Using a strap to tie things together is not a new idea and interestingly many of the products featured in this post have their roots in traditional crafts techniques and ideas. Just strapping a few bits and bobs together this ain’t. Its partly about learning from the past but also out of necessity and practicality, applying a simple device to create a useful functional ethical product.

Simon Hasan has used leather straps to hold integral parts of his work together. The welded box of the cabinet is held onto the oak stand and the cushion on the stool is held in place by the use of leather straps that have been boiled to give them strength.

His work was inspired by reading about the technique of boiling leather (cuir bouilli) that turns soft mallable leather into a much harder material without the use of any resin or other chemical treatments. The strength and durability of the leather is such that this medieval process was used for amour and drinking vessels. Simon has combined this process with another ancient crafting skill that is wood cleaving.

Chairless byAlejandro Aravena for Vitra. Again taking inspiration from the ancient , Alejandro’s strap is an idea developed from the Ayoreo Indians of South America. Aimed at the “modern nomad” its very light and easy to pack down and is meant to by used when chairs are in short supply.The strap takes the strain and relieves the back and legs, and keeps your hands free for reading, eating, tinkering on you laptop etc. I’m sure this will be hugely copied, anyone going to a music festival in the next year will suddenly see them everywhere. They do take a bit of practice so it could be entertaining watching people getting tangled, rolling around…..

Bungee straps, those super strong stretchy bands loved by the camping and trekking fraternity to attach all manner of necessities to the car or bike have also been appropriated by designers .

Blow Sofa by Malafor.  It is an environmental product; made from 100% recyclable dunnage bags, the inflateable bags sit on a frame held together by bungee straps. It looks a little precarious to sit on, but as long as its not over inflated its rather comfy. The bags are paper covered so you could add your own doodled design to them.

 Lukas Franciszkiewicz’ Stool FRNKWZ* also uses a steel frame as its base with a black bungee strap to hold the square cushion in place. The sense of instability from the straps is offset by the structure of the pyramid steel frame – theres a bit of give in it but its not going to slip off.

Mugrosita by Liliana Ovalle took inspiration for her work from the way street vendors in Mexico City held their stalls and tangled bags of merchandise together by straps and knots. The wooden frame of the couch is overlaid with a serise of beanbags secured by ropes.

Autarky by Studio Formafantasma shown in Milan at Spazio Rossana Orlandi follows on from their work mentioned in my Earth post.

Again using natural materials to create the vessels the strap is used to hold things that accompany the meal either spoons, bread or biscuits.

Drawn from Clay by Atelier NL is a fascinating delve into the process of converting soil into usable pottery. As students Nadine Sterk & Lonny van Rijswijck, the pair behind Atelier NL, visited traditional workshops in Peru and Brazil where they saw artisans create vases from the earth around them. Taking this idea back home, they travelled around the Netherlands collecting natural clay and producing cups in  a variety of different colours and textures unique to the deposits. This work led the pair to being invited to continue their study by Jurgen Bey and Rianne Makkink on their farm in Noordoostpolder.

Working with local farmers they collected stories and buckets of clay from the parcels of land. “A bucket of soil is anonymous, but stories told by the farmer who works the soil gives the ground identity”

The result of their work is a range of tableware, a homage to the vegetables that were once cultivated in the earth from which they were produced.

Further work with Royal Tichelaar Makkum  has produced a  range of plates and bowls are available in six different types of local clay. Again the colour variations of the product are result of the chemical components of the clays used.

Baked by Formafantasma – Andrea Trimarchi, Simone Farresin. The collection is not strictly speaking from the earth, but the materials used certainly are. Commissioned for an exhibition during Dutch Design Week  on the theme “Getting Lost” the duo went back to their Italian roots for inspiration.

“To get lost during a design process is a beautiful luxury – it means you can follow your intuition and curiosity without aiming for a clear result. For this project we looked back at our design “memorabilia”: ideas, pictures and techniques we left behind.”

The Sicilian folk festival Salemi features architectural decorations created from flour based material. Baked expands on this, using  natural ingredients; flour, coffee, cocoa and spinach combined with salt, shellac and spices. A complex mix they experimented with to create durable pieces.

On a more commercial tip JIA international have produced a range which also seeks to connect the the clay with the end use of the products. The range has been named after the clay that has been used. ”Zisha”, also known as purple clay, is natural clay unique to China, found around Taihu in Jiangsu during the Northern Song Dynasty (1000-1200 A.D.). When fired, the purple clay assumes a fine and sandy texture that retains the temperature of the tea held inside longer than ordinary ceramics. Microscopic pores of Zisha absorb the fragrance of tea, keeping the tea’s freshness from spoiling. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, tea connoisseurs have considered Zisha teapots indispensable.

For all things ceramics Slipcast -The Ceramics Blog is an excellent read.

At last years Salone Internazionale del Mobile Tord Boonje introduced his beautiful Fig Leaf Wardrobe. Perhaps more of an art piece than a functional wardrobe it still got me thinking about how designers have used trees as inspiration. So here’s a serise of products  on this woody leafy theme. 

Vegetal by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra

The original source of inspiration for the chair came from the work created by aboursmith Axel Erlandson. Aboursmithing is an ancient form of tree manipulation, creating furniture and other structures by bending young tree branches and allowing time and growth to create a more stable structure. In the 4 years the chair has taken to develop I doubt they’d have had a usable tree chair in that time!

The challenge for Vitra was to retain the natural structure of the trunks and branches but still produce an item that is commercially viable. The use of injection moulded plastic in a product so linked to nature seems at odds with the concept but it works on a number for a number of reasons. Its affordable, the chair can be used outdoors as well as indoors and it challenges the idea of a plastic chair being a throw away item.  

Jakob Solgren – Wood You Like a Cup of Tea.  This is Jakob’s contribution to the tradition of bizarre teapots, although I don’t really think this is bizarre, its rather lovely. Delicately sculpted from black stoneware its the colour of the dried tea its meant to brew. 

jakob.solgren@konstfack.se

Snowdon Flood produced these stunning silhouette tree glasses.

http://www.snowdenflood.com/

Leaf -it Post it note by Sangwoo Nam. Beautifully packaged post-it notes. You can have your desk scattered with leaves rather than those horrible fluorescent things. Heres a link but I think the product is too new to show up yet!

http://www.designfountain.com

Tree by Katrin Olina Petursdottir and Michael Young for Swedese.  Since its introduction in 2005 the coat hanger has become a classic for Swedese. Freestanding or wall mounted the branches form the hangers.  www.swedese.se

Twig Bench by Pinch. Originally designed for Neals Yard Remedies the bench went into production after a so much interest in the design. Made of hazel twigs stacked the bench is intended for indoor use only.

Wooden Usb by Oooms Theres something rather nice about sticking a stick in your computer, and it is a real stick. Collected from the woods and carefully crafted into a USB they’re all uniquely beautiful.  http://www.oooms.nl/wooden-usb-stick/

There have been so many images of the over sized cast iron dinner service and the stained glass windows I thought I’d post some images of the porcelain dinner service also shown here.

The Last Supper is truly a remarkable achievement. The production of this 12 piece dinner service marks technical development in the traditional Delftware technique where only a small amount of colours can be used. The collaboration between Studio Job and Royal Tichelaar Makkum led to the development of numerous new colours allowing a bright re-interpretation of traditional technique of Faience.

This mixing of old and new was continued into decoration of the pieces, mixing religious iconography with images of the modern day.  Each piece is hand painted and edged with 24c gold lustre