Urban gardening is a romantic endeavor, it requires more faith than virtually any other aspect of city life. Some citi dwellers, author included, bravely line up their little plantations on fire escapes. But as charming as it is, the idea is exposed to two dangerous elements – squirrels and superintendents… Thankfully, Paris based company Barreau&Charbonnet had a better solution. Their innovative window planter, called Volet Végétal, uses the air space outside a window. This drawbridge-like construction is mounted against a windowsill and, with a pulley system, extends out about five feet. The planter easily moves back to a vertical position for watering, maintenance and, if you’re lucky, harvest. Integrated planter boxes fit into pivoting frames to prevent plants from falling out. The entire system is easily removed from the window and brought inside to become a free standing garden – perfect for winter. Volet Végétal is on view at the Paris urban garden show, Jardins Jardin, till June 3.
(via Urban Gardens)
As the name suggests, the Mastro table, created by Gum Design for De Castelli, has derived from an old worktable design. But unlike its predecessors this piece has some serious space-saving advantages. The metal tabletop is folded on the sides to serve as a holder for the legs. The same tabletop allows to store the legs and flatten the table when it is not in use. Beautiful dual function! I also love the visual contrast between the patinated top and light wooden legs.
(via designerblog)
The owner of this tiny 25 square meter (269 square feet) house Pascual Alberola and his partner started with a beautiful lot of land near Valencia, Spain. The couple was looking to build a weekend home not far from their city dwelling, and stumbled upon a sheltered valley just an hour and a half south of their city. The only pickle – according to Spanish laws, the agricultural zone (which is what it was) could only have a small toolshed built on it. But the guys were not discouraged and decided to built the most livable shed there can be. And with the help of architects Jorge Cortés, Sergio Gª-Gasco and Borja Garcia of Enproyecto Arquitectura this incredible home was born. Traditional on the outside and modern on the incide, the house includes all essentials. It has a kitchen, leaving area with the fireplace, floating bedroom and a small bathroom with the shower. All necessities and nothing excessive. I’ll say no more – enjoy the beautiful video tour, shot by Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies.
Philadelphia based industrial designer John Paulick had a great idea. He created a system of modular wine racks, inspired by beehives, capable to accomodate a wine collection of any size and fit in any space. The product, called WineHive, is lite, sturdy, fully collapsible and ships flat. You can start with the wine rack of any size. And when you are ready to add to your honeycomb-looking structure – you simply slide panels into each other and voilà. No tools, no sweat, no manuals to read. The WineHive rack system is currently displayed on Kickstarter, and for the next 13 days you can pledge to get your set.
Architects Rosa and Robert Garneau of Studio Garneau have built a home in this 650 sq. f. loft in prewar high-rise building in Chelsea, Manhattan. The couple created a clever and adaptable space by making all functional sections of the apartment perform many roles at once. Thus, the bedroom serves as an entertainment area (when the bed is tucked away), the kitchen counter works as a dining table or a desk, a sitting area doubles as storage… I am very impressed with built-in cabinetry and custom made furniture pieces, capable to hide away papers, linens, and personal things. Not an inch of the apartment is wasted, everything has a purpose. Even the clothing rod in the closet doubles as a light. Another cool feature as a sliding divider that separates the room and creates privacy in the bedroom area. The white painted side of the divider, turned towards the living area, is used as a screen for the home theater system. Fabulous!.. Watch the video for a detailed tour of the apartment.
The Clark desk is an unusual creation of German studio Llot Llov. Unlike traditional desks, that often try to conceal storage, this one displays it for you to see at all times. The idea is to provide a comfortable nest for stacking things rather then filing them away. “Everything stays within reach and does not disappear in drawers or cupboards,” – designers explain, – The desk picks up on the most common way of keeping objects on your desk and enables to do this in a variety of ways.” This storage concept could be useful for us, visual types, who need a full view of their “work-in-progress” piles to stay focused and inspired. The piece is made of natural pine wood and comes in two finishes.
Houseplants, as much as we love them, are major space eaters. Especially the ones that exhibit signs of life. Luckily, this clever and beautiful design by Kawamura Ganjavian allows us to tame our homegrown jungle and organize it into a series of neat vertical structures. Called Parramyd, the system is comprised of modular pyramidal elements that connect to each other intuitively. By weaving branches through these links, we can create a structure that guides the way a plant grows. Parramyd will work with the hanging plants too. Ingenious!.. The elements come in two different sizes to accommodate a large variety of plants.
These minimalist and storage-rich side tables, aptly called Stack, were created by Singapore-based designer Nathan Yong for Living Divani. The set is composed of three differently-colored natural wood tables of various depth. You can stack them together or scatter them around, depending on your space requirements. I love the combination of the subtle colors of the tops and light wooden legs, it looks very refreshing. And even though the access to the items, stored in the bottom tray, seems a bit awkward, the impressing capacity wins many space-saving points. The Stack collection will be shown during the Milan Design Week later this month.
(via Dailytonic and Minimalissimo)
