Hasta La Ideas

Spanish designer Nacho Carbonell has extended his series of lights swathed in metal mesh, which Carpenters Workshop Gallery will present at The Armory Show art fair in New York this week.

Floor lamps, a chandelier and a light-cum-table are among the new pieces that the Eindhoven-based designer has created in the style of his Light Mesh series, which also includes a standing lamps and hybrid furniture.

As with the earlier designs, metal mesh wraps around the lights in lumpy shapes that vary where the material has been scrunched, folded or pulled taught. Perforations in the metal are also different sizes to offer a range of lighting effects, while pigments are used to produce hues of blue and pink.

LED lights are hidden behind the metal gauze, held up by a welded metal stand that branches in different directions like a tree.

This element is left like a cut-off stalk at the base of the chandelier. But for the other lights, Carbonell created lumpy bases by cobbling together materials he found in his studio, like mesh, paper, metal and silicone. One of these lamps is raised on top of a table to create a furniture piece with dual purposes.

Modelled on natural rock formations, the stands features different coloured layers, mottled patterns and holes that resemble weathering.

“We start creating the sediment stone on a square block,” Carbonell told Dezeen. “We crack [it] and that’s the seed from where the shape starts coming from, then welding the trunk and branches where the mesh bubble grows.”

Carpenters Workshop Gallery, which represents Carbonell, is modelling its booth at this year’s Armory Show on the designer’s Eindhoven studio. The new lights will be displayed on a workshop table, alongside the his tools, models, found objects and unfinished designs.

“A cite of utility and experimentation, the workshop table serves as a ‘cabinet of curiosity’ where the past, present and future of Carbonell’s studio intersects,” said the gallery. “These ‘amulets’ are both signposts, seeds from which new ideas, new objects, new collections grow, and the artist’s companions in the creative process.”

Light Mesh follows a host of designs by Carbonell made with unconventional shapes and materials, including tables and chairs covered in gravel and thorns, and furniture with a stretchy elastic skin.

He is among a host of contemporary artists represented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery, which has locations in London, Paris and New York, and recently exhibited Wonmin Park’s patinated aluminium furniture and Mathieu Lehanneur’s Liquid Marble table series.

Carpenters Workshop Gallery is exhibiting in Booth 912 at Manhattan’s Pier 92 and 94 as part of this year’s Armory Show, which is taking place from 8 to 11 March 2018. The gallery will also have a presence at the Collective Design fair, which was moved this year to coincide with the art festival.

The post Nacho Carbonell expands cocoon lamp collection for New York’s Armory Show appeared first on Dezeen.

Scent is one of many senses Off-White’s Virgil Abloh and Byredo’s Ben Gorham manipulate for their multi-category collaboration “Elevator Music.” And yet, the aroma is so compelling—floral but without gender, steady but not overpowering—that it……

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The high-end housing market in Manhattan is booming thanks to President Donald Trump‘s economic policies and tax cuts for the wealthy, according to a prominent real-estate broker firm.

Sales and enquiries for upscale townhouses and mansion-like properties across the New York City borough have skyrocketed over the past year, said a statement from broker Leslie J Garfield & Co.

Using data from market analysts Dataloft, the company found that demand, value and number of refurbishment projects among these types of homes are all increasing.

Stock market confidence stimulates sales

The real-estate firm put this shift down to what it described as “Trump economics” – the president’s focus on stimulating the US economy via Wall Street, and tax cuts for the highest earners, similar to those championed by former president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

“During the Reagan era the luxury residential market in Manhattan boomed, something Trump in business himself benefitted directly from,” said company president Jed Garfield. “He now seems to be aiming at replicating this under his own administration, and certainly the New York City real-estate data from the last 12 months indicates that its starting to have an effect.”

Confidence in the stock market and interest from rich overseas buyers is contributing to the boom at the top end of the market, where Leslie J Garfield & Co operates, according to the firm.

“Trump is committed to talking up America,” said partner and managing director Rick Pretsfelder. “He has decreased taxes for pass-through-entities, his tax reforms are lowering bills for firms and wealthy Americans, and he is engaged in the largest expansion in government spending since 1945.”

“All of this is aimed at producing a more robust economy, a booming stock market and upturn in real-estate demand and values,” he added.

New York property prices overtaking London

The research revealed that square-footage prices for Manhattan’s most expensive properties have surpassed those in affluent areas of London, like Kensington and Chelsea, and are also overtaking those in exclusive Knightsbridge.

On the Upper East Side – long considered New York’s wealthiest neighbourhood – the average sales price for townhouses and mansions has surged by 21 per cent over the past year to $13.6 million (£9.8 million). This compares to a $12.5 million (£9 million) average for these types of properties in Knightsbridge and Belgravia.

Leslie J Garfield & Co’s intel says that other areas of New York City experiencing similar trends for townhouse sale-price increases – compared to the beginning of last year – include the Upper West Side (seven per cent), Midtown East (38 per cent) and Brooklyn Heights (13 per cent).

“Sales volume is up 27 per cent since the start of 2017, with an average of six townhouses/mansions now selling each month, compared to just a trickle during the recession-hit Obama years,” said the company’s statement.

Wealthy foreigners also investing in NY property

For Manhattan residences priced over $20 million, 63 per cent of enquiries are from domestic buyers and 27 per cent from international buyers. The top four countries for foreign investment are China, Britain, France and Germany, the research claims.

Trump made much of his fortune in real estate, developing sites and building towers for high-end residential all over the world, before running for president. Leslie J Garfield & Co is not fully confident in his policies, but says the evidence suggests that they are having the desired affect at present.

“In our view its a big economic gamble and Trump remains a very polarising figure in America,” said Pretsfelder. “However, what is not in dispute is the fact that Manhattan’s most exclusive addresses, led by the Upper East Side, are seeing an upturn in sales volumes, values and enquiries.”

The post “Trump economics” boosts Manhattan’s luxury property market appeared first on Dezeen.

Rolls-Royce is more brand than car. Yes, they make some stunning automobiles (sometimes painted with real diamonds), but they’re selling you the idea of luxury rather than a product). The company is known for its large, unassuming cars, with their perfect paint-jobs, stellar interiors, and the Spirit of Ecstacy, but what if they were also known for their automotive design??

Ivan Venkov thinks RR needs an aesthetic refresh. Their work is remarkable but is far from contemporary, he says. The conceptual RR Coupé builds on the design of theSilver Cloud, but gives the entire automobile a series of visual tweaks that make the car look like Rolls-Royce 2.0. Take for starters the headlamps, that opt for the angular, aggressive approach as opposed to Rolls-Royce’s standard horizontal headlamp. All the curves are indicative of flowiness, that deviate from the blockish designs of Rolls-Royce. The result is a car that may be body-heavy, but looks aerodynamic thanks to the use of flowing lines (that side profile steals my heart!).

The rims of the concept car get a chariot-like appearance, saying luxury without literally having to, and my personal favorite is the little lady on the front. The Spirit of Ecstacy gets her avatar updated too. While the older statuette was probably the most flowy/organic thing on the entire car, with the billowing clothes, the new Spirit is definitely more edgy and sculptural, looking modern/contemporary, rather than something you’d see in a museum.

Every inch of the RR Coupé is redesigned, from its remarkable continuous taillight to the angular headlamps, to the Spirit of Ecstacy. What’s remarkable is that even though so much has changed, the Rolls-Royce flavor isn’t lost. If nothing, it’s enhanced, and holds the ability to capture more hearts, don’t you think??

Designer: Ivan Venkov

As denim distressing and various washes wax and wane in attention, hand-finishing and chemicals are used to achieve the look of the moment. Levi’s, however, wants to cut out all hazardous chemicals by 2020. Hailing from their innovation department……

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