Small Kitchen is an innovative space-saving solution from German designers Kristin Laass and Norman Ebelt. It is intended to combine all kitchen essentials – stove, cooktop, refrigerator, sink, prep surface, storage, dinning table – into a 1m² structure. All this was possible thanks the clever layered design – different parts of the Small Kitchen are rolled out to reveal the rest. Efficient and very impressive! It is hard to believe that the piece was one of the student projects presented at the DMY International Design Festival’10 in Berlin.
This thing of beauty is called Sullivan/Barnes Table and made by Con Form Lab. On an average night it can accomodate six people, but when a party is in plans – the table expands to sit as many as ten. The expanding mechanism is fully integrated, so all you need to do is pull the tabletop from both sides. Thanks to perfectly fitted slots – the table changes its size (and its density) with one fluid movement. All parts are made of plywood, so Sullivan/Barnes table is not only a looker and a wonder of practicality, it is also ecologically agreeable.
If you think about it – a coffee table is one of the most used and abused items in our home. It serves as a footrest, a book storage, a dinner table, an occasional desk and more. So, if it plays so many different roles, shouldn’t it change shapes too? Designers at Nódesign studio thought it should and created Elos – an adjustable coffee table that can be transformed to your liking. The movable segments look like molecules and can literary ‘diffuse’ into any configuration. You can put them together for a bigger table, or stretch them into a line to accomodate more people. By putting a leg below each pivot point, designers made Elos stable as well as flexible. Brilliant.
We, shoebox dwellers, know that growing plants in tiny urban apartments can be challenging. Plants need light and space, and even if you have a windowsill – its precious real estate is most likely occupied with other things. But don’t let that discourage you! Sky Planter from Fire Escape Farms offeres a great solution. It allows to turn your plants upside down and hang them off your ceiling. A locking disc holds the soil and plant in place, and an innovative reservoir system conserves water by 80% and gradually hydrates the plant’s roots. There you have it – simple, beautiful, zero conter space infringement… Sky Planter is made from ceramic with stainless steel wire and comes in two sizes.
This cool colorful table from KAYIWA, called Nzela, is not only a delight for the senses, it is also functional, foldable and easy to store. The base is made of two panels with slots, which makes it a child’s play to assemble (or take apart if you need to free some space). This clever slot-in construction is sturdy and allows plenty of legroom. Ingenious! The Nzela table is available in three color combinations of your choice.
Source: 2Modern Blog
This 22 m2 Barcelona apartment used to be a service room, where the water tanks were stored. But that was before Christian Schallert, its present owner, and architect Barbara Appolloni took on the project. Now it is a fully functional pad, smart, versatile and very stylish. Complete with the little terrace – the space can be transformed into several rooms – bedroom, kitchen, dining room, office. All thanks to clever storing solutions, hidden in walls. Christian calls it ‘an active apartment’ and claims that these daily space-transforming ‘exercises’ keep him in shape. Another hidden bonus of living small…
Recession Design is a group of creative individuals who explore DIY architecture and design solutions for low-cost living. Their project My Place was shown during the recent Design Week in Milan and included modular objects and Do-It-Yourself concepts. Here is how designers define their creative credo: ‘The idea behind Recession Design is very simple but opens an interesting debate on the meaning of “DESIGNING” today: The economic crisis is fact a pretext and opportunity for critical reflection on the contemporary design world.’ There is also a book in plans – ‘Do-It-Yourself Design, Ideas Against The Crisis.’ It doesn’t hit closer to home than this, does it?..
Via Serena Confalonieri
Speaking about living in a shoebox! Felice Cohen lives in a studio apartment that measures 12 feet by 7 feet. When faced with the old urban dilemma – space vs. location – she clearly chose location. This beautiful Upper West Side neighborhood is enviable for many. By settling for a tiny 90 sq ft studio, Felice managed to afford it on a budget of $700 (whereas the usual monthly rent for a studio here comes up to $3,600). Check out the video below to see the tricks she used to make the place not only livable but even charming and cozy.
This anti-consumerist idea of a mobil room belongs to German design studio Caluso Concept. As a response to the increased flexibility and mobility of today’s life, designers Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser combined all furniture essentials in one compact box, which can be easily moved. ‘We take on obligations and responsibilities and obtain house goods far beyond what we really need. When it comes time to move we are aware of the burden of our increasing accumulations. We must overcome our fundamental ideas of consuming so that we can move and change,’ – they say on their website. So, if you frequently move houses (and can stop yourself from acquiring things) – this mobil solution is for you. Check the video below to see the demonstration.
Source: The Designer Pad
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
