Seeing as most things in life will eventually kill you, the New-York based designer Joe Doucet has turned his attention to the humble ashtray, crafting an utterly luxurious version in 24-carat gold. Developed as a circle pinched together to hold a cigarette, Doucet comments: "remember, don't blame the much-maligned ash tray; it's an innocent victim in the war against pleasure."
At this year's Salone Satellite Finnish designer Maija Puoskari presented her new lighting collection, the Terho and Tatti lamps. Inspired by the natural shapes of acorns, the pared back collection includes a ceiling lamp, with two different sizes and hat variations, and a table lamp.
Via Design Boom.
Unveiled in Milan this month was Patricia Urquiola's latest design for Moroso - the Mathilda chair. The plywood chair is simplistic and minimal in its design, however the use of warm materials and colours give it an organic feel. The backrest comes in two options - either with plain leather, or wrapped in rush and is bound to the base with either leather or rush in a contrasting colour.
Moroso is available locally from Matisse.
Designer Arik Levy's latest creation is the Wireflow series, which explores geometrics in two and three dimensions through a series of pendant light fixtures. From certain angles, the structures appear flat, as if a delicate line has been drawn mid-air. Using slim LED fixtures attached to the metal rods for illumination, the fluid nature of the pieces is enhanced and the lights hang in the most unobtrusive way possible, messing with our ideas of presence and absence.
Via Design Boom.
a. Wire Typography, England. [Knstrct]
b. Touch Surgery: The iPad App that teaches surgeons how to operate. [The Guardian]
c. A Solar-powered, hand-cranked digital camera. [Fast Co Design]
d. Luigi Ghirri: Thinking Through Images. [Nowness]
e. Still Life by PJADAD and Atelier Food. [Dezeen]
Inspired by the idea of RGB colour mixing, designer Arik Levy created the Jar RGB lamps for glass firm Lasvit. Unveiled last week at this year's Milan Design Week, the collection comprises a series of bottle-shaped vessels designed to hang together in groups of three or seven. Light is emitted through one translucent white glass lamp, while the coloured pieces hang alongside. A whimsical lighting fixture that brings the most basic colour concept to life in an incredibly striking way.
Made in Ratio are a relatively new brand, and this year was the first time they've exhibited at the Salone. On display at Zonca & Zonca gallery was their Cowrie collection by British designer Brodie Neill, consisting of a rocker and a chair. Made from one piece of moulded plywood with either ebonised or natural Ash, it is not only extremely ergonomic in its form, but would also make for a great sculptural piece in any interior.
Spaghetti is known as one of the harder things to measure portion-wise so Studio Lievito used this as their project brief - they launched their marble spaghetti meter as part of their Spaghetti Rouge collection at the Salone last week. The series of marble holders divide up amounts of spaghetti for one, two, three or four servings.
Via Designboom.
In close collaboration with leather artisan Ralph Baggaley, Belgian designer Maarten de Ceulaer presented 'The Leather Collection' during Milan design week 2013. The series consists of separate leather, suitcase-like drawers that can be swapped out and stacked to create different configurations. Although leather suitcases evoke a vintage aesthetic, this collection by Ceulaer feels both modern and sophisticated.
Vukosavljevic and Gornjak's Snobar chair for Yonder Magnetik was inspired by, and clearly resembles the Swedish Snowberry. The base is constructed from oak, and the upholstered seat is shaped like the berry - making for a playful aesthetic.