Monitor

Shige Hasegawa Design

Paula — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:35:31 +0000

One of the good things about living in Milan is the possibility to follow yearly the Salone del Mobile: the trends, the progress of the design companies and the most rewarding one: the evolution of designers.
It’s been three years since Shige Hasegawa appeared on the milanese scene and from that point to follow him (his way of working, the simplicity, the harmony, the clean lines, and the attention to every detail) is to oversee the path of a big name.

Green pockets

Paula — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:43:08 +0000

This project is obviously one of the winners in our Bucolic Empowerment category, these simple and beautiful plant pot/tiles by Maruja Fuentes not only allow you to bring nature into your home, they are also made of recycled materials, and can be placed in different configurations according to your vertical garden design.

Wood is everywhere

Paula — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:31:09 +0000

Wood, laminated wood, is always a great option to express your creativity, especially when a reduced budget doesn’t allow the use of particular machinery. The results, depending on the designer can be exhilarating, or just boring. But from a wide range of products, starting with the stand’s decoration, passing through lamps and furniture (these last ones being a more elaborated version, than simply dye cutting and joining) here below are some examples of the diffused use of laminated wood during this past year.
Hoping to see the developments in the case of the school projects, and fresh and new products in the shops.

Stands

Lamps

Extras
The pieces seen here come mostly from design schools: the french V.I.A., the Dutch Design Academy Eindhoven with the artEZ; and in the “Salone Satelite” Milan 2009.

Light games

Paula — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:08:26 +0000

When the “Salone del Mobile” arrives everyone knows “novelties” are on their way, the odd thing is that “novelties” never come alone, (despite the secrecy of the companies and the early rise of trends) when you see a “new object” there is always a twin sister around and some cousins, spy cases or trend sharing?
In any case, this time we are talking about light and interference, fragmentation, and magnification. Lamps with lenses, textured surfaces that enhance light or just give fancy decorations.

Among the different examples there is an important one, in which light is really enhanced by Fresnel lenses: Hope, by Francisco Gomez Paz and Paolo Rizzatto, for Luceplan, a modular “not crystal” chandelier, made in polycarbonate film.

Why is Hope listed within our Environ-Mentally category? Very simple, although I’m not a friend of plastic, Hope’s packaging is very compact due to the modularity of its components and the weight being reduced to the minimum. Something else, it fits different light bulbs, encouraging the use of energy saving ones; the result is better than ever, thanks to the thoughtful design the quality of light is not lessened by the use of these bulbs but is just as pleasant as we hope.

-Another example is Ross Lovegrove and his “Cosmic” lamps/sculptures for Artemide

-Two noteworthy installations:

Swarovsky’s stand in Euroluce, a interactive combination of crystals, light and colour.

Foscarini’s huge kaleidoscope in Zona Tortona, by Vicente Garcia Jimenez

And coming soon… the Organic LED, but for now just some pictures.

Bambi Chair

Paula — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:38:26 +0000

This “bambi” chair, designed by Tatsuo Yamamoto, clearly is an example of the aesthetics research in our “Bucolic Empowerment” category. A chair with an animal “feel”, while the function or beauty have no relevant importance, the animal approach, the desire of getting closer to a “idea” of nature, of having a bit of what we are loosing outside in our daily life, this is what makes this chair capture my attention.

Every bag counts

Paula — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:33:32 +0000

Campaigns like “one less plastic bag a day” on Facebook, talk about the daily awareness, we are all getting, on the state of our natural resources.
Daily life without harming the environment results in a difficult task nowadays, using: our cars, hot water, wrappings, cling-film, fashion, nappies, takeaways, all those simple and practical friends from “the disposable culture” that make our life so easy, they are priceless, indeed, we are paying a price for them that is ever so high, none of us would believe it (look at the pacific rubbish island, the weather changes, not to mention allergies and infertility ranges) and it will be like that for many generations if we don’t start taking the problem of our “disposable” life style seriously from now on.
The alternatives are not always, beautiful, quick or easy, but taking some time to choose, we can find a wide range of green products and services, some examples:
- Bamboo Eco Friendly Disposable nappies from Denmark or even better, baby cloth nappies with delivery/cleaning service in the UK.
- Biodegradable and compostable shopping bags and packagings, like Italian bottled water Sant’Anna with its Biobottle, made in Ingeo™ biopolymer. Or a personal reusable “Not a Paper Cup” by Chartreuse
- Another choice are the beautiful reusable designed shopping bags, becoming more common every day, two examples I’ve just seen at Macef are: • Stelton’s from Denmark, the case works as a handle (to carry a heavy 10kg load), washable at 30° “without soap”.
• Envirosax® “Chic, inexpensive and compact bags”, the different ranges from the Organic Series (“manufactured from natural materials including viscose from bamboo, linen and a fine grade hemp, as well as recently introduced organic cotton”) to the kids or graphic series; all designed thinking about the environment, and to make us happy when going greener.

Antler by Nendo

Paula — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:23:12 +0000

Without doubt Nendo‘s low armchair, designed for Cappellini, is one of the best examples, belonging to our “Bucolic Empowerment” category. The choice of the very natural materials: wool or leather for the seat and solid ash wood for the frame; and needless to mention the ”fauna call” evidentiated on the back frame.

Bucolic Empowerment

Paula — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:49:39 +0000

“the agricultural community will become the planet’s new elite, dominating our essential needs and inspiring years of farmer styles. After all, the farmers of the future will clothe us, house us, feed us, fuel us and hopefully even heal us. Ultimately they will be able to engineer design and grow furniture in a symbiosis of technology and biology, and therefore rural and urban lifestyles will merge and become one; resulting in an inversed social landscape with a greener city and a more contemporary countryside”

This statement by Li Edelkoort, makes us aware that more than a trend, returning to nature, is a life choice to which we will have to get accustomed if we really want a healthy future.
But, not every one interprets trends, some designers and producers, just follow them, as mere aesthetical rules, giving birth to a very wide range of products, you can choose between honest and responsibly made products and those that just apparently (thanks to there natural aesthetic) satisfy the need to return to the essentials, to respect life and nature.
The next posts will be therefore, be dedicated to this present cycle, with its pure aesthetical trends, and to the different objects that really go beyond the “throw away culture” to become true life companions.

Sleek thin layered materials Seats

Paula — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:47:35 +0000

Three chairs, with a common style: simplicity, not just visually, but going down to materials, oak, ash, raw wool, leather, all disposed in thin layers; nothing to hide, a frame with a very “materic” shell.

From left to right:
- Brio: by Mikiya Kobayashi for Covo - Bac: by Jasper Morrison for Cappellini - El: by Antonio Citterio for B&B

Enhanced Architecture

Paula — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:12:06 +0000

I found this video looking through the June issue Wallpaper magazine, all about the “made in China”. Apart from the exceptional engineering and architectural work, what caught my attention was the sober use of colour, made visible just from some angles, not just adorning and communicating, but expressing all the richness of the Chinese culture.

Steven Holl‘s Linked Hybrid building in Beijing.