Herman Miller is on sale at DWR including quite a few official licensed Charles Eames pieces.
The white Eiffel Chair was one of the inspirations for my tiny desk area (it can’t be called much else than an area… maybe a niche? but I digress). It is currently on sale for only $179.10.
I bought my poor-man’s version, the Snille white desk chair, at Ikea for $19.99. If I squint until it hurts and make my eyes go cockeyed it morphs into a Charles Eames. It is a surprisingly adorable and comfortable little chair for twenty bucks.
I don’t know whether to love or hate Philipp Plein. Part of me thinks his designs are over the top and excessively lavish to the point of ridiculousness. The other part of me agrees and thinks that’s great. One thing is for certain, he certainly doesn’t skimp on the use of ostrich and crocodile leather. I found this line while looking for modern dog furniture. Philipp Plein does a very Le Corbusier inspired designer dog bed that begs the question: Does Puggy NEED that much design?
With stainless steel frames (narcissistically engraved with the name Philipp Plein, naturally) and, in this case, faux fur removeable covers, these dog beds are not the kinds of things you shove behind closed doors when guests arrive. These are the kinds of pieces you invite guests over to behold.
Philipp-Plein.com
More on Philipp Plein soon.
When I first started looking at the tripod lamp, I found it awkward, strangely balanced and a seemingly inefficient use of floor space. When I came across them again, more recently, I was surprised to find myself deeply enamoured of the airy suspension that three slender legs provides. Now, I find the tripod lamp graceful. I am still uncertain about it being an efficient use of floor space, which concerns me, since I live in a small square footage apartment. As long as I do, I will probably never be able to bring myself to buy a tripod lamp, but that doesn’t stop me from oggling them. Here are five versions in various price ranges.
from Architonic. no longer in production. designer: Greta Grossman. sold at auction for $1000
from Design Within Reach
designer: Christophe Pillet $648
from BDDW designer: Tyler Hays/Joshua Vogel price not listed
from CB2 $189
from Carter Creations $159
 I’ve been searching for a side table in white or silver to play against my dark orangey-red rug. It has to be small, budget conscious and round. This table, from Chiasso.com, has a shape reminiscent of the Charles Eames Stool Shape C, and might do the job. Priced at $218, it comes in a little higher than some of Chiasso’s other side tables, but I’m putting it on my Maybe List nonetheless.
Here is a small bio and list of links to some interesting articles and interviews with Toyo Ito, architect and designer.
Icon Magazine: did you always want to become an architect?
Toyo Ito: in reality I always wanted to be a baseball champ.
I have always been athletic and played baseball.
at a certain point since I hadn’t managed to enter any university,
I had no choice but to sign up for architecture.
Toyo Ito is one of the world’s most innovative and influential architects.
Toyo Ito, Architect - Background:
Born in Japan in 1941, Toyo Ito graduated from Tokyo University, Department of Architecture in 1965.
Toyo Ito started his own architecture studio, ‘urban robot’ (urbot) in Tokyo, 1971; it became Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects in 1979.
Interviews and Articles
Toyo Ito: Image of Architecture in Electronic Age: designboom
Toyo Ito: Pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery - London 2002 (photos documenting the construction)
Toyo Ito: Nice Interview with Icon Magazine
Toyo Ito: Another Interview with Icon Magazine
Toyo Ito: Sendai Mediatheque Multi-purpose cultural centre made with steel tubular lattice structures. The building appears light by day, and also at night when the structure glows artifically from within. The Sendai Mediatheque contains a library, art gallery, audio-visual library, film studio, and cafe.
I’m constantly fascinated by definitions of “design”. I collect them like coins, marveling at the minor variations, turning them over in my mind, trying to determine their worth. This is a really nice one from HORM.it. The translation from Italian to English isn’t perfect, but I have to admire the use of the word “leitmotiv” I had to look it up. It means: “a recurring musical theme with definite association with a person, idea, event, etc.”
In Horm, design is expressed through clean shapes, from which any superfluous ornament has been wiped away thus reaching a smoothness not pursuing sensationalism but rather shrinking away from it. Along an onward path that relies on unswerving and on the harmony of the numerical elements, ines and thickness keep on relating to each other. The range of products and their combinations go through connections as like the bookshelves “solaio” and the table “united”, which can completely co-ordinate with each other as well as melting together. The same can be said for the ensemble formed by Capriata and Sin. Although in the diversity of spaces and of planning solutions, minimalism proves itself to be the leitmotiv of the aesthetics where the inner and the external order have a precise correspondence. The essentiality, passpartout of the Horm design, opens the doors to the infinite possibilities granting furniture the ductility which enables it to fit spaces changing as time goes by. Thus furniture becomes a living thing, because living means moving on.
HORM has a number of nice pieces, the highlight being their line by Japanese designer Toyo Ito, a master in dematerializing and lightening. Among his most recent works: Sendai Mediatheque (Japan), Bruges Pavilions (Belgium), Serpentine Gallery Pavilions (London), Oita Agricultural Park (Japan), Tokyo Tod’s Building and the most recent enlargement of the Barcelona Fair, where the two Towers, 114 m. high, will be standing in front of the Gran Via as the symbol for Fira 2. 2002 he started to collaborate with Horms and he projected Polka dots, Drill and Moony containers as well as Ripples bench. Only 99 pieces of this have been manufactured, each to be distributed on the world market with its own number and signature.
Despite the fact that I (technically) do not like chrome and glass furniture, I adore the Eileen Gray Side Table. I’m just aching for the day when I can bring one.. or five… home with me. Adjustable in height and built to slip over the side of your sofa: what more could you ask for? DWR sells it for $398, but if you need a much cheaper substitute (also chromed tubing and glass but without any of the fancy features of the Eileen Gray), you can get a similar look for
$69.95 at CB2 with the Unicycle Side Table. Ok, not really the same, I know, but shiny and round, which suits specific design and space needs… particularly, small rooms that need light and movement. A round table in metal and glass gives you the surface you require, without visually occupying space.
If going the budget route, don’t be surprised if you find yourself still setting aside money for an eventual upgrade. The Unicycle is a a cute table, but the Eileen Gray will haunt you.
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