Icon: Torre de Collserola

More a Marvel of Engineering, Torre de Collserola functions as a highly adaptable communications tower and an innovation for an entirely new structural concept: a hybrid concrete and steel-braced tube. This required a base diameter of only 4.5 metres, dramatically minimizing its impact on the mountainside.

Torre de Collserola, Barcelona, Spain by Foster and Partners

Ginzan Onsen Fujiya Spa Hotel

New hotels in Japan are meeting the demanding expectations of the modern traveller by taking a cue from the country’s traditional ‘ryokan’ or traditional inn. Architects and designers have to incorporate modern comforts into the existing structures of Japanese-style accommodation. Ginzan Onsen Fujiya Hotel is perhaps one of the finest examples of combining old and new Japan.

Ginzan Onsen Fujiya, Yamagata, Japan, by Kengo Kuma & Associates

FlipSticks Folding Chopsticks for Camping

FlipSticks Folding Chopsticks, $32.80, from Brunton

Hotel Anemi at Folegandros Greece

The Anemi Hotel is located on the Island of Folegandros, Greece. With respect for traditional Cycladic architecture, this hotel maintains a very nordic style.
έξοχος !!

Anemi Hotel, Greece (nordic room rates), Link: Anemi

Simple Ceramics by Taizo Kuroda

“Taizo Kuroda’s ‘pure white’ reflects the colour of his spirit in the unceasing pursuit of truth”.
Tadao Ando. Architect.

“According to Japanese Kegon Buddhism, the oneness of the universe is the result of all the phenomena making it up fusing together. All existence depends upon the unification of opposites. Thus form exists only in relation to formlessness, the tangible only to the intangible; “something” can only be because there is also “nothing.” The moment the opposites are united, they become real. A shape derives from the moment formlessness encounters form.”
hmm – something to think about when gazing at these ceramics.

$1,500 to $8,000 by Taizo Kuroda

Travel: Thailand Design Hotel

X2 Resorts - Thailand first chain of design hotels. X2 KUI BURI is located on the Gulf of Thailand, approximately 3 hours drive from Bangkok, a fresh change indeed.

 X2 Resorts , Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand.

Abstract Sculpture by Angelo Mangiarotti

Equilibrio di una Relazione Vitale, (sold for $28,000), by Angelo Mangiarotti, at Wright

Therme Vals Spa Switzerland

The remote alpine village of Vals is best known to the world at large as the home of Switzerland’s popular Valser mineral water. Since 1996, though, architecture fanatics and spa connoisseurs have known Vals as the home of Peter Zumthor’s Therme spa, an ultra-modernist design statement in grey Valser quartzite, a place that somehow crafts a near-religious experience out of little more than stone, water and judiciously applied light. The combinations of light and shade, open and enclosed spaces and linear elements make for a highly sensuous and restorative experience.

Therme Vals, by Peter Zumthor,
+ Therme Vals

Icon: Kikkoman Soy Sauce Package

Often overlooked and a common sight in every sushi bar and maybe even lurking in the back of your refrigerator, this package design is now included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). The dispenser is equipped with the essential functions as a soy sauce dispenser such as easy to pour (on two sides!) and a non-drip spout. The company has shipped to date over 250-million units.
Designed in 1961 by Kenji Ekuan. (Japanese, born 1929) and GK Design Group. Kikkoman Soy Sauce Dispenser. Glass and polystyrene plastic, Manufactured by Kikkoman Corporation, Japan.

Kikkoman Soy Sauce Dispenser, by Kenji Ekuan, for GK Design Group

The moooi Paper

Tatjana Quax is involved with moooi as head styling. Every quarter in 2007 the moooi paper appeared together with the magazine ELLE wonen. The paper has grown into a glossy (half million copies worldwide) and was currently presented at the Salon del Mobile Milan 2008.

The moooi Paper, ELLE wonen, by Studio Aandacht