The-Lefthander

According to the philosophy of Swiss carpet manufacturer Ruckstuhl, “the art of weaving - the creation of carpets and textiles from natural fibres - is one of the oldest cultural activities of the human race.” Not that we’d object, but to those who haven’t seen or understood the Frisian Wouw carpet by Claudy Jongstra, they haven’t experienced a truly artistic, sustainable product come to life.

Frisian Wouw. Designed by Claudy Jongstra for Ruckstuhl.

Designed as part of Edition Ruckstuhl - a limited edition series of twelve carpets by nine designers from canada and europe - the approximate 240 x 330 cm shape of this particular felt carpet resembles a fallen autumn leaf or perhaps a golden flake of paint from centuries past. Claudy Jongstra, the Dutch designer behind the weave of marigold-tinted felt, was trained as a fashion designer who found her calling in using felt back in 1994 after witnessing a Mongolian yurt (tent) on display in the Nederlands Textielmuseum. Since her discovery, Jongstra’s textiles have been used by leading fashion designers such as John Galliano, Donna Karan, and Christian Lacroix. Since then, her work has been dedicated to creating the soft wool fabric with a combination of either silk fibers or transparent silk organza - something that had never been seen before.

From start to finish, Jongstra believes in pure sustainable wool and materials. Beginning with raw materials the entire process is built on an environmentally-friendly, cyclical process. In fact, she tends her own flock of rare Drenthe Heath sheep to make sure their unusual breed from the Netherlands maintains itself, and continues to produce the best wool. Additionally, her website describes that Jongstra “keeps her own hortus botanicus where national historic varieties of dye-plants grow.” Recently, she was awarded The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfondsprijs, a prestigious Dutch prize for applied arts and architecture.
With Ruckstuhl’s dedication to natural goods and quality, Jongstra’s Frisian Wouw carpet comes to life after the delicate processes from start to finish that set it apart from anything ordinary.

If the word “Toto” immediately provokes you to think, “we’re not in Kansas anymore,” you’d be speaking more truth than you know. When it comes to millennial technology in the bathroom, the Japanese company with the name Americans associate with a little dog is leagues away from the U.S.A. This doesn’t mean that Kansans—or denizens of any of our fabulous 50—don’t have a thing or two to learn from products like Toto’s NC Series/S Counter Cabinet. The stand-alone vanity/counter/washbasin instructs us to turn tradition on its head, or, better said, turn it inside out.

NC Series/S Counter Cabinet. Designed by TOTO.

Rather than sporting the conventional array of under-vanity drawers and/or cabinetry, the NC Series wears its storage on its sleeve, so to speak. Its pedestal base rises up and between alternating tiers, thus hiding the plumbing while creating NC’s unique open-shelving system. The design makes great use of space while keeping bathroom essentials “hiding in plain sight”— my rotating toothbrush, for one, would camouflage nicely against the glossy white. If, however, you prefer to showcase your daily grooming accoutrements, choose facing in wenge or oak veneer. The third option is to just hide everything in the NC Series’ nifty upper drawer (each of which hides, in its turn, a convenient power outlet) and use the shelf space to show off beloved trinkets and knick-knacks… or just relish in the clean and spare geometric contours.

We’ve heard a lot from Toto lately. Last April, we looked at the hygienic functionality of Washlet, and about a month after that, we examined their luminous Luminist Sink. The manufacturer is recognizable for its distinctive aesthetic, but they’ve also made a name for themselves as purveyors of “Clean Technology.” Never more crucial than in the bathroom, the notion builds upon the excellent hygiene of Toto’s products to reach towards an environmental cleanliness that could be a guide for us all: “Other eco-friendly effects are achieved with our products—our custom ceramic surfaces require fewer chemicals for cleaning; one of our technologies breaks down pollutants in the air, similar to the way a tree breaks down carbon; and some of our fixtures are powered by water pressure alone. All of these features are sustainable.”

Despite the urgings of certain party-going compatriots and their attendant kegs of PBR or Keystone Light, I never joined a fraternity, so I’m not too well versed in the significations—arcane and otherwise—of the letters of the Greek alphabet. Good thing for me that most products come with their bit of requisite self-edification; just so, the Tau Wall Lamp by Rodolfo Dordoni for Flos shares a certain symbolic vocabulary with its Phoenician namesake. As I quickly discovered in my brief research, every Greek letter has multiple meanings beyond their function as place-holder for a specific sound, and Tau is no exception. The meanings that seem most apt for Dordoni’s sconce include those of “continuity in electro-flux resonance,” “a measure of opacity, or how much sunlight cannot penetrate the atmosphere,” and “the lifetime of a spontaneous emission process.”

Tau Wall Lamp. Designed by Rodolfo Dordoni.

Of course there’s also the matter of Tau’s shape—Τ (upper case) or τ (lower), each of which bears a resemblance to the cruciform yet fluid profile of Dordoni’s light. The idea behind Tau is several-fold: 1. to synthesize the look of an ancient wall-bound illumination with that of a modern, energy-efficient light; 2. Provide a dual-source for focused and ambient light; and 3. create an eye-catching design with textural and visual contrast. All of these objectives are well-served by Dordoni’s die-cast aluminum alloy, halogen bulb, and two-tone tint.

But back to the metaphoric linkage between the two Taus… The lamp exudes an appealing fluidity that’s apropos to the evolution of the Greek alphabet. It illuminates an entire space or highlights certain darkly appealing contours; it captures the effect of sunlight poured through a sieve or a focused light thrown to the far end of a cave; and it evokes the crucial icons of the rise of ancient Greece: the epics of Homer and the first Olympic games. Apropos of this last, if in certain installations and particular color schemes it captures the perpetually-burning flame of the Olympic Torch, I wouldn’t chalk it up to mere coincidence.

Via NostraForma.

So much has been written and said about Norbert Wangen’s K2 kitchen design for manufacturer Boffi, that it’s easy to forget the man is still working—currently producing new and exciting designs that transcend the confines of cooking. Of course, the bathroom isn’t the social butterfly that the kitchen tends to be (at least not in my house), but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the locality of equally fulfilling revelations. Bathroom epiphanies are of a decidedly different bent than those of kitchens; thus, Wangen’s recent B14 Bath System (also for Boffi) won’t draw the same kind of adulation as K2, which “revolutionized kitchen design.” Even so, the concept is worthy of a good solid paragraph of praise, so here goes…

B14. Designed by Norbert Wangen.

B14 shows the same kind of functional simplicity and aesthetic good sense as Wangen’s earlier K2. The cabinetry/understructure is solid and clean, exhibiting a no-frills look that appeals to modern sensibilities. The countertop’s rounded edges facilitate the handle-free design, the 60-degree inclination of the bottom edge providing a seamless and intuitive introduction to a hardware-free bathroom. Pair the white Cristalplant tops with your choice of white Corian or wood veneer. The former accentuates the uniform look of B14’s hands-free aesthetic, while the latter provides some striking contrast.

B14 is another notch in Wangen’s laurel-studded belt: it augments his reputation as a minimalist auteur while expanding his repertoire beyond the fun and fuss of the kitchen and into the serenity of this most intimate place of repose. And while it may be tempting to attribute all of this success to Wangen alone, the designer is the first to credit manufacturer Boffi for the time-tested collaboration: “Boffi is the finest kitchen and bathroom manufacturer with a history and a global reach… they are true professionals in their handling and also their wonderful spaces provide a perfect backdrop to frame the products.”

TerraMai is a top notch reclaimed wood company which was introduced to 3Rings through the Ecosystems BADA table. The green revolution has created a lot of interesting sustainable materials, but none are more inherently beautiful than reclaimed wood. Reclaimed wood offers both aesthetic and environmental benefits. Over the course of time, wood becomes more dimensionally stable as well as gaining character with age. Obtaining previously used wood discourages cutting of new trees, especially old growth and exotic woods.

Reclaimed Wood. Produced by TerraMai.

TerraMai was originally founded in the historic lumber mountain town of McCloud, California in 1991. Originally the company focused on regional domestic woods, but in 2001 they began reclaiming tropical hardwoods from Southeast Asia and more recently South America. While TerraMai offers wood from across the globe, they have the ability to source wood from within 500 miles of almost anywhere in the US, allowing their reclaimed woods to be LEED qualified. In addition to saving trees, reclaiming wood also offsets emissions associated with the logging, transportation, processing and milling of new wood.

TerraMai produces flooring, siding, paneling, decking and lumber, both in reclaimed and engineered varieties. The color and texture palettes range from refined and modern to rustic and eclectic. TerraMai’s portfolio of clients is long. In their 19 years of business they have provided wood for restaurants, hotels, retail, and residential projects to name a few. Their installations show the diversity of reclaimed wood which leaves no excuse for unnecessarily chopping down living trees.

It’s hard to make headway on task chairs, particularly when there are so many so often. It makes one wonder if there’s really anything new under the sun (and behind the back). But then the human spine is a sublimely mysterious creature, ever prone to surprising contortions and mischievously serpentine dysfunction. Iconic designer Jean-Marie Massaud is one man who’s not afraid to fight the good fight against the disabling pull of gravity, which, coupled with the prevalence of our monitor-bound lifestyle, is leaving many of us crumpled like an old autumn leaf. Massaud has teamed with manufacturer Arper for an addition to the Aston line of seating. Each offering in this collection is named for a different year, and Aston 1918 has the distinction of sharing its epoch with the first electrically-propelled warship, the first state ratification of the eighth amendment (prohibition), and the granting to women of the right to vote.

Aston 1918. Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud for Arper.

Those are weightier matters than Arper’s 1918 has on its mind—depending on the size of your derriere, of course, for which this contract/task/lounge chair will provide ample support. Aston 1918 is a swivel chair with a choice of three bases (four star, five self-braking castors, or cantilevered steel). The seat back is a polyurethane shell offered in three different heights and covered in your choice of leather or fabric. 1918’s ergonomic chops are owed to Arper’s patented synchro seat/back-integration mechanism. The feature enables seat and back to move as one—thus satisfying the physiological truths of human motion, even when seated.

Aston 2007. Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud for Arper.

Aston 2006. Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud for Arper.

 

Aston 1912.Designed by Jean-Marie Massaud for Arper.

 

Aston 1918 belongs squarely within Arper’s great tradition of lounge-cum-task chairs like the iconic Catifa 53, the handsomely updated Catifa 60, and the entire Aston line for that matter. Massaud’s contribution to this enviable lineage is certainly worth an eventful year’s investment.

“Products have a habit of disappearing because of their functionality,” says designer Frederik Roijé, “I want to prevent this by giving products an additional value.” These words ring true with his most recent work that he calls the Guidelines magazine rack.

Guidelines magazine rack. Designed by rederik Roijé.

Wall-mounted and virtually flat against the surface, Guidelines displays issues of your favorite subscription as if they were pieces of art on the wall. The rack itself is made from bent, or folded, metal strips fused together, then colored in your choice from a vast assortment of shades. The end result creates interlocking squares of different sizes in a geometrical fashion. Although the racks are not completely symmetrical, the simple lines that form the rack itself look like a sketch by pencil that has leapt off the page.

In order to appreciate the unique, individual works of a young designer like Roijé one should get to know his background. Raised in the eastern part of the Netherlands, he graduated in 2001 from the Design Academy in Eindhoven and went on to intern at both Piero Lissoni in Milan, and Marcel Wanders in Amsterdam. His attraction to interior products started in his formative years and, as you can see, continues to drive his practice that has remained in Amsterdam.

Now, Frederik Roijé is a international design agency designs diverse products for brands and for market as for private clients. The office is renowned for its creativity and innovative designs. Our approach to reach a new level in product or space. Furniture, lightning, interior and industrial design are part and parcel of the services provided.
As an international design agency, Roijé designs furniture, lighting, interior and industrial pieces for both clients and brands that parallel his creative vision to develop the products that stay with us, involving a refined look to a product that surpasses its functional qualities with uncluttered class.

Though I’m just coming across it for the very first time, the German phrase “Gute Form” has an auspicious place in the history of modern design. If I had to guess at its meaning out of context, I’d say it has something to do with lower body development and Austrian bodybuilding, but in fact it translates as “Good Shape,” and was first coaxed into existence by the sublime and stylish surrounds of the FK Chair. The piece won this supreme adulation for international design not long after its debut in 1969. Arguably the crowning achievement of the nine-year partnership between Architects/Designers Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm, FK signifies “classically good design all over the world… with its unique shape, clear contours and perfect lines, its unmistakable appearance is absolutely timeless.”

FK. Designed by Preben Frabricius, Jørgen Kastholm. Modernized by Walter Knoll.

That the foregoing praise is voiced by Walter Knoll—current manufacturer of a slightly souped-up version of FK—does not diminish its accuracy. Like Pierre Paulin’s F444 and the Eames’ Lounge Chair, FK is one of those pieces that defined modern design. Simply put, today’s A&D lexicon would not be the same without it. In fact, FK is one of those chairs that seems to be everywhere at once, perhaps because it spawned so many derivative designs. FK is widely credited with embracing and inspiring a “new formal language” in design. This meant receptivity to newer materials like metal and plastic—veritable heresy at the time, especially in view of the historical Danish fondness for wood.

Fabricius and Kastholm both revered fellow Danes Arne Jacobsen, Hans Jørgen Wegner, and Finn Juhl—the three most influential Danish designers of their day—and the story of the success of FK is also the story of the rise of the younger duo: “slowly but surely the elite architects and designers began to accept Fabricius and Kastholm as equals; partly because of the awards the partners received for their work.” (Danishnet.com). If the awards prompted Jacobsen, Wegner, and Juhl to take a closer look, surely what they saw impressed them no less than succeeding generations of forward-thinking designers.

Walter Knoll’s latest version of FK features a glossy black shell with the familiar comfortable, durable, and eminently stylish leather seat. This particular FK stands on three metal legs, but the classic is also available in a five-legged version on castors or gliders.

The ottoman is a pretty odd-ball piece of furniture. Ottomans can be used for storage, as a coffee table, or as an accent piece that operates more like throw pillows than permanent furniture. Something about the move-ability of the ottoman makes it seem more transient than a couch or even a coffee table. A certain level of luxury is suggested when one can purchase an object strictly for foot resting. There is also something gratifying about putting one’s feet on the furniture as a snub to Mom who always scolded the practice.

Upcycle Ottoman. Designed by Gus* Modern.

Aside from the restrictions of height and required surface area for two feet, the ottoman is a very flexible piece of furniture. In the combination chair/ottoman design, the ottoman is typically the more stylized object in the pair. In a New York apartment, the ottoman can add exponential seating without taking up loads of space. In my apartment we have nesting ottomans, which hide a mini-ottoman inside of a slightly larger one.

A recycled content ottoman seems like an obvious step in the evolution of the breed. Gus* Modern furniture makes the Upcycle Ottoman from repurposed fair trade coffee bags. Each design is unique, featuring a screen printed logo of the original product. The bags are made of jute which is the natural fiber used for burlap in North America. While the disposal of jute bags is probably low on the totem pole of detrimental waste, reuse is always better than the landfill. The Gus Upcycle Ottoman is a limited edition product and a must have for any modern coffee drinker.

If you’re in the market for a bit of Structure to your surroundings, I suggest you mark your calendar for September 23 -26, when designer Arik Levy shows his new Structure Collection at 100% Design London. Levy—born in Tel Aviv but residing in Paris now for 20+ years—gained a following sometime back as a “thinking designer.” Given the evidence of past work like Planika’s Fire Line and Living Divani’s Hoop Sofa, the reputation must be owed to the synthesis of functionality and aesthetic innovation, though it could just as well be attributed to his knack for philosophizing. Some of his pithier quotes include “Design is an uncontrolled muscle”; “the world is about people, not tables and chairs”; and, my favorite, when asked if he had any interesting projects on the horizon, “I only do interesting projects.”

Structure Collection. Designed by Arik Levy for Inbani.

Inbani? It’s pragmatic in a way that most bath collections are not; it expertly toes the divide between a classical and contemporary look; and it’s aesthetically unified without becoming blasé. The collection includes vanities, basins, taps, cabinetry, and mirrors, and each and every one of these elements complements the other. The individual items function as a whole to create the kind of, well, structure that makes a space work. Inbani articulates two prime objectives for the collection: 1. blur the line between interior and exterior; and 2. give the furnishings an “elevated” presence. The key feature that helps Structure accomplish both is the integration between structure and storage: “the storage elements are enclosed in structures that collectively form hosting spaces for towels and other items, creating a generous appearance of the entire piece and giving a high profile to the cabinet.”

The short way of saying is that nothing is wasted—no faux-fronts or bulky understructures, just light, clean design that holds so much more than one would ever imagine. Materials for Structure include chrome metal in white or glossy lacquer; water-resistant MDF; progressive metal locking drawers; and high-gloss sinks in synthetic resin.

Every so often I get the desire to act like a kid again. We sit and stand and walk, but how rare is it to see an ‘adult’ skipping, doing handstands or attempting multiple somersaults in the grass? I mean come one, have we become the boring adults during dinner conversations that we used to wish only upon our worst enemies from recess? Thankfully, the worry need not consume you. Fredericia came to Salone earlier this year, and within their “Danish Design Love” exhibition was a hanging coat rack they call Hook Me Up by FurnID that will knock your tube socks off (before you gingerly hook them up, of course).

Hook Me Up. Designed by FurnID for Fredericia.

Delete any fragments of a jaded nature you’ve accepted into your adult life and take a moment to look at the Hook Me Up as if all you have to do is fly a kite tomorrow afternoon and go skinny dipping at midnight. It provokes a feeling of liberation with the repetitive pieces configured from the top down. Additionally, the hook system provides you with plentiful color and veneer options, thanks to the trio of designers - Morten Kjær Stovegaard, Sara Vinther Martinsen and Bo Strange - from Denmark. Since 2006 their Danish design studio has reveled in imagination, creating furniture and industrial design pieces. All the while, FurnID keeps a level head, weighing out long-lasting functional elements with inventive form, labeling the feeling you get from their items “inviting”, according to their bio on Fredericia’s website.

The pieces of Hook Me Up are put together like a linear puzzle, opening up on each side to offer a hook for your scarves, sweaters, jackets, etc. Visually, it’s very much like the Barrel O’Monkeys game that my grandmother still keeps in her drawer for ‘us kids’ to take out and play at Christmas after all of these years.

Neverming the desire to be efficient and tactful, take your time to play with the idea of a hanging coat rack and use its wavy spine to express yourself by draping whatever you please.

Designer Roberto Paoli professes an interest in the “lightness” of objects. The declaration takes me back to college English, when I first discovered the great writer Italo Calvino (a compatriot of Paoli’s) who talked about striving for the very same: “my working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language.” Calvino’s take is more of an ineffable concept than Paoli’s, but the comparison is apt, especially given the compelling aesthetic of Paoli’s Nixon Bed for Sphaus. A study in stripping away superfluity, Nixon is comprised of naught but 16mm tubing and upholstered wood.

Nixon Bed. Designed by Roberto Paoli for Sphaus.

The dominant impression of the piece is what Paoli describes as “suspended” lightness—referencing the visual impression that the stripped-down piece leaves on viewers. Nixon’s adherence to the bare essentials gives one the sense that the bed is not so much a traditional box spring, mattress, and frame (in fact, it’s certainly not), but rather an idea that captures the pure essence of “bedness.” Nixon is thus a furnishing we can feel better about—it seems less oppressive in terms of its materiality, space requirements, and sense impression.

Nixon has functional merits as well. Devoid of a bulky two-piece mattress, a heavy frame, and a weighty internal structure, it is easy to move and easy to incorporate into existing schemes. The subtle embossed zig-zag in contrasting thread on the headboard is its only bit of flair, and this slight embellishment only adds to its lightness, to the sense that sleeping on it would be akin to suspension in mid-air.

Via DesignMilk.

Are you perhaps dreaming of a house made of hemp? I never had until earlier today—constraining my visions of domestic bliss to homes made of straw bales or even timber with straw/clay infill—then I happened upon this: “The house you don’t need to render, plaster, paint or insulate. The house with the building material that you can grow on one hectare (2.5 acres) of land. The same building material you can process yourself with standard machinery available at your hardware store. The house whose walls lock away over 110 kg (240 lb) of carbon per cubic metre.” And, I might add, the house that all the huffing and puffing of the big bad wolf will fail to budge, such is the strength of Hemcrete, a substance that’s the vegetable equivalent of the fruits of the labor of Klara Marosszeky of Australia’s Northern Rivers Hemp, Inc.

Cottage in Australia made from Hemcrete.

The new building material represents a revolution in hemp building, since it incorporates the entire hemp stalk via rendering and mixing with lime plaster. The method avoids the costly and energy intensive process known as decortication, meaning, effectively, that you can grow your own house on your very own land. Since hemp cultivation is—ahem—frowned upon in the U.S., the prospects for widespread use of the material state-side might seem dim. Yet Asheville, North Carolina’s Push Design somehow managed to source the stuff and build a 3400 sq. ft. house for two prominent Asheville residents (former mayor Russ Martin and his wife Karen Korp).

House in Asheville, North Carolina made from Hemcrete.

Interior of Hemcrete house in Asheville, North Carolina.

Forming the Hemcrete walls.

Designer Klara Marosszeky, of Northern Rivers Hemp, Inc., standing next to Hemcrete.

Hemcrete is somewhat similar to non-load-bearing straw bale construction. The house is conventional stud framing with Hemcrete infill. Once studs are up, builders erect forms and fill them with the newly-mixed substance, which then hardens to provide a breathable, sound-proof, and energy-efficient insulation. The substance effectively functions as the building’s skin as well, requiring for finishing only an interior and exterior application of stucco. Use of Hemcrete thus saves time and money because it’s faster than traditional construction and requires fewer materials: say goodbye to plywood sheathing, odious fiberglass insulation, troublesome vapor barriers, and—most especially—crumbly drywall. Nor do you need to paint a Hemcrete wall since lime stucco can be tinted before application.

Anthony Brenner and David Mosrie of Asheville’s Push Builders are especially optimistic about the domestic use of Hemcrete. According to Brenner, the material “offers incredible benefits to the homeowner and environment alike… a ‘carbon negative’ breathable wall system that is both energy efficient and produces indoor air quality beyond any other building system available today.”

Via TreeHugger.

If you haven’t noticed, the sitcoms and films want us to believe there are only two shapes of conference table: blah rectangles (think ‘Office Space’) or gigantic, over-the-top monstrosities (think the Mode office of ‘Ugly Betty’). It makes wanting a funky table seem daunting, since all we see are false examples of how useful a large meeting table can actually be.

Thankfully - for the sake of maintaing sanity - Knoll has pioneered the way for decades now. It’s almost as if the Oval Table Desk by Florence Knoll says what Kanye West wrote in his song back in 2008, “It’s amazing, I’m the reason” about it’s effect on any space. After all, the table won the Design Center Stuttgart Award back in 1969-1970, and has maintained its steady resurgence as a quiet warrior for the art of clean lines and vibrant color.

Florence Knoll Table Desk. Designed by Florence Knoll for KnollStudio.

Florence made the oval-shaped table in two different sizes: 78” W x 47 3/4” D x 28” H or in the larger 96” W x 54” D x 28” H. As a person who studied everything design-related, from architecture to interiors to advertising, this lady knew from the start what was important to an object within a space. For this reason, the table comes in a smaller Round Table Desk measuring 54” W x 28” H.

Choices: even though it’s a top of the line piece of furniture, you can choose between three laminate tops (1.5” thick), veneer (1.18”), and marble (3/4”). Additionally, the marble is coated with a transparent polyester that preserves its eye-catching first impression. Underneath whichever table top you decide upon there is a single, heavy gauge welded steel post that distributes the weight evenly between its four legs in either a polished or satin chrome finish. Although a base might seem less like a design feature, the shiny chrome platform beneath complements the Oval Table Desk’s desire to remain simple and perfect, with no worry of banging knees on multiple posts.

The Oval Table Desk surfaces come finished in white laminate, natural oak, pearwood, medium brown, mahogony, medium red mahograny, ebonized oak veneer, or five choices of marble. With the wide variety of colors, sizes, and materials available makes a designer out of each person who decides to invest in the original designer, Florence Knoll, who famously studied alongside Eero Saarinen, Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and Wallace K. Harrison before creating her company (and this table).

Like certain luminaries before and doubtless more to come, designers Ana Mil and Emil Padrós of Barcelona’s emiliana design studio seem smitten with the potential of plywood. Like Alvar Aalto and the Eames duo before them, Mil and Padrós apparently love curves almost as much as they admire the blatant contradiction of the concept of bent wood. They respect it so much, in fact, that they designed an entire series of stools in different heights and finishes to showcase what ply can do for you: “The Naoshima Stool combines four identical pieces of plywood to construct the seat. The seat, together with four wooden legs, creates a solid and unique whole. The empty spaces generated in the corners of the plywood seat make Naoshima a light and visually vibrant piece of furniture.”

Naoshima Collection. Designed by emiliana design studio.

“Light” and “vibrant” it is indeed. The piece has a seamless continuity that—once again—appears a contradiction in a wooden furnishing. Close-ups of the top (especially in the dyed or heavily-lacquered versions) defy the certainty that this is, in fact, constructed of ply, such are the fluidity of its lines, the uniformity of its material—virtually challenging one to find the hidden grains. And, of course, the natural oak version celebrates that grain as the colored ones seem to obscure it, giving the piece the very same unbroken continuity with its lower half.

Naoshima Stool. Designed by emiliana design studio.

Naoshima Table and Stoll. Designed by emiliana design studio.

Naoshima Stool. Designed by emiliana design studio.

Naoshima Stool. Designed by emiliana design studio.

Naoshima Table. Designed by emiliana design studio.

But how I go on about the stools when these are only 4/5ths of the story, the remaining fifth being the accompanying centerpiece of the Naoshima Table. This furnishing is every match for Emiliana’s quartet of stools. Just as they are long and sleek and delight in their negative space, so too does the slim, tall table, while also relishing its clever inversion of the stool’s color scheme.

Naoshima is offered by manufacturer Ziru Contract, the very same Valencia, Spain-based folks who brought us Francesc Rife’s Nord Collection. As with the earlier offering, this latest suggests Spain is dialed in on space-savvy designs for our increasingly small world—we’re all quite pleased to see it.

During the London Design Festival this coming month, a new Swedish brand is planning their attack. Based in Malmö, Sweden, founders Johannes Herbertsson and Jonas Nordgren of RVW have been working on their inaugural collection since last year in preparation for their huge Tramshed exhibition from the 22 to 26 September in east London.

Mollis Easy Chair. Designed by RVW.

One of their stand out pieces is the Mollis Easy Chair by Artur and Jonas. With their high quality Scandinavian approach to furniture making, the duo - whose company named is an abbreviated word for “review” since they take a second look at the objects we are surrounded by - use manufacturers in both Denmark and Sweden to help bring their designs to life. In a recent article on Dezeen, RVW says about their vision, “We place great importance in maintaining the integrity of the slow art form of furniture design and in achieving a better understanding of the use of space, material and form. Our main focus is to produce tangible furniture without a time stamp, thus generating products that will last for decades to come.”

Situated low to the ground, the double cross steel leg frame comes powder-coated or with a brushed finish, while the wooden seat itself is a shapely molded veneer that comes either stained or with a transparent lacquer finish. On top of the already attractive base design catering to your taste, add the upholstered leather or fabric seat pad to allow for an even more enjoyable seated rest to break up the day.

Along with the Mollis Easy Chair, RVW is also debuting Flight, a series of sofas and tables atop ash frames, and Alog, a series of modular shelving using a unique diamond grid. Their furniture line can fly solo in a residence as a one-of-a-kind piece from a new company, with a small group in an office or restaurant, or even as a contract piece for larger projects.

It measures 890 mm (35”) W x 860 mm (33.9”) H x 700 (27.6”) mm D and comes with a standard, low seat height of 390 (15.4”) mm.

The show in London is brought to you by De La Espada’s founding director Luis de Oliveira, and will bring to life companies similar to RVW in their niche market for fashionable, well-made furnishings.

In the past, I’ve referred to design pairs as dynamic duos, but now I have the good luck to introduce readers to “an inseparable duo”—which, I like to imagine, refers to a two-headed humanoid or a set of conjoined twins, but, alas, is a term not meant to be taken literally. The aforementioned inseparable duo is composed of François Dingjian and Eloi Chafaï, founders of Normal Studio, both of whom share “the same sensibility, and the same untraditional and out-of-the-mainstream approach to design.” The image of them sharing a sensibility also conjures up mad scientist laboratories where brains float in jars, but the designers don’t intend that either—so I will rein in my visions. Thankfully, they will not.

Collection Petites Illusions. Designed by Normal Studio for Ymer & Malta.

And the vision of Normal Studio is one that evinces forethought and philosophy. Their Collection Petites Illusions, or Little Illusions, for Ymer & Malta, explores the notion of optical illusion. The three objects in this deceptive group include Fold, Stoco, and Stripes. The Fold mirror uses diagonal lines to trick the eye, hiding reflections within the glass that one might miss at first glance—reflections that are not on the surface, where mirrors usually do their work. The Stoco table bases play with the idea of “mass illusion.” Meant to resemble a sawed-off tree trunk, Stoco rises from the floor like a black monolith. And Stripes, a cabinet constructed of four sides of diagonal lengths of wood in “a big openwork piece of furniture,” changes depending on one’s point-of-view: “This device produces a game of transparency or opacity, revealing its contents.”

Fold. Designed by Normal Studio for for Ymer & Malta.

Stoco. Designed by Normal Studio for for Ymer & Malta.

Stripes. Designed by Normal Studio for for Ymer & Malta.

The games going on in Collection Petites Illusions relate to visual trickery. Like a magician’s sleight-of-hand, these three objects invented by Normal Studio force us to question the nature of reality—something the inseparable duo aims to accomplish: they seek to exalt quotidian objects to something above and beyond their daily applications. The Collection is presented by Ymer & Malta, a firm that was founded in order to showcase the work of talented designers by offering “limited editions of furniture and objects in the forefront of current design.” Given its legerdemain, Petites Illusions is both at the forefront and in the background of contemporary design.

We’re about mid-way through the National Design Triennial exhibition at NY’s Cooper-Hewitt, and we had to do a bit of coverage owing to the intractable pull of Beijing. If that last tidbit seems like a non sequitur, I’ll point you to an article from two year’s back about the Olympic city’s infamous Aquatics Center. Turns out the distinctive cube wasn’t the only innovative construction occurring at the time, as a creation of N.Y. architect Simone Giostra graces the expansive facade of a building in proximity to The Cube. Giostra’s Sol Pix/Green Pix Zero-Energy Media Wall arose as a collaboration between Simone Giostra & Partners Architects, Permasteelisa North America, Zahner Metal Fabrication, Scheuten Solar USA, and Arup. Why so many players for one Beijing building facade? Because the thing does so darn much. Sol Pix is an energy-efficient curtain wall that houses multiple banks of LEDs and PVCs. Essentially a shading system that shuts out or lets in light depending on the interior heating/cooling needs, Solar Pix also sucks energy from the sun all day—all the better to power the 2,292 individual lights that create a 24,000 Sq. Ft. interactive media display once night falls.

SolPix. Designed by Simone Giostra, Permasteelisa North America, Zahner Metal Fabrication, Scheuten Solar USA and Arup.

The math adds up to make Beijing’s Xicui Entertainment Complex the largest LED color display in the world. Nor is the building entirely a dark canvas during the day. The polycrystalline solar cells are clustered such to allow fortuitous passage of light, thus taking the strain off interior lighting costs while providing universally-preferred natural illumination. The facade also features intra-panel sensors that measure climatological change (wind pressure and solar variation), info. that’s read by integrated software to produce an animatronic reactivity: “creating real-time interactive animations that transform the building facade into a responsive environment.”

If the matinee doesn’t do it for you, however, you really should stay for the late show. Video of Xicui at night shows the silhouette of a massive ballerina, expertly executing her “Croise En Avant,” the lacy fringe of her 1,000 ft. tutu subtly a-flutter; or the ominous cut of a monstrous hammerhead shark, the dorsal fin knifing the water (and, so it would seem, the Beijing sky) with perfectly elegant menace. Then there are the light shows. As the largest extant color LED display, Giostra’s creation can do anything and everything in full, living color. Whether that means a dancing rainbow of light or an inter-active art exhibition with HD accuracy and precision depends on the whim of the passing moment. And speaking of passing, if you don’t happen to be passing by Xicui anytime soon, check out the Cooper Hewitt Triennial—the Sol Pix informative visual display is up and running at that venue through January 9, 2011.

Kaldewei was founded in 1918 as a manufacturer of raw materials for the enamel industry. Soon after they began bath tub production and introduced the first freestanding bath in Germany in 1934, followed by the first “seamless” baths made from a single sheet in 1957. These technologies have combined to create a modern line of bathroom fixtures that are luxurious, long lasting, and recyclable. Kaldewei stresses the longevity of their products which requires timeless design aesthetic as opposed to trend watching. Part of being sustainable is keeping the user from replacing the fixture, which Kaldewei is striving to achieve.

Classic Duo Oval. Designed by Kaldewei.

Kaldewei produces its own special enamel in combination with steel, both of which are recyclable. The enamel layer is fired for permanence at a temperature of more than 800°C. The resulting finish is hygienic, acid and impact-resistant, scratchproof and hard-wearing. Kaldewei states that “water forms beads and rolls off the surface of the bath, taking virtually all dirt and lime particles with it. The result is something to see: a bath that always looks like new, with very little effort.” I’ve seen a lot of rusting, chipped enamel tubs, which definitely feel less than hygienic.

Now for my favorite of many from their product line. The Classic Duo Oval, which also comes in a wide version for added comfort, is a classically shaped tub with two sloping backrests for fair and argument free bathing. It can easily stand alone or be worked into the architecture of the bathroom. Bathrooms are becoming much more than a functional place for hygiene, and the companies that plan to stay competitive have to produce fixtures that are both elegant and functional.

Can you imagine being the custodian of an entire legacy of design? That’s the task faced by Marie Wabbes, widow of famed Belgian designer Jules Wabbes, whose aesthetic of simple, clean lines and exquisite craftsmanship was a palpable influence on Belgian—and, by extension, European—design, especially during the 50s and 60s. Mrs. Wabbes has taken the [...]