1950s Swiss Industrial Design: Armin Wirth's Nesting Aluflex Chairs

These unusual-looking Aluflex chairs were designed in 1951, by Swiss industrial designer Armin Wirth.

Originally designed for a school in Zurich, the chairs featured a seat that folded upwards. This allowed the chairs to be nested for storage.

The aluminum legs are lightweight but sturdy. The seats and backs are plywood.

While the Aluflex chairs are often erroneously referred to as "stacking" chairs, they don't actually stack, just nest.

These had a pretty decent production run, lasting into the 1960s,...

A 3D-Printed Two-Person Alternating-Direction Rocking Chair

This inventive piece of furniture is by The New Raw, a Rotterdam-based design studio pushing the boundaries of robotic-arm 3D-printed furniture. Called the X Bench Swing, it's a two-person alternating-direction rocking chair.

Founders and architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki printed it out of recycled polypropylene, which they say is "heavy-duty, long-lasting, 100% circular" and well-suited for both indoors or outdoors.

It's not...

A Lush Textile Installation Springs to Life in Shanghai

For the 13th edition of Design Shanghai, Hu Yuehua presented a bold bouquet intersecting organic forms and human craft traditions. “Weaving Nature” is a large-scale composition of indigo and ochre leaves, blooms, and growths stitched together from dyed cotton and linen. Tightly nested in a wall-like garden, the individual pieces form a dense field of color and texture. Loose threads, raw edges, and tight rows of pleats radiate across the upright piece, merging evidence of the artist’s hand with the natural forms she depicts.

Design Shanghai concluded last week, but you can see more of the projects on display at the...

Week 12 - Daily Renders 2026

Industrial Designer Mike Jacobs' Slick, Playful Chess Clock

This Tempo chess clock is by L.A.-based industrial designer Mike Jacobs. It channels the spirit of both vintage Braun and modern-day Teenage Engineering.

It's rare to see an object that's both slick and playful, but Jacobs pulls it off. The seesaw-style top is a nice alternative to the typical pair of whack-a-mole buttons. The artful yellow reveal provides a subtle reinforcement of the top's position.

This is just a concept, done as part of a Render Weekly challenge.

HOOD Café / Ponomarenko Volodymyr

© Ivan Avdeenko architects: Ponomarenko VolodymyrLocation: Warszawa, PolandProject Year: 2025Photographs: Ivan AvdeenkoArea: 108.0 m2

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Snøhetta transforms Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in France into "urban lantern"

Architecture studio Snøhetta has completed the renovation of Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in France, unifying its performance spaces around a tilted glass hall that overlooks a landscaped plaza.

The theatre in the Paris suburb of Nanterre dates back to the 1965 Festival de Nanterre, when it began life as a circus tent and subsequently a temporary warehouse. The permanent building was designed in 1976 by the architect Jacques Kalisz.

Snøhetta won a competition to update Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in 2018, thanks to its proposal to upgrade its existing venues, add a new 200-seat auditorium and reconfigure its public spaces...

"There is no message in what I do" says Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Smiljan Radić

Elusive architect Smiljan Radić explains how his work should not be seen as a blueprint for "good or bad" architecture, in this exclusive interview following his "surprise" Pritzker Architecture Prize win.

Radić, who became the 55th Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate earlier this month, said that although he's always wanted his work to have a global impact, the win was "a great surprise".

"I have always wanted my work to be part of a global discussion," Radić told Dezeen.

"In concrete terms, that discussion means being concerned with the opinion of a small group of architects and artists with whom I occasionally exchange...

Is Africa's skyscraper mini-boom a cause for alarm?

Africa is experiencing a mini-boom in skyscraper construction, with new towers rising in Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and more. But are they symbols of progress or just vanity projects? Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson investigates.

The Tour F in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, will soon become the continent's tallest building, expected to reach its full 421-metre height later this year.

It will steal the title from the 394-metre Iconic Tower in Cairo, Egypt, which became Africa's first completed supertall – a title given to buildings over 300 metres – when it opened in 2024.

High-rise building gathering pace

The situation is in stark contrast to a decade...

Rift bench by Inglis Hall

Dezeen Showroom: British kitchen brand Inglis Hall aimed to create a quintessential kitchen bench with Rift, a handcrafted seat made from solid wood.

The Rift bench is intended to serve as a social gathering point in the home, with its raw oak timber construction giving it a warm and inviting look that fits in with both historic and contemporary interiors.

"A seat for all reasons, Rift is made for friends united around the dining table – sliding along to squeeze in one more," said Inglis Hall.

"Just as easily, it finds its place in...