Conversations Is a Sculptural Playground That Invites Kids to Play & Chat

In the city of Roissy-en-France, Olivier Vadrot designed a sculptural playground that encourages children to play and chat with each other. Conversations comprises three structures – the Trône ventriloque (Ventriloquist throne), the Cockpit rose (Pink cockpit), and the Conseil des sièges (Seats council) – that fall somewhere between sculptures and functional objects.

The Conseil des sièges is a circular piece featuring 10 stools situated around a pretend fire where kids can exchange stories or play with each other.

Cockpit rose, the pinkish cone-shaped piece, is made from sandstone that originated in France’s Vosges region and it has four holes that let the children communicate with each other.

The grey Trône ventriloque, made from volcanic stone that came from the Auvergne region of France, has two seats on either side with a hole in the backrest allowing children to share secrets.

Photos by Graziella Antonini.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/conversations-is-a-sculptural-playground-that-invites-kids-to-play-chat/

Ugao: A Clothes Rack That Saves Space in the Corner of a Room

Corners are often just wasted space in most rooms making you wonder if designers are missing a great opportunity to fill the space. Designer Simon Morasi Piperčić created a clever design that not only uses the space, but makes it functional. Ugao is a minimalist wall rack, designed for Ligne Roset, that can go in any corner at any height for a convenient place to stash your clothes or coats.

The continuous steel design looks like a geometric sculpture hanging in the corner with a wooden rod running horizontally to hold coat hangers. A vertical bar rests in the corner and continues onto both surfaces where it’s fixed to the wall. The design can be easily removed when it’s time to move, making it perfect for those living a nomadic lifestyle.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/ugao-a-clothes-rack-that-saves-space-in-the-corner-of-a-room/

The Dyson Lightcycle Is Up to the Task of Simulating Sunlight For 60 Years

Dyson – the once British, now Singaporean post/pre-Brexit technology brand – built its reputation engineering home and personal appliances capable of creating impressively intense suction or airflow, then pairing it with muscular and colorful industrial design worthy of a Marvel feature. So no real surprise with their recent announcement unveiling a newly updated stick vacuum model and a personalized air purifying fan. But a task lamp…and one designed to simulate natural sunlight personalized in brightness and temperature according to age, activity, and location consistently for the span of 60 years?

More sedate in color and form in comparison to Dyson’s vacuums and fans, the spare industrial angularity of the Dyson Lightcycle task lamp, alongside the 80s-era sci-fi flick still makes it clear engineers rule the roost at Dyson. With function dictating form, the Dyson Lightcycle’s 3-axis arm design presents itself as an impressively adjustable task or floor lamp, both models featuring an admirable span of height adjustability and fully 360° arm. This is all in service of securely positioning three warm and three cool LEDs designed to simulate daylight color temperatures spanning 2,700-6,500 Kelvin; a 32-bit microprocessor continually interprets daylight data specific to time and location, then adjusts light according to this environmental data with the same proficiency of many smartphone screens today.

Image shows cutaway of head and horizontal arm with light volumetrics and heat dissipation technology.

The Lightcycle also factors in something never accounted by any other task light: the user’s age. Once age is inputted using the Dyson Link app, the LEDs are adjusted to help the user’s eyes. Apparently “a 65-year old person needs up to four times more light than a 20-year old.”

If this all wasn’t enough, the task lamp to rule all task lamps also features a vacuum-sealed copper tube and water droplet heat dissipation system that keeps the LEDs cool and efficient for 60 years, infrared movement sensor for energy efficiency, integrated USB charging port, a variety of pre-set modes (Study, Relax, Precision, Boost, Wake-up, Sleep, and Away), and slide-touch dimming controls.

The Dyson Lightcycle will be available in both desk and floor variants, with the option for black or white finishes, and priced at $599.99 (task) and $899.99 (floor) respectively.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/the-dyson-lightcycle-is-up-to-the-task-of-simulating-sunlight-for-60-years/

Friday Five with Matthew McCormick

Matthew McCormick, principal of Matthew McCormick Studio since 2013, has a mind capable of seeing the potential in everything around him. Inspired by shape and form, intrigued by composition, and considerate of the impact of design, each of his creations is an expression of vision and an understanding of engineering and manufacturing. He has a strong belief in infusing passion into every project and by working collaboratively with designers and architects. Matthew creates lighting as unique as the space itself – from a simple stand-alone fixture to a large-scale illuminated art installation, each piece and project is well-considered and consciously created. With the ability to take a simple idea and shape it into a compelling installation, his dedication to curiosity forms his process, material manipulation, and conceptualization. As an overall philosophy Matthew believes that it’s not the sum of the parts – it’s the intrinsic value of how they’re put together. In this week’s Friday Five he shares a few of his favorite things, from a drone to the outdoors.

Photo by Matthew McCormick

1. Take flight
From a young age, I was obsessed with my radio-controlled car – an object I could invisibly maneuver from a remote in the palm of my hand. Today, this fascination has manifested into a new obsession: my drone. There is something to be said about whipping a flying object across the sky at 60 km/hour, but it’s ultimately about the unbelievable vantage point it gives the naked eye. My drone quite literally makes me feel like I’m flying and the cinematography it captures across exceptional landscapes is remarkable. It can unleash your creativity in ways that nothing else can. This photo is pulled from drone footage in Florence, Italy last year.

Photo by Courtesy of Mozzkito

2. Mozzkito lamp
It was nearly 10 years ago that I was at a local furniture and lighting store in Vancouver when I noticed the most peculiar desk lamp. Composed of parts that you’d find around your house, it had a long, skinny wire stem with what looked like a tea diffuser welded to it. While it was quite the contraption, it wasn’t until you turned it on that you could truly see the magic. A floating orb with glowing specks, the genius was in the intrinsic way these obscure parts were put together. Ingo Maurer, the designer of the light, was easily the first and most prominent inspiration for me to explore lighting as a career. I’m still hoping for the opportunity to shake his hand.

Photo by Matthew McCormick

3. Stunning Soumaya
Last year, I had the pleasure of speaking at a lighting design conference in Mexico City. My first time there, I tacked on a few extra days to explore and I was blown away by the people and culture. While the design and architecture at every corner is prolific, the Museo Soumaya was a building that stopped me in my tracks. The building façade is a mosaic of geometric shapes, creating a massive, organic form which has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. It’s so unusual and different than anything I’ve seen before. I applaud the architect, Fernando Romero, who went the extra mile to create something special.

Photo by A-Frame Studio

4. Shadow play
It was pure serendipity when I rolled up to a Toronto Airbnb and recognized the unbelievable staircase inside because I’d previously saved the photo for inspiration. It’s not often you get to feel and touch the designs that really move you. Located in Forest Hill, this particular staircase is a work of art; the way the sunlight comes in from either side, hitting the stark white curves of the architecture with perfection. I was in awe of the home and felt privileged to have stayed there.

Photo by Jeff Boyce

5. Backcountry brothers
I’ve always been an outdoor enthusiast and one of the reasons I moved from Ontario to British Columbia was to hit the mountains in an extreme way. It was hard to explain this to my family, since I was the only one of five kids obsessed with snowboarding, but that meant I’d eventually invite my two brothers out west to experience what I was lucky to feel every day. This photo is the three of us in the Squamish backcountry and it encapsulates what I still recall as the most fun I’ve ever had outdoors. Being able to carve out the untouched terrain with my brothers is an incredible memory that we still talk about today.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/friday-five-with-matthew-mccormick/

Quick and Easy Ways to Refresh Your Bathroom

Updating the bathroom is one of the most expensive decorating projects you’ll undertake. I’ll even say it costs more than a kitchen renovation, what with plumbing, tiling, new fittings, and labour costs. But what if all you want is a quick bathroom refresh, because you live in rented accommodation or because you just don’t have the budget yet? You might even live in a new house (like me) and it’s just not feasible to rip out those boring builders tiles and start again. Well, it’s easy to bring some colour and personality into the bathroom with just accessories and a little bit of judicious styling. A colourful patterned shower curtain can work like wallpaper for starters, and could be the jumping off point for a scheme you love. Avoid buying matching sets in one place though. It’s better to shop around and create your very own unique look.

This post does contain affiliate links. If you decide to buy anything featured you won’t pay any more, but Dear Designer’s will receive a small commission to help keep this blog up and running.

Fresh and Natural

 

1. Tropical Leaf Shower Curtain, Dunelm.
2. Bathroom Caddy, Limelace.
3. Eichholtz Tropical Plants Print, Sweetpea and Willow.
4. Green Stripe Towel, Amara.
5. Wall Ladder, Vincent Trading.
6. Copper & Concrete Bathroom Mirror, Red Candy.
7. White Porcelain & Copper Bathroom Accessory Set, Amara.
8. Abode Duckboard, Limelace.

Soft and Romantic

 

1. Shower Curtain, H&M.
2. Maple Hanging Ball, Sweetpea and Willow.
3. Lene Bjerre Milly Mirror, Sweetpea and Willow.
4. Fleur De Lys Towel Holder, Live, Laugh, Love.
5. Decorative Glass Bottle, Live, Laugh, Love.
6. Orla Kiely Spot Sculpted Flower Towels, Hurn & Hurn.
7. Hula Natural Fringe Basket Set, The Farthing.
8. Ceramic Bathroom Set, Live, Laugh, Love.
9. Berber Style Cotton Bath Mat, Abode Living.

Monochromatic and Masculine

 

1. Cubus Bath Towels, Made.com.
2. Get Naked Shower Curtain, Urban Outfitters.
3. Round Industrial Wall Mirror, The Farthing.
4. Natural Wood Bathroom Accessory Set, Amara.
5. Noir Towel Rail, The Pure Bathroom Collection from Smiths Briten.
6. Black Poppy and Fig Bar Soap, White, Black Grey Co.
7. Onni Bath Slippers, Lapuan Kankurit.
8. Black and White Chevron Bath Mat, Hurn & Hurn.
9. Faux Cactus, The Taylor.

 

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The post Quick and Easy Ways to Refresh Your Bathroom appeared first on Dear Designer.

from Dear Designer https://deardesigner.co.uk/quick-and-easy-ways-to-refresh-your-bathroom/

Design Milk Travels to… Stockholm

There may be no city that best embodies the description “winter wonderland” as does Stockholm during the months spanning December through February, when snow dusts the city’s stately waterfront architecture like powdered sugar over cake, regularly layering its streets so thoroughly, it’s not uncommon to witness commuters skiing to work. During the warmer months the glacial-formed archipelago thaws into something glorious, awakening the dormant Scandinavian desire for the outdoors and the activity revolving the inviting landscape. But visiting the Swedish capital during its more frigid months invites a slower pace distilled to Stockholm’s most basic charms. Destinations per day in winter may be limited, but experiences are magnified and every moment feels indeed wondrous.

WHERE TO STAY

The winter weather outside may seem frightful, but the rooms within The Strand are indeed warm and delightful. Photo: Gregory Han

If only the walls of The Strand hotel could talk – a hotel that once played host to a global revolving door of the who’s who who arrived nightly to drink and be merry (reputedly Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman partied at the hotel’s bar with regularity). Originally designed by Ludwig Peterson in preparation for the 1912 Olympic Games, the 170 guest rooms, suites, lobby, restaurant, and bar have only recently been given a modern makeover by Swedish architectural studio Wingårdhs, now wearing a sedate Scandinavian palette of greys and warm woods punctuated into modernity with strategic ribbons of color.

Photo by Andre Pihl

Wingårdhs has done an exemplary job of balancing the historic charm of the original hotel with an aesthetic modernity without ever unnecessarily eclipsing the buildings bones, nor the eye-widening views afforded from the best rooms facing the historic Strandvägen and the ice-laden waters of Nybroviken.

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo by Andre Pihl

At night, this atrium glows with teardrops of LED lights. Photo by Andre Pihl

What I most enjoyed during my stay at The Strand was the tasteful continuity from public to private spaces guided by color and material from the ground floor up, with the occasional joyful surprise revealed from certain vantage points – like the sky-high atrium illuminated with bespoke teardrop LED fixtures that made jet-lagged 6am breakfasts seem more magical than dreadful.

Photo: Miss Clara Hotel

Miss Clara by Nobis is another Wingårdhs hotel, a spotlight that reveals our personal affinity and the architecture firm’s penchant for new life breathed into old spaces. The 7-story Art Noveau building offers guests a choice from 92 rooms, no doubt all more comfortably appointed for comfort than for its previous tenants when the building was a girls’ school in the early 1900’s. Dark woods, herringbone floors, and a spare amount of furnishings permits sunlight to occupy these rooms with an equal presence as any physical object, making Miss Clara’s modest rooms feel rather spacious.

Photo: Miss Clara Hotel

Photo: Miss Clara Hotel

Photo: Miss Clara Hotel

As a professed fan of Ilse Crawford, I look forward to my next trip to Stockholm and staying inside the lively intermingling of home and hotel within the Ett Hem. Where the other two previous accommodations lean toward modernity framed by history, the Ett Hem is proudly mismatched and committed to cozy. If there’s any such things as “vintage for today” it’s best represented by the Ett Hem, with decor that feels less styled as inhabited by a lifetime of an appreciation for Scandinavian antiques and design.

Photo: Ett Hem

Photo: Ett Hem

Photo: Ett Hem

With just 12 furnished bedrooms, the Ett Hem will best suit those seeking a home away from home rather than the arm’s distance luxury of most boutique hotels.

Gretas café inside Haymarket by Scandic reflects how Stockholm offers much more than purely natural hued, spare modernity. Photo: Haymarket by Scandic

Notable mentions: Haymarket by Scandic (specifically for the pastiche of pastels found inside the hotel’s Gretas café) \\\ Story Hotel \\\ At Six Hotel \\\ Hobo Hotel

WHERE TO VISIT

This March the Nationalmuseum will mount an exhibition dedicated to one of the most influential Scandinavian designers of the 20th, Finn Juhl. Photo: Nationalmuseum

If you only have time to visit one place in Stockholm, I’d implore you to make a stop into Sweden’s Nationalmuseum, for there you’ll not only be able to take in the Sweden’s largest art and design museum with 700,000 objects spanning from the 16th century thru today (I was surprised by how enamored I became with the museum’s exhaustive collection of miniature portraiture), but also experience what a $132 million renovation project can produce.

Photo: Gregory Han

As much as the art and design within will impress, you’ll also experience moments of awe just staring down nested hallways painted vivid and contrasting hues of blue, green, pink, and yellow, and other dramatically framed interior architectural moments realized by Swedish architects Gert Wingard and Erik Wikerstal.

Designed for the reopening of Nationalmuseum’s library, Swedish design studio Front own version of the classic green Banker’s Lamp takes the form of wispy mushrooms emerging from the forest floor. Photos: Gregory Han

A stop into the Nationalmuseum’s renovated library also is highly recommended for the bibliophiles who will find much to admire in their small collection of book cover art.

Notable mentions: Icy conditions and a cold kept me from visiting the Fotografiska, but it was mentioned numerous times as “must visit” for the creative set \\\ Moderna Museet \\\ Artipelag

WHERE TO SHOP

Photo: Gregory Han

Stockholm is without a doubt one of the best destinations for design in the world. Turn a corner and there’s yet another exemplary reminder of the Swedes’ proficiency for realizing simple, yet highly proficient design that hits the bullseye between contemporary and timeless. A pageantry of Scandinavian and international design fitting this bill is on full display at Svenskt Tenn, a store founded in 1924 in Stockholm by Estrid Ericson, and endorsed passionately by my European counterparts as, “the shop deserving of a stop any time in Stockholm”.

Luca Nichetto’s Heritage exhibition at the front of Svenskt Tenn welcomes visitors with a colorful landscape of mushroom shaped lighting blown with Murano glass. Photo: Svenskt Tenn

Much more than just a store, the front exhibits contemporary and paramount examples of furniture, textiles, lighting, and fashion. Even if your wallet demands a “just window shopping” walk-by, inspiration is commonly and freely discovered to bring back home inside this shop’s two floors.

Photo: Gregory Han

Photo: Gregory Han

If I could furnish our entire home with Fogia’s catalog of Scandinavian modern decor, I’d be completely satisfied with living within their contemporary designs all dressed in subtle hues; Fogia partners with designers from across Scandinavia, and the resulting pieces are easily imagined within a home in Southern California as is in Sweden. Fogia Market is the design brand’s retail destination just outside of Stockholm proper, bordering one of the waterways marbling Sweden’s landscape, complete with its own coffee bar in the back.

Past Fogia designs are interspersed throughout the Fogia Market, intended to illustrate the versatility of each piece from past and present.

Operating as a showroom, cafe, and workspace, the airy and repurposed warehouse wears a few visible remnants of its shipyard past, but today houses the Swedish brand’s collection of furniture, lighting and accessories in handsome fashion.

Two rugs by Sight Unseen on display at the Kasthall showroom. Photo: Gregory Han

Notable mentions: Austere \\\ BYREDO Stockholm \\\ NK \\\ Cos \\\ Kasthall \\\ Designtorget (recommended for affordable examples of Swedish design to bring back home)

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Tip: When visiting Stockholm during winter, be prepared for not only snow, but icy conditions. Arriving from Los Angeles, we required shoes with proper soles to walk around the city.

It seems ideal my first visit to Stockholm coincided with the attendance of several events happening throughout the city during Stockholm Design Week, as the city represents itself quietly as an arbiter of good design both locally and internationally (I found the scope of the design event and accompanying furniture fair more manageable than Salone del Mobile in Milan). Everything I had heard about Stockholm from the perspective of design wasn’t reinforced, but redefined by the city’s embrace (albeit slow) of change.

But just as important were moments spent wandering Stockholm’s streets without definitive purpose nor destination (and occasionally sliding across ice with comical effect). It was during these bundled up jaunts down Stockholm’s quiet snow covered streets where the fleeting swing of a door being opened would allow a moment to peer into warmly illuminated flats, shops, and hearth-lit restaurants, all where the convivial spirit of Stockholm’s citizenry seemed ready to welcome anyone who’d follow through and in from the cold with a warm “Välkommen”.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/design-milk-travels-to-stockholm/

Discommon’s $17,000 ‘Wake’ Coffee Table Furnishes the Need for Speed

The coffee table book isn’t so much motivated by literary intent, but usually serves the purpose of being a passive, yet conspicuous conversation starter and communicator of personal taste and interests. Taking this idea to the extreme, the Discommon “Wake” Coffee Table forgoes the polite pretense of the coffee table book altogether, an audacious conversation starter in the form of a $17,000 table erupting with the verve and silhouette of the yet-to-be released, Aston Martin Valkyrie.

California-based Discommon is the “left-field” brainchild of former Oakley Advanced Product Development engineer Neil Ferrier and advanced product development designer, Jeremy Hadden. The company’s eighth Automotive Icons Series creation is their first made with walnut wood, versus the machined aluminum that has characterized the series first seven editions (the most striking being the blue hued, 2006 Ford GT edition shown below):

Creating an intricate wooden top design… not only requires prepping the block of wood in an intelligent way to prevent warping and cracking during the machining process, but also tedious hand-sanding and hand-finishing to maintain the details and curvature of the automotive body.

-DISCOMMON creator, Neil Ferrier

The table surface sits atop four machined aerospace-grade aluminum legs, hard-anodized in satin black.

Instead of “liquid metal”, the automotive expression of the Wake table seems to erupt organically from the American hardwood walnut tabletop.

Each table requires over 100 hours of effort: 30 hours of 3D CAD modeling, 30 hours of prepping and bonding the wooden block, 27 hours of CNC machining, and finally three days of sanding and finishing to create the distinctive sinuous silhouette of the Aston Martin Valkyrie in wood.

Discommon’s previous seven editions of their Automotive Icons Tables series found similar inspiration in other exemplary icons of speed, including the Ferrari F40, Ford GT, Ford GT40, Lamborghini Miura, Ferrari 250 GTO, a Heuer Monaco commissioned by Tag Heuer, and the sound barrier busting, Concorde. With tables beginning at $20,000 for full aluminum editions, and $17,000 for this latest 4-foot long piece of walnut, these conversation pieces are reserved for an exclusive set whose obsession with speed isn’t ever slowed by the speed bumps of a typical bank account.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/discommons-wake-coffee-table/

The Fanny Pack is Back!

Check out the latest way to wear art from Society6 – fanny packs! The 90’s fashion statement is back and more practical than we remember, so if you didn’t hang on to your old one here’s your chance to grab one fit for any art or design lover. Each fanny pack features an adjustable waist strap and is made from a tough, yet comfortable, canvas-like material. It’s comfortable enough for everyday wear and durable enough to take on whatever adventure is next!

Ab Mond Fanny Pack by Emeline Tate

B&W Shibori Fanny Pack by DesigndN

Green and Pink Doodles Fanny Pack by No Accounting For Taste

Living Coral Memphis Fanny Pack by Nomad Unicorn

Monochrome 01 Fanny Pack by The Old Art Studio

Pink Motion Fanny Pack by pahagh

Red Lips Fanny Pack by Heart of Hearts Designs

Summer Vibes Pattern Fanny Pack by matise

TALISMAN TROVE Fanny Pack by Alexandra.Uro

The Nordic Way XXXI Fanny Pack by Metron

In an ongoing effort to support independent artists from around the world, Design Milk is proud to partner with Society6 to offer The Design Milk Dairy, a special collection of Society6 artists’ work curated by Design Milk and our readers. Proceeds from the The Design Milk Dairy help us bring Design Milk to you every day.

from Design MilkDesign Milk https://design-milk.com/the-fanny-pack-is-back/