Lovely readers, pardon the silence this week. The entire editorial staff of Shoebox Dwelling (me) is rigorously packing due to a long-awaited move to Manhattan (read – even shoeboxier dwelling). Wish me luck, and I’ll see you soon!
– An amazing house with stairs for dogs in Vietnam.
– Gotta love the French… what a delightful space cooking animation!
– Intricate salt installations by Motoi Yamamoto.
– Possibly the best thing I’ve read today – Interview with Federico Fellini by Robert Ebert.
– Popular science books that changed the world.
– Some amusing Google deliberate “bugs” to help us procrastinate.
– You don’t think typography is important? Check out this vid – If Movies Had Crappy Fonts (HT @zomgmouse).
– Adorable OCD sea otter stucks cups.
– Great vintage ad – Points of View.
– And finally – Creative Mornings Kickstarter project. Many awesome things are still up for pledging.
Have a spectacular weekend, everybody!
Netherlands based designer Ruben der Kinderen is the creative force behind this beautiful collection. Inspired by bushcraft (survival) techniques, these objects are assembled without screws or glue, but purely by using the forces of nature.
“I’m fascinated by survival and the things you can use in nature to make your stay comfortable,” – says Ruben. – “I went for 2 weeks to Sweden (into the wild-style) with a tent some food and my knife. By using different bushcraft techniques, to make my stay comfortable, i came to the conclusion that nothing in our own home interior has to by screwed or glued. Just by designing and making clever solutions everything can be of wood and rope.”
The system is modular. The tops of the tables are interchangeable, which provides for great flexibility. The simple and clever tripod construction is at the core of this project. At the bottom of the tabletop there is a chamber where the legs fit in. If there is a force on the tabletop the legs will spread, but as far as the walls of the chamber. Thus, the piece stays bendable and stable at the same time. A bright and elegant idea…
We’ve seen lighting fixtures imitating natural light before. But this one is a new and rather refined take on the idea. Daylight lamps by Philippe Malouin come in various shapes and colors and look just like closed shutters with the sunlight shining behind them. This beautiful concept has recently been introduced by the designer at the Design Miami exhibition in Basel. Driven by the lack of natural light in London, Malouin created an item capable to improve any dingy space by adding faux windows wherever they’re needed. A clever idea that urbanists everywhere can appreciate.
London- and Verona-based designers Daniel Debiasi and Federico Sandri of Something Design created Club, a clever hybrid of a mirror and a coat hanger. The piece was made for German manufacturer Schönbuch. Club is a freestanding item, so it can be used anywhere in the house where you need to have a reflection and a holding place for a few pieces of clothing. Minimalist and multifuntional, it wins many space-saving points. Club comes in solid oak and walnut.
(via design-milk)
This cool multifunctional stool belongs to ideaco, an innovative design agency known for many organizing ideas. This particular piece provides extra seating where it is needed, and, thanks to a clever cubby in its base, some extra storage too. Rack & Stool can be placed near the sofa, in the office, serve as a bumrest in an entryway… There is truly no limit to how you use it. The piece comes in many different colors too. Sweet.
This small apartment in Barcelona, redesigned by its owners Monica Potvin and Markel Otaola, uses an interesting approach to space-saving. Instead of creating a separate bathroom, laundry room and kitchen, they built a cube in the center of their home to house all of the utilitarian stuff. Even the floor space under the hallways around the cube is used for extra storage; this was inspired by the tuck-away elements on sailboats (Markel is a sailor). Watch the beautiful home tour, shot by Fair Companies, to get Monica’s take on living small and a lot of great space-saving ideas.
Who can resist a clever flatpack item? Not me. Especially if it is as beautiful as this one. The Wired shelf by Siyuan Zhang uses a metal elastic connection as the main source for keeping the wooden assembly together. The string provides tention between the parts, keeping them tightly together. It also allows to use fewer components and avoid gluing things together – both great achievements. So there you have it – an aesthetically pleasing, smart piece that can enhance any room. Watch the video to see what a breeze the assembly is…
(via designboom)
– Every time I watch this, I get chills. Planets viewed from Earth as if they were at the distance of the moon.
– Amazing vintage photographs of London Olympics.
– Probably the coolest calendar ever.
– Bookworm’s special – a book labyrinth. A libririnth…
– Fascinating – 3D Versailles.
– iPad prototypes we never knew about.
– This might be the funniest weather forecast in history.
– The physics of cats always landing on their feet.
– Glowing ears as part of a show? Why not, it’s Disney.
– Interesting article about the architecture of human memory.
Have a nice weekend, guys!
This foldable side table, called Hook, has been created by German-based designer Eric Degenhardt for the brand Richard Lampert. A lot of good thinking went into this design. The piece is lightweight, compact, foldable and can be suspended on the wall via the hook (hence the name). The piece is quite a looker too, in both folded and unfolded states… “Hook is a small, round side table offering a multitude of uses: you can put your feet up on it or use it to rest your book or glass, depending on your needs at the moment,” – says the designer.
