Hasta La Ideas

French designer Claire Lavabre has made a mirror that only works when it’s placed in front of a dark shape painted on the wall.

A partial reflection is visible in the bevelled frame if it is placed in front of a white surface but the reflection becomes clear when the glass overlaps with dark matte paint.

Claire Lavabre used specially treated ultra-reflective glass that also retains high transparency. The effect is an enhanced version of looking at your reflection in a darkened window on a sunny day, or from a lit room when it’s dark outside.

Lavabre says she wanted to explore surfaces that are both reflective and transparent, overlapping images to create new perspectives. She’s proposed a series of six different geometric shapes and colours to be used with the frame. “In this way the mirror can be appropriated – people can choose the colour they prefer and it can adapt to different places,” Lavabre told Dezeen.

The project was developed during Lavabre’s studies at École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle (ENSCI) in Paris, where she graduated in December last year. It will be shown at the Design Parade 8 festival as part of an exhibition of work by ten young designers at Villa Noailles in Hyères, France, from 5 to 7 July.

New York designer Joe Doucet recently created a mirror as a tribute to victims of Hurricane Sandy that gives the impression the viewer is partially submerged, while Canadian studio The Practice of Everyday Design has designed a mirror that displays ghostly reflections on its buffed stainless steel surface – see more mirrors on Dezeen.

Here’s a short project description from the designer:

Reflet

In this project I had a particular interest in reflections. Reflections appear on surfaces that are transparent and reflective at the same time. A tree reflects in a lake, in a train window. I like the overlaying of different images. When we look through the surface it is transparent. The surface tends to disappear like glass. On the contrary, when we look at a reflection on glass, this surface exists. It finds a presence by sending us our own image.

A geometric shape is drawn on a wall with paint. The frame of the reflective surface is leant on the wall. When this geometric shape and the reflective surface intersect, the reflection increases and this installation finds use. The geometric shape’s colours and shapes are numerous. Reflection system: wood frame, glass, paint. Variable shape and size.

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Claire Lavabre appeared first on Dezeen.

New York designer Joe Doucet created this mirror that makes the viewed look as if they’re immersed in water as a tribute to victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The blue lower half of the circular mirror refracts the light slightly compared to the total reflection of the top, so a small portion of the visage appears in both. The effect is similar to looking through a glass tank that’s half-full of water.

Joe Doucet‘s studio is located in Lower Manhattan, one of the areas worst affected by the storm, and he designed the piece to be a daily reminder of the natural disaster.

“The mirror came about by my thinking that it had been less than six months since Sandy and I almost never thought about it,” he says. “I was struck by how quickly we forget tragedy.”

Named after the unit of measurement for water depth, the one-off Fathom Mirror was created for an exhibition and auctioned off with work by other New York designers to raise money for disaster relief.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, photographer Iwan Baan captured images of Manhattan’s dark, flooded streets.

Our selection of stories about reflective designs includes a series of hinged brass mirrors that look like butterflies and a mirror with blurry edges that reflects a dreamy image of its surroundings.

See more mirror design »

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by Joe Doucet appeared first on Dezeen.

These tiny cups by German designer Hanna Kruse are topped with geometric wire grates to support and show off small objects like jewellery, flower heads or leaves.

Hanna Kruse was influenced by Ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement, when designing the little ceramic vessels.

She manipulated copper and steel wire into geometric patterns to form the tops, which can be opened by twisting them to the side.

Soe cups were presented as part of the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach exhibit at MOST in Milan last month. See all our stories about Milan 2013 »

Earlier this year we featured a series of ceramic vases based on Ikebana with tops that loop over the flowers to frame them. 

See all our stories about ceramics »

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Hanna Kruse appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: this silver serving set for tea and cake was designed by Dutch studio Scholten & Baijings for Danish silverware and jewellery company Georg Jensen and launched at Spazio Rossana Orlandi last week.

Scholten & Baijings’ Tea with Georg collection for Georg Jensen is based on items used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, but with added pieces to incorporate the Dutch designers’ love of coffee.

The collection includes a teapot with a sieve, a teapot warmer, a creamer and a sugar bowl, all made from stainless steel.

There is also a porcelain cup and saucer and a double-walled stainless steel espresso cup and saucer.

The set is completed with light blue porcelain dessert plates, a glossy porcelain cake platter and a cake stand that combines a matt porcelain platter with a stainless steel stand.

The tea set was shown at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, where Slovenian designer Nika Zupanc also presented folding lamps powered by wind-up keys – see all news and products from Milan.

Scholten & Baijings recently designed a range of coloured glassware for Danish brand Hay and last year in Milan the studio launched tableware based on the archives of a Japanese porcelain company.

Last year Danish private equity group Axcel sold the Georg Jensen brand to a Bahrain-based investment bank for $140m.

Photographs are by Scheltens & Abbenes.

Here’s some more information from the designer:

At the invitation of Georg Jensen, Scholten & Baijings designed a Tea & Cake collection entitled ‘Tea with Georg’. The title is a nod to the company’s Danish founder, Georg Jensen.

The collection consists of a stainless steel teapot, tea warmer, porcelain cup and saucer, stainless steel espresso cup and saucer, creamer, sugar bowl, cake stand, cake platter and individual porcelain dessert plates.

The design for this everyday tableware is based on a study conducted into the Japanese tea ceremony, freely interpreted for Western use by Scholten & Baijings. Starting point for the design process is the symbolic value the Japanese attach to the tea ceremony, as well as their love of aesthetics, the appreciation of traditional handicraft and the beauty of the material in general.

The teapot with tea sieve and warmer, executed in stainless steel, form the basis of this collection. The design reflects all the qualities of the Georg Jensen brand: the skilful metalwork, the high degree of precision and the meticulous surface finish.

Aside from being tea enthusiasts, Scholten & Baijings are also passionate about high-quality espresso and cappuccino. That’s why in addition to the porcelain cup and saucer they also designed a special double-walled stainless steel espresso cup with accompanying saucer. The saucer features an exclusive detail: an etched line that runs till the centre of the saucer.

In the case of the porcelain teacup with saucer, the line has been executed in silver and runs through the centre of the saucer. This is a reference to the original ‘Silversmithy’, the workplace of Georg Jensen, renowned for his silver products. By also making use of other materials, such as porcelain and coloured synthetics, and by applying different textures, patterns and colours that are recognizable features of Scholten & Baijings’ signature, ‘Tea with Georg’ forms a perfect family. The pieces also combine attractively with existing services.

In addition to cups and saucers, the collection comprises plates and platters for cakes, savoury titbits, fruit and delicacies. The porcelain plates have been hand decorated with light-blue colour gradients. This makes every plate unique. There are two variations: one version with gradients from inside to outside, and vice versa.

There is a large, matching, high-gloss porcelain cake platter with soft blue colour gradients running from inside to outside. The cake stand, conversely, has a stainless steel foot holding a mat porcelain platter decorated with a fine black grid. For the true tea lover, there is a porcelain teacup that, of course, can also be used for cappuccino. The handle grows thicker as it extends over the cup in a flowing motion.

It is thanks to nearly 400 years of Japanese experience in the manufacture of porcelain and the use of innovative production techniques that this ingenious detail can be produced in series. Scholten & Baijings take pride in this unique collaboration. East literally meets West in this unique project that brings Japan and Denmark together.

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for Georg Jensen appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: patterned rolling pins that make edible plates and a meat grinder that squeezes out biodegradable bowls are among a set of kitchen products on show at Ventura Lambrate in Milan this week (+ movies).

Altered Appliances is a collection of four projects by students from Rotterdam’s Piet Zwart Institute, all of which introduce low-tech, hand-powered appliances and ideas to the kitchen.

Rollware is a set of laser-cut rolling pins designed by Joanne Choueiri, Giulia Cosenza and Povilas Raskevicius to produce edible plates and dishes from dough.

One set of four rolling pins is used to imprint patterns on the dough.

Above: Rollware movie

Another set cuts the dough into four different plate sizes before they are baked into tableware.

Extrudough is a collection of biodegradable tableware made with a meat grinder, which designers Bo Baalman and Kine Solberg describe as an “analogue, human-powered 3D printer”.

A soft dough is extruded through the meat grinder in thin tubes onto various shaped moulds and then dried at room temperature.

As well as being cheap to produce, the products have a shorter decomposing time than other temporary tableware such as paper plates.

Above: Extrudough movie

The Flip Food lunch box by Ilias Markolefas and Nathalia Martinez Saavedra is inspired by the brown paper bags often used for carrying lunch to school or work.

The designers used stencils to cut a brown paper surface into a flat template, which is then folded and assembled to form a geometric lunchbox with six compartments.

The printed patterns visible on the outside vary depending on the lunchbox’s rotation, so they can be used to indicate the type of food held inside.

Reusable plastic protective containers can also be inserted into the compartments to protect certain foods.

Above: Flipfood movie

Finally Maddalena Gioglio and Egle Tuleikyte created the CONEformation measuring set from mounds of salt poured out of a contraption holding various sizes of measuring funnels.

The salt mounds are hardened by spraying water onto them and then covered with a layer of runny clay. The salt is then removed to reveal a set of ceramic measuring vessels.

The four projects emerged from a studio led by Alex Suarez – whose installation in a salt factory we featured in 2010 – and Brian Peters at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Other food designs we’ve featured include a collection of tableware made from baked dough and prototypes for 3D-printed hamburgers and pasta – see all projects involving food.

Above: CONEformation movie

Also at Ventura Lambrate this week are a seating booth inspired by an old train carriage and dining chairs with legs that flick out like ice skates, both designed by Tjep. – see all news about Ventura Lambrate.

Dezeen is in Milan covering the highlights of the design week – see our round-up from the Salone yesterday, browse all news from Milan or check out our interactive map of the week’s best talks, exhibitions and parties.

Photographs are by the designers.

Here’s some more information from Piet Zwart Institute:

Altered Appliances is an exhibition presenting projects that investigate the retooling of industrial low-tech appliances and gadgets to offer alternative design solutions and experiences for today’s kitchen. The exhibition is staged as a live demonstration presenting the process of making. The kitchen was the inspiration for the design projects. Historically, the kitchen as a domestic room grew from the need to house a variety of activities related to consumption. It is a story of the making of the modern home and its components, and on the shifting place and development of the most technological, equipment-laden and factory-like room of the home.

For the projects, the designers researched historical examples of appliances/apparatus, particularly low-tech, hand powered devices to become experts in a particular appliance, use and its effect. From this initial investigation, design parameters, fabrication techniques and material experimentations were developed to define the project, its application and explore new “altered” design opportunities for the kitchen.

The projects were made during a thematic design studio by design students in the Master of Interior Architecture & Retail Design (MIARD) program at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, NL.

Rollware: Edible Dishware
Designers: Joanne Choueiri, Giulia Cosenza, Povilas Raskevicius

Rollware is a set of laser-cut rolling pins designed as a tool for the production of bread-based edible dishware, which are adorned with customised and useful patterns. The sustainable products merge traditional crafts, tableware production and cooking with digital technology.

Extrudough: Biodegradable Tableware
Designers: Bo Baalman, Kine Solberg

Extrudough is a collection of biodegradable tableware fabricated using an altered meat grinder that operates as an analogue, human powered 3D printer. The product line consists of five biodegradable containers, each with a unique pattern, colour and density.

Flip Food: Lunch Box
Designers: Ilias Markolefas, Nathalia Martinez Saavedra

Flip Food is a lunch box designed to store and carry food in a playful way. It is a self-standing rotating object with six compartments to store different types of food in each section. Inspired by the classic brown paper bag used by many to carry lunch to work or school.

CONEformation: A Measuring Set
Designers: Maddalena Gioglio, Egle Tuleikyte

CONEformation is a set of measuring cones for cooking, designed for mixing ingredients and serving food. The organic shapes of the cones are an unexpected yet a practical addition to the task of measuring for recipes in the kitchen.

Instructors: Alex Suarez, Brian Peters

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Piet Zwart Institute students appeared first on Dezeen.