Hasta La Ideas

The peeling, brightly painted walls of an abandoned house provide a striking backdrop to this collection of over-dyed handmade rugs by American designer homeware brand ABC Carpet & Home.

San Francisco photographer Jason Madara shot the rugs for ABC Carpet & Home in a derelict house in upstate New York, where the peeling paintwork complemented the rich colours and faded patterns of the rugs.

While the original Color Reform collection took vintage rugs and over-dyed them, the Spectrum collection uses new rugs, handmade individually in Pakistan.

The over-dyeing process involves neutralising the rug’s original colours before dyeing it with one rich colour, leaving the original patterns faintly visible in the weave.

Photographs are by Jason Madara.

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Here’s more information from ABC Carpet & Home:

ABC Carpet & Home has launched its latest rug collection, Color Reform Spectrum Edition, with a dynamic advertising campaign captured by the internationally renowned interior and lifestyle photographer Jason Madara.

The campaign was envisioned and directed by Angela Gruszka, ABC Carpet & Home’s director of marketing, and shot in upstate New York in an abandoned early 20th century house with eclectic brightly painted interior. Uninhabited for over 20 years, its weathered state presented noticeable imperfections, from chipped paint to extensive surface fractures that were captured by Madara’s exquisite sense of detail to give the photographs texture and life.

The rugs were shot through a series of doors to produce mesmerising painterly-like compositions with contrasting yet harmonious continuums of rich, beautiful colour. Madera with his exceptional sense of light and shadow transformed the space into a surreal environment, achieving the perfect balance of intensity between rugs and the walls.

The collection is the latest manifestation of the iconic series of artistic over-dyed rugs from ABC. Staying true to the philosophy of utilising the power of colour to reinvent and recreate, Color Reform Spectrum continues to embrace the transformational strength of colour by applying the Color Reform concept to new rugs created with the intention of being over-dyed. Each one-of-a-kind rug was individually and intricately handmade and over-dyed by Pakistani artisans to create the remarkable chromatic compositions in a seemingly endless exotic palette.

Madara, an internationally renowned photographer based in San Francisco, captures moments as performances – alive and visceral in their stillness. Formally trained at the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, he has practiced professionally across the globe. Madara’s deft balance of lightness and darkness brings beauty and tension to glimpses both ordinary and extraordinary. His depth of emotion unveils the complex sweetness, fragility, and power of the human state and natural environment.

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by ABC Carpet & Home appeared first on Dezeen.

Eindhoven design studio BCXSY used hand-blown glass in six grades of opacity, from transparent to white, to create a collection of glassware for Japanese design brand Inframince (+ slideshow).

The In Between collection of glasses, bowls and plates was produced by BCXSY for Inframince as part of the tilde_objects 01 collection shown at the Design Tide Tokyo trade fair last weekend.

“A closer look at pieces, which at first glance may appear identical, reveals the uniqueness of each piece through slight variations in shape, colour and dimensions,” according to the designers, Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto, who founded their studio in 2007 shortly after graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven.

Other glassware we’ve featured on Dezeen includes a series of engraved carafes accessorised with metal collars and a set of frosted glass decanters which echo the Istanbul skyline.

In Milan this year, BCXSY presented stools, tables and bowls made in collaboration with traditional boat builders as well as a collection of rugs woven by Bedouin women.

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Photographs are by Kiyotoshi Takashima.

Here’s some more information from the designers:

Harmony and gradations in glass

One of the greatest appeals of hand-blown glass is the delicate balance between imperfection and near-perfection, reflecting both the nature of the material and the skills of the maker. A closer look at pieces, which at first glance may appear identical, reveals the uniqueness of each piece through slight variations in shape, colour and dimensions.

In Between is a hand-blown glass tableware collection, consisting of drinking glasses, bowls, plates, and accessories of various types and sizes, which come in a six-step gradation – from transparent to white.

The subtle successive changes are enhanced through the use of the pieces and the way they harmoniously combine. Besides emphasising the artistry required for reproducing such variations, this also encourages the exploration of different compositions and applications. More playfulness and awe are now introduced to the table.

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for Inframince appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch Design Week: a Victorian scientist’s laboratory experiments inspired Dutch designer David Derksen to create these glass lamps and vases, which have double walls like a Thermos flask.

The Dewar range is named after 19th century scientist James Dewar, who was researching absolute zero temperature when he invented the isolating container that became known as a Thermos flask.

“Laboratory glassware has a very specific formal language,” Derksen said, explaining that the glass tubes are shaped on lathes under extreme heat, while rubber parts are often used in the laboratory to seal or connect the containers. “The material combination is both functional and aesthetically beautiful,” he added.

In Thermos containers, a thin layer of silver is sandwiched between two walls of glass to reflect heat and maintain the temperature inside the flask.

The Flask Vase and Flask Light in Derksen’s collection are made from two layers of glass, between which are layers of silver salvaged from old coffee flasks.

The Dewar Light and Dewar Vase are made from borosilicate glass that has been darkened by radiation. The bases of the lamps and vases are made from silicone rubber.

The project was on show as part of an exhibition called Objects for Sale during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven last week. See all our stories from Dutch Design Week.

Derksen graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2009 and completed his masters in Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft before setting up his studio in Rotterdam.

In Milan this year Derksen worked with designer Lex Pott to create selectively oxidised mirrors for an exhibition called The Front Room.

We previously featured Benjamin Hubert’s collection of glassware inspired by laboratory equipment and Maarten De Ceulaer’s series of coloured lights inside glass vessels and beakers.

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Photographs and styling are by Camille Cortet.

Here’s some more information from the designer:

The Flask Vase, Flask Light, Dewar Light and Dewar Vase are the first outcomes from a continuing investigation into the beauty, form and manufacturing techniques found in scientific glassware. As a direct result of the production processes used in its creation, Laboratory glassware has a very specific formal language. All vessels and instruments start as glass tubes that are reshaped on lathes under extreme heat. Rubber parts are often used to connect the various instruments or to seal the vessels. Acting as a malleable and gentle buffer for the glass, the material combination is both functional and aesthetically beautiful.

This contrast of materials and their aesthetic formed the starting point for this investigation. The project is named after James Dewar, who was in search of the absolute zero temperature point and invented the Dewar flask or isolating container. These containers (also known as Thermos flasks) use two walls of glass which sandwich a thin layer of silver to reflect the heat. These relatively complex parts can be found inside the everyday coffee flask and were the inspiration for this project and its initial outcomes.

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by David Derksen appeared first on Dezeen.

Designers including Marco Dessi, Tomáš Král and Adrien Rovero created experimental mirrors for an exhibition organised by Adam Štěch of Czech design firm OKOLO and curator Klára Šumová during Designblok 2012 in Prague this month.

Thirty designers contributed objects, sketches or prototypes to the exhibition. The finished pieces include a handheld mirror by Italian designer Marco Dessi which doubles as the lid of a box (pictured above) and a set of three boxy freestanding mirrors by Swiss designer Adrien Rovero (below).

Speaking to Dezeen, the curators picked some of their favourite mirrors from the collection. “I love the solutions of ‘ECAL style’ designers such as Tomáš Král, Adrien Rovero or Camille Blin. Their concepts are very minimal, aesthetic and functional,” said Štěch, referring to a house style he sees emerging from the University of Art and Design Lausanne (ECAL).

“The Alice mirror by Camille Blin [pictured above] is great exercise in utility,” he continued. “There are only three demountable elements: a mirror, a steel rod and a magnet which holds everything together. At the same time, you can change inclination of the mirror. Also, Tomáš Král’s Spring mirror [below] is based on the quality of the material, aluminium, which is bent and simply connected by strings.”

Co-curator Klára Šumová picked Berlin designer Uli Budde’s Eclipse mirror (pictured below) among her favourites. “[It’s] actually possible to hide the mirror surface with an easy movement. It is a beautiful and functional object and composition on the wall – you see yourself only when you need to,” she told Dezeen.

“Then there is one which built a personal relationship with me as a personal object,” said Šumová, referring to the mirror by Czech design studio Llev in the shape of a Czech lake (pictured bottom), which is covered with a leather case laser-cut with silhouettes of flying birds. “It’s a poetic and intimate one,” she added.

Above: mirror by Romain Lagrange

The exhibition was held at the Clam-Gallas Palace and designed by Lenka Míková of Prague-based architecture firm Edit! using wooden boards in pastel colours inspired by the palace’s baroque interior.

Above: mirror by Jakub Berdych

Other mirrors we’ve featured recently on Dezeen include a series of hinged brass mirrors that look like butterflies and a mirror with faded edges that gives its reflections a dreamy quality.

Above: mirror by Beatrice Durandard

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Above: mirror by OS ∆ OOS

We also previously featured a pencil case by Tomáš Král and Camille Blin for OKOLO, which clamps pencils between its wooden jaws.

Above: mirror by Martin Žampach

Photographs are by OKOLO except where stated.

Here’s some more information from OKOLO:

Designblok 2012
Superstudio of Clam-Gallas palace
Husova 20, Prague

Curated exhibition of contemporary design and art presents mirror as a beautiful functional object, as well as poetic subject for experimentation. The exhibition curated by Klára Šumová and OKOLO documents strong actual trend of creating mirrors in the context of contemporary experimental design during the last years. The exhibition looks for new shapes, archetypes, newest trends, as well as history of typology.

Above: mirror by Antonín Hepnar

The mirror – a reflection of our own world that duplicates and creates the precise inverse copy of our reality. The mirror represents a magical object without which we would never know what we look like. The object tells stories, which we wish to disclose, and tells them to us so that we would see them in the right light. The poetical, yet surrealist quality of the mirror has always stirred artists, writers, and other thinkers in their ideas and visions. Thus, the mirror has become an object of artistic and philosophical notions and ideas that have frequently found their place on paintings, the pages of novels, verses, and films. The mirror is an object that will never cease to fascinate – including the world of design and art.

Above: mirror by Matěj Chabera

Thus, the exhibition aims to present the object of the mirror not only as a magical object full of imagination and inspiration, but also as a typological theme for designers. They consider the mirror, like all other objects, as a functional and aesthetically balanced object, the production of which requires certain specific features. The exhibition shows various forms of the mirror perceived by contemporary designers and artists. Thus, they face the problem of how to depict the mirror or one of its motifs in their own artistic interpretation. Diverse approaches of contemporary designers are confronted with works of art by visual artists who have also chosen the motif of the mirror as their theme. The result not only presents a set of functional objects, but also a complex perspective of mirrors considered both from the functional and formal points of view, as well as from the purely artistic, philosophical, and idea-based points of view.

Above: mirror by Giorgia Zanellato

Artists: Michal Bačák, Jakub Berdych, Camille Blin, Radek Brousil, Uli Budde, deForm, Marco Dessí, Oscar Diaz, Simon Donald, Beatrice Durandard, Antonín Hepnar, Matěj Chabera, Lucie Koldová, Tomáš Král, Blanka Kirchner, Romain Lagrange, Leeda + Dušan Tománek, Kai Linke, Llev, mischer’traxler, Jan Novák, OS ∆ OOS, Jacques-Elie Ribeyron, Adrien Rovero, Klára Šumová, Michaela Tomišková, Jana Trávníčková, Maxim Velčovský, Dirk Wright, Giorgia Zanellato, Zorya, Martin Žampach

Above: mirror by Llev

Curators: Adam Štěch, Klára Šumová
Graphic design: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Installation: Lenka Míková (edit!), http://editarchitects.com/
Production: OKOLO
Partners: Studio Činčera, Primalex, Designblok, Elle Decoration
Media partners: Architonic, Cool Hunting, Matandme, SightUnseen

Above: photograph by Jaroslav Moravec

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OKOLO and Klára Šumová appeared first on Dezeen.

In the interest of showcasing young and emerging local designers, Messe Frankfurt has seen fit to include a ‘Talents’ section at the Interior Lifestyle shows in Tokyo and China. Of course, the organization’s modest-sized Asian tradeshows are duly less ambitious than their flagship show in February, which boasts upwards of 60 talents compared to dozen young designers at last week’s Shanghai exhibition.

More interesting still is the decision to include several non-Chinese designers: half of the talents hailed from Japan and Europe, all of whom had participated as Talents at prior shows in their home regions. (Given the Frankfurt-based company’s penchant for providing international exposure at little to no cost to the designers, it’s well worth applying to be a ‘Talent’ at Ambiente in February.) The lucky few were handpicked to complement the Chinese designers, as well as for their potential to succeed in the Chinese market. Far be it for me to speak on behalf of the nation’s buyers, but my personal favorite (among the non-Chinese designers) was work from Kai Linke.

The Frankfurt-based designer presented just a couple small tabletop objects as well as a sample of a bespoke wall treatment that he has developed. As in the “Engrain” keyboard, Linke takes advantage of the fact that the grain of wood expresses differences in density, such that a controlled sandblasting process reveals the grain in three dimensions. After he creates a vector graphic to a client’s specifications, Linke masks the area on a panel of spruce, which is sandblasted to reveal an image in relief. Although he exhibited just a handful of the panels—in the interest of easy transportation from Germany—the overall effect is quite striking. (The panels can be quite large, or they can be cut into a few standard sizes for easy transport and visual variation; this particular wall can be viewed in full here.)

I could see the “Pi” mirror, a round looking glass ‘set’ in a block of marble, as a fixture in a high-end restaurant or hotel here in Shanghai or, frankly, any major city.

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