LAYER has created a collection of side tables for Spanish furniture brand Andreu World, which will launch at the upcoming NeoCon event in Chicago. TRIADA is a pair of die-cast aluminium tables for hospitality and workplace environments. The collection takes its name from the signature tripod-style leg, which has a crafted quality that belies the industrial nature of aluminium. NeoCon will run from 4-6 October and is one of the most important design events in the world. With nearly 1 million square feet of exhibition space, the event will feature game-changing products and the most innovative solutions in commercial design.

LAYER has designed a collection of glass vessels for Empathic – Discovering a Glass Legacy, an exhibition at Venice’s Punta Conterie gallery curated by Italian designer Luca Nichetto. The GRANULE collection comprises five large vessels that celebrate the rich tradition of Murano glassworking, and each piece is crafted using a variety of different glassworking techniques – including mouth-blowing, casting, sfumato, incalmo, and vetro fuso – to showcase the diverse characteristics inherent in glass as a material. The exhibition showcases the work of eight designers experimenting with Murano glass, and runs until 10 April 2022.

LAYER founder, Benjamin Hubert, recently took part in a live talk with Andreu World CEO, Jesús Llinares, and Dezeen editor-in-chief, Marcus Fairs, for the London Design Festival. The talk coincided with the launch of Conversations About Work, a new book by Andreu World that takes an inside look at the working practices of eight renowned designers, including Benjamin, Patricia Urquiola and Philippe Starck. Benjamin and Jesús discussed the creative process, what it means to different designers, past collaborations such as the HULA stool, and the upcoming Triada collection.

During the recent 3daysofdesign event in Copenhagen, prestigious Danish brand Bang & Olufsen created a home concept in their flagship store. The immersive space allowed visitors to experience exceptional sound and learn more about how Bang & Olufsen is enabling a future where electronic products from different time periods can be connected to deliver a lifetime of music. Central to this immersive installation were the award-winning BEOSOUND BALANCE and BEOSOUND EMERGE speakers, designed by LAYER. Beosound Balance is a wireless speaker with a dynamic acoustic performance designed to be positioned up against the wall on a shelf or side table in your home; while Beosound Emerge delivers ultra-wide, 180-degree sound from a surprisingly small footprint. 

The STRAND lamps, designed by LAYER for Muuto were recently exhibited in Muuto’s Copenhagen HQ as part of the 3daysofdesign event. The STRAND pendant lamps are designed with soft, playful forms that offer both diffused and direct lighting. The wire frame is sprayed with an innovative “cocoon-like” material that consists of tiny strands to create a complex and intriguing structure. The collection was launched in 2019 and has since become one of Muuto’s bestselling products.

LAYER has recently been honoured in two categories of the prestigious Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards. The Beosound Emerge speaker, designed by LAYER for luxury Danish brand Bang & Olufsen, was honoured in the General Excellence category; and Never Go Alone was honoured in the Packaging category. The award was founded in 2012 to celebrate design that makes a real difference. As then-Co.Design editor Cliff Kuang wrote at the time: “Design isn’t the gloss applied at the end of the innovation process. Design is the innovation process itself. It begins with a keen insight into how people live and what they need; ideally, it ends with a product or service that’s so intuitive that it seems inevitable.”

LAYER has designed Capsula Mini, a compact smart assistant for Mail.ru, Russia’s largest internet company. The smart assistant is the physical embodiment of the Mail.ru voice assistant, Marusya, and it has been designed to drive engagement with the company’s diverse services, which range from e-commerce and instant messaging services, to social networks and online gaming. In order to appeal to the widest possible audience, Capsula Mini needed to be visually unobtrusive, reflective of the softness of the home, and highly cost effective.

Capsula Mini revolutionises the smart assistant experience by creating a fun, friendly presence in the home. One of the key ways this was achieved was by anthropomorphising the device to express the emotions of Marusya. An affordable seven-segment display has been innovatively utilised to represent two eyes and a nose that can communicate a range of emotions, from joy and surprise, to interest and sadness. 

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LAYER has created Beosound Emerge for luxury Danish consumer electronics brand, Bang & Olufsen. The super slim, sculptural speaker is designed to seamlessly sit on a shelf in the home, alongside books and other domestic objects, with a small footprint that belies the impressive acoustic output. 

Akin to the format of a book on a shelf, Beosound Emerge features premium knitted textiles and crafted aluminium on its spine and natural timber and black polymer as its jacket. Beosound Emerge was in development for two years and is the second collaboration between B&O and LAYER, following the launch of the award-winning Beosound Balance.

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We’re delighted to announce that the Beosound Balance speaker that LAYER designed for luxury Danish consumer electronics brand, Bang & Olufsen, has recently been awarded a prestigious iF Design Award.

Created with a passion for music, design, and craftsmanship, Beosound Balance is inspired by interior objects to redefine home audio. It features a soft, rounded silhouette in interior-first materials, such as solid oak wood and knitted textile, an innovative user interface that hides when not in use, and seven carefully placed speaker drivers with beam-forming technology that lets listeners choose between powerful and room-filling sound for everyday listening and sound directivity for precise and immersive music experiences.

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LAYER has created the NGA face mask as part of the inaugural collection for wellness start-up Never Go Alone. The innovative layered mask takes inspiration from the design language of athleisure to encourage use on the move, with a seamlessly bonded construction and adjustable features that offer exceptional comfort. 

The outermost layer is a highly breathable and lightweight knitted fabric that conceals a bespoke PM2.5 diamond-shaped filter. This is bonded to an ultrasuede mid-layer that mirrors the curves of the face and gives the mask a sculptural structure while providing soft touchpoints for the skin. The innermost layer is an advanced technical Superfine knit that incorporates antibacterial fibres for increased protection. The mask utilises interchangeable ear loops so it can be customised to suit the user’s style.

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LAYER has designed a suite of products for health and wellness start-up Never Go Alone. The inaugural collection – which includes refillable hand sanitiser, and refillable sanitising wipes case – is designed to empower users to visibly take ownership over their health and safety, and the packaging design is driven by observed human behaviours and environmental concerns.

The packaging employs a rich palette of oranges and earthy neutrals to create a strong visual identity that differentiates the range from an often medical-driven marketplace. Softly rounded, ergonomic forms crafted from soft-touch materials – including injection-moulded recycled plastic and textile – enhance the experience of handling the products.

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Benjamin Hubert recently gave a keynote talk at the renowned South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. Benjamin’s talk was titled “Design for Our Changing Times” and shared insights into using design to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow in our rapidly changing world. He also explored the studio’s robust creative process and the importance of asking the right questions to discover and define the human behaviours and mindsets that will shape our future. Other speakers at the event include Sir Richard Branson, Samantha Bee, Jim McKelvey, and Matthew McConaughey.

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LAYER has devised a strategic brand for health and wellness start-up Never Go Alone. Founded by fashion’s “patient zero” Nga Nguyen, the brand is fuelled by the unprecedented changes that occurred in 2020 and an ambition to disrupt the wellness space. LAYER worked in close collaboration with the founder over the course of a year on branding, a range of protective products, packaging and art direction.

The n-shaped brandmark expresses the values of the brand using a simple and intuitive visual language and has a structured architectural form that evokes a welcoming arched doorway. The simplicity of the pure geometry embodies the confident spirit of Never Go Alone, and the silhouette has been sensitively crafted with equal positive and negative space to create a sense of calmness and balance.

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Beosound Balance, the compact yet powerful speaker designed by LAYER for luxury Danish consumer electronics brand Bang & Olufsen, recently won a prestigious Wallpaper Design Award. “Scandinavian minimalism meets superior sound quality in Benjamin Hubert’s tactile wireless speaker for Bang & Olufsen,” said the judging panel, which included vice president of design for hardware at Google, Ivy Ross, and founding partner of Snøhetta, Kjetil Thorsen.

Beosound Balance is driven by an intelligent approach to sound design, with seven uniquely configured speaker drivers concealed inside. The distinctive, sculptural silhouette expresses the speaker’s performance, with a large base unit supporting a textile-covered cylindrical speaker with a touch- and voice-activated interface on top.

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LAYER has designed a collection of cat furniture for New York-based start-up Cat Person. Cat Person is a new brand committed to strengthening the relationship between cats and Cat Persons from the entrepreneurs behind successful subscription shaving company Harry’s. The Cat Person collection comprises Mesa Bowl, a modular feeding station, and Canopy Bed, an adaptable 3-in-1 cat bed. 

LAYER examined the unique wants and needs that inform feline behaviour, collecting a number of user insights to drive the new products. The resulting collection is playful and expressive with a strong emphasis on inviting materials and adaptability. The sculptural, softly geometric forms and bright “mix and match” colours have been designed to fit easily into contemporary home interiors, and to be proudly displayed by Cat Persons in the home and on social media.

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LAYER has designed Beosound Balance for luxury Danish consumer electronics brand, Bang & Olufsen. The compact yet powerful speaker is a sculptural interior object for the home that embodies the performance of high-end audio equipment.

Beosound Balance is driven by an intelligent approach to sound design, with seven uniquely configured speaker drivers concealed inside. The distinctive, sculptural silhouette expresses the speaker’s performance, with a large base unit supporting a textile-covered cylindrical speaker with a touch- and voice-activated interface on top. 

Please email press@layerdesign.com for more information and high resolution images.

LAYER has launched Hop for Hong Kong-based start-up ODA with a successful Kickstarter campaign. Hop is a set of modular bags designed to adapt to a user’s needs on the go – from weekday to weekend, from the office to the gym to across continents, from daily essentials to high tech gear to a change of clothes for a short trip. Hop comes in two parts, an everyday Backpack and a Shoulder Bag, which can be magnetically fixed together to form a single piece of carry-on weekender luggage.

Please email press@layerdesign.com for more information and high resolution images.

The PAL scooter for NIO has recently won a prestigious iF Design Award. PAL is an intelligent mobile platform that embraces AI and machine learning to offer flexible and convenient “last mile” travel for Chinese electric vehicle company NIO. Various PAL accessories – bag, basket, and shopping cart – can be affixed to the front of PAL to cater to the user’s lifestyle and changing needs.

The innovative near-future concept was launched at the Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition as part of Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2019.

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LAYER recently launched a collection of reusable glass straws with leading design magazine Surface. Surface Straws not only offer an alternative to environmentally problematic disposable plastic straws, but also function as an attractive table centrepiece.

The three straws are displayed within a glass bell jar with a recycled rubber base, and their elegant form takes inspiration from nature and the organic form of branches. The visually engaging product is designed to be displayed to encourage regular, continued use. Surface approached LAYER to design the straw set as a playful and eco-friendly product to raise brand awareness in different sectors.

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The Move concept developed by LAYER for Airbus has recently won Gold in the prestigious London Design Awards 2019. Move is a prototype of a new concept for economy class seating for Airbus driven by smart textiles that rethinks the flying experience. The use of smart textiles enables passengers to monitor and control various factors – including seat tension and temperature – using the Move app, also designed by LAYER. The lightweight, adaptable seat structure reduces the on-board weight of the aircraft, resulting in significant fuel savings and a greener approach to flying.

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Hula, a height-adjustable swivel stool designed by LAYER for renowned Spanish furniture brand Andreu World, has recently won a German Design Award 2020 in the Excellent Product Design – Office Furniture category. 

“This elegant and high-quality stool is height-adjustable and rotatable, with an elliptically positioned footrest that makes it clear where it got its name from,” said the jury. “A chic design with a clear and flowing aesthetic that also offers a comfortable experience for the sitter, with soft upholstery and a high-quality mechanism.”

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LAYER is delighted to have supported Panasonic in the creation of concepts presented at IFA 2019. The teams have explored the intersection between home, wellbeing and technology with the launch of ‘Balance of being’: a collection of new product concepts bringing to life a new philosophy. The collection of six near-future design concepts sensitively combine emerging technology with sophisticated experience design and explore how we can have more meaningful engagements with products and how we take care of ourselves. The collection is the collaborative result of a research and development project between LAYER, Panasonic’s design and engineering teams. ‘Balance of being‘ was unveiled at IFA 2019, the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances from 6-11th September 2019 in Berlin.

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Benjamin Hubert and LAYER are proud to announce our first collaboration with sustainable fashion design studio RÆBURN on Canopy Collection, a range of innovative furniture pieces that explore form and structure using recycled parachute material and welded steel frames. The Canopy Collection comprises two rocking chairs and two screens that can be used in both commercial and domestic settings. The frames have been prototyped and manufactured in the UK by leading furniture manufacturer Allermuir.

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Benjamin Hubert and LAYER have designed Strand for Muuto, a collection of four elegant pendant lamps. Each lamp is constructed from a finely crafted steel frame over which an innovative cocooning material has been sprayed, creating a form with a large volume and small material impact. This is the first product designed by LAYER for Muuto, and Benjamin Hubert is the first British designer to work with the Scandinavian brand.

The Strand Pendant Lamps will launch at the Muuto space in Heal’s furniture store during London Design Festival 2019.

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British design entrepreneur and Creative Director of LAYER, Benjamin Hubert, will be talking at Dezeen Day on the 30th of October. The inaugural event will act as an opportunity for Benjamin to share his approach to entrepreneurship in the creative industry aswell as the studio’s approach and vision of a design-driven future.

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The AXYL Bench, designed by Benjamin Hubert and LAYER for British furniture brand Allermuir, recently won a Best of NeoCon Silver in the “Seating: Benches” category, along with a prestigious Metropolis Likes Award.

Hula, a height-adjustable stool designed by Benjamin Hubert and LAYER for renowned Spanish furniture brand Andreau World, has won the HiP Award for Best Workplace Stool at NeoCon 2019, the world’s leading platform and most important event of the year for the commercial design industry. Hula is designed to be hardwearing and comfortable, and is intended for contract use in bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues.

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TAPE, a modular sofa designed by Benjamin Hubert and LAYER for Italian brand Moroso, has recently won an Interior Design and ICFF NYCxDESIGN Award in the “Contract Bench + Stool” category.

The TAPE sofa is part of a furniture family, which also includes a table, for Moroso, and is the eighth collaboration between Benjamin Hubert and the renowned Italian furniture brand. The Tape collection uses polyurethane tape to bond smaller pieces of textile together, which would otherwise be discarded in the upholstery process and treated as waste. The technique was inspired by the sporting industry, where tape is used in the construction of snowboarding, ski, and wet-weather gear.

Please email press@layerdesign.com for more information and high resolution images

Benjamin Hubert of experience design agency LAYER has designed PAL, a near-future prototype for an intelligent, modular personal transport system that embraces AI and machine learning to offer flexible and convenient “last mile” travel for Chinese electric vehicle company NIO. Various accessories – bag, basket, shopping cart – can be affixed to the front of PAL to cater to the user’s lifestyle and changing needs.

Please email press@layerdesign.com for more information and high resolution images

The PAL app was developed by LAYER for Chinese electric vehicle company NIO, designed to offer flexible and convenient “last mile” travel. The PAL app connects to the smart, modular scooter via a wireless bluetooth earpiece using NIO’s NOMI system, an artificially-intelligent digital companion which learns its driver’s self-interests and other information to meet their needs.

Please email press@layerdesign.com for more information and high resolution images

Benjamin Hubert and LAYER have designed Hula, a new height-adjustable stool for Andreu World. Hula represents LAYER’s first collaboration with the renowned Spanish furniture brand, and is Andreu World’s first height-adjustable barstool. Hula is designed to be hardwearing and comfortable, and is intended for contract
use in bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues.

Hula was launched at the Andreu World stand in the Fiera during Salone Del Mobile in Milan and will be on show at Clerkenwell Design Week in London where Benjamin will be giving a talk on the stool’s design journey at 5pm on the 22nd of May in the Andreu World showroom – 101-104 Goswell Rd.

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Benjamin Hubert and LAYER have launched the AXYL Bench for British furniture brand Allermuir. The sustainable modular bench represents an expansion of the highly successful AXYL collection of chairs and tables.

Designed as a versatile system, the modular bench allows users to create hundreds of iterations by mixing and matching finishes, colours, and elements, including colour and finish of the frame and seat, length of bench, and the option of plywood or cushioned armrests and seat pads. This intelligent adaptability alongside a minimal design language enables the bench to effortlessly fit into soft contract spaces and across a range of hospitality interiors.

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Raytrace an immersive installation designed by LAYER for Cosentino, one of the world’s leading solid surface brands, showcased the innovative material Dekton at Milan’s Salone del Mobile.

Raytrace was constructed in an underground vault at Milan’s Stazione Centrale. Inside the dark, atmospheric space, visitors encountered two huge, architectural slabs of Dekton – each measuring 6m in height and 24m in length – seemingly balanced on a single edge, creating a triangular passage. Inside this passage, a mesmerising caustic pattern slowly played across the surface, evoking the dreamlike state of being underwater.

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The AXYL collection for Allermuir was showcased at Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2019 at Cove, an installation designed by LAYER that transformed the Hall of Mirrors at Palazzo Litta into a light and reflective space for visitors.

The architectural installation was designed to contrast with the highly ornate Baroque setting, framing pieces from the AXYL collection against minimal backdrops inspired by a photography studio.

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Benjamin Hubert will deliver the keynote speech at Madrid Design Week in February on LAYER’s approach and projects including exciting new launches for 2019.

Benjamin will shares his methodology on the 15th of February at 17.45pm in the University COAM Calle de Hortaleza, 63, 28004 Madrid, Spain.

Benjamin Hubert and LAYER have received a prestigious Wallpaper Design Award 2019 for ‘Best Reflective Space for Basket created for Danish furniture brand Fritz Hansen.

Basket is both decorative home accessory and functional storage – it can be used to stack papers, magazines, books, cushions, or other items.

The handle makes it easy to pick up and move to another room, so you can bring the stored items to wherever they are needed in the home. The handle extends through the basket form to create feet that stabilise the soft basket shape, enabling it to stand firmly on the floor whilst being visually pure.

Tape, designed by Benjamin Hubert and LAYER for Moroso, has won the annual Elle Deco UK Design Award for ‘Best Seating’.

The Tape collection uses polyurethane tape to bond smaller pieces of textile together, which would otherwise be discarded in the upholstery process and treated as waste. The technique was inspired by the sporting industry, where the tape is used in the construction of snowboarding, ski, and wet-weather gear to create a robust and waterproof furniture system.

Shift, designed by Benjamin Hubert and LAYER for Really and Kvadrat, has won the annual Elle Deco Japan Design Award for ‘Best Wall Covering’.

Shift has the ability to easily transform from a flat acoustic wall panel to a shelf used for display and storage. The flexible system has been designed to maximise space and display areas in response to the constantly changing needs of retail environments. Shift seamlessly adapts to different situations, from high-demand sales periods, during which storage and display areas needs to be prioritised, to launches and openings, when floor space and acoustics need to be maximised for entertaining.

Benjamin Hubert, Creative Director and Founder of strategic design agency LAYER has been included in the Evening Standard’s list of most influential people in London.

The annual survey celebrates the top 1000 (or 0.0001%) of Londoners who offer the most influence in their field of expertise.

Benjamin Hubert has delivered the keynote speech at Design Week Turkey in November on LAYER’s approach and projects.

The speech was delivered to a sell-out audience of over 1200 visitors during the third edition of the annual design week held in Istanbul.

LAYER has received three Highly Commended accolades at the annual Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards. The tech magazine and platform selected LAYER’s work in the Products category for the studio’s brand, product design and creative direction for Nolii and the design of Axyl for Allermuir. In the Health category, LAYER received a Highly Commended award for our work with Catapult in creating PLAYR, the smart Coach wearable for aspiring football players.

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LAYER has designed two stands for this year’s designjunction as part of London Design Festival 2018. The Kite stand for the KiteONE eyewear launch plays on the theme of modularity reflecting the concept behind the bespoke made-to-measure collection. The design language is minimal and Scandinavian, providing a simple backdrop for the eyewear. The Nolii stand for the launch of 67 product SKUs and Rise, a new wireless lamp, is a simple series of modernist monoliths that display the company’s products in an accessible and minimal fashion.

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Benjamin Hubert will deliver the keynote speech at this years designjunction on Friday the 20th of September 2018 at 11am at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf. The talk will take the audience through a tour of the studio’s recent product launches, the LAYER approach, and give an insight into the design entrepreneur’s methodology for creating design-led businesses. Tickets to the talk are £8. Please let us know if you can attend, and we look forward to seeing you at the event.

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Benjamin Hubert of experience design agency LAYER will launch KiteONE, a modular 3D-printed eyewear collection for London-based eyewear brand KITE. The collection comprises a 3D printed frame which is manufactured to the specific measurements of the customer’s head and face to create a bespoke, perfectly-fitted pair of frames. The eyewear can be further customised through a choice of four different temple styles, three different colours, and finishes. The KiteONE collection will launch in September at designjunction as part of London Design Festival 2018.

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In the 12 months since the Nolii brand launched at Somerset House as part of London Design Festival 2017, the LAYER design team has taken the five products from the inaugural collection from prototype to production-ready. The full collection will be on display at designjunction in September as part of London Design Festival 2018. The team has overseen the creation of hundreds of functional prototypes and product samples, designed the brand’s packaging and created a new website. LAYER is also behind the brand’s art direction, and has creatively led and executed all product shoots, lifestyle shoots, and branding. The five products from Collection 001 – Couple, Set, Keep, Stack, and Bundle are now retail-ready and will go on sale at London Design Festival, both at the designjunction stand and through the Nolii online store and other partners.

Set and Stack are in pre-production and details may change on the production version.

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Benjamin Hubert of experience design agency LAYER has designed Rise, a smart lamp prototype at Designjunction during London Design Festival. Rise is a smart lamp concept which blends the simplicity of wireless charging with sunrise-style wakeup routines to facilitate a more natural morning ritual. Wireless and wired charging capabilities allow you to keep multiple devices charged while you sleep. Light levels and routines can be controlled simply via the Nolii app.

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Axyl has been on an awards roll, collecting nine accolades in as many months. The collection of recycled plastic and aluminum furniture designed by LAYER for British manufacturer Allermuir has won the Red Dot: Best of the Best award, Core77 Design Award, Azure’s AZ Awards: Best Furniture Design, a number of awards at Neocon, and Best Furniture at the Design Week Awards. We are extremely grateful to all the judges and the team at Allermuir for their belief in the project.

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Nolii, the new lifestyle-led tech accessories brand co-founded by Benjamin Hubert and Asad Hamir, has won the Land Rover BORN Awards Technology category. This annual competition celebrates exceptional creative achievements in design. As part of the competition, Nolii exhibited in Milan Design Week in April. Nolii was born from the belief that technology should simplify and improve everyday life. The inaugural collection comprises five key products that form an intelligent ecosystem of accessories, all featuring intuitive functionality and a contemporary, minimal design language.

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