In 1948, Charles and Ray Eames presented their first collection of moulded plastic chairs at the New York Museum of Modern Art during the International Competition for the Design of Low-Cost Furniture. The competition focused on:
The need for well-designed, moderately priced furnishings for the vast majority of people; furnishings that could be easily moved, stored and cared for, thus meeting the demand of modern living.
In addition to these concerns, the chairs were designed to be mass-produced. The Eames team were careful to design these chairs so they would look great in large quantities, such as in auditoriums; minimalist in their overall uniformity.
Today, the moulded plastic chairs are being produced by Herman Miller in recyclable polypropylene, and by Modernica using the original fiberglass moulds.
The DeskBox is an elegant little worktable, created by Israel-born UK-based designers Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges studio for the furniture brand Arco, It its “box” mode, the item is barely extended from the wall. But as you pull the cover down – it turns into a nicely sized workstation. Designers explain:
The Deskbox is a practical small table/cabinet that is hung onto a wall and it is ideal for settings where there is little space available for furniture. It is an elegant small work place, which is excellent for working on a laptop for instance, and it can be retracted to form a closed box, half the size of the table top.
I like how seamless and fluid this design is. An opening on the back for cables and cords and a small storage compartment complete the piece.
Baooab is a children’s toy designed by Sergio Guijarro and Miriam Tochijara. This simple toy is designed to encourage imaginative and creative playtime. According to Guijarro:
A child’s power of imaginations has no limits. Baooab is a new game concept which combines construction, creativity and interaction with all the elements of play. Six pieces, infinite possibilities, offering a form of entertainment wich returns to the sensory, emotional, and, above all, to the appreciation of ingenuity.
I love how the simple wooden shapes can change and adapt during play. Check out this video to see Baooab in action. Baooab can become an infinite number of creatures: a turtle, giraffe, or sea monster! Or maybe this toy is train, a swirling river, or a patch of flowers. And because it is based on creativity, this toy can be enjoyed by all ages. Anything is possible with Baooab. All you need is your imagination.
Featuring the ‘Roof House’ Proposal by Betillon/Dorval-Bory Architects submitted in the competition in Chiba, Japan. The eight proposed homes are based around the reinvention of something we are all familiar with – the concept of a roof. The project experiments not only with a space itself but also the human body in it, therefore opens new possibilities about how people live.
The ‘Roof House’ is a place with architectural, acoustic and visual qualities and allows for various spatial reconfigurations and potential developments. Some other effective strengths include a minimal use of materials, construction costs and the overall use of energies due to the grouped housing. With no protective walls and with only slanted roof, one might ask what happens with the climate on the inside, what is the ventilation like, what are the qualities of light and shadows and what would a daily movement within really be like? In their own words, the architects explain the concept:
We choose not to yield to the temptation of suburban individualism, one of the causes of the disappearance of social ties and greater consumer of land. Thus, it is in an elegant form of collective housing that we integrate our eight houses. In a mix of collective courtyard housing and patio house typologies, we create a large volume in the periphery of the plot that clears the central space, large garden shared by the inhabitants. Then generating an atypical space, the eight houses assembled into a single stripe allow to create several types of habitat yet in a very regular architecture, with its repetitive and identical frames.
Fast becoming a Minimalissimo favourite, London design brand Minimalux, who produce modern collections of desk accessories, has branched out to design its first and quite stunning range of jewellery called Zero.
Zero is a simple jewellery collection of solid metal bands forming a single, subtle style for both men and women. The items, all of which are mirror polished by hand, are also void of any embellishment, detailing, or decoration – other than the subtle machine engraved brand mark.
Produced in Hatton Garden, London, Zero has an understated elegance, which I really like about the designs. In particular, the men’s silver ring.
Photography by Peer Lindgreen
I love the fluid lines and light profile of the JUNO chair by James Irvine. The Milan based Irvine created the lively chair for the Italian manufacturer Arper and was presented early this year during the Salone del Mobile 2012. JUNO is made of plastic cast produced through single gas assisted injection mould.
Juno enjoys all the benefits of simplicity and uniformity but with a clever twist.
The chair is created for both indoors and outdoors and can be used in residential and commercial spaces, Irvine explains. What I find great is that Juno shows that a plastic chair, in contrast of what one often sees, does not necessarily look cheap. The JUNO chair is available in four different forms: solid or open back, with or without armrests. All stackable to accommodate large-scale use and storage. One can choose from white, sand, anthracite, orange and yellow.
Nested in the historical center of Vacallo, a small village with 3.000 inhabitants in the Italian-bordering side of the Swiss frontier, this building renovation was designed by Swiss-based architecture studio Studio Inches Architettura.
Originally an agricultural village, in the 20th century Vacallo became a residential area and the 17th century constructions in the historical center became protected by the government, a condition that imposes a series of restrictions for any architectural intervention.
Initially a storage barn for the farmers, it came to house 6 families and then had the ground floor converted into the headquarters of a local political party. The renovation project respects the rigid swiss laws that impede any alterations to the façade openings nor the ceiling structure. The interior, however, was completely gutted in order to maximize the small area of 30 sq. meters, a feat greatly aided by the double-height atrium in the ground floor.
I love how the cast concrete slab complements the pure white of the interior walls and floors, brightened beautifully by all the greenery, and how the many openings pour light into this small 6m x 6m space!
Photography by Tonatiuh Ambrosetti, Daniela Droz.
As a fan of New York-based practice Snarkitecture ever since their collaboration with fashion designer Richard Chai, I have been looking forward to their new installation in Chicago’s Volume Gallery, a series of everyday objects ‘confused’ in their original function, typical context and familiar materials, producing a collection of Fun. A lamp whose globe melts away from leaning onto another lamp. A coffee table frozen in collapse under the weight of a marble that ‘pours’ its heaviness out. These objects are kept in minimal colors and forms to convey the artists’ intention.
Funiture reconsiders our reality, often centering on creating confusion – whether with familiar objects in unexpected contexts, or the dissolution of recognizable volumes into irrational forms.
Snarkitecture, comprising of Alex Mustonen and Daniel Asham, has often brought the fields of topography and geography into a smaller, human scale. Shelves, smooth on the top surface to function as, well, shelves, are made out of fiberglass and wood while they resemble rock excavations on the underside. Consistent in their philosophy of making architectural sense in their work, what I like most about the collection is that it serves its purpose by reminding us that sometimes it is ok not to take architecture seriously.
LaCucinaAlessi by Valcucine and Alessi is a new, one-piece kitchen designed by Dutch architect Wiel Arets, as a single, sculptural object. The piece has minimal lines, rounded edges and corners; none of the joints are visible. As Alberto Alessi explains, the typical features of Wiel Arets’s design approach are firmly in evidence:
…the tendency for the parts to be regular, without however being minimalist in a reductive sense, the inclusion of a high level of intellectual complexity, but also tangibility and formal simplicity, enable him to produce extremely refined results.
I love how beautiful the kitchen looks from every angle. It can be put in the middle of the room and make a statement. The piece comes in three versions: an island version, an island version with two additional columns, and a wall version, which can be altered and personalised to fit the requirements of supply requests in the contract sector.
Watch the interview with Wiel Arets for more insight about the design.
This stackable, color-coded stationary set is designed by Adrian and Jeremy Wright of DesignWright studio, in collaboration with Lexcon. Called Buro desk accessories, this collection is designed to unite the items commonly found on one’s desk. Most desk items clutter our desks and rarely match, but this set gives a sense of coherence to our desks and the objects we use everyday. The desk accessories are made from green, purple, or grey plastic with a rubberized finish, and feature the name of the item on the side.
This collection would look great on my desk! I love the simplicity of the shapes and the way each object aligns with the others. The items can be organized in many ways, much like a stack of books. The color gradient is a nice touch; it allows each object to feel unique while still fitting with the set as a whole. This design adds an element of sophistication and style to utilitarian desk accessories.