Hasta La Ideas

Dutch designers Daphna Laurens have created a series of storage containers that partially conceal their contents behind metal grilles.

They presented the cork and aluminium Cover collection with fellow members of design collective Dutch Invertuals as part of an exhibition on the theme of vulnerability called Untouchables Retouched in Milan last month.

The pair also showed pieces from their Cirkel collection in Milan at The Front Room: Geometry and Colour.

See all our stories about their work »

Photography is by Raw Color and Daphna Laurens.

Here’s some more information from the designers:

Cover is a collection of containers. Containers that make you curious, curious about what’s inside of them. The covers can be separated from the bowls to fill them, or they can be used singly as open containers.

By drawing a line or closing borders, by creating boundaries or setting up fences people believe they can create a certain level of safety. These divisions make curiosity turn into fear. Fear of the unknown. These objects aim to arouse that natural human quality, curiosity.

Materials are cork and aluminium, blasted and powder coated.

Cover collection was presented at the Salone del Mobile 2012 for the first time at the Dutch Invertuals exhibition: Untouchables retouched

“Almost unnoticed we have shaped a society without danger. Nevertheless things happen to us we can’t control. ‘Untouchables Retouched’ is a visual dialogue about re-balancing and re-valuating the beauty of vulnerability.”

By conducting research and experiments the Invertuals have transposed the theme of vulnerability onto contemporary designs. Balance, delicacy, curiosity and transience were sources of inspiration.

Dutch Invertuals is a collective of individual designers who are always in search of the limits of their profession. They present pieces that reflect their contemporary viewpoints in images, objects, materials, insights and stories.

Participants:

Daphna Laurens, Edhv, Mieke Meijer, Raw Color, Jetske Visser, Jeroen Wand, Maurizio Montalti, Kirstie van Noort, Susana Camara & Mike Thompson, Adrien Petrucci, Paul Heijnen.

Curator: Wendy Plomp

As a designer and initiator of Dutch Invertuals, Wendy Plomp tells the story of a collective: born from the idea that a mix of strong individuals can create a wonderful unexpected world in which the different disciplines reflect the multi-faced nature of design.

Milan 2012: this cabinet that looks like scaled-up dolls’ house furniture by London designer Donna Wilson is on show with design brand SCP at MOST this week.

The Bertha cabinet is accompanied by an armchair and two-seat sofa, and was inspired by boat houses on Fogo island, Newfoundland.

Wilson also presents new colourways in her floor cushions, pouffes, rugs and blankets for SCP.

Like Dezeen, SCP are based in the London borough of Hackney, while Donna Wilson works in neighbouring Tower Hamlets. See all the stories in our showcase of design in the borough here.

MOST takes place in Milan’s Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia from 17 to 22 April. Download the free map and guide here and see all our stories about MOST here.

Here’s some more information from SCP:

SCP present a new range of products for Spring / Summer 2012. Launching internationally for the first time are new designs from Matthew Hilton, Donna Wilson, Ineke Hans, Faudet-Harrison and Kay+Stemmer. Also in the collection are new versions of designs from Lee Kirkbride, Peter Marigold and Gareth Neal.

Bertha cabinet / Donna Wilson

The Bertha cabinet by Donna Wilson is the latest addition to the Bertha range.

Like the Bertha armchair and sofa, the cabinet takes inspiration from the traditional boat houses found on Fogo island, Newfoundland. The curved wooden panels emulate the shingle clad buildings on the island and the feet, which are part of the frame design, gives the piece the sense of a beautifully crafted continuous line.

The frame is made from FSC approved ash and is designed to provide both rigidity and strength. Made in the EU.

Bertha armchair / Donna Wilson

The Bertha armchair by Donna Wilson is an exciting joint project between SCP and the Shorefast Foundation on Fogo Island.

The design takes inspiration from the traditional boat building found on the Island.

The frame is made from FSC approved Douglas Fir and is designed to provide both rigidity and strength. The sides of the frame are flat whilst the four back panels gently kick outwards like a boats hull.

The feet are part of the frame design, this gives the piece the sense of a beautifully crafted continuous line. The loose drop seat has elasticated webbing with neatly fitting feather and down seat and back cushions upholstered in Bora Da Willow fabric.

Bertha two seat sofa / Donna Wilson

The Bertha sofa by Donna Wilson is an exciting joint project between Wilson, SCP and the Shorefast Foundation on Fogo Island, Newfoundland. The design takes inspiration from the traditional boat building found on the Island. The frame is made from FSC approved ash and is designed to provide both rigidity and strength.

The sides of the frame are flat whilst the back panels gently kick outwards like a boats hull. The feet are part of the frame design, this gives the piece the sense of a beautifully crafted continuous line.

The loose drop seat has elasticated webbing with neatly fitting feather and down seat and back cushions upholstered in Bora Da Willow fabric. Made in the EU.

Cologne 2012: closing one drawer of Lee Sanghyeok‘s table causes another to shoot out at random. The project won second prize at the [D3] Contest at imm cologne this week.

Watch this movie on Dezeen Screen »

Called Listen to Your Hands, the chest has multiple drawers connected by a central air chamber.

Closing a drawer quickly causes a sudden burst of air to force another drawer out elsewhere. The cabinet can only be completely closed by shutting each drawer in turn slowly and deliberately.

The project was first presented at Lee Sanghyeok’s graduation from the Design Academy Eindhoven last year.

First prize at the [D3] Contest was awarded to Jólan van der Wiel for his machine that uses magnets to draw furniture out of a vat of liquid.

Photos and video are by Minseong Wang.

Here are some more details from Lee Sanghyeok:

Listen to your hands is about how we can make a relationship with inanimate things in our domestic space, like furniture. How we connect to the furniture around us, how we experience and communicate with it.

Listen to your hands looks at the most sensitive of human senses, touch; it communicates a whole world of information to us and it explores how we can create a relationship to an object, a sort of dialogue, through touch.

Listen to your hands is a desk with drawers. A push of one drawer pulls out another as if in direct conversation with the action. A gentle closing of a drawer keeps the others intact thus communicating to us that we need to act with intention, we need to listen with our hands.

Lee Sanghyeok creates furniture, objects and nice ideas.

Here’s a similar storage system to the bicycle showroom we published this morning, this time for a kid’s playroom.

Created by OOO My Design, the rods of Pin Pres slide in and out so toys and books can put away simply by pushing them into the surface, but you might spend more time playing with it than tidying up.

See the same system applied to retail design here and a wardrobe you throw things at here.

Here are some more details from OOO My Design:

Pin Pres is a kid’s room shelf that makes the act of sorting up the room a playful experience where the shelf adopts its form to the toys, books and other things that are being stored.

Its the only shelf that will make your kid actually want to clean up and de-clutter the room!

Pin Pres has won Josep Ros furniture design competition.

Three projects that redefine usability from the design world’s newest competition

Starting with a reinvented trophy—designed as a mold for casting multiples to share with collaborators—the Core77 Design Awards is setting out to be a contest like no other.
The competition presents some of the industry’s most thoughtful concepts that often change the way we interact with the landscape around us. Below are three paradigm-shifting projects that enhance life by redefining space and usage.

Alcove

Felix Chun Lam and Joe Kenworthy created the Alcove, both a lighting component and storage solution, as a response to the reality of today’s fast-growing, consumerist society. Inspired by Terence Conran’s notion that there are three different levels of storage (at-hand, nearby and deep), the team added “seasonal items” as a fourth category. Showcasing the value in untapped ceiling space, the unobtrusive and easily-accessibly unit holds essential off-season items until the weather changes.

Tall Furniture

Winning the DIY-Hack-Mod category, Robert Turek’s Tall Furniture reassesses the stage’s role in live performances. Turek whittled the stage down to smaller, individualized platforms for each performer, in turn creating a more immersive experience for the audience by increasing visibility and mobility. Tall Furniture also allows for impromptu concerts by elevating performers even outside of traditional venues.

Node Chair

In most schools, critical thinking sessions and collaborative assignments that more closely mock the professional setting increasingly replace droning lectures. The Node Chair—designed by IDEO and Steelcase—lends itself to team-based work and classroom reconfiguration with its space-saving desk-and-chair combo set on wheels. Focused on “mobility, storage and fit,” the chair features a bucket-style swivel seat, a shelf underneath and an adjustable work space.