Much of Berlin-based furniture designer Johanna Dehio‘s work is inspired by make shift structures. Wandwinkel, or Wall-Angles, is a two-legged side table that “requires only the correct inclination and support of a wall.” Similarly, Kleiderstiele, or Clothing-Sticks, is a coat rack that’s really more like experimental furniture; Hangers are attached to long rods that lean up against the wall, pinning your jacket there until you need it again.
One piece that doesn’t require ample wall space is Dehio’s clever Hockberbank, or Stool-Bench. It does, however, require a little user participation. The system consists of several wooden planks with circular cut-outs that fit over stools. If you only need seating for two, simply take the two-seater plank and stack the other stools. If you need four, or want two three-seater benches, just make the combinations and store the rest of the system. The planks are so lovely you don’t even need to tuck them away in your closet. If Dehio’s other designs are any indication, I’d suggest leaning them against the wall.
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Patricia Urquiola‘s Vieques collection isn’t her first line of furniture for Spanish retailer Kettal. Her Maia collection, an outdoor series, won the AD Architectural Design Award in 2008. With Vieques, Urquiola continues to pursue her interest in combining new technology with traditional craftsmanship.
“I like finding the most suitable material for each project,” Urquiola says. “Working on technologically developed materials using craft techniques, or using an industrial process on a material from the past.” For Vieques she strove to “maintain the lateral aluminum double moulding, but with a seat and back similar to taut netting, a soft and pleasant grid, in three dimensions, which we have achieved after two years of research.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Urquiola spent two years researching and developing a totally new, revolutionary 3D fabric called Nico d’Ape, available in a rainbow of colors for the Vieques indoor/outdoor collection.
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Anyone who’s furnished their first post-college apartment knows that Billy is really the name of a bookcase and Klobo and Poäng are the bachelor or bachelorette’s living room seating of choice. But just how do big retailers arrive at names like these? IKEA, the mother of all furniture retailers, is a special case. Founder Ingvar Kamprad is dyslexic and found that naming certain kinds of furniture after certain places helped him remember them. Beds, wardrobes and hall furniture, for example, are named after Norwegian cities, while upholstered furniture, coffee tables and media storage are named after Swedish places. Bookcases, on the other hand, are named after occupations, with the exception, oddly enough, of the Billy.
Most companies use the name game as an opportunity to conjure of certain imagery or an emotional response in their customers. Anthropologie, for instance, chooses names that fit in with their “boho-chic” aesthetic. The Bodhi desk and the Kasbah coffee table “evoke images of supermodels trekking across the globe in faux-vintage sunglasses and pre-faded, lace-up boots.”
Room & Board, on the other hand, takes a decidedly more masculine, or at least gender neutral approach with collections like the Cameron, Barton and Townshend. They also play to their clientele’s literary side with the Holden, Harper and Hawthorne. And for those who prefer Hollywood glamour to books there’s the Hutton, Dean, Orson and Maddox.
Of course, Crate & Barrel is no stranger to the fame name game either. Their upholstery buyer says she named a winged chair Astaire “because it’s covered in soft, shimmery leather that reminded me of an elegant ball gown; an old-school, iconic dancing reference.” Ball gowns and leather may have as much in common as dancing does with sitting in a chair, winged or otherwise, but we get it. It’s refined, luxurious and tasteful enough for Fred Astaire himself to recline in after a long day of dance practice. We’ll take two.
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Creativity does not take a back seat when it comes to <a href="chair design these days. [PR]
Milan 2009: Casmania and designer Luca Nichetto collaborate.
Nuance is a new concept of the padded seat, in two sizes: one for use around a table and a “lounger” that’s lower and larger with an ottoman combination. Nuance combines a strong visual and ergonomic concept of “hand made” which gives added value to the object while the focus is on reducing waste.
The young design-world star is in Milan exploring this year’s Salone del Mobile and working with Fendi on “Craft Punk,” a collaboration that brings together 11 designers working in different media for a performance-based event. The co-founder and director of Design Miami and Design Miami/Basel shares her impressions in Milan. via new york times [PR]
Stitch was selected as a Best design in the concepts category of the 2004 American International Design Review. Now we learn Cappellini has put it into production.
Fun folding chair completely manufactured with aluminum plate. Polished lacquer in white, blue, yellow, grey, red and black colors or in a multi-colored version in a fixed combination of the same colors. Feet in white polypropylene. Stitch Chair is a new typology of product for Cappellini and allows, thanks to its hinges, to have a chair that can fold up. Comes with personalized cardboard packaging.
Designer: Adam Goodrum
Producer: Cappellini
Retailer: Ponoko — Luminaire
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This year at Milan Design Week 2009, a Lexus exhibition will be called ‘lexus l- finesse- crystallised wind’ and designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. Here is a preview of the exhibit.
‘Lexus l- finesse- crystallised wind’ will re-interpret the ambivalence of the Lexus design philosophy ‘L-finesse’ through a dynamic installation that combines unity in space, sound and lighting.
“Crystallised wind is the result of a conceptual interpretation of the underlying principles of L finesse design”, explains Sou Fujimoto. “The term wind addresses not only the flow of wind, but also symbolizes a flow or current in a greater sense. It is a new horizon where the natural and the artificial coexist in space. I wanted to find a way to give form to that which is formless: to take the flow of air and the passing of time and to represent them in such a way as to explain the essence of the duality of L-finesse. the result is an art form that represents movement yet stillness, and the flow of time in a timeless environment.’
The Lexus space will display an acrylic art piece based on the full-size concept car model, the Lexus super sports concept car, the LF-A as well as a specially designed piece of furniture constructed from acrylic.
The exhibition will take place in Milan’s museo della permanente art gallery, from april 22nd to 26th.
Designer: Sou Fujimoto
