What do Klaus Makela, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Tarmo Peltokoski and Sasha Makila have in common?They are all distinguished conductors from Finland and enjoying world-wide high esteem from both audiences and critics.
The only woman’s name that appears on the Declaration of Independence. National Geographic lays off its last remaining staff writers. Turn your walls or windows into huge, animated Lite-Brites. The Sol Reader is essentially a Kindle embedded in a pair of glasses. Making “smart paper” with liquid metal. A graphene-based wearable and wireless patch that detects signs of liver inflammation. A design firm’s war against…lawns. The new face of terror: a robotic dog with a flamethrower attached to its back. Barbie’s Dream House in each state. Is a 2,000-year-old Pompeiian fresco the oldest depiction of a pizza? 7-Eleven introduces Slurpee-themed jewelry, for some reason. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Clipping printed coupons is on the decline. Core77 Visual Communications Design Award winners. Making leather from pineapple leaves. A cursed object trifecta: books, a phone number, and a Kleenex ad. A grant to develop graphene-based sustainable housing construction materials. Air New Zealand is adding beds to its economy class. The keys to an effective workout playlist. Designing Saucony’s Endorphin sneaker launch event. What the optimal number of times you should flip a hamburger? French’s introduced a mercifully short-lived ketchup pop. All that and more in WhatTheyThink’s weekly miscellany.
Still in his twenties, the Oslo Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor Klaus Mäkelä is remarkably clear-sighted about what he wants to achieve and how – even after lockdown required a different approach to recording his debut album of the Sibelius symphonies, writes Andrew Mellor. Photography by Marco Borggreve