I visited the new CB2 in Santa Monica last weekend and while poking around I found these rad little stone houses (technically a house, temple or condo) which when combined create a great little village. I guess these little guys could just sit on a table or something but I like the idea of them as bookends. They’re geometric shapes are really fun and their surfaces are nice and smooth, made of “natural mint sandstone”. I just wish I had a place to put these…
Bobby
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August 15, 2010 - See more posts by Bobby
Last week Alex posted this crazy chair called the Prickly Pear Chair which I thought I was pretty crazy until I found the chair above. The Proust Geometrical Chair was designed by Alessandro Mendini in 2009 for Cappellini which features the intense pattern you see in the photos, which personally reminds me of dazzle camouflage. It also kind of reminds me of the unnecessary indulgence of the 80′s, mixing a classic shape with a contemporary pattern. Don’t think I’d ever want this in my home but it’s certainly fun to look at.
Found through Share Some Candy
Bobby
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August 11, 2010 - See more posts by Bobby
It’s that time of summer when the optimism of spring is evaporating as quickly as the turgidity of the potted plants on my front porch. It’s the heat that kills them. In the spring, it seemed like a good idea to plant dozens of delicate, thirsty flowers; but in the summer the ghosts of dead plants are reminding me that I should have planted cacti… or maybe just rocks.
New to me are the Prickly Pair Chairs by Valentina Gelz Wohlers. Introduced last year during Milan Design Week, the chairs cleverly bend a very French, oval-backed chair with the pads of a prickly pear cactus. There are even little spiny things in the tufts of the upholstery. The chair made me laugh the first time I saw it, and I’ve been thinking about how to downplay the absurdity of the chair in an interior ever since. I haven’t come up with anything.
But I still like the chair, and I need somethings other than dead plants on my front porch. Is there a waterproof version? Well, honestly, I’m not sure that water is a realistic threat… just ask the dead plants.
Alex
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July 21, 2010 - See more posts by Alex
I thought you might like to know about this elegant collection of chairs, ottomans and tables from the office of Michael Wolk. The Stryde Collection is great because it has the quality of mid century furniture, yet is clearly contemporary. (In fact, I came across the collection on the Contemporist.) The attenuated legs make me nervous because they’re so skinny at the floor, but the fact that they are gorgeous walnut distracts me. It’s almost as distracting as sitting in sad, rolling office chair imagining what it would be like to recline in soft leather with a good book.
Alex
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July 14, 2010 - See more posts by Alex
German designer Elisa Strozyk takes everyday objects and skilfully re-imagines their properties and functions. For her “wooden textiles” series she is concerned with “giving importance to surfaces that are desirable to touch [that] can reconnect us with the material world and enhance the emotional value of an object.” Strozyk’s interest in touch, sensation and feeling is at the heart of her design practice that challenges perception. Playing with the user’s understanding of the tactility of wood, this series experiments with the perceived inflexibility of the material and attempts to transform interwoven wooden tiles into a soft textile. I have no idea what her finished designs actually feel like, but the visual effect of these deconstructed wooden mosaics is amazing. Definitely take a peek at Strozyk’s site if you’re interested in designs that fuse progressive creativity, functionality and beauty.
FOUND THROUGH CONTEMPORIST.
Danica
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July 7, 2010 - See more posts by Danica