Ionna Vautrin's sketch for 'Musette'

Known for her penchant for subtle, pared-down and frequently round or soft-cornered forms, French designer Ionna Vautrin has created this simple multifunctional table-cum-storage-cum-tray for the Danish manufacturer De Vorm. Presented earlier in April at De Vorm’s exhibition in Zona Tortona’s Via Novi 5, ‘Musette’ has been inspired by ‘the oriental tables which are used during the tea ceremony’. (more…)

Detail of the five-course 'Dish of desire'

Known for his love of nature, the Dutch designer Frederik Roijé has realised this rather lavish birdfeeder aptly named ‘Dish of desire.’ In its form, the pendant design resembles that of a tiered tea tray synonymous with the indulgent and very British tradition of afternoon tea. Here however, scones, cakes, and cucumber sandwiches are replaced with grains, kernels and seeds as this elegant piece is intended for outdoor use as a serving plate for birds rather than tea-goers. Available in a one-, two-, three- or five-course versions, ‘Dish of desire’ was presented last week in Milan’s Zona Tortona, on Via Novi 5. (more…)

'ICON 03' chair by Jan Plecháč for NgispeN

Drawing his inspiration from the iconic De Stijl Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld almost one hundred years ago (in 1917), a young award-winning Czech designer Jan Plecháč has created this bold, wire chair for Gispen’s ’Playing With Tradition’ brand NgispeN. Launched last week at the Temporary Museum For New Design in Superstudio Piu, ‘ICON 03′ can be used both indoors and outdoors thanks to its durable steel structure. (more…)

'Transcience' mirror by David Derksen and Lex Pott (NL)

With their recent project, David Derksen and Lex Pott - two young designers and Design Academy Eindhoven alumni – explored and reinterpreted the naturally occurring process of oxidation by using sulfur to accelerate and recreate this otherwise spontaneous, slowly-developing ageing process of silvered-glass mirror. By careful calculation and manipulation, the designers ‘stained’ the mirrors thus achieving a beautiful, geometric ombré pattern that is further accentuated by the overall shape of each of the three mirrors. (more…)

Sol LeWitt, Buried Cube Containing an Object of Importance but Little Value, 1968 - Visser collection – Photos Gert Jan van Rooij

An exhibition dedicated to the late Dutch furniture designer Martin Visser has recently opened at Maastricht’s Bonnefanten museum. Titled Martin Visser – collector, designer, free spirit, the show focuses on Visser’s significance for visual art, design and architecture in the Netherlands. On view until 17 June 2012, the exhibition showcases over a hundred paintings, sculptures, photographs and various works on paper from Visser’s extensive art collection, number of works in situ originally developed for Visser’s Bergeijk home in 60s and 70s, as well as eight furniture designs created by Visser such as the iconic 1958 sofa bed BR 02. (more…)

Dragon Skin Pavilion by LEAD and EDGE, photo by Dennis Lo

A young Hong Kong and Antwerp-based architectural design and research practice LEAD and EDGE – Laboratory for Architectural and Urban Research from Finnish Tampere University of Technology have joined their creative forces to develop this striking pavilion designed for the the 2011-12 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture. Formed of a tight array of scale-like, overlapping bent plywood sheets, is took the team six hours to assemble the self-supporting Dragon Skin Pavilion which is on view until 23 April at Shenzhen Pavilion, Kowloon Park – Roof Garden 2, Hong Kong. (more…)

'Porcelain' pendant light by Studio WM; photo by Paul Schipper

Wendy Legro and Maarten Collignon, a duo of young, Eindhoven-trained designers behind Rotterdam-based Studio WM, have realised these two, pared-down pendant lights: a shipyard-inspired, black opaque model called ‘Porcelain’ and a similar, hand-blown glass version, ‘Gradient.’ Based on the same principle, both of the designs employ a pulley mechanism which enables an easy adjustment of the height of the lamps. Part of the ‘Lightness in Lines’ collection, the lights will be presented at Ventura Lambrate during the Salone del Mobile 2012 in Milan. (more…)

'c1' rug from the 'Room moment' collection by detailF

Franziska Wernicke, a Rotterdam-based textile designer and founder of detailF design studio has realised this subdued, four-piece collection of New Zealand wool rugs called ‘room moment’. Comprising one rectangular and three circular versions, the series features a distinctive three-colour gradation which is accentuated by a delicate radial pattern emanating from an offset point. A complex, high-tech tufting technique has been used in the production of the series and the ‘c3′ model of the rug was exhibited and nominated for the ‘interior innovation award 2012′ at the imm cologne’s [D³] Contest. (more…)