Idyll by Johan Lindsten His chairs shown in both Stockholm and at Designersblock in Milan “These stitches and dreams are for most people forgotten and thrown away to an eternal lost never to been appreciated. This furniture’s destiny is to elevate and promote these neglected pieces of art, bring back a long lost sentimental value and mix it with contemporary aesthetic”

Stitch by Pepe Heykoop is a range of items salvaged from skips or secondhand shops and given a new hand stitched fabric skin. The skin is then stuffed with soft fibres. I’m sure traditional upholsterers would dispair at the obvious lumps and bumps and the visible stitching; but that would be missing the point. They have been brought back to life and given a character by this treatment. The lamp is particularly animated and looks like he could jump about, reminding me of Pixar’s Luxo Jr 

  Under Construction #2 by Anila Rubiku for Plusdesign(pictured above & below)  is a beautifully stitched lamp constructed from paper with an LED light. Anila’s works offers a contemporary perspective to the traditional craft of embroidery with her chioce of subject matter and use of material. Using scenes from contemporary life, drawn and hand stitched onto the paper houses Anila’s work illuminates an everyday domesticity that we would all recognise.  

Urban Embroidery by Melissa French for Puff & Flock (detail picture below) This is another example of taking embroidery and applying the technique to an alternative material. Melissa has used an old bench and applied her own design (with the help of a drill) to plot the pattern across the surface.

Saved Handkerchief by Studio Makkink & Bey for Droog This limited edition range produced by Droog for Salone del Mobile 2010 was a response to the ongoing economic crisis. Droog purchased various items from companies that had gone into liquidation and invited designers to create something desirable from the unwanted. Studio Makkink & Bey were given 900 handkerchiefs to play with. They created an embroidery kit; with news reports from different newspapers printed over 30 days in March and screenprinted onto the handkerchief. They also provided a skein of embroidery thread and a needle. I have to say i,t requires a bit of skill from the purchasers (or should I say collector) but its an interesting challenge. I nabbed one, and you can spot a slightly confused looking me over on the Droog blog. You can also have a look at all the other products designers came up with in the range. 

Stool bySuperfolkThis Irish design studio produce products that are a tribute to Ireland’s traditional skills. The stools have been made using locally sourced Oak and Ash from sustainable forests. They can be linked together with  a series of cross stitches running through the holes drilling into the seat. If you don’t want to link them together the cord can be stored by doing a quick running stitch round the seat. 

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.

Reworking traditional familiar shapes, or complex designs made possible by technology, the common thread in these designs are the little tricks they play with us. The optical illusions from their transparencey; and they appear to be so delicate but actually have immense strength. Most here use coated steel wire whereas the Nido stool above uses fibre glass. 

Nido by Eva Marguerre for Masson. Made from fibreglass and reinforced plastic this range of stools and side table look incredibly delicate, but they are much tougher than they look.  Over on the Nido website you can see Eva jumping on them, flinging them in the air letting them crash to the ground without damage. They’re also very light, she can be seen cycling around with an impressive number of the on the back of her bike.

Kilian Schindler Monoblock chair. The plastic Monoblock chair; an unloved design – I guess we’re imune to its charms, its just too familiar. Its also prone to collapse when you least expect it. Kilian has reworked the design in a more durable coated steel.  

 Tio by Chris Martin & Magnus Elebäck forMassproductions“The design for “Tio” was the end result of a few months of thinking, sketching and sculpting. My point of departure was to arrange a fan of wires into a comfortable seat and then connect them in a straightforward and logical frame, which minimized the amount of steel used. So really the appeal comes from pragmatic thinking, executed within the restraints of the materials characteristics and according to an industrial production process. Sounds clinical, but the result is something I find very pleasing. For those who find steel wires too hard, we have developed an upholstered cushion to give extra comfort during long dining sessions.” – says Chris Martin

Oooms Wire Frame Chair The Wire-frame collection came into existence because of a great fascination of the wire-frame structures in the 3D modelling phase of the design process. This chair is designed by computer using 3D software and after that its handmade in real steel wire.
 

Autoban’s Wire King. Turkish design duo, Seyhan Ozdemir and Sefer Caglar updated their own King lamp base in steel with either a  brass plate or painted  finish. The original wooden version was inspired by the Baroque curves of chess pieces - hence the “King” name.

Something from Nothing Wire Lamp. A simple functional lamp of 3 parts. The shade, frame and electrical cord.

I can’t help thinking that if you went a bit crazy with wire, your home may look a little like the set from Tron…but thats just me being a bit silly.

Do we have too much….stuff? Are our wardrobes bursting at the seams, all manner of clothing bits and bobs tumbling out? I have to confess, I would love to say I have everything neat and ordered, shoes boxed and labelled, but … no, in my dreams! 

Muscle by Giorgio Biscaro is a storage unit that shamelessly flaunts your happiness with organised chaos. The metal top and bottom are joined by elastic threads that you stretch to push your belongings in. There are no doors or sides to hide and contain your mess.   

 ”You can fill the inner part of the container as you like it, even more than what the bases can accept, because even if protruding, objects won’t fall thanks to the elastic wall, recalling a bulging biceps.” For more of Giorgio’s work  www.seemantic.com

 Soft Wardrobe by Katharina Ludwig

Katharina wardrobe does at least allow you to hide the extent of your untidiness  

“The soft wardrobe is supported and shaped by the strength and volume of the things put inside.
Its walls are not hard and supporting, but  soft like the clothes and flexible. They react in a certain way to the content and the way you fill the wardrobe.. Like this it changes its character according to the filling and becomes more alive.” For more of Kathy’s work http://www.kathyludwig.com/

Zak n2 Shelving by Casimir Meubelen.

Ahh the plastic bag…it can be stuffed with a whole host of things and they conveniently expand as we cram more and more in. With this everyday object in mind Casimir have built on the concept – literally. The bags have a sturdy oak frame and the plastic has been replaced with leather, which is perhaps not quite as stretchy but at least it won’t suddenly split and spill the contents across the floor.

Not on the storage theme but certainly a design that’s bursting out at you is Puff and Flock’s Spiky shower curtain. Rather than look at ways to contain the spoils of our over consumption, Elisabeth Buecher looked at how to discourages us from consuming too much. Her work explores the environmental issues of over consumption of water and is aimed at provoking debate rather than a serious product proposal.

The shower curtain allows the user 4 minutes to shower before gradually bursting out at you and leaving you no space left to shower in. So you stop.

Its interesting that since hearing about this design, each time I shower I’ve started to think “how long have I been in here?…. must stop…must stop…”   www.puffandflock.com

Illustration on paper products and t-shirts we’re used to, doodling on pieces in your home  is something we expect from a naughty toddler, but despite this association a number of women artists and designers have created a series of products and interiors that are beautiful and inspirational.

Danish designer Louise Campbell had the challenge to create a temporary meeting room for G1 Strand and came up with this rather witty response. The room is within a listed 1750’s building so Louise has created a series of Blah posters that line the walls but can be removed. The tables, chairs,  light fittings and decorations have also had the blah treatment.  Keeping it simple in black and white the room has a serenity that the introduction of colour just wouldn’t achieve – and in a meeting room with the potential for many a verbal battle it has a calming effect.  ”It is the sports arena of verbal power struggles, where words are hurled back and forth across the table and bounce off the walls as everyone strives to take the upper hand – or upper word so to speak”  

Blah Blah Blah by Louise Campbell  http://www.louisecampbell.com/  

 Artist Anna James reworked antique furniture using images of graffiti taken from an archway in Verona. The graffiti is little messages of love left by those visiting the supposed house of Juliet  of Romeo and Juliet fame. Anna has taken digital images that  have been transposed onto a variety of prepared period pieces. Each piece captures a moment in time – the wall constantly changes with new declarations added daily.

www.loveannajames.com

Artist Charlotte Mann originally worked in fashion design, styling and illustration before switching to over to focus on her artwork. From working on a hand draw back drop for fashion designer Peter Jensen shes has taken commissions for both private as well as commercial clients. Using marker pens she draws onto the prepared wall  incorporating objects the client has chosen to create a personal and unique work.

www.charlottemann.co.uk

 Esther Coombs works with vintage ceramics that shes found in flea markets, charity shops and carboot fairs. Working with the aesthetics of the piece she hand draws images of the urban environment creating unique works from what are essentially unloved mass produced pots of yesteryear. She reinvents and gives new life to items that are other peoples cast off. I love the juxtapositions between the dainty flowers and the and the tower blocks. I guess the irony is that many of the ceramics would have come from homes such as these, and there is the romance of the work, its rather fun to imagine their previous homes. For more examples  http://www.esthercoombs.com/

 Prosthes Coat Rack by Form Us With Love. Use a broom handle, a few sticks, anything a bit pointy to slot into the connecting joint and create your own Coat Rack

http://www.formuswithlove.se/flash.php

Clamped Table by Ryan Sorrell. Exhibited at this years New Designerss 09 the Kingston University graduate has designed a set of table legs that can be clamped to anything flat to form a table. Pictured here with a nice new bit of board you could easily follow the theme of th RCO chair and recycle anything to hand.  The legs can accommodate boards of varying thickness and are designed for creating temporary or seasonal or emergency furniture. They can easily be deconstructed and stacked away when not in use.

RCO Chair (Re-use Component Optimizer Chair) by Niklas Madsen & Per Eriksson.  “We though of creating one component that can be the main structure for putting old chairs or just junk together into a new chair. RCO are made out of steel welded together into a solid structure. The user will find parts that will make-up a new chair (a new product).
The RCO component will help people to think, recycle and to re-invent new products in the same time. So it’s a tool that will help the human race to save the planet in style!”

Pictured here at Milan 09 they’ve used a combination of found chair legs and a bike seat, you could go for a more comfortable option, the bracket allows you to screw a more conventional seat to the base. For more ideas and options to go their website.

http://www.mentaldesign.se/page.php?rt=page/sve/content

Moroso’s Victoria & Albert Sofa in African print fabric at Milan Furniture Fair  2009 

African American designer Stephen Burks was asked to design an exhibition based in Moroso’s Milan showroom. His work is a contemporary vision of Africa, translating traditional crafts into an industrial product. Seen here are Moroso furniture designs covered in patchworks of African textiles. This theme of mixing old and new carrys over into the design of the textile. In the detail shot you can see the handset from a games console used in a traditionally styled fabric design.  Mixing images of popular culture into these traditional fabrics is not unique to this project  - its a whole fascinating subject in its self!  www.moroso.it  

Arne Jacobson’s Egg Chair covered by Danish Artist Tal R 

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Egg Chair in 2008 Fritz Hansen the producer of the Egg Chair commisioned artist Tal R to recover this iconic chair. He came up with 50 patchwork versions.

  “The idea of combining this representative symbol of Danish Design which qualifies as high culture with patchwork which qualifies as popular culture, intrigued me. Patchwork is like a bubble and squeak of blankets. It’s the leftovers from the workroom, and traditionally something people have made together. It’s associated with collectivity. For example, people used to send patches by chain letters, and then one day you’d have enough to make an entire quilt.”

The chairs were first exhibited at Galleria Carla Sozzani as part of the 2008 Milan furniture Fair and are currently on tour around the world. For more info go to www.fritzhansen.com

Squint Limited specialise in creating unique patchwork covered furniture and accessories. Using a variety of fabrics from vintage silks and damasks to contemporary prints each piece is priced according to the type of fabric used. The range certainly isn’t cheap – £250 for a cushion up to £5000 for a sofa.

www.squintlimited.com

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/

 Imbalance – are we all feeling a little off balance?  The world has gone a bit out of sync, a little bit wonky and so have some designs.There’s perfection in imperfection. Proportions are twisted , bent and stretched. Here’s a few examples of this imbalanced imperfect world.

 Peter Marigold Split Box Shelves. The boxes use a single piece of wood split into four as the corner supports the cut pieces that form the box are not calculated. The angles on the inside of each shelf always add up to 360 degrees, this along with the irregular cut pieces result in an irregular shape.  Each box is produced in the same way, the angles can be interchanged and shelf sides of different lengths creating a build up of unique boxes always applying the same principle.  

http://www.petermarigold.com/split2.htm

 Roy McMakin’s untitled piece for Established and Son. Amazing workmanship on a shaker style dresser. I imagine its rather like a concert pianist deliberately playing a tune out of key,  it seems simple but its incredibly hard to do. That’s the way I think of this piece. It looks so simple but to get the sizing of the draws and the miss matching draw pulls looking great rather than a mess is a lot harder than it looks.

Nicolas Bovesse’s collection “basculements” (”switches”)is a result of his fascination with ideas of balance or equilibrium. The concept of switching comes from the way in which the pieces switch from unstable to stable. The coatstand Mikado is constructed of simple pieces of wood that are fixed together to form a stable functional piece. Other pieces in the collection include a mirror that appears to have slipped and a table that although level on top has a random construction underneath.

http://www.nicolasbovesse.be/

 Hannes Grebin’s Ohrensessel Chair. Hannes wanted to rethink the traditional but still keeping the comfort and familiarity we associate with traditional chairs – hence the choice of upholstery and the doily and even the fringe around the base.

 www.grebin.de

Ulrik Stool by Alex Hellum for SCP. A gentle tweak to a simple stool, the angle of the base gives a little lift and support to your derriere. The design brief from SCP was for a piece of furniture that could be easily carried home by the customer.   

http://www.alexhellum.com/

Piet has spent his career working with reclaimed materials. A graduate of the Design School in Eindhoven, in 1990 he produced his first work made entirely from recycled wood and has built his career around the concept of reusing, adapting and recycling. Its not just his desire to be ecological its more a thought process beginning with the material around him.

Pictured above is detail from a lamp he produced for Spazio Rossana Orlandi.  Formally a tie factory the store had rolls of unused tie fabric in the loft. Piet has used the fabric to create lampshades over a simple wire frame.  Shown here are the two sizes of lamp base and a large pendant shade.

 Also displayed were the 99% cabinets. Continuing on a philosophy of the most efficient use of material and labour, the production of the cabinets leaves less than 1% wastage from the original sheet of metal. The cabinet is available in white coated aluminium, copper or the brass version pictured below.

The plank chair was a personal favourite of mine. Born out of an irritation at mediocre design sold at a ridiculous price, Piet decided at Salone 2008 to create an inexpensive high quality product. Not only that, you can actually produce this chair yourself, plans and instructions were provided.  I nabbed a copy but my photo of them is a little too small to be of use – the plans will be available from his website in the future.

It does look incredibly simple to do (certainly compared to a dress pattern!) but unfortunately the instructions are in Dutch so I’m getting a friend of mine to translate before I attempt it.

Also shown was a collection based on his work with scrap pieces of wood. The Dark coffee table, bench and chairs were all made using doors and wood panelling found in an old watermill. The pictures here are taken from his website, I’m afraid I got distracted by his book and forgot to take the pics myself!

 Shown here is a close up of how the scrap collection is put together and lacquered. Ten layers of high gloss lacquer are applied to the pieces giving a beautiful water effect, and an amazing silky feel.  

For more information on his work  (and better pictures) here’s the link to his website

 http://www.pietheineek.nl/

Here are couple of interviews Peit did for Dwell and also Design.nl giving a more detailed insight  into the production of this collection.

http://design.nl/item/five_minutes_in_milan___piet_hein_eek

http://www.dwell.com/articles/interview-piet-hein-eek.html

Here’s a link for the book by Max Fraser covering the first 15 years of his work – sorry its amazon- other book stores are available! just use the isbn no.   

http://www.amazon.com/Boek-Piet-Hein-Max-Fraser/dp/9063691483

Or, even better, if you email here  apparently you can get a signed copy Well it says so on his website!

http://www.pietheineek.nl/en/book