Italian design brand, Kartell, has expanded their *A.I. family* collection - the first furniture collection designed by artificial intelligence - in collaboration with famed product designer, Philippe Starck.

In Kartell’s own words:

”With the A.I. family, an emblem of the use of recycled materials, Kartell continues its ongoing commitment to sustainability. It is the first design creation generated by artificial intelligence, combining Philippe Starck's flair with an innovative algorithm for a distinctive, comfortable and eco-sustainable product, accelerating production processes and reducing waste.”

The expanded collection includes lounge chairs, stools, and consoles. All of the pieces in the AI collection are made of recycled thermoplastic polymers.

I personally love the lounge chair shown below, and the welt detail on the corners of the seat cushion.

As you can see below, Philippe Starck’s now infamous 2019 chair design for Kartell, the first chair created by artificial intelligence, won the Red Dot Award in 2020.

With AI’s ascendance in product design, as well as the increasing focus on a circular economy in 2023 and now, 2024, it doesn’t surprise me that Kartell is expanding their A.I. family collection.

I especially love this view of the bronze version of Chair 5887.

I’ve been writing and speaking about the use of AI in product design for 2 years now, and will be speaking about it again next week [ Thursday, May 9th ] at the Midwest Design and Furniture Fair in Kansas City….but more on that in a few minutes.

I want to share with you a blog post I wrote last year, about the first lighting fixture designed with the aid of artificial intelligence.

Canadian lighting manufacturer, Kuzco Lighting [ a major Lightovation exhibitor ] collaborated with NYC based jewelry designer, Hannah Jewett, on the CIRCUIT GARDEN lighting collection, based on Hannah’s jewelry designs, worn by celebrities like Billie Eilish.

I took the below image while I was at the June 2023 Lightovation tradeshow, where it was first introduced. I was so so surprised that none of our industry’s trade publications wrote about this major breakthrough introduction, so I wrote about it here in November of 2023.

This is the first lighting collection ever designed with the aid of AI and I suspect Hannah’s fixtures will become part of a permanent museum exhibit one day.

As many of my long time friends and readers know, luxury kitchen and bath brand, Thompson, manufactured the world’s first kitchen and bath product designed by AI, in collaboration with me - the AILA sink, shown below.

Made of solid copper and introduced by Thompson at the National Kitchen and Bath Show in February of 2024, the story of the AILA sink has been widely told in both consumer facing and trade publications, as well as on podcasts.

The Thompson family and I are extremely grateful to all the editors, writers and podcasters who have helped us spread the word that kitchen and bath product design, using AI, is viable and doable.

It was very gratifying when this article came out after the show, naming the AILA sink as one of their choices for the top five new technologies shown at #KBIS2024.

Just yesterday, Friday, May 4th, 2024, I had an hour long phone conversation with a nationally prominent person in the design industry who didn’t realize that both Century Furniture and the esteemed fabric house of Fortuny are also both using AI now - in house - in their product design development process.

When I heard that this person wasn’t aware of how these 2 luxury brands are using AI in product design, I knew it was time to write this post.

I hope this post - and my upcoming speaking engagements this year - will help all of my designer friends and readers see that these 3 well known brands are already partnering with collaborators/influencers to design and help them bring to market products designed with artificial intelligence, and that this type of opportunity exists for them, too.

Speaking of speaking engagements…

I will be speaking next week in Kansas City at the Midwest Design And Furniture Fair on Thursday, May 9th.

I will be speaking twice. Once in the morning with Andrew Holben, the Director of National Sales and Marketing for Thompson, where he and will share the entire story of AILA, including the manufacturing challenges.

And we will be speaking once again that afternoon on a panel about AI, moderated by interior designer, Will Brown.

Our fellow panelists are college professors of design as well as practicing interior designers and I’m looking forward to a wide ranging conversation about how each of us is using AI in our work and the implications of AI for the interior design and architectural worlds.

The AILA sink will be there, too.

Their excellent regional shelter magazine, Design KC, wrote a wonderful article about the AILA sink, which is out now in their Spring issue.

If you’d like to, you can read the article here.

Many thanks to all of the sponsors on the below image, making this event possible, especially my friends at Thompson.

If you live in the Midwest, I’d love to see you at the show, and I have a special discount code for you, JTL 20, which will give you 20% off your ticket price for the two trade days, Thursday and Friday, May 9th and 10th.

You can register and find out more about the show here: https://www.mwdaff.com.

Lastly I’d like to share: it’s not necessary to pay for classes to learn how to use Midjourney. There are dozens and dozens of free tutorials now on You Tube.

And if you’d like to get set up to use Midjourney, I’ve written a tutorial for you, which takes you step by step through how to get set up on Discord [ you need to get set up on Discord before you can use Midjourney ] and then, once you’re set up on Discord, how to get set up on Midjourney AI.

That tutorial is here:
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2023/3/23/how-to-use-midjourney-ai-a-tutorial-for-interior-designers

I’m so excited about all of these new ways to partner with brands, using artificial intelligence, and even more excited that the brands are realizing how powerful and easy it is to utilize artificial intelligence in their product iteration and development process.

To get more information on and/or purchase Thompson’s AILA sink: https://www.thompsontraders.com/product/aila.
To get more information and/or purchase items from Kartell’s A.I. Family collection: https://www.kartell.com/us/en/ktus/st/ai-family
To get more information on and/or pre-order Kuzco Lighting’s CIRCUIT GARDEN collection: https://shop.kuzcolighting.com/

As always, thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate your time.

I also invite you to subscribe to my blog so you see it first in your inbox as soon as it publishes.

Lastly, if you’re interested in having me work with you on any aspect of your own AI initiatives re: AI product development and/or digital marketing and promotion - or having me speak on AI - please reach out to me at leslie@savourpartnership.com. I’d love to talk with you.

Leslie Carothers
Named One Of Home Furnishings News Magazine’s Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home

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