From prison-made lamps to barely-there benches, the Norwegians really made their mark at Milan Design Week! Hit the jump to see some of the best from InsideNorway —>
COMPANY: Variér PRODUCT: Kokon DESIGNER: Thomas Pedersen Variér Kokon nestles your body, responding to your every movement and providing balance and harmony in your very own personal, tranquil zone. A compact and classic recliner, Variér Kokon is a modern expression of timeless elegance and unsurpassed comfort. Its compact form, ease of use and classic design make it particularly versatile.
COMPANY: Northern Lighting PRODUCT: Bake Me a Cake DESIGNER: Marten & Jonas Bake me a cake is a charming and playful table lamp made out of oak wood and smoked tinted glass. Simply lift up the glass to change the bulb. The lamp portrays a dim light. Bake me a cake will be manufactured by the inmates in a Norwegian prison close to Bergen, through a unique collaboration between the designers, Kriminalomsorgen region vest (the Norwegian correctional services) and Northern Lighting. The project aims to create an engaging experience for participating inmates.
COMPANY: Helland PRODUCT: Twin Chair + Twin sofa table DESIGNER: Arild & Helge The Twin chair and Twin table aim for functional and aesthetic versatility. Optional swivel or fixed leg supports are available as is a wide variety of material finishes like chrome, birch, oak, or stained wood.
COMPANY: Vestre PRODUCT: EZ Bench DESIGNER: Voll, Borgersen and Olofsson The goal of the EZ Bench is to provide the most comfortable, universally applicable seating with minimal use of resources and materials. It’s not only a challenging experiment, but also an important principle of sustainable development. The result is a stylish and functional bench with backrest, armrest and seat in just six components that create the mere essence of a bench.
COMPANY: Håg PRODUCT: HÅG Capisco Puls DESIGNER: Peter Opsvic HÅG Capisco Puls is a modern and flexible office seating solution that’s based on the legendary saddle-seat chair. The starting point is an in-depth understanding of the body and our need for constant motion. The result: a new office chair specially developed for people like you who work in active, modern office environments.
The 2R armchair, which takes name from its bold side pillars, is composed of just two materials: lenga wood and salmon skin upholstery, both native of Chile. This luxurious combination of materials creates a sophisticated and elegant expression against an otherwise minimal frame. Though somewhat fragile looking, the handcrafted process of traditional jointing and precision material bonds make it functionally very strong, stable, and comfortable.
That phrase has less relevancy with the advent of digital design tools, but this creative workstation merges the physical scale of the classic designer’s board with the functionality of a tablet into one unit that classic sketchers and digital designers alike will appreciate. Called Voltra, it hearkens back to a time when pencil and paper were solely available, but instead… it’s a stylus and touch screen!
Chinese design studio Neri&Hu will present a collection of wooden furniture for De La Espada in New York later this month (+ slideshow).
New items in the collection for the woodwork brand include the Opium Sofa, Solo Table and Tray Desk.
Neri&Hu took the typology of a Chinese Tang Dynasty opium bed and modified it to create a sofa, which has shelves under the deep arms for storage.
The oval Solo table sits on two sets of three legs, each arranged in a triangle.
A two-tier desk folds out into a vanity table, with a mirror in the top shelf and a drawer full of different sized compartments in the lower bottom shelf.
Neri&Hu’s previous designs including the Extend Mirrors that prop up against the wall, slender Duet Chairs, plus their Solo Series of lounge and dining shell chairs are now being produced solely for De La Espada.
The collection will be shown at an exhibition in New York’s meatpacking district during the city’s design week from 18 to 21 May.
Opium beds for communal lounging have been in China since the Tang Dynasty, when opium smoking became an accepted social activity which necessitated a comfortable and presentable piece of furniture for receiving guests. neri&hu took this historic typology and updated it to create a contemporary sofa with a simple profile that retains the deep seat and low back of its inspiration. Flanking the sofa are deep arms which form two useful shelves, as well as side tables for books or a cup of tea. The solid wood frame cradles our tired bodies on a lazy Sunday morning, as addicts to our newspapers and coffee instead of the opium in imperial China.
Tray Desk
Trays function as a surface container for collectables, and this multi-tasking desk/vanity table was designed as two stacking trays on a light wooden frame . Contemporary lifestyles demand furniture to be more mobile and flexible, servicing multiple functions, while remaining lightweight for easy transport. This piece responds to that need, using the analogy of trays on trestles as a point of departure.
Solo Table
Solo Table is a solid wood dining table with purity of form and material.
Extend Mirrors
In the past, common bamboo ladders were used as household objects inside and outside country homes in China, functioning as an ever-ready stand for hanging a wide variety of things from tools and cloths to dried food. As a tribute to this utilitarian household symbol, neri&hu used three different ladder proportions to make a set of solid hardwood frames for floor standing mirrors. They lean on the floor in a casual manner, as ladders do, and can be used alone or as an interesting ensemble of many ladders with varying heights on the wall.
Solo Series (chair and table)
Inspired by the Eames Shell Chair, the Solo Chair is an updated version that transforms the early industrial look of the Eames iconic chair into a sophisticated, comfortable chair that is suitable both in domestic and commercial settings.
Solo chairs are a “universe within a chair”, wherein the upholstered shell hugs the sitting body to create a microcosmic universe for the person, where the chair becomes an object of shelter and refuge, where the person can be “solo” and undisturbed while being hugged in this position.
An upholstered foam-covered shell creates the universe that is the chair, and claims its singular autonomy in function, form, and beauty.
Duet Chair
The name speaks to the tectonic nature of the construction. Two pieces of bentwood work as a duet, creating the overall shape of the chair. They are stacked one on top of another to form the backrest, and while one extends to create the arm and front legs, the other turns to form the back legs. Originally created as a variation on the classic Thonet bent-wood tradition, the Duet Chair takes on a quiet yet graceful demeanor that is not unlike the German-Austrian classic original.
Neri&Hu Launches Collaboration with De La Espada
New York Design Week, 18-21 May 2013 at 345meatpacking
New York Design Week 2013 marks the launch of collaboration between Shanghai-based inter-disciplinary architectural practice, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office and leading modern woodworker, De La Espada. The launch event is presented by The Future Perfect at 345meatpacking, a stunning building by DDG. A large-scale purpose-built installation by Neri&Hu sets the scene for the debut of over ten new products born of their collaboration with De La Espada.
A unique sensory environment, the Neri&Hu installation for New York Design Week communicates at once the Neri&Hu approach to interiors and architecture, and their evolution toward product design.
Over ten new products will launch at the event, utilising timber extensively and spanning the needs of the home from dining to living spaces. The pieces are designed by Neri&Hu for their product brand ‘neri&hu’ and manufactured in premium materials by De La Espada craftsmen in Portugal.
The Future Perfect, host of the exhibition, will be the exclusive retailer of neri&hu furniture in the New York City and San Francisco areas.
Simplicity appears not in the form, but rather in the construction of the furniture. It was designed to avoid complicated connections. The bookshelf c..
Milan 2013: Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has created a family of chairs influenced by the shape of a hood for Italian brand Moroso.
Designed by Patricia Urquiola for furniture brand Moroso, the Clarissa Hood armchair and chair have faceted outer shells with seat backs designed to partially wrap around the sitter like the hood of garment.
The chairs are composed of a metal tubular frame with a thermoformed polyester fibre shell encasing a generously padded seat in a contrasting colour.
The collection is available in a wide variety of colours and was presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month.
Milan 2013: Netherlands-based designer Tomáš Gabzdil Libertíny presented a solid marble chair at the Bagatti Valsecchi exhibition curated by Rossana Orlandi in Milan.
“After an exchange of ideas, the fluid robust form with cantilevered seat offered itself to a beautiful combination with marble. The chair is a sculptural study on comfort and ergonomics,” explains the designer.
The Bust chair exists in both an indoor and outdoor version, the latter of which is equipped with small holes for drainage.
Milan 2013: German designer Ingo Maurer’s table without any legs has gone into production with British brand Established & Sons.
The white table top appears to float at first glance, but is in fact supported on an extended arm from each of the four black chairs.
Ingo Maurer devised a hidden mechanism beneath the table that allows the chairs to be pulled out so users can sit down. Rectangular and circular surfaces are available.
The wooden table was first conceived in 2012 and has since been put into production with Established & Sons. The furniture was shown at Ventura Lambrate in Milan last month.
Here is some extra information from Established & Sons:
This innovative piece is the first production table from the widely celebrated designer, Ingo Maurer. On first inspection, it appears to be archetypal wooden kitchen table and chairs but on closer viewing the table is revealed as ‘floating’; without any legs, supported by a simple extending mechanism which connects the chairs. Maurer has drawn inspiration from magic, ethereal substance and weightlessness. Floating Table invites the user to look more carefully at their simple daily objects and furniture for elements of surprise.
Reader Bethany emailed this morning, and although it’s not a traditional Ask Unclutterer question I thought it made for a great discussion:
I’m a reader of the Swiss-Miss blog and like her style. In her Friday Link Pack today, she had an item for “It’s a desk. It’s a bed.” When I saw it I thought it was the opposite of a Unitasker and wanted to make sure you saw it. I think it’s a horrible idea, but wondered what you thought of it since it’s a multitasker?
Oh my word, that is depressing, Bethany! You’re right that it is multifunctional, certainly not a unitasker, but it’s also one of the saddest pieces of furniture I’ve ever seen.
I like the general concept of one piece of furniture having many functions. And, to be fair, this does appear to be a well-made piece of multifunctioning furniture. It has nice lines. But, I don’t like the idea of literally sleeping in your desk. I think there should be a clear division between sleeping and work. Maybe — and this is a really weak maybe — I could see a medical resident who is on call having a need for a desk like this since he or she has to stay at the hospital for ridiculous hours on a regular basis. But for the rest of us normal folks, this feels dismal.
I believe that people should be productive when at work not so they can transform themselves into robotic corporate drones, but so they can really relax when they’re not at work. Work happens between set hours and work stays at work. When not at work, one’s mind should be free to dwell on things other than to-do items and projects that need to be completed at the office. You get more done at the office to enjoy non-work time more fully. This desk doesn’t provide for that at all — it promotes an end to non-work time. We’re humans, not worker bees.
What do the rest of you think about this Live-Work Desk? Are Bethany and I off base thinking it’s a dreary addition to an office? Share your reactions in the comments. And, thank you, Bethany, for inadvertently submitting your question to our Ask Unclutterer column.
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The Matchbox table was named for its unique resemblance to an old-school matchbox created by its contrasting materials. It merges playfulness with modern elegance in an occasional table you can write on. On one end, raw wood makes a clean surface for placing objects, and on the other is a chalkboard surface for drawing, scribbling ideas, or creating your own unique designs!
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