Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: British fashion designer Paul Smith has applied his iconic striped fabrics to a selection of furniture by legendary Danish designer Hans J. Wegner, which will be presented in Milan next month.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wegner’s birth, Paul Smith picked his favourite pieces from those produced by Danish furniture brand Carl Hansen & Søn for the limited edition collection.

The Big Stripe and Stripes fabrics designed by Smith for American textile brand Maharam were used to upholster products including the Shell Chair, Wing Chair and Wishbone Chair, which were created by the Danish Modernist designer between the late 1940s and the 1960s.

Smith’s striped fabrics are woven from worsted wool in a range of colours and the two designs offer different densities of pattern. The Stripes pattern was designed in 2006, while the Big Stripe design launched last year.

The sculptural Wing Chair, with its characteristic cross seam on the backrest, has been fully upholstered in a predominately purple and green version of the Stripes fabric and a blue and red version of the Big Stripe.

Earthy tones characterise the Stripes fabric used to cover the seat pad of the Wishbone Chair from 1949.

Two versions of the Big Stripe design are used to cover the cushions and armrests of the CH163 sofa designed in 1965.

The back and seat of the CH28 armchair and the Shell Chair are upholstered in sections of the Big Stripe fabric, which has a repeat of almost 2.5 metres.

The fabrics provide a bold injection of colour that stands out against the wooden frames of the chairs.

The furniture will be displayed at the Paul Smith Milan shop during the city’s upcoming design week, as well as at Carl Hansen & Søn’s booth at the fair and its city centre showroom.

As part of a year of celebrations of Wegner’s work, Carl Hansen & Søn changed its logo to one created by Wegner in 1950 and has begun producing his CH88 chair for the first time.

An exhibition of Paul Smith’s work that features objects such as a MINI car and a pair of skis decorated with his signature stripes is currently on show at London’s Design Museum.

The following press release is from Paul Smith:

Paul Smith and Maharam collaborate with Carl Hansen & Søn

To celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of renowned Danish designer Hans J. Wegner, Paul Smith and Maharam are collaborating with Carl Hansen & Søn – the world’s largest manufacturer of furniture designed by Hans J. Wegner – on a limited edition collection of some of Wegner’s most iconic works.

With a pioneering and creative Modernist aesthetic, Wegner is best known for his idiosyncratic chair designs, such as the Wishbone Chair. Created in 1950 this piece, with its characteristic Y-shaped back support, became one of his greatest successes; other definitive designs include the three-legged Shell Chair, the minimalist CH28, the CH163 sofa and contemporary classic, the Wing Chair.

Paul Smith has personally selected his favourite classic Hans J. Wegner pieces to launch a capsule collection that gives the designs an injection of vibrancy, upholstered in ‘Big Stripe’ and new colours of ‘Stripes’ by Paul Smith. Designed by Paul Smith in collaboration with Maharam, these two worsted wool textiles explore stripes at dramatically different scales, conveying Paul Smith’s imaginative approach to colour and proportion.

The collection will be presented at the Paul Smith Milan shop from 8th to 13th April during the Salone del Mobile, as well as at Carl Hansen & Søn’s booth at the fair and its city centre showroom. Additionally, a touring exhibition visiting Tokyo, New York and London will offer further opportunities to view the collection. The pieces will be available at selected Paul Smith shops worldwide, while the textiles are available in Europe through Kvadrat.

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by Hans J. Wegner in his signature stripes appeared first on Dezeen.

Pathways slice through the grounds of this hotel and health farm in Portugal‘s Penafiel region, leading to the entrances of partly submerged buildings designed by Porto firm AND-RÉ (+ slideshow).

The owners of the White Wolf Hotel asked AND-RÉ to design new accommodation that reflects the values of holistic health and integration with nature that are promoted by the resort.

The architects responded by designing a series of all-white dwellings that are scattered around the site, rather than grouping rooms and facilities into one dominant building.

Each of the new buildings has a simple gabled profile and is surrounded by a raised lawn. This ground surface lines up with the base of translucent windows that surround the ground-floor storey of each building.

“The buildings are meant to be neutral in the landscape, in a gesture that avoids an aggressive architecture imposition, but at the same time with a strong relation with the site,” explained the architects.

“The buildings dive in the ground, in a unification process that enhances the relation of proximity between the user and the site, between man and nature,” they added.

Gravel pathways defined by white retaining walls lead to the entrances of the buildings, which are arranged around a salt-water swimming pool.

The minimalist aesthetic continues through the interiors, which feature white walls, glossy floors and ethnic furnishings sparsely arranged within rooms and corridors.

Open-plan spaces accommodate living, cooking and dining areas on the ground floor of each residence. These spaces receive plenty of light from the glazed walls, while the bedrooms upstairs are deliberately darker and more intimate.

Windows adjacent to the stairwells ensure circulation spaces are filled with natural light, and skylights in the bedrooms enable guests to gaze at the stars from their beds.

Photography is by João Soares.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

White Wolf Hotel

Completed in 2013 and recently open to the public, White Wolf Hotel is a series of buildings intimately related with the surrounding rich natural environment. The built architecture is a realization of the holistic pretensions of the client. The built architecture objects, profoundly integrated in the natural context, provide holistic and spiritual experiences of calm, intimacy, meditation and retreat.

Holistic Approach

“…emphasising the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. (…) Relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts.”

The objective was, from the starting point, holistic. Since the first moment we knew this was going to be a special project. The challenge to create a place that eulogies nature, a special place dedicated to the body and spirit, accordingly to the clients alternative ways of living, and even the perception of life itself.

A place where the visitor is involved in the positive thinking spirit and embraces the related humanistic values, far away from the stress paradigms of contemporary lives. A place where one can feel the time slowly passing by, were it can hear the wind caressing whisper and spend long days enjoying the birds sing in the surrounding forest trees and the water running in the creek that crosses the site.

Due to the unorthodox motto of the project, the spirit and expectations from the clients were an inspiration and, at the same time, a profound challenge. One not only related with architecture, but also a challenge to us has human beings, forcing ourselves to question our practice common ground and our posture towards life. This was the only way – and what a good privileged way it is – to fulfil the client expectations.

The result is a place to live or visit, with joy, happiness and peace (so rare these days) with your own body and in with nature. It was very positive to remember that simple values. We now hope that architecture itself can trigger and provoke that same positive feeling in the users.

Concept & Strategy

Instead of a single construction condensing the entire program, the adopted strategy aimed to spread the facilities through separated buildings along the site, adapting itself to the existing natural conditions, respecting and enhancing its values. Thus providing a more rich living experience, full of distinct moments and sensations.

The architecture shape, achieved by basic, clear, direct geometric forms, naturally understood and interpreted; try to provide a natural non-aggressive sensation and a natural visual relation between the user and the buildings. The buildings are meant to be neutral in the landscape, in a gesture that avoids an aggressive architecture imposition, but at the same time with a strong relation with the site. The buildings dive in the ground, in a unification process that enhances the relation of proximity between the user and the site, between man and nature.

The buildings provide two distinct inner environments/atmospheres, related with night and day periods. The lower floors, dedicated to common daily uses, are totally permeable to light, promoting bright spaces and an awakened atmosphere. The upper bedroom floors provide a more private and cosy spaces, with controlled natural lighting, opening to the exterior in generous skylights above the bed, allowing star watching before sleep.

Scope: Hotel and Housing
Status: Completed (2013)
Location: Penafiel, Portugal
Promoter: Quinta do Lobo Branco – Turismo Rural, Lda.
Architecture Team: Partners in charge: Bruno André, Francisco Salgado Ré. Collaborators: Adalgisa Lopes, Ana Matias, João Fernandes, Pedro Costa, Sandra Paulo, Sofia Mota Silva

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at the White Wolf Hotel by AND-RÉ appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: the intricate embroidery of this rug collection, by London studio Doshi Levien for Spanish rug maker Nanimarquina, combines traditional techniques with spontaneous compositions (+ slideshow).

The Rabari Collection features three carpets made from 100 percent New Zealand wool. Each one has been handmade in India using traditional hand-knotted and hand-woven Sumak techniques – a method that produces finely woven, durable material.

“At the very beginning of the project, we decided to create a series of rugs that evoke the sensual and shiny world of the tribal folk embroidery of India,” explained Nipa Doshi from Doshi Levien.

“We already had in mind intricately hand crafted embroideries made by the Nomadic community of the Rabaris from the Kutch region,” Doshi told Dezeen.

The collection was designed in partnership with Barcelona based Nanimarquina, who specialises in manufacturing rugs in countries with long-standing traditions of craftsmanship including Nepal, Pakistan and Morocco.

An embroidery workshop in Ahmedabad, a town in Gujarat, India that is owned by one of Doshi’s relatives was given the task of creating the carpets, employing 25 highly skilled craftswomen.

“They were all experts in hand embroidery, working with glistening mirrors, silk and cotton thread and metallic sequins amongst other non-precious materials,” said Doshi.

The result is three different styles of rug – two beige and one black – that feature a combination of straight lines, spots and different colours. They come in three sizes, ranging from 170 by 240 centimetres to 300 centimetres by 400 centimetres.

The black variant features a series of lines criss-crossing across the surface. At some of the junctions between the horizontal and vertical lines, multicoloured discs are attached and swirling lines of fabric trace their way across the surface at random.

One of the beige rugs features a lattice of darker colour fabric with rows of dots. In the middle of the design, a series of diamond, teardrop and rectangular shapes are arranged next to a streak of blue and a spade symbol with an S-shaped trail woven into the fabric.

The second of the beige carpets features a grid that creates a series of rows and columns, which occasionally include coloured dots.

“We wanted our collection for Nanimarquina to reference the unfinished embroideries like studies of different techniques in progress, as they gradually emerge over time,” said Doshi.

“The spontaneous compositions of the rugs embody the serendipity and freedom to improvise inherent in each step of a handmade piece; joyful, irreverent and unique.”

The Rabari Collection is due to go on show at Salone del Mobile in Milan next month. Doshi Levien will also be showing the Shanty for BD Barcelona, a cabinet designed to resemble the eclectic range of materials found in shanty houses.

Photography is by Albert Font.

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homage to tribal Indian folk embroidery appeared first on Dezeen.

Our next interactive slideshow features the most recent products by Nordic architects and designers for Danish brand Muuto.

Muuto‘s furniture, lighting and accessories have been created by designers from, or educated in, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. “We handpick the brightest design talent and give them the freedom to express their individual story through everyday objects,” said Muuto.

The Danish brand is committed to expanding regional design traditions and holds an annual competition called the Muuto Talent Award for students from Nordic institutions, won this year by a versatile lamp by Tuomas Auvinen.

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts graduate David Geckeler won the award in 2011 for his Nerd chair, which is now included in Muuto’s collection. The chair is constructed from two laminated plywood shells that slot together without any metal fixings.

In 2010 the Muuto Talent Award went to the Pull floor lamp by Swedish design group Whatswhat, which has an exposed textile cord that can be pulled to adjust the position of the shade.

Well-known Scandinavian designers have also created furniture for Muuto. Danish studio Julien De Smedt Architects designed a shelving system that consists of rectangular shelves that clip together to form stacks.

Norwegian designers Anderssen & Voll have created two sofas: the Rest sofa that features soft rectangular cushions on a wooden frame and skinny oak legs, and the Connect sofa system, which is made up of eleven different curved modules.

A glass pendant lamp by Swedish design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune resembles a resting water droplet and a light by Stockholm-based Broberg & Ridderstråle is shaped like a single leaf at the end of a long stalk.

Accessories include a porcelain tea set by Swedish designer Jonas Wagell with rounded forms and oversized handles.

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furniture, lighting and accessories for Muuto appeared first on Dezeen.

Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates built this unusually skinny house on a three-metre-wide site in a residential district of Aichi Prefecture, Japan (+ slideshow).

To accommodate for its narrow width, the two-storey Imai house stretches out along most of the 21-metre-long plot. There was no room for corridors, so the interior is arranged as a simple sequence of rooms, one after another.

Japanese studio Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates adapted the proportions of each space to suit its function, so the living room features a double-height ceiling while the children’s sleeping space is a 1.3-metre-high loft.

“We adopted a way to construct a house by reinterpreting scale, natural light, and the use of each room,” said the architects.

The ground floor is recessed to make room for a sheltered driveway at the front of the plot. Here, a wall slides open to lead into a kitchen and dining room that takes up most of the ground floor.

A wooden staircase spirals up toward the living room, located at the centre of the first floor, while a second set of steps angles up to meet a secluded roof terrace at the front of the house.

This terrace is fronted by large panels of glazing, which help to bring natural light and ventilation into the living room from above.

There wasn’t enough space on the site to create a separate garden, so the architects also added a small indoor patio at the rear of the ground floor, featuring a wall that slides open.

A long narrow space between the living room and master bedroom functions as a children’s room. The sleeping space is raised up from the floor and includes an assortment of small square windows, while built-in shelves create a study desk along the opposite wall.

According to the architects, the rooms could become interchangeable. “The space setting becomes neutral; you can sleep, dine or relax whenever you like. For example, dining in the inner garden may be more enjoyable than in the dining room,” they said.

Photography is by the architects.

Here’s a project description from Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates:

Imai

A house built on a narrow strip of land of 3m wide and 21m long. For this ground that looks too long and tight, we adopted a way to construct a house by reinterpreting scale, natural light, and the use of each room. Instead of setting one concept to design it, we made five specific proposals.

1: Balancing of scale and light

Height of each room is adjusted according to the number of users and the use of the room. For example, children’s bedroom is 1.3m high while the living room is 4.4m. The room used by one person has limited natural light while the space people gather is much brighter. Balancing of scale and light brings a character to simple one room.

2: Exterior on the edge

The ground was too narrow to allow any space for garden, so we set an inner garden at the end of the ground floor and a terrace on the north end of the second floor. High window in the living room is designed not only to let in light, but also to provide ventilation route in summer to discharge the heat accumulated up on the ceiling plane.

3: Dismantling

By dismantling living room and dining room, we avoided large area concentrated to one place. As these spaces that have public nature are dispersed, lines of flow work effectively. Also, by de-concentrating the factors required to children’s room such as sleep, storage or study, we can reduce the floor space of children’s bedroom while sharing space for other functions of storage and study by entire family.

4: Unrestricting

We suggested the way of living to utilise the space other than wet areas (kitchen, bathroom etc) without restricting its purpose. In some, the space setting becomes neutral; you can sleep, dine or relax whenever you like. For example, dining in inner garden may be more enjoyable than in dining room.

5: Overlapping

By overlapping multiple uses on one space, efficiency of floor space is improved. Corridor as desk space, inner garden as dining or guest room, and so on. This narrow and long building that could be described as all lines of flow, is designed as functional, effective and liberating space by applying these operations.

Project name: Imai
Location: Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
Site area: 71.19 sqm
Built area: 42.64 sqm
Total floor area: 69.49 sqm
Type of construction: wooden, steel
Exterior materials: Metal finish
Interior materials: paint finish
Design team: Katsutoshi Sasaki + Associates
Structure company : Tatsumi Terado Structural Studio
Construction company: Inoue construction Ltd.

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is just three metres wide appeared first on Dezeen.