No Waste Furniture

Swiss brothers Rainer and Tobias Kyburz have created the furniture line No Waste.  Each item is created from a single piece of FCS-certified plywood.  Every part of the sheet is used, creating no waste!  Buyers can choose the finish they want ahead of time.  Super efficient furniture!

This Post Is about a Toilet

Kohler has released the Numi toilet. Now after seeing this featured on Design-Milk, I was initially interested because I've been writing an art history paper on Marcel Duchamp's Fountain. He and other French visitors to America around World War I were particularly interested in the American bathroom. The convenience, the intimacy, the engineering, and the modernity of the porcelain toilet bowl was like nothing ever experienced.  It was so fascinating that Duchamp, Edward Weston, Diego Rivera, and even D.H. Lawrence devoted a portion of their art career to the toilet.

Now after saying all of that, this toilet is like nothing I have ever seen before. Features include a motion-activated seat and lid, a self cleaning wand and deodorizing vacuum in the bidet, a seat heater, feet warming, illuminated panels (for the ultimate visual experience), music, and a remote control for your potty.

So this is the ultimate toilet (at least for this year). I hope that more and more ultimate toilets begin to appear on the market. My favorite thing about the Kohler's site for the Numi is all the editorial fashion photographs. They are just stunning.

Haiti Mountain House by NC-office

Miami-based NC-office has developed a prototype for natural disaster relief housing, specifically to the needs in Haiti.  The houses' floor plans consist of five square, forming an L-shape to provide space for a garden.  The structures are composed of steel beam framing to withstand extreme weather conditions, and openings at the top and bottom of the house allow for views to the garden and heat to escape the interior.  There is no actual glazing in the home, but mosquito nets and panels allow for the safety from nature's outdoor conditions. A cistern collects water for occupant use, and a 1 KW solar panel system provides electricity to the house.

This is a great example of simple design that doesn't place stress on the environment.  I love the colors used, too. This house almost looks like a more tropical Eames case study to me.

Utah Chair

More of Spanish Mut Design, I really enjoy the Utah chair.  The chair combines the rustic, the natural, and the avant-garde.  The woven strings form a diamond in the seat. I would put this chair in my desert getaway home.

This design and others were shown in Milan. Read more...

Roots Garden System

Mut Design's Roots Garden System

La Sagrada Familia Fire!

I just found out that someone started a fire in Gaudi's Sagrada Familia by igniting priest's robes in storage. The sacristy was destroyed, and the crypt received much smoke damage. The structure is still unfinished years after Gaudi's death. I'm planning on going here the end of May, so it will be interesting to see the progress after this fire.

Read more...

Gehry Gaga

So I'm very late on this (about 2 years), but Frank Gehry designed a hat for Lady Gaga? I am not a fan.

Read more...

Rippled Room

Iran's RYRA Studio has created the Barin Ski Resort in Tehran, Iran.  The interior is inspired by igloos and ice blocks, thus the topographical curves wrapping around the space.  This space is supposed to display an integration of manmade works and nature.

Shar Pei Chair

This wrinkly chair, the "Grinza," by Fernando and Humberto Campana is comprised of a steal frame with polyurethane foam and an outer leather or fur wrinkly cover (the fur is shown here, I'm not a fan of the leather). This chair looks so cuddly, like a shar pei puppy.

These guys have a really interesting website, not like anything I've really seen before. You should check it out.

Mirror Tables

Nendo has created Pond, a table series with mirrors reflecting a pattern beneath the table-top surface.  Italian Moroso launched the line in Milan.  The tables can be placed together to create an even more pattern-filled scene.  I want to steal this idea and make a tacky glue version of my own.  That's more in my price range at the moment.

"We named the table 'pond' to recall the way that the surface of a pond reflects its environment but also changes constantly with wind, weather, and movements within it." - Nendo

Z-Chair

Zaha Hadid has designed this stainless steel Z-Chair for Milan company Sawaya & Moroni.  The piece is a limited edition, with only 24 chairs available. The concept behind the chair represents the idea of "the sketch."

"The design of the Z-Chair Chair summarizes the essence of contemporary design and the research developed by Zaha Hadid Architects over the last three decades. A simple three-dimensional gesture zigzags in the space as part of the continued discourse between form and function, elegance and utility, differentiation and continuity."

Stacking Throne

I recently gave a friend some stacking cup toys at a baby shower.  They were different sizes and colors and supposedly would help the baby learn these skills. Laurens van Wieringen's foam "Stacking Throne" puts my baby gift to shame.  This throne can grow with your child, and after outgrowing a chair or two, the seats can be used as building blocks.

Paper Cut Project - Athens

This past weekend, I attended a fashion show here in Athens at the "Tree Room," which is an enclosed space open to the sky with a giant uprooted tree suspended from the wall.  At the fashion show, paper-cut-project by Nikki Salk and Amy Flurry was shown, and it was amazing the intricate and beautiful masks and head-pieces these two made completely out of paper.

"Flurry and Salk's custom-made paper art installations are fueled by a love of fashion and an appreciation of the grace and nuance of this humble material."

Tertis + Design

Argentian architect Guillermo Cameron Mac Lean created this stop-motion film
about creating a Tetris-inspired bookshelf.

After watching the Tetris video, I came across another stop-motion film
that he created, and I really enjoyed it as well.

Flour Pots

Studio Formafantasma of the Netherlands has created the line Autarky. The pots are made from a combination of flour, agricultural waste, and limestone. They are dyed with natural vegetable extracts and are fired at very low temperatures.

Read the studio's statement on Autarky or the Dezeen entry for more information and photographs.

Danglers

During my various readings today, I found these two projects, both involving suspended objects held by intricately knotted rope-like supports.

The first project, created by Swedish designers TAF, is the "Fisherman" light, based on glass fishing floats.  The rope uses traditional hand-knitted rope-making techniques from Sweden.

The next tutorial I read about in ReadyMade magazine.  Heather Moore, a South African designer and illustrator, gives a tutorial for these macrame-hung planters on her website Skinny laMinx.

It looks really simple to make, but the outcome is very beautiful. Once I move into my new place, I'll definitely be hanging a few of these.

Tabbed

Scott, Rich, and Victoria of London and Auckland designed this chair/table series called "Tabbed." They include a combination of oak and metal.

The Making of the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman

This is a great video documenting just how handmade the well-known Eames chair really is. It makes me want one even more (to go in my grand piano library room that I also hope to have once I start making more money).