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Japanese studio Nendo has dressed up these wooden tables for Walt Disney Japan to look like characters from children’s story books Winnie-the-Pooh.

Nendo created colourful knitted covers for the Pooh Table collection of maple wood furniture so the designs represent the famous yellow bear and his companions.

“To reflect the stories’ setting in the Hundred Acre Wood, the tables use natural-feel maple extensively, and come in sizes and silhouettes intended to recall the stories’ characters,” said Nendo.

The largest table has a red knit covering a shelf beneath it’s top, similar to the sweater worn by Winnie the Pooh.

His close friend Piglet is depicted as a three-legged side table wearing a purple sleeve across most of its top.

Forlorn donkey Eeyore is channelled through a table with a surface that droops to the floor, dressed in grey fabric.

Bouncy tiger Tigger’s orange tail is mimicked by a table’s stand, which extends down past where it branches into three legs.

A design with surfaces at two heights looks like kanagroo mother-and-son pair Kanga and Roo, while Rabbit is identified by knitted socks on two legs of another table in the collection.

The Winnie the Pooh stories were written by AA Milne in the 1920s for his son Christopher Robin, who also features in the tales.

The stories were commercialised by American producer Stephen Slesinger in the 1930s, when the cartoon characters we recognise today were first created.

Following his death, the rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise were licensed to animation studio Walt Disney Productions in 1961.

Nendo created this series for Disney‘s Japanese branch, which has one of its Disneyland resorts in Tokyo.

The post Nendo bases furniture for Walt Disney Japan
on Winnie-the-Pooh characters appeared first on Dezeen.

British designer Samuel Wilkinson has created a range of lightweight aluminium furniture (+ slideshow).

The Grace collection designed by Samuel Wilkinson for Italian brand EMU includes a stacking chair and armchair, a stool, plus a folding cafe table.

All the pieces are formed from die-cast aluminium to make them lightweight, and suitable for use both indoors and outdoors.

The shapes were influenced by early twentieth-century wood furniture.

The table has a simple self-locking mechanism for when the top shifts from horizontal to vertical and is supported by a stand that branches into four legs.

Tubular chair legs have been designed to stack neatly on top of each other.

“By making the castings and connections work hard we have reduced the amount of welding to a minimum,” said Wilkinson.

At the end of their life, the pieces can be disassembled and recycled.

The range will be exhibited at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile trade fair, taking place in Milan this April.

Photographs are by Sylvain Deleu.

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collection of aluminium furniture appeared first on Dezeen.

Découverte du Studio Macura qui imagine des objets à la fois utiles, beaux et élégants. Avec des choix de matières et de formes souvent épurés, ces derniers rajoutent souvent de jolies touches de fantaisie avec la représentation d’oiseaux, aussi bien comme marque-pages ou encore comme simples éléments décoratifs.

Explore the Spring 2014 collection from London furniture brand Heal’s using our new interactive slideshow feature, including storage that leans against the wall and stacking pendant lamps.

Heal’s collection this season includes the Brunel range by London designer Rob Scarlett, who has created a series of industrial-style furniture for small urban apartments.

“My Brunel collection for Heal’s is targeted largely at design-savvy city dwellers who are short on space and accessibility but big on style,” said Scarlett.

He referenced pieces in Heal’s archive by designers Robin Day and Clive Latimer – exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York back in 1948 – to create shelving, tables, seating and a mirror with steel supports and oak surfaces.

Benches and side tables have optional shelves beneath their tops for extra storage space, plus cushions can be strapped on to the seats.

Additional cubby holes are also tucked behind the Brunel mirror, which includes a hook at the top for hanging garments out of the way.

“I felt the best way to address constraints was to design furniture that uses space intelligently and efficiently, offering dual purposes or hidden storage details,” Scarlett said.

Also featured in Heal’s latest range are items such as the Cranbourne dining table and benches in English ash, which can be made-to-order to specific measurements so they fit different sized rooms.

Lighting and accessories among the range are the Element Vessel vases by Vitamin made from mix-and-match rings of different materials and the Apollo layered modular aluminium lamps by International.

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Spring 2014 furniture collection appeared first on Dezeen.

When we last caught up with Spanish industrial designer Cristian Reyes he had just introduced the Giros Table, a beautiful example of purpose-driven design. And now, we see another aesthetically fun and functional piece for the…

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