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30 May 2010

claesson koivisto rune: portico


'portico' table and bookshelf


'portico' series by swedish designer-architects claesson koivisto rune consists of a table
and a bookshelf. here the designer draws from the architectural structure of ancient roman
aqueduct arches, paying tribute to their rhythmic repetition and geometry. 'portico' is
living divani's first bookshelf and is part of the firm's recent range expansion project,
seeking to propose increasingly complete interiors.





'portico' bookshelf detail


'portico' table detail



'portico' was presented during milan design week 2010.

betina piqueras: rocking teapot


image: betina piqueras

there is nothing like sitting on your favourite rocking chair with a cup of tea in hand, and betina piqueras’
rocking teapot brings the two together in a creative reworking. the rocking teapot is a small tray that has
a wire frame that holds a special teapot by two handles on its side. the teapot is suspended in the air and
a small circle in the tray holds the cup below. the user simply tilts the teapot towards the cup and the tea
pours right in. the design is perfectly functional helping users steadily pour a big pot of tea while
remaining quite whimsical.

http://www.maindustrialdesign.com/students/work.asp?id=59


image: betina piqueras


image: betina piqueras

a door within a door

a door within a door.
a small door leading into a big world...



'minjjoo' door


german studio jjoo design (johannes marmon and johannes müller) has developed
'minjjoo' children's door which was realized in collaboration with door manufacturer holitsch.
it is a standard interior door, with a small door integrated. via the smaller inset door,
children are given a 'grown-up' feeling, accessing their own room and personal world at their
own level. finished with a white chalk-board coating, the door's surface can be painted
or drawn on with chalk or water soluble markers which can easily be wiped off.



'minjjoo' door



'minjjoo' door



back in 2005, designboom hosted the 'a door to paradise' competition in which similar concepts
were presented, with idea of building a smaller door within a larger one for children or animals.
it's interesting to see how related ideas are interpreted in different parts of the globe.

here's a look at some of the entries which had similar intentions:


'kids door' by nina tolstrup

'kids door' by nina tolstrup from the UK

this 'two in one' door not only fuctions as a normal door, but has a smaller door cut into it.
kids love things that are their size. the 'kids door' can be plain or customized as say,
a robot or elephant for example.


'kids door' by nina tolstrup

toyota hybrid-x concept


image: toyota

the hybrid-x is a concept vehicle by toyota that aims to introduce new design language for the company’s
growing line of hybrid vehicles. the four-door, four-seat vehicle was developed at toyota’s european
styling centre in the south of france. the doors open in opposite directions crating a wide entrance to the
interior, which features shell seats that swivel slightly. the roof of the car is mostly glass, opening up
the inside even further. the car’s LED lights can display graphic forms and animations that give other
drivers and pedestrians more informative data about the car’s movements.

http://www.toyota.com


image: toyota


image: toyota


image: toyota


image: toyota


image: toyota


image: toyota


image: toyota

29 May 2010

ALPA 12 TC camera by Estragon


Swiss studio Estragon have designed a camera for Swiss camera manufacturer ALPA.

Called ALPA 12 TC, the compact square design operates as a 6×9 roll-film or 60 MP digital camera.

Accessories can be attached to all sides of the block, including a rosewood or pear handle.

Swarovski Crystal Palace // Milan 2010

SPARKS by Gwenaël Nicolas // Image Courtesy of Swarovski
Swarovski Crystal Palace // Milan 2010
text by Marcia Argyriades for Yatzer 

I remember myself when I was a young kid, I would stand before a Swarovski collection and gaze at it, as the spectrum colors and reflections travelled me to magical worlds where fairies and princesses existed!   For years I had lost that feeling, and suddenly during Milan Design Week 2010 when the Yatzer team visited Swarovski Crystal Palace at Zona Tortona the feeling came back!  The installations travelled me back to those years of when I was a kid, leaving me speechless for once more as the crystals demonstrated their creative potential right before our eyes.  Swarovski  presented yet another “exhilarating and inspiring series” of commissions, as the artists unveiled their creativity to present magnificent works.  This year Swarovski Crystal Palace commissioned five renowned designers to construe their own reality of the beauty of Swarovski crystals.  Tokujin Yoshioka, Gwenaël Nicolas, Vincent van Duysen, Rogier van der Heide and Yves Béhar integrated their own reality of how they envision their design to only create remarkable design pieces.  Not only were the pieces one of a kind, but the setting created just the right atmosphere for such works of art to be exhibited. 

The exhibition presented works which were inspired by the “idea of different types of palaces, from Versailles with its hall of mirrors, to Japan with its Zen aesthetic, to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg.”  Each design was exhibited in its own room thus allowing for the highest creative expression and setting the ideal atmosphere to clearly portray which palace it was inspired from.  The curating of the design pieces was such that it set up a theatrical atmosphere and engaged the visitors in travelling in a journey through time from palace to palace!   
STELLAR by Tokujin Yoshioka
We started our journey at Crystal Palace by entering a room filled with mist which was dedicated to Tokujin Yoshioka’s design, he created StellarStellar is a spherical installation which has a diameter of one meter and is covered with Swarovski crystals and lit from within by LEDs, while an accompanying piece in the same room featured another globe in a glass tank where crystals grew naturally. 
The continuation of the exhibition featured the works of Gwenaël Nicolas who presented Sparks, a free floating transparent balloon which floated as it enclosed small crystal sculptures lit from within by battery powered LED.  The LED light originated through the crystal to flicker a series sparks which floated in the air along with the balloon’s movement.  As a separate design, Gwenaël Nicolas also constructed a ten meter long crystal rope which integrated LED lighting which was programmed to set off sparks from one end of the rope to the other, as the room glimmered with the iridescent spectrum lighting.  
SPARKS by Gwenaël Nicolas // Image Courtesy of Swarovski

complete article on yatzer

Posters for Design To Change The World Exhibition

Stunning…stunning graphic design for the “Design To Change The World Exhibition” by Takeo Nakano. I love the use of pictograms as a navigation device in these prints. The show is running through June 13, 2010.
Design to Change The World Exhibition 2 296x420 Posters for Design
 To Change The World Exhibition
Design to Change The World Exhibition 296x420 Posters for Design 
To Change The World Exhibition
There was a fascinating article in the New Yorker (Sub Rec’d) a few months ago about the stove pictured above.
About the exhibition:
Venue 1: Tokyo Design Hub (5/15 – 6/13)
Venue 2: Axis Gallery (5/28 – 6/13)
Description: After it’s huge success in 2007, Cooper Hewitt’s Design for the Other 90% has taken on a new life in Japan.

via spoon&tamago

rubiks mirror blocks puzzle bumps out of the cube


Ready for a challenging puzzle? Check out this new variant on the classic Rubik’s Cube which isn’t comfortable just being perfectly square.
The new Rubik’s Mirror Blocks puzzle makes things a bit more complicated than the original by making each and every one of its blocks a slightly different size.
And instead of pretty colors, each one is covered with a mirrored surface, making it just that much more difficult to figure out.
I managed to find a video clip showing the unboxing of the new cube here:
The puzzle is slated for release in Japan in the next couple of weeks for ¥2079 (appx $20 USD), but I haven’t been able to find out anything about a North American release. Perhaps if you’re persuasive, you can convince the puzzle’s designer, Hidetoshi Takeji to ship you one. He was recently sighted on the TwistyPuzzles forums offering to ship them internationally.

Heather Lins - Science Project Pillows



Heather Lins' Science Project pillow collection is pretty cool. The pillows are made from black wool felt and the graphics are made of recycled polyester derived from both post-industrial and post-consumer sources.

28 May 2010

WAKE by Phil Jones

WAKE by Phil Jones

Pantone Hotel by Olivier Hannaert and Michel Penneman


Interior designer Olivier Hannaert and architect Michel Penneman have completed a hotel in Brussels, Belgium, for colour company Pantone.

Called Pantone Hotel, the building has seven floors each decorated with a different colour pallette.

Photographs are by Serge Anton.





Hatched by Outofstock


Design collective Outofstock have completed the interiors for a restaurant in Singapore, where the windows are covered by wooden panels with egg-shaped cutouts.

Called Hatched, the restaurant is divided into two dining areas, a central one with long communal tables and individual tables in front of a large blackboard.

Wood features throughout the space, with a wooden bar facade made of three different types of wood and matching stools.

The space is located in an old student dormitory next to a university campus and can accommodate up to 38 diners.


The play with natural light is a key ingredient which characterises the space and we designed oak veneered panels with egg-shaped cut outs to filter light in from street-facing glass windows. These “egg panels” also serve as an identifiable frontage for the restaurant.

The use of guava tree branch off-cuts sleeved over bulb holders adds a tinge of farmhouse charm and all the exposed light bulbs are connected to dimmers so as to regulate the brightness needed during the day and night.

Although there has been much phasing-out efforts of incandescent light bulbs in recent years, the rich, warm glow and character of near obsolete carbon filament bulbs we found at a specialty bulb supplier was difficult to resist. We chose to expose the original concrete ceiling of this historical building and highlighted its textural qualities with lighting.

Jointed Jewels by Alissia Melka-Teichroew


New York designer Alissia Melka-Teichroew of byAMT has designed a collection of jewellery made up of ball-and-socket joints, like those usually found in hip replacements.

Called Jointed Jewels, the pieces are made using 3D printing process laser sintering, where a ball can be ‘printed’ inside another one.

Photographs are by Lisa Klappe.

Here’s some more information from Melka-Teichroew:

Jointed Jewels represents a union of new and old, organic and industrial, functional and decorative.

At the heart of the project is the intention to transform complex and separate elements into a new kind of whole.

It started as an exploration of ball joints, commonly found in cars and hip replacements.

Alissia Melka-Teichroew had the idea of creating a ball joint -normally assembled with separate parts- as one single piece.

Through the use of selective laser sintering (SLS) she was able to literally make a ball inside a ball.

Hence, the industrial connecter was transformed into an object of beauty and wonder.

A clean and striking jewelry collection was created around this innovative concept.

Each piece has been made with the same technique: it seems like an intricately assembled object but is in fact one single piece that was made in one go.

Although the jointed pieces share the same birthing process, each item has a different identity.

There are round, square, long and tubular forms that pick up references from recognizable icons of classic jewelry.

Many of the bangles, necklaces and rings are interpretations of renaissance and Victorian jewels and there are also references to intricately made and very precious pieces by luxury brands like Bulgari and Cartier.

In addition, there are multi-tiered necklaces that display connecting joints that resemble human bone structure.

The collection features both colored and white jewelry.

A special rendition of the colors dark blue/grey, pink, and yellow were presented during the Salone del Mobile 2010 in Milan (Italy) and ICFF 2010 in New York (USA).





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