Tag Archives: luggage

Philippe Starck’s luggage goes nano

For anyone unfamiliar with Philippe Starck, there’s this from his Wikipedia entry (Note: Links have been removed),

Philippe Starck is a French designer[1] who has become widely known since the start of his career in the 1980s[2] for his interior, product, industrial and architectural design work.

A minimalist, Starck’s work is ‘stark’. In an interesting publicity campaign, his latest collection of travel gear is mentioned in a Feb. 4, 2015 news item on Nanotechnology Now,

In association with Philippe Starck, renowned French creator, designer and architect, DELSEY is reinventing the world of travel with the launch of STARCKTRIP, a new collection of luggage conceived on a single concept: intelligence in motion. Bold, original and innovative, leaving the fickle constraints of fashion behind to embrace timelessness.

The launch for this line was originally announced in an Oct. 9, 2014 Starck press release which includes a bit about the nanotechnology-enabled features of this luggage,

HIGH TECH DISCRETION
The materials used take advantage of the latest technological innovations but manage to be discrete about it. Nanotechnology is used to protect the bags and
cases, inside and out, from dirt and bacteria; fabric screens also protect against data theft; gentle plastic moulded material provides unparalleled rolling comfort, smoothness and silence. In addition, anti-rain treatment of the surfaces ensures that you, the business traveller, keep your belongings dry at all times. [emphases mine]

I’m not sure about the dirt but the protection from bacteria makes it sound like they’ve added nanoscale silver to the luggage and the anti-rain treatment sounds like a nanotechnology-enabled superhydrophobic coating of some kind. Unfortunately there are no details to be had on either Philippe Starck’s website or on the Delsey website. BTW, the middle-aged male model in the Starck press release, is M. Philippe Starck himself.

Detecting dangerous liquids in airline luggage with a Josephson junction; NANOvember in Albany, New York; nano haiku for November

To be free of those clear plastic bags which hold all your bottles of liquids when you go through airport security with your luggage! That is a very worthwhile nanotechnology promise. From the news item on Nanowerk,

Restrictions on liquids in carry-on bags on commercial airliners could become a thing of the past thanks to a revolutionary nano-electric device which detects potentially hazardous liquids in luggage in a fraction of a second, according to a team of German scientists. Writing in the journal Superconductor Science and Technology, the researchers at the Forschungszentrum Juelich in western Germany claim that they have been able to do this using an optical approach that detects all existing and future harmful liquids within one fifth of a second.

Since the paper has been published, the researchers have been approached by industrial partners about producing a prototype. (sigh) Most likely this means they hope it will be about five years before we see the devices in airports. The device itself is known as a Josephson junction and you can read more about it on the Azonano site too.

I am happy to see that the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) at the University of Albany (New York, US) has held a remarkably successful nano event, Community Day, during NANOvember  attracting about 1000 people.  From the news item on Nanowerk,

NANOvember is part of “NEXSTEP,” or “Nanotechnology Explorations for Science, Training and Education Promotion,” a partnership between CNSE and KeyBank. Spearheaded by CNSE’s Nanoeconomics Constellation, the initiative features a variety of educational programs designed to promote greater understanding of the changing economic and business environment in the Capital Region and New York State being driven by nanotechnology. “As nanotechnology increasingly shapes the educational and economic landscapes of the Capital Region, NANOvember offers a platform through which the community can better understand the impact and opportunities driven by this emerging science,” said Jeffrey Stone, president, Capital Region, KeyBank N.A.

I’m impressed they attracted that large a crowd in a city with a population of about 100,000 (Albany county has a population of about 300,000) according the 2000 census statistics. By contrast, the city of Vancouver (Canada) has a population of about 600,000 with a regional population of approximately 2 million (from the City of Vancouver website on November 9, 2009) and I’m hard pressed to recall either of our local universities claiming a similar success for one of their community days.

One other point about Albany and nanotechnology, in a July 2008 posting I noted a $1.5B investment for a research centre  in Albany, NY, being made by IBM. So this nanotechnology communication/education event seems to dovetail very nicely with past occurrences and suggests an overall strategy is at work.

Some haiku from NISEnet’s (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network) newsletter,

After you read this
Your finger nail will have grown
a nanometer
by Troy Dassler

We struggle to show
The size of a molecule.
Kids wait patiently.

by Mike Falvo

You can check out the organization’s The Nano Bite blog here.