Filed under: designer, product | Tags: bathroom, Contemporary Design, Debbie Wijskamp, Design, designer furniture, designers, dutch design, furniture, Home, household, interior, interior design, interiors, kitchen, myhouseismycastle, office furniture, PAPERPULP, papier mache, product, products
Only very rarely, and generally after a great dal of thought, do we feature items here that we’re not 100% convinced about.
Today is such a day
PAPERPULP by Debbie Wijskamp
Is it fantastic or is it tat? … we’re not sure.
But would love to find out
Check it out for yourselves
PAPERPULP by Debbie Wijskamp.
An enigma!
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: Chair, Chris Kabel, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designer furniture, designers, dutch design, furniture, Home, household, interior, interior design, interiors, Materiaalfonds voor Beeldende Kunst and Vormgeving, myhouseismycastle, products, rotterdam, Seam Chair, stichting DOEN, students
The winners of the first DOEN | Materiaalprijs 2009, launched by the ‘Materiaalfonds voor Beeldende Kunst and Vormgeving‘ and ‘Stichting DOEN‘ were announced during Dutch Design Week. The prize seeks to promote the sustainable and innovative use of materials in the fine arts, design, fashion and architecture.
And the first winner is Rotterdam based Chris Kabel for his Seam Chair/Seam Bench.
Or better put for his ingenious Seam Chair/Seam Bench.
Now, as so oft, we haven’t actually sat on Seam Chair, and so we’re going to have to assume its comfortable.
However the production process is just gorgeous: In the words of Chris Kabel:
A bag tailored to the shape of a chair is filled with sand and put in an oven under pressure. After some baking the sand is taken out leaving a hollow superstrong chair made out only of polypropylene (even the stitches)
As we say, just gorgeous.
But so much more.
Seam Chair is one of those fantastic products that makes you think twice before you use it.
You know it’s a chair and that you can safely sit on it … but because it doesn’t look like a chair you automatically wait a second or two before sitting down.
Brilliant.
Now we could wax lyric about the semantics of such … but who cares.
The idea is fantastic, the visual result astounding and if Seam Chair is comfortable to sit on the project will have been a complete success.
Seam Chair by Chris Kabel
Brilliant.
Seam Chair by Chris Kabel
Gorgeous ....
Filed under: designer, producer | Tags: Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designers, dutch design, Home, Hoog en Droog, household, interior, interior design, interiors, Jephte Francissen, kitchen, plywood, product, products, storage, students, wood, wooden furniture
If there’s one thing that gets our goat – as in really gets our goat – it’s designers who create something fantastic, but then fail to properly tell the world.
The latest example is Hoog en Droog by Jephte Francissen
All we know is what MoCo loco and designspotter have on their sites.
And that is basically nothing.
Jephte Francissen it appears, has no web page, has no portfolio page, has never exhibited anywhere, was never at a college and is not on facebook.
Ergo- doesn’t exist.
We are enraptured by Hoog en Droog.
Only – what does it help when MoCo loco say “…the system features an ingenious hoist system…” How does it work, what do I need, what are the limitations etc, etc, etc… Harry we need to know.
Hoog en Droog by Jephte Francissen
is without doubt genius … just we can’t prove it 
But we will …. guaranteed 
Hoog en Droog by Jephte Francissen (photo via mocoloco.com)
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: BOX, british design, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designer furniture, designers, furniture, Home, household, interior, interiors, kitchen, myhouseismycastle, Nils Holger Moormann, office furniture, plywood, product, products, Robin Grasby, storage, students, wood, wooden furniture
We love modular furniture.
Regardless if classics such as those from USM Haller and Montana or more modern developments, there is little in life we enjoy more than a furniture system that can be arranged as we want, and the re-arranged as we want, extended, broken-up, put back together and stood on its head.
Great.
And so you can imagine our delight as BOX by London based Robin Grasby crossed our path.
BOX looks clumsy, real clumsy. But it takes more than a clumsy look to distract us.
Take a second look , however, and you will discover a well considered and excellently executed project that allows you as the user to select a configuration that fits your needs.
BOX is currently still löittle more than student “work in progress” but we can well imagine it in serial production.
Nils Holger Moormann….. ?
BOX by Robin Grasby
Great!
Box by Robin Grasby
..lovely detail...
Filed under: designer, producer, product | Tags: Chair, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designer furniture, designers, droog, dutch design, furniture, Home, household, interior, interiors, kitchen, myhouseismycastle, product, products, Rag Chair, recycling, reuse, students, Tejo Remy, welsh students
One of the lesser known biospheres in Europe is the former inner-German border between Bavaria and Thüringen.
Affectionately known as the “Strip of Death”, the border area was a 1,400 Km long and 50 -200m wide forest and shrub landscape which for 40 years lay untroubled by human intervention.
And so within this strip of no-mans land between the East and West German barbed wire, a habitat developed that is unique on the European continent.
Something similar is happening in the back left corner of our bedroom.
A long, long time ago freshly laundered clothes were “stored” there until such time as we got round to properly placing them in the wardrobe. That day has never come, and so the clothes remain, untroubled by human intervention and quietly evolving in their own, natural way.
If we were clever we would turn them into furniture by now.
But we’re not .
Tejo Remy is.
And his Rag Chair for droog is simply brilliant.
A monument to the art of procrastination, each Rag Chair is uniquely assembled from 15 bags of treated rags held together by metal straps.
And of course you can also “personalise” your Rag Chair through the inclusion of your own, discarded textiles.
OK, we predict a few problem if, for example, you spill your beer on it … but don’t spill your beer on it. Then there’s no problems.
In terms of form Rag Chair is reminiscent of Amoebe by Verner Panton or Monopd by Jasper Morrison and provides just as comfortable a seat as both of those masterpieces. Perfect for watching telly in, socializing or simply relaxing with a beer – without spilling it!! – or whatever else the Dutch enjoy getting up to. Rag Chair is a wonderful,softening, addition to any room.
And unlike the pile of clothes in our bedroom, wont develop into a unique biosphere.
Rag Chair by Tejo Remy. droog, nuff said.
Rag Chair by Tejo Remy
by droog
The Dutch ... unstoppable
Filed under: designer, product, retailer | Tags: bristol, british design, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designer furniture, designers, football, furniture, game, Home, ikea, ikea hack, ikea hacker, industrial design, interior, interiors, kitchen, League Table, Milan, office furniture, office games, pacman, product, products, pub games, pub table, Simon Bradshaw, students, table, table football, University of the West of England, wood, wooden furniture
There’s a lot to be said for not taking life toooo seriously.
Getting up, washing, eating properly, socializing, working … we’re not advocating stopping any of those things.
But, for example, making sure that you have the right sort of balsamic vinegar, comparing the tone of your tights with those the marketing secretary and then getting upset about the result or taking professional advice as to the best name for your new dog.
That’s when the big STOP sign should really come out.
Similarly with choosing, and to a greater extent designing, designer furniture. Far too many people get hung up on the “luxury” aspect. The uniqueness. The exclusivity.
And forget that a good and competently designed product can also improve your world.
And be fun.
One of the best items we saw at the 2009 Milan Furniture Fair was four planks screwed together. Absolute genius.
We don’t know if Bristol based designer Simon Bradshaw is so enlightened – or if his “League Table” was simply a lucky grab in the inspiration bag.
But then it don’t matter.
“League Table” is a remarkably refined, brilliantly conceived and excellently executed piece of furniture.
Created as an entry for the 2008 Bristol Design Festival “GRAPHIKEAII” competition the idea was to take a table – presumably of Swedish origin – and add value by any means necessary.
Simon Bradshaw turned his into a mini table football table.
We know, we know.
But don’t you remember back in the day when video games were taking their first 8 Byte steps; there suddenly appeared in pubs across the UK tables that were really Pacman machines.
Two players could sit opposite each other with a beer, a packet of pickled onion crisps and the steely resolve to eat their opponent.
And if you remember that you’ll remember the best fun was NOT playing Pacman and instead sitting at a table that was actually a Pacman game.
It was like walking on the moon.
Simon Bradshaw’s League Table is exactly the same.
On the one hand, whenever you want you can challenge whoever is near-by to a friendly game of football.
But you don’t have to.
You can just enjoy idling twiddling with the bars… and enjoy the atmosphereless void around you.
We’re genuinely very taken with League Table and can well imagine it working brilliantly in a range of locations be they domestic, industrial, commercial or social.
And there is no reason why it can’t be “up-sized” to a full table either.
Gorgeous
If you want one contact Simon direct.
League Table by Simon Bradshaw. Lousy pun, brilliant table.
League Table by Simon Bradshaw - Ace.
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: 100% london, Chair, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designer furniture, designers, furniture, hi-fi, household, interior, interior design, interiors, ipod, ipod amplifier, ipod extension, ipod gadget, ipod player, london design festival, Michi Jung, mp3, music, Music Chocolate, product, products, stereo, stool
For various inexplicable reasons we didn’t make it to the London design festival this year. Nothing to do with laziness we assure you.
We assure you…..
Fortunately we were in a minority and all the other regulars were there.
Including Harry from MoCo loco.
Fortunately.
For without Harry it s highly likely we would have missed Michi Jung’s gorgeous “Music chocolate” pouf.
Sadly Michi Jung is a follower of that current trend which says- build your webpage in flash.
Yeah the pictures can move in funky ways, but the content is appaling and there si always an information deficit,
As with “Music chocolate” – we know, in essence nothing about it, and Michi isn’t keen to tell us.
MoCo loco Harry has a few titbits of information, but quite honestly if Michi is happy to let the pictures do the talking so are we.
Only this much: if the music presentation from “Music Chocolate” is half as good as the visual presentation we need three.
Music Chocolate by Michi Jung. Classic.
Music Chocolate by Michi Jung ...
... looks great ...
... if not really that much like chocolate.
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: Design, furniture, designer furniture, Home, New York, product, products, designers, designer, Chair, interior, myhouseismycastle, wood, interiors, wooden furniture, Contemporary Design, household, american design, garden furniture, folding chair, Axis by Gregory Buntain, ode
Axis by Gregory Buntain
Do you know what we thought when we saw this.
Airplane Chair.
We thought of Lufthansa.
Which is a bit unfair on Gregory Buntain and for all on his Axis chair.
On the one hand Axis a wonderful reinterpretation of the folding garden chair, on the other an ode to practical furniture design.
The Strophe in Buntain’s melody is composed from the beautifully crafted teak inner and outer frame elements; elements whose movement wonderfully open the chair. The Strophe having passed the Antistrophe answers in the harmonic removable sling. That’s removable as in if its dirty or the chair will be stowed for longe periods one can remove the sling and either wash it or store it in a safe and secure fashion.
Brilliant.
The frame matching teak toggles which attach the sling to the frame via two rows of receiving eyelets, and which provide adjustibility, are then the fitting Epode.
Axis : A lyrical verse you can sit in ....
Axis by Gregory Buntain is not a new chair design; it is however a wonderful piece of furniture design that shows both an eye for the aesthetic and an understanding of the need for functionality.
And as such is timeless.
Axis by Gregory Buntain. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Axis by Gregory Buntain : @ Richard Lampert..... ?
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: Arthur Senant, Contemporary Design, Design, designer, designers, fire, fire place, french design, heating, Home, household, interior, interior design, interiors, kitchen, myhouseismycastle, product, products, stoves, Vulcan Stove
If USM Haller decided to build stoves, they would probably look like this.
One of the real joys of doing what we do is the fact that you always know that something brilliant is just around the corner, you wait for it, wait for it… wait ….
And it still knocks your socks of when it arrives.
Winter is rapidly approaching and if like us you use stoves for heating you’ll appreciate some of the issues that involves.
For all dead space.
With his Vulcan Stove , French designer Arthur Senant has created something truly wonderful.
Not only does the main stove body have wonderful 1950 enamel feel about it, but through the introduction of a configurable shelving system around the chimney he has solved the dead space problem.
OK Vulcan Stove is limited to locations where the flue goes vertical – we, for example, have one stove where the flue enters the wall at a 90 degree angle to the stove, and so we could not insert a Vulcan Stove there.
But where the logistics allow, and for all when designing a new room with stove Vulcan Stove is an absolute dream.
Storage space for wood, scrap paper, firelighters, matches, a tea pot, a throw or two, your cold socks… And drawers at the bottom for toasting chestnuts.
There is little better in winter than areal fire and there is quite possibly no better place fora real fire than in a Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant.
Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant. We may need to cry….
Vulcan Stove by Arthur Senant
the saviour of all who enjoy real fires
and warm chestnuts .. just watch out for squirrels
Filed under: designer, product | Tags: Design, furniture, designer furniture, Home, Verner Panton, product, products, designers, office furniture, designer, Chair, kitchen, interior, interiors, temporary seating, Contemporary Design, folding chair, conference seating, hotel furniture, guest seating, public seating
Over these pages we have often extolled the virtues of folding chairs – or perhaps better put of temporary seating systems.
And with ISIS from Jake Phipps for Gebruder Thonet-Vienna, we believe we have found the thinnest system yet.
And not only we are off that opinion – Phipps himself claims on his website that ISIS is the thinnest folding chair in production.
When folded ISIS is a mere 3 cm wide, and although it resembles a trouser press, the concept is wonderfully simple.
In essence all fits snugly inside the 3cm wide frame from which the elements slide out to form a wonderfully chair that we’re fairly certain the late great Verner Panton would have proud off.
Now, we assume that the design is principally intended for large users, such as business, conference venues, public buildings etc – And we are assuming this based on the wonderful “docking station” that can be ordered separately. However at 3cm wide and a very stable design, we can well imagine that ISIS is perfect for placing in your car boot for spontaneous road-side picnics.
Or similar.
Or on a boot.
Should you have one.
As we say, folded up a bit like a trouser press, folded out – gorgeous.
ISIS by Jake Phipps. More like this place.
ISIS by Jake Phipps
Just great
