Louis Pretty by Philipp Mainzer, Berlin, Germany

Louis Pretty by Philipp

Stark yet welcoming, the interior of new deli Louis Pretty takes inspiration from Palm Springs modernism and David Hockney’s iconic painting A Bigger Splash. Located in Berlin’s hip Kreuzberg neighbourhood, the deli was designed by Philipp Mainzer Office for Architecture and Design, and reworks common deli touchpoints such as bench seating, a counter bar focused […]

Kia Utzon-Frank The Idea Sculptor

Kia Utzon-Frank The Idea Sculptor

It seems as though there’s no limit to what Kia Utzon-Frank’s KUFStudio can create. One project that has gained the studio much attention is the production of small, geometric shapes that resemble desk ornaments but are in fact cakes. Utzon-Frank originally trained as a goldsmith and has now brought her eye for sleek modern design […]

Atelier Biagetti – The Redesigners

Atelier Biagetti - The Redesigners

Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari, the duo behind Milan-based design team Atelier Biagetti, focus on creating objects and experiences that decontextualize what we tend to take for granted in societal settings. The 2015 show Body Building, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, deconstructed our social obsession with body image by re-imagining gym equipment as a luscious, […]

Designers Challenge Perception of Surface, Texture & Weight

Designers Challenge Perception of Surface, Texture & Weight

THE FORM – SOFT Classic Art is revisited with rounded edges and deceptively soft materials. Perceptions of surface, texture and weight are challenged by designers creating furniture and interiors that juxtapose contradictory material form and colour qualities. Monolithic geometric forms are combined in palettes of warm greys, flesh-toned nudes and beige. 1. ROLY POLY: ASSEMBLAGE […]

Top 6 Textured Patterns for Ceramics, Packing and Furniture

Top 6 Textured Patterns for Ceramics, Packing and Furniture

THE PATTERN – SEDIMENT Designers pay homage to the study of geology in the creation of granulated and textured patterns for ceramics, packing and furniture. Both man-made and organic patterns directly reference organic mineral processes, including salt staining, marbling and corroded surfaces. These textures are applied to a variety of materials, from stone to paper […]

Ad Hoc : Democratised Design and Production

Ad Hoc Democratised Design and Production

We are witnessing a new industrial revolution; one that rejects big business and pursues democratized design and production. Consumers are demonstrating new values around consumption, and designers are shifting their focus from polished, elitist design to more ad hoc new crafts that mash together digital fabrication and reclaimed materials, creating a design direction with an […]

Reviving Local Economies by Harvesting Waste

Reviving Local Economies by Harvesting Waste

Posing the question of whether industry and nature can co-exist, designer Marlène Huissoud investigates waste material from the insect world in her sculpture collection Of Insects and Men. Combining honey bee bio-resin, a natural by-product of beekeeping, with manmade waste glass fragments, Huissoud challenges our understanding of ‘real’ and ‘fake’. The bio-resin is processed using […]

Crafted Symbiosis – Respect for Nature

Crockery in black basalt by Max Lamb for 1882 Ltd

Respect for nature combines with technological and scientific innovation in a design direction that channels craft through a contemporary filter. Consumers are rejecting mass-produced, homogenized design churned out by global corporations in editions of hundreds of thousands, and are shifting their retail preferences from global to local. They are buying locally produced goods underpinned by […]

HandWoven SeaWeed Chairs – Potentiel Alternative to Cotton

HandWoven SeaWeed Chairs - Potentiel Alternative to Cotton

Sea Me by Studio Nienke Hoogvliet, Delft, the Netherlands Studio Nienke Hoogvliet’s Sea Me collection features a chair with a seat made from hand-woven seaweed yarn, dyed using seaweed, and a wooden side table finished with paint also made from seaweed. Seaweed is abundant in the world’s oceans and is a low-impact harvest as it […]

SS2019 Latest Collection by IKEA Eco-Friendly Furniture

SS2019 Collection by IKEA Eco-Friendly Furniture

In an effort to reduce its environmental impact, Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has developed a new range of products made from recycled waste materials. For the 2019 edition of its PS collection, design teams for the furniture and home accessories giant worked from the factory floor. This enabled them to observe and better […]