Ideally suited for public seating areas in airports or outdoor urban spaces, The Bdlove family by Spanish manufacturers BD Barcelona is made up of a bench —Bdlove bench— big enough for up to ten people, seating which incorporates a lamp —Bdlove lamp— and another unit which is combined with a planter —Bdlove planter. They are all light, resistant and stackable, projected from rationality but with a backing for personality. To celebrate 10 successful years of manufacture the range has been released in new finishes - metallised and lacquered.

BD Barcelona is available locally here.

As an ever-ready reminder of the importance of 'the now', the Chrono-Shredder shreds each day in real time. Designed by Susanna Hertrich, she mentions that 'time is irreversibly lost [and that] as time passes by, the tattered remains of the past pile up under the device'. It's another cool calendar like some of the other ones we've reported on in the past.

The Harvo occasional table and Scholar chair by New Zealand design showroom Apartmento are understated with a mid century aesthetic that we think lends well to most environments.

Apartmento is available locally from here.

Also featured - Flax Painting by Neal Palmer.

Austin-based Bercy Chen Design Studio often aims to modernize the architectural staples of yesteryear, bringing the sustainability of our ancestors into a 21st-century context. Their newest project, the "Red Bluff Residence," works to reinvent the ancient pit-house—once common to hunter-gatherer societies—for an effective site-specific architectural installation.

With sustainability as their goal, the original pit-house structure provides the Bercy Chen team with a fair starting point. Once utilized by the Cherokee and Inuit tribes, pit-houses are known for their ability to protect their contents from harsh temperatures. Their tendency to stay cool in summer and warm in winter comes from their underground structure, allowing wind to pass unnoticed above while the earth provides insulation and temperature consistency.

Expert crayon carver Diem Chau's most recent crayon collaboration is with W+K and Nike. Nike has released eleven press kits for Nike's Write the Future campaign, with each kit including soccer stars all personalised in crayon carvings. It's one press kit that's definitely going to generate editorial coverage.

The whole world's gone Soccer mad. And while it might not be must-see sports viewing for all of us down-under, the utter commitment that the rest of the world has to the Football World Cup means there's lots of opportunity for new designs that celebrate the global enthusiam for the sport. Enter then The Weee Urinal Mat. It's pretty self explanatory really, and will no doubt make the term "getting one past the goally" a little more popular amongst the boys.

Get yours here - you know you want to!

If you type 'broken mirror' into Google it turns up myriads of myths about bad luck - however, most broken mirrors don't quite take the form of a cabinet or drawers designed by the Campana Brothers. So we are probably okay for the time being. Made from shards of shiny splinters of laser-cut reflex, every visible surface is clad in a reflective acrylic material in either gold, silver or red. Manufactured by Edra - these are definitely, for the lovers or haters, conversation starters.

Edra is available locally from here.

Reminding us of a horror scene in the 1990s film The Gremlins 2, this huge spiderweb cocoon is made solely from packing tape by design collective for use/numen.  Currently exhibiting at the DMY Berlin International Design Fair, it's strong enough to support adults sitting in the structure. Interestingly, the last installation of this kind took 117,000 feet and 100 pounds of tape to construct.

Ligne Roset is celebrating their 150th anniversary with a trio of limited edition products, in a run of only 150, each numbered with a special anniversary logo. First are two editions of of the Pumpkin chair by Pierre Paulin, one in shades of red and the other in shades of  blue. The original was designed in 1971 for the drawing rooms of the Elysee Palace and only made available to the general public in 2008. The third piece is a limited edition version of the  Lines sideboard designed by Peter Maly. The unit contains two drawers and one flap door, in new shades of beige lacquer.

Ligne Roset is available locally here. 

a. Warren Mahoney founder of Warren and Mahoney is a recipient on the Queen's Birthday Honors List. [NZ Herald]
b. Font designer Joseph Churchwood is included in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honors List. Churchwood has hand-created over 570 typefaces, the greatest number designed by an individual in the world. [Te Papa]
c. French manufacturer Ligne Roset turns 150.
d. Philippe Starck gets his own figure in the Parisian Wax Musuem. []
e. The Barcelona Day Bed as a chocolate cake. [Apartment Therapy]
f.  Is investing in design really an investment? [NY Times]