NAiF

Seeing the magic in everyday objects and letting your imagination run wild is something we mostly do as children; as we grow older our imagination slo..

Ti-Join

Ti-Join: Frame constucted from Carbon fiber tubes and 3D printed Titanium joints.

Eli

Eli is the new member of the ETTERO collection designed by Claudia Melo for Mambo Unlimited Ideas. You can make whatever you want of it, choose from a..

HIDEsk folding desk : The walking office

HIDEsk offers new options of working in small spaces: This pop-up office can change a bedroom within seconds into a small but functional working space..

Objets Nomades for Louis Vuitton

Design Miami: a hanging cabinet covered in leather tassels and a hammock inspired by pasta ribbons are among the objects created by designers including Fernando and Humberto Campana and Atelier Oï for French fashion house Louis Vuitton (+ slideshow).

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

Above: Maracatu hanging travel cabinet by the Campana Brothers

The designers were asked to come up with portable objects inspired by Louis Vuitton’s signature luggage and travel accessories. Fernando and Humberto Campana created a hanging travel cabinet made from leather offcuts from Louis Vuitton’s workshops.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

“Each one is different,” Fernando Campana told Dezeen at the launch in Miami. “We named them after the fruits of Brazil – each one has the name of a fruit, because the first idea was that it would be like a fruit hanging from a tree.”

Objet Nomades for Louis Vuitton

“The name Maracatu comes from a dance, a ritual dance from Brazil,” added Humberto Campana. “They use wigs and clothes with stripes of cloth, and they twist to make this movement.” Inside the travel cabinet are shelves and a light, and it also comes in a more minimal brown leather version without the swinging tassels.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

Above: hammock by Atelier Oï

Swiss design trio Atelier Oï used long strips of leather and gold rivets to create a hammock inspired by the pinched shape of pasta ribbons.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

“When you are playing with the material you find these references, and you find also the solution,” designer Patrick Reymond told Dezeen. “We saw that it was interesting to squeeze the leather to create the three-dimensional structure, and to create the comfort and the volume of the object.”

Objet Nomades for Louis Vuitton

Above: stool by Atelier Oï

They also created a folding stool with a thin sheet of aluminium between its leather exterior, allowing it to be packed flat and opened out into a sturdy seat.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

“Just with a cut we can create a channel, so we don’t have any added elements,” said Reymond, explaining that it was inspired by the origami shapes of a Hussein Chalayan skirt. “You can fold it and go to the third dimension in one movement,” added designer Aurel Aebi.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

Above: case for stool by Atelier Oï

Another item in the collection is a glass bell lamp by British designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, which is held in a leather carry case.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

Above: lamp by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby

The lamp is solar-powered but can also be charged via a discreet USB port at its base.

Objet Nomades for Louis Vuitton

Above: table by Christian Liaigre

French designer Christian Liaigre produced a portable travel desk in sycamore wood, leather and aluminium, which folds up into a small briefcase form.

Objets Nomades by Louis Vuitton

Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola created a stool that unfurls from a handbag, inspired by Louis Vuitton’s Monogram flower pattern, while Japanese studio Nendo contributed a lamp made from a curled piece of perforated leather and backlit by LED bulbs.

The collection launched at Louis Vuitton in Miami’s Design District during Design Miami this week, and will be available from the New Bond Street branch in London this month.

Other projects at Design Miami we’ve featured so far this week include an Eiffel Tower-shaped lamp by Studio Job and Glithero’s photosensitive ceramic vases. Look out for more news from Miami on Dezeen in the coming days, and check out our photos from the event on Facebook.

See all our stories about Design Miami »
See all our stories about Louis Vuitton »

Here’s some more information from Louis Vuitton:


Objets Nomades

Louis Vuitton announces Objets Nomades, a limited edition collection of foldable furniture and travel accessories produced in collaboration with leading international designers. These contemporary pieces will be exhibited and available in the New Bond Street Maison in December 2012. The rest of the collection will debut at Art Basel/Design Miami also in December.

Encapsulating the spirit of travel synonymous with Louis Vuitton, the travel desk, stool, hammock and lamp are all made using beautiful nomade leather and have portability at the core of their design. The pieces reference Louis Vuitton and his son Georges’ original bespoke travel commissions from the 19th Century, such as a trunk replete with a folding horsehair mattress for a trip to the Congo, or a trunk with a pull-out desk and a typewriter station. This bespoke service has been reinterpreted for the 21st Century to create a selection of collectible design items that are both beautiful in their form yet also functional in their design.

To create the collection Louis Vuitton has tapped into a pool of design talent. Founded in 1991 in Switzerland by the Neuveville trio Aurel Aebi, Armand Louis and Patrick Reymond, Atelier Oï is an international player in architecture, design and set design. Inspired by the expertise behind Louis Vuitton’s canvas trunk, they have conceived the simple yet spectacular hammock, with its sophisticated ribbons of leather and rivets gilded with fine gold.

The folding stool, also by Atelier Oi, makes use of Louis Vuitton’s leather savoir faire, drawing inspiration from the aesthetics of origami whilst embodying all the label’s values of simplicity, elegance and functionality. A special membrane works as a hinge for the leather panels, allowing the stool to be unfolded into a seat in one single movement once unbuckled from the carry strap.

After graduating from the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, Christian Liaigre became an artistic director then an interior designer. Since 1981 he has been designing collections of simple furniture with clean lines. Inspired by nature, the portable travel desk in sycamore wood, leather and aluminium was originally created for Louis Vuitton in 1990 after a chance encounter with a Tanzania based Brit who dreamed of a desk to observe his captive-bred lion cubs that could ‘be folded up in the back of a Jeep’. It is being reissued in 2012 as part of this limited collection.

Internationally acclaimed designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby founded their studio in 1996 after graduating with Master’s degrees in Architecture from The Royal College of Art in London. Most recently being responsible for the design for the Olympic torch, their work is held in permanent collections around the world including the V&A Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Design Museum, London. Their beautiful glass bell lamp for the collection exhibits simple lines and shape, and when encased in the nomade leather carry case demonstrates how design can celebrate the traditional in a modern way.

The post Objets Nomades
for Louis Vuitton
appeared first on Dezeen.

Interview: Gwenaëlle Chassin de Kergommeaux: We talk to the GCDK De.Sign principal about eggshell maps of China, furniture re-purposing and more

Interview: Gwenaëlle Chassin de Kergommeaux

Created in 2004 by Gwenaëlle Chassin de Kergommeaux as an artistic outlet, GCDK De.Sign is an unconventional furniture design company started in Paris and is now based in Beijing. Chassin de Kergommeaux bases her work on careful research of aesthetics and materials, using eggshells, silk, gold leaf, sharkskin, mother…

Continue Reading…

Za Stool

Za Stool is composed with one pair of bent-plywood module, which can be combined as stool or side-table. The each module also functions as Za Isu, Jap..

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

Design Miami: the Eiffel Tower is reimagined as a bronze table lamp by Belgian artists Studio Job, who also present an upside-down Taj Mahal table at Design Miami this week.

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

The Tour Eiffel lamp is made from patinated bronze and features a polished bronze lampshade fixed to the bent peak of the tower.

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

Studio Job‘s Job Smeets explained his inspiration for the piece: “While having a summer lunch with Loic and Julien of Carpenters [Workshop Gallery] on the top of Centre Pompidou I had this amazing view of the Tour Eiffel and dreamt about my bohemian life in Paris back in the Nineties. You know, when the world was young and Tour Eiffel was my best friend and close neighbour. Anyway, somewhere between entrée and main the guys commissioned a lamp. One thing led to another!”

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

The Taj Mahal table, also made from patinated and polished bronze, flips the Indian landmark on its head so that it rests on its four corner turrets.

Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal by Studio Job

Carpenters Workshop Gallery is showing both pieces at Design Miami this week, where Dezeen will be reporting on all the best designs and installations – see all our stories from Design Miami.

We’ve already published a collection of photosensitive vases by design duo Glithero launching in Miami this week.

Other projects by Studio Job on Dezeen include a studded plastic chair for design brand Moooi and the studio’s solo show at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands last year.

See all our stories about Studio Job »
See all our stories about Design Miami »
See all our stories about lamps »

Photographs of the lamp are by P. Laarhoven and photographs of the table are by Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

The post Tour Eiffel and Taj Mahal
by Studio Job
appeared first on Dezeen.

Flip Series by Daisuke Motogi Architecture for Sixinch Japan

Product news: items of furniture in this collection by Daisuke Motogi Architecture are shaped so that they can still be used when flipped upside-down (+ slideshow).

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

Extra legs protrude from the backrest of the Flip chair by Daisuke Motogi Architecture so it can be toppled backwards to make a lower lounge seat (above).

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

A coffee-cup-shaped piece functions as an armchair when upright, but when turned on its side the handle becomes a backrest for a stool and when flipped over it transforms into a coffee table.

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

Turning over the stool with the curved back reveals a lower chair with a longer seat and backrest (above), while the rocking chair becomes a stable seat when overturned (below).

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

Each piece is made from moulded urethane foam to make it light enough to be moved and revolved easily, plus the entire collection is covered with a water-resistant coating developed by Sixinch.

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

The Flip Series also includes a table with a glass top supported by wooden frames. These frames can either be stood upright or rested on their sides, creating two possible surface heights (below).

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

Sixinch Japan, an offshoot of Belgian brand Sixinch, originally exhibited prototypes of the furniture at Designtide 2011 in Tokyo last month but has now put the table, coffee cup chair and a kid’s version of the Flip chair into production.

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

See all our stories about furniture »

Flip Series by Sixinch Japan

Photographs are by Kenta Hasegawa.

The post Flip Series by Daisuke Motogi Architecture
for Sixinch Japan
appeared first on Dezeen.

Tweet Seats: Blu Dot Plays Musical Chairs on Twitter

Love directional furniture but can’t make it down to Design Miami, which opens today in a vast tent adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center? Vent your frustrations through a game of Musical Chairs–with a virtual twist. Beginning this week, Blu Dot is bringing Musical Chairs to Twitter, giving players the chance to tweet their way to a free Hot Mesh Chair (pictured). As for the music, the Minneapolis-based maker of modern home furnishings partnered with creative agency mono and Tim Cretella and Brittany Yates of the band Doppio (those are their songs you’ll hear just before scrambling for a seat). Ready to play? Head here and then prepare to tweet that round’s secret phrases. Survive all four rounds of each game to win a chair.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.