Few of the things currently featured as “digital fabrication” are based on role models in literature, art and film and are serving as a source of inspiration. How flights of fancy can lead to products and products can fire the imagination.

A holodeck for urban planners and architects. The designer’s hand as the input tool for digital models and a client for visiting the matrix. Digital designing is a question of interfaces, and optimally the thoughts flow straight from the brain into the computer.

Young designers can still learn a lot from him, even if this year Hans J.Wegner would have turned 100. On the occasion of his anniversary, ChristianHolmsted Olesen has dedicated an insightful book to the life, work andapproach of the exceptional designer.

Microelectronics has led to significant improvements in prosthetics. Poorly fitting sockets are still a problem, however. Now digital manufacturing techniques involving 3D-printers are revealing new possibilities.

“Give Love Back. Ata Macias and Partners” in Museum Angewandte Kunst is an attempt to devote a show to a man who shaped Frankfurt’s nightlife with his club, Robert Johnson, and who also transformed the restaurant scene, too.

The properties and behavior of building materials play an important role in the robot-controlled construction process. The Institute for Computer-Based Design at the University of Stuttgart shows how a house can be built using the weaving method.

The label “3D printing” is often used to cover all techniques enabling data to be turned into objects. Whereas there are actually any number of possibilities in terms of technology, materials and application. An overview.

We asked Stefan Diez to give us his personal take on the advantages and disadvantages and the consequences of digital fabrication for the everyday work of industrial designers. An outline.

The world of digital manufacturing has a new hero – the 3D printer. So are we all going to be dabbling in the art of creative production soon? What are the real benefits? And what opportunities can it offer to designers proper?

The Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin has announced a new corporate design along with a new font. “bayer next” by L2M3 borrows from the Universal font designed by Herbert Bayer in 1926 at the Bauhaus – carefully transposing it into the present.

And we continue our explorations at "3DaysofDesign" in Copenhagen to find out if it's really true the Danes produce their wares sustainably and in their own country.

As regards design, Denmark certainly has its finger on the pulse of things. Is this anything more than a re-edition of Danish Modernism? Are objects being made sustainably inside Denmark? A trip to “3DaysofDesign” in Copenhagen provides the answers.

Acetate was invented about 150 years ago as the first bio-plastic. Today it is primarily used for spectacle frames. Young designers such as the likes of Jean Baptiste Fastrez, Joséphine Choquet and Virgile Thévoz also create frames, tables and luminaires from it.

The Berlin company “Dark Horse” consists of 30 partners who all have equal status – and has done so for five years. Can a hierarchy-free enterprise really succeed?

Take a backrest, a seat and four legs, add a touch of Scandinavia, pack it all in a box, and you’ve got “Kitt”, the breezy chair Stefan Diez designed for Hay.

When it comes to designing fragile luminaires that have a minimalist, elegant look-and-feel, Michael Anastassiades, a Cypriot-born designer now living in London, is considered a master in his field. He even succeeds in teasing extraordinary shapes from a solid block of marble.

Can a show about Thonet bring any new insights? The Grassi Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Leipzig is hosting “Sit, Recline, Rock – Thonet Furniture” thru’ September 14, highlighting what chapters there are still to be discovered in the “Thonet saga”.

In its heyday Braun set the benchmark, designing everyday objects destined to serve as “quiet assistants”. Now Braun licensee De’Longhi is relaunching some of the historical designs. But beware: What might at first sight seem to be the respectful cultivation of revered traditions is nothing but whitewash.

Not officially presented yet, but definitely a cameo piece of his exhibition at Vitra Design Museum: Konstantin Grcic’ new “Rival Chair”.

Ricardo Casas is one of Mexico’s industrial designers committed to experimental interior design. In his work he makes use of wood in very many ways and in the process tells stories about spaces.

A luminaire that boasts floral themes from the Onam festival or a silver beaker clad in copper that offers the user good health. But two examples of how Indian design combines tradition and innovation – on display with others at the “Samskara – Made in...India” design show.

Cecilia León de la Barra’s design objects are so pragmatic and colorful that you could be forgiven thinking they were already a firm part of every Mexican household.

He owned a drugstore, but ever since his passion was design. He encouraged, motivated, he was design entrepreneur, consultant and museumsfounder. With Anthologie Quartett he edited designs by Ettore Sottsass, Elizabeth Garouste und Mattia Bonetti. A memorial to Rainer Krause, who died in June 2013.

More and more city dwellers are taking to the roads on bicycles that rely on electric motors to add zest to the daily commute. Like no other, “Footloose” by Korean automotive supplier Mando is emblematic of a new generation of e-bikes poised to capture the bike market. So what has it got to offer?

It’s 30 years since Apple launched its first Macintosh computer complete with a spectacular Ridley Scott commercial – laying down the gauntlet for then market leader IBM. The workstation’s user-oriented design is to this day considered revolutionary. Now Apple has presented its new “Mac Pro”, which features a strikingly surprising design.

Maxie Eisen is the latest culinary addition to the renowned district round Frankfurt’s main station. The bistro-and-bar is not only the new place-to-be for fans of pastrami but will – thanks to the stylish interiors by the likes of Jean Prouvé and Ilmari Tapiovaara – equally appeal to lovers of good design. Only the mafia should have been kept outside.

Following the hype about coffee, everyone is suddenly drinking tea. Which brought the teapot back into the designers’ sights. Small, plump and in the Japanese style, it was the shooting star at the Ambiente consumer goods fair in Frankfurt. We present the most stylish examples in a picture gallery.

“Man Machine” is the name of the latest furniture collection by Konstantin Grcic. It is being presented at Galerie kreo in Paris. What is extraordinary about it is that the items are made of glass and have moving parts.

Kvadrat is reaching out into the fashion world: to Alfredo Häberli, Patricia Urquiola and the Bouroullec brothers. With them, Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons has now unfurled a new fabrics collection for the Danish textile experts. And is thus taking fabrics from the cat walk to the sofa.

Assuming the BMW’s i3 electric car is an international success, it will no doubt influence how we buy and use cars – and get from A to B – in the future. Ranges, service packages and even refueling could soon be dictated by the concepts of carmakers.