We love architectural photography for one simple reason: it shows what architecture is really all about. Whether it’s our homes, offices or a hotel, the things we build really show who we are. And looking at them from a distance, say a street corner distance, we can see several layers of time, several eras juxtaposing, slowly devouring one another. We especially love th...
We like design /art that makes us cock our heads and turn round in circles, which is exactly why we so enjoy Norman Kelley’s Wrong Chairs. On display at Volume Gallery in Chicago through January 24th, Carrie Norman and Thomas Kelley revise the traditional Windsor chair. Using the American design ‘standard’, they explore and pry open what we perceive as ‘correct’ and ‘rig...
32-year-old architect Yener Torun has spent the last year seeking out and photographing minimalist buildings in Istanbul, hoping to show a different side of the city from the standard images of old streets and mosques along the Bosphorus. He claims that because there aren’t many such buildings in Turkey he spends most of his time searching, which turns his mission into a...
The next generation of Zaha Hadid’s Liquid Glacial table was unveiled yesterday at David Gill Galleries for an exhibition that will run until November 16th. A gravity-defying design, the table perfectly resembles a puddle of crystal clear water, frozen in time. At once fanciful and authentic, the table top is smooth and flat but reveals delicate ripples beneath the surfa...
An architect and urban planner since 1986, Edouard François is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris and the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. He established his own studio in 1998 and has since been infusing the likes of France, India and Sri Lanka with his sustainability-focused projects. It’s easy to describe the flamboyant French architect ...
How to make storybook-like stool? Easy! First, grab some scrap wood and some wool from a newly shorn sheep. Now, put it all together and have a seat! Okay, it’s not quite that easy, but 0304 makes it seem as such. Using simple and sustainable materials, they create fun and funky designs. A collaboration between former Design Academy Eindhoven classmates, Tanja Kole, Raym...
Bamboo, bamboo, how we love you! We talked about Bo Reudler’s bamboo collection at DDW 2013, but it doesn’t stop there! In the wake of Beijing Design Week and Taiwan Designers Week, we’ve seen a resurgence of the eco-friendly wood. Durable, sustainable, beautiful, bamboo’s multitude of qualities make it a design dream. So have a gander at some of our favorite bamboo c...
Ah, Paris. We never get tired of Paris. The whirlwind of Paris Design Week spread from the Marais all the way to Maison & Objet in the suburb of Villepinte. We ran from stand to stand at Maison & Objet and from exhibition to exhibition in the city to find a selection of products that we love. Of course, our list is not limited to ten! Petite Friture, Collection Partic...
Kids may not have all the fun, but adulthood can definitely be a drag. Fortunately for the 18+ crowd, playful design is on the rise, and some of our childhood favorites are being revamped and revisited . So, in honor of the weekend, let’s take a few moments to indulge our inner child. And who knows? You might find some early holiday gift ideas!
The holidays are coming faster than a high speed train, but you’ve still got time to decorate! We’re not in love with the idea of a red and green explosion, so we decided to seek out some options. We’ve selected ten holiday decorations that we think will make the season just as jolly while stepping a little bit out of the holiday mold.
No longer relegated to grandma’s rump room or your newborn child’s nursery, dare we say that rocking chairs rock? New materials, bold colors and modern lines and ergonomics have rejuvenated the humble old wooden rocker. There are quite a few modern offerings that are sure to surprise and delight you, and we’ve compiled our favorites here for your rocking pleasure.
We were rather ambivalent about terrariums…actually, we’re still rather ambivalent about terrariums, but 10¹² TERRA is the exception. Designed by Daisuke Tsumanuma and Kenichi Yamada, the minimal glass frames strip branches, leaves and flowers down to their roots – which is precisely what makes them interesting. The clutter and kitsch of traditional terrariums is removed...
German street artist 1010, known for his fantastic spray paint portals, most recently brought his outdoor murals inside for a solo show at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco. Titled Limbus, the show featured a new series of smaller work on paper as well as larger murals. The artist’s effect is based on concentric layers of color, which reveal surprising layers of de...
How much space do we really need? In fact, what if all of your daily living requirements could be met in a mere 2.5³? Polish design team Ania Rosinke and Maciej Chmara examined this idea with a minimal living cube that they aptly named 2,5³. A revisitation of the ‘living cube’ by Papanek & Hennessey, Chmara.Rosinke‘s sparse-but-snug structure meets our basic needs of foo...
Japanese culture has taken over the world in the last few decades. Whether it is architecture, design or simply art, it is everywhere for a simple reason: it has been able to evolve quickly with time, while preserving a strong link to tradition. Looking at Hayao Miyazaki‘s movies for instance, one quickly realizes that Japanese symbolism is still very present in modern c...
As you may have noticed, our latest e-magazine has hit the virtual stands. We’re talking interiors, hotels, Scandinavian design and fabulous prefabricated houses. From the recent Pop Up House to Jean Nouvel’s prefab precursor, we selected seven noble representations of the genre. But there were many to choose from, and we couldn’t include them all, so we have created a l...
Tomorrow, Germany and Argentina will face each other in the 2014 World Cup final. The stakes are high and the pressure is on – only one can emerge victorious. In honor of this exciting day that only comes around once every four years, we decided to have our own showdown – an architecture showdown. So, who will win? Germany or Argentina? Let’s check out the line up for Ge...
Black houses hold a certain intrigue, perhaps due to the pure rarity of their existence. Black houses are the unicorns of the architecture world. That being said, we’ve managed to wrangle ten black houses that hold the intrigue for which they are known. Enjoy. Black Desert House by Oller & Pejic Architecture Oller & Pejic’s Black Desert House is located in the extr...
Berlin-based designers Essi Johanna Glomb and Rasa Weber are the young faces behind the design studio Blond & Bieber. Their innovative project, Algaemy, first made its appearance at DMY Berlin this past May and will be presented at the upcoming Dutch Design Week. Algae is an abundant and fast-growing material that has infinite potential. It has been studied as a replace...
It’s the most wonderful time of year! No, not Christmas. Halloween! Last year, we brought you the first edition of Creepy Design, and what a better way to celebrate our very favorite holiday than to bring you ten more creepy, crawly design products. (Warning: the following designs might provoke feelings of extreme discomfort.) Skin Chairs by Gigi Barker of Studio 9191...
Have you ever flown over fields of clouds and wanted more than anything to float about in one? Cumulus is, above all, a satisfactory little taste of this deep childhood desire. Designed by Jordi Iranzo, Stefanie Rittler & Nadine Kesting, the tangible cloud was exhibited at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Germany. The concept imitates our famili...
Carrying on the tradition of high-quality American craftsmanship, New York-based Industrial Design studio Fort Standard designs furniture, lighting and objects in long-lasting natural materials by forging traditional production methods with an innovative approach. The duo behind Fort Standard, Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings, describe their aesthetic as “warm-contempora...
With Bentley Elements, the British luxury automotive brand Bentley has launched a series of artistic collaborations imagined by creative directors Duncan Campbell and Charlotte Rey of the agency Campbell-Rey. Each year, the company will commission a new piece that represents the brand’s values and illustrates elements of the car’s construction. The first installation de...
Commissioned by Perrier-Jouët House of Champagne, Phare No. 1-9 is a new light work from London-based designer Simon Heijdans. Unveiled at Design Miami, the installation reinterprets the design principles of Art Nouveau that are so dear to the Perrier-Jouët brand. It consists of nine hand-blown glass vessels that are partially filled with transparent liquid and suspended...
Workspace 3.0 at iSaloni left us a bit disappointed, as our contributor describes in his piece for our live coverage edition. However, certain furniture companies keep lighting the fire to our hope for office spaces. Turkish furniture brand, Koleksiyon, for example. In response to missing originality and deep understanding in office furniture, the brand director and desi...
During our visit to the Paris Design Week in September, we attended the Drawing Glass exhibition at the plush St Sulpice Christian Lacroix boutique. The Italian design workshop Fabrica presented a limited edition collection of glass pieces. In the face of computer domination and the rise of 3D printing, the workshop’s purpose was to bring a group of designers back to ...
From May 16th to June 20th, Chinese artist Jacky Tsai will present his work at Scream London for an exhibition called Eastern Orbit. Based in London since 2006, Tsai is trying to create a link between the two cultural worlds he has been evolving around all his life. Mixing several techniques and styles along with those two strong cultural influences, Jacky Tsai achieves ...
Andrés Jacque, who won the Silver Lion for the best research project at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, has won this year’s Young Architects Program of New York’s MoMA PS1 for the COSMO water purification system. The PS1 series, which offers emerging architectural talent the opportunity to design and construct temporary outdoor installations that provide shade, se...
Colorful buildings, dizzying backdrops and fragmentary examinations of ordinary objects are what set photographer Hayley Eichenbaum’s images apart. Her Instagram account brings to life an imaginative color palette complete with birds-eye-views, unexpected juxtapositions and dynamic scenery. In one photograph, which depicts the mixed architectural styles of a blue buildin...
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is showing a solo exhibition in his home country for the very first time at Galleria Continua in Beijing. Curated by Cui Cancan, the exhibit fills the gallery as well as the adjacent Tang Contemporary Art Center. The ambitious project consists of a meticulous rebuilding of the historic Wang Jiaci, the Wang Family Ancestral Hall of the Ming period...
After stumbling upon the colorful, sun-bleached photos of self-taught photographer Matthieu Venot, we immediately assumed that the French artist was documenting his sun-kissed beach life somewhere near Marseille, Antibes or Nice. However, it turns out that he is based in Brest! BREST! We have been to Brest, and it evokes neither sun nor color in our collective memories, ...
Mother Nature presumably did not have art in mind when creating the bright colors and patterns of our feathery friends, however feathers are natural masterpieces. They insulate against the weather, make flight possible, provide camoflage and also serve as decoration to lure potential mates. Washington artist Chris Maynard has recognized the inherent beauty of feathers an...
Slowly and steadily, time sculpts the urban landscape. Pollution, graffiti and precipitation leave their indelible mark on the city through a simple addition and subtraction of materials. Rain erodes and soot creates, building up on windowsills in a minuscule geography that often goes unnoticed. Often, but not always. Fortunately, there are some that take notice. Broo...
Summer is almost here, and it’s becoming impossible to move without breaking a sweat. ‘Tis the season to slow down and relax, and for that, there is always the ever practical, always reliable hammock. But what if we went above and beyond the hammock? What if? Let’s check out 10 suspended seats with an unusual twist. Tropicalia by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso Colorf...
These breathtaking floor installations are created by hand-placing bagillions of tiny mirrors, crystals, pieces of chromed metal, optical glass and precious stones in patterns once only accessible through the ubiquitous kaleidoscope tube. The craziest part of these mesmerizingly precise installations is that all of the pieces are loosely placed, AKA not fixated, glued ...
Hey there, procrastinators! We see you scurrying around on December 24th, ripping items off shelves without so much as a glance at the price tag. It’s all part of the fun, right? We get it, and we made this list just for you. Of course, we realize that you probably won’t actually get around to ordering any of these until it’s too late, but we hope that it will at least g...
