Monday, June 30, 2008

Kevin van Braak

Dutch designer Kevin van Braak's 'Caravan' offers a little piece of park on the go. This towable trailer unfolds to reveal an elevated green space, complete with flowers and a small campfire area. Seems like the perfect addition to Park(ing) Day, which I am hoping to be part of in Denver this year.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Cite

While I was New York for Design Week, I had a chance to stop by the SoHo furniture and accessories showroom Cite. Among the highlights were: the 'Uphill' lamp by Frederik Roije; ceramic rats by Robert Renzi and my favorite pixelated ceramic/glass vases by Industreal.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Rotterdam by Hella Jongerius

While researching an article on Hella Jongerius, I came across her latest creation, the 'Rotterdam' chair, for Vitra. In typical Jongerius fashion, the beauty is in the details. Made from wood, it is complemented with contrasting plastic inserts on the seat and legs.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Diabolik Chair

The new 'Diabolik' chair by GAMplusFRATESI.

Melt Collection

Melt is a collaborative project between Peter van der Jagt and Pieke Bergmans. To transform a normally fragile material (polystyrene) into one suitable for furniture, the designers baked their work, giving each surface a durable skin.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Tom Ferrero

In light of my earlier post, I had to share these wonderful rings featured on sub-studio today. Designer Tom Ferrero creates his Journal rings by encasing found objects in resin. The silver is then marked with the exact location where the object was discovered. I love the idea of designers sharing their sources, both here and with the Flocks project below - it makes the products so much more intriguing.

Flocks by Christien Meindertsma

Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma's Flocks project brings new meaning to the phrase product awareness. Every mitten, scarf and sweater created comes from a single source of wool/fur. The animal's breed, age, location and photo are included with every hand knit item.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

BCXSY Destilled Nature

Embrace the bygone beauty of your faded bouquet with BCXSY's 'Destilled Nature' vase, the latest in their Forever! series. Made from rubber coated wire mesh.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Dan Sjogren and Chris Armijo

Denver designers Dan Sjogren and Chris Armijo had an opening last night to showcase their new furniture and lighting collections. Sjogren exhibited a simple, sophisticated dining set made from birch ply, which was created using CNC machinery. Armijo's work included 'Buoy' (constructed from 256 whiffle balls), 'Linkage' (14,000 paper clips), 'Catepillar' (70 plastic clothes hangers) along with an untitled installation made from 3,000 zip ties.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Denis Darzacq

Amazing series of photographs called 'Hyper' by Denis Darzacq. (via It's Nice That via i heart photograph)

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Emiko Oki: Hat Plate

Emiko Oki's latest design, Hat Plate, was produced in collaboration with the WAJIMA x Kakitsubata project. The initiative aims to help rebuild the traditional industries of Wajima, a Japanese city which was severely damaged during a 2007 earthquake. Oki's curved plate and matching hat cover are made with Wajima-nuri lacquer, one of the city's main products.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Tatsuya Maemura

Tatsuya Maemura is a recent graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven. Her benches, called Annual Furniture, are made from tightly wound bunches of colored thread. (via pan-dan)

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Hotel Transvaal

Hotel Transvaal is a city wide community hotel project taking place in the Hague, Netherlands. The city, which is undergoing drastic urban redevelopment, has found a unique way to keep both commerce and neighborhoods intact during the transition. Led by a group of artists, Hotel Transvaal offers one to five star accommodations in buildings across town; structures slated for demolition or new residences which have not yet been occupied.

The result is a series of roaming hotel rooms, with reception services offered by people in the neighborhood. A local cafe becomes the hotel restaurant, a gallery - the lobby. In this way, local residents feel the economic benefit while building community ties.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Pop Quiz

For all you font fanatics out there, does anyone know what this type is? Or have a suggestion of something that's similar? Thanks!

100 Things

I saw an interesting post on swissmiss yesterday about David Michael Bruno; a fellow living in San Diego who is trying to whittle down all his possessions to just 100 things. Not an easy task, but an intriguing one. Wouldn't we all like to become less burdened by our possessions?

Though designklub is certainly a chronicle of things, it's purpose less about consumerism and more about inspiration and motivation (in fact half the items on this site are probably not for sale). Designklub is about exchanging ideas and creating things that hold value - whether that is based on sustainability, innovation or personal attachment. Projects like David's are integral to this thought process and should challenge us all to question, what is worth creating and keeping when the possibilities are infinite?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Zascho Petkow

Zascho Petkow is a young furniture designer from Germany. Though I couldn't find much info on him, I do like his wooden coat rack and Bunte Betten beds - though the two projects couldn't be more different.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Zipper Vase

The Zipper Vase allows for flowers arrangements of any size, from a single stem to a large bouquet. By d-Vision.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Anafim Outdoor Cutlery

Here's another selection from the OuTable collection by d-Vision. Anafim Outdoor Cutlery is a portable fork, knife and spoon set which screws into any branch, creating instant silverware.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Frame Plates by d-Vision

I like the idea of framing food - not only for the presentation possibilities, but also because the firm edges help keep things under control. Designed by the Israeli group d-Vision.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

ICFF 2008: Hyock Kwon

Hyock Kwon, the designer brought us the wonderful Tree House My House presented his new project called Bloc at this year's ICFF. Bloc is a series of stacking candles whose wicks interlock, allowing users to build their own Lego-like towers.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Anna Olivia Kristiansen

Anna Olivia Kristiansen is a ceramicist whose work was recently shown as part of the Danish Crafts, Hand On! exhibit at ICFF. Her series of plates called 'The Danish Pig' provide a step-by-step illustration of how pork is made. With straightforward graphics, she follows the pig from birth to bacon. Kristiansen's motivation is simple, "If the consumer wants to eat the pig, they should be able to stomach the background story."

Monday, June 02, 2008

Wry & Ginger: Part 2

More from the Wry & Ginger show at Design Within Reach in New York. The mouth blown glass bulbs (called CCFL's - cold cathode fluorescent lamps) by Covello Reesor were impressive, especially since they last longer than regular CFL's. The exhibit also included the simple 'Maun Windsor' chair from Patty Johnson, 'Love is Blind' vase by Jessica Lertvilai and 'Mountie Stool' by Samare.