Korean artist and designer Seung-Yong Song, who studied and worked in France but is currently based in Seoul, recently sent us these images of his work. Part furniture, part art object, part art installation, they’re quite beautiful, as are the words that describes the concept for each piece.
These days, what isn’t Karim Rashid putting his signature on? He’s partnered up with BoConcept on a new line that launches this March, called The Ottawa Collection. I’m looking forward to this, as it seems to be a great way to get your hands on some affordable design from the master of contemporary design. The collection includes everything from dining tables and chairs to rugs to tableware.
London-based designer Phil Cuttance created a series of handmade black and white vases from discarded plastic, an extension of his Weld Furniture collection from 2009. Each vase is handcrafted and individually numbered and made using hot air welding that connects each plastic shape together. The ABS plastic that is used comes from discarded off-cut pieces from a local London fabricator.
Flat Packables is a company whose name is pretty self-explanatory. The Tokyo-based company creates “flat-packable” items that are both fun and easy to assemble.
Big Wonkys by Vanja Bazdulj are vessels that celebrate and show off the beauty of the imperfect, asymmetrical or “wrong.” In nature, there are happy accidents, such as coral or stone formations and these silly felted objects mimic the idea of accidental design. The experimental aspect of this series is so great.
Scandinavian Made is a new brand shop in the home accessories marketplace that features modern, artisan-made rugs and ceramics all made by hand-picked Scandinavian artisans. This is the US debut for each Scandinavian artisan, and their works are exclusively available in the Scandinavian Made webshop. Founded by Scandinavian design passionistas and mother/daughter team Susan Serra and Kelly Serra Donovan, Scandinavian Made is yet another great niche shop I’ll be visiting often.
As a launch celebration, Scandinavian Made is offering Design Milk readers a 10% discount using code DesignMilk10.
Cuatro Cuatros, a design studio based in Valencia, Spain, recently released its new Angles collection of two shelves (30º and 180º) , a carpet (0°), and a vase. It’s based on the study of optical illusions, and what the pieces look like depends on the point of view from which one’s observing them.
0º (above) is a carpet that has lines composed of alternating black and white geometric shapes that cause the lines to look crooked, even though they are parallel.
Reuse your old water bottles for something beautiful…
The Primavera vase is just a silhouette that fits a standard water bottle instead of a glass vase to hold a single flower.
d.lab is the commercial division of the industrial design Design Incubation Centre of the National University of Singapore. The pieces they develop are simple and minimalist, but still feel unique.
