Hasta La Ideas

There’s a bit of a primitive vibe going on at the moment so for this month’s top ten we’ve compiled our ten most-read stories about caves, rocks and sticks.

1: in pole position is this holiday home in Spain that was cast in the ground and hollowed out by a cow, designed by Anton García-Abril of Ensamble Studio.

2: in second place is this pavilion with a cave-like interior by Melbourne designer Callum Morton.

3: there’s another cave-like interior in third place, this time an apartment in Paris by Paul Coudamy.

4: next up is this concrete coffee-maker by Shmuel Linski.

5: at number five, Boaz Cohen & Sayaka Yamamoto of BCXSY dress up as cave-folk to launch their Change! collection of furniture.

6: sixth place goes to these ceramic kitchen knives inspired by Stone Age tools, designed by Matthias Kaeding.

7: seventh most popular is Arik Levy’s Rock Series of furniture.

8: this ring with three interchangeable rough diamonds by Sruli Recht is in eighth place.

9: these fire tools cast in bronze and iron from branches by Philippe-Albert Lefebvre are ninth most-popular.

10: and in tenth place are these plastic vases inspired by archaeological finds, designed by Sjoerd Jonkers.

That’s all for now – another top ten coming up next month.

See also:

Dezeen’s top ten: jewellery
Dezeen’s top ten: food
Dezeen’s top ten: shoes
Dezeen’s top ten: churches
Dezeen’s review of 2009
Dezeen’s top ten: Dubai projects
Dezeen’s top ten: lighting
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Dezeen’s top ten: pavilions
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Dezeen’s 2008 review
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Dezeen’s top ten: student projects
Dezeen’s top ten: interiors
Dezeen’s top ten: stories with most comments
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Monsters and monkeys and paper dolls, oh my! The August issue of Creative Review includes all of these things and more, in what the magazine is billing as its “Summer Bumper Book o’ Fun.” The fun starts at the front cover, which features surfing monsters from the mind of Stefan Bucher. Inside, the designer chats about obsessional behavior, the magic of chance, and responsibility in design. The CR funsters are also hosting an online treasure hunt to find five of Bucher’s monsters secreted about their website. Back on the page, there are games and puzzles galore, including connect the dots, instructions for a round of design studio I-Spy, and the aforementioned sneaky simians hiding in one of Johanna Basford‘s impossibly intricate trees. Soak up the more serious stuff (including a photo essay on the wild wild Midwest and an interview with novelist Will Self) before cutting out the festive mask on the back cover and staging elaborate, design-based scenarios for the young creative couple of paper dolls (pictured) created by Elliot Thoburn of Peepshow. For those who definition of fun does not include defacing imported periodicals, the issue includes URLs for downloading and printing the interactive bits.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

pimg alt=”MF_Detroit_Round_460.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/MF_Detroit_Round_460.jpg” width=”460″ height=”460″ class=”mt-image-center” style=”text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;” //p

pa href=”http://makerfaire.com/detroit/2010/” target=”_blank”Maker Faire Detroit/a opens tomorrow [Saturday] – the first ever held in America’s cradle of industry and what many view today as a post-industrial laboratory for the future./p

pThe two day event will be packed with inspiration and enjoyment for people of all ages and walks of life, including Maker Faire favorite a href=”http://www.lifesizemousetrap.org/” target=”_blank”The Life-size Mousetrap/a, hot-rodded Power Wheel racing, demonstrations on everything from circuit-bending to screen printing, rocket building and cheese making, and lots of robots. Lots and lots of robots…/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/events/maker_faire_detroit_is_here_17052.asp”(more…)/a
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Exquisite craftsmanship honors the Industrial Revolution in this luxury timepiece

by Meehna Goldsmith

Designed by complications maestro Christophe Claret, the Palace is the latest addition to the luxuriously retro watch line Jean Dunand. The timepiece, inspired by the dynamic Art Deco age (the company’s name references a famed artisan of the time period), embodies the spirit and style of the glamorously functional arts movement. Even the name is a shout-out to London’s Crystal Palace, which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and set the stage for the era.

Sourced from a range of classically Jean Dunand geometric shapes, consistent with the Art Deco ideals of function, craftsmanship and the highest grade of materials, the watch also references imagery from two iconic films of the era—Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” and Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times”—each giving life to the machine and its tools.

The Palace’s movement takes aesthetic cues from the architecture
of the Eiffel Tower, with plates supported by tiny pillars to suggest the reinforcement of a
massive, cast-iron structure. From the profile, the watch even resembles the great tower’s base. But the Industrial Revolution and its fascination with mechanized function anchor the thematics of this timepiece. The eye wanders over a landscape of tracks, wheels and a chain, evocative of those used on the chain drives of vintage Indian and Vincent motorcycles.

Exhibiting his trademark mechanical virtuosity, Claret powers the Palace with a manually wound, one-minute flying tourbillon with a 72-hour power reserve.
True to the company’s motto, no two watches share the same materials or design, making each one a truly unique piece in the collection and helping to justify the $417,000 price tag. It’s available through select retailers around the world.

University of Lincoln graduate Sebastian Cox has made a range of furniture from unseasoned coppiced hazel wood.

Presented at New Designers in London earlier this month and entitled Products of Silviculture, the range consists of two chairs, a lamp and a hat stand.

The Suent Chair (above) has a steam-bent solid hazel frame and a seat made of woven green hazel, which can be replaced as it wears out.

The back and seat of the Kerf Chair (above) are made of sawn hazel branches joined to the frame without glue, so that the structure strengthens as it dries and shrinks.

The Rod Desk Lamp (above) has a stem made from a steam-bent hazel branch and a shade made of hazel fibres.

Here’s some more from the designer:

‘Products of Silviculture’

My work embodies a strong ethos of sustainability. For this project I have used coppiced hazel as my primary working material – a material that is strong, light, entirely renewable, and grows in abundance in the UK.

The challenge in this MA project was to find creative ways to utilise this material. To do this I combined my furniture making skills with the traditional methods used to manipulate green hazel, along with a bit of creative imagination.

I see a move to a more sustainable material culture possible in several ways – using environmentally benign materials; lower impact processes; and designing products that are durable, both physically and emotionally. During the design process, this final point of being durable became the overriding idea – essentially sustainable design should avoid landfill. To make products emotionally durable they must be engaging; providing a platform upon which a relationship with the product can be built. This collection was designed to achieve this with aesthetic interest in detailing within a simple form and each piece willingly accommodating wear or patina. Being lightweight, both aesthetically and structurally, and unobtrusive were also important within this ethos – visually and physically lowering the impact of each product.

This collection also aims to promote the use of hazel as a contemporary material – an abundant resource that, I feel, is hugely overlooked in this country.

‘Suent’ Superlight Chair

Steam bent hazel, woven hazel, lacquer finish.

This piece is designed to be visually and physically lightweight – weighing only 1.8kgs. The simple form is intended to make the chair unobtrusive, so it will ease into any interior space and will not be susceptible to premature disposal brought about by heavily style-led design. The frame is made from solid hazel that has been steam bent and shaped by hand, and is constructed using traditional mortise and tenon joints. The woven hazel seat gives detailed aesthetic interest and represents the traditional methods used for thousands of years to manipulate green wood. It has also been designed to be removable so it can be easily replaced with as it wears.

‘Kerf’ Chair

Machined hazel rods and poles, lacquer finish.

This chair is a demonstration of an interesting area of my research. It uses the same form as the Suent chair but shows a totally different process. The panels on the seat and back are made from sawn hazel rods and are assembled without glue, using the shrinkage of the green wood as it dries. The profile of the rods are still visible in the panels which gives the piece varied texture and aesthetic interest.

‘Rod’ Desk Lamp

Hazel rod, hazel fibres, copper core, LED bulb and components.

This piece was the result of a lengthy design process in which I was trying to find ways to make an adjustable lamp using limited materials and processes. The weight of the lamp shade tips forwards to grip onto the stem, simultaneously connecting the copper wire and illuminating the LED bulb. The stem is a steam bent rod, and the shade is made up of hazel fibres. All components are as standardised as possible so this piece can be easily repaired and the bulb is 12volt LED so there is no risk of electric shock or overheating.

See also:

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