Hasta La Ideas

Stockholm 2014: Swedish designer Anya Sebton has created a storage system that doubles as display units for magazines and plants.

The basis of the Add storage system, which Sebton designed for Swedish furniture brand Lammhults, is a thin rectangular steel frame.

Additions such as plastic boxes can be slotted inside the frames to store and display different items.

Sebton said that she aimed to design “one frame that could include different functions and still be a part of the decoration in the room.”

Plastic boxes have been designed specifically to display plants and perforated iron boxes were created to hold magazines, books or brochures. Closed iron boxes can also be added for hiding contents away.

By fixing on an aluminium rail and hooks, the frame becomes an open clothes rack. An umbrella stand can also be clipped to the outside.

Sebton suggested that Add could be used to improve a workspace. She mentioned that the clothes on the rack could function as a sound absorber, while foliage might improve oxygen levels in the room.

Each frame sits on a circular cast-iron foot plate, with the option for a swivel version. The frames can be linked together to form room dividers or stand alone.

Available in two sizes, one wide and one narrow, the designs come powder-coated or finished in chrome.

Add was launched during Stockholm Design Week earlier this month, where Lammhults also presented sofas and armchairs that balance chunky upholstered seats on thin tubular steel frames.

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system for Lammhults appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan design studio Skrivo has combined a steam-bent wooden frame with woven rattan material to create this angular chair.

Designed for Italian brand Miniforms, the Colony armchair by Skrivo has a seat and backrest formed from woven strips of dried vine using the traditional process called caning.

“Caning has always caught our eye,” said the designers. “It is functional, sustainable, resistant, lightweight and most importantly it reminds us of furnishings from the past.”

Sections of beech wood were steam-bent to create the rounded frame. Curved elements are joined to make a hexagonal shape around the outside of the chair.

More poles connected to the corners support the cane material, often referred to as rattan after the Southeast Asian plant it is sourced from.

A pair of bars is bent in two places and run from the front to the back of the seat, forming four legs.

The chairs are available in both natural finishes or painted bright colours. Cushions can be added to the seat for extra comfort.

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steam-bent wood and rattan appeared first on Dezeen.

Using delicate materials with pastel colors, Origami chair offers comfort and aesthetic pleasure. Plywood structure combined with leather upholstery u..

Stockholm 2014: Swedish designer Gunilla Allard’s Cajal sofas and armchairs feature slender tubular steel frames that support chunky upholstered seats (+ slideshow).

Allard designed the collection for Swedish furniture brand Lammhults, and said the line of steel that forms the frame was influenced by a cosmetic called kajal (or kohl) which is often used as an eyeliner.

“My process began with the small sofa,” said Allard. “A petite sofa with a visible tube frame that wraps around the back like the stroke of a pen, or why not a kajal pencil?”

Lammhults asked Allard to design a collection that was “slender, contemporary and restful”, and particularly suited to use in offices, restaurants or waiting rooms.

The resulting pieces are developed around the minimal steel frame, which follows the shape of the armrests and back and can be specified in colours that complement or contrast with the upholstery.

Its slim profile provides a visually lightweight base for the seat, which seems to balance on slanting rods that connect the back legs to a bar running along the front of the frame.

The shell of the seat is made from glass-fibre reinforced polyurethane covered in foam that can be upholstered in fabric or leather.

The range comprises an easy chair and a sofa in large and small variations. The armchair and large sofa feature a deeper seat cushion than the less imposing small sofa.

Lammhults launched the Cajal collection at the Stockholm Furniture Fair earlier this month.

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balance seats on thin metal frames appeared first on Dezeen.

The curving lines of this steel wire chair by French designer Constance Guisset are intended to represent fabric draped over the seat and back (+ slideshow).

Bent steel rods that form the surfaces of the backrest and seat of Guisset‘s Drapée chair appear to gather in one of the seat’s front corners.

“I am very much interested in fabric and soft materials,” Guisset told Dezeen. “A drape is fascinating because it recalls fluidity and a certain impression of movement. I wanted to recall this movement with a few lines, as if a fabric had been left on a chair frame.”

The frame is made in two sections; a front piece with angled legs and a rounded back that are joined at the rear of the seat and held in tension by the steel wires.

The designer worked with a metal fabricator to develop the position of the lines, which were originally drawn using computer-modelling software but required an iterative process of refinement in the workshop.

“As the chair is made of free-form wires it was quite a challenge to make it comfortable and rigorous,” Guisset recalled. “After each wire was welded, we tested comfort and observed the shape, unwelding lines as many times as necessary and doing it again. In the end we spent three full days in the factory, just for a tube frame and 16 lines in wire!”

The chair is designed to be used in homes or restaurants and therefore needed to be lightweight so it can be moved easily, and stackable for saving space.

“It was a real desire to make it strong, comfortable, stackable and light at the same time,” said Guisset. “It was also about visual lightness that is a deep aspiration in my work. As it is built with just a few lines of tube and wire, physical lightness is a natural consequence.”

The product is available in black, white, gold and pale blue finishes. A separate cushion pad features a pattern that replicates the lines of the seat.

Guisset’s promotional photography presents the product alongside marble statues wearing the sorts of draped fabric garments that inspired the design.

“I often visit museums and take pictures of draped sculptures,” said Guisset. “I feel a very soft sensuality in them, so it was quite natural for me to use some antique and Italian sculptures. I wanted the pictures to express the freedom, lightness and dancing qualities of the object. The drape was highlighted by the sculptures’ presence.”

Drapée was exhibited by French design brand Petite Friture at last month’s Maison&Objet fair outside Paris.

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designed to look like draped fabric appeared first on Dezeen.