Hasta La Ideas

The latest addition to the Rising series of furniture is this unique side table by the fantastic designer, Robert van Embricqs. Like the rest of the series, the final shape was achieved with strategically placed incisions to a single piece of wood. Functional, practical, and downright beautiful, it’s a great compliment to the other pieces in the series or great as a single accent.

Designer: Robert van Embricqs

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Yanko Design
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(Fascinatingly Simple – Part Tre! was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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1. Fascinatingly Simple
2. Fascinatingly Simple – Part Deux
3. A Simple Problem Deserves A Simple Solution

This unusual lamp design goes to show that a little tape and cardboard can go a long way! Composed of just compressed cardboard and LED tape (along with a few other binding agents) the Amparo lamp makes for a versatile, cost efficient lighting solution that will work almost anywhere. Hang it, mount it, desk it, drop it, hold it… the list goes on! Did I mention that it’s flat-pack ready?!

Designer: Alejandro Delgado Charria

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Yanko Design Store – We are about more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the YD Store!
(Not Your Average Industrial Lamp was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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I first came across David Geckeler‘s work at BER-JFK, DMY’s Noho Design District exhibition for New York Design Week. “Fragment,” his three-legged metal chair, stood out with its shiny mint green, powder coated finish and the unusual jagged edges and cast notch marks under the seat. I saw “Fragment” again at DMY, where Geckeler showed it as part of the student show for the University of Arts in Berlin. Two days later I found myself looking at prototypes of that chair and others in his sunny Neukolln studio, where we talked about the philosophy behind Fragment as well as his other designs.

Origins

One of the reasons David is able to make a living as a full-time designer right out of school is because he took a much more conscientious and aggressive approach to his education than most students do. After studying for a year and half at the University of Applied Science in Potsdam, he spent a semester at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen before returning to Berlin to finish his degree in industrial design at the University of Arts in Berlin.

While his scattered university track record might seem like a less focused approach than simply staying at one place for four years, David purposefully moved from school to school to get a broader perspective. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like one school,” he explained. “It was more that I wanted to try out different schools and different philosophies of teaching.” And while he doesn’t play favorites it’s clear that his semester in Copenhagen was pivotal to his development as a designer. “For me it was really important, this Danish traditional design thinking and what they’re doing there nowadays. It’s different from Germany. The whole Danish society is so into design. They have a feeling for it.”

After his semester in Copenhagen, David decided it was time to head back to Berlin to start up his own design studio to get a few projects underway before graduation. His first product was the “Nord” chair, or Nerd, in English. Though the chair looks more sleek and refined than geeky to me, David explained that “the detail of how the shells stack together is a bit nerdy to [him].” The unique way the backrest fits into the seat is a result of a class assignment from his Copenhagen days. He had eight weeks to design and manufacture a working prototype, and by creating two basic molded plywood forms that fit together without any extra parts he dramatically simplified the process. The Nord chair was awarded a prize by Becker KG, a German manufacturer specializing in molded plywood. The visibility from the award attracted the attention of several design companies, including the Danish brand Muuto, which will launch the Nord chair for contract and commercial buyers this October. David said he worked with Muuto for a full year developing the design, and that “it was important that a Danish brand make this chair because [he] designed it there.”

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The floors of this house by Tokyo studio HUG are connected by the steps of a courtyard that climbs over a roof (+ slideshow).

Starting just above ground level, the staggered terrace steps up on top of a metal-clad garage to connect the double-height living room of the residence with a first floor bedroom.

Parapet walls surround the courtyard on two sides to screen it from the street that runs along the front of the house.

More Japanese houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Satoshi Asakawa.

The text below is from HUG:

Terrace Step House

The site is surrounded by fields and located within the comfortableness of light and wind.

Therefore, the main idea was to focus on the exterior space, and create a house holding an atmosphere of “outside” more than “inside”.

Main feature of the house is the large 50 sq m terrace steps.

The terrace steps connect the first and the second floor, and links to the living room, bedroom flatly.

The inner spaces unite with the terrace, and blends in with the outer space.

Second floor section of the terrace steps is located on top of the parking lot of the front road.

This location able to cut views from the road, but let in the light and wind into the linked living room, and create a flow throughout the outer space.

The pathway of the inner and outer spaces unite by looping dimensionally, and connecting the skip-floors organically.

The terrace steps are an extension of the interior, a large pathway, a stage, an open square, and a main feature of the house.

This house holding the vagueness of both inner and the outer space is filled with light, wind, and the comfortable life of “outside”.

LifeCycle certainly expected ads from DDB Singapore to raise their profile, but the creative team’s recent wins in the Outdoor category of the Cannes Lions have brought the international spotlight to the local bike shop with two locations in Singapore.

How often does a good ad comes along? and how often does a small local business get a chance to work with an award winning agency? LifeCycle had the opportunity to work with a team of great creatives from DDB Singapore led by Thomas Yang and Andrew Hook (Creative Directors), whom created the LifeCycle’s outdoor and print ad campaign titled “Terrain,” “Roadmap” and “Cityscape.”

Each one is accompanied by a brief poem. “Cityscape” reads:

You live in a little box.
You get into a little box that drives you to another little box.
And you spend your day thinking little boxed thoughts in your little box.
Till it’s time to leave for the other little box.
Unbox yourself. Get a life. Get a cycle.

Compared to Seo Young-Deok’s anthropomorphic sculptures, “Terrain” is a more understated (yet equally beautiful) use of bicycle chains.

Intrepid explorer
journeying to the Elevator,
bravely navigating past Office Politics,
catching your breath at Cape Watercooler before
you venture to the unknown land they call the Pantry.
Step out. Get a life. Get a cycle.

The artwork is beautiful in itself, but I’m also interested to see that the ads aren’t specific to LifeCycle or Singapore itself; rather, the clever use of bicycle components in silhouette speaks to the appeal of alternative transportation in cities the world over. Thus, they’re a serendipitous visual complement to, say, the Bicycle Film Festival, which celebrates the very same.

One more (my personal favorite) after the jump…

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