When the Keukenkabinet is closed, it is just a piece of furniture that is a part of living space. By opening it you crete a new space – a compact kitchen. The piece was created by Dutch designer Johanneke Procee in collaboration with Plugers & Vercoulen. The inspiration for it came during Johanneke’s trip to Sough America (I’m guessing she saw a few studio apartments here). She sensed the need for a design that can fit into confined living spaces, where cooking and sleeping is happening in the same room. ‘The compact spaces inspired me to approach the different functions a single room house needs to have from an other perspective,’ – says the designer. The end result turned out to be this elegant and functional piece. We, urban dwellers, are grateful!..
The Sey hanger (‘say’ means ‘thing’ in Turkish) takes the simple idea of a string with two hooks and brings it to perfection. The powder-coated metal string can hold great many items in relatively compact space, which makes Sey a perfect storage tool. You can use it for books, coats, linens, jewelry. Anything that can be thrown over it – will be held. And that’s the thing, really… Sold in MoMA store.
Made from recycled felt, the Dino table lamp by Deger Cengiz is both cozy and flexible. It is multifunctional as well. The base of the lamp can be used as a holder for various office supplies, snacks, loose change or even plants. Dino‘s neck is bendable in any direction, energy efficient LED light is bright and long-lasting… The piece was displayed at the Wanted Design Show during New York Design Week.
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.’
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.
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 City Coat Rack by Michael Rösing and the Radius studio team celebrates urban landscapes by bringing them to your doorway. The laser-etched silhouette of landmarks and architecture will make a sophisticated statement, and nineteen hooks will provide more than enough space for your jackets and scarves. The City Coat Rack is available in the skylines of Paris, London, Berlin, Stuttgart, and New York. You can purchase them here.
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 retro-looking credenza from RAAD studio is not only an inspired piece of design, made to give your space that awesome mid-century vibe. There is a high-end stereo system incorporated into the piece — a solution to all of those hideous stereos and speakers. The cabinet itself is fitted with speakers and at the same time serves as a storage unit. So, no more unsightly music equipment miscellany, and no more wires and cords scattered on the floor. Everything is concealed inside this elegant, hand-crafted living room cabinet.
Here is another bookcase to love – the Stacked Shelving System, designed by JDS Architects for Muuto. This modular system lets you to create multiple configurations. The units come in three sizes (and give you five shapes, depending on how you position the rectangles), so you can accomodate books of any size and build the bookcase of your desired proportions. The negative space between the boxes can be used to create even more unique shapes. Clever!.. The pieces are held together by the colorful steel clips. Each box comes with an optional wall mount. You can purchase the Stacked Shelving System at DWR.
