At least once a year Reinier de Jong designs a new piece that catches our eye, and for 2012 he’s graced us with the REK coffee table, related to his expandable bookcase design of the same name.
The Rotterdam-based designer has incorporated the perfect-fit sliding panels of that bookcase into a smaller package, creating an adjustable piece of furniture that grows or shrinks with your needs.
At last year’s Interior Design Show in Toronto, Ikea pulled the sheets off of their bold country kitchen look, an aesthetic departure from the blonde-wood kitchens with which their showrooms had become associated. The kitchen won the show’s Gold Booth Award and our entry on it quickly caught Facebook fire.
At this year’s IDS, the design pendulum has swung the other way: Ikea’s display kitchen features a distinctly sleek and modern look, one reportedly inspired by “the classic fashion combination of a black dress and pearls.” In sharp contrast to last year’s kitchen, where pots, pans, and kitchen storage objects were all made visible, this year’s kitchen design renders most objects invisible, tucking them away behind glossy surfaces. In a second nod to the fashion world the backsplash tiles are meant to evoke patent leather quilted handbags and the island has received special focus.
Great Things to People (gt2P) is a Chilean “parametric design and digital fabrication” studio that recently presented the three new projects that comprise their Digital Crafting Collection at the IMM Cologne 2012.
[The concept is] based on the implementation of digital design methodologies and the experience and the know-how of Chilean artisans, who feed and contribute to qualify each “generative algorithms” or DNA. Through this concept gt2P has succeeded in communicating its ability to investigate, explore and experiment with new materials and processes, and integrate technologies CAD/CAM with traditional techniques and knowledge.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen nature-inspired or otherwise organic applications of 3D modeling and fabrication techniques used to created organic forms: Marc Fornes & THEVERYMANY’s “nonLin/Lin Pavilion” comes to mind, as do Nervous Systems’ “Hyphae” lamp and Neri Oxman’s sculptures. However, the Santiago-based studio sets itself apart by incorporating local materials and traditional techniques in these three disparate “digital crafting” exercises, each of which is characterized by gt2P’s highly formal approach.
The “Suple” series is a vaguely biomimetic furniture construction system, centered (literally and figuratively) on a single connector piece that is fabricated with a combination of digital and traditional techniques:
From these molds a cast of silicone is shaped (negatives). Then, the 3D printing is removed from the inside and filled with wax (positives). When removing the silicone mold, the wax is covered with a ceramic shell made of a kind of glue and sand. A casting cone is made to bring the metal into the shell, melting the wax at the same time.
The legs of the occasional table were turned by hand, taking as reference the 3D printing pieces, and its cover was cut by laser. Finally, the wood was treated with varnish effect of “not painted”, so that it retains its natural color, look and texture. This integration of digital and traditional processes made it possible to move from the 3D printing to the craftsmanship, to obtain unique pieces.
The side table itself is “made of steel and wood,” with locally-sourced legs: “Suple is the first Chilean design that uses Raulí with dual FSC and Fairtrade certification in its manufacturing process.”
Over the past year and a half, Ohio-based 2nd Shift studio has quietly designed, developed and produced half a dozen products. The company takes its name from the fact that the seven like-minded creatives—all under 26 years of age—all have dayjobs, ranging from design to accounting. According to partner Eric Parker:
Four members are graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Art from both the Product Design and Graphic Design departments. All of 2nd Shift calls Cleveland home. Our design process likes to take us to many different parts of the city. We use Amish furniture builders to mass produce our wood components. Our prototypes—and some of our products—are made from reclaimed wood bought from a defunct amusement park called Geauga Lake. There is a growing community of small manufacturing shops in the city, and we like to collaborate and build relationships with these local tradesman to produce parts for our various projects. Our studio is located on the near west side of Cleveland in a warehouse owned by Go Meedia, a graphic design studio (on the top floor).
A brief intro video captures both their youthful optimism and entrepreneurial spirit:
As for their portfolio itself? The work is good as anything we’ve seen lately:
I love Billy Wilder and I Iove Charles and Ray Eames, but I never thought those two loves would ever unite in a meaningful way. For Eames-o-philes, however, Wilder’s unlikely influence on the brand is the stuff of lore. The famous Hollywood director, best known for Sunset Blvd. (1950), Some Like it Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960), was introduced to Charles by graphic designer Alvin Lustig, who was using the garage at Wilder’s Beverly Hills house as a studio. The two hit it off so well that the Eames were in Wilder’s wedding ceremony.
“We asked them one day whether he would like to be the best man and she the maid of honor, and they said, ‘Okay,'” Wilder said. “And then the four of us took off to Nevada, where you can get married for two dollars in three minutes.”
Soon after, Wilder commissioned the Eames to build them a house similar to Charles and Ray’s own home. Plans were later abandoned, however, when Young objected to the upkeep of washing all that glass. Still, they remained close friends. Charles even produced a montage sequence for Wilder’s 1957 film, The Spirit of St. Louis. In fact, it was during the shooting of Spirit that Wilder unknowingly made his first contribution to the Eames legacy. He used temporary benches made from plywood beams and sawhorses for quick naps throughout the day. After shooting ended, he asked the Eames if they could make him something similar, albeit more comfortable, for his office.
“A man of my reputation simply can’t afford to have something that looks like a casting couch in his office,” Wilder said. “It’s too obvious a symbol of lechery.” Charles and Ray designed an 18″ wide leather and aluminum bench, large enough to sleep on but narrow enough to prevent long snoozes. Wilder would sleep with his arms crossed; As he sank into deeper sleep his arms would fall to his sides, gently and naturally waking him up. And it wasn’t lecherous at all, unless, Wilder quipped “you had a girlfriend shaped like a Giacometti, [then] it would be ideal.”
The Eames’ and Wilder gave each other gifts—often times furniture—for sixteen years before Charles and Ray sent him the infamous rosewood and leather lounge chair and ottoman in 1968. The Eames had no intention of making more until they were approached by Herman Miller. “You design for someone in particular,” Charles said, “and then you find out that other people have more in common with the object of your affection than you realized.” A note to any furniture designers reading this: like Billy Wilder, I too love chairs. I like to sit in them, read in them and nap in them, and, luckily for you, I’m currently accepting prototypes as gifts.
Here are two rather unusual, or downright strange, pieces of furniture: A manufacturer called Liogy produces two variants of chaise longues that you’re meant to lie on facedown. You’ve gotta love the copy:
Its shape resembles that of a leaping feline predator, whose dynamic and masculine strength is transferred seamlessly to the thoughts, creations, and the ideas of the user.
The video is similarly… well, you’ve just gotta see it:
The first time I saw Richard Shed’s Here Hook, my thought process went something like this: “So it’s a really simple coat hook in the shape of a…Oh, I get it now, that’s brilliant.” The hook is exceedingly simple, yet a great visual pun and a steal at only 10£. I started digging through Shed’s portfolio and found other great, offbeat products.
There’s something unsettling about his Discovery cabinet system—the corners are peeling like the front panels are shoddy pieces of plastic, not fine walnut. But the longer I look at it, the more the detail becomes a playful idiosyncrasy, as well as a surprisingly helpful drawer handle.
Furniture and lighting are more or less the bread and butter of an industrial design blog (though these days, we might extend the metaphor to include other grains—products = pasta, technology = rice, etc.)… which is to say that they’re always there, even when, say, Apocalypse dominates the headlines. Besides the major furniture and design fairs (more on that below), the Year in Furniture included a Standing Desk Shootout and a comprehensive six-part interview with Brooklyn-based manufacturers (literally hand-makers) Hellman-Chang… in addition to the usual weird and wacky designs that are fit to publish.
The age-old material of wood is as good a place to start as any: in 2011, it served as a medium for left-field commentary, a subtractive panton, a crazy curve, a plywood pod and nest-esque warping. Similarly, reclaimed materials took on various forms: preserved to polished, de-militarized or simply turned sideways.
Lighting
Lamps, more than any other object, looked like “other things”… including the lampshade itself, which inspired several skeuomorphic lighting designs: the cluster-like “TamTam” ceiling lamp, the futuristic “LED Shade Lamp,” the humble “Sympathy for the Bulb” and Light Light’s ever-popular levitating lamps. (We also saw functional abat-jours in glass and steel, among other materials.)
As for other other things, some of our favorites lamps took the form of an open-ocean predator, a pair of fly kicks and a maritime marker. They also took more abstract biomorphic forms, 3D printed or otherwise.
Indoor lighting also converged with upcycling in 2011: designers reinvented plumbing fixtures as steampunk lighting (twice over), while some designers transformed recyclable materials into elegant pendant lamps and minimalist desk lamps.
Still, the truly illuminating Liter of Light project, developed by students at MIT, is probably the most significant—i.e. socially impactful—lighting designs we saw in 2011.
Chairs
The chair, on the other hand, was subject to dozens of material explorations: aluminum wire, cork, laser-cut steel, Twintex, recycled PET bottles, piano keys, circuit board, salvaged signage and even empty space itself. A chair made of discarded candy wrappers turned out to be as tasteful (if not as tasty) as one made of candy.
I was kind of on the fence about designer Cory Grosser‘s “Turtle/Turtle” when I first saw it on Kickstarter a couple weeks ago. Not that the personable Angeleno’s design object wasn’t worthy of a post—I interviewed him during NeoCon this year—but quite the contrary: I figured he’d have no problem raising the $7,500 he was seeking to produce it.
However, as early as the beginning of this week, Grosser’s pet project had barely crossed the halfway mark, and I began to doubt my intuition. While I had no obligation to post it, I also had no reason not to (save for the fact that we’ve seen a glut of Kickstarter projects lately).
Well, it’s down to the wire now, and with just 24 hours to go, “Turtle/Turtle” is less than $300 from the green light.
Turtle/Turtle is a minimalist toy, child’s seat and decorative interior object. We think objects for kids should be well designed too, so it was designed with the same care, materials and details as the high-end modern furniture that we normally design. Like the Eames’s Elephant designed in the 1940’s, Turtle/Turtle is a hybrid object that can be used for play or decoration. It’s a gift that you can give to a child that they can keep for life.
This last notion, that the “Turtle/Turtle” has a bit of longevity, is particularly interesting to me: the design object is intended to take on the nostalgic value that is typically attached to a blanket or plush toy (or, of course, an Eames elephant). Thus, the frame is made out of powdercoated steel for sturdiness, while the saddle leather seat will develop a nice patina with age.
If you’re not sold yet…
Thom Fougere is a Winnipeg-based designer who recently unveiled a pair of new table designs that will be be debuting at IDS12 in Toronto next month. The “Tyndall Table,” in particular, caught my eye: it’s a low-profile coffee table that takes its name from its material, “locally-quarried Manitoba Tyndall stone.” Fougere notes that it’s “not found anywhere else in the world—except 20 km from my studio,” and that “Tyndall stone is commonplace amongst the Canadian prairies, and is an historic building material embodying a certain vernacular of prairie architecture and building practices.”
According to Wikipedia, the distinct lacing of the stone is actually evidence of where marine creatures burrowed into the lighter-gray limestone; the darker mottling is composed of dolomite. The contrast is quite beautiful indeed, though I must admit that I was immediately struck not by the geological phenomenon itself (revealed through further research) but by its resemblance to Nike’s iconic “cement” pattern.
For his part, Fougere is concerned with the ‘memory’ of a surface as it develops a patina during its lifetime:
Taking cues from the topography of Canadian prairies, the top is planed relatively smooth allowing the stone to retain its unique character. Left unfinished, substances and casual wear will slowly degrade the stone top, exposing fossil fragments and revealing layers of stories embedded within the material. Over time the accumulation of puddled water marks, a splash of wine and scribbles of past dreams will meld into the material’s already varied past—creating a nostalgic condition.
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