The Daily Icon

Icon: Alberto Meda

Alberto Meda came to design from engineering, bringing with him a pragmatic mind, an attention to details in materials and production process, in addition to formal concerns. This applied-science background has shaped Meda’s recognizable stamp of elegant simplicity, designs that are at once modern in form and organic in feel.

Meda started his career in the 1970s as the technical director of the plastics manufacturer Kartell. There he began to forge a unique relationship between technology and design experimentation, incorporating poetry as well as engineering into his imaginative solutions. He subsequently opened his own office in Milan.

Meda believes that “the more complex the technology, the more it is suitable for the production of objects for simple use, with a unitary image, almost organic.” He demonstrated this idea with the Light Light Armchair, his first carbon–fiber chair, manufactured in a small series. The chair, which weighs a mere four pounds, is a physical and psychological representation of lightness.

Company site: Alberto Meda
Interview: Metropolis Magazine

Landscape Chaise Lounge by Jeffrey Bernett

An invitingly comfortable, sleek, delicate form resting on a metal base: the minimalist design makes this chaise Lounge look especially light. Thanks to its magnet retainer, the headrest can be fixed into the best position for enjoying an afternoon rest.

Landscape, by Jeffrey Bernett, for B&B Italia

DJ Tables by Metrofarm

Custom made DJ Tables for the client with built in technical equipment.

DJ Desks, by Metrofarm

Tucson Arizona Mountain House

Tucson Mountain House, Tucson Arizona, USA by Rick Joy Architects

Exhibition: Ampelphase at Vitra Frankfurt

Selected architects and the class of the Städelschule art academy present a personal installation showing their associations with a red room. Each participant worked separately on their own presentation.

Exhibition: Ampelphase 3: raumrot, Vitra Showroom, Frankfurt am Main, Germany,
August 13 - September 6

Interiors: MUFG Branding by NMDA

The MUFG brand combines a sense of logic and functionality with an unusual sense of design style, something that gives MUFG an identity different than any other bank in all of Japan. Like fine Japanese laquered bowls, the exterior of the bank is a stark contrast to the colors and material found inside.
Design is a fusion of form and use. As this is a new type of banking office, the ambition is to give a new feeling to the experience of private banking. Here, the environment is accessible and friendly, yet have a special sense of contemporary design. The two most important features to the design are first, the smooth surfaces that shape the ceiling and walls into a continuous, flowing world, and second, the contrasting materials of white plaster and two types of wood veneers. The subtle curvatures and angles of the surfaces are specially designed to help the space become embracing, while the colors and materials combine to give a fresh, warm overall feeling to the space.

MUFG, bank interior branding, Japan by NMDA

Russia House by Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled designs for a private house in Barvikha Forest close to Moscow. The project will be shown at the Russia Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale September 12th - 23rd as part of a showcase of work by Russian and foreign architects working in Russia.

Capital Hill Residence, Moscow, Russia,
by Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher, for Zaha Hadid Architects
via: dezeen

Splinter by Mia Cullin

Like a series of crescent moons under glass, Splinter is a small occasional table designed by Mia Cullin.

Splinter, by Mia Cullin

Mercury Light by Ross Lovegrove

A ceiling fixture that places a floating assembly of large pebbles below a simple aluminium disc. These in turn reflect each other, bouncing light between their taught biomorphic surfaces and reflecting the environment around them. During the day the piece acts as a sculptural object reflecting the dynamics of natural light and the movement of people around them.

Mercury, by Ross Lovegrove, for Artemide

Ann Demeulemeester Shop by Mass Studies

The Ann Demeulemeester Shop is located on the first floor, with a restaurant above and a adaptable space in the basement. Diverse interior spaces designated for its three main programs were made to be perceived and utilized as a part of the outdoors in a variety of ways. This building is not meant to be just another ‘object’ to be experienced externally, but rather as a synthetic organism of nature and artifice.

Ann Demeulemeester shop, by Minsuk Cho, Kisu Park, Seoul, South Korea for Mass Studies