Collectible Design Fair Preview - a sofa with lentil beans!

 As my regular readers know, I like to publish about design-art - this is one of my favourite themes. Not because I like unusual ideas - that's right if they have some sensible application, but I find it valuable to create inspired one-of-a-kind designs that also have some practical application. That is real art in design :) - for me.
Get some inspiration from the coming Collectible Design Fair, taking place March 5-8 in Brussels.
Unlike a conventional sofa, this sofa has sloping soft surfaces which adapt to the body in a variety of lounging positions. Its soft structure is filled with organic latex and lentil beans, which support the natural curves and movements of the body. The filling in the bean bags is supportive, but it also makes the sofa malleable enough to conform exactly to the shapes required for proper posture - genius design by Nina Edwards Anker from NEA Studio:

source: Trendhunter

Some more collectible products:

Trilithon, an onyx side table by Eindhoven-based studio OS & OOS | Image: Galerie Philia

Supertoys Supertoys’ Cosmic Flower Table, a slightly translucent design in hand-cast resin 

Have a look at some older design-art inspiration in my blog!

Design Miami

is in the spotlight this week, with inspiration from 34 galleries hailing from New York, London, Paris, Milan, and beyond. Marking its 13th year, the annual Design Miami presents again impressive furniture, lighting, jewelry, and other objets d’art, installations and dazzling new launches.  Let's have a glimpse at some of them:

Noah Bench by Fernando and Humberto Campana, Friedman Benda 

Galerie Philippe Gravier

Solid-wood dining table by Gal Gaon, source: surfacemag.com

Fendi ‘Welcome!’ collection

Below is Fernando and Humberto Campana’s ‘Bomboca’ sofa at Louis Vuitton stand, part of the fashion house’s Objets Nomades collection, the abstract design has been reimagined in different shades of blue and turquoise. Photography: James Harris, source:

We saw this artistic sofa in April at Milan Design Week 2017, but in red.

Design Miami 2015 opens today

Design Miami 2015, the global forum for design, opens today (2–6 December). The most influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world meet there each year and design lovers always expect to see the inspiring designs that are on show. Let's have a glimpse:

Bench Fry seating sculpture, by The Haas Brothers at R& Company.

Wolfs + Jung,  Moon Tree JAR 

Tantra - Dieter Balzer 

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Windy Chair I 

I like very much the Dutch designer Marcel Wanders’  “Ocean Drive inspiration,” an exclusive turquoise leather lounge chair created for the Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades exhibition, available also in classic Louis Vuitton tones:

 “Ocean Drive inspiration”

Still Life Series by Jang Jin at Seomi International. Photography courtesy of Jain Jin

Design Miami/ ‏@DesignMiami  15 hours ago

Sylvester Stallone trying out the Railing chair :)

Design Miami 2015 - a glimpse

The design fair dedicated to collectible items for the home celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. And it shows that "..the appetite for collectible design keeps growing" said Design Miami chairman and founder Craig Robins at the opening press conference.
Let's have a look at some of the beautiful objects presented by galleries specialising in selling limited edition designs:

Jaime Hayon, "Game On" Lamp - Green, 2015, Galerie kreo, source

Zaha Hadid, VE-SEL 2015, 2015, Sarah Myerscough Gallery

Bae Se Hwa, Steam 25, 2015, SEOMI International, source

 gallery ALL - Brass Bowie chair | Brass collection, 2014
designed by Zhoujie Zhang, source

Marc Dibeh, Mirror 2, 2015, Art Factum Gallery, source

NUCLEO - Amethyst' stone fossil AP 1 - outdoor, 2015, Epoxy resin, pigment
source

Although these beautiful objects are created for people with higher than ordinary income, I like the fact that there is also a functional aspect to the pieces on display at Design Miami - for me that is the great importance of design-art.

Bar | Crates series, 2014
designed by Naihan li
edition of 12 / mirror-finished stainless steel, black walnut, source

I have designed a unique cupboard with a similar function - should I have offered it to the exhibitors of Design Miami? ;)

Overlap of classical and conceptual

Vanishing Point 

'Basically, I make sculptures but they have to be practical,'explaines Dutch designer Sebastian Brajkovic on the occasion of his exhibition Vanishing Point which runs until 29 August at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in Paris. The sculptural furniture unifies art, craftsmanship, 3D printing, embroidery and mathematics:

Fibonacci, source

"Fibonacci, of course, gets its name from the Italian mathematician whose number sequence is closely related to the golden spiral, which is represented in nature by seashells and cyclones alike. Brajkovic's chair, meanwhile, presents the seat and back converging to replace two legs with a curling double tail. Instead of clay, he used 3D printing to create the cast. 'I had to be strong with this piece; there was a possibility that I wouldn't go on with it,' he confessed, relieved that it came out stable." Wallpaper

the Sleipnir bench

What do you think? How do you accept the idea of design-art in general?

Flipboard Magazine.

Maison & Objet 2015 - Bronze Age at Salons Christofle

Bronze Age Lounge chair

In a few days during the January editiion of Maison & Objet 2015, we are going to see an inspiring new collection of  twenty art design pieces - Bronze Age collection, by the French silverware brand Christofle on the occasion of the 16th Edition of MEET MY PROJECT, organized in parallel to the Maison&Objet fair.     
Bronze Age Chaise longue
All presented by Tjep.magazine.

Design Miami 2013 - selected

“Gemstone” Side table by Hella Jongerius (detail). ©Fabrice Gousset – Courtesy Galerie kreo 

Crinkled sculptural vessels', by Jeff Zimmerman

‘Mangue Grove’, an architectural piece by Brazilian architect Guilherme Torres, inspired by the Brazilian mangrove forests. Photography: Steve Benisty
Read more at Wallpaper

There couldn't be a better setting for the beautiful Brazil-based designer Hugo França' s sixteen pieces exhibited throughout Fairchild’s 85 acres of tropical plants

Read more at Wallpaper

Subverting everyday objects - Coloured Vases by Ai Wei Wei.

'Flow(t)' lighting by Nao Tamura for Wonderglass

Jang Jin "Still life blue-018, 019", Gallery SEOMI

UUFIE'Peacock' Chair, Corian, Galleria Rossana Orlandi

A very good example of design-art at Ammann Gallery

'Steam_23' armchair, by Bae Se Hwa, 2013, at the Gallery Seomi stand

Design Miami Basel 2013 - a Preview

Enjoy my selection of some of the most interesting objects that are going to be presented:

This cerature is infact a chair - Leather Alligator Banquete chair, Designer/ Fernando & Humberto Campana from 2011, Materials/ Leather, Dimensions/ 88 cm x 98 cm x 124 cm. It will be part of the exhibition of Galleria O./ Rome:

Jewelry from gallery Antonella Villanova/ Milan:

Rosso consapevole, Designer/ Lucia Massei
Materials/ copper, fine gold, pigment

Gabrielle Ammann // Gallery/ Cologne:

Poire Hélène, Designer/ Florian Borkenhagen
Year/ 2013
Materials/ 300 glasses, iron
Dimensions/ 120 cm x 190 cm
gabrielle ammann // gallery

Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval/ Paris:

Pair of chairs, Designer/ Eileen Gray
Year/ C. 1930Materials/ Chromium-plated tubular steel frame and leather

Block Containers, Designer/ Sylvain Willenz
Year/ 2012
Materials/ Cast glass

Victor Hunt Designart Dealer/ Brussels

Interesting ideas from Milan Design week 2013

'Cloud boxes' by studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters for PROOFFlab - a series of storage boxes display a semi-transparent latex skin (source)

Loos table lamp by Luca Nichetto

Bell lamps by Marcel Wanders

 Natalie Sampson Designs -paint roller and a corresponding wall decal

Paint rollers turned into wall lamps with matching paint stripe wall decal by Natalie Sampson 

Designersblock at The Magazzini: Cheap Ass Elites by Saran Yen Panya - furniture which criticizes what is socially considered ’high’ and ‘low’ in regards to design. 

La Chance, 'Salute' tables by  studio Sebastian Herkner

Vaiss.eau by Hanna Krüger

It has a mouth-blown double-walled glass body, which combines in a single form lampshade, reflector and illuminated space. The cable is coiled inside the glass body.(source)