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British furniture brand Vitsœ has relaunched an injection-moulded plastic table originally designed by German industrial designer Dieter Rams in 1962.

The 621 Side Table was designed to showcase the practical and aesthetic properties of plastic.

Rams regularly promoted the use of plastic in his products for Vitsœ and electronics brand Braun, and described it as a “noble and long-living material.”

Having been out of production since the 1980s, the table is manufactured by injection-moulding plastic into a form that gives it inherent structural rigidity.

Two sizes are being produced, which can be purchased separately or combined as a nested pair.

The tables are available in off-white or black with surfaces hand-painted to give them a textured surface that provides durability and anti-static properties.

Rams has added adjustable feet to the new versions, which enable the product to perform better when used on uneven surfaces.

It can also be turned on its side so one end slides under a chair or sofa and the other becomes the table surface.

Vitsœ was granted the exclusive worldwide licence to produce many of Dieter Rams’ furniture designs in 2012, and last year it relaunched an upholstered armchair that was also created in 1962.

Here’s some more information from Vitsœ:

New licence, new table production

Vitsœ continues to build on its exclusive worldwide licence for Dieter Rams’s original furniture designs by adding the 621 Side Table to its growing furniture collection. The table – injection-moulded in Britain – will be available from March 2014.

The table was originally designed by Rams in 1962 along with his 620 Chair Programme. It was last produced in the 1980s and is typical of Rams’s constant quest – at Braun and Vitsœ – to elevate plastic, as he has said, to a “noble and long-living material.”

The detailed form of the table is quintessential Rams and has been displayed in museums worldwide, often in its innovative Rams-designed packaging. The table is hand-painted with a distinctive textured finish to give both durability and an anti-static surface.

Available in two sizes and two colours (black and off-white), the table can be turned on its end to slide over a sofa. Its simple modular design allows it to sit alone or be combined as a group to satisfy a surprising range of uses in the home or office. Not only a side table, coffee table or bedside table, it is excellent as the there-when-needed table.

In addition, the table is now delivered with adjustable feet which have been designed by Rams to realise his original desire that uneven surfaces should be overcome easily.

The competitive price and worldwide online availability directly from Vitsœ ensure that more people will be able to embrace Vitsœ’s ethos of living better, with less, that lasts longer.

The post Vitsœ relaunches 621 Side Table
by Dieter Rams appeared first on Dezeen.

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Inspired by cigar makers in Spain, Austrian designer Helene Steiner has used thin strips of beech wood rolled into pipes to create a folding chair.

To make the Pepe chair, water is applied to one side of each slice of wood, or veneer, before glue is added on the other. This ensures there is tension on both sides of the sheet and the veneer doesn’t start rolling itself before the process has begun.

The veneer is then rolled into a pipe. Once it has set, each end is pressed to increase strength and make them easier to join to other components. The wood is then pressed in the middle in the opposite direction using a wooded mould.

“This helps to control the direction and position of the pressed parts so they are accurate,” explained Helene Steiner.

Because the veneers are just 0.5 millimetres thick, the material is pliable enough to allow the pipes to be squashed almost flat while still retaining structural strength. The pipes are then left to dry for a day before they can be sanded and waxed.

“Manufacturing in this way results in a strong structure with a novel 3D form and flat sections for assembly,” Steiner added . “The flexible process cleverly uses different pressing angles to make shaping in any direction possible.”

The Pepe chair is then assembled by passing two threaded rods through the middle of the chair. Spacers are added to create enough pressure to hold everything together. A separate rear stand made of two extra pieces of piping is attached to complete the chair.

“The squashed borders of the legs create the unique form and enable different structures with only one screw,” explained the designer.

The production method was first developed by CuldeSac, a Spanish design studio based in Valencia. Called the great tobacco project, the process was inspired by cigar makers in the small town of Torres de Quart in Spain, who have been making cigars there for more than 100 years.

“The name of the chair is an homage to my work at CuldeSac and an expression of thanks to my time as a designer there and the collaboration with Pepe Garcic from CuldeSac,” said Steiner.

In future, Steiner believes the process has wide-ranging applications beyond furniture. “The process gives great opportunity for strong and lightweight constructions as shelves and smaller architectural constructions,” she said. “For that, the process has to be translated to a industrialised process.”

Steiner is currently studying at the Royal College of Art in London and presented the Pepe chair at the recent Work in Progress show.

Here’s some text from the designer:

Pepe

Pepe is made of paper-thin veneer and therefore lightweight but also very stable.

The process is as exciting as the result. The veneer is only 0.5 mm thick and moistened on one side with glue, this is then rolled into a tight pipe and pressed. Manufacturing in this way results in a strong structure with a novel 3D form and flat sections for assembly. The flexible process cleverly uses different pressing angles to make shaping in any direction possible.

Pepe is lightweight and stable and uses a production method developed at CuldeSac Valencia during “The great tobacco project” in 2011.

Old production processes, materials, factories and the people who work and create there are a real inspiration for life. In a small town near Valencia you can find one of those factories full of history and a fascinating atmosphere, with authentic people and a special patina. The great tobacco project was inspired by the unique process of hand rolled cigars that have been produced at Torres de Quart in Torrent for 100 years.

Every table leg of the great tobacco project will be produced out of a thin sheet of wood and will be hand rolled to a perfect pipe. The squashed borders of the legs create the unique form and enable different structures with only one screw. Each table leg is unique. The etiquettes are aligned to the typical cigar banderoles and give every single leg the last touch of its personality. The great cooperation between CuldeSac and Torres de Quart brought the handmade cigars back to the place of inspiration.

The post Pepe chair by Helene Steiner made
from rolled-up beech veneer appeared first on Dezeen.

A triangular section of frame at the top of this mirror by German design duo Kaschkasch Cologne allows it to rest neatly in the corner of a room.

The Kaschkasch Floor Mirror was designed for Danish brand Menu by Kaschkasch Cologne as a space-saving solution.

The top of its simple aluminium frame is bent into a 90-degree point so it fits into the often unused spaces where perpendicular walls meet.

The tubular frame has curved corners and is available in black, white or moss green.

“Our products are casual and voguish at the same time,” said Florian Kallus and Sebastian Schneider of Kaschkasch Cologne.

“Precise lines and geometrical shapes give them a distinct impression, which we like to combine with intriguing colour combinations for the additional Kaschkasch touch.”

When balanced against a flat surface, the top of the frame can be used as a rail for hanging clothes.

“We want each design to offer something extra, discovered by the user little by little,” said the designers.

The mirror glass is fixed between the sides of the frame and doesn’t extend to the top or bottom.

Menu presented the mirrors at the Stockholm Furniture Fair earlier this year.

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designed to fit into corners appeared first on Dezeen.