When he presented his work at this year’s Art Basel, he was known as an artist, but Sehwa himself prefers the term ‘furniture artist.’ He first made a name for himself with his series of Lighting Tables that look like plain birch wood until you plug them in to reveal the pattern underneath.

His recent work, however, leans towards more craft-based, one-of-kind furniture, made entirely out of wood. The work that blew away the crowds at Art Basel are from his Steam series that includes lighting and “sittable” pieces made from bent wood.




designer: bae sehwa



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Southcott has won a number of awards and is currently among the designers featured in “Bent Out of Shape,” an exhibition at the Design Exchange in Canada, which focuses on Canadian designers from 1945 to the present.

designer: rob southcott



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you tell your architect to bunch up the windows, the passage-ways, because you want immense uncluttered / neutral wall space to hang your art. on the other hand if you don’t have a ton of art you can tell the architect you wish your home to be the art statement. the armella house is such a house.






one wonders what one wears in a house like this. all white, black, or grey ? and one also wonders if after a time the color palette needs to be changed. that said, this is indeed a beautifully conceived and festive home built in mexico, rich in local colors.

Designer: bosco gutierrez cortina
Date: 1994

It can simply be dismantled and rebuilt on a new site. Requiring only two square meters of foundation, the impact is minimal after the Fincube is moved to another location.





Horizontal ledges provide privacy and assimilate the home into forests, meadows, and let’s also include mountainsides.





The original home was created 1200m above sea level near Bozen in Northern Italy. Made entirely of local wood, the building provides 47 m≤ of living space with a minimal CO2 footprint: local suppliers and local crafts using local long-lasting and recyclable materials manufactured with the precision and care of tyrolese handwork. A prototype of this nomadic housing concept is exhibited in Ritten, above Bozen.

The combination of long-lasting design and portability make for a flexible house or hideaway and a lifetime companion.

Per the designer:

Long-lasting Design: The design is minimal, material-orientated, and in close touch with nature – the wooden space with a 360-degree triple glazing is furnished with a second facade layer, producing shade and giving the building a unique overall mushroom-like mono-shape.

Hospitality Vision: Together with South Tyrolean hotelier Josef Innherhofer, the Fincube was also conceptualized as a vision for future hospitality: a temporary FINCUBE village with minimum soil sealing can be placed in the middle of the most beautiful landscapes without permanently altering them. In contrast to all permanent buildings it could be easily changed, extended, scaled down or removed and the area would soon be re-naturalized back to normal. These qualities turn the unit into an answer to future needs of flexible and smart tourism.

Technology & Space: Technology wise the FINCUBE is a smart house – all vital house-functions are controlled by a central touch panel. The supporting structure is made of local larch and the interior is a combination of larch & stone-pine. The 3m-high space is organized in a helical structure: the entrance area blends into a generous open kitchen with an adjacent sofa living space, around the corner one enters the bedroom and further down is the spacious bathroom.






[fincube]


Designer: Werner Aisslinger – Berlin .
Interior design: Tina Bunyaprasit, Studio Aisslinger .
Wood structure: Markus Lobis – Ritten, Italy
Interior finish: Matthias Prast – Ritten, Italy

The site itself is straightforward, easy to navigate and totally addictive. Even the most lukewarm design interest will be sparked by the labyrinthine path sure to ensue after the first click. George Nelson’s 1958 Home Desk by Vitra leads you to Frank Gehry’s 1972 Wiggle Side Chair, which leads you to his other work for Knoll, which can lead you to anything from George Nakashima’s 1948 Straight Chair to Marcel Breuer’s 1928 Wassily Lounge Chair to any of the famous pieces by Harry Bertoia, Mies van der Rohe or Eero Saarinen. And that’s just the chairs. For serious research or just a midday diversion, Edition20 satisfies.

Resources:
edition20
george nelson’s home desk
frank gehry’s wiggle side chair
george nakashima’s straight chair
marcel breuer’s wassily lounge chair

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With more than 300,000 bikes stolen in the US every year and over 1,200 stolen in the UK every day, perhaps simply locking your bike to a pole isn’t enough anymore. And with more and more people using their bikes to commute to work, bike theft is more than just a bummer, it’s a major setback. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in this case desperate measures call for good design. 21-year-old British designer Kevin Scott answered that call with the bendable bike. The bike’s frame is built using a ratchet system that can be tightened to ride and then loosened enough to wrap around a pole. Both wheels can then be locked together, securing your ride into a two-wheel pretzel confounding enough to stump your average bike thief.

Scott’s design nabbed the runner-up spot for the New Designer of the Year Award at the UK’s Business Design Centre. He’s already putting the prize money into further developing the design, but is still looking for backers so he can continue to improve it and get it into production.

Designer: kevin scott



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It should come as no surprise that something as playful and cool as the IQ Fortis Watch would come from design master mind Rolf Sachs. With its thick, leather band and the handmade look of the watch face, the IQ Fortis is a manly watch that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

That statement can be applied to most of Sachs designs, which range from simple and conceptual objects to expertly crafted furniture and lighting, like his dome light series that debuted at Art Basel this year.





above: dome rubecula

above: dome rattus maximus

above: dome addict

Designer: rolf sachs
Producer: fortis



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thanks randy shear

above: the blenheim 3S.

but given the company’s 64-year commitment to craftsmanship and engineering, not to mention its reputation as the world’s only handmade luxury automotive company, it probably ought to be.

Bristol is also the only remaining luxury car company under British control, a fact they’re extremely proud of and don’t hesitate to mention at every possible opportunity. But with cars hand crafted by engineers with backgrounds in aviation, I suppose they’ve earned their fare share of bargain rights.

The fleet of Bristol cars is intentionally small. Their entire lineup consists of six models, each made to order for its particular buyer. This process can take up to four times as long as a factory-made car, but these are “handbuilt cars for individuals,” a very special group indeed who favors the company’s low profile, their aversion to advertising and their single, teeny-tiny show room in London.

They cater to the kind of person who would pay $260,000 for the Blenheim 3S, a pretty ordinary looking car from the outside that can make 0-60 in 5 seconds and if properly maintained, will outlive its driver. Not only will Bristol devotees gladly pay for the privilege of driving one of the 100-125 cars they produce each year, but they’ll wait in an 18-month-long queue to do so.

“By deliberately restricting production to a handful of cars per week we ensure exclusivity and excellence of manufacture. The labor hours to build the Blenheim 3 are three to four times more than those of any other specialist luxury cars. This we happily accept as the cost of perfection.”

above: for those wanting something a bit flashier than the blenheim series there’s always the “fighter”.





above: reaching speeds of up to 200 mph, the fighter takes design cues from airplanes, which is what bristol used to produce before they turned to cars. cost $521,000 usd.





above: of course, if $521,000 just isn’t in your budget there’s the “blenheim speedster”, a retro two-seater that can still do 60 in 5 seconds and figured prominently in last year’s flick, an education.

With standards this exacting, it comes as no surprise that Bristol doesn’t sell their cars to just anybody. Even if you have the money and the patience to sweat it out on the wait list, you must still be approved, a screening process as vague as it is secret. But for all their English exclusivity the car itself is an awe-inspiring piece of machinery, and once you drive it they swear you’ll never want to drive anything else.

Producer: bristol



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Fatigue control for the workplace! Looking like something out of science fiction, the MetroNaps EnergyPod actually harnesses science and NASA technology to create a space within a space.

Occupying the same amount of room as a sofa, the EnergyPod creates a cocoon from outside noise and distractions. Occupants are reclined into the optimal napping position to promote blood circulation and reduce pressure on the lower back and ambient sounds help nappers drift into light sleep. At the timer’s expiration, the occupant is gently woken with a combination of lighting and vibration.

Key Features & Benefits
* Room within a room
* Inbuilt Bose sound system
* Contemporary design
* Zero gravity technology

above: another fatigue management product from metronap is the lightweight and easily transportable “napshell.”
note: however, if you’re working for a less evolved company or not putting in 16 hour days…





above: fits easily in your desk drawer. put glasses on, crack your office door ever so slightly, prop large document on copyholder device in front of you.

Producer: metronaps ( energypod )