Dezeen promotion: Japanese furniture brand Maruni Wood Industry will launch new furniture, including two wood-framed sofas, at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan next week.
Maruni will be exhibiting a range of wooden furniture by Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison from its collection, alongside new products.
Roundish three-seater sofa by Naoto Fukasawa
Maruni art director and industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa has created the first new sofa with a curved upholstered back that gently wraps around the body. The seat is also upholstered and rests on a simple wooden frame.
Roundish three-seater sofa by Naoto Fukasawa
The Roundish sofa is a version of a chair Fukasawa designed for Maruni in 2011.
Bruno three-seater sofa by Jasper Morrison
Maruni will also showcase the new Bruno sofa by British designer Jasper Morrison, which features full rounded cushions on a bench-like wooden frame.
The sofas are upholstered in Kvadrat fabrics newly acquired by Maruni: smoky green and navy.
Lightwood chair with mesh seat and Lightwood table with Corian top by Jasper Morrison
The items have been made using woodworking techniques derived from handcrafting, shown in the movie above.
Roundish chair with wooden seat by Naoto Fukasawa
The Maruni Collection 2014 will be on show at Stand D33, Hall 6, at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan from 8 to 13 April 2014.
Roundish chair with wooden seat by Naoto Fukasawa
For more information about Maruni Wood Industry and its products, visit the website.
Here’s some more information from Maruni Wood Industry:
Maruni Collection 2014 by Maruni Wood Industry at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile
With Maruni Collection 2014, we will be introducing attractive living items by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in the Fiera main exhibition complex.
Maruni Collection 2014 Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa Date: April 8 (Tue) – 13 (Sun), 2014 Venue: Rho Fiera, Hall 6, Stand D33 Press Reception: April 8 (Tue), 2014, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
What is “Maruni Wood Industry”?
It is a Japanese furniture brand that continues to create sophisticated minimalism design with minute manufacturing to rediscover original spirits of the wood.
Roundish chair with cushioned seat by Naoto Fukasawa
Maruni was founded in Hiroshima in 1928 with the motto of “industrialise handcrafting”. Hiroshima has a long history of lifestyle involving wood, from building structures such as Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines to private dwellings, as well as tools and artefacts that we use in our everyday lives. Although Japanese furniture production previously relied on manual labor, Maruni was one of the first to start the mass-production of furniture by the division of labor that does not rely on manual skills of artisans, aiming to “industrialise handcrafting”.
After the Second World War, Maruni Wood Industry made improvements in various production stages; for example, applying new techniques such as advanced kilning system for drying wood acquired by research and development, and learning streamlined production methods developed in Europe. These improvements brought great success to Maruni in the large-scale production of decorative European furniture, allowing it to become a leading brand of classical furniture in Japan, and grow into a high-quality furniture brand known for its traditional beauty. However, as time passes, the needs for classical furniture started to decrease in Japan, driving Maruni to develop a new line of core products.
Chairs from the Nextmaruni project
Thus, the “Nextmaruni” project began in 2004. In this approach, Maruni aimed to introduce a series of chairs to the world with the theme of “message directed towards the Japanese aesthetic”, by collaborating with 12 globally recognised designers such as Alberto Meda, Michele De Lucchi, and so on.
This project proved to be a significant turning point for Maruni, because it was the first time it encountered Naoto Fukasawa, who later became an art director of the company. Fukasawa and Maruni deeply shared the enthusiasm to “create timeless wooden furniture that will be loved by people as a standard in a hundred years’ time”. This desire gave birth to Maruni Collection in 2008 as a coproduction of the designer and Maruni.
Hiroshima armchair by Naoto Fukasawa
“Wooden chairs, that have been the worldwide standard, have a sense of warmth as a craftwork, rather than a designed product. What this collection aims to present, is this humane warmth combined with subtlety and purity,” Naoto Fukasawa says. In order to produce high-quality standard furniture, it is vital to have technology rooted in a thorough knowledge of wood and furniture production. It encompasses not only the form of the furniture, but also the seating comfort, the combination of robust structure and lightness for easy handling, and delicate finishing that brings out the most of the wood quality.
One of Maruni’s distinguished technologies recognised by designers is shaving processing technology, enables a machine to take care of complex processing procedures that previously relied on craftsmen’s manual work, contributing to high-volume production. But, in the final process, the chairs are manually polished and finished one by one. The mellow, smooth curve of Hiroshima armchair from its back to arms produces a soft, gentle atmosphere that invites people to touch. While pursuing industrialisation, Maruni has kept the balance of stable production and beauty of craftwork, by leveraging the technology and knowledge of woodwork inherited from hand to hand. You can see the spirit of “manufacturing with craftsmanship”, which has been Maruni’s tradition since its foundation.
Hiroshima armchair by Naoto Fukasawa
Maruni started Maruni Collection in 2008, and welcomed Naoto Fukasawa as an art director in 2010. Jasper Morrison also joined Maruni as a designer in 2011, and this collection has grown up for covering 25 countries worldwide. The products are genuinely original to Maruni, combining the international design sensibility, uniquely Japanese aesthetics of wood material, and the detailed manufacturing techniques. They are the furniture that Maruni proudly presents to the world from Japan as a beautiful fruit of fine craftsmanship. Maruni will never stop its journey to reach even higher, producing beautiful furniture in Japan that will be long enjoyed as ultimate standards.
Japanese architect Tsubasa Iwahashi has added hanging plants and a shed-like meeting room to an office in Osaka, which workers can take a peek at through boxy windows (+ slideshow).
Tsubasa Iwahashi Architects renovated the corridor of 11 office units on one floor of a building in Osaka’s Nishi-ku district. Entitled Hut on the Corridor, the garden-inspired project creates a common area where employees can take time out from their work.
The main intervention is a wooden hut in the centre of the space, which can be used as a meeting area or a quiet chill-out zone. This structure has only three walls, so people step inside by walking around to its rear.
The hut doesn’t have any windows, but a large skylight helps to bring in light. There’s also a small peephole in one corner that reveals the feet of anyone walking by.
“Going up you take off your shoes, so in a manner different from the communication that takes place in each private room, the hut of wood creates new value, connections and ideas,” said Iwahashi.
New domestic-style windows were added between the corridors and the office units. Each one features a boxy wooden frame, where plants and other items can be displayed.
The garden aesthetic is emphasised by hanging baskets suspended from the ceiling. The architects also made a small perforation in one wall to suggest a mouse hole.
Signage is kept to a minimum. A simple floor plan is marked onto the walls of the hut to provide directions, while male and female toilets are symbolised by a pair of cartoon faces.
Here’s a project description from Tsubasa Iwahashi:
A Hut on the Corridor
Like the street and square of the city, was thought people going back and forth, to try to place that meets nearby the place, is the beginning of our image.
We have renovated the common area of one floor of the rental office building built in ’40s in the city, a small company lined. Up the stairs, step into the legs to the floor, a small hut will appear in front of you.
We have expanded the part of the narrow existing corridor, and we have created a hut that get together. From a mere corridor, the hut changes the state and landscapes the place.
Going up you take off your shoes, so in a manner different from the communication that takes place in each private room, the hut of wood located in the centre of the floor creates new value, connections and ideas.
The corridor was regarded as an external space, lighting and planting the hut is located, the image of the external light, through a window facing there, and then insert the sunshine in each private room. Coupled with people going back and forth, and green hut glimpse through the window of a private room, reminiscent of the street landscape of the city.
For adjacent building is close, it is intended that in the private room you can not feel the sunlight directly, to provide a new external environment.
I hope that while they use, environment as grow up, with the passage of time, depending on the season, the landscape as a hut go deeper.
Milan 2014: part bookend and part light source, the Ludovica by Italian design studio Zanocchi & Starke combines two pieces of desktop furniture in one minimal package (+ slideshow).
The Ludovica by Zanocchi & Starke comes in two parts. The first is an orange aluminium frame, which on its own serves as a colourful bookend.
One side of the frame slopes from top to bottom giving it a distinctive D-shape. The slope can be used as additional surface for stacking hardcovers.
The second section is a re-chargeable battery powered light encased inside an opaque white plastic box. “We had the inspiration when we lived in Rio de Janeiro,” explained the designers.
“We had an empty house with a library full of books. So we thought about something that could keep the books in order and at the same time ensure a more comfortable ambience.”
The shape of the light mimics that of the frame, allowing it to be wedged inside the aluminium element. Books can then be neatly arranged in the gap below. Alternatively, it can be used as a standalone light source with four hours worth of battery life.
To recharge the light a USB port is hidden on the underside of the opaque box, which can then be plugged into a computer via the matching orange cable.
New York architect Louise Braverman has completed an arts centre in the Portuguese town of Botica dedicated to the work of abstract artist Nadir Afonso, who grew up nearby (+ slideshow).
The Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso was designed by Louise Braverman to reflect its location on the boundary between Botica and the surrounding countryside. Situated next to a major new motorway intersection on the outskirts of the town, the building is separated into two parts, with cultural facilities facing the road and exhibition spaces at the rear.
Glazed walls enclose the corner of the ground floor facing the busy road, offering a welcoming glimpse of an interior that features a photomural of the artist.
A cantilevered roof juts out above the entrance and shelters this corner of the centre, while a rectangular box projecting from the upper section of the facade frames a view through the building.
The ground floor space is filled with colourful furniture that complements enlarged versions of the artist’s sketches, arranged in a continuous band above the glass walls of the reception.
From the lobby, visitors can access a library, a cafeteria, a multi-purpose events room and ground floor exhibition halls at the rear of the building.
The ceiling above the library curves down to accommodate the banked seats of an auditorium above, which can be accessed via a staircase leading up to a balcony.
The portion of the centre containing the galleries is partly embedded in a steeply sloping hillside and is covered in a turfed roof featuring paving arranged to reflect the geometric patterns prevalent in Afonso’s art.
A short flight of steps provides access to the upper storey of centre from the roof garden, while a long staircase along one side of the building enables those passing to catch a glimpse of the art.
This staircase is flanked by a retaining wall constructed using stone salvaged during the site excavation, which can be seen from inside the galleries. These large chunks of stone were laid without mortar using a technique called cyclopean masonry.
“Since the exhibition walls are shorter than the exterior walls, visitors can view the art against a background of the surface of the rustic stone of the recycled cyclopean retaining walls, creating a unique feeling of viewing art within a lavish grotto,” said the architect.
The space between the exhibition halls and the retaining wall enables daylight to reach the interior, but minimises direct sunlight that could damage the artworks.
A gap between the two parts of the building at the base of the staircase can be used as an outdoor dining space for the cafeteria.
Louise Braverman Architect designs Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso, An Art Museum That Links an Emerging Urban Center with its Pastoral Environs
Merging architecture and landscape, the recently completed Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso links an emerging urban centre with its pastoral environs. The 20,000-square-foot single artist museum fuses a light, lucid contemporaneity with the rich materiality and sustainability of Portuguese design to honour one of Portugal’s most beloved native sons, the artist Nadir Afonso (1920-2013).
As well as paying homage to the artist, who formerly practiced architecture with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer, the Centro, along with the artist’s foundation in nearby Chaves, will serve as an engine driving economic, cultural, and community development in the region. Sliced into a steep hillside, the new museum is divided into two distinct, but connected, parts: a light-filled cultural center looking out upon the intersection of a national highway and City Hall; and, nestled in the back, a vast, below-grade exhibition space topped by a green-roof park.
The Urban Face
In the double-height Entry Hall, a photomural of the artist and a continuous band of his sketches provide punches of bright colour visible from the street. From here, the exhibition hall, outdoor café, children’s library and stairway to the auditorium beckon, as does the exterior auditorium that is designed to encourage informal civic engagement.
The Pastoral Side
Embedded in the hillside below a sustainably planted green roof, the exhibition hall is the heart of the museum. Since the exhibition walls are shorter than the exterior walls, visitors can view the art against a background of the surface of the rustic stone of the recycled cyclopean retaining walls, creating a unique feeling of viewing art within a lavish grotto. While encouraging the perception of an indoor/outdoor layering of space, the proximity of the walls to the interior both blocks degrading direct sunlight and allows indirect daylight to reduce the museum’s carbon footprint. The green roof park, designed in the spirit of Nadir Alonso’s geometric patterns and the tradition of Roberto Burle Marx, also naturally modulates internal temperature while offering aesthetic delight to the community.
Architects: Louise Braverman, Architect Location: Rua Gomes Monteiro, Boticas, Portugal Architect in charge: Louise Braverman Design team: Artur Afonso, John Gillham, Yugi Hsiao, Jing Liu, Snow Liu, Medha Singh Area: 1858 sqm
Local architect: Paulo Pereira Almeida, Arq. Consulting architect: Artur Afonso, Arq. Landscape architect: Maria João Ferreira, Arq. Structural & plumbing engineer: JP Engenharia, Lda. Electrical and mechanical engineer: M &M Engenharia, Lda. Fire safety engineer: Palhas Lourenço, Eng.
Milan 2014: New Zealand design studio Resident will launch its collection of lighting and furniture at the Edit by designjunction exhibition in Milan‘s fashion district on Tuesday (+ slideshow).
Resident‘s collection combines handcrafted techniques with innovative engineering methods, and uses carbon fibre, bronze and glass for the first time.
Resident Parison Pendant by Nat Cheshire
Architect Nat Cheshire has two pieces in the collection, the Parison and Foundry lamps. Parison is a mouth-blown pendant lamp made from a mixture of black and clear glass in an ombre effect.
Resident Parison Pendant by Nat Cheshire
The glass is blown into a digitally faceted cherry-wood mould, designed so that the blower’s breath expires just as the glass reaches the facets, resulting in soft indentations in the bottom of the lamp that create a dappled light effect.
Resident Foundry Floor Lamp by Nat Cheshire
Foundry is a floor lamp that features 22-millimetre aluminium bars that trace the outline of a 1.9-metre-high rectangle.
Resident Fibre Light Bottle by Jamie McLellan
An LED light source projects light down from the top edge and the bottom is weighted with hand-cast bronze that bears the marks of its sand mould. Its top edge is hand polished to reflect the light from above.
Resident Fibre Light Bottle by Jamie McLellan
Jamie McLellan, a former designer at Tom Dixon, has formed the Fibre Light from paper-thin carbon-fibre strips around a central acrylic diffuser.
Resident Fibre Light Funnel by Jamie McLellan and Pick Up Sticks chair by Simon James
The light comes in two forms, the bottle and the funnel, both of which are large and yet lightweight.
Resident Scholar table by Cameron Foggo
The clean-lined Scholar Table by Sydney-based designer Cameron Foggo is constructed from a solid-oak base with a veneer top and its frame packs flat for easy shipment.
Pick Up Sticks chair by Simon James
Simon James, co-founder and creative director of Resident, has designed the Pick Up Sticks chair. The solid oak frame is available in a black stain or natural finish and the upholstered component is produced separately for shorter lead-times.
Pick Up Sticks chair by Simon James
Also by Simon James, the Tangerine Stool is the latest addition to the Tangerine family. The seat-back detail takes into account the fact that stools are often viewed from behind and the robust steel crossbars make this product ideal for contract environments.
Resident Tangerine Stool by Simon James
Resident will be showing the collection at Edit by designjunction, inside the eighteenth-century Palazzo Morando in Milan’s Brera district, open to the public from 9 to 13 April 2014.
Milan 2014: the latest collection from Dutch design brand Moooi, including furniture and lighting by Marcel Wanders and Studio Job, will launch at this year’s Milan design week (+ slideshow).
Cocktail chair by Marcel Wanders
Moooi‘s collection includes products by the brand’s creative director Marcel Wanders, who has designed a range of seating upholstered with bold prints.
Bassotti Sideboards by Marcel Wanders
Other designs by Wanders include tables with marble tops and curving metal feet, a set of dining furniture that comes in solid oak or birch, and colourful lounge chairs that have stumpy wooden feet.
Love Sofa high back by Marcel Wanders
Wanders’ Inkborn table lamp features small bulbs and lampshades on the ends of curling metal tendrils that form a candelabra with a cylindrical marble base.
Inkborn Table Lamp by Marcel Wanders
Dutch collective Studio Job has created a chunky desk with integrated cupboards and a stained oak veneer surface. Other pieces of the desk are available in white or a range of bright colours.
Paper Desk 140 Patchwork by Studio Job
Glass bubbles cover the bulbs on Bertjan Pot‘s Prop lights, which are shaped like disks or oblongs that can by mounted on the wall, suspended from the ceiling or stood on the floor.
Prop Light Floor by Bertjan Pot
Wood-framed cabinets by Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk come in a selection of shapes and sizes, and feature surfaces inlaid with leafy patterns.
Tudor Cupboard by Kiki van Eijk & Joost van Bleiswijk
Two layers of mouth-blown glass form globe-shaped lamps by Scholten and Baijings. The inner layer is patterned with dots or lines, and the pendants feature colourful tops and cords.
The collection will debut at Moooi’s Unexpected Welcome exhibition at Via Savona 56 in Milan’s Tortona district, from 7 to 13 April.
Taffeta Chair Green by Alvin Tjitrowirjo
Here’s some information about the collection from Moooi:
Bassotti Coffee Table by Marcel Wanders
A table for every occasion or a combination of tables placed side by side and onto each other to decorate with elegance, practical sense & a touch of humour. The Bassotti table collection by Marcel Wanders merges the solid grace of marble table tops with the shiny lightness of classically shaped legs.
Bassotti Tables by Marcel Wanders
Bassotti Sideboard by Marcel Wanders
A combination of practical, light wooden compartments and of classically sculptured legs, the Bassotti sideboards by Marcel Wanders embody the perfect storage solution for any home or office environment. Feel free to explore their potential by re-arranging them in different compositions to your hearts content!
Bassotti Table and Sideboards by Marcel Wanders
CANVAS 230*115 and Canvas Footstool by Marcel Wanders
Enjoy the comforts of a cozy lounge & sofa that make you feel like an expert art lover sitting on a canvas of hazy dreams.
Bassotti Tables by Marcel Wanders
Cloud Footstool by Marcel Wanders
Have you ever wished that you could fall into the softness of a white cloud that looks like cotton candy? After a brief reality check this daydream is forgotten, until you catch a glimpse of the Cloud sofa by Marcel Wanders, a composition of rounded shapes & soft white cushions.
Canvas 230 and Canvas footstool by Marcel Wanders
Cocktail Chair by Marcel Wanders
Mix the lightness of your favourite cocktail with the weight of Dutch historical heritage, while comfortably lounging in Marcel Wanders’ Cocktail chair. Its straightforward design is luxuriously enveloped in a stylish signature woven textile, Heritage for cocktail. With its black and white symbols of Dutch legacy, this woven jewel adds a cultural patchwork of photography and graphics to the chair’s instant flair.
Colour Globe by Marcel Wanders
The Colour Globe lamps by Scholten & Baijings inaugurate a new collaboration with Moooi in the name of refinement and transparency. Two layers of fine mouth blown glass run parallel in a rounded embrace of playful details and colourful contrasts that optically blend into each other, generating a dynamic effect. Through the glass layers beats its heart, a bright LED lamp enclosed and protected by an opal shrine.
Colour Globe Blue Dot by Scholten and Baijings
Container Oval 210 by Marcel Wanders
A new versatile family member enters the Container Table series by Marcel Wanders. Available in the same materials & colours as its sibling, it combines soft, rounded shapes with a slender body: a dream of many. Find the perfect Container Table Oval for your needs or those of your home, working area or public space.
Container Oval Top 210 by Marcel Wanders
Container Oval 260 by Marcel Wanders
A new versatile family member enters the Container Table series by Marcel Wanders. Available in the same materials & colours as its sibling, it combines soft, rounded shapes with a slender body: a dream of many. Find the perfect Container Table Oval for your needs or those of your home, working area or public space.
Container Oval Top 260 by Marcel Wanders
Inkborn Table Lamp by Marcel Wanders
Marcel Wanders’ Inkborn table lamp conveys the rounded shapes of traditional chandeliers and encloses the futuristic substance of an electro sandwich. This new family member combines ingenious technology and timeless charm!
Kroon 7 Champagne Glow Matt by Marcel Wanders
A softer version of the Kroon lamp by ZMIK (Matthias Mohr & Rolf Indermühle) in a Golden Glow Matt, brings a touch of sunshine to its star-like design. Its new light (champagne) matt features facilitate the diffusion of a golden glow that adds an intense feeling of warmth and coziness to a very cool design!
Kroon 11 Champagne Glow Matt by Marcel Wanders
A softer version of the Kroon lamp by ZMIK (Matthias Mohr & Rolf Indermühle) in a Golden Glow Matt, brings a touch of sunshine to its star-like design. Its new light (champagne) matt features facilitate the diffusion of a golden glow that adds an intense feeling of warmth and coziness to a very cool design!
L’Afrique Carpet by Marcel Wanders
The print of L’Afrique carpet is familiar and mysterious at the same time. Typical elements of traditional African iconography are swallowed into a dense jungle of foliage becoming iconic, yet outspoken symbols of power. Looking into this fantasy world feels like hiding away behind one of the tribal masks, into the dark, with its intricate ramifications of feelings, fears and longings … a place where anything can happen.
Love Chair by Marcel Wanders
Love Sofa, Love Chair and Love Sofa High Back by Marcel Wanders
Have you ever fallen in love with a chair or on a sofa? Both experiences are possible, even probable while enjoying a romantic dinner for two in the Love chair or cuddling up with your sweetheart in one of the Love sofas by Marcel Wanders. Their cosy, soft and rounded shapes are available in several textile options, including the designers’ tailor made signature textile ‘Plush’, made of a soft, luxurious synthetic fur that looks like the cutest white, fluffy teddy bear. One of the sofas has a higher backrest because, as we know, love comes in all shapes & forms. The intimacy of two people snuggled up together is what truly matters. Whether you are flirting with your beloved or with a box of chocolate, enjoy the sweetness of Love!
Love Sofa by Marcel Wanders
Nest Chair and Nest Sofa by Marcel Wanders
The Nest collection’s linear, clear metal structure lifts the plumpest and softest cushions from the floor, creating a comfy, elevated nest for one or more people. For the lovers of fresh, colourful prints Marcel Wanders has developed two signature textiles with a heart of sunshine: ‘One minute’, with its instant splashes of blue skies, and ‘Flower bits’, with a bloom of flowers and butterflies.
Nest Chair Old Blue by Marcel Wanders
Nut Dining Chair, Nut Lounge Chair and Nut Footstool by Marcel Wanders
Sitting in the warm embrace of the Nut dining and lounge chair by Marcel Wanders you will feel protected and as precious as the most beautiful pearl in the sea. The precious flavour of its design and the rich pattern of its textiles distinguish it from the mass. Its cushions enclose you in the comfortable embrace of Marcel Wander’s signature textile ‘Oil’.
Nest Sofa Flower Bits by Marcel Wanders
Paper Desk 140 and Paper Desk 180 by Studio Job
Have you ever dreamt of a classic-looking desk made of white paper and cardboard? Thinking outside the box, Studio Job makes that crazy idea come true by extending their renowned Paper collection to our studios and working areas with the playful utility of the Paper Desk. Its surface, made of dark stained oak veneer, brings a touch of warmth to an otherwise candid desk.
Nut Lounge Chair Oil with Footstool Oil by Marcel Wanders
Prop Light, Prop Light Wall and Floor, Prop Light Round and Prop Light Round Floor by Bertjan Pot
“We have round lights, we have straight lights. We have them with lights on one side, we have them with lights on two sides. You can hang them high, low, horizontally, vertically or even hang them in an angle. Put them on the floor, hang them on your wall or down from the ceiling. We find it very hard to imagine an interior where this prop is not in place”, Bertjan Pot.
Nut Dining Chair White Leather by Marcel Wanders
Indeed the most versatile lamp ever, the straightforward yet ingenious Prop Light by Bertjan Pot represents the perfect lighting solution for literally any kind of interior. Whether you prop it up against a wall, hang it from a ceiling or place it on a floor, its bubbly form and pure spirit brighten up any kind of environment with a fresh, timeless elegance. Enjoy ethereal spheres of light in your home, at the office or in a public space.
Prop Light Round Double by Bertjan Pot
Salago by Danny Fang
The Salago lamp by Danny Fang is born out of his fascination for the timeless value of mastering a craft in contrasts with the quick pace of mass production. By combining the techniques of Paper Mache and paper pulping he creates a lamp with a strong structure and incredibly light body.
Taffeta Sofa Orange by Alvin Tjitrowirjo
Taffeta Sofa and Chair by Alvin Tjitrowirjo
Inspired by the crafts of traditional Indonesian textile weavers, Alvin Tjitrowirjo’s Taffeta sofa and chair embody the spirit of local craftsmanship applied to decorate sacred places housing important celebratory occasions. Their blown up woven structure adds a playful twist to the softness of the rounded shapes and to the delicate flower & fruit motif of the cushions.
Tapered Table by Moooi Works and Nut Dining Chairs by Marcel Wanders
Tapered Table 190 * 100 and Tapered Table 250 * 100 by Moooi Works
If you are looking for an elegant, fine table to lighten up your dining room but don’t want to give up the warm appearance of wood, this is the table for you! Around its tapered wooden surface you can entertain your friends in style, enjoy a family dinner or check your e-mail while savoring a drink. Although delicate and light legged, its structure of solid oak will support any amount of treasures you can possibly think of.
Tapered Table White Washed by Moooi Works
Tudor by Joost van Bleiswijk & Kiki van Eijk
Tudor Cupboard
The Tudor Cupboard is the perfect grand space to store your good tableware, shiny glassware and all sorts of curiosities or clothing. With all the grace of its tall and dignified appearance, it will protect precious treasures and great memories with the constancy and devotion of a loyal friend.
Tudor Buffet
The Tudor Buffet is the ideal decorative sideboard that you can trust with your dearest belongings and cherished family board games. At the same time it will support and emphasize a beautiful lamp or a bouquet of flowers with the strength of solid wood & the gracefulness of woven textiles.
Tudor Low Cupboard
The Tudor Cabinet is the smallest member of the Tudor family but no less in value or strength. Your old typewriter or beloved leather bag will make themselves at home in its cozy compartments, where you can also conceal unfinished paperwork or an eccentric garden gnome…
Valentine Table Lamp by Marcel Wanders
Valentine Table Lamp by Marcel Wanders
After the sparkling excitement of Valentine & Valentine Baby, please meet the new family member: Valentine Table Lamp. Love at first sight is guaranteed with its warm glow of its florid heart. “A magic mirror and the power of crystals transform a simple shell into an endless light bouquet of flowers” – Marcel Wanders.
Zio Collection by Marcel Wanders
Zio Dining Chair
Dining at home acquires a whole new meaning with the classic elegance and contemporary comfort of the Zio dining chair by Marcel Wanders. Sitting in its solid, sculptured wooden structure and soft cushioned body makes you feel immediately at ease, ready for an exquisite meal and a sharp conversation!
Zio Lounge Chair and footstool by Marcel Wanders
Zio Lounge Chair and Footstool
Lean back, close your eyes, relax your arms on the smooth armrests and grant yourself the time to drift your imagination away, beyond your surroundings, into the street, beyond the starry night. Living your fantasies is easy while cosily sitting in the solid softness of Marcel Wanders’ Zio lounge chair!
Zio Coffee Tabl by Marcel Wanders
Zio Coffee Table
The perfect living room mates any time of the day. Marcel Wanders’ Zio coffee tables bring a touch of playful elegance to your afternoons, either entertaining friends or while enjoying a quick coffee on a busy day. Their rounded silhouette and sharp looks come in two sizes, so that you can find the right fit for any space!
Zio Dining Table by Marcel Wanders
Zio Dining Table
In most households the table is the central piece of the dining room, the heart around which families gather, entertain and relax. Many special memories revolve around its steady presence. With their graceful look and refined details, the Zio tables by Marcel Wanders bring a touch of style to any moment.
Zio Buffet by Marcel Wanders
Zio Buffet
The perfect place to store away serious paperwork, endearing photographs and pieces of past memories, the Zio buffet by Marcel Wanders conveys a solid, classy appearance with a touch of playfulness. Trust it with anything: it will protect your finest treasures and support flower vases or car keys with dignity.
Architect and photographer Marc Gerritsen designed this house for himself on a Thai island, with an skeleton-like structure that frames sea views (+ slideshow).
Nestled into a hillside amidst the nature reserves of Koh Samui, Naked House gives Marc Gerritsen an escape from his busy city life, which sees him travel frequently between Taiwan and other Asian countries.
“Life in Taipei is very hectic, and I needed a place to escape. I really wanted a quiet area and a fantastic view,” said Gerritsen. “The house was a return to the basic values in life: good clean air, wide-open space, quiet solitude.”
The five-storey house is formed of a series of levels that cascade down the hillside, protruding like the tiers of a staircase.
Gerritsen chose very basic materials to emphasise the location and view. The base of the house is concrete, while a galvanised steel frame rests on top to contain the two upper floors.
“There are no embellishments. The focus is on the space rather than the materials,” said the architect.
An open-plan living space occupies the ground floor, fronted by wooden-framed windows that slide back to overhang the facade. These windows open the space out to a large terrace with wooden decking, a tiled swimming pool and concrete planting boxes.
The living space contains a simple kitchen with low-level cupboards on one side, a seating area on the other, and a dining area sandwiched in between. There is also a patio shaded by the flat steel roof canopy.
An exterior concrete staircase leads up to a master bedroom, which perches at the top of the house. This is a self-contained structure that also features sliding windows, balcony and an over-hanging roof.
An open-air en suite sits alongside the bedroom, offering panoramic views of the surroundings from the bath and shower.
Another staircase wraps around the outside of the house, tracing the curve of the hillside from the living space down to floors below.
An exposed room with a swinging sofa occupies the space below the deck, along with a steam room.
The next floor down contains two symmetrical bedrooms, where large sliding wooden doors reveal huge bowl-like baths, while the final floor houses houses an office and a maid’s room.
Here’s a description from Marc Gerritsen:
The Naked House
The main thing about this location is the expanse of the surroundings and the quietness. Life in Taipei is very hectic, and I needed a place to escape. I really wanted a quiet area and a fantastic view. Having an open plan living room, with doors that can totally slide away, which look out at the pool and the ocean – that’s something I’d been thinking about for a long time. With this plot, I was able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The house was a return to the basic values in life: good clean air, wide-open space, quiet solitude. With these basic values you can be in a space that is uncluttered, and your mind can become still. That’s also the reason behind the very basic materials that I have used: concrete, wood, steel and glass. There are no embellishments. The focus is on the space rather than the materials.
I originally planned three stories: two bedrooms on the bottom; the pool, living area and kitchen on the middle level; and an office on top. But I’ve added a bathroom on the living room level, a laundry room and pantry. I wanted a simple kitchen, with no overhead cupboards or tall fridge, so the pantry is good for storage. I added a freestanding open-air bathroom, as the top room became a magnificent master bedroom, which needed an en-suite.
The tank and plant room became a large open room with a swing bed, underneath the deck I added a steam room, and the space below the bedrooms now houses an office and maid’s room. So it ended up being five stories – the result of a work in progress.
My work over the last few years as an architectural and interior photographer has taught me what not to do. Looking at all the incredibly fine detailed properties I photographed in Asia. I thought: “Is this really necessary to be comfortable? If I walk on a concrete floor or if I walk on a marble floor, is it going to make my living experience so much better?” No. You just need a floor to walk on. I am interested in a return to basics, in a luxury monastic way of living.
Big-Game‘s Castor Low Chair for Karimoku New Standard adds to the Castor family previously created by the studio, which all use Japanese oak.
“Karimoku New Standard’s know-how in woodworking combines skilled craftsmen with cutting edge technology,” the studio told Dezeen. “They have achieved the slim armrest using very precise joinery work, milling and sanding, and have given it a great finish that ages well. After all, it’s a part that you’re always touching or rubbing against when you’re sitting on an armchair.”
The Castor references ergonomics of chairs found in traditional Swiss cafes, including the low seat with a wide backrest.
The chair joins a collection that comprises a bench, a shelf, stackable stools and seats, as well as dining tables. It is available in natural oak, grey, black and green.
The piece will be on show as part of Karimoku New Standard’s exhibition during the Salone del Mobile in Milan.
Asymmetric windows complete the angular timber-clad volumes of this nursery in Heilbronn, Germany, by local studio Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten (photographs by Zooey Braun + slideshow).
Mattes Sekiguchi Partner Architekten designed the wooden Kleinkindhaus as a complex of playrooms and learning spaces for Heilbronn’s Waldorf School.
To complement the building’s green surroundings, the architects sourced Swiss pine to create an exposed wood-panelled facade and a bare wooden interior.
“The timber construction is a natural and elemental method of building,” architect Kristina Heuer told Dezeen. “The building is inspired by nature. It literally grows out of the site and unfolds like an organism.”
Situated between the existing school building and the kindergarten, the timber-clad nursery is inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s architectural theories promoting accessible spaces that open out to nature and are filled with natural light.
“The polygonal shape is a reaction to the surrounding landscape. It provides pleasant, sustainable and healthy space and therefore satisfies the social, physical, and spiritual needs of its occupants,” explained Heuer.
Angular windows puncture the exterior walls, while gill-like slits allow natural ventilation.
The elongated section of the building acts as a backbone for three protruding group activity rooms, connected by a long corridor. These rooms open out into an external play area and include areas for the children to rest.
“For us, it was very important to create a light and open environment for the children and nursery nurses,” said the architect.
The main entrance leads to a multi-purpose room and reception area for guests, while suspended orbs illuminate the way to the kitchen, office and storage rooms.
Other spaces include a computer room and a wardrobe where children can store their coats.
The free Waldorf school Heilbronn is situated in a green oasis, between two poles: the large-scale development of schools and the university in the north and east, and the heterogenous housing development in the west and south. The new Kleinkind-house was built between the main building and the kindergarten in a confined area.
An elongated ridge, opened by a multi-purpose room, houses the administration and the secondary rooms. It points the way to the arriving people, guides and accompanies their way and protects the attached three buildings of the group rooms like a strong backbone.
Those three group rooms stick like fingers into the green space, joggle with it and form individual south- facing open spaces. An in-between zone is formed between the group rooms and the backbone, which self- evidently construes the situation of entrance. Insides, it sets the space for public and semi-public movement and communication.
The whole building is polygonal reshaped in ground plan and elevation. The resulting flowing spaces follow the anthroposophical architectural idea of Rudolf Steiner. It creates diverse and high-quality spacial situations with different connections of views and outdoor spaces. There are places, which invite to stay, to play, to move, to learn or to rest. An open, light and friendly atmosphere couples with good clarity and easy orientation.
Using the wood planking façade and wood panelling interior walls, the wooden frame construction is made visualised and experienceable. The choice of material follows the logic of organic construction. On one side the building is integrated into the surroundings and on the other side it is conform to the users need for natural and harmonic building materials.
Behind the brickwork exterior of the new Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, England, architecture studio Haworth Tompkins designed a curved auditorium built from 25,000 reclaimed bricks (+ slideshow).
Haworth Tompkins was tasked with designing a new home for the popular theatre, previously housed in an nineteenth-century chapel, to make room for an expanding programme. Working on the same site, the architects tried to retain some features of the original building.
“The biggest challenge was to win over those who were worried the character of the Everyman would be lost in a new building,” project architect Will Mesher told Dezeen.
“The original Everyman had an informal character, described as somewhere you didn’t have to dress up to go to, but could wear a ball gown if you felt like it,” he said. “We tried to retain this spirit in the new spaces.”
The walls of the old building had to be carefully dismantled so that the bricks could be reused within the new theatre. These now form the main wall between the 400-seat auditorium and its surrounding foyer.
Photograph by the architects
Another distinctive feature of the new building is an animated facade where over 100 sunshades are etched with the portraits of some of Liverpool’s residents, taken by local photographer Dan Kenyon.
A glowing red sign in front references the original signage, while a row of large ventilation chimneys give the building a distinctive silhouette. The rest of the exterior is built from a typical local brick stock.
“It is a common material in the area, both in the nearby Georgian terraces and in the industrial and warehouse buildings to the rear, so brick serves to tie the theatre in with the surrounding streets,” said Mesher.
The building’s interior is laid out over split levels to negotiate a slope across the site. This means public spaces such as the bar and foyer are arranged over several storeys, creating a tiered route from the street to the auditorium.
A concrete structure is left exposed throughout these spaces and sits alongside a palette that includes black steel, oak and recycled iroko wood. “We looked for materials that would be robust and age well,” said the architect.
As well as the main auditorium, which features a thrust stage, the building accommodates a smaller performance space, a large rehearsal room, exhibition spaces and a writers’ room.
Photography is by Philip Vile, apart from where otherwise indicated.
Here’s a project description from Haworth Tompkins:
Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
The Liverpool Everyman is a new theatre, won in open European competition, for an internationally regarded producing company. The scope of work includes a 400 seat adaptable auditorium, a smaller performance and development space, a large rehearsal room, public foyers, exhibition spaces, catering and bar facilities, along with supporting offices, workshops and ancillary spaces. The entire facade is a large, collaborative work of public art. The design combines thermally massive construction with a series of natural ventilation systems and low energy technical infrastructures to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating for this complex and densely inhabited urban building.
The Everyman holds an important place in Liverpool culture. The original theatre, converted from the 19th century Hope Hall chapel, had served the city well as a centre of creativity, conviviality and dissent (often centred in its subterranean Bistro) but by the new millennium the building was in need of complete replacement to serve a rapidly expanding production and participation programme. Haworth Tompkins’ brief was to design a technically advanced and highly adaptable new theatre that would retain the friendly, demotic accessibility of the old building, project the organisation’s values of cultural inclusion, community engagement and local creativity, and encapsulate the collective identity of the people of Liverpool. The new building occupies the same sensitive, historic city centre site in Hope Street, immediately adjacent to Liverpool’s Catholic cathedral and surrounded by 18th and 19th century listed buildings, so a balance of sensitivity and announcement in the external public realm was a significant design criterion. Another central aspect of the brief was to design an urban public building with exceptional energy efficiency both in construction and in use.
The building makes use of the complex and constrained site geometry by arranging the public spaces around a series of half levels, establishing a continuous winding promenade from street to auditorium. Foyers and catering spaces are arranged on three levels including a new Bistro, culminating in a long piano nobile foyer overlooking the street. The auditorium is an adaptable thrust stage space of 400 seats, constructed from the reclaimed bricks of Hope Hall and manifesting itself as the internal walls of the foyers. The building incorporates numerous creative workspaces, with a rehearsal room, workshops, a sound studio, a Writers’ Room overlooking the foyer, and EV1 – a special studio dedicated to the Young Everyman Playhouse education and community groups. A diverse disability group has monitored the design from the outset.
Externally, local red brick was selected for the walls and four large ventilation stacks, giving the building a distinct silhouette and meshing it into the surrounding architecture. The main west-facing facade of the building is as a large-scale public work of art consisting of 105 moveable metal sunshades, each one carrying a life-sized, water-cut portrait of a contemporary Liverpool resident. Working with Liverpool photographer Dan Kenyon, the project engaged every section of the city’s community in a series of public events, so that the completed building can be read as a collective family snapshot of the population in all its diversity. Typographer and artist Jake Tilson created a special font for a new version of the iconic red ‘Everyman’ sign, whilst regular collaborating visual artist Antoni Malinowski made a large painted ceiling piece for the foyer, to complement an internal palette of brickwork, black steel, oak, reclaimed Iroko, deeply coloured plywood and pale in situ concrete.
The Everyman has been conceived from the outset as an exemplar of sustainable good practice. An earlier feasibility study had recommended a much larger and more expensive building on a new site, but Haworth Tompkins argued for the importance of continuity and compactness on the original site. Carefully dismantling the existing structure, all the nineteenth century bricks were salvaged for reuse as the shell of the new auditorium and recycled the timbers of the roof structure. By making efficient use of the site footprint Haworth Tompkins avoided the need to acquire a bigger site and demolish more adjoining buildings. Together with the client team they distilled the space brief into its densest and most adaptable form.
Having minimised the space and material requirement of the project, the fabric was designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating, unusual for an urban theatre building. Natural ventilation for the main performance and workspaces is achieved via large roof vents and underfloor intake plenums, using thermal mass for pre-cooling, and the foyers are vented via opening screens and a large lightwell. The fully exposed concrete structure (with a high percentage of cement replacement) and reclaimed brickwork walls provide excellent thermal mass, while the orientation and fenestration design optimise solar response – the entire west facade is designed as a large screen of moveable sunshades. Offices and ancillary spaces are ventilated via opening windows.
The building has taken almost a decade of intensive teamwork to conceive, achieve consensus, fundraise, design and build, and the design will ensure a long future life of enjoyment by a diverse population of artists, audiences and staff.
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