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 Read more...

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
Read more...

Bench Between Pillars by Ryuji Nakamura

photo by ryuji nakamura architects.

photo by ryuji nakamura architects.

Designed by Ryuki Nakamura Architects, the 'Bench Between Pillars' is a 7ft. rest place in Seibu Ikebukuro Flagship Store, Minamiikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo. Completed on 26 June 2010, these hammock-like rest place is made from vinyl sheet for floor with dimensions the of w8270 x d1273 x h2330 x sh450.

photo by ryuji nakamura architects.

photo by ryuji nakamura architects.

a+.  ryuji makamura
Read more...

'Selfportrait'- Chair by Ka-Lai Chan

Ka-Lai Chan graduation project, "Selfportrait' is a chair with the designer personality & character. The project is based on the emotions and supressed feelings of what she has experienced.

“In the past I have always found myself to be a quiet and introvert person. I suppressed my own emotions and didn't dare to show my feelings to other people. I was afraid that people will find me weird if I show them the real me. It felt like there was something growing on me what gets bigger and bigger. I always tend to hide away my personality, but on the other hand I wanted nothing more but to open up and just be myself.”

- Ka-Lai Chan.

a+.  ka-lai chan
Read more...

Kids' Cardboard Furniture from KIDSONROOF

Design by Elisabeth Vidal for Kidsonroof, Bo Buro is a sturdy cardboard desk come with 2 stools (Price € 49.00) made of recycled cardboard. The stools can carry over 40 kilos of weight. With cute animals printed on it, there are holes here and there for kids hiding toys or secrets. Bo Buro can be a kids first writing desk for writing, drawing, playing, hiding under and inventing stories.
 

Dimensions:


desk: B50 x H55 x L90 cm. 


stool: B25 x H25 x L25 cm.

Bo Buro by Elisabeth Vidal.

Another cardboard furniture that you can find from Kidsonroof which is also made of recycled cardboard is the Trojan Horse (Price € 19.90). Design by Alex Hellum, a beautiful yet very very sturdy object Trojan Horse is for sitting on and playing with.
 

'Pick it up and you'll understand its name: an unexpected fairytale-like sound tinkles from the inside of the horse.'

- Kidsonroof.

Suitable for age 2+, Trojan Horse which is also available in white comes with a little baby Trojan Horse.

Dimensions: 25*38*12 cm

Trojan Horse by Alex Hellum.

Kidsonroof:

Back to the source of life! Kidsonroof wishes to re-connect modern life with nature, rediscovering basic values. Kidsonroof offers an ecological approach to the act of playing. Stimulating creativity and imagination lies at the heart of Kidsonroofs products.
 

Kidsonroof was established in 2005 by Romy Boesveldt (NL 68) and Ilya Yashkin (RUS 67). Together with their 3 kids and their little friends they manage a permanent testlab where new ideas keep coming up. A few weeks per year they go back to an oldfashioned simplicity when spending time in their little shed in the southern French mountains without electricity or running water.
 

Ilya has been trained as an architural designer (Marchi in Moscow and Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. His designs are ingeniously three dimensional and very associative. Romy takes care of the conceptual development and styling.

a+.  kidsonroof
a+.  elisabeth vidal
a+.  alex hellum
Read more...

Grand Central Table by Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren

Grand Central folding coffee table (demonstrated here by Sanna) opens out like a New York street map.

You would love this, from a side table, this table could be spread out into a coffee table too! "Grand Central"- is a new expanding table, collaboration between 2 Swedish designers Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren. The design is inspired by a fold-up subway map. You can view it this week at the Milan Furniture if you'd be going and take a good close-up image for me, would you?

Picture by Martin Eek.

a+.  sanna lindström
a+.  sigrid strömgren  
a+.  martin eek    via    via Read more...

Wiggle Side Chair by Frank Gehry

1972, using corrugated cardboard and edges made of hardboard as main material, as he is well known for his use of materials, Frank Gehry designs the Wiggle Side Chair which come in dimension 870×350×610 mm.

'With his "Easy Edges" furniture he succeeded in giving a new aesthetic dimension to such an everyday material as cardboard. Despite their appearing bafflingly simple, the "Easy Edges” are nonetheless constructed with an architect's care and are extremely robust and sturdy. Having given them a makeover from the world of colour, Gehry has given the "Easy Edges" a new dimension - colourfulness.'

- Vitra.
Do check on the Wiggle Stool too!

Wiggle Side Chair.

Wiggle Stool.

'With the furniture series Easy Edges, Frank Gehry gave a new and surprising aesthetic dimension to cardboard, an everyday material. Although they look amazingly simple, the pieces in Easy Edges pieces owe their robustness and structural stability to the architectural quality of the designs. The Wiggle Stool is vaguely reminiscent of traditional African stools and — like such predecessors — makes an attractive accent in any interior.'

- Vitra.
Dimension: 406 × 430 × 400 mm

a+.  vitra
a+.  gehry partners
a+.  wikipedia

Read more...

Monarch Stools by Janne Kyttanen

The Monarch Stools is another intricate design by Janne Kyttanen, an Amsterdam based designer who graduated from The Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam in year 2000. Come in a special edition set of 5 stools, the white Monarch Stools inspired by the graceful beauty of the Monarch butterfly is made from glass filled polyamide (nylon), while it might seems delicate and fragile the Monarch Stools got its strength from its 3-dimensional structure.

Details.

a+. janne kyttanen via Read more...

Isokon Penguin Donkey- A Classic Bookcase

Design by Viennese architect Egon Riss in 1939 and made by Isokon which is the most forward-thinking British furniture manufacturer of 1930s founded by Jack Pritchard, the Isokon Penguin Donkey Bookcase like all other Isokon furniture exploit the strength and lightness of bent plywood.

Named, the Donkey because of the 4 legs and 2 panniers with the side compartments that could be used for magazines. It was renamed Isokon Penguin Donkey because Allen Lane, the publisher of the new Penguine paperbacks inserted 100,000 leaflets into the Penguin books for publicity. The shelves were just the right size for the distinctive orange covered Penguin paperbacks. The Second World War ceased the production of the Donkey exactly the time it was launched but that did not stop the sale of the hundreds Donkey that were made at the moment. Now, u can get the reproduction of this classic piece through Isokon Plus.

a+. isokon plus
a+. victoria and albert museum
Type your summary here

Type rest of the post here
Read more...

Paper Tiger Products- Recycled & Recyable Furniture for Your Home

Paper Tiger Products- Toddlers Feeding Chair.

Eco-friendly Paper Tiger Products by Australian designer Anthony Dan are flat packs, temporary structures made from recycled and recyclable material. Easily transport because it snap together easily and quickly. 'Taking advantage of the deceptive strength of triangular folding, the designs are engineered to withstand all the rigors of heavy use.'

Paper Tiger choose cardboard and folded translucent plastics as the main material because cardboards work well as a blank canvas for graphics and branding, while translucent plastics in luminous crystalline forms suitable as a impermanent recyclable light fixture.

'Operating as both a design consultancy and a design brand, Paper Tiger works with clients interested in temporary structures and ephemeral experiences, as well as with the design of furniture and lighting for retail, events and exhibitions. The designs have been published both nationally and internationally, and won the 2007 Launch Pad award for Sustainability.
Paper Tiger Products are proudly made in Australia, and the stools are certified by Ecospecifier.'

- Paper Tiger Products.

Paper Tiger Products- Table & Stools.

Paper Tiger Products- Stools.

Paper Tiger Products- Lamp.

Paper Tiger Products- Ceiling.

a+. paper tiger products via idea awards
Read more...