Home Furnishings

Growing up, did you ever have one of those plastic green doormats with the daisies? The Daisy Garden rug by Joe Jin brings me back to those days.

Mini Moderns never ceases to amaze me with their creative wallpapers, pillows, rugs, and ceramics and their latest additions to the Buddha of Suburbia collection are no exception. The collection is inspired by all things to the east so Indian dhurries fit right in. Woven in Jaipur, the 100% cotton dhurries come in two styles, Backgammon and Zag, and are available in two colors each, Harvest Orange and Washed Denim, and the patterns tie in with the rest of the collection perfectly.

There is something of a trend going on lately of these types of cage-like geometric designs - from Ana Cláudia's jewelry to Dave Hulsbergen's lamps and I'm digging it. So that's probably why I also like Mambo's new series of three Star pendant lamps created for the ETTERO collection.

Cuppo is a minimal wall storage design created by Osaka-based company Ideaco. Fortunately, I had the pleasure of recently meeting the founder of the company, Ichiro Haba. He founded the company on the basis of providing smart, innovative designs that are both simple and functional. Most of the products designed by Ideaco are common household items that have been re-invented with improved aesthetic and utility.

Designed by Victor Vetterlein out of edible and biodegradable plastic, the BITE ME desk lamp will never see a landfill because it can, in fact, be eaten or tossed into your compost pile with everything else. When you're bored with the lamp, remove the LED lighting strip and have the lamp as a tasty snack.

This series of cork and steel stools by Timothy John was designed for New Zealand fashion house, Thanks, who is just expanding into home fashions.

A-Cute, designed by London design firm AndViceVersa, is a set that includes two chairs and a table that join together to form a sculptural, multi-faceted shape when not in use.

We've featured a couple of the Nikari designs from their 2012 Designs for Nature project where they collaborate with 12 designers to craft new objects in wood. Each design must follow the sustainable wood philosophies that the company practices as a standard for their business and the next design in the year-long project is the November Desk by Danish designer Louise Campbell.

There's nothing better than lounging by a pool or outside on your patio and, when the chairs are comfortable, there's no place I'd rather be. The lightweight and modular design of the Nomad collection, designed by Mark Gabbertas for Gloster, is perfectly named because the pieces can be moved anywhere and reconfigured to your heart's content.

3form is the king of really cool materials for use in the home and office, but my favorite is their Varia Ecoresin line. These translucent panels are harder than glass and completely customizable. And, they're not a burden on the earth, using non-toxic, sustainable material made from ecoresin™, which is GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified®. Having recently discovered a few new patterns (like the one above) were added to 3form's lineup, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite 3form Varia Ecoresin patterns.

Young Brazilian furniture designer Humberto da Mata has worked with the Campana Brothers and showed some of his pieces in Milan during Salone del Mobile. His pieces are rooted in an exploration of texture and building layers with different materials.

Spanish designer Jorge de la Cruz has a new series of wooden furniture developed from its production system: wood turning between centers.