I recently got two nice emails from American designers Jeremy Kaplan (San Fransisco) and Claire D'Aoust (Detroit/Brooklyn) and wanted to share their work. Kaplan's creations include a series of poured concrete tables with inlaid bamboo (top). Looking through D'Aoust portfolio, I really like her desk design - especially the detail of built-in pen holders! Thanks Jeremy and Claire for sharing.
Spotted the work of American designers Misewell on notcot.org and was intrigued. Their 'Lockwood' chair and 'Conrad' tables have a nice combination of warm woods and metal. The metal happens to be steel, which makes me wonder how heavy these pieces are. Looks like they will be at ICFF this year, so we'll find out!
Beautiful work by Norwegian designer Amy Hunting. Her 'Patchwork' collection is made from wood waste and cut-offs from a Denmark factory.
Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow's '+/-' plates use conductive gold film as part of the design, allowing users to plug in the plates and heat up their food. (via designboom)
'Floora' is a wool felt modular rug by student designer Johanna Richter. Floora will be on display at IMM Cologne as part of Burg Giebichenstein's student exhibition.
Vahakn Matossian is a British-Armenian designer studying at the Royal College of Art and Design. I recently came his site and love the Bear+Cart project, a mobile workshop where Vahakn creates totems for the curious passer-by based on his/her wishes and stories. 
I have a hard time keeping up with Jaime Hayon's incredible output and for some reason I'm still discovering things from his 'Showtime' collection. These lovely chairs are part of that series, which is produced by BD Barcelona. These elegant pieces offer a great blend of materials (and the quilted cushions are nice touch too).
Designer Richard Arqui conceived fifteen different variations of the common fish bowl, each aiming to address a different topic or issue. Above, 'Russian Dolls' provides multiple sized bowls, allowing the fish to determine his level of growth, while 'XS or XL' explores the possibilities of co-habitation.
To start off 2009, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the best of 2008. All of the MoCo Loco contributors selected our Top 5 picks of the year. My Top 5 were the best exhibit/installation spaces. I loved seeing the variety of everyone else's choices - take a look here.
For all the Denver area readers, the 4th Community Challenge for the Denver Community Museum has been announced. 'My Little Mania' asks participants to create an artifact that portrays their greatest passion - whether it be a hobby, phobia or interest - anything that has developed to an obsession. More info here.
