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Issue 61 - Vintage Modern Issue

Issue 61

Vintage Modern Issue

The breadth and scope of Habitus has always been extraordinary. With how we live at heart of every issue, we have stepped it up with Guest Editor David Flack of Flack Studio shaking the ‘how’ and looking at new ways to make a house a home. With Vintage Modern as the issues theme, we look at the way iconic design has stayed with us, how daring pieces from the past can add the wow factor and how architecture and good design defy the pigeon hole of their era.

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BMW Esetta concept
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BMW Esetta concept

More than 60 years after the first Isetta went into production BMW re-imagines the micro car for the contemporary context.


Nimble, cheap and electric, the Esetta addresses the needs of the modern, urban car user. 

Austrian car designer Tony Weichselbraun has kept the original Isetta’s iconic shape and forward opening door but replaced the gasoline engine with an electric one. Weichselbraun has conceptualised the car to exist in a ‘car sharing’ network where the battery pack can be charged via induction hubs at various pickup/drop-off stations throughout a city, eliminating concerns over it’s limited range.

Structurally the main difference is in the wider spread of the vehicle’s back wheels, improving it’s balance and giving it a more solid appearance. Aesthetically the use of the striking red highlights on black is a quirky complement to it’s otherwise playful, almost toylike countenance, but the signature contours (and badge) clearly stamp it as a BMW.

The Esetta is only in the concept phase for the moment, but it, or others like it, are certain to become increasingly popular as demand for compact, economical and environmentally friendly transport increases. 


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Issue 61 - Vintage Modern Issue

Issue 61

Vintage Modern Issue

The breadth and scope of Habitus has always been extraordinary. With how we live at heart of every issue, we have stepped it up with Guest Editor David Flack of Flack Studio shaking the ‘how’ and looking at new ways to make a house a home. With Vintage Modern as the issues theme, we look at the way iconic design has stayed with us, how daring pieces from the past can add the wow factor and how architecture and good design defy the pigeon hole of their era.

Order Issue