Mint Side Table by Sebastian Herkner for Böwer

On the inside, it’s a bar, on the outside it’s mini.

The story behind the table is the celebration of traditional wood turning. The sweet bit: Mint hides and integrates a small mini-bar that allows you to store a nice bottle of wine or other delicious beverages and glasses, which are placed on a separate tray inside. The design provides an inserted intermediate bottom for the glasses and black chrome slide-open lid on the top of the side table Mint.

Mint Side Table, by Sebastian Herkner, for Böwer

House Extension by Bloem en Lemstra Architects

A very well done house extension with Flow chairs by Jean-Marie Massaud and red lacquered FlowerPot pendant lamps designed by Verner Panton.

House Extension, Amsterdam, Netherlands, by Bloem en Lemstra Architects, Photography by Chiel de Nooyer

Eclipse Clock by Constance Guisset for Petite Friture

Eclipse is a clock where the face transforms as time changes. The hands mark a visual rhythm, an optical illusion made from the black circles which overlap and move. The time is always visible whilst the clock is transforming.

Eclipse Clock, by Constance Guisset, for Petite Friture

Bank in the Form of a Pig by Harry Allen for Areaware

Harry Allen has designed the Reality series of products whose forms are “sampled” from existing sources. Using a technique that involves casting polyester resin in highly detailed silicone, Allen has moulded a pig with great precision (no animals were harmed in the making of this product, 5% of the proceeds from the sale of the Bank in the Form of a Pig are donated to The Humane Society “Our pig lost its life from natural causes and we are hoping that his likeness will live on to help prevent cruelty to animals everywhere”).

Part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Available in white, black, hot pink and metallic finishes of chrome, gold and a limited edition copper.

Bank in the Form of a Pig, by Harry Allen for Areaware

Exhibition: Yrjö Kukkapuro Furniture

In 1998 Finland issued a design-themed stamp set which featured some of the most iconic works of local design history: besides product and textile designs by Alvar Aalto, Kaj Franck, Bertel Gardberg, Timo Sarpaneva and Annika Rimala, furniture design was represented by one chair — Yrjö Kukkapuro’s Karuselli.

The exhibition in the Museum of Estonian Architecture gives an overview of the interior architect and furniture designer Yrjö Kukkapuro’s artistic production which spans over 50 years. Starting with a student work from 1957 and concluding with a prototype specially designed and manufactured for the Tallinn exhibition, Kukkapuro’s long career is filled with independent experiments in the field but also includes positions as the chief designer of Haimi, Lepokaiusto and Avarte. Kukkapuro’s first successful collection Moderno was created in 1958-1960 and is still in production.

Kukkapuro’s oeuvre is like an X-ray of the design history of the second half of the 20th century. Pop-art influenced colourful plastic chairs, Karuselli, Saturnus or Chair No. 419 manufactured in the 1960s from fibreglass and ABS plastic using experimental methods are contemporary benchmarks carried by utoplan aspirations. The minimalist turn in 1970s abandoned artificial materials, new favourite was birch plywood. Remmi and Pressu models date from that period but at the same time Kukkapuro started decades’ long experiment to create ergonomic office chairs. Piaano, Fysio, Sirkus or Funktus are series which thoroughly redefined the understanding about typical office furniture. in the 1980s the wave of Postmodernism brought back colour, patterns and décor to Kukkapuro’s chairs. The 1990s are characterized by the abstract patterns printed on simple plywood form from
the “tattooed” chairs series and in the 2000s the explorations in materials continue. New favourite is bamboo from which there is a series specially made for Chinese market.

Some of the earlier chairs of the still tenaciousiy active Yrjö Kukkapuro have become design classics which are sought-after in online auctions and vintage furniture stores, at the same time being exhibited in renowned design museums from London to New York. The exhibits, prototypes as well as production models, of the Tallinn exhibition are mainly from Kukkapuro’s personal collection which he has gathered in his atelier over the years.

Yrjö Kukkapuro Furniture, Jan 11 – Feb 10, 2013, at the Museum of Estonian Architecture, Tallinn, Estonia

House in Villarcayo by Pereda Pérez Arquitectos

The starting point of the project answers to two clear situations: in one hand the plot is located in a suburban colony not yet consolidated, in the outskirts of Villarcayo, which does not have any significant value and with very few constraints but legal ones, linked to the accomplishment of the current standards, which mainly defined the heights, suitability for building and setbacks. And in the other hand, the owners, a young family identified with the contemporary architecture, they defined two questions: a house with just ground floor was a requirement in order to maximize his relationship with the garden and the project had to be unequivocally within a limited budget.

Hence, the proposal, should answer, over other premises, to the “optimism” and to the “optimization” which were demanded by the owners, supposing those as the starting point, its “real context”. The program, relatively common, was defined with accuracy by the clients, it was divided basically in two categories: in one hand, a big sitting room and terrace with direct access to the garden and in the other hand, the definition of the most privates spaces, annexed, consisting in a main bedroom incorporating a bathroom, besides two bedrooms, another bathroom and a space for their children to study and play games, additionally kitchen and garage. At the same time, the plot, with a small size, topographically flat, with a substantially rectangular shape and with a single side having access to the street, the orientation north-south coincided with the diagonal, it does not exist any other remarkable characteristics of the physical environment.

House in Villarcayo, Villarcayo, Burgos, Spain, by Pereda Pérez Arquitectos
Photography © Pedro Pegenaute, via: ArchDaily

Euvira Rocking Chair by Jader Almeida for ClassiCon

With its precisely orchestrated flowing lines, thickening and tapering to form a pleasing rhythm, the chair is a signature expression of contemporary design. At the same time, the choice of materials and their treatment recalls the work of the great Brazilian design masters of the 1960s and 70s. While offering all the comfort of a capacious rocking chair, the piece’s fine lines and the way the armrests and runners taper towards the middle make an airy and elegant impression from any angle. The cord seat and backrest lend the chair a special lightness and transparency, unfolding a fascinating graphic play of lines especially when in motion. The version in dark stained oak with black cord attests the most strikingly to the origin of its designer. In pale oak with hemp-coloured cord, the chair looks almost like a Scandinavian furniture classic. With fabric or leather upholstery, it takes on the feel of an elegant club chair. In every version, though, it oscillates effortlessly between past and present, stability and elegance.

Euvira Rocking Armchair, by Jader Almeida, for ClassiCon

Das Stue Hotel by Axthelm Architekten

Originally built in the 1930’s, Das Stue’s diplomatic legacy is evident in the heritage building’s stately architecture and modernist façade, designed by German architect Johann Emil Schaudt (1871-1957) and inspired by Danish classicism. Located in Berlin’s diplomatic quarter, Das Stue was renovated to invoke a calming ambiance, with open spaces and contemporary minimalist design. The Potsdam-based firm Axthelm Architekten added a new wing on the building’s former back courtyard, which is clad in a floral patterned photo concrete surface acting as an elegant counterbalance to the rough dressed stone of the main building.

While Patricia Urquiola artistically directed and designed all public spaces and fluidly integrated shared spaces such as the lobby, cocktail bar and restaurants, LVG ARQUITECTURA finalized the interior room and suite design. Das Stue’s daylight spa, which opens its doors to the courtyard when the first rays of sunlight emerge, offers three treatment rooms, an indoor swimming pool, as well as a glass sauna and gym. In addition to the wellness center, two intimate library lounges offer guests a private and elegant retreat to relax.

Each of the 80 guestrooms is outfitted in subdued modern decor that emphasizes polished surfaces and rich fabrics. The rooms are designed to recall the open spaces of villa environments, complemented by high ceilings, hardwood floors and views of the adjacent Tiergarten; 11 rooms feature terraces and balconies.

Das Stue Hotel, Berlin, Germany, by Axthelm Architekten, via: UR Design Magazine

Beams Chair by Eric and Johnny Design Studio

The Beams Chair is a lightweight wooden armchair inspired by the H-beam structure of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The H-Beam structure is derived and used as a main design element in the Beams Chair, which shows the beauty of such construction. The main frame of the Chair is composed of two kinds of thin wood panel:multiplex and plywood. The two wood panels are combined together in such a way so as to offer directional perpendicular wooden structures and to create the H-Beam structure in the Chair. By such inventive arrangement of the wood panel, the specific H-beam structure is built up and an extraordinary stability of the Chair is ensured.

The Chair is made of three different kinds of wood, bent plywood, multiplex and aircraft plywood.The strength of the structure of the plywood and multiplex thin sheets is quite strong in one direction, while relatively weak in other direction. By combining the two wood sheets in a way so to offer directional perpendicular wooden structures and to build the H-Beam structure, there are two strong dimensions so the anti-twisting ability and compression strength as well as the stability of the chair are tremendously improved. The frame of the chair is constructed by bending plywood and multiplex. The flexible aircraft plywood covers the frame as the surfaces of the seat and back. Such design saves the molding cost of production and reduces the weight of the Chair.

Beams Chair, by Eric and Johnny Design Studio

Edvard Mirror Collection by Jean-Francois d’Or for Reflect+

Starting from a simple geometrical shape, this truncated conical mirror allows different positions for different kind of functions. Thanks to this shape, this mirror concept integrates interiors in many ways: the object fits perfectly on the wall but can also be placed on its side or rest on its base. Depending on its position, it gives an unusual way of looking at mirrors and at its reflections; versatile perspectives as complementary visions of architecture. Fixing on wall, the mirror is a sort of megaphone that makes the wall scream for reflection. Hence the name Edvard, after the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, the man behind the painting ‘The Scream’.

Edvard Mirror Collection, by Jean-Francois d’Or, for Reflect+