Since we are on the subject of coat hangers, here is one that any minimalist home can use. The Star hanger from Thai design studio Aesthetic was recently presented at the International Furniture Fair Singapore 2011. The best feature of the piece is its compactness. It arrives to you flat, and you assemble it in a few easy movements. You can also dissemble it just as easily and store it out of the way. The Star hanger is handmade from one single piece of ash wood, covered with nothing but oil, so it looks and feels natural.
Source: Designboom
Scratching furniture for cats is like sport for humans. They pride themselves on it. And when you are trying to renegotiate the immunity of your new couch and offer your cat toys and boards instead, – s/he thinks you are just being silly. This collection from Czech Republic company Catworks can provide a mutually acceptable solution for you and your cat. The alphabet-inspired line of functional pieces will look good around the house and channel feline enthusiasm at the same time. Every piece is equipped with a scratchy board and can be used as a side table, stool, accent object, you name it. With several colors available, you can easily incorporate Catworks into any room.
Source: 2 Modern Blog
The Coat Check chair from Joey Zeledón, made for Continuum, is not only modern, fun, and minimalist. It also promotes tidiness. And that makes it extremely lovable (no wonder its designer has already scored the Annual Design Review recognition from the I.D. magazine). The piece consists of steal tubing that serves as a frame for plastic hangers. Brilliant for house parties, this clever little item can bring an element of organization to your entrance area. And do that in a cool and non-condescending way.
Versatility is a must when it comes to children’s furniture, and this clever item from Country Living fits the bill beautifully. These colorful benches, called Groowy, can be transformed into shelving. Stacked on top of each other, they create a bookcase, a free-standing room divider, as high or as low as your space allows. And if your child is having a play-date, and some extra sitting is needed, you can easily take the storage unit apart and transform it back into cool and child-friendly benches.
HT Babble
Consider Chool from the London based design company Slam – a chair and a stool in one clever item. In its stool version, it can be pushed under the table or stored in a closet, taking very little space. But when the extra sitting is needed, Chool becomes a chair. The weight of your bum is all that is needed for the transformation to occur. The piece can also be locked in any position between chair to stool at the push of a button. Chool is fully customizable with different upholstery choices and finishes. Color combinations are plentiful. And if you happen to have an outlandish design idea that is not represented in the line, the kind people at Slam will make an effort to implement it.
SO3 is an efficient and practical DIY shelving system from Zhaolei, designed to fit any space. These wooden shelves can be assembled into any configuration, they are the building blocks with which you can create a bookcase, a decorative shelf, a room divider etc. SO3 arrives to you in a form of a flat and compact package – another sign of a well thought out design.
Source: Yanko Design
These minimalist side tables, called Abra, were created by Eva Paster and Michael Geldmacher for the Italian brand B-Line. Available in two sizes, they interlock to create an elegant and functional double-top configuration. When taken apart, the pieces can be used as two stand-alone side tables. Simple, clever and flexible design… Abra is made of scratch-proof pained steel and comes in two colors.
Can geometry be poetic? This stunning piece designed by Koenraad Ruys, for Moca, provides a clear answer. Colorful and Bauhausy looking, the Framed cabinet can beautify any room. It consists of several differently sized compartments that are integrated into a black steel frame (hence the name). Framed comes in a choice of either neutrals and a bright yellow or sea blues and greens. Fun, airy storage with the splash of color… Something any space can use.
This cool modular design belongs to the Vilnius based studio Onetwo. The wooden stool, called Pinocchio, can be used as a free standing piece of furniture or as a building block for creating various sitting elements. You can build a bench, a sting of stools or just about any other configuration you like. The joining element really does make this stool look like the Collodi’s character, especially in its two-legged form.
If you live in a small space, you know that formal dining can be a serious challenge. Luckily, designers know this too. And they come up with solutions, allowing our dining tables to go ‘off duty’ and perform other tasks between entertainments. The Doppelleben work/play table from Ahhaproject design studio and the Flat Fish 2 coffee/dining table from Designers at Large are good examples. The inspired design object we see here utilizes the same idea. A work desk by day and a dining table by night, this multifunctional piece from Goncalo Campos makes the transition between these two activities swift and seamless. The upper tabletop slides up revealing the working surfaces for two people, while serving as a screen to allow privacy and concentration. The set of storage boxes on the side complete the transformation.
Source: Mocoloco
