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.
If you are in New York this weekend – do visit the American Design Club‘s ‘Use Me’ exhibition in NoHo. I just have and I saw this brilliant thing there – the Link table by Milwaukee-based designer Peter J. Pless. Seven rotating discs are connected via metal panels, which in turn transform this mobil tabletop into various shapes. Slim elegant wooden legs support the structure. Link will make an excellent occasional or entry table. I really hope that talented Mr. Pless decides to make a coffee table version as well.
Jigsaw is a modular coffee table designed by Belgian designer Linde Hermans for Mooz. It is comprised of four independent angular pieces that can be arranged into different configurations or placed separately around your home. These L-shaped wedges can be used as handy companions to the furniture you already have, because they fit perfectly around corners. Manufactured from a single piece of steel, the Jigsaw table is minimalistic and adaptable. Smart stuff!
This minimalist dresser caught my eye not only because of its simple and aesthetically pleasing form. It opens in both directions, which makes it an ideal room divider for a small space. The Yabane dresser, created by Paris-based design studio A+A Cooren, was revealed during Milan Design Week. An inspiration for the piece came from the traditional ‘Yabané’ Japanese graphic pattern (meaning ‘arrow’ in Japanese). Made from ash wood.
The only constant thing in our life is change. It dictates the way we look at the things that surround us. Milan-based designer Emanuele Magini created a piece of furniture for Italian brand Campeggi perfectly in tune with this desire for change and adaptability. The sofa, called Sosia, consists of two sits wrapped in a piece of fabric. By manipulating these three components we can achieve several looks and configurations. The sits can be pushed together to create a daybed, they can be pulled apart to make two separate chairs, the fabric can be zipped over the chairs for privacy or draped around them in various ways. You get the picture.
