#BeOpenDESIGN
Finalform.stl by Dutch designer Esmée Willemsen reimagines the traditional coffin through sustainable materials and 3D printing. Made from EconitWood, a wood alternative combining sawdust with a natural, non-toxic magnesium carbonate binder, the coffin can be customised to fit different body sizes and feature personalised decorative patterns. The waste-free printing process eliminates the need for metal handles, screws and other conventional components, while allowing the structure's density and filtration properties to be adapted to local soil conditions.
Finalform.stl by Dutch designer Esmée Willemsen reimagines the traditional coffin through sustainable materials and 3D printing. Made from EconitWood, a wood alternative combining sawdust with a natural, non-toxic magnesium carbonate binder, the coffin can be customised to fit different body sizes and feature personalised decorative patterns. The waste-free printing process eliminates the need for metal handles, screws and other conventional components, while allowing the structure's density and filtration properties to be adapted to local soil conditions.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Hommage to the Sponge Bath by Berlin University of the Arts graduate Mia Pahl reimagines traditional sponge bathing as a contemporary, water-saving self-care ritual. The project challenges conventional showering habits by proposing a washing routine that requires just 2 liters of water. A mobile washing station and complementary valet stand combine practical functionality with thoughtful design, accommodating washing essentials, supporting the body, and enabling water reuse. By transforming an everyday hygiene practice into a deliberate ritual, Pahl explores how product design can encourage more mindful resource consumption without compromising personal comfort.
Hommage to the Sponge Bath by Berlin University of the Arts graduate Mia Pahl reimagines traditional sponge bathing as a contemporary, water-saving self-care ritual. The project challenges conventional showering habits by proposing a washing routine that requires just 2 liters of water. A mobile washing station and complementary valet stand combine practical functionality with thoughtful design, accommodating washing essentials, supporting the body, and enabling water reuse. By transforming an everyday hygiene practice into a deliberate ritual, Pahl explores how product design can encourage more mindful resource consumption without compromising personal comfort.
#BeOpenNEWS #BeOpenART
BE OPEN Art has announced Yuria Mizuta [MORSO] as its October Regional Artist of the Month in the East Asia stage of its 2026 global art competition. Running from September to December 2026, the third stage of the fourth year of the programme celebrates outstanding emerging artists from across East Asia (including Japan, North and South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Macau, Mongolia, and Taiwan), with monthly winners advancing towards the regional title.
The selected Regional Winner will receive a €500 cash prize and increased international visibility through the BE OPEN Art platform. The competition supports emerging artists worldwide, promoting artistic innovation and cross-cultural exchange.
BE OPEN Art has announced Yuria Mizuta [MORSO] as its October Regional Artist of the Month in the East Asia stage of its 2026 global art competition. Running from September to December 2026, the third stage of the fourth year of the programme celebrates outstanding emerging artists from across East Asia (including Japan, North and South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Macau, Mongolia, and Taiwan), with monthly winners advancing towards the regional title.
The selected Regional Winner will receive a €500 cash prize and increased international visibility through the BE OPEN Art platform. The competition supports emerging artists worldwide, promoting artistic innovation and cross-cultural exchange.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Sukchulmok Studio’s mok-04 chair reinterprets the traditional Korean jige, a wooden A-frame carrying tool, through a cross-shaped structure that combines timber with bundles of rice straw. Building on the studio’s earlier Jige-inspired design, the chair features a modular angled frame developed with Happ Studios, whose structural consulting and metal inserts support its distinctive form. Its seasonal concept draws on rice straw’s traditional use as winter insulation, allowing the natural byproducts to be replaced as conditions change. Based on proportions in multiples of three, mok-04 brings Korean material culture into contemporary furniture design.
Sukchulmok Studio’s mok-04 chair reinterprets the traditional Korean jige, a wooden A-frame carrying tool, through a cross-shaped structure that combines timber with bundles of rice straw. Building on the studio’s earlier Jige-inspired design, the chair features a modular angled frame developed with Happ Studios, whose structural consulting and metal inserts support its distinctive form. Its seasonal concept draws on rice straw’s traditional use as winter insulation, allowing the natural byproducts to be replaced as conditions change. Based on proportions in multiples of three, mok-04 brings Korean material culture into contemporary furniture design.
#BeOpenDESIGN
The stop! collection by Studio Martins Mezulis and 13_0663_tsx reinterprets the Netherlands’ iconic red-and-white aluminum safety barriers as modular benches and stools. Retaining the original structures’ distinctive high-visibility patterns and industrial materiality, the designs repurpose utilitarian forms into functional street furniture. Presented at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the collection explores how material reuse, visual identity and recontextualization can transform restrictive infrastructure into inviting spaces for public gathering.
More extraordinary urban furniture on our blog.
The stop! collection by Studio Martins Mezulis and 13_0663_tsx reinterprets the Netherlands’ iconic red-and-white aluminum safety barriers as modular benches and stools. Retaining the original structures’ distinctive high-visibility patterns and industrial materiality, the designs repurpose utilitarian forms into functional street furniture. Presented at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, the collection explores how material reuse, visual identity and recontextualization can transform restrictive infrastructure into inviting spaces for public gathering.
More extraordinary urban furniture on our blog.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Swedish designer Simon Skinner gives vintage glassware a new lease on life with Buké, a series of sculptural lamps assembled from second-hand bowls, ashtrays, vases and even cat figurines. Inspired by flower arranging, each composition explores contrasts, balance and unexpected combinations, transforming familiar household objects into contemporary lighting. Sourced from charity shops and flea markets, the pieces retain traces of their past, while sandblasted finishes bring visual cohesion to the eclectic forms. The result is a playful exploration of reuse, nostalgia and the creative potential of overlooked objects.
More distinctive lighting from scrap materials on our blog.
Swedish designer Simon Skinner gives vintage glassware a new lease on life with Buké, a series of sculptural lamps assembled from second-hand bowls, ashtrays, vases and even cat figurines. Inspired by flower arranging, each composition explores contrasts, balance and unexpected combinations, transforming familiar household objects into contemporary lighting. Sourced from charity shops and flea markets, the pieces retain traces of their past, while sandblasted finishes bring visual cohesion to the eclectic forms. The result is a playful exploration of reuse, nostalgia and the creative potential of overlooked objects.
More distinctive lighting from scrap materials on our blog.
#BeOpenNEW #BeOpenART
The Art Limitless programme within the BE OPEN Art online gallery has announced Zimbabwean visual textile artist Sinqobile Shamiso Dube as the October 2026 monthly winner, recognising her expressive textile-based practice that transforms discarded garments into compelling artistic narratives, using textiles as both material and memory. Her work reflects stories of resilience, community, and everyday life, bringing personal and collective experiences into focus.
Throughout 2026, BE OPEN continues to highlight artists whose work reflects sustainable approaches to artistic practice. Each month, a winning artist is selected and featured in the online gallery, and at the end of the year, three artists will be chosen from the monthly winners by members of the BE OPEN community to receive monetary awards and increased international visibility from the BE OPEN Foundation.
We warmly congratulate Sinqobile Shamiso Dube on this achievement.
The Art Limitless programme within the BE OPEN Art online gallery has announced Zimbabwean visual textile artist Sinqobile Shamiso Dube as the October 2026 monthly winner, recognising her expressive textile-based practice that transforms discarded garments into compelling artistic narratives, using textiles as both material and memory. Her work reflects stories of resilience, community, and everyday life, bringing personal and collective experiences into focus.
Throughout 2026, BE OPEN continues to highlight artists whose work reflects sustainable approaches to artistic practice. Each month, a winning artist is selected and featured in the online gallery, and at the end of the year, three artists will be chosen from the monthly winners by members of the BE OPEN community to receive monetary awards and increased international visibility from the BE OPEN Foundation.
We warmly congratulate Sinqobile Shamiso Dube on this achievement.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Designer Joffey’s Turner reimagines chess as a rotating cylindrical board, wrapping a blue-and-white checkerboard around a sculptural pedestal. Created for Day 04 of the #productober challenge under the theme “magnetic,” the concept uses magnets to hold recognizable chess pieces against the curved surface as it rotates. The design pairs a restrained color palette with a playful departure from the traditional flat board, turning chess into a tabletop object that invites interaction. While the cylinder creates a fresh spatial experience, it also raises practical questions about visibility, piece handling and gameplay rules. Turner remains a concept rather than a finished product, exploring how a familiar game might change when its board becomes a three-dimensional form.
Designer Joffey’s Turner reimagines chess as a rotating cylindrical board, wrapping a blue-and-white checkerboard around a sculptural pedestal. Created for Day 04 of the #productober challenge under the theme “magnetic,” the concept uses magnets to hold recognizable chess pieces against the curved surface as it rotates. The design pairs a restrained color palette with a playful departure from the traditional flat board, turning chess into a tabletop object that invites interaction. While the cylinder creates a fresh spatial experience, it also raises practical questions about visibility, piece handling and gameplay rules. Turner remains a concept rather than a finished product, exploring how a familiar game might change when its board becomes a three-dimensional form.
#BeOpenDESIGN
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Assistant Professor Tural Khudiyev, have developed a touchscreen interface woven directly into clothing using multifunctional electronic fibers. Integrated into a sleeve, 54 specialized fibers create a 96 × 54-pixel display that can show images and videos, respond to touch, perform calculations and present body-temperature readings. Unlike conventional wearable technology that attaches screens to garments, the system embeds display and sensing capabilities within the fibers themselves, preserving the fabric’s flexibility and breathability. Published in Nature on October 21, 2026, the research demonstrated that the interface retained nearly all its functionality after 50 machine-washing cycles and 1,000 bending cycles. Although its resolution remains limited and no release date has been announced, the innovation points toward clothing that could combine everyday wear with interactive displays and health monitoring.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), led by Assistant Professor Tural Khudiyev, have developed a touchscreen interface woven directly into clothing using multifunctional electronic fibers. Integrated into a sleeve, 54 specialized fibers create a 96 × 54-pixel display that can show images and videos, respond to touch, perform calculations and present body-temperature readings. Unlike conventional wearable technology that attaches screens to garments, the system embeds display and sensing capabilities within the fibers themselves, preserving the fabric’s flexibility and breathability. Published in Nature on October 21, 2026, the research demonstrated that the interface retained nearly all its functionality after 50 machine-washing cycles and 1,000 bending cycles. Although its resolution remains limited and no release date has been announced, the innovation points toward clothing that could combine everyday wear with interactive displays and health monitoring.
#BeOpenARCH
Designed by Will Keifer and Megan Green, second-year students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Fractured Meristems proposes a 30-unit residential building in Troy, New York, inspired by the microscopic anatomy of redwood trees. Translating the spatial relationships between tracheids and wood rays into architectural form, the project explores vertical continuity and horizontal interruption through a composition of four textured towers. These volumes shift and expand away from a central axis, creating a dynamic interplay of compression and release while opening up an elevated shared courtyard. The proposal connects biological structures with residential design, using patterns found in nature to shape the building’s massing, envelope and communal spaces.
Designed by Will Keifer and Megan Green, second-year students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Fractured Meristems proposes a 30-unit residential building in Troy, New York, inspired by the microscopic anatomy of redwood trees. Translating the spatial relationships between tracheids and wood rays into architectural form, the project explores vertical continuity and horizontal interruption through a composition of four textured towers. These volumes shift and expand away from a central axis, creating a dynamic interplay of compression and release while opening up an elevated shared courtyard. The proposal connects biological structures with residential design, using patterns found in nature to shape the building’s massing, envelope and communal spaces.