I am wishing you a wonderful Christmas! I am celebrating Christmas in beautiful Prague, Czech Republic. The city is gorgeous at this time of year with lots of Christmas markets. I will take a break from blogging for a couple of days. Have a wonderful time and I hope to see you back soon!
Restaurant La Terraza del Casino in Madrid, Spain, is one of the latest creations of Jaime Hayon. The Spanish designer has recreated a space that has completely changed the look of the restaurant, giving it “modern sophistication”. The stunning lamps, designed by Jaime Hayón himself, hang from the ceiling like large white spiders. Aren’t those lights gorgeous?!
Turning this dish gives it another function, on one side it is a candle holder, on the other it functions as a bowl. Multi-functionality is a reoccurring aspect in the work of Dutch designer Willem Noyons. The dish/candle holder is available for €59.
Studio Willem Noyons designs and produces graphic and three-dimensional work. The studio collaborates with various inspiring clients, and has an international network of of co-producers at its disposal. It has a clear way of styling, carefully chosen materials, and surprising ideas. Their projects are characterized by a conceptual way of approach and imagination on a realistic budget. Click here to go to their website to see more designs.
Warhol sofa, designed by Simone Brewster, is a system that enbables it user to live from one room in one multifunctional system. The individual elements include a desk, a bed, a seat and cushions. Each component acts as an ingredient with which the user can compose and create their desired environment.
Simone Brewster is a young British designer, whose training ranges from the field of architecture to that of product design. Simone seeks to express her fascination with the body, and its desires, through objects. Click here to visit her website where you see more of her work.
Designer Tara Murray is located in Calgary, Canada where she has recently completed her Masters Degree in Industrial Design from the University of Calgary. Her thesis project focused on product attachment – striving to maintain emotional connectedness to older products through new design. Her research and design interests have led her to explore products of Canadian pop culture, craft processes, aesthetic assessments and personal environments. Tara hopes to use these emotional and experiential design aspects of product attachment, identity, value, meaning and memory in future practice.
One of her designs is the Doily Chair. This design was an exploration in designing a new furniture piece utilizing an outdated object. The new composite linen doily has found its home supported on a wide walnut chair frame. The recontextualized doily provokes images of grannies and formal parlours of the past yet maintains its contemporary proportions and usage. The Doily Chair is a project from the thesis work on attachment and thus employs the six developed Design Tools to Encourage Emotional Attachment. To see more of Tara’s designs you can visit her website.
Mariella di Gregorio is a jewellery designer from Palermo, Italy. Her jewellery can best be described as ‘improperly’ designed jewels, created with bits of porcelain. Mariella’s earrings, bracelets and necklaces are born out of a careful analysis and study of this material. The accurate selection of each piece together with its very careful and professional fitting makes each piece an absolutely unique product. On Mariella’s blog you can find more information, here you also see her other beautiful designs.
With Jonas Samson’s (The Netherlands) high-tech light-emitting wallpaper it’s possible to use a two-dimentional flat surface as light source instead of a 3D object. As long as the wallpaper is turned ‘off’, it is indistinguishable as a source of light. Instead, it is just what it appears to be: wallpaper. Visit Jonas’ website for more information and to more designs.
Give a personal touch to your wallpaper. With wallpaper ‘Familjen’ (The Family) by Swedish designer Lisa Bengtsson you can transform your wall into a photo album! ‘Familjen’ tells us the story about how we frame and shape our lives. People fill the frames with different belongings, the same way we fill our life with diverse things. The wallpaper consists of a collage with black & white “frames” that are precisely placed and add an unexpected visual experience to any room. “The Family” looks elegant on its own or you can make a personal statement by framing your favorite photo of your kids, parents or your beloved pet. Or why not frame your favorite necklace, handbag or some piece of architectural element? The question is: how do you frame your life? Just use your imagination!
There are a lot of things you can do with this wallpaper. I would have this wallpaper in my hall way and use the frames for my holiday photos. Now real frames filled with photos on my wall but this wallpaper will certainly give a special effect! The wallpaper is also great to be used in a bedroom or walk-in closet. When you put different knobs (like these ones from Anthropology or these from Zara home) in the frames, you can create space for your jewellery, scarves and bags. Practical and beautiful!
Familjen is available from Le Souk (one roll measures 0.53 x 10 meter and costs €109).
Lisa Bengtsson graduated from Berghs School of Communication in Sweden and has since created “The Family” wallpaper. Inspired by ancient times, a time that you cannot return to, but a time you still care for and want to remember. In Sweden Lisa was already known for her beautiful patterns (images above) and illustrations (images below). With her Familjen wallpaper being featured in various magazines and on international blogs, she also gets recognition outside Sweden.
Click here if you want to see more of Lisa’s gorgeous designs and here if you are interested in purchasing her Familjen wallpaper.
Do you recognise the distinctive pattern? This is a Paul Smith Christmas ornament!
Another non-traditional tree! I actually have this one myself. I bought it some years ago. Unfortunately this tree isn’t available anymore (but if you are handy perhaps you can make it yourself from wire?!). I love the simple design, it looks very good in a modern interior. That aluminium tray with lights under the tree is a really good idea. I sell the exact same trays in Le Souk (they are between 60-100 years old!), so I will definitely steal this idea. I already have one on those trays on my dinner table. It looks stunning will a lot of tea lights!
