Expressive form with slightly oversized details are what this collection from MUUTO captures. This playful design is inspired by fairy tales and children’s story books where things and shapes are commonly exaggerated and emphasized to fill any child’s wild imagination. The set, coined BULKY, underlines the over-dimensioned and friendly proportions. We just received the teapot, sugar bowl, milk jug, cookie jar and tea cups!
I spent yesterday upgrading the operating system on my computer. These days we are so conditioned to the upgrade experience one feels compelled to grab hold of a piece of the future at any opportunity. Starbucks has gone for an upgrade of its own OS to survive. ‘The Bank’ is the first of its concept stores to open in the EU, in Amsterdam. It does feel somewhat like a sport shoe manufacturer trying to make attractive Italian loafers but why not?
[via the contemporist]
The journey home, from wherever it emanates, is always the best part of the day. Our personal HQ is at the very centre of our lives and the architectural designs of Iwan Iwanoff have afforded us homes to live in unlike those of any others. His statements are the culmination of a unique use of concrete, modern lines and spatial innovation to arrive at individual classics. A rare event, here’s one on the market now for those on the hunt.
While Da Vinci was experimenting and perfecting his chiaroscuro technique on his magnificent frescos in the 14th century, who would have thought that 500 years later Cole & Son was set to develop their own collection of decorative tonal contrasts in the form of wallpaper. As part of the Fornasetti Collection, these fantastically textured images transport the minds-eye into a three-dimensional world on a wall -no 3D glasses necessary.
[via trendir]
Bruce Norelius Studio and the owners of this innovatively designed modern house on Punkinville Road realise the importance of adapting architecture to nature, not the other way around. It’s scrupulously simple design takes space, situation and sunlight into account, as well as inspiration for 20th century American architecture.
[via room for horse]
For many of us, Christmas is a timeless family tradition. To celebrate that abiding ritual, British designers Glithero and printmakers Baddeley Brothers have come together to combine classic printing press techniques with the innovative use of an envelope-folding machine. These packs of five beautifully-embossed and coloured paper planes would make any child the envy of the class, while reminding others you don’t need to be at school to enjoy the simple things in life.
[via dezeen]
If you’ve ever wondered what the world of a computer game would be like in reality, the Dutch architects MVRDV can enlighten you. While ‘The Cloud’ might look like an over-compressed mid-building explosion viewed through a digital TV screen, it’s actually an ingenius pixelated cluster that will join its two towers at the 27th floor in Seoul, Korea.
[via dezeen]
With just one week to go before the Yuletide festivities can begin in earnest, hotelier Arnaud de Saint Exupry has come up with an alternative to broken promises and cheap chocolate calendars with an indulgent contemporary take on the nativity fast. Located at Saint Exupery’s Andaz Liverpool St in London, Isreali-German designer Eyal Burstein of Beta Tank takes advantage of the thrift store finds of the stylish East London area. He creates a spread of elegant design and delicious treats in counting down the days to Christmas.
[via weheart]
Solving the problem of the perpetually empty or over-stocked bookshelf, REK is a five-piece extendable case by Rotterdam’s Reiner de Jong. It’s ingenius design means you can expand your storage space as you accrue knowledge, there for display while making the humble bookend a thing of the past.
[via dezeen]
Postmodernism might be a dirty word nowadays but it doesn’t mean that the sweeping cultural shift between 1960 to 1990 wasn’t a fascinating, if not stunning, time for art and design. That’s why the V&A in London plays host to a brave retrospective tracking the rise and fall of a radical, if not fragmented, movement. The brash and bold exhibition follows a multifaceted history from Alessandro Mendini’s ‘destruction of Lass chair’ and Chris Jencks ‘Adhocist’ design, all the way through to the post modern flirtation with, and eventual absorption by, popular culture. Devo, i-D magazine and the Memphis group can lay claim to marking a movement at the height of its power and at the end of its tether.
[image via vam]
There is someone thinking about the illegal download problem by offering a vinyl-playing alternative to listening to music in motion. Part bike, part turntable, Dutch designers Merel Sloother, Liat Azulay and Pieter Frank de Jong present their prototype bicycle that plays records on its wheels. There are no iPods, mp3 players or fileshare’s necessary, with rear cylinder standing in for headphones. With the riding conditions of the Netherlands being a flat and smooth affair, we’re wondering if the Feats Per Minute road wheeler will come in a mountain biking range.
[via dezeen]
