Lego, the Danish toy company, has collaborated with British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori on a colourful new launderette in East London.
Called the Launderette of Dreams, the new space is, in fact, an art installation, now remade in bright colours and more than 200,000 Lego bricks, that seeks to transform community spaces to appeal to children.
Housed in an empty storefront in East London's Bethnal Green area, the new launderette uses the bold colours of the toy bricks and the bright palette of Ilora's signature style, in a playfully loud, child-friendly space that actively encourages youngsters to play.
The interior sports a huge Lego mural, a vending machine that dispenses toys instead of soap, and a floor that doubles as a giant hopscotch game. The shopfront, meanwhile, is a giant spinning wheel, in blocks of yellows, reds and blues, framed on either side by primrose yellow doors.
Having grown up close by in north London, Ilora was inspired by his own childhood, and hours spent playing in his local launderette, waiting for the family's wash to finish.
Ilora wanted the piece to be geared towards children, to encourage play in a stimulating, safe environment and help reclaim inner-city spaces for future generations.
His work is strongly influenced by his own British-Nigerian heritage, which he folds throughout his multi-discipline design studio that's made up of architects and designers. Having started in 2011, upcycling furniture with traditional Nigerian fabrics, his career has since grown to include projects such as Dodge in the courtyard of London's Somerset House and a multicoloured basketball court in the city's Canary Wharf area.
Launderette of Dreams is located at 133-135 Bethnal Green Road, London, and runs until Saturday, November 6.
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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Brief scores:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
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Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
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