Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec - New Collection

Following their mission of developing Japan's craftsmanship and industry, Japan Brand invited the Bouroullec brothers to conceive a contemporary object using traditional know-hows, trying to open the way for new uses and applications. After visiting several workshops from one of Japan's great lacquer ware producing areas: Wajima they came with a new collection:

- a lamp like a luminous box that highlights the magnificence of lacquer;
- a desk lamp assemblage of three elements that remind distinctly of very traditional lacquer ware shapes;
- a double lunch tray set and
- a pocket mirror.




Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec Design: "collection Wajima"

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home furnishings

Fashion and Interior Design: Milan’s new Max Mara store

The fashion and interior design interconnection is one of my favourite themes, as my regular readers have already noticed - they share common trends, color schemes, patterns and ideas. But there is one more important connection - the role of interior design as a setting for display of fashion products.

"A designer who is able to harness light in a creative way is a precious partner in any type of retail project."

- this is a quote from an article in DOMUS about Milan’s new Max Mara store interior design. It not only conveys the well-known feeling of luxury, but also of discrete elegance. Natural, sophisticated materials and indirect lighting provide a relaxed atmosphere and, as the author Maria Cristina Tommasini writes, the role of lighting in a fashion store is of greatest importance.
"It must faithfully reproduce the colours of the clothing without offending the skin tone of customers."
One of the most creative areas, as far as I can see from the photos, are the dressing rooms (below), but what cannot be seen is the way the lighting is concieved: "The dressing rooms are shrouded in religious semi-darkness when they are empty. They slowly light up when someone goes inside, providing the appropriate light for trying on clothes."

Great work- of Duccio Grassi Architects for the interior design and of Mario Nanni for the lighting!

Interesting Kitchen Ideas

It is the materials and how they complement each other that create an elegant interior. That is true for kitchens, too. There are certain most common materials for kitchens that we are used to, but when a client is searching for something special, something luxurious and elegant the best direction to look at is new materials. These are two examples that impressed me:
Macassar ebony cabinets and an island clad in zebra limestone give the kitchen a dressed-up formality; its subtle color scheme is a good background for the bright Ligne Roset’s Tazia Fireside chairs and Tazia table .
The kitchen is from Metropolitan Home

Quite unusual materials for a kitchen: copper for the countertops and limestone basin, but they complement well the knotty cherry cabinetry. I only wonder how sterdy the basin is.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Две оригинални идеи за луксозни кухни: едната е с шкафове от абанос и остров, облицован с варовик - красив фон за елегантната трапезария;
втората - необичайни материали, които са коррдинирани перфектно за създаване на една сдържана елегантност и лукс, заедно, разбира се, с удобство и функционалност.

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Colourful Artistic Textile from Bulgaria at DMY Berlin

The FreeWool Project by Velika Petrova Studio- a result of eight years of researches and experiments with local textile technologies was presented at
DMY International Design Festival in Berlin. The artist Velichka Petrova is a member of the European Textile Network – Germany.
velikapetrova.com

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Outdoor is absolutely a booming trend

Outdoor is absolutely a booming trend and there are some definitely good reasons for that, listed at Shane’s Studio :

1. Outdoor is absolutely a booming trend. Some reasons for this are technologic advancements and the growth of green.
2. In a down economy, outdoor products can be a good solution for interior design as well since their durability allows you to take shortcuts (such as skipping the liner on drapery when the fabric is sun resistant).
3. Being knowledgeable about outdoor can be a unique marketing tool for designers. The outdoor space can be a place to push design ideas and to demonstrate expertise.

I agree and would like to add: the design of outdoor furniture has marked not only growth in quantity, but also a considerable growth of diversity and quality. And I want to mention just one name - Patricia Urquiola. For the last couple of years she has created several collections with inspired outdoor furniture suitable for every occasion outdoors and indoors! But one of those I like especially is the new Rafaelo collection (bottom).


The exhibition of almost all outdoor furniture designs by Patricia Urquiola is part of the events during the Sofia Design Week that runs these day here and I have been pleased to visit.


If you need more information and inspiration on outdoor furnishings here is probably one of the best the sourcees.

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Sofia Design Week Starts Today

Something new happens in Sofia - the so long awaited design week starts today. Numerous exhibitions are scattered allover the city, but one of the most interesting events is the NEXT IDENTITY FORUM: an international event, part of the festival that gathers some of the most significant names in avant-garde design nowadays: 3 days, 17 speakers. And the first one was Ji Lee - Google Creative Lab Creative Director. It is hard to expect how influential one hour can be! One of the projects he is very famous with is The Bubble Project, but that just shows how a simple design idea can start the change .

Art In Your Home or Office

Interior design is not only about space planning or arranging and coordination of furniture and furnishings. It is also about creating an atmosphere, coziness, mood. How do we achieve that?


Through professional implementation of of all the rules of interior design for balance and coordination, but also through inspired conceptual design and use of emotionally connected to us pieces of art or anything that makes us feel good. I have showed you an excellent example of Art Furniture in Office Design that is something not many of us can allow, but the small table or any other inspiring piece of design-art is worth the investment.



There are many forms of art that we can incorporate directly into our interior design - like tiles! That can be in the form of murals or mosaics.
3rings have wonderful examples of how tiles are “the ideal

From ICFF09: Peli Design - Vindication of Plastic Furniture

Do you like plastic furniture? For me - I would say 'not really'. But have a look at these Plastic Stools from PeliDesign presented at ICFF09.
They are created with the aim to explain and show how and why plastic furniture can co-exist with wooden furniture, how plastics and wood can be fused and may be even plastics can be used to repair wooden furniture!

"The Plastic Nature is a furniture concept which exemplifies the connection of the "plastic-world" and the world of wooden furniture....When wood is machined, material is always taken away - contrary to plastic. In plastic manufacturing there is hardly any waste because plastic is cast in shapes and leftovers molten again for further casting. With the PlasticNature I wanted to fuse handmade furniture and injection-moulded plastic furniture."

picture from Core77

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