Miami, Florida – April 22, 2013 – Award-winning designer Luis Pons, the principal of Luis Pons Design Lab and creative mind behind Uno Magnetic, today announced a unique collaboration with WantedDesign, one of the most innovative fairs participating in New York Design Week 2013. Through Uno Magnetic, Pons has produced a limited edition of the UNO® interactive jewelry system featuring the WantedDesign color that will be given to every fair attendee. The Uno Magnetic team will be present to share the company’s philosophy and additional products from its growing collection will be available for purchase.

“UNO® was born from my desire to make the world of high design accessible to as many people as possible so everyone can share in its inspiration and use it as a tool to change the world,” said Pons. By finding the extraordinary in ordinary and teaming with numerous partners who share in the desire to expand on this message, UNO® has already touched many around the world, including those who have benefitted from the work of Breast Health International in Italy and MTV’s Ashoka Partnership in the United States.

More than just a ball chain and magnet, UNO® Interactive Jewelry allows people to express themselves through a multitude of colored chains and magnetic charms. This modular design takes on its own life it is worn inviting people to collect, trade, stack, braid, mix and match. Specially selected colors, each with its unique meaning, attract the extraordinary, and the interactive design inspires freedom, play, and a singularly provocative question: “What you will attract when you wear UNO®?” People can wear UNO® as a necklace, bracelet, anklet, ring, or hair braids, among many other things … the possibilities are endless.

“I am so excited to collaborate with WantedDesign because we share the same philosophy of creating opportunities for meaningful interactions between people, art, and design,” said Pons. Founded in 2011 by Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, WantedDesign has established a successful reputation as a popular and inspiring meeting point for designers, manufacturers, artisans, students, design institutions, the media, and design lovers from around the world.

This year, in addition to a strong presence of U.S. manufacturers, designers and design institutions, WantedDesign welcomes participants from countries such as France, Sweden, Canada,Turkey, Italy, Austria, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, Argentina, Australia, Quebec and New Zealand. WantedDesign began as a design forum, reinforcing a creative community that would help establish New York as a desirable design destination. The goals are to foster conversations and discovery, establish relationships and new collaborations, and inspire visitors.

Wanted Design Fair 2013 opens on May 17th in the landmark Terminal Stores building on 11th Avenue between 27th and 28th Streets in New York City.

Seven years ago, Miami-based architect Luis Pons unveiled the "Fabulous Floating Inflatable Villa" at Art Basel 2005. Floating proudly offshore in Miami, the over-the-top, gargantuan inflated pavilion aimed to critique the McMansion culture of the day, arguing that the real estate bubble had caused Miamians to lose sight of detail and quality in the wake of blind excess and uninspired grandeur.

How things have changed in the real estate world in seven short years. Using the recession as inspiration, Pons will re-introduce The Inflatable Villa to Basel for the first time this year in a entirely new context.

"It's the same piece, but the meaning has completely changed," explained Pons. "It's an analogy to represent the disparity between where we were in 2005 and where we are today."

The structure will be placed in a vacant lot in the Design District, a site which was intended to be developed until the bursting real estate bubble of 2008 halted the project. The villa, only partially inflated, will be placed within rigid metal bar columns that were part of the original construction site, its fragility a tangible analogy to the rigid metal structure encasing it.

In the words of a proposal of the project released by Luis Pons D-Lab, "the 2012 Inflated Villa is an art installation that offers a universal commentary on the human reaction to shock, our inherent vulnerability, the tenacity of the human spirit and a profound introspective of the last seven years. It reflects the deflation of our egos that occurred along with the plummeting value of our homes."

Whereas the 2005 Inflatable Villa was haughty and overbearing, the 2012 Inflatable Villa is humble and contracted... just like us Miamians.

"It's contained to represent how we have been trapped by the current situation and our past excesses," Pons said. "A new, more conscious society has emerged over the past several years, one with new values that is much more introspective."

"And that's not necessarily a bad thing", he said.

"The fact that we are all coping with and surviving the crisis, and adapting to so many changes is significant. We will not go back to the way we once were."Pons pointed out that re-using an already existing piece of art to create something new also carries meaning.

"I'm recycling something, which aligns a lot with the public mindset since the recession. It's symbolic of a new way of lifestyle and of thinking."

The Inflated Villa was on display in the Design District during Art Basel 2012. Check Out Luis Pons Design Lab website for more on his past projects and ideas.

1.What's the first piece of art you fell in love with?

Picasso’s Guernica: I was fortunate to grow up in a home where art and design were an integral part of my life and I was exposed to art and design at an early age. My father was a Modernist architect and my mother was a director of a design gallery in the 1950s. They introduced me to the world of art and design. When I was ten years old my parents took me to the Museum of modern art in New York City and I had the chance to see Guernica for the first time. My first reaction was fascination with the artwork; I spent hours trying to identify and understand the magical images hidden within a particular piece. Guernica immediately illustrated to me the power of art, communication, and passion. Now I relate Guernica not only to a piece of art but also to my first trip to NYC with my parents, and the beginning of a love affair with art and design as well as the city itself.

2.Who are your favorite designers?

Tejo Remy, The Campana Brothers, Ingo Maurer.

3.What is the best piece of style advice you've ever heard?

When it comes to design, there is no right or wrong, but a matter of taste.

4.Who are your favorite writers?

Marguerite Yourcenar, Jorge Luis Borges, José Ortega y Gasset, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

5.What is inspiring you these days?

The financial recession: Design tends to thrive during times of recession. Within the design world I now see a new level of consciousness that focuses on better and efficient use of our resources and the optimization of opportunities. I welcome a new time in which restrictions challenge us to ask questions and to think more critically while looking for new and innovative solutions.

6.What is your motto?

To make a difference: I am interested in design that really speaks to people who want to engage in a conversation with it, design whose ultimate purpose is revealed by the user, design that allows for the possibility of change, design that touches the senses. My hope is that my work encourages others to discover the delight in the potential of materials, spaces, and places. My ultimate wish is for the people who interact with my designs to be encouraged to recreate or reinterpret in their own terms the particular time and place in which they live.

7.What is your favorite indulgence?

Travel: It broadens one’s perspective, and as human beings we learn new norms. I love finding other perspectives and views on people and places. Travel brings new perspectives not only to the destination travelled but more importantly to the life and experiences we bring when we return home. Although I love traveling to Europe and North and South America, my favorite destination is always the one I have yet to take. I have desired to visit India since I was a teenager. I plan to make my first trip to India in the new year.

8.What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Love, and the self-awareness to understand what is truly important in life. I live life unconditionally; I love it and celebrate life by expressing it in my personal relationships as well as in my work.

9.What career other than your own would you like to attempt?

Photojournalist or dancer.

10.If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My inability/unwillingness to remain still and focus on one thing or moment at a time.

QVC & BHI: CLOSE TO ALL WOMEN

In October 2012, UNO Magnetic and Breast Health International, the international organization engaged in fundraising, research and prevention of breast cancer, in conjunction with QVC Italy’s Shopping 4Good Initiative featured the UNO Interactive Jewelry for the internationally honored Breast Cancer Awareness.

This partnership, which began in October 2010, has brought to reality with the launch exclusively in Italy of the UNO Magnetic bracelet and magnetic clasp with the primary goal: to be on the side of all women, with commitment and with awareness. For every bracelet sold in fact, QVC donated 50% of revenues to the Fund For Living campaign created by permanent global BHI with Professor Umberto Veronesi in support of women affected by breast cancer

The message presented for this campaign is that UNO, made up of a chain of hundreds of tiny spheres, represents those who come together to support a person touched by breast cancer. The single magnetic ball represents the individual who has been affected by this disease. Each part embraces the other creating a healing energy that symbolizes UNO’s philosophy and inspiration.

This is just the beginning: October is "the official month for the prevention of breast cancer" and in support of this important campaign with QVC SHOPPING4GOOD supports the non-profit association Breast Health International in creating a dialogue with the Italian women on the subject of prevention of breast cancer. A symbol of this project is the ONE bracelet that QVC sell in Italy exclusively for support, and donate 50% of the proceeds, the Fund For Living program BHI present throughout the Italian territory.

The jewel, designed by American architect Luis Pons, has a great symbolic value: it is composed of a chain of many micro spheres, which represents all those who gather around the sick person, united by a single macro-sphere magnet the woman is affected by disease.

Renowned Miami designer Luis Pons has a knack for taking familiar materials and using them in imaginative ways in his architecture, interiors, and product creations. He’s done the same with jewelry, transforming a simple ball chain and magnetic sphere into a sleek, interactive piece that can be whatever you want it to be -- necklace, bracelet, ring, anklet and more.

Luis gives the wearer the power to create minimalist pieces with a single strand of ball chain, or twist together multiple multicolor strands to create chunky, elaborate designs. Everything in between the two aesthetic extremes is fair game, too.Create a personalized look

The ball chains are made of nickel, and when you manipulate the strands around the metal sphere, your creation is held in place by magnetism. The chains are available in metallic finishes and rich Pantone colors. Playing with them never gets boring. In fact, you might find it hard to keep your hands from continually twisting the strands into dynamic new shapes. The only limit is your imagination.

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