Miniature gardens by Roxanne Chu

Graduate designer Roxanne Chu has created a collection of jewellery that contains miniature cacti, plants and twigs, so that the wearer can carry around their own tiny garden.

Collaged jugs by Abigail Udale

Designer Abigail Udale is showing a collection of jugs made from collaged maps, parcel paper, travel tags and envelopes at New Designers: Part One this week.

August smart lock by Yves Behar

American designer Yves Behar has teamed up with technology entrepreneur Jason Johnson to develop a smart lock. Called August, the device fits over a standard deadbolt, converting a key-operated lock into one that can be operated remotely by smartphone.

Pineapple prints at New Designers 2013

Lucy Webb at New Designers: Part One 2013

One of the print and pattern trends at New Designers Part One, which runs until tomorrow at London's Business Design Centre, is the pineapple motif. Graduate designers Lucy Webb, Hannah Rampley and Sarah Moore all showed vibrant print and textile interpretations of this spiky fruit.

Embroidered wall art by Megan Strickson

Graduate designer Megan Strickson is exhibiting a series of hand embroidered wall hangings at New Designers: Part One this week.

Scent of Space: Odette Toilette's olfactory journey through the solar system

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

Last night at London's Royal Institution, fragrance artist Odette Toilette teamed up with Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, to take guests on a tour of what the universe might smell like.

Kinetic Notations by Lola De La Mata

Showing at New Designers Part 1 this week, Lola De La Mata's Kinetic Notations combines film, sound, photography and surface design to create a performance piece inspired by data glitches and city planning.

Ricard carafe and glass by Mathieu Lehanneur

French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has designed a new Ricard carafe and glass for use in bars, clubs and restaurants. The design of the glass means a perfect measure can be poured within the stem, which is attached to a flared opening that contains ice cubes so that they don't fall into the liquid beneath.

Gold dinosaurs at Louis Vuitton

The store windows of French luxury house Louis Vuitton have just been invaded by gold-painted dinosaurs. Inspired by Paris's Museum of Natural History, the new display has been launched to showcase the brands' pre-Autumn-Winter collections.

The world's first ever WikiBar opens in Paris

French designer Mathieu Lehanneur has designed the interior of the first ever WikiBar, in Paris. On the menu is a range of innovative food and drink under the name of WikiCells, for the French natives, or WikiPearls for the English speakers.

Created by Harvard professor David Edwards and French designer François Azambourg in 2012, these Wiki Foods mimic the natural principle of grapes: a sphere of food protected by an edible coating. The idea behind the project is to offer ecologically responsible nourishment that will reduce the pollution directly linked to packaging.

Iris Prima: the scent of ballet

Fine fragrance house Penhaligon's has developed a new scent called Iris Prima that captures the spirit and beauty of ballet.

Four Seasons Bosphorus, Istanbul

One of the most revered destinations in Istanbul, the Four Seasons Bosphorus boasts one of the best vantage points in the city. Perching on the edge of the Bosphorus sea-strait and looking out over the Bosphorus Bridge, it's perfectly placed to take in the location's contrasting cultures.

Defining Luxury: online, on social and in-store

Uché Okonkwo at Club e-Luxe International Summit 2013

Two events in London and Paris this month have seen luxury industry figureheads discussing their thoughts on what luxury means today. From digital privacy to the importance of customer service, here's our edit of the key ideas to emerge from the Club e-Luxe International Summit 2013 in Paris and the Di Bridges Partnership panel discussion in London.

Sun Sill by Lucy Norman

Royal College of Art graduate Lucy Norman has created a series of electronic mirrors that follow sunlight and redirect it back into the home to harness a more natural, healthy light.

Catscape by Soo Kyeong Kim

Central Saint Martins graduate Soo Kyeong Kim has designed a concept for an indoor playground for cats that is moulded from a tree in Hyde Park, London.

Children's furniture by Jack Beveridge and Joshua Lake

Artists Jack Beveridge and Joshua Lake recently carried out a design experiment to test the unbridled imagination of a child. An art class of 7-8 year old children were each given a plain piece of paper with the words "please draw a chair" written on it, and Beveridge and Lake chose their favourite results to put into production.

Ten Tables by Lubna Chowdhary

Ceramic artist Lubna Chowdhary designed a series of ten ceramic tabletops for a special installation during Clerkenwell Design Week 2013. Sponsored by Domus tiles, each two-metre porcelain panel is decorated with waterjet-cut lines and glazed ceramic inserts.

Algae by Stefano Arienti at Foscarini Spazio Soho

Algae by Stefano Arienti at Foscarini Spazio Soho

Milan-based artist Stefano Arienti has installed a site-specific version of his Algae installation at Foscarini's New York store, Spazio Soho. Made of plastic bags cut into strips, the artwork resembles a landscape of aquatic plants hanging down from the store's 17ft ceilings.

Moonrise by Ejing Zhang

Royal College of Art graduate Ejing Zhang is showing a collection of jewellery and accessories made of cotton cord, bamboo, cast resin, peach wood and wrapped thread at the college's graduation show this month.

What's For Breakfast?

Designers from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Georgia have contributed tabletop pieces to an exhibition of breakfast tables styled to represent their national cuisines and cultures.

The Modular BBQ by Garden Beet

Surrey-based garden design company Garden Beet has designed a collection of contemporary modular barbecues.

Le Corbusier at MoMA

Le Corbusier's summer house has been rebuilt by Italian design brand Cassina, which is the exclusive producer of the architect's work. The house will be showcased at the exhibition Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes, which runs until 23 September at New York's MoMA.

Artists residencies in Hermès' workshops

Giselle, by Émilie Pitoiset at the Maroquinerie de Pierre-Bénite, 2011

The residency program by the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès creates a dialogue between artists and artisans. Emerging contemporary artists are given the opportunity to use materials that would otherwise be difficult to source, such as crystal, leather, silver and silk, and benefit from the expertise of highly-skilled artisans. 

DS-48 seat system by Gordon Guillaumier for De Sede

Inspired by a 1950s handbag, the DS-48 collection by Gordon Guillaumier for De Sede comprises a sofa, armchair, pouf and chaise longue.

Archibird by Grégoire de Laforrest

French designer Grégoire de Laforrest has designed a birdcage that doubles as a table, with the birds' habitat protruding through the tabletop.

Jung, Grün and Blau supper club, Berlin

Canadian chef Dylan Watson-Brawn worked at Noma in Copenhagen and Ryugin in Tokyo before starting up Jung, Grün and Blau - a Berlin supper club that mixes Japanese minimalist cuisine with contemporary French cooking. Dinners are held twice a weekend, with a suggested donation of 85 Euros per person. The menu is seasonal and ever-changing, made up of 12-18 small servings.

For more on the private dining trend, Homebuildlife subscribers can read our report on Milan's Ma'Hidden Kitchen Supper Club.

Chromatography Series by Lina Patsiou

Royal College of Art graduate Lina Patsiou has developed a system that matches each letter of the alphabet with a specific colour, and a machine that sprays the colour-coded messages onto objects.

BioElectric by Jeongwon Ji

Royal College of Art graduate Jeongwon Ji is showing a collection of material samples made from crab shells at Show RCA 2013. Ji has developed the strong, anti-bacterial material in a range of colours, textures and thicknesses with the intention of using it as a new casing for appliances.

Bilik and Bubu by Lanzavecchia+Wai

Design studio Lanzavecchia+Wai has visited West Java for its latest project, as part of the Futurecraft workshop organised by the SFIC (Singapore Furniture Industries Council). The studio has worked with Indonesian artisans to launch two new pieces, a woven room divider and a rattan bench.

James Shaw at Show RCA 2013

Photo by Paul Plews Studio

Royal College of Art graduate James Shaw has developed a range of three 'making guns' that create furniture and accessories by spraying paper-mache, squirting liquid pewter, and extruding plastic pellets. The three guns, along with the resulting pieces, are on display at Show RCA until 30 June.

Mitate light totems by Studio Wieki Somers

Rei (Shields lamp), photo by Fabrice Gousset, courtesy of Galerie Kreo

Studio Wieki Somers' new lighting collection, Mitate, is currently on show at Paris' Galerie Kreo. Imbuing fantasy into common objects, the two Dutch designers are promoting an enchanted perception of everyday life. With this collection, and following on extensive trips to Japan, they “wanted to create a contemporary equivalent of sixteenth-century Samurai flags.”

Glass experiments by Vanessa Mitrani

For DDAYS 2013, French glass designer Vanessa Mitrani has put together an exhibition presenting her 15 years of experiments with glassblowers and artisans.

The Design Hotels Book: XXL Collector's Edition

The Design Hotels™ Book XXL Collector's Edition

Design Hotels™ has teamed up with Artek to offer customers a collector's edition of the latest The Design Hotels™ Book. For The XXL Collector's Edition, the book is partnered with Artek's famous Stool 60 and a matching coffee table - so that the coffee table book is supplied with its own coffee table.

W Hotels Designers of the Future 2013

Criss Cross by Bethan Laura Wood

W Hotels has announced the site-specific installations made by the three winners of W Hotels Designers of the Future 2013. Launched at Design Miami/Basel this week, each is based on the theme of Making Connections.

The three winners, Seung-Yong Song, Jon Stam and Bethan Laura Wood, were asked to respond to the regional context of a particular W Hotel, with the results ranging from Aztec-inspired lighting to furniture inspired by Bangkok's street food culture.

Net Effect by Interface at NeoCon 2013

Interface has launched a modular carpet collection made of recycled fishnets during NeoCon, which runs until today. The Net Effect collection is part of the company's plan to eradicate negative effects on the environment by the year 2020.

Ploum candle holders by az&mut

French design studio az&mut has launched a range of cast iron candlesticks, after travelling to one of the last foundries in Vosges to learn more about the technique.

Pinhole collection by Piurra

Portuguese design brand Piurra has launched a range of perforated furniture that can be reconfigured to make sideboards, bedside tables, cabinets and sideboards.

Live from NeoCon 2013: emerging trends

Hexagon floor tiles by Shaw Contract groups at NeoCon 2013

Many key trends emerged during the first day of NeoCon, Chicago's contract furniture fair. The big buzzwords of the show are community and collaborative work spaces, as the new generation of communal office spaces play out in imaginative configurations and tactile environments across the fair.

One of the most interesting launches of the fair is the Hexagon range of floor tiles by Shaw Contract Group. The contrasting colour tones create depth and add tactility to the room, which is usually found on walls.

Handmade rugs by Makeda

Himal by Makeda

Swedish brand Makeda's rugs are each handmade in Kathmandu, and use wools and dyes that develop a patina over time.

The Great Gatsby: VM influence

Brooks Brothers, Los Angeles

The fantasical narrative and all-round spectacle of Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby provides bundles of visual inspiration for retailers this month, particularly luxury stores. The glitzy film sets are referenced in VM with geometric Art Deco motifs and 1920s-inspired props.

Archaïc Future at Designers Days

Autarchy bowl set by Formafantasma

Journalist and sociologist Yves Mirande curated an exhibition called Archaïc Future at this year's edition of Designers Days in Paris.

Whether in Italy, Iceland, Holland, Brazil or Portugal, designers throughout the world are drawing much inspiration from primitive forms and materials. The aim of the exhibition is to show that there is a possibility of going back to natural materials without breaking away from the digital and technological world we live in.

Lato B by Teste di Legno: reworking Ikea

The Lato B collection by Italian design studio Teste di Legno comprises a kitchen, a cabinet, a lamp and a shelving unit. Each piece is entirely made of Ikea pieces, which have been assembled to create new compositions.

Habitat Vintage opens in Paris

On the eve of its 50th anniversary, Habitat is to open a new vintage space in one of Paris' most renowned flea markets. Launching tomorrow, Habitat 1964 will allow vintage lovers and younger generations to discover or rediscover the accessories and furniture that have shaped the brand over the last few decades.

Summertime in Milan: B&B Outdoor and Spotti Edizioni

Spotti is celebrating the upcoming summer with a showcase of B&B Italia and Spotti Edizioni products in its Milan showroom. Called À La Plage!, the project is inspired by seaside living, with a set-up by Studiopepe.

The Arthur Slenk Collection by NLXL

Dutch wallpaper brand NLXL has launched a new range developed from a seven-year sheet music collage project by artist Arthur Slenk.

Autumn furniture by SCP

Woodgate three seat sofa by Terence Woodgate for SCP

British design retailer SCP has announced its Autumn 2013 collection, which includes updated versions of furniture designed by Terence Woodgate for SCP, alongside products made by HAY, Arco, Normann Copenhagen and Tolix.

Cross Roads: cross cultural creations

Curated by Italian architect Simone Micheli, this exhibition paired handmade home fabrics by Muya Ethiopia with bone china tableware and woven chairs by Italian brand Schönhuber Franchi.

Blown glass lighting by Wonderglass

Flow [T] by Nao Tamura for Wonderglass

New glass brand Wonderglass presented designs by Zaha Hadid, Jaime Hayon, Nendo and Nao Tamura at Milan Design Week this year.

Trend ranges by Wilkinson

Wilde range by Wilkinson

British retailer Wilkinson has launched collections based on five main themes this season, including retro woodlands, East meets West, and dark opulence.

The Future Perfect Collection

The Linden Chandelier by Charles de Lisle for The Future Perfect Collection

US design store The Future Perfect launched a collection of private label furniture and lighting by Lindsey Adelman, Charles de Lisle, Russell Pinch and Jason Miller at ICFF last month.