Bloom by Raw Edges

Milan 2013: London design duo Raw Edges came up with a bookcase shaped like a weaving loom to display novels by young British writers.

Bloom by Raw-Edges

The Bloom bookcase was commissioned by the British Council to hold works of fiction by literary magazine Granta’s pick of young British novelists.

Bloom by Raw-Edges

Raw Edges came up with a wooden frame resembling a loom – hence its name – that allows books to be slotted over the red threads and held at varying heights by sliding black stoppers.

Bloom by Raw-Edges

The bookcase holds one novel by each of the writers chosen by Granta in its once-a-decade list, which was first published in 1983.

Bloom by Raw-Edges

It was shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile during Milan’s design week earlier this month – see our round-up of the best furniture and lighting from the Salone or see all products and exhibitions from Milan 2013.

Raw Edges, a duo comprising Tel Aviv-born designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay, previously created a display of hundreds of fabric ribbons for Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat and a shelf that slides apart to form a desk – see all design by Raw Edges.

Other bookcases we’ve featured lately include a zig-zagging wooden design by Japanese studio Nendo and an extendable bookcase with interlocking shelves – see all bookcases.

Here’s some more information from the British Council:


The Best of Young British Novelists bookcase

British-based design studio Raw-Edges has been commissioned by the British Council to design a bespoke travelling bookcase to house one carefully selected work of fiction from each of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. The bookcase will also hold editions of Granta magazine.

The highly inventive design means the books themselves take centre stage in the installation. The interactive nature of the bookcase also allows visitors to change the display by repositioning the books. It invites visitors to delve into the stories and also consider the books’ physical qualities and design. The bookcase will be on show during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, where a series of talks will consider the book as a physical object. This commission represents an opportunity for audiences overseas to engage with British design and British contemporary literature.

Before they were household names, they were Granta Best of Young British Novelists. At a celebration to be held at the British Council, on the evening of 15 April 2013, Granta will announce its once-in-a-decade selection of the twenty best British novelists aged under forty. Granta’s first generation-defining list of writers was published in 1983 and set the bar for the following decades.

The April announcement marks the publication of Granta 123: The Best of Young British Novelists 4, which includes a new story from each writer on the 2013 list. Granta 123 will be available to purchase from all good booksellers from 16 April in the UK and 23 April in the US.

Throughout 2013, the British Council and Granta are collaborating on an international showcase of contemporary British novelists, which features the twenty writers selected by Granta’s panel of judges. The first international events – including readings and conversation – will be announced on 15 April and will be taking place in more than ten countries including Russia, Qatar and India.

Books from each Granta Best Young Novelist on the 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013 lists will be presented around the world in a bookcase designed by Raw-Edges Design Studio.

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Interview: Patricia Urquiola: We speak with the Spanish designer about briefs, color and the contract space

Interview: Patricia Urquiola


In the 25 years since taking the reins at Kartell, owner and CEO Claudio Luti has collaborated with nearly every industrial designer of note, transforming the over 60-year-old company into the king of polycarbonate furniture and…

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Hoop Concept Watch

La designer Simone Savini pour le studio NOTdesignstudio a réalisé le design et concept de cette montre appelée simplement « Hoop Time » pour la marque Swatch. Le tout dans un design minimaliste, proposant une simple indication pour les aiguilles des heures et des minutes de différentes couleurs.

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Norway Church

En 2009, la vieille église de Valer, petite ville du sud-est de la Norvège, avait disparu sous les flammes. Le studio Cebra basé à Copenhague a proposé une nouvelle architecture pour l’édifice qui doit être construit au même endroit. Un parti-pris visuellement impressionnant, à découvrir en images dans la suite.

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MUJI Splash-Proof Smartphone Speaker

MUJI ha pensato a questo speaker portatile per fare la doccia o il bagno ascoltando musica senza rischiare di farla anche al vostro smartphone. L’ho visto per ora sullo store americano.

MUJI Splash-Proof Smartphone Speaker

MUJI Splash-Proof Smartphone Speaker

MUJI Splash-Proof Smartphone Speaker

MUJI Splash-Proof Smartphone Speaker

Clouds in London

Appelée sobrement « Cloud I Meteoros », cette superbe sculpture pensée par le studio Ora composé de Lucy et Jorge Orta a été installée à la station de train St Pancras à Londres. Permettant d’apporter un peu de poésie et de rêverie aux voyageurs, cette création est à découvrir dans la suite de l’article en images.

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“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in this movie filmed in Milan earlier this month, leading designers and manufacturers discuss the phenomenon of copying and how they are responding. “It’s become an increasingly big problem for us,” says Tom Dixon. “People can steal ideas and produce them almost faster than we can now.”

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

“An original design product will have a cost higher than its copy,” says designer Marcel Wanders (above). “It’s very simple. Stealing most of the time is more cheap than buying.”

Unscrupulous manufacturers visit Milan to photograph new prototypes and then rush out copies before the original products reach the market, according to Casper Vissers (below), CEO of furniture and lighting brand Moooi.

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

“It’s very sour if you have presented a product in April and it’s in the shops in September, but a bloody copier has it already in August,” says Vissers, speaking at Moooi’s spectacular Unexpected Welcome show in Milan (below). “This is what happens at the moment.”

Vissers adds that legal action against copiers in Asia is expensive and, even if it’s successful in the short term, it does little to stem the tide: “You need huge amounts of money [to launch a law suit in the Far East] and if you win – if – a new limited company in China will start production [of copies]”.

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

Copiers are increasingly shameless about their intentions, says Tom Dixon, speaking at his presentation at MOST in Milan. “People feel very confident copying things. Some people come around with spy glasses photographing things but other people are more overt and come in with iPads or film crews.”

Dixon says the problem is getting worse, with markets around the world and even the UK market increasingly flooded with copies. “Everywhere we go in Australia or Singapore or India we’ll see many, many copies, and that’s also hitting more and more the UK as well.”

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

Gregg Buchbinder (above), CEO of furniture company Emeco, says the solution is for designers to push manufacturers to make more sophisticated products that are harder to copy. The furniture collection Emeco developed with designer Konstantin Grcic for the Parrish Art Museum on Long Island (below), for example, “was a very difficult project to do. Although the chair looks simple, there’s nothing skipped.”

“The more difficult it is, the more difficult it is for people to knock it off,” Buchbinder adds.

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

Emeco aggressively pursues copyists through the courts and earlier this year won a case against fellow US manufacturer Restoration Hardware, which had copied the iconic Navy chair.

But outside Europe and the US, copyright law is less robust and harder to enforce. “It’s very, very difficult to protect yourself legally,” says Dixon.

Dixon’s company is directly responding to the problem of copying by developing a range of new products designed to make life more difficult for counterfeiters.

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our products”

“What you’ll see [at our Milan presentation] is a number of coping strategies,” Dixon explains. “We’ve been trying as much as possible to invest in tooling and slightly more advanced technology. We’re working on adaptive models where we make specific things for clients. A new bespoke division where we make things for people, so we adapt our products to suit a client’s needs. So there’s ways of dealing with it. We’ve just got to be faster and smarter.”

See all our stories about copying in design ».

“Milan is a breeding ground for people who copy our product”

Milan is the second stop on our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. See all our reports from our first destination, Cape Town. This movie features a MINI Cooper S Paceman.

The music featured is a track called Divisive by We Are Band, a UK-based electronic act who played at the MINI Paceman Garage in Milan on Friday. You can listen to the full track on Dezeen Music Project.

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Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Milan 2013: a collection of furniture designed by Konstantin Grcic for Herzog & de Meuron’s Parrish Art Museum in Long Island has gone into production with American brand Emeco.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Presented at Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the Parrish collection of chairs and tables by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco was originally created for Herzog & de Meuron’s barn-like Parrish Art Museum, completed last autumn.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

The pieces are made from tubular recycled aluminium, held in place under the tractor-inspired seat by a component with six connecting points referred to as “the heart”.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

The range now includes a lounge chair and side chair plus tables in two heights, made of sandblasted aluminium with clear, red or black finishes.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Chair seats come in wood harvested close to the Emeco factory in Pennsylvania, upholstery in leather or fabric, or reclaimed polypropylene like that used in Philippe Starck’s Broom chair shown last year.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Emeco is famous for aluminium furniture, having created the much-copied classic Navy Chair for the American armed forces in 1944. In recent years they’ve produced chairs with top international designers including Jean Nouvel, Philippe Starck and Michael Young. See all our stories about chairs by Emeco.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Other products by Grcic in Milan included a remake of Achille Castiglioni’s iconic Parentesi lamp for Flos, and angular wooden stools and tables for Italian brand Mattiazzi. See all our stories about design by Konstantin Grcic.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

See all our stories about design at Milan 2013 »

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Here’s some more information from Emeco:


Detailed to perfection with a classic appearance, the Parrish Collection by Emeco and German designer Konstantin Grcic was first made for the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

The externally modest building of the Parrish Art Museum holds an internal complexity, just like the Parrish Collection – a set of chairs and tables with a subtle design and a heartfelt technical core. “Developing the mobile interiors for the Parrish Art Museum brings us to the peculiar psychology around chairs used in public spaces – exploring the idea of comfort using very little material.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

Considering the public self-awareness in a museum seat, the Parrish chair was given a generous seat and a round tube, forming a belt that defines the space around you – a space where you can feel protected,” says Konstantin Grcic.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

The Parrish lounge and side chairs are part of a modular collection, featuring three frames with four optional seats. The recycled aluminum sandblasted frames are available in clear anodized, red or black powder coated finishes.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

The frames can be combined with different seat types; reclaimed polypropylene, locally sourced wood from Lancaster, PA, Danish fabric from Kvadrat or three luxurious leathers from Spinneybeck. These choices enable different combinations, creating a versatile family. All chairs with reclaimed polypropylene seats are suitable for outdoor use. The table bases are available in two recycled aluminum sandblasted finishes, the clear anodized aluminum finish or the black powder coated finish, in two different heights as café and side tables, which can be combined with two alternative Trespa table tops in pastel grey or black.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

“The collaboration with Emeco was always an important part of the project, something I had in mind as an obvious choice for the kind of furniture we needed. It is simply the only company I could think of who could bring a nice mix for this interior concept, specialists in aluminum, delivering another kind of material appearance, environmentally sound, perfect for the both indoor and outdoor and being such a truly American company – it was a perfect match,“ says Grcic.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

“When Konstantin asked me if Emeco would be interested in collaborating with him on the Parrish Art Museum I was thrilled. Konstantin is one of the most innovative and original industrial designers of today,” says Emeco’s CEO Gregg Buchbinder. “Konstantin’s degree of perfection combined with his analytical rigor made the product development process deliberate and thoughtful. He managed to leverage our heritage and at the same time push Emeco into the future. The Parrish Chair reminds me of something Le Corbusier might have designed in the 1920’s; yet at the same time, it looks fresh, modern, and original – it’s a real artifact of our current culture, a future classic,” Buchbinder continues.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco

“I have always had a fascination and admiration of the hard physical labor of the production of the iconic Emeco Navy chair. My ambition for the collaboration was, therefore, to do something that uses the same aluminum work but makes the process more effective, less physically challenging. I think the design of the Parrish chair comes from a close understanding of what Emeco can really do,” says Konstantin.

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Five Hanging Lights: Slip cast, blown glass, corroded bronze and hand-turned wood lighting up Milan Design Week 2013

Five Hanging Lights


Innovations in LEDs, compounded with many designers’ renewed interest in age-old illumination techniques, have brought new life to contemporary lighting design. To celebrate creativity in this enduring design sector, the following are five notable hanging lights in a variety of mediums spotted throughout the 2013 );…

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Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion

Haute couture garments by Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen will be displayed at an exhibition of her work in Calais, France, from June.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Skeleton dress by Iris van Herpen

Considered a pioneer of 3D printing in the fashion industry, Van Herpen utilises both new technologies and hand crafting techniques to create intricate sculptural designs.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Crystallization by Iris van Herpen

A 3D-printed piece modelled on the transformation of liquid into crystal (above) and a voluminous handmade dress that references billowing smoke (top) are among the items to be shown.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Synesthesia by Iris van Herpen

Thirty pieces designed since she began her own label in 2008 will be exhibited in total, along with photographs and footage from her catwalk shows.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Chemical Crows by Iris van Herpen

The Iris van Herpen exhibition will be open from 15 June to 31 December at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion in Calais.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Escapism by Iris van Herpen

A design from Van Herpen’s Crystallize collection features on the front cover of our one-off 3D printing magazine Print Shift. We also interviewed her for a feature in the magazine.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Capriole by Iris van Herpen

She recently created a dress modelled on splashing water during a live week-long web broadcast. Photography is by Bart Oomes.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Micro by Iris van Herpen

See more designs by Iris van Herpen »
See more stories about architecture and design exhibitions »
See more stories about fashion »

Read on for further details from the museum:


The International Centre for Lace and Fashion of Calais consecrates a new exhibition to Iris van Herpen. At 29, this young Dutch fashion designer has largely impressed the fashion world with her futuristic sculptural costumes. Through the presentation of thirty pieces created between 2008 and 2012, the International Centre for Lace and Fashion invites the spectator to plunge into the avant-garde universe of this prodigious creator!

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Mummification by Iris van Herpen

Iris van Herpen

Iris van Herpen is a young Dutch designer (born Wamel, 1984) who has made a considerable impact in the world of Haute-Couture in recent years. Following in the footsteps of Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan and Rei Kawakubo, her innovative, sculptural dresses represent a major contribution to the conceptual end of high fashion, deconstructing and examining the creative process and the relationship between clothes and the human form.

After training at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem (Netherlands) and a passage with Alexander McQueen, Iris van Herpen set out to develop and explore her unique combination of traditional craftsmanship and technological innovation. Invited by the prestigious Chambre Syndicale de la Haute-Couture to show her first Parisian collection in July 2011, Iris van Herpen creates clothes of subtle, poetic, unsettling beauty. Their sculptural forms, enriched by the play of light, place them somewhere between Haute-Couture and contemporary art. And yet the designer does seem intent on creating designs which can be worn by everyone, capturing and reflecting the wearer’s personality and aspirations: she launched her first ready-to-wear line in March 2013.

Iris van Herpen exhibition at the International Centre for Lace and Fashion
Radiation Invasion by Iris van Herpen

Exhibition Layout

The International Centre for Lace and Fashion of Calais highlights the recent collections of Iris van Herpen through the presentation of thirty dresses and numerous photographs. The exhibition gallery is a large, minimalist plateau some seven metres tall and sixty metres in length, a majestic backdrop against which to appreciate the creations of this celebrated Dutch fashion designer, unique pieces which blur the boundaries between art, design and fashion. The gallery’s light walls and polished concrete floor will be plunged into twilight, with lights carefully placed to ensure that all eyes are drawn to the dresses on display.

These creations are arranged by date and by collection, displayed on stands so that they can be seen from all angles. These original Iris van Herpen dresses are placed in confrontation and conversation with the photographs displayed immediately opposite them. Visitors can also see the dresses in motion, with footage of van Herpen’s catwalk shows projected on the big screen in the auditorium.

The radically original forms and materials used in Iris van Herpen’s works qualify them as “wearable sculptures”. The pieces displayed here demonstrate her ability to craft complex designs which draw on a wide variety of techniques, with interweaving elements, intricate lacing and fluting. Certain parts of the body, notably the shoulders and hips, are accentuated with voluminous extensions. Some materials make recurring appearances: leather in various forms and styles, acrylics subjected to various manipulations, metal chains and plastic straps. The colour palette is deliberately muted, offset with occasional metallic effects and flashes of iridescence.

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