Intervalle by Pierre Charpin for Crystal Saint Louis

Intervalle, by Pierre Charpin, for Crystal Saint Louis

Cirkel by Daphna Laurens at Galerie Gosserez

The new pieces designed by Daphna Laurens and presented in the Cirkel exhibition at Galerie Gosserez are all based on the same shape: the circle. ‘Fantasy embellishes the object by encircling it, and, as it were, illuminating it from within with those precious images of which it reminds us or to which we feel an instinctive connection.’ Luigi Pirandello, 1904. The two designers tested their ideas by playing with this elementary shape for months in their studio in Eindhoven thus producing their preliminary drawings. Basic forms and lines inspired them. Bauhaus was of course one of their sources of inspiration, and Laszlo Moholy Nagy in particular inspired the wall lights. Daphna Laurens wanted to create a wall light which was an art piece during the day when not lit, and of course a functional wall light once switched on. This double formal and functional language best characterises the two designers incidentally. Their pieces do not immediately reveal the function of the object. The form comes first, through the design, the function is second. The mirrors and the coffee table thus result from a meticulous collage of forms, adding or removing lines, volumes and surfaces to accomplish these objects which have formal beauty as well as being functional of which the table is emblematic: the circle is manipulated here in every form, extruded, twisted, … to offer a double function: storage and a table. Whilst the lamp for leaning against the wall is a little creature which is looking through the walls to the other side, completes a collection with humour reserved for strangely inhabited everyday objects.

Cirkel by, Daphna Laurens, at Galerie Gosserez, November 24 – January 14, Paris, France

The Zoo by Jaime Hayon for Baccarat

“The Baccarat Zoo reinvents the art of collecting animals while giving them a real function. Receptacle or Art Toy, every character exudes its optimistic narrative strength, full of magic and imagination.”
– Jaime Hayon

The Zoo , by Jaime Hayon, for Baccarat

Alvar Aalto: In the Master’s Home

NOWNESS invited Finland’s top contemporary design talent to showcase their work in the home of the country’s greatest most celebrated aesthete, Alvar Aalto. Today preserved as an atmospheric museum, the Alvar Aalto house, which was the architect’s domicile and studio from 1936 until his death, is an intimate memorial to the modernist master. The clean lines, functionality and unpretentious nature of classic Finnish design pioneered by Aalto, Ilmari Tapiovaara and Kaj Franck still permeates much of the work by the discipline’s current stars. Here we select our top Finnish designers for further scrutiny.

Jussi Takkinen “Untitled” folding chair and “Osio” wall clock, Matti Syrjälä “Riuku” stool and “Loiste” storm lantern, Hannu Kähönen “Kapeneva” bench, Ville Kokkonen “White 4″ table lamp, Ilkka Suppanen “Kaasa” lantern, Klaus Haapaniemi “Rabbit Throw”, Marko Nenonen “Lounge Chair”, Harri Koskinen “Remain in Light”

Alvar Aalto: In the Master’s Home, via: NOWNESS

Ceramics by Harumi Nakashima

Japanese ceramic artist Harumi Nakashima is most well-known for his free-form sculptures with spotted polka-dots. At once both stoic as well as tortured, the organic forms are reminiscent of some type of odd plant this claims it’s home in a science fiction novel. Nakashima is a member of the modern Japanese ceramics movement Sōdeisha. As is apparent from his own work, the movement was a reaction against the hegemony of folk-craft style and philosophy that claimed dominance in Japan.

L’exposition Ceramics by Harumi Nakashima, Gallery Nilsson and Chiglien, Paris, October 14 – November 26. via: Spoon & Tamago

Heima Series by Francis Cayouette for Normann Copenhagen

It’s time to spice things up. Its time for colors — and lots of them. Got a candlelight with a white candle. Let them burn down and get your hands on color-candles. Can’t get hold on colored candles! — add some colors around the candlelight.

The Heima series is designed by Francis Cayouette which consists of five products.

Heima Series, Heima Candlestick, by Francis Cayoutte, for Normann Copenhagen

Hirsaki Knife Box by Keiji Ashizawa Design

Hirosaki Knives have been around for approximately 1000 years. The cases for the knives are made from paulowina wood, and apple tree wood. These woods are used not only for the unique look of the design, but also the efficiency of the protection of the knives. Paulownia is unique to the history,and culture of Japan. Finally, the apple tree, that is used as the rail and connection, comes from the apple tree in Hirosaki which is the most famous producer of apples in Japan.

Hirsaki Knife Box, by Keiji Ashizawa Design, Photography by Takumi Ota

Jug by Aldo Bakker

A new porcelain water carafe by Aldo Bakker in five colours. This carafe is born with its own traditions. It demands the user to handle it like no ordinary carafe.

Jug, by Aldo Bakker, at Particles, Photography by: Erik and Petra Hesmerg

Clock for an Acrobat by Daniel Weil

Daniel Weil’s new clock explores parallels in the way time moves in space and an acrobat moves along a wire.

“Just as gravity is the medium of the acrobat, so it is the medium of ‘Clock for an Acrobat,’” says Daniel Weil. Second in a series to his “Clock for an Architect,” Weil’s latest design revisits themes that have interested him for over 25 years.

The materials are ash and nickel-plated brass and silver. For the movement, Weil sought parallels between the way time moves in circles and in space, and the way an acrobat moves along a wire: both precarious, both precise, both balanced. As the wheel turns on its track, gravity steers the glass bearing to six o’clock. This prompts the user to reset the dial, acting as an active re-arranger of time.

The battery is held in midair by positive and negative power lines that feed the clock’s movement. Appropriately, it is the only part of this gravity-defined clock that defies gravity.

Clock for an Acrobat, by Daniel Weil, Pentagram

Notchless Tape Dispenser by Mamoru Yasukuni

Notchless is an adhesive tape dispenser which leaves clean, straight edges without zig-zags on cut tape, simply by tearing it on the edge of a blade in the same easy way as with conventional tape dispensers. Adhesive tape without zigzags has an attractive appearance, and it does not break up when peeled as does tape cut with conventional dispensers. It thus has the advantage of not causing stickiness or dirtiness at the cut edge, increasing the utility of adhesive tape. This patented blade technology cuts adhesive tape with a straight edge in an easy and safe manner.

Notchless Tape Dispenser, by Mamoru Yasukuni, Kikuchi-Yasukuni Architects