Design for Children

We all want to have the best for our children - everything that surrounds them must be of best quality and design. It is important not only for their health, but also for  their emotional well being, for their visual stimulation and education. Bedding and textiles are easy to change often and thus create this visual stimulation.  I just came across these beautiful designs from Rue La La boutique - Serena & Lily - they are pure pleasure for the eys!

Charging Station Designs

It can be difficult to keep our desks and countertops organized with all of today's modern devices and their charger taking up so much room. Stay neat and tidy while you let your electronics sit in the lap of luxury with this 2 Pod Charging Station in Red. Constructed of high quality red faux leather, this sleek two pod charging station allows you the space to store and charge up to two of the following: cell phone, digital camera, mp3 player, or PDA. Perfect for the multi-cell phone family or one multi-device person, this charging station stores and charges the necessities in life all in one convenient location. Unsightly cords are hidden and kept tangle-free by feeding them through the bottom and out the back of the unit. Equipped with a slot along the back of the station, it can also function as a mail or letter holder or keep pens and paper close at hand at all times. The charging station can be a great addition to any room and make a great gift for friends, family, and students, but if you look for a more unexpected original design, then the ingenious
Grass Charging Station with White Base 

or Grass Charging Station with Black Base by Kikkerland is for you - a clever way to keep your electronics (and your decor) properly charged. This little charging station hides messy cords within a refreshing faux grass design. Great for cell phones, media players, cameras and more, this fun gadget will be the talk of the town.

Architectural Chokolate

Now there is one thing that satisfies most of our yearnings: for visual and emotional satisfaction and the indulgence most of us cannot give up -  quality chocolate! The master of curved forms Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer has designed a single chocolate bar for the Brazilian chocolatier, Q - a piece of edible architecture that's 77 percent cocoa!
But now comes the problem - how do you decide to eat this beauty?

Growth of clothing - see how it happens!

Growth of clothing through the use of bacterial cellulose - this is what Suzanne Lee,  a senior research fellow in the school of fashion / textiles, Central Saint Martins, London and creative director of Biocouture explains here:


Lee will host a workshop tomorrow, september 23rd, at the 100% Materials stand at 100% Design during London Design Week and will demonstrate growth of a biomaterial using nothing other tan sugary tea and bacteria. The 'eco-textile' is grown in flat sheets which are then cut to shape, sewn together or
moulded over 3D forms. And this is how the result looks:



source: designboom

Not to miss from LDF - The Tramshed Event

Opening tomorrow, this must-see for lovers of new, finely made furniture Tramshed is showcasing designers and manufacturers including De La Espada, StudioIlse, Autoban, Benchmark, Matthew Hilton, Bocci, Decode, plus the Dezeen Watch Store, Kvadrat's intriguing Dwelling Lab, and a great deal more.

Flower Cup chair by Lief.designpark

The Tramshed Live’, curated by design writer and seminar/conference producer Aidan Walker, will run a series of thought-provoking design debates featuring a line-up of leading designers and creative thinkers including Patricia Urquiola, Luke Pearson of PearsonLloyd, Matthew Hilton and Ilse Crawford. 

Solutions for the compact homes of 2050

This is one of my dreams (almost) fulfilled: a closet that cleans clothing!Almost, because it is just a concept of one of the Finalists of the Electrolux Design Lab 2010 - 
the Clean Closet by Michael Edenius, Sweden is essentially just that - a closet that cleans clothing. Textiles are scanned for impurities and cleaned accordingly with molecular technology that removes dirt and odours. It combines in one the laundry basket, the washing machine, and drying cabinet to save space and, as no water is used in the process, is kinder to the environment.
You can see the rest of the finalists at100% Design on September 23 where Electrolux paints a super-urbanised future London. Another my favorate is a fridge hung outside your window to save space and energy.

London Design Festival Starts Today

A nine-day celebration of design and a platform for the widest spectrum of design disciplines, brought together as a unique and accessible programme. Not to miss:

The Tramshed Event - a powerful exhibition of International design: 25 exclusive international design brands exhibiting at this bold new venue. Visitors to The Tramshed will have the exclusive opportunity to preview the Together Table from Studioilse, before its official launch at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April 2011. .

Molteni&C showroom showing a 3D catalogue (top) of Patricia Urquiola's latest designs for the company:

Helene Steiner's beautiful wall-mounted laundry pods, Polyp, are one of the designs being shown at the DesignersBlock exhibition What Women Make from 23 - 26 September.

More news will follow.

Patricia Urquiola talking about the Interior Trends 2011

Do you want to know what are the most important trends in furniture and interior design for 2011? Then you should go to IMM Cologne blog. Two days ago they published the results from  a two-day imm cologne Trend Board workshop in Cologne where at the beginning of June, the designers Patricia Urquiola and Defne Koz  met up with the designer Harald Gründl, the textile designer Martin Leuthold  and the editor Marco Velardito to discuss and filter out four of the most important trends in furniture and interior design which were to be summed up in a trend book called Interior Trends 2011.
The Trend Board — a group of five or six influential designers, architects, materials specialists and trade journalists — was established by imm cologne seven years ago. The trend book, which is published every autumn, sums up the results of that year’s Trend Board workshop.
I like the choice for this year's trend board - Urquiola is no doubt the most accomplished woman in contemporary interior and furniture design with powerful influence. And one more successful and inspired woman designer -  Defne Koz. Having in mind that trends are always sensed first by great designers, for sure we can believe what they consider to be the most important trends for 2011.
One trend I totally agree with and like its description:

"Trend 1: Emotional Austerity
As bittersweet as dark chocolate
Austere beauties: The elegant ambiance is defined by clear and unostentatious aesthetics. And yet despite their severity, the forms and lines are anything but cold... In their search for the essence of things, the designers encounter classic and established forms that are equipped with new functions and produced with high-tech. This playful mixing with new technologies and the piecing together of old and new details are symptomatic of a desire to dismantle and re-arrange that finds particularly strong expression in this trend: The cards are being reshuffled. With filigree forms and soft colours, these austere beauties appeal to both our heads and our hearts. They are joined by pretty but modest basic forms with boxy or rounded contours.The colours and materials are dominated by nature: wood, leather, felt and plant fibres are complemented by technical fabrics; an earthy olive hue dominates over lush and pale shades of green and is joined by powder shades from rosé to brown."

Interesting from MAISON&OBJET

Jean Paul Gaultier's design for RocheBobois is a great idea for a teen room or any young person's room - it has all the versatility and comfort plus special mood and style.

ConsoLLLe table for Daha by Damien Hamon

Lights Bottles by Petit Pan -Pink, blue or yellow lanterns made of silk and bamboo.

Trends MAISON&OBJET: Farewell to the overexposure of the intimate

Well-being and intimacy are the main themes of this autumn's MAISON&OBJET.
As a reaction to a world which is often thought to be over-aggressive and, given the proliferation of social networks (Facebook, Twitter ...), we are looking for territory of ultimate privacy.

How to protect or restore this special area? Times of uncertainty reactivate the archaic desire to take shelter and find inner peace, the desire to turn in on ourselves and our eternal silence. The demand for private space is reflected in many projects and products in the last couple of years and new ones presented at the show.

Two examples: SALAN by Dots design studio. and Co.o chair from Younow, designer Florence Jaffrain.(photos by Manuel Gaudichon from Le Blog Déco )

See your product here

Camping in the kid's room

Inspiration, magic and feeling of being special - all these are necessary elements of children rooms and furniture design. With the new school year beginning we concentrate our attention on the way our children are living and their surroundings. I know that you are looking for interesting ideas - here ate several children and teen rooms that apply the idea of camping within the room:

The furniture in the 3 photos above is from Team7. The top photo is from DigsDigs.
More children room design ideas.

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Office Design: hiding cables can be done with style

Conceived by Monica Armani in 2010 the WGS table may be used as a single table for the minimal dining rooms, or for ultramodern and sophisticated office spaces. Its modular version is suitable for meeting room table or as multiple workstation. Its most interesting element - the double trestle (table side legs) works as a linking device and serves as cable beam, covered in colorful felt available in lime yellow, brick red, natural or stone grey.

I am impressed with all the elements of this collection - they show elegant feminine approach to solving technical design problems.
Felt continues to be a very fashionable material in interior design. It is used by the designer also to cover the elegant partition screen which can be used to
absorb sound, as a rack and
displayer for offices, domestic
spaces or public areas.
Wooden structure with bright
stainless steel feet.

See your product here