Hasta La Ideas

Gothenburg designer Charlie Styrbjörn will present a ladder with curving linked rungs during the London Design Festival next month.

Working under Charlie Styrbjörn Design, the designer steam-bent sections of solid wood to maintain the direction of the grain along the shaped sections.

“I wanted to create a unique ladder for interior use with a high decorative value but still functioning as a good ladder should,” said Styrbjörn.

Treads are flat at the centre, but curve up on alternate sides as they rise to create a continuous line between the two long poles either side.

Stained black or left natural, the ladders are not currently in production but will be exhibited at the Tent London exhibition as part of next month’s London Design Festival. Photos are by Jonas Lindstedt.

We’ve also featured a step ladder that can both rest flat against the wall and fit into a corner, plus a slimline coat rack formed from two ladders joined together.

Popular homeware designs we’ve published recently include a collection of utensils that contains an elasticated egg cup and a dustpan that funnels sweepings into the bin through its handle.

See more ladder designs »
See more homeware design »

The post Ladder by
Charlie Styrbjörn Design appeared first on Dezeen.

The shade of this lamp by Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland resembles a dining cloche lifted up in the air.

Lars Beller Fjetland‘s Cloche Lamp comprises a cast iron base with a bent ash arm slotted into it and a copper or brass-coloured shade hanging from the other end.

The three components simply slot together so they can easily be taken apart for storage or transport.

The Cloche Lamp will be on show as part of 100% Norway at Tent London during the London Design Festival in September.

The designer graduated from the Bergen National Academy of the Arts in 2012 and set up his own studio, Beller, while studying.

If you like these, check out copper pendant lamps with chunky handles by Northumbria University graduate Josie Morris and a bell-shaped lamp by German designer Leoni Werle.

More lighting design »

Here’s some more information from Tent London:

Cloche Lamp by Lars Beller Fjetland for 100% Norway at Tent London

Echoing an era of sophistication and grace, Lars Beller’s Cloche lamp curiously explores beauty, weight and balance, seeking inspiration in some of nature’s most elegant and remarkable solutions.

In an effort to set free the graceful, organic flow of form, the Cloche lamp represents an unexpected poetry; one that can only arise from an exploration of the improbable. Unexpected combinations of size, shape and material gain from each other, each part lending its strengths to the other to create a beautifully balanced whole.

Like a bluebell flower, the lamp is firmly grounded by its cast iron roots, while gently leaning its large and seductive spun copper petals towards the light; all made possible by the flexibility of its lightweight ash wood stem. The «Cloche» lamp rediscovers the inherent qualities the materials represent, while gracefully elevating their beauty.

Keeping with designer Lars Beller’s philosophy of honesty in materials and construction, the entire lamp can easily be dissembled into just three separate pieces.

The post Cloche Lamp by
Lars Beller Fjetland appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architecture firm dRMM will install 20 interlocking wooden staircases outside St Paul’s Cathedral for the London Design Festival in September.

Unveiled this morning at the London Design Festival 2013 press preview, the design comprises a complex configuration of steps to be made from 44 cubic metres of tulipwood. Visitors will be invited to climb the structure and use it as a viewpoint towards the River Thames, Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern.

“Endless Stair is a three-dimensional exercise in composition, structure and scale,” said dRMM co-founder Alex de Rijke. “The Escher-like game of perception and circulation in timber playfully contrasts with the religious and corporate environment of stone and glass in the city.”

The structure will be made of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels, which are usually created by layering up softwoods to form cheap and stable panels for fast construction. This installation will instead use a sustainable hardwood – tulipwood – to form lighter and stronger hardwood CLT panels for the first time.

The Endless Stair will be created in association with the American Hardwood Export Council and engineered by Arup. A lighting scheme for the spot will be developed by London studio Seam Design using products from LED company Lumenpulse.

The same team delivered Amanda Levete’s Timber Wave installation outside the V&A museum for the 2011 London Design Festival. The American Hardwood Export Council worked with Royal College of Art students on twelve wooden chairs at last year’s festival.

Alex de Rijke is dean of the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London. Previous architecture projects by dRMM include a golden wedding chapel by the seaside and a house with mobile walls and roof.

The London Design Festival 2013 takes place from 14 to 22 September. See more design events taking place throughout the year on our World Design Guide.

See more unusual staircases »
See more projects by dRMM »

dRMM’s Sliding House features in the Dezeen Book of Ideas. Special offer: buy the book now for just £10 »

The post dRMM to install Escher-style staircase
outside St Paul’s Cathedral appeared first on Dezeen.