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.

One of the main stumbling blocks to buying any home product is the fear of getting it wrong.  After all, its so much easier to send back that hideous jumper that you thought looked fabulous, than it is to dispose of the sofa you special ordered 3 months ago. With this in mind Mydeco.com have looked into our buying habits and our fears of a interior faux pas. Their 3D planner allows you to build your room to the exact proportions and light sources and you can pretty much add in your existing furniture. From the huge database of  over 75,000 products you’re bound to find something that’s near as dammit to your current sofa or bed.  Its the kind of technology you’d expect to pay for but its completely free. The idea behind it is to encourage us to be a little more adventurous in our purchases, and to stop us making mistakes whether they be an aesthetic disaster or an issue with the proportions of your items.  You can then click through and purchase your items from a vast range of suppliers and (perhaps the area I like the most) a range of independent designer makers through their boutique

Another company to embrace the use of 3D technology is Established & Sons. Launched at the Salone Internazionale Del Mobile in Milan this year, they presented their new own label collection Estd through an interactive 3D screen created by Yoox.com. Four items were presented in an interactive way (Dip Soft Grid, Plan,Butt)that allowed the viewer to discover them, play, move turn and even throw them via a touch-screen. Although this technology isn’t available online yet, you can just imagine them tinkering away to create an Ipad App for it.

In a bid to get in touch with the consumer and take the work  directly to them Tom Dixon has come up with his Flash Factory . Appearing in many locations over the next year products will be assembled according to the customers need and demand. Its an interesting experiment on the inefficiency of our current means of production and delivery whereby products take months to be shipped across the world to the end user. The Flash Factory kicked off in Milan with members of Toms London team creating the Etch light for customers. The Factory then moved to New York for ICFF where willing volunteers created the products, there payment being other Tom Dixon products. In a quote from the man himself “Flash Factory demonstrates Future Industry and the new found power of the designer, able to service world markets with the latest products in greatly reduced time scales.”  Its an interesting concept and people visiting the Factory do enjoy engaging, and chatting and buying the work. Yes I did buy and Etch light – it was only 30 Euros for a bit of design history!

Friend and contemporary of Tom, Piet Hein Eek is also keen to engage the consumer in the process of production, although his factory is in no way portable! Its real and its huge. The concept is to rennovate an old Phillips factory to create a space where products will be made and sold. Its interactive but in the traditional sense, people can meet, talk, watch, create, shop and eat under one roof. Visitors can wander round without losing site of the workplace and offices; and workspaces will be rented to like minded creatives to create a community of production in a space that was once for mass production. Its a wonderfully idealistic response to an economic crisis and I can’t wait to visit it when it opens in October, in time for Dutch Design week.

And on a final note on Design Democracy (and self promotion….) If you would like to nominate me, or any other design bloggers from the UK  (we need more of them!) click through here  http://blog.mydeco.com/2010/05/13/mydeco-design-democracy-blog-awards/  I’m looking forward to seeing other UK bloggers views and adding to my blogroll so if you’d like me to nominate you… let me know!

Marcel Wanders Monster chair for Moooi.

Launched at Salone this year the  monster’s face is a little more subtle on the finished product than from the image here; well just a little. And despite his appearance and name he is probably the softest of the group I have here, being made from soft quilted leather. Considering who he had in mind for the chair soft and comfy is entirely appropriate.  If you’d like to wander through Marcel’s mind and find out the inspiration behind this chair you must have a read of his press release over on Dezeen. It is brilliantly funny.   

 Fury! Chair by Roel-Jan Elsinga Made from a wood and metal frame and covered in felt he’s alot softer than his spikes make him appear. He also has a secret life as Roel-Jan explains hes “a fearless little chair, that barks but doesn’t bite. Fury! is a lively and visually noisy little fellow.
But he means well. At night he walks around your space, blowing off steam, cursing a bit.
But the cheeky little f**ker has a heart of gold and is actually really really sweet, and he loves being petted…”

Jon Burgerman’s Doodle Chair for Deadgood. Jon has put his distinctive doodle scrawls to many things, this time he has been commissioned by Deadgood to produce a totally doodled version of their Form chair.  With his dynamic  use of colour, and a unique graphic energy, Burgerman’s doodles  have been screen printed and encapsulated within a resin impregnated craft core, overlaid with melamine and subsequently pressed at high temperatures to create a highly durable surfacing material. So just in case someone should ever think of trying to wipe them off (which would be crazy) they won’t come off. Which is good if the owner suddenly found they were living with an obsessive compulsive.

If you’d like a mural to accompany the chairs Jon can also do this for you. For more of Jon’s work pop over to his website

 HuskMitNavnis an artist from Denmark working mainly with street art, painting and illustration. His characters are often political, sometimes controversial but always express his humorous take on life.  His limited edition illustrations on Englebrech’s classic Chairik chair feature some slightly worried looking individuals, well a I guess you’d be worried if someone was about to sit on your face….     

Even that old veteran mouse has got in on the act. In a joint venture between Cappelliniand Walt Disney, Cappellini have produced a range of furniture for adults not for kids. The designs are based around the iconic ears of Mickey, on the stools they act as a back rest. On Patrick Norguet’s Rive Droite chair they’ve been worked into a repeat pattern; taken away from the rest of the range you’d could quite easily miss them as Mickey’s ears.

 Industry Series by Studio Job.  Using a mix of contemporary and traditional  iconography they draw on the same themes and images used for the Gospel According to Saint Job displayed in Milan last year. Tanks, grenades ,helicopters, insects and butterflies, chimneys billowing smoke, skeletons all feature in this homage to the marquetry methods of André- Charles Boulle.  Dispensing with bright colours used in the Bavarian series the inlays look like fossils of an industrial age. Laser cut pieces of white birds eye maple have been set in Indian Rosewood in a symmetrical layout. We expect symmetry in marquetry but the effect here is like the inkblot patterns of Rorschach. Its no coincidence that these pieces are a commentary on the collective psyche and our concerns with the mass destruction associated with industrialism.

The work can be seen at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery and are sold as limited edition pieces starting at over $30,000.   

Curiously it is a fashion designer rather than a furniture designer who has probably done more to promote the craft. Stella McCartney has repeatedly used marquetry and commissioned UK companies to produce work in different forms for her new stores. For her London store Aryma were commissioned to produce a contemporary angel that glides across the wall. The use of colour and complexity of the piece is an eye opener to the versatility of marquetry. 

In her Milan store, the ground floor is covered in oak parquet arranged in a multicolored pattern created by the Israeli designer Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay for Established & Sons. The store opened in February 2010 and had the official launch during Salone del Mobile last week.

Toby Winteringham’s work made with Patternity is another example of colourful geometry. Pictured above is his Shift coffee table made of sycamore with coloured veneer. Its an exciting and bold use of marquetry and a wonderful example of how a traditional craft can be spliced with contemporary graphics. Shift was launched along with the Patternity Bureau (pictured below) at Salone Satellite this month.

 Since writing this I’ve found a rather wonderful blog on marquetry http://www.miartstudioblog.com/ Do please click through and amire the work.

Float by Benjamin Hubert for Unique Copenhagen. The lamps are hand-turned out of Portuguese agglomerate cork blocks, the waste bits from the production of wine stoppers. Even the high volume of waste from creating the lamps can be converted back into blocks and turned again.  The cork emits a wonderfully warm glow when lit and the simplicity of the shape suits the agglomerated pattern of the material. http://www.benjaminhubert.co.uk

Cobu  Suspension Lamp by Giorgio Biscaro “I have always been fascinated by cork. It’s obtained from a plant whose life is not interrupted by this extraction, and this for me would be sufficient to declare it a great material. Moreover, cork has great qualities of insulation and mechanical resistance, so I thought it could be perfect for a lamp. The cork base in fact, sustain a glass screen, trough which the cables descend. The light is not direct, but is deflected by the ceiling and the colour of the cork warms this light in a special way. I played with different shapes and finishes, so you will find clear glass, smoked glass and varnished glass to choose from. I tried to endow this lamp with a strong sense of deja-vu, like recollection of bottle glasses, because I wanted it to be a warm, friendly, reassuring object.” http://www.seemantic.com/

 Plug by Tomas Kral is a range of products that transform the image of a simple cork bottle stopper. The principle of PLUG. The work is around the connection between glass as a hard and compact material and the cork, perfect porous material.The glass parts were done using free glass blowing. The cork parts were made out of the sheets of agglomerated cork which were milled using CNC. The corks parts used the marks from the CNC milling tool as a part of theirs construction. The idea is to build 3D objects by milling using 2D drawings. The objects function are simple. Side table, lamps, boxes, bowls. The idea was to put more attention on the connection between glass and the cork. 

Cork range by Hetta There’s nothing particularly radical about the range its just a  well done contemporary update . Simple graphic prints on tableware, its a no brain-er. Ahh the simplest of ideas ….one of those  why didn’t I do that… www..hetta.se 

Incidentally, to my shame I wrote this post accompanied by a screw top bottle of red….

Artist Yinka Shonibare covered walls, furniture and created clothes from traditional ‘African’ fabrics bought from Brixton market.  Although the fabrics look African,they are in fact Dutch and English. The designs appeal to African taste with colours and symbols of Africa mixed in with objects of life, for example mobile phones, and pictured above game consoles .  As Yinka says “They prove to have a crossbred cultural background quite of their own. And it’s the fallacy of that signification that I like. It’s the way I view culture—it’s an artificial construct.” 

I suppose with this in mind its ironic that Italian firm Moroso should create M’Afrique installation by American Stephen Burks and  SpaniardPatricia Urquiola.

“We wanted to showcase the creativity of a few of the great artists and exponents of contemporary African culture,” explains Patrizia Moroso, who devised the event, “because looking at Africa through the eyes of contemporary art, photography, architecture and design is perhaps the most appropriate way of approaching this vast, powerful continent, so creatively rich and diverse that today it is still one of the greatest sources of inspiration for modern design”.

Mixing recycling with traditional craft techniques is what we have come to regard as “African design” But companies like Moroso are now looking at using these skills, born out of necessity, to produce marketable products.

Seen below right is a design by Ayse Birsel & Bibi Sek being produced for the show. With traditional weaving skills which have previously been used on recycled cable, the artisans were set to work with new supplies to create products for the high end furniture market.

 And should you have your own idea or project that you would like to develop, Link Africa based in South Africa can help you get in touch with fair trade programmes who can produce your project.

http://www.linkafricahome.co.za/whatwedo.html

I’ve previously mentioned Philippe Bestenheider in my patchwork post but its worth showing his Binta chairs again “Binta was inspired by Africa. Its sculptural shape evokes African wood carvings, but its polyurethane rubber forms are softer. Like a baobab tree, Binta anchors itself firmly to the ground with thick, trunk-like feet whose elegant forms bring to mind the weighty baobab.” Gathered together they do look like a group of Yinka’s characters.

Building on his links in Africa and again using their traditional skills Philippe has gone on to produce his Kente range through Varaschin.

Traditional Kente woven cloth is produced in Ghana with each colour having a symbolic meaning. I’m not sure if Philippe’s colour selection is based on the symbolic meaning or purely on aesthetics , but heres a list of the symbolic meanings anyway, judge for yourself.

 Knitting along with other traditional crafts has enjoyed a revival in the past few years. We’ve rediscovered the art of making and experimented with materials old and new to create a whole different product

From a childhood spent in part in the Korean countryside Kwangho revisits the traditional craft of knitting and knots that he remembers from his youth.

For this range of lighting he was inspired by his mothers knitting and saw a pile of electrical cable as yarn and proceeded to knit a light, using varied lengths to create the different effects. Some wouldn’t look out of place wound round your neck like a scarf – not advisable though. Others appear wildly brush-like with the knitted loops extended out to trail onto the floor. 

In a further development Kwangho has knitted a sofa out of  garden hose. “I like to look for materials the same way I’m walking around the grocery store, thinking about what to make for dinner. And there is always a change in the end from what you start out thinking you’ll be making, which is quite charming. I just love finding materials, working on them and seeing where it takes me”

http://www.kwangholee.com/

Soojin Kang ‘s work  A Continuous Chain crosses the boundaries of art fashion and design, items can be worn or placed in the home. Her work is the antithesis of fast fashion and the problems associated with disposable design. Soojin  asks us to consider our basic needs and what we already possess and to use these materials wisely and beautifully. Using craft techniques and a combination of antique and raw materials to create the work is the logical means of expressing this. The craft traditions convey a considered thought process and have always seen the value in reusing and repurposing.

Olof Nordenson has encased a group of lights in what looks like mohair – but it could just be the light source picking up the finer bits of fluff! Five knitted braids extend down from the ceiling concealing the wires. As the braid is stretched the the wool gives the light a wonderful luminous texture. Olof has used a combination of hand and machine knitting.

www.olofnordenson.com

 Noose Light by Ana Maria Stewart-Pasescu is the culmination of a design challenge set by Phillipe Starck. Just a simple cable looped and knotted it could be seen as a representation of life and death. Its the choice and quality of material that really makes this design work. The chunky black cable, brass light fitting and the glowing element work so well together.

 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

 Shown above Paper Collection  by Studio Job for Mooi. Created with a wooden core and cardboard the pieces are then lacquered to make a very durable and practical material. They initially created a chandelier and dining table and this year added a screen and side table to the range. 

Packaging Lamp David Gardner. Cleverly using the packaging as the components for the light, once assembled there’s nothing to throw away.

The use of pulped paper gives a wonderful texture, best seen when the light is on!

www.davidgardener.co.uk                                                                    

Above Papier bags by Saskia Diez Made using paper modeling techniques combined with a bit of gluing and sewing Saskia has been playing with the idea of traditional luxury. The paper used is Tyvek synthetic paper, its waterproof, tear proof and over time will crease and crumple. The shine of the paper has been removed by screen printing to give it back that feel of paper. It seems an elaborate process for a paper bag but then this isn’t a  traditional paper bag and this isn’t traditional luxury. http://www.saskia-diez.de/

Paper Table by Bas Van der Veer shows the strength of paper in combination with mathmatical models.