I’m slightly obsessed with this website right now – Sydney based studio Evolvex created a cool online tool allowing you to build your own furniture. With this smart and intuitive online application you can upload images of your rooms and see what the piece will look like in its intended environment. And with the presented choice of components you can build an array of simple and elegant items for any room of your apartment.
Here is a fun thing you can do, if you have a few minutes to spare – design your own bedding. This new service, introduced by Inmod, allows you to choose and change patterns, play with different colors, and simply let your artistic flag fly. Watch the tutorial below to see how it works.
‘Everything is makeable, anytime, anywhere, by anyone,’ – this is the statement Droog made while launching their downloadable design initiative during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, 2011. The project allows people to design furniture by using an online interface. After finishing your unique item – you can download your design and a digital plan to produce it. Then you can either make it yourself or employ a recommended manufacturer.
This approach will have an enormous impact on the dynamic between the design industry and the consumer. “Taking design to the digital realm opens many possibilities. Not only does it have consequence on transport and storage efficiencies, it also calls for new design approaches, innovative digital design tools and online shopping experiences, and innovative business models for all actors along the distribution chain,” says co-founder and director of Droog, Renny Ramakers. And for us, tiny apartment dwellers, it will mean the unlimited power to create and customize objects for our limited spaces.
This furniture has practically everything we, design-conscious shoebox dwellers, adore. It is recycled, gives a cool retro flair to the room and allows us to participate in the designing process. The Australia-based restoration company Retro Modern found a clever way to bring old midcentury furniture into modern homes. We are invited to select an object, pick finishes and hardware, email our design to RM and get their mock up. A couple of weeks after approving the mock up, we will receive the completed piece and bask in glory of our choices. The initial item can be picked from the Retro Modern gallery or provided by the client. So, this might be a good way to breathe a new life into some old family heirlooms.
1 – Design Public. Along with designer furniture and pricey lighting, the site features many fun accessories, children’s gifts and unusual tableware.
2 – Uncommon Goods. The name says it all. Go there for humorous gifts, peculiar objects and funky jewelry.
3 – Yanko Design. The store features works of young American designers, such as 25togo, Joey Roth, Scott Henderson, Nonobject, Way Basics and many others.
4 – Yoox. If you are shopping for a serious design connoisseur – you will definitely find something here. Just by looking at the heavy artillery of designer names (Enzo Mari, Alvar Aalto, Bruno Munari, Ron Arad, Karim Rashid etc.) you can tell that the source promises a very exciting browsing.
5 – Neatoshop. Hipsters of all ages will applaud you if you shop here. Cool toys, T-s, gadgets and assorted geekery.
6 – Veer. Great source for a typography lover. Interesting calendars, type-inspired clothing and novelties.
7 – Generate is a big international portal for designer gifts. This year they’ve added an interesting browsing feature – you are asked to click several buttons to determine your price range, receiver’s gender and preferences. If you have done it correctly, your perfect gift idea will find you. Supposedly.
8 – Rockett St George. If unique homewares is what you are after – this place is worth checking out. You can also pick up an unusual card or a funky ornament.
9 – Compartes. What celebration can be complete without chocolate? It is always a desirable consumable gift. Compartes offers artistic chocolate designs for any occasion. And unlike some other consumable gifts – these colorful tasty pieces will be remembered.
10 – Cowgirl Creamery. Finally, if your gift recipient is a foody, but not a chocolate eater – consider gourmet cheese. Cowgirl cheeses make for a beautiful presentation and can be FedExed overnight.
