Inspiration

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...

Your bookshelves are bursting at the seams. You frequently walk into traffic because you just can’t put down the latest bestseller. Good news, bookworms. You can now put your hobby (read: addiction) to use! Create a distinctive headboard out of old books! You probably don’t even have to stop reading while you do it. Not into DIY? Check out the headboards on ArchiExpo.

As a Guest of Honor at IMM Cologne 2014, Louise Campbell was selected to design a central installation for the international furniture fair. What she created is a low-tech space without the rigidity of a conventional house, an abstract structure that breathes peace and poetry: Das Haus. We get in bed with her, quite literally! In getting rid of computers and smart ph...

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 ...

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 ...

The international trade fair Orgatec starts in less than two weeks. Modern Working Environments is the theme for 2014 – a theme which got us thinking. Long gone are the days of working 40 years in the same career, let alone for the same company. Modern workers are often mobile, agile and entrepreneurial. Flexible work environments are becoming standard and working from h...

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...

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...

Les Palettes by M&M designers makes upcycling accessible to even the least crafty among us. Yes, even you can create upcycled furniture. Well, maybe. We haven’t tried it yet, but we really like the idea: Les Palettes gives you instructions to create a series of furniture from recycled pallets! Simply procure a few pallets and a handful of power tools, and you’ll have the...

Trying to sum up a whole year in one building, one project or one idea is impossible. But somehow, Edward Burtynsky‘s 2013 exposition in Toronto comes close. Even though these photographs weren’t taken this year, it’s their compilation and exposition called Water Photography that mattered here. Indeed, these wonderful pictures, taken from the sky, reveal and remind us wh...

Inspired by the hand-made boucherouite rugs of the Atlas mountains in Morocco, Jan Kath exhibited his Lost Weave collection during Berlin Design Week at the Nyhues Flagship store. Using hand-processed highland wool from Tibet, Chinese silk and nettle fiber, Kath confects the rugs—applying the same technique used to weave cushions for Tibetan monks—with Eastern knowhow an...

Marble has officially made its comeback. It’s been creeping its way into contemporary design over the past few years, but this year’s Milan Design Week confirmed that marble is absolutely everywhere. From tableware to tables, lighting and more, designers are reintegrating the mottled material into their work. So, if you still think that marble is better off at the Parthe...

Design Miami officially kicks off today, and we are exceptionally excited to meet with Lebanese designers Marc Baroud and Marc Dibeh, creators of Wires. Commissioned by Art Factum Gallery, Wires has been to Dubai and back, making its way to Miami Beach this week. The minimalist designs originated as 2D drawings before being manipulated into 3D forms. Each piece is create...

We’ve all been amazed by the images taken from the International Space Station (ISS), pictures of our countries, cities and how they look like at night. The dazzling golden images of our brightly-lit metropolises reveal their complex architecture and city planning. Highlighting the complicated way humans have rearranged their environment to suit their needs. London-based...

What if sour was something that you could touch? How would it feel? Copenhagen-based designer Martyna Barbara Golik attempts to answer these questions with her Touch That Taste! project: five tangible objects that translate taste into touch. Sweet is interpreted as a pouf which imitates the feeling of sinking into something like when sugar melts slowly on your tongue, w...

Michael Wolf is a German-born photographer whose time behind the lens is spent examining life in the metropolis. His work “Architecture of Density” unorthodoxly depicts a day-to-day existence in Hong Kong – one of the world’s most populated cities and Wolf’s current home. His point of view reduces buildings to a complex series of patterns and lines that offer no end, no ...

MINDCRAFT is a yearly exhibition that highlights Danish design and craftsmanship. This year, Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi of GamFratesi handpicked fourteen designers to be featured in the exhibition which took place in the Chiostro Minore di San Simpliciano during Milan Design Week. The historic cloisters, which are located in the Brera Design District, provided an elega...

Not a run-of-the-mill design manufacturer, Incipit chooses to be defined as a training laboratory or as a workshop that supports young designers in their craft. Similar to organizations such as VIA in France, Incipit’s ultimate goal is to give designers a chance to succeed by supporting them through the entire process. Initiated by Roberto Hoz and Marta Bernstein in 2...

A modular greenhouse/storage shed combination is the result of a collaborative effort between two Finnish companies: Avanto Architects and Kekkilä Garden. With potential use as a beautiful green space or an enchanting natural escape, the versatile structure of half wood and half glass panels can be enlarged or contracted based on the model and the owners’ needs. The cove...

Eric Klarenbeek has combined two of 2013’s biggest trends: 3D printing and biomimicry. The Mycelium Chair was printed using a mixture of water, powdered straw and mycelium – the vegetative part of a fungus which resembles a mass of thread-like filaments. Klarenbeek prints the object with living organisms that then grows inside, giving the object substance and strength. T...

The novel MyRoom concept combines a selection of unlikely partners. French company Somfy is specialized in blinds, shutters, alarms and gates, while Muzéo is an expert in art prints and frames. With the help of Maud Bury (an interior designer that spent ten years under the tutelage of Philippe Starck!), Somfy and Muzéo went about designing the ultimate customizable hotel...

“My photographs are all that remain of the sculptures.” Environmental artist and designer Martin Hill makes sculptures in nature that return to nature. His designs illuminate the idea of a new model of progress where the living world on which life relies is not destroyed. Using local materials running on renewable energy, waste is eliminated and multiple benefits and job...

Navid Baraty examines the world from the top down. Dangling over the edge of skyscrapers, he captures society as few would ever see it. The Brooklyn-based artist began the series while living in Tokyo where he discovered that the dizzying views provided a lot of insight into a society’s character. His work has been featured in several major publications, including Nation...

Nuances are perhaps the highest level of language. We rarely stop to consider how beautiful it is to understand the subtle shades of a phrase or word. Paying homage to these linguistic subtleties, Japanese studio Nendo designed a series of Rain Bottles. The Japanese language has dozens of different words for the English word ‘rain’ – variations that depend upon condit...

Do you pay an exorbitant price for a dwelling that serves only for sleep? If so, you might be a modern nomad. Fortunately, Studio ARTE gets it. With their NOMAD Living project in Algarve, Portugal, the design ensemble explores the boundaries and flexibility of the modern wayfaring lifestyle. Born out of a disused shipping container, the project is a cheap and obtainable ...

Small confession: we are deathly afraid of heights. Our paralyzing fear is the reason that Object Élevé by Dutch designer Mieke Meijer strikes terror in our hearts, yet we would put it in our house without hesitation. Despite the vertiginous heights, combining a staircase with storage and a desk is brilliant, and the design is gorgeous. The oak and steel structure was...

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...

A temporary home has found its place in the center of the magnificent Cortile della Farmacia at the University of Milan. Presented by Panasonic, Sliding Nature is the design of Torafu Architects. It is being presented as part of the Feeding New Ideas for the City exhibit at the university and as part of the iSaloni satellite, Fuorisalone. Sliding Nature possesses the es...

Raise your hand if you often eat in front of the television, or at the computer, or standing in the kitchen, or in your bed. Okay, maybe that last one is just us, but the point is that many individuals no longer sit down at a proper table to eat. Mealtimes are often used for multitasking, however eating is also a profoundly social act. In order to bring the focus back o...