Hasta La Ideas

Stockholm 2012: Swedish designers Form Us With Love presented vases comprising slabs of quartz compound slotted onto a metal frame in Stockholm last week. Watch the movie »

The Silestone Slab Vases were created for Spanish brand Cosentino to show off their Silestone material, normally used for kitchen and bathroom surfaces.

The vases can be reconfigured and made waterproof by the addition of a plastic insert.

The designers presented five new collaborations at their annual Form Use With Friends showcase, this time at Swedish Museum of Architecture, including the Bento chair we’ve already featured. See photos of the show here.

Stockholm Design Week took place from 6-12 February and you can see all our stories about it here.

Photographs are by Jonas Lindström.

Here are some more details from Form Us With Love:

Silestone Slab Vases

Form Us With Love and Cosentino present a project exploring the quartz surface Silestone. Silestone Slab Vases were showed at the exhibition Form Us With Friends at the Swedish Museum of Architecture during Stockholm Design Week. The project aims to break away from the familiar Silestone slab form and explore the material’s tactile dimension.

The Slab Vases consist of rings of Silestone, which have been slipped over a metal bracket to create a sculptural vase. The rings vary in size and are cut so the shape of the vase changes with each assembly. The material is of Iberian origin, but Scandinavian sensibilities run through the Slab Vases project.

Watch this movie on Dezeen Screen »

London designer Phil Cuttance has built a machine to cast faceted vases that are unique every time. Watch the movie »

The Faceture series is made of water-based resin, rotated inside a folded mould as it hardens.

The mould can be altered before each casting by pushing and pulling parts of the folded plastic net inwards and outwards.

Royal College of Art graduate Julian Bond developed a similar process in 2010 by pushing plaster rods back and forth to continuously alter the cast form. See his work here.

Other projects by Cuttance on Dezeen include vases made by welding plastic offcuts together and coat hooks made from toy animals.

Images are by Petr Krejčí and Phil Cuttance.

Here’s some more information from Cuttance:

FACETURE vases

The FACETURE series consists of handmade faceted vessels, light-shades and table. Each object is produced individually by casting a water-based resin into a simple handmade mould. The mould is then manually manipulated to create the each object’s form before each casting, making every piece utterly unique.

The FACETURE process

First the mould of the object is hand-made by scoring and cutting a sheet of 0.5mm plastic sheet. This sheet is then folded, cut and taped into the overall shape of the product that is to be cast. The mould’s final shape, and strength, is dictated by which triangular facets I pop in and out. I do this each time I ready the mould for the next object, meaning that no two castings are the same. I then mix a water-based casting resin that is cast in the mould where it sets solid.

The resin is poured into the hollow mould and rolled around to coat and encase the sides, controlled by me on the casting jig on the machine. The material soon sets creating a hollow solid object. Then another, different coloured measure of resin is poured into the same mould, and swirled around inside, over the first. When it has set, the mould is removed to reveal the solid set cast piece. The casting appears with sharp accurate lines and a digital quality to its aesthetic, a visual ‘surprise’ considering the ‘lo-fi’, hand-made process from which it came. The mould is then cleaned and ready for re-use.

Each vase is handmade, unique, and numbered on the base.

Available in two sizes:

Tall – 45 x 12 cm approx
Small – 34 x 8 cm approx

Standard colours – Charcoal, blue, yellow, pink, white. Custom colours available.

The FACETURE project was created with the support of Creative New Zealand.

Watch this movie on Dezeen Screen »

From leopard handbags to reconstructed vases, gifts fit for a matriarch

With the holiday season well underway, your mom just might have all her holiday shopping finished. Now, it’s your turn to treat her—these won’t make up for all she’s done for you, but you can make a valiant effort.

Yves Saint Laurent clutch

This ultra-luxe leopard-printed calfskin clutch is a true investment piece for Mom’s closet. Both timeless and on-trend, she’ll be able to carry it now and treasure forever—and, perhaps, eventually bequeath to you. The YSL evening bag is available online at YSL for $1,295.

Organic SPA Robe

This 100% organic cotton robe makes a failsafe gift item for a mother who could always use some relaxation and luxury in her life. We may recommend getting a pair so that dad doesn’t get jealous. Available at Pottery Barn for around $100.

Vase of Phases

With a name to match, the “Vase of Phases” embodies the beauty of experience in porcelain. Designed by Studio Dror, the vase has been smashed three different ways and then pieced back together to reinforce Dror’s ideas on purity, damage and transformation. The vase comes in black or white in three different sizes. Available at Studio Dror for $120-$135.

The Interiors Now! Vol.2

Whether your Mom is into minimalism, baroque or romantic home decor, she’s sure to find something for her dream house in this new Taschen book. Going inside homes all over the world, the book explores a range of different styles to inspire fresh ideas or simply dress up a coffee table. Available from Amazon for $27.

Each of these vases by London designer Pia Wüstenberg combines turned wood, blown glass and thrown pottery.

The Stacking Vessels comprise three separate containers that stack to form one vase.

Wüstenberg is one of 30 designers selected for Dezeen Platform at Dezeen Space, which opens during the London Design Festival later this month. See the full lineup here and find out more about Dezeen Space here.

You can see more stories about vases here.

The text below is from Wüstenberg:

Stacking Vessels is a series of functional sculptures for the home. The Vessel consists of three individual containers in ceramic, glass and wood. The materials combine to form an overall shape.

See also:

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Ai Weiwei at Lisson Gallery	Natura Jars by Héctor Serrano for La Mediterránea	Weight Vases by Decha Archjananun

These vases made of sand are shaped according to the principles of an old Japanese game.

The game, called Bou-Toshi, begins as a mound of sand with a pole jammed in the centre. Players take turns removing sand until the pole eventually loses stability and collapses.

Designer Yukihiro Kaneuchi swaps the traditional pole for a glass tube and embalms the heap in resin to prevent the grains of sand from scattering away, so that the vases appear to be on the brink of disintegration.

Here is some more information from the designer:

Sand

Taking inspiration from the game ‘Bou-Toshi’, I’ve created a series of vases made of sand and resin.

The game is simple. First, players make a heap of sand and place a pole in the centre.Then each player takes turns removing sand, the one who causes the pole to fall loses.

With its primitive element of creation and destruction, this game has been played for centuries. Here, the pole is transformed to a glass tube – time stopped with resin. The shape nears collapse, bringing a tension and delicate beauty to the flower.

See also:

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Tu-Tu by Rock Paper Scissors	Weight Vases by Decha Archjananun	Kami pots by Ett La Benn