Bistro Chair by Robert Stadler for Thonet

“To design a new bistro chair for Thonet is a touchy task. Initially I was proposed to customize a typical Thonet chair for the Corso restaurants of which’s design I am in charge of. But I preferred to elaborate a new chair instead of producing one more Designer comment on this essential piece of furniture. My starting point was the fact that today chair 214 (historically baptized Nr. 14) is rather expensive, which represents a certain break in regards to Thonet’s history. Indeed the company is renewed for being the first having achieved a world wide distribution of their furniture thanks to it’s ingenious conception based on dismantling. Yet, after more than 40 millions sold chairs the manufacturing of the backpart is still rather traditional. With chair 107 I focussed on a new design of that element which is now being produced in an almost totally automated process.”

Bistro Chair, by Robert Stadler for Thonet

Chantal Table Lamp by Stephen Burks for Ligne Roset

Table lamp with base and shade in clear mouth-blown glass. Red textile cable and black manual switch.

Chantal, by Stephen Burks, ReadyMade Projects, for Ligne Roset

Mobidec by Pierre Charpin for Ligne Roset

Mobidec, by Pierre Charpin, for Ligne Roset

Gamete by Xavier Lust for MGX by Materialise

A collection of lamps produced with stereolithography. Xavier Lust took inspiration from the tree seeds which drift through the warm spring air each year.

Gamete Table Lamp, Floor Lamp, by Xavier Lust, for MGX by Materialise

TOR by Lambie & Van Hengel for Montis

TOR is a side table that does not need a fixed location, it is designed to be moved around. The legs extend through the tabletop creating the grip and giving the table its playful and charming character. The raised rim of the surface prevents objects from falling off.

TOR, by Lambie & Van Hengel, for Montis

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

Exhibition: Philips: The Microbial Home

For the 2011 edition of Dutch Design Week, Netherlands-based giant Philips will be showing five lifelike models of concepts for the Microbial Home, a forward looking group of design concepts that represent an innovative and sustainable approach to energy, waste, lighting, food preservation, cleaning, grooming, and human waste management.

The Microbial Home project is part of the Philips Design Probes program, which explores far future lifestyle scenarios based on research in a wide range of areas. The Microbial Home Design Probe consists of a domestic ecosystem that challenges conventional design, it’s a proposal for an integrated cyclical ecosystem where each function’s output is another’s input. In the project the home has been viewed as a biological machine; to filter, process and recycle what we conventionally think of as waste – sewage, effluent, garbage, waste water.

Says Philips, “Our world is sending us warning signals that we are disturbing its equilibrium. A drastic cut in our environmental impact is called for. This Probe explores how the solution is likely to come from biological processes, which are by nature less energy-consuming and non-polluting. We need to go back to nature in order to move forward.”

“Designers have an obligation to understand the urgency of the situation, and translate humanity’s needs into solutions. Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resources” says Clive van Heerden, Senior Director of Design-led Innovation at Philips Design.

Exhibition: The Microbial Home, at the Piet Hein Eek Gallery during Dutch Design Week,
via: mocoloco

Balloons by Dan Yeffet and Lucie Koldova for Brokis

Balloons is a collection of unique, simple and timeless lights that are based on an idea of transparent ‘invisible’ volume with a floating reflector. There and not there, seen and unseen creating an ambient and artistic object. The biggest piece of the collection is pushed to the limits production wise. It is the maximum possible dimensions of handmade blown glass. This series is compounded from one table model and two floor models. Available in 3 sizes (S 40×29 cm – M 60X43 cm – L 80X55 cm), different colored glass and reflector finishing.

Balloons, by Dan Yeffet and Lucie Koldova, for Brokis

Kaj Franck Table Remade by Matti Klenell

After a visit at the glass factory in the Nuutajärvi village in the middle of Finland, Swedish designer Matti Klenell found a very special design by Kaj Franck. It ended up with a personal interpretation of the table as a homage to the great Finnish designer.

“The Nuutajärvi village in the middle of Finland has one major industry and that is their famous glass factory. Over the years masters such as Tapio Wirkkala and Kaj Franck worked here as artistic leaders and much of their designs are still in production by Iittala who the factory now belongs to. In the 1970s Kaj Franck designed a small museum dedicated to glass in an old building that used to serve as a brewery. It’s a beautiful space with an almost mysterious aura. One of the items on display stayed in my mind long after paying my first visit. It was a low table with strange legs. On the table top there was a map showing the Nuutajärvi surroundings displayed under a glass surface and on top of that laid a thick piece of solid glass to use as a magnifying glass enabeling you to properly read all the details of the layout. I decided to design a remake of it. Something different but with an echo of what I remembered from the museum. My table is made of solid ash wood and the top is an engraved glass sheet. The detailed drawing is based on various sketches I made during the project and took me four days to engrave.”
- Matti Klenell

Exhibition: Kokeshi, at Galleri IngerMolin, Stockholm, Sweden, September 24 – October 10
Photos 1-3 © Jason Strong Photography, via: David Report