When the Keukenkabinet is closed, it is just a piece of furniture that is a part of living space. By opening it you crete a new space – a compact kitchen. The piece was created by Dutch designer Johanneke Procee in collaboration with Plugers & Vercoulen. The inspiration for it came during Johanneke’s trip to Sough America (I’m guessing she saw a few studio apartments here). She sensed the need for a design that can fit into confined living spaces, where cooking and sleeping is happening in the same room. ‘The compact spaces inspired me to approach the different functions a single room house needs to have from an other perspective,’ – says the designer. The end result turned out to be this elegant and functional piece. We, urban dwellers, are grateful!..
The Sey hanger (‘say’ means ‘thing’ in Turkish) takes the simple idea of a string with two hooks and brings it to perfection. The powder-coated metal string can hold great many items in relatively compact space, which makes Sey a perfect storage tool. You can use it for books, coats, linens, jewelry. Anything that can be thrown over it – will be held. And that’s the thing, really… Sold in MoMA store.
This modular, movable and foldable kitchen by Belgrade based designer Goran ‘Goci’ Bjelajac – has it all. It is fully equipped with all essentials, including fridge, oven, sink, dishwasher, and cooktop. All elements are mounted on the mobile screens, which in turn can move those elements, creating multiple shapes. Thus, you can build your kitchen according to your space needs or simply fold it and remove it from your sight when not in use. The screens allow for mounting on both sides, so you can use them as functional partitions. Ingenious.
Made from recycled felt, the Dino table lamp by Deger Cengiz is both cozy and flexible. It is multifunctional as well. The base of the lamp can be used as a holder for various office supplies, snacks, loose change or even plants. Dino‘s neck is bendable in any direction, energy efficient LED light is bright and long-lasting… The piece was displayed at the Wanted Design Show during New York Design Week.
Someone I infinitely admire once said: ‘An object isn’t generous enough if it has just a single function.’ This room divider by Guadalajara based designer Diego Gutierrez Hermosillo is generous. In addition to its space-separating role, it also provides sitting, illumination, and visual delight. Called Zebra for its stripy wooden pattern, the piece looks equally amazing with and without LED light, enhancing space on both sides. A far cry from your average partition…
This cool children’s dresser by Peter Bristol has drawers that are shaped as their predetermined contents. Called Training Dresser, the piece comes in two gender specific designs. Beautiful, fun, promotes tidiness, made from all kid-friendly components… Here is how the designer describes it: ‘Like Dr. Suess and Pixar, the Training Dresser is for more than one audience. The informative drawers create an engaging dresser for kids and an iconic furniture piece for parents.’
Vancouver based studio Molo brought their famous Softwall + Softblock modular system to the ICFF. For those who don’t remember, it is an innovative freestanding partition that can be expanded, contracted and shaped however you please. Each building element folds flat thanks to the clever honeycomb structure of the material. Made from polyethylene these partitions can create airy room dividers, with an option of LED lighting inside them. Recently Sortwall + Softblock has been refined by introducing different heights and colors, as well as adding accessories. The connection between the blocks is achieved via concealed magnets for a seamless, continuous wall of any shape and length. Great stuff!
This piece from British designer John Green is so multifunctional, I cannot say affirmatively what it is. Depending on your needs, it can be a coffee table, a magazine rack, a media storage, a laptop table, a stool, a bench, a kid’s desk, even a tray for breakfast in bed. It is called Embrace, because of the two pieces that are ’embraced’ together to form a storage space in between. The item, a proud winner of several awards (including Grand Designs Awards Product of the Year’11), was presented during this year’s New York Design Week.
Remember old wooden clothes pegs? The reason you do is that they have been around for a while, and people still use them. All thanks to a simple and functional mechanism. So, when Brooklyn based designer Steffi Min took this innocent peg shape and turned it into a lamp, it felt like one of those ‘why didn’t I think of it’ moments. The piece consists of a cord (which you can wind around a ceiling or a wall mount, bookshelf or any other object), a wooden base and a bulb itself. Rather than a traditional light socket with a twist in motion, the Peg lamp introduces a new relationship between the socket and user by clamping right on to the bulb. Innovative and graceful.
In the world of design there is a specific order in which business takes place, ideas get selected and objects get produced. The order New York based online company StyleFactory attempted to change… Instead of leaving it for manufacturers to decide (or guess) what is the demand on the market, they manage to create the demand before the manufacturing process starts. This is achieved by the interactive nature of the website, where you can pre-buy an item or vote for designs you like. The site is also a democratic platform, where designers can introduce their concepts and, if the demand arrises, see them produced. Thus, their creativity is empowered by the ones it was directed at – consumers. A perfect circle.
Break Down: Design in Your Hands event, organized by StyleFactory, Design Milk and Bobby Berk Home as a part of New York Design Week, was a tangible manifestation of the virtual concept. Visitors could observe the design objects and vote for their favorites.
