a) Hotel Missoni in Kuwait [Daily Icon]
b) Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi buy Brad Pitt's Architectural Malibu Mansion for $12 million [Daily Mail]
c) Ambiguity - between hot-dogs and high-rises [Style Park]
d) Beautiful tech: Top 10 Gorgeous Gadgets of 2011 [the coolist]
e) Hublot Magic Gold watches are the world's first to use scratch-resistant gold [born rich]

A fascination with objects and how they work led Lucas Wotawa to study industrial design at Massey in Wellington. Upon completion of his studies, he undertook an internship with one of New Zealand's most established designers Jaime McLellan. Currently working in the props department for The Hobbit movie for Peter Jackson, we caught up with him when he had a spare moment to find out what he will be producing for the Design Folio Incubator Award presented by Peroni.

What will you be looking to design and produce for the Design Folio Incubator Award?

I will be entering a collection of stools in which the upholstery can be changed quickly and easily. Through the means of a simple clamping fixture inspired by the mechanism of an embroidery hoop the user is given total creative freedom over the stools, allowing them to constantly adapt with the domestic space and the ever-changing personal preference. The stools can be embellished with your favourite materials like that of an adored shirt, an heirloom quilt or your prized cross-stitch.

(Above: Self Taut stools - Wotawa's entry in the 2012 Design Folio Incubator Award)

What key elements do you think define a successful piece of design?

Honesty, efficiency, attention to detail, consideration of the user and being uninfluenced by trends, all of these should culminate to create a successful piece of design for now and much more time to come.

What are your key design influences?

I try to learn about as many different materials and manufacturing processes as possible, and then consider applications for their unique traits to create a beneficial and innovative product.

What would be your dream future design commission?

Well if I’m really dreaming here I would love to do some commercial and office furniture with the likes of Knoll and Herman Miller, however, ultimately I would have to say Established & Sons, Vitra or Magis.

When Grohe launched its Rainshower collection in bright pop colours back in 2010, we couldn't help but hope they'd release a range in more neutrally inspired hues for the more conservative among us. Whilst we love a pop of colour, we do tend to remain fans of the softer tones when it comes to our bathrooms. Launched initially at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona in 2010 to much acclaim, this new range of Rainshowers appeals to a sense of tranquility within the bathroom. With Grohe's own 'DreamSpray' technology (which distributes water evenly), you too can feel like your bathroom is a home spa, and, if you push the 'EcoButton' on the handle, you'll also reduce the flow rate by 40%.

Local enquiries to www.paterson.co.nz

Comprised of a series of isosceles triangles, Japanese artist Akihisa Hirata has designed a pavilion that appears to organically grow up from the ground. The Bloomberg pavilion is located at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. They intend to use the pavilion as an exhibition space for young artists working in Tokyo. The designer nicely explains his design concept below:

"I wondered what would happen if the walls were to keep growing upwards and present an uneven surface like 'pleats'. Pleats resemble a tree in the way that they spread out and capture the sun and I felt that they would produce a bright, impressive exterior. I also thought that the space beneath this surface would present a relaxed atmosphere, similar to that of tree shade that would be an ideal quality for an exhibition space."

a) Mr Chocolate Moustaches by Diego Ramos at The Temporium [Dezeen]
b) Pitched Roof House by Chenchow Little [Daily Icon]
c) Eminences in black and white [Style Park]
d) Ikea goes to the opera [Designboom]
e) Wanted: a tilting teacup for easy brewing [Fast Co]

Embracing eroticism in the context of furniture, Jonathon Logan's designs have surrealist undertones with striking outcomes. Residing in Sydney, where he's recently set up a studio and is working on various interior collaborations, he was the winner of this year's Australia's Launch Pad design competition, further cementing him as one of New Zealand's rising design talents. Having graduated from Unitec with a Bachelor of Design in Contemporary Craft, he often gravitates towards handcrafted techniques in an effort to produce a contemporary outcome. We sat down with him to gain further insight about his forthcoming entry in the Design Folio Incubator Award presented by Peroni.

(Above: The De Sade table comprises of 25 individually turned table legs and is finished with a slick high gloss black finish)

What will you be looking to design and produce for the Design Folio Incubator Award?

Having so far produced works that center around the erotic (such as the de Sade table featured previously in Design Folio), I'm interested at the moment in finding a complementary and opposite position to further this project. 

What key elements do you think define a successful piece of design? 

With design I am particularly attracted to audacious aesthetic outcomes. Function has never been the focus of my own practice, and I place emphasis on the tension/balance of masculine and feminine elements within a work. It's obvious when a designer has more involved in a piece than just a product - it's this that I find most interesting.

What would be your dream future design commission?

I think being commissioned to produce work for a fellow designer might prove to be the worst but the engaging kind of client. I find commission work particularly interesting because of the various restrictions you have to work within (the piece, price and person).

Visit Jonathon Logan's website here.

Print on the go, with the 'Little Printer', a pint-sized design by BERG, a London-based design studio. Little Printer is a thermal printer with a wireless connection to the internet. Once configured with BERG Cloud (a product that allows you to seamlessly connect your iPhone to the printer), you can print anything from your smart phone immediately. This is one of the best small pieces of design we have seen for a long time. We like nothing better than novelty factor, especially when it is coupled with innovative design.

The designers have this to say about the Little Printer.

'Little Printer lives in your home, bringing you news, puzzles, and gossip from friends. Use your smartphone to set up subscriptions and Little Printer will gather them together to create a timely, beautiful mini-newspaper.'

Watch the video.

Available for purchase in 2012 from here.

A playful summer home for the iconic yellow-labeled bubbles. Belgian designer Mathias Van de Walle has partnered with champagne company Veuve Clicquot to create 'Clicq'Up', an origami-like ice bucket. Clicq’Up is the first foldable champagne bucket and is based on a concept of origami and combining 120 cardboard refined paper and cardboard facettes in a striking, star inspired execution. Marrying form and function to create a contemporary, reusable design object, this foldable design results in an ice bucket that is easily transported, set up, and stored. The limited edition package comes completed with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, making the perfect accessory for our summer picnics this year.

Story by Louisa Penney

Encapsulated in a small minimal bubble is the Jean clock by Pierre Favresse. This beautifully light clock plays a modern homage to the mechanical heaviness of Napoleonic clocks beneath bell jars. The designer states,'time and life are inextricably linked - we feel time pressures in our daily lives and wish we had more time; our time on this earth is limited and dictated by a clicking clock...time therefore is something powerful yet fragile, which is why I wanted to encase it in a delicate white cloud of glass.'

The Dropit hook by Swedish design studio Asshoff & Brogard for Normann Copenhagen offers an artistic solution on which to hang your coats. The wooden shaped hook, in black, is shaped like a tear drop and according to the designers is 'a strong visual expression [with] an exquisite finish...a small piece of art for the wall...hang a single drop on the wall or create a pattern using several Dropit hooks.'