The new Ghost Buster by Philippe Starck (with Eugeni Quitllet) is the first night table created by Kartell. Like all of Starck's products for Kartell, there are a huge range of colours available. His objective was to make a simple and flexible product that could be at home in any corner of the house.
Kartell is available locally from here.
Wellington design duo Emma Fox Derwin and Nigel Groom of studio Well-Groomed-Fox first came to our attention a while ago with their XY Z suit rack. We are now equally as impressed with their latest design C/Lamp which was presented in Milan. Constructed as a task lamp built for the table, the structure of its base allows it to clamp to virtually any table using an integrated spring mechanism. It's a very nice, clean piece of minimal design.
It seems there's a robotic theme in the air at the moment. Take the new 2010 Karbon bathroom faucets from Kohler - which would add an industrial edge to any bathroom environment. Each tap is equipped with multiple moving joints to allow you to manipulate the faucet to lock it in any position. It's inexpensive and comes in a variety of finishes from gold, silver and bronze.
The Barovier&Toso fit out at the Temporary Museum For New Design in Milan had everyone feeling a tad blue. Paola Navone interpreted Barovier&Toso glass in this space with a magical installation of custom built lamps, all created in blue tones: blue, Dutch blue, cobalt blue and aquamarine. Our favourite was the enormous chandelier (the first image) that seemed to leave ordinary normal-sized chandeliers in its wake.
Launched at the Salone del Mobile 2010, the Spaziale Series Scaffold lights by designers Francesca Lanzavecchia and Hunn Wai of design studio Lanzavecchia + Wai are a collection of lights comprised from powder coated steel and stretch fabric. The family of nine lighting objects can be hung or rested on surfaces, or displayed from the ceiling like jewellery charms. Each light's fabric can also be swapped in and out with a variety of colours giving each owner flexibility within their interior.
Designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini for Murano Due, Aria is a new lamp with an invisible light source in which the light only appears through a series of reflections. With a bubble-like aesthetic, we think this minimal aesthetic would suit a variety of environments.
I've always thought that the wrapping of a present is almost just as important as the present itself - after all, didn't Mies van der Rohe once say, God is in the details? Swedish designers Gabriella Gustafson and Mattias Staholm of TAF studio have taken this philosophy and applied it to ordinary furniture. Using fabric, they wrap the furniture as you would a present - making the whole upholstery process easy and subsequently giving new life to furniture past its used by date.
Frank Buchwald, a German industrial designer, spent ten years working on the concept and execution of his machine lights. Describing the lights as 'beings with an own nature' he says they are extremely time consuming to make, with each light taking at least four weeks to produce. He currently has twelve different models within the series, with each light comprised of up to 200 parts. If you are looking to get your hands on one of these little guys it will cost you anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 euro.
I literally stumbled across these pieces whilst on the hunt for something else, and naturally they caught my attention. Hand carved, these sculptural forms are the handiwork of designer Jolyon Yates; whom I later found out has spent the good part of ten years living in New Zealand whilst teaching design at Massey University. His stunning carved furniture is extremely time intensive to make, which he indicated, was one reason he returned to the UK, where he says it is marginally easier to produce. He describes the ODE chair (top three images) as dedicated to those that we meet and learn from on our journeys. Also shown are the Ocean Rocker and the Sculpted Wooden Easy Bookends.
