In the wake of his melting facade and upside down building, British artist Alex Chinneck continues to work large-scale magic tricks with his latest installation. Titled ‘Take My Lightening but Don’t Steal My Thunder’, the piece perfectly replicates London’s iconic Covent Garden Market building, making it seem as if the upper portion of the 184-year-old structure has deta...
Last week, Basque furniture brand Alki debuted the world’s first bioplastic chair, Kuskoa Bi. The impressively smooth result of the plant-based polymer got us wondering: what other intelligent bio-composites are out there? We rounded up five chairs by five designers use some unlikely natural materials. Terroir by Nikolaj Steenfatt and Jonas Edvard Nikolaj Steenfatt...
Teamlab is a collective of Japanese designers and creative talents based in Tokyo. Their Floating Flower Garden installation, which was originally showcased at Tokyo’s Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, was recently reassembled for Maison & Objet in Paris. Over two thousand orchids, suspended in midair, create a softly undulating canopy that int...
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...
Carl Kleiner’s Postures series is a collection of pictures of tulips held in various positions with wires. Documenting the surrounding world with his camera, he lets his photography serve as a medium for bringing his insightful visions to life. The fragility of the flower figures contrasts with either a black or white background, and as they hang in the air the flowers ...
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...
Bar cart, tea trolley or whatever you may call it, this fabulous rolling device can be the perfect home accoutrement. Whether it be a minimalist design or gold-plated shine, bar carts are a blank slate just waiting to be loved and accessorized. We’ve selected eight modern bar carts that we wouldn’t mind rolling around – decorated with our favorite martini, of course.
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...
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, ...
Young Belgian art and architecture duo Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout van Vaerenbergh of Gijs Van Vaerenbergh have created a steel labyrinth for the C-Mine Art Center in Genk, Belgium. The C-Mine Art Center is a former coal mine that has been transformed into a hub of creativity. It is at once cultural center, design center, cinema and incubator for young designers. For the n...
The Infinite Bridge by Danish architecture studio Gjøde & Povlsgaard Arkitekter invites visitors to put down their smart phone and take in a real, live panorama. Constructed as part of last month’s Sculpture by the Sea 2015 in Aarhus, Denmark, the circular bridge offers changing views of the scenic seascape to be shared and experienced with others. Johan Gjøde, partne...
At first glance, Studio Swine’s project Hair Highway may seem a bit gross—human hair is involved after all—but the technique and finished product will leave you absolutely speechless. Through a process that combines human hair with natural resin, Studio Swine yields a composite material with the look, and even the grain, of natural wood. In terms of color, Hair Highway c...
Thanks to the incessant holiday music playing in stores since late October, you are probably aware that it’s almost the holidays. For some, it’s a time of joy and excitement. For others, it’s a time of crippling anxiety and dread. Either way, you’re pretty much expected to buy things for people you love, so why not buy awesome things? Thus, in the spirit of the season, w...
With the holiday season coming (and a massive advent calendar in our office), it was hard to resist talking about this beautiful initiative by Studio Wessels Boer in Amsterdam. Indeed, when you look at “It Started With a Dime“, it’s hard not to be reminded of the small doors of an advent calendar hiding 24 tiny treasures. However, the goal here is a little different. Wi...
Contrary to mass-manufactured goods, handmade goods imply time, effort and thus a higher price tag. Swedish designer Jenny Nordberg decided to see if she could apply the speed and turnover of mass production to a handmade product. Her experiment, “3 to 5 minutes – Rapid handmade furniture”, demonstrates a handmade manufacturing technique that produces furniture in 3 to ...
Jonathan Muecke doesn’t like labels. Working from his studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he toes the line of design, teetering into art, architecture and back again. Indeed, his creations would be equally convincing in a private residence or modern art museum. Case in point: Step Stool is part of the collection at MAD in New York. For Open Objects, his second solo exhibit...
In an ideal world, work would be so much fun that extra hours would feel effortless. Unfortunately, the majority of us spend our weeks slogging through until Friday. Depressing? Perhaps. But we’ve rounded up a few objects that may not necessarily make work more fun, but their convenient multiple functions will definitely make it easier. Islands by Jordi Blasi Islan...
The work of Berlin-based artist Eva Berendes invokes a beguiling effect on the viewer, which is imposed by intentionally blurred lines between product and art. Geometric forms and pops of bold colors permeate her creations which include room dividers, folding screens and wall units. Her pieces recall real functionality, yet certainly stand on their own as art. Grid lines...
We don’t want to speak to soon, but it seems to be warming up. The trees are in bloom and our vague memories of the sun are becoming more vivid. We may not have completely shed our winter skin, but we can’t help but dream of sunscreen, barbecues and swimming pools. The last frost may not have yet thawed, but we’re already compiling our wishlist of poolside lounging mater...
If you’ve ever tried checked out the real estate market in densely populated, highly desirable urban areas, you know that it’s not cheap. Space is a rare commodity. In response, more and more designers (and their clients) are reconsidering their spatial needs. Some choose small spaces out of concern for the environment, while others choose to go small simply because thei...
When creating the Traits d’Union collection for an exhibition at Galerie Dutko in Paris, French designer Eric Benqué used quality materials and craftsmanship to guide his work. Due to his desire to create furniture without artificial glue, nails or screws, Benqué created furniture that functions as a puzzle. Each piece of the collection can be turned, deconstructed or r...
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...
See ya, paint! See ya, tile! Wallpaper is back, and it’s not your grandmother’s wallpaper. Obviously, we’ve got nothing against grandmothers, but the seventies were traumatic for our retinas. Fortunately, wallpaper is no longer about covering every surface, but rather about creating pertinent focal points or interesting accents in a room. Don’t believe us? Several des...
WE MAKE CARPETS makes (surprise!) carpets. But not just any carpets! A collaboration between Marcia Nolte, Stign van der Vleuten and Bob Waardenburg, the design collaboration rethinks an age-old art, combining old techniques with materials and technologies that are definitively 21st century. Working with everyday items, particularly items that would be deemed worthless o...
Love it or hate it, sometimes you need a bit of gold sparkle in your life. And sometimes you just need a lot. It’s the holidays, so we’re going to go all out before the sobering realizations of January 1st roll around. Most of these items are not made of gold, but they all have a bit of bling. Happy Holidays!
It’s Valentine’s Day, the most loved and hated holiday of the year. For singletons, V-Day can be a painful reminder of the numerous Friday nights spent alone on the couch with the cat and a pint of ice cream. For couples, it often involves paying exorbitant prices in restaurants and trying to ignore the obnoxious displays of public affection at adjacent tables. We,...
Why be traditional when you could be original? Or something along those lines. Either way, freestanding wooden bathtubs are as resistant as their counterparts, and they provide an unexpectedly warm bathroom centerpiece. From Japanese ofuro soaking tubs to marine-inspired bath time vessels, wooden tubs can be an impossibly simple accent or a dramatic statement. We’ve sele...
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...
With the Tetris House, the famous Brazilian architecture firm Studio mk27 achieved another tour de force and broke some new ground in the world of modern architecture. Mixing the classics (geometric elements materialized in a perfect mix of wood and stone, an amazing balance between organic and unnatural elements in the design), the Brazilian architects came up with a wi...
If prefabs are fabulous, containers are pretty cool too. It’s funny to see how in a few years, containers then prefabs have taken over the architectural world. These simple and economical construction methods have provided an answer to our growing need for adaptable and quick architecture. One country that has shown such need over the last few years is China, so it is no...
