Hasta La Ideas

Danish designer Simon Legald has created a set of stacking melamine trays with softly rounded edges for design brand Normann Copenhagen (+ slideshow).

Simon Legald designed the Nabo Trays in small, medium and large variations, with raised edges and handles on each end.

“Nabo” is the Danish word for neighbour, and Legald designed the set around this idea.

“It’s a bit like neighbours in a residential neighbourhood where the houses have the same basic shape, but windows, doors, gardens and décor are different,” Legald explained, referring to how the trays fit together.

“I thought it was interesting how you could vary the few elements of an archetypal tray to retain similarity while the expression changes,” he added.

The largest tray is long and flat with low edges, and features openings at one end to allow liquids to run off if necessary.

The medium tray is smaller and deeper with more storage space, while the smallest tray is deeper still and designed to hold larger items like glasses and bowls.

The matte-finish trays come in three colour sets: dusty green, rich red and classic grey.

Here’s some information from the designer:

Normann Copenhagen presents the Nabo Trays

The Danish designer Simon Legald has created a series of trays with a softly rounded silhouette and subtle details for Normann Copenhagen. Their design is clean and minimalistic with a friendly and naive expression. Nabo comes as a set of three trays of different sizes and colours.

The carefully considered details give each Nabo Tray an individual character, and the variations among them make the series both aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. The large tray has openings at one end, letting the water run off easily when you rinse it. The medium tray is ideal for storing oils and spices, for example, while the high edges of the smallest make it an ideal serving tray for glasses and bottles.

Simon Legald says: “I got the idea for Nabo one day when I was sitting down, drawing different shapes. I like the fusion of round and square, and so I began to think about what type of product that form would be suitable for. This led me quickly to the idea of a tray. I thought it was interesting how you could vary the few elements of an archetypal tray to retain similarity while the expression changes – a bit like neighbours in a residential neighbourhood where the houses have the same basic shape, but windows, doors, gardens and décor are different.”

Nabo is made in melamine and available in three different colour combinations – a dusty green, a rich red and classic grey version. The trays are dishwasher-safe, making them practical for everyday use.

Colours: Grey, Red & Green
Material: Melamine
Dimensions: H: 6,8 cm x L: 43,4 cm x 23,4 cm

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trays for Normann Copenhagen appeared first on Dezeen.

Israeli ceramicist Michal Fargo produces these vases by ripping blocks of spongy foam into rough shapes before dipping them in porcelain and firing them (+ slideshow).

Michal Fargo developed the unusual technique used to make her Else collection as a way of avoiding parting lines and pouring points that determine the conventional ceramic casting process.

“The idea was to create different surfaces in ceramics, to find something interesting and diverse and in some ways more authentic,” said Fargo in a video about the project.

The Rock vases, which form part of the Naturelike collection developed for Spanish limited edition brand PCM, are made by tearing chunks from foam blocks until they take on the shape of vessels with a random natural appearance on their internal and external surfaces.

After dipping them in liquid porcelain with a coloured stain, the vases are fired in an outdoor kiln to harden the material while retaining the porous surface detail of the foam.

“I was really bored with mould-making and having all these clear, smooth surfaces so I started sculpting in sponge and then just dipping it and firing it,” explained Fargo. “Afterwards I started trying to do some other things like casting into sponge blocks.”

Other pieces in the Naturelike collection are produced using rubber moulds cast inside rough foam shapes. Resin poured into the moulds preserves the bubbly texture of the foam as it sets.

The resin is coloured to give the Coral vases their distinct bright-red hue, and the Moss pieces their subtle green shade.

As well as her hands, Fargo uses a small saw and a Japanese knife to carve out organic shapes with different textural surfaces.

The Rock vases and centrepiece bowl have been produced as one-offs as the foam shapes used to create them are destroyed during the firing process, while the Coral and Moss designs are made in limited editions.

Fargo originally created the Else series while studying ceramics at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

The vases were presented by PCM at the Maison&Objet design fair near Paris last month.

Photography is by Mel Bergman, except where stated otherwise.

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moulded from torn foam blocks appeared first on Dezeen.

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Stockholm 2014: the delicate glass base of this vase by German designer Hanne Willmann contrasts with a concrete cover that supports the stems of flowers.

The top section of Berlin-based Willmann‘s vase is balanced on a straight-sided cylindrical glass vessel.

“With the Willmann Vase my ambition was to play with contrasts and the fragility of glass,” Willmann told Dezeen. “The concrete is set above the glass, so you can only see the stalk of the flowers.”

The lid narrows towards the top to support flowers placed in the vase, and can be removed to make it easier to clean the two parts.

“The shape of the concrete cover was a result of the need to hold a flower bouquet together,” explained Willmann. “I also wanted to emphasise the roughness and coldness of the strong concrete with a simple and straight shape. The glass appears even more fragile this way and makes a great contrast.”

Willmann used a polyconcrete composite to manufacture the cover. This material combines cement with a polymer binder that provides reinforcement while enabling it to be cast in reduced thicknesses. In the case of the lid, the wall thickness is just five millimetres.

The designer sketched several options for the height and diameter of the two parts and produced prototypes of the shape on a lathe that were used to create a plaster mould.

The vase was presented at the Maison&Objet design fair in Paris last month by Danish design brand, Menu, and is currently on show at the Stockholm Furniture Fair.

Other projects launched in Stockholm include a sofa with giant pins puncturing the seat to create a backrest and a furniture collection based on traditional shipbuilding techniques.

The post Willmann Vase by Hanne Willmann has
a glass base and a concrete lid appeared first on Dezeen.

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