Homebuildlife: February 2014

Sweets through the post by Tuck Tuck

Friday 28 February 2014

Founded by sweet-toothed couple Lisa Gomm and Jamie Poulton, indie confectionery company Tucktuck.co.uk delivers retro sweets all around the UK.

Accessories such as hooks, shelves and boxes can be slotted into this multifunctional unit, designed by Jordi Blasi for Spanish contract brand Vilagrasa.

Homebuildlife subscribers can see more examples of flexible storage and DIY display in our emerging trend report, Pegboard Design.

Scent experiences: tracking the trend

Thursday 27 February 2014

London Rain collection by Jo Malone

Luxury fragrance brand Jo Malone has released a series of colognes designed to evoke the smell of London rain at different times of day. Ranging from the dewy freshness of a city park at dawn to an afternoon shower and evening downpour, the scents tie into the trend for region- and time-specific fragrances that we reported on in 2011.

Blackcurrant & mint mallows by The Marshmallowists. Photo by Ben Carpenter

London-based The Marshmallowists offer a range of gourmet mallows in flavour combinations such as passion fruit and ginger, blueberry and gin and raspberry and champagne. The company has a stall at Portobello Road Market every Saturday and offers UK delivery.

CB2’s new spring and summer collection reveals a clash of contemporary neon brights.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Cloudwash: the connected washing machine from BERG on Vimeo.

London-based tech visionaries Berg have prototyped a washing machine that can order detergent, time a spin cycle to finish just as its owner arrives home, and be operated by app or interface, so that guests can use it too.

Swedish designers Front have designed Loop Mirror, a poetic oval mirror that celebrates their sixth year of collaboration with Italian company Porro.

Arteriors has opened its first Los Angeles store in the La Cienega Design Quarter in West Hollywood.

Tuesday 25 February 2014

A restaurant in Bangkok that serves dishes sourced from Thai memorial books has topped S. Pellegrino's list of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Headed by Australian chef David Thompson, Nahm has moved up from second place last year, replacing Tokyo's Les Creations de Narisawa in the top spot.

See the full list here.

Heal's launches new fabric collection

Herbarium by Hvass & Hannibal for Heal's

Heal's has announced its first exclusive fabric collection since the 1970s. The retailer is working alongside emerging and established designers to create designs inspired by fabric archives, decorative arts, nature and fashion.

Monday 24 February 2014

A new kitchen tool by Dutch brand Royal VKB combines a spice grinder with a jar from which spices can be "pinched" and scattered into dishes.

A new doughnut shop will open in London's pop-up mall Boxpark tomorrow morning at 8am, offering baked doughnuts in a range of flavours, all made fresh daily.

Las Vegas's famous Neon Museum offers perpetual inspiration for pop art typography, vibrant colour and retro lighting.

Friday 21 February 2014

Enzo Mari, Proposal for an Auto-design (moulds), 1973

A new exhibition at Milan's Triennale Design Museum charts the different approaches to self-production across three historical periods: the 1930s, 1970s and year 2000.

Mario Botta

Italian furniture brand Morelato's new collection includes creative storage pieces, a turned ash side table and a luxurious cherry wood bed.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Venetian glass brand Barovier&Toso will present an installation by Marcel Wanders at this year's Milan Fuorisalone that remixes the idea of a chandelier.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Thinking of Childhood, by David Lynch

David Lynch was given carte blanche to conjure up Small Stories, an exhibition of around 40 of his black and white photographs especially created for the Maison Européenne de la Photographie.

Slab by Mauro Lipparini for Bonaldo

Italian design brand Bonaldo's 2014 furniture collection - which launches during Milan's Salone del Mobile in April - comprises a dining table, a coffee table range, bookshelves, a sofa and a double bed.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Big Spoon Roasters creates handcrafted nut butters from scratch in Durham, North Carolina. The wildflower honeys and nuts are sourced from local farmers who share the same philosophy.

Zobmondo at American Toy Fair 2014

Toys that bring people together are one of the highlights at the latest edition of the American International Toy Fair 2014, which runs until tomorrow in New York City. Board and card games are presented as party entertainment.

Design students Konstfack Collective showed a pared-back, architecturally influenced collection of furniture at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair this month, providing one of the highlights of the show.

Monday 17 February 2014

Florist Jeff Leatham, Artistic Director at the George V Hotel in Paris, has collaborated with Waterford to create Fleurology, a collection of crystal vases.

All photographs by Giovanna Del Sarto

Immersive design event Traces returned this month to a new location in Peckham, South London. This time transforming a shop in Peckham's Rye Lane arcade, the team revived the site's former life as Holdron's department store, recreating the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the store's heyday in 1936.

Housed in an abandoned garage, new Milan hotspot Upcycle is a cafe and restaurant dedicated to bicycle culture. Customers can repair their bike while relaxing with a meal: the Northern European-inspired menu changes daily, normally with one main meat dish as well as a selection of quiches, salads and soups.

Homebuildlife subscribers can read more about the trend towards combining cafes and stores with recreational spaces in our Retail report, Store Experience.

Think Ink: black roses for Valentine's Day

Friday 14 February 2014

A pop-up florist specialising in black roses, tulips and lilies opened this morning outside London's Kingly Court, offering bouquets of flowers coloured with black ink in return for donations to charity.

Open for two weeks, ending this Sunday, Heal's Modern Craft Market is showcasing the best in contemporary craft in a selling exhibition with prices that start at around £20.

Thursday 13 February 2014

We're feeling inspired after a trip to Sydney design store Koskela, an old factory space that has been transformed into a studio, shop and restaurant. The weathered walls create a fantastic backdrop for the eclectic mix of locally sourced furniture, textiles, decorative accessories, tableware and gifts.

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Brand new website Farmili.com supplies all the materials, food, housing and even animals needed to create a small farm at home, as well as a farmers' guide book, including tips and advice for a successful farming experience. Henhouses and hutches are the first items available on the site, adapted to urban environments.

Australian store Country Road Home is a highlight of our Sydney retail trip. Great quality products and a beautiful unique colour combination of crisp white, red, lemon, jade, grey and candyfloss pink across textiles and ceramics.

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Running until 10th May at Paris' Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Stuart Haygarth: Play includes two new pieces by the British artist that repurpose rocking horses and racing tracks into sculptures.

Viskaform's eye-catching textiles were a highlight at this year's edition of consumer goods trade fair, Ambiente.

Ceresio 7 Pools & Restaurant, Milan

Overlooking the new Milan, surging upward among the skyscrapers, Ceresio 7 is DSquared's Dean and Dan Caten's bar-and-grill. The designers chose to set it on the rooftop of the label's headquarters, located in the historical ENEL building. The chance to admire the venue is reason enough to visit, but here you'll also find chef Elio Sironi, formerly of the Bulgari hotel, serving delicious Italian fare.

Kkini by Seung Yong Song for JIA Inc at Ambiente 2014

JIA Inc. has launched a new collection of bowls and chopsticks designed by four studios at this year's Ambiente, which runs until today in Frankfurt. The brand wanted each one of the studios to add their own view and cultural background into this fundamental dining utensil for Chinese, Japanese and Korean people.

Monday 10 February 2014

The London Design Museum has announced the nominations for Designs of the Year 2014, which include the Alba Collection of Vases designed by Massimiliano Adami and produced by Italian brand Serralunga. The collection of polyethylene vases are enriched with a soft colour change, giving the object a feeling of lightness.

Luxury bathroom manufacturer Drummonds collaborated with designer Christopher Jenner for the interiors decoration of its new showroom in Notting Hill, London.

The space is beautifully crafted, to do justice to the brand's handmade bathroom collections and reflect its artisanal heritage and commitment to quality.

Designed by Mariëtte van der Ven, this midcentury-inspired birdhouse is made from porcelain and can be dissembled for cleaning between uses.

The product recently met its funding requirements on crowdfunding platform Crowdyhouse and is now being produced in its first edition.

Friday 7 February 2014

Le Point de Croix by Maison Martin Margiela for Omexco

Belgian wall coverings manufacturer Omexco has released Maison Martin Margiela's first collection of wallpapers, featuring trompe l’oeil curtains, reinterpreted floral motifs, a mix of textures and optical illusions.

Photographs by Quintin Lake

Sweet shop Spun has opened in London's Covent Garden, with a design that mixes traditional sweet-making processes with stainless steel, copper pipes and space age geometrics.

Thursday 6 February 2014

Aud Julie Befring

There's a focus on softness and tactility this year at Stockholm Furniture Fair, with designers finding creative new ways to apply upholstery and incorporate fabrics into design.

Lazybones' botanical printed wallpaper and super soft quilts are a highlight at Decoration + Design Sydney.

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Artist Clemens Kois sees potential in the every day, as portrayed through his still life Stack Series. He collects familiar objects found around his home, and uses them as part of unplanned vertical structures.

Mirto is Antonio Citterio's first collection of outdoor furniture for B&B Italia. Sleek and elegant, the folding armchairs, dining chairs, chaise longue and dining table are made from mesh fabric taut across a metal structure. These are available in two finishes, white and tortora, for minimalist furnishings or contrasting profiles.

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Prolific Italian artist and designer Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988) is being celebrated in a special exhibition at interiors store Svenskt Tenn this week as part of Stockholm Design Week.

Patchworked in Canada is a public project by Dear Human. During a trip to Portugal, the designers sourced vintage ceramic tiles from a farm on the outskirts of Lisbon. Hundreds of thousands of discontinued tiles from Portuguese ceramic factories made up the collection of Mr Cortico, a life-long collector.

They were all cleaned and shipped off to Canada, refired and transformed. The back of each one was tagged with a magnet and they will now be scattered in subway stations, bus stops, cafes, and placed on all sorts of magnetic surfaces. They are also printed with a number, leading to the Dear Human website and where one will be able to read the story of the project, and add stories of how they found their own tile.

Society's new collection mixes pastel colours with brilliant and energetic tones, creating a colourful summer cocktail. Bed, table and bath linens in acqua and coral red coexist with pink, milky-mint green and violet.

Monday 3 February 2014

Neo's at NY NOW January 2014

The renamed NY NOW (previously known as New York Gift Fair) kicked off yesterday in New York. This season's show mirrors many European shows' trends while still providing some insightful local design houses with the opportunity to display their wares for the North American market.

Neptune Collection by Jersey Pottery at Spring Fair 2014

Puffin prints are a key theme across all product categories at Spring Fair, which runs this week in Birmingham.

Charlotte Nash combines laser and hand cutting techniques with the traditional crafts of braiding and crochet. Inspired by repetitive geometric shapes and Aztec designs, Nash uses contemporary materials such as mirrored acrylic, foiled leather, matt and lustre yarns to create vibrant trimmings. Her work has been exhibited at Interiors UK, BCTF and Pulse London.

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