Hasta La Ideas

Kitchen and bathroom equipment is lowered into islands made from engineered quartz material Caesarstone in this animated preview of an installation for the brand by London studio Raw Edges, to be unveiled in Milan next month (+ movie).

Raw Edges designed a series of islands using Caesarstone, which have sections removed for slotting in storage units, appliances and accessories.

The movie shows models of these items attached to clasps or tied onto strings and lowered into the holes incorporated into each design.

Sinks, shelves and plants pots are all dropped into their specific places in the units. The animation will be realised as an interactive installation in Milan.

“For the Milan presentation we want to further-explore the concept of the sliding of objects into Caesarstone Islands,” said Raw Edges founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay.

“The focus will be on the kitchen, which will be set as a working station – a stage for performing cooking.”

The full Islands range includes units for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as sideboards and a ping pong table.

All the designs comprise a thin surface supported on two slices of the material and feature rounded corners.

Different units in the collection are made in various colours from the Casearstone range.

Following a preview of the products at the Interior Design Show in Toronto earlier this year, the installation will be presented at the Palazzo Clerici in Milan’s Brera district from 9 to 13 April during the city’s annual design week.

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concept for Caeserstone appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2013: London design duo Raw Edges came up with a bookcase shaped like a weaving loom to display novels by young British writers.

The Bloom bookcase was commissioned by the British Council to hold works of fiction by literary magazine Granta’s pick of young British novelists.

Raw Edges came up with a wooden frame resembling a loom – hence its name – that allows books to be slotted over the red threads and held at varying heights by sliding black stoppers.

The bookcase holds one novel by each of the writers chosen by Granta in its once-a-decade list, which was first published in 1983.

It was shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile during Milan’s design week earlier this month – see our round-up of the best furniture and lighting from the Salone or see all products and exhibitions from Milan 2013.

Raw Edges, a duo comprising Tel Aviv-born designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay, previously created a display of hundreds of fabric ribbons for Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat and a shelf that slides apart to form a desk – see all design by Raw Edges.

Other bookcases we’ve featured lately include a zig-zagging wooden design by Japanese studio Nendo and an extendable bookcase with interlocking shelves – see all bookcases.

Here’s some more information from the British Council:

The Best of Young British Novelists bookcase

British-based design studio Raw-Edges has been commissioned by the British Council to design a bespoke travelling bookcase to house one carefully selected work of fiction from each of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists. The bookcase will also hold editions of Granta magazine.

The highly inventive design means the books themselves take centre stage in the installation. The interactive nature of the bookcase also allows visitors to change the display by repositioning the books. It invites visitors to delve into the stories and also consider the books’ physical qualities and design. The bookcase will be on show during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, where a series of talks will consider the book as a physical object. This commission represents an opportunity for audiences overseas to engage with British design and British contemporary literature.

Before they were household names, they were Granta Best of Young British Novelists. At a celebration to be held at the British Council, on the evening of 15 April 2013, Granta will announce its once-in-a-decade selection of the twenty best British novelists aged under forty. Granta’s first generation-defining list of writers was published in 1983 and set the bar for the following decades.

The April announcement marks the publication of Granta 123: The Best of Young British Novelists 4, which includes a new story from each writer on the 2013 list. Granta 123 will be available to purchase from all good booksellers from 16 April in the UK and 23 April in the US.

Throughout 2013, the British Council and Granta are collaborating on an international showcase of contemporary British novelists, which features the twenty writers selected by Granta’s panel of judges. The first international events – including readings and conversation – will be announced on 15 April and will be taking place in more than ten countries including Russia, Qatar and India.

Books from each Granta Best Young Novelist on the 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013 lists will be presented around the world in a bookcase designed by Raw-Edges Design Studio.

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Raw Edges appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2012: Hackney designers were busy in Milan last week and we’re bringing you some of the best new product launches, including this shelf by Stoke Newington duo Raw Edges where the front slides down to create a work surface.

Shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile for Dutch brand Arco, Deskbox can be fixed to a wall and acts as a shelf and container when closed.

A pencil can be left standing in a tiny round hole in the top surface to signal that there is more to the simple form than meets the eye.

A parallel mechanism, similar to that used in compartmentalised sewing boxes allows the front section to hinge down and provide a flat surface for working on.

Raw Edges previously designed another unfolding shelving product for Dutch furniture brand Arco, which was launched at last year’s furniture fair in Milan.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here.

Here’s some more information from Arco:

Deskbox designed by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay

Soon after graduating from the Royal College of Art, Shay Alkalay became very well known with Pivot, a special type of drawers for Arco and the Stack for Established&Sons. He is most fascinated by functional items that can move and change and, in cooperation with his partner Yael Mer, they founded the design studio Raw Edges. Their latest design for Arco is another mobile functional object.

The Deskbox is a practical small table/cabinet that is hung onto a wall and it is ideal for settings where there is little space available for furniture. It is an elegant small work place, which is excellent for working on a laptop for instance, and it can be retracted to form a closed box, half the size of the table top.

The Deskbox represents a new typology in Arco’s focus on tables, which is an area of specialisation that sets the company apart from others. Continuous research often leads to new inventions and solutions.

This design from Raw Edges originated from the project Arco Okay 2011, where Arco challenged ten designers to develop new ideas, based on the production possibilities of the company. Desk Box is based on the parallel mechanism from earlier sewing boxes, which Arco used to produce a long time ago.

Raw Edges are based at Okay Studio off Stamford Hill, round the corner from Dezeen’s own offices.

Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

See a larger version of this map

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

Milan 2011: London design studio Raw Edges presented this dressing table and a desk with hinged drawers for Dutch brand Arco at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last week.

The piece is a development of the designers’ Pivot project for the brand, originally launched with a cascading two-drawer unit in 2008 (see our earlier story).

Two drawers hinge, rather than slide, out of the body of the cabinet, which is made from lacquered oak.

The desk and dressing table versions have shorter legs and either a deeper table top or recess for a mirror along the back.

See all our stories about Milan 2011 »

More from Raw Edges on Dezeen »

The following is from the designers:

ARCO AND YOUNG TALENT / NEW PROJECTS

Arco is launching several new products this year, and it is striking to note that a new generation of designers is increasingly playing a role in the composition of the collection. In order to further intensify its contacts with this generation of design talent, Arco is currently organising an unusual design project: ARCO OKAY – London designers do furnishings.

This collaboration with the London designers of the Okay Studio is a follow-up to the Arco 12 project which was organised in 2005 on the occasion of the company’s 100th anniversary.

Arco wishes to actively remain open to new ideas and challenged ten designers to create something in wood, based on the available production possibilities, which was totally different from the products in the existing collection.

A few years ago Arco started collaborating with a new generation of talented young designers at home and abroad. This approach is now bearing fruit. And, partly as a result, the company’s image is evolving. The solid and highly regarded collection that Arco has created over the years serves as a foundation from which the company can move forward with new élan.

Jorre van Ast took over the management of the family company on 1 January 2011. While preserving the highly acclaimed Arco style, he is adding his own striking signature as he slowly but surely expands the furniture collection that includes many bestsellers from the past. In keeping with its guiding principles, the company seeks to embrace innovation and sustainability while maintaining the same exacting quality standards and the traditional craftsmanship of the furniture maker.

Pivot Desk and Pivot Vanity design: Shay Alkalay, Raw-Edges Design Studio

The highly successful Pivot, a wall cabinet with two drawers, launched by Arco in 2008, has since been publicised and exhibited worldwide and has won various awards. The designer, Shay Alkalay, created the prototype in just three days. “No preparation, no research. It came to me just like that.” He made it shortly after completing his finals at the RCA in London, where he had been engaged in an intensive exploration of phenomena such as movement and gravity. “I didn’t ever make a real product at the Academy. I was just playing around. Pivot was the first piece of furniture to emerge from my research. It was loosely based on the mechanism of traditional sewing boxes and toolboxes.” The fact that the drawers hinge rather than slide makes it possible to open both drawers at the same time, creating a new typology.

There are now two different versions of the Pivot. Alkalay: “The Pivot is ideal if you don’t have much space, and also for things that don’t require much space. My mother-in-law thought it was the perfect make-up table. So I immediately made one for my wife Yael. It was not something I would ever have thought of. It also makes a very handy little work table with drawers – a writing desk that is just the thing for a laptop.”

The original cabinet has been made slightly lower and has been given an integrated desk top to create the Pivot Desk. The Pivot Vanity is a make-up table with a recess for a mirror in the top.

Product information: cabinet : lacquer and solid oak
top: solid oak

See also:

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Pinha by Raw Edges	The Coiling Collection by Raw Edges	Tailored Wood by Raw Edges

London designer Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges is next up in our series of movies from Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents filmed at imm cologne earlier this year.

Click on the symbol in the bottom right of the video player above to view the movie in full-screen HD.
Can’t see the movie? Click here.

In the movie Alkalay talks to Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about making furniture from felt, tiles from paper and a floor for Stella McCartney.

More about Raw Edges on Dezeen »

We’ll be publishing all 13 movies from Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents over the coming days. More details about the talks here.

See also:

Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Harry Thaler
Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: AKKA
Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Hanna Emelie Ernsting

See all our stories from Cologne 2011 »

Watch all our movies from Dezeentalks at Cologne 2010 »
Watch all our movies »

See also:

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Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: H E Ernsting	Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Harry Thaler	Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: AKKA