Modern Coffin

Just in time for Halloween:

Project: Mark the last veil

Designer: Roos Kuipers

Description: At a funeral, the closing of the coffin is often a grim moment. A hard, abrupt action that is inappropriate for the sensitive and emotional grieving and mourning process. Roos Kuipers designed an open coffin made of traditional elm, with round, soft forms that softens this moment. Six transparent veils of bamboo, cotton and silk hang from its side. At the moment of leave-taking, the veils are layered over the body one by one, by which the image of the deceased is gradually obscured. By tucking the veils layer by layer into a groove in the wood, the body of the deceased is similarly ‘tucked in’ with loving care and respect.

2009 Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition

London, UK / August 2009 – To celebrate design week in the cocktail capital of the world, Bombay Sapphire gin will be announcing the winner of its global search to find the ultimate martini cocktail glass and it wants you to help decide who is awarded the grand prize!

Thousands of emerging designers from around the world were briefed to create a martini cocktail glass, the most iconic design in the world of drinks. And now the finalists from each country will travel to the London Design Festival in September to compete in the Global Final for their share of the £10,000 prize fund.

The Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition is one of the top competitions in the world for up-and-coming designers and to help select the winner, Bombay Sapphire is asking you to vote for your favourite glass design at: http://www.dezeen.com/designer-glass-competition.html

Top image: Topographie by Jacobo Munoz (Switzerland), Winner of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition People’s Prize 2008.

Bösendorfer grand piano by Audi Design

Audi Design has teamed up with legendary piano maker, Bösendorfer, to produce a concert grand piano interpreted by Audi's modern design philosophy.

The characteristic Bösendorfer sound and acoustics has not been affected with this sleek design.

The Audi Design grand piano will make its world debut on July 16 in Ingolstadt, to celebrate Audi's centenary.

http://www.boesendorfer.com/en/audi.html

Taxidermy is Back

http://www.meetsebastian.com/english/

Libeskind for the masses?

Libeskind has designed a 5,500-square-foot prefab house, priced from $2.8 to $4.2 million, that can be shipped and assembled anywhere. The two-story villa "resembles a crystal with sharp angles and towering windows bursting from the ground," the Times writes. I wonder if it includes Libeskind's trademark water feature: roof leaks.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/greathomesanddestinations/12iht-relib.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Furniture you can take with you...

I always like twisted dark humor, so I found this piece of furniture very witty without being too obvious -- afterall you don't want to be labelled a Goth.

Shelves for Life is an ingenious piece of furniture designed by William Warren, a self-proclaimed conceptual designer, lateral thinker, and joker. It's whimsical, functional, and a total conversation piece. And, it's a bookcase that turns into a coffin.

LEGO goes architectural

LEGO has always been every architect's beloved childhood toy, so naturally architect Adam Reed Tucker has collaborated with The LEGO Group and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to release the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection - part of the LEGO Architecture series.

Click here to see the other landmarks in the LEGO Architecture series: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/05/26/frank-lloyd-wright-collection-by-adamreed-tucker-and-the-lego-group/#more-31214

XL Lamp

Yep- it might be the biggest lamp out there!

http://www.edendesign.be/eden.html

All tied up

Inspired by his mother's knitting hobby, Korean designer Kwangho Lee created beautifully wildly organic light fixtures with tangled or weaved electrical cords. Each lamp is an impromptu process which makes each piece unique, and some lamps uses up to 900 meters of electrical cord.

Lee has also made furniture out of the same electrical cord.
http://www.kwangholee.com/

Pantone 17-1044, please!

If only these were pantone swatches, it would be brilliant!

http://www.gnr8.biz/product_info.php?products_id=693

Two great tastes that tastes great together

“What if you were given the opportunity to re-imagine the AF1? We invited 18 innovators from across the world to do exactly that. This is Nike 1World.”

Nike 1World is a collection of AF1, created in partnership with global innovators in the fields of sport, music, art & design. Featuring 18 original styles, the Nike 1 World collection will release over the course of eight months and will see the AF1 once again explore new territory.

Nike Design selected Maharam to participate based on its distinct approach to textiles and its prominence in the world of interior and industrial design, in parity with Nike’s longstanding commitment to invention and innovation.

Maharam’s unique interpretation of the AF1 introduces a silhouette constructed of Layers, a textile created by the Maharam Design Studio in collaboration with Dutch industrial designer Hella Jongerius. Layers, produced in single and double layered variations in 100% wool felt, uses sophisticated full-width embroidery equipment played against artisanal hand-cutting to create patterning, resulting in an “industrial craft” hybrid.

This already complex textile was further engineered to meet the specific needs of the AF1. The result represents a multi-disciplinary undertaking, bridging disparate aspects of industrial design including sports technology, textile design and the conceptual avant-garde.

Layers is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper-Hewitt.

More info on AF1: http://www.nike.com/af1
Available exclusively from Moss starting April 8:
http://www.mossonline.com/product-exec/product_id/45025

Ikea - How to flat pack a GM.

Some Assembly Required.
http://www.seebiz.eu/en/macro/srbija/general-motors-and-ikea-to-negotiate-with-serbian-government,27800.html

http://www.stone-tile.com/ceramic/ascot%20pun/ascot%20pun%20decors.htm

I can't help it..I still love antlers..no matter how trendy or passe they may be.
http://www.nendo.jp/en/

Toss the Furnace...and the Air Con...

Houses without furnaces?!?! Those darn Europeans!
www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Dimensional Light

http://www.lucanichetto.com/html/projects/projects_view.php?page=123&photo=1

Piece by piece...

Who didn't love Lego's as a kid...
and who would have thought it could be a six figure career?

Check out the website below for a slide show of work from Lego Builder Nathan Sawaya.

http://www.portfolio.com/careers/job-of-the-week/2008/08/17/Lego-Builder-Nathan-Sawaya

Moooi

Just in time to buy your kid an $8,000 pony *lamp* for Christmas.

Upgrade by Tomas Kral

I normally don't like decoration, but I thought this collection of glass objects by Slovakain designer Tomas Kral is rather ingenious and witty.
Called Upgrade, the collection (which was exhibited at last month's 100% Design in London) involves taking normally processes used to engrave and gild crystal glass and applying them to used consumer/industrial jars and bottles. So a lowly ketchup bottle becomes something of value and beauty.

It is also ironic that Slovakia is a country known for their fine glass making and elevating something that's very pedestrian and utilitarian to something valued is recycling at its finest.