Wednesday 27 October 2010

Puzzle Cookie Mould by Mizuguchi Nami

Love this! Puzzle Cookie Mould by Mizuguchi Nami. U can get this from Novelax online store.



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Thursday 21 October 2010

Alessandro Mendini- Proust Geometrica Armchair

The multicolor fabric Proust Geometrica Armchair with hand-carved + hand-painted wooden frame is the new face of Proust Armchair by Alessandro Mendini.

Proust created in 1978 for the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara was immediately recognized as an icon of 20th century design. In 1993, Cappellini inherited the piece & today after reupholstered in a new cotton fabric with traditionally hand-finished by Alessandro Mendini, Proust Geometrica still preserves the forms + value of the original Proust armchair but with a refreshing breath of new life + image.





The designer:
Alessandro Mendini, born in 1931, as an architect and a designer he mainly cares about neo-modern and contemporary design; in this area he designs furniture and environments. In the past, he directed magazines such as Casabella, Modo and Domus; many essays have been published in different languages about his work and his “Atelier Mendini”. For Alessi, Philips, Swarovski and Swatch he designed items now considered icons of the worldwide contemporary design overview.

a+.  cappellini   via   via
a+.  atelier mendini
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Wednesday 20 October 2010

Peter Rich Architects- Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in S. Africa

I can't help but notice the message this anthill-like group of vaulted magnificent landmark in the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage site in Limpopo could send to other world heritage sites. The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa by veteran architect, Peter Rich, winner of the 2010 ABSOLUT VISI Designer of the Year Award for the centre itself, which also won the World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in 2009.

'The vaulted structures were built using stabilized earth tiles and the ancient tile vaulting technique, which requires no reinforcing.

The largest free-form vaults span 14.5m, with an un-reinforced masonry vault of only 300mm in thickness. The simple, elegant structures are clad with locally quarried stone, which adds a stabilizing load to the vaults and integrates the centre into its surroundings.

The project contributed to poverty relief in the area by using ecological methods, local materials and labour.'
- Visi.

About The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa:
'The Mapungubwe National Park celebrates the site of an ancient trading civilization in the context of a natural setting. The complex landscape was both the inspiration for the design and the source of the materials for the construction of the new Interpretation Centre, resulting in a composition of structures that are authentically rooted to their location.

The building is visually contained by two hollow cairns that evoke route-markers found in Southern African cultures. Timbrel vaulting is used to construct billowing forms that expose the arched edges of their thin shells, an analogy of the archaeological revelation of past cultures.

The project’s agenda extends beyond the presentation of the area’s history to awaken an understanding of the vulnerability of the local ecology. These objectives are manifested in the construction process of the Centre in which unemployed local people were trained in the manufacture of stabilized earth tiles and in building the vaulting.'
- Peter Rich Architects.

Another worth to mention site is the Mapungubwe Day Visitors Centre, located 800 meters north of the Mapungubwe Interpretation centre.
About The Mapungubwe Day Visitors Centre:
'This is a Place where local chieftains can meet and engage in ritual practice and celebrate their ancestry with their collective constituencies.

Sited on a plateau above a natural amphitheatre meeting and dining facilities for 30 chiefs enjoy wonderful views towards Zimbabwe. Simple linear and L shaped structures enclose a courtyard containing a circular meeting hut and veranda. A simple timber and latte shaded structure ‘Kgotla’ defines the edge of the plateau and functions as a gallery and dining space, elevating the chiefs above the masses. Under the latte canopy sits a roofless sky room, with seating where conversations are held with the ancestors.

L shaped ablution blocks catering for the staff and the public face North, defining a linear stepped street down the hill to the amphitheatre.

Direct community consultation was prohibited to avoid contentious issues with land claims from 17 contesting communities. The architect drew on his extensive knowledge of African vernacular and space making to create poetic spaces, defined by simple rhythms and animated by dancing shadows with the most economic of means.'
- Peter Rich Architects.

Do read more on the architects & his work here...
a+.  peter rich architects   via
a+.  mapungubwe national park
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Saturday 4 September 2010

Bread Shoes by R&E Praspaliauskas

'not wearable on feet...first in fashion…for interesting lifestyle…needs no pressing...dries itself...'
-  Dadada Studio.

You can buy them from Dadada Studio online, these bread loafers by R&E Praspaliauskas cannot be wear unless of course, you like flat breads. Each unique pair comes in best suitable hand-picked cardboard boxes.

a+.  dadada studio   via
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Wednesday 1 September 2010

Broken Things by Livia Marin

'Broken Things' by Livia Marin, an exhibition at House of Propellers, London is a group of 25 Porcelain and ceramic objects with resin plaster, lacquer, transfer-print, varnish.

'Beginning with forms such as a humble porcelain cup, bowl or jug, Marin turns familiar pieces into precious handcrafted art objects through distortion; essentially emphasising through imperfection their uniqueness and beauty.

Smooth melted rounds meet awkward corners, and pattern meets sheen and gloss in a collection unified by material and a swerve from the expected.'
- ME Design Magazine.

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Monday 30 August 2010

Glaskasten in Marl- Wingardh Arkitektkontor

Glaskasten in Marl by Wingardh Arkitektkontor is an addition to the sculpture museum Marl town hall in Germany designed by Bakema and van den Broek in 1958-62.

'Long and narrow like a tube, but solid and unmovable like a block of concrete.

In between these two extremes stands the extension to the Marl town hall, designed by Bakema and van den Broek in 1958-62. 

Their ponderous brutalism resounds through the massive walls of the ex-tension, where the trees on the site have been made to leave their imprint. A relief art work signed by artist Lars Bergström. 


The position behind the main building makes the extension fall in with the pattern of the place. At the same time, its positioning above the glass boxes of the entrance and the café gives the concrete tube a lightness which is underscored by the long cantilever overlooking the lake. The 7x7 metre narrow art gallery is adapted to the purpose of accommodating temporary sculpture exhibitions. Clear incident lighting from large apertures in various directions varies the character of the 85-metre-long room and links it to the sculpture park outside. A new catwalk over the refurbished piazza points the way directly to the new entrance. The project was given the first prize in an international competition. '
- Wingardh Arkitektkontor.



a+.   wingardh arkitektkontor   via
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Thursday 5 August 2010

From Fable to Table

Photo by Rene van der Huls.
'From Fable to Table' by Amelie Onzon for her graduation project, explores the extremes contradiction of human-animals relationship:
1. we love animals, nurture them, name them and share our daily life with them. In some extreme scenario, we treat them like human beings.
2. we love animals, nurture them, name them and share our daily life with them. In some extreme scenario, we treat them like human beings.

Amelie Onzon chooses duck as the protagonist of her story because ducks are both easy to domesticate and very tasty. She then designed 2 furnitures and let the user decide whether they will use these furniture to produce foie gras or give their pet/ the duck a more comfortable life.

Facts:
'Ducks force-feed themselves before migration. That's precisely this behaviour that inspired the foie gras. The bird is force-feed with grain and fat using a funnel until the liver expands to the right size (the organ can swell to up to 10 times its normal size.)'
- We make money not art.
Amelie's Force Feeder is a duck feeder that doubles as a force feeding stool. The ducks bowl is also the force-feeding funnel. An irrigation system softens the food to make it edible.

As a duck force feeding stool.
As a duck feeder.
For the foie gras process, the liver has to be blood free. Therefore, after force-feeding period the blood vessels in the duck throat are cut and the duck bleeds to death. Blood Bath acts as a pond and shower for the duck but also a hook to suspend the animal for its execution. The blood can be collected in the sink.
As a pond and shower for the duck.
As a hook to suspend the animal for its execution. The sink that for collecting blood.

a+.  amelie onzon
a+.  rene van der hulst   via
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