mobile sound wall that allows to be connected to any musical (even portable) device so that you can create your own atmosphere wherever you go.

(Interactive light display, shorlisted in Bombay Sapphire competition, 2006) Architects are used to working with glass as a medium of transparency. Kaleidolight explores the capacity of glass as a light-mediating element through its conductivity. The proposal develops a concept of wall based on the accumulation of an iterative glass element that filters the light entering a room and at the same time gives something back to the outside world in the form of a dynamic façade. Each individual kaleidolight consists of a glass cylinder which is inserted from inside into a cylindrical hole on the wall. The degree of insertion can be adjusted, thus the amount of light that gets filtered-in is controllable and the atmosphere within the room can change dramatically.

(Tomato life assistant, 2002) Tomato case is a visionary object that would act as an incubator for tomatoes. It could maintain the perfect conditions of temperature, humidity and nutrients while the tomatoes are being transported, thus preserving its purity and freshness all the way till it is eaten.

(Daily life assistant, 2003) 150,000,000 people live outside their country of birth. 82% of migrants live in urban environments. Give these kinds of social phenomena our conception of “home” has suffered considerable mutations. This project explores which are the aspects that define “home” as well as methodologies to domesticate space through its objects. “Dolly domestic allows you to live in a versatile way applying its services to multiple situations, Dolly provides running water, heating, lighting, cookery, electric connection and international radio. Dolly is ready and always on your side”. Will it be objects that generate our homes in the future?