Rinne by Mikko Laakkonen for Zilio A&C

Rinne, by Mikko Laakkonen, for Zilio A&C

Icon: Strick House by Oscar Niemeyer

Legendary Brazilian modernist Oscar Niemeyer, architect of the capital city Brasília, has built only one residential structure in the United States, where he was long banned because of his leftist political associations. Despite his global fame, the Santa Monica house he designed in 1963 was hardly known even to Southern California’s Nikon-strapped aficionados of midcentury modernism.

Now owned by Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, the Strick House (built for film director Joseph Strick and his wife) is T-shaped in plan. The one-story dwelling is capped by a flat roof and is sheathed in glass, brick, and stucco. One of the most prominent features is the row of tall, narrow exposed rafters that cover the entire roof in a serrated pattern and project beyond the overhangs of the front and rear of the home.

Strick House, Santa Monica, California, USA, by Oscar Niemeyer
via: Architectural Digest

Game Over by Kordian Lewandowski

Game Over, by Kordian Lewandowski

Mozzarella Chair by Tatsuo Yamamoto

Tatsuo Yamamoto presents the Mozzarella Chair in Milan this year. The chair is made of stretchable fabric suspended by a stainless steel frame.

Mozzarella Chair, by Tatsuo Yamamoto

House Heran by Caan Architecten

The private residence of architect Koen Heijse of the young Ghent based office Caan Architecten is a thoroughgoing paradox between minimalism and maximalism. The house is disrobed of all its applications so only the simplicity of form and the essence of material and details remain. The living experience seems to be in service of silence and is remarkably sculptural. However, at the same time the monolith radiates an extreme compactness. Drawings indeed unveil a complexity of daring spaces and distinctive circulations inside a strictly demarcated volume.

House Heran, by Caan Architecten, via: OWI
Photography: Van Leuven Bart

Papo Lamps by Martin Schmid

German designer Martin Schmid, has designed a series of lamps made from paper.

Papo Lamps, by Martin Schmid, Cocage

Mid-Century Print Campaign for Knoll

Knoll Ads from the early-50’s and mid-60’s, part of a Flickr set.

Saarinen Chair, Don Albinson Stacking Chair, Charles Pollack Executive Chair, for Knoll
via: Monoscope

Wire Chair by Nendo

The next generation of the cord chair, with its 15mm diameter legs of stainless steel clad in a hyper-thin wood skin. The wooden skin has been stripped away and the diameter of the steel rods increased from 9 to 12mm, giving them the strength to support the chair independently of the wood. Multiple layers of powder coating and hand polishing give the chair a rare lustrous finish, reminiscent of traditional Japanese lacquerware. The new finish also heightens the chair’s flexibility of use: the resulting durability and water resistance of the finish allow the wire chair to be used outdoors, and the colour selected. These modifications bring fresh charm to an already innovative chair.

Wire Chair, by Nendo

Sonoma Spa Retreat by Aidlin Darling Design

Cut into the landscape by two curved earthen walls, this new spa and swimming pool extend the outdoor living spaces of an existing rammed-earth house. A rustic trellis provides shade from the California sun and frames distant views of San Francisco to the south. The spa pavilion opens to the landscape, embracing its temperate climate and provides an intimate private retreat from the main house.

Sonoma Spa Retreat, Sonoma, California, by Aidlin Darling Design

Phaidon Design Classics iPad Edition

This authoritative and meticulously researched collection charts the story of product design over the past 200 years. It was years in the making and was compiled via rigorous selection process by an international panel of design-world insiders, including architects, critics, curators, product designers, auctioneers, and historians.

The application offers, at the touch of a finger, access to an encyclopedic, illustrated history of 1,000 timeless design classics by not only renowned designers, such as Marcel Breuer, Achille Castiglioni, Le Corbusier, Jasper Morrison, Dieter Rams, Eero Saarinen, and Philippe Starck but also anonymously designed pieces, such as the clothes peg, the corkscrew, and the chopstick, that have stood the test of time.

Phaidon Design Classics, Available to download on the App Store

Phaidon Design Classic (3 Volume Set)
Buy it here: Amazon