Homebuildlife: March 2014

Bitossi Home Pink Bar by Arabeschi di Latte: Milan preview

Monday, 31 March 2014

During Milan Design Week, Brera Design District will host Bitossi Home Pink Bar, a reinterpretation of the eccentric Pink Bar (located at Via Varese 6) by Bitossi Home and food designers Arabeschi di Latte.

Digital culture is transforming our relationship with living spaces. The unidirectional sofa no longer fulfills the requirements of a modular and flexible lifestyle, where we use tablet computers, internet television or game consoles, alone or with others.

Made up of independent platforms, the Never Alone sofa by Sièges Perrouin thus revisits the way we share space, by offering modular seating.

Friday, 28 March 2014

Molecular gastronomy kit specialists Molecule-R have announced an innovative new product. Available now for pre-order and due to ship in June/July, the Aroma Fork is sold with a set of 21 aromas that can be used to scent it, enhancing the taste of food eaten with the fork.

Fabrica, Benetton Group's communication research centre, and Daikin Italy, the Italian branch of the Japanese multinational world leader in air conditioning systems, will present HOT&COLD, an intriguing workshop of hot and cold experiences, at Milan Design Week this year.

Thursday, 27 March 2014

Daniel Libeskind has designed Ice, a geometric ceiling lamp for Lasvit, which will be launched during the upcoming edition of Milan Design Week.

Double O bike light by Paul Cocksedge Studio®

London-based Paul Cocksedge Studio® has launched a new product on crowd-funding website Kickstarter this week.

The Double O bike light comprises two round-shaped LED lights: one to be attached on the front part of the bike and emit a white light, the other to be attached on the back and emit a red light.

Melbourne-based bar The New Gold Mountain will continue its pop-up series with a Champagne and Blintzes pop-up, opening next Thursday April 3rd on the bar's Red Level. Pairing Perrier Jouët Champagne and classic champagne cocktails with blintzes by Jabili Mchawala - which include combinations like sweet and sour beetroot with orange, dill and creme fraiche - the pop-up follows the trend of unusual food and drink pairings.

Read about London's Bubbledogs, which opened in 2012 and pairs hot dogs with Grower champagne, here.

Scented forms by Kerzon

Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Parisian company Kerzon offers scented sachets and paper forms inspired by wooden building blocks. They can be arranged into geometric compositions, stacked or hung, and release their fragrance over several weeks. The collection is conceived in Grasse, in the South of France, the capital of perfume manufacturing.

Google has formed a partnership with Italian eyewear giant Luxottica to make its wearable Google Glass technology more fashionable and broaden its appeal. The two corporations will establish a team of experts devoted to working on the design, development, tooling and engineering of Google Glass products to bring together high-fashion, lifestyle and innovative technology, they said Tuesday.

Homebuildlife subscribers can see our full news report here, and read about the future for wearable tech in our Big Idea reports from CES and SXSW Interactive.

New furniture by Tony Grilo for Riluc

Vibe side table

French-Portuguese designer Tony Grilo has added a new side table and wall shelf to his collection for Riluc, as well as extending the metallic finish options for the Mousse side table and Line chair.

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Designer Bethan Grey's first tableware collection Alice will be presented at Milan Design Week next month, during a one-off theatrical dining event and exhibition which will be held in the windows of design store Spazio Pontaccio.

Stores that sell hard-to-find perfumes and offer a personalised experience are an important retail category in New York, with Brooklyn in particular emerging as a key area for smaller fragrance stores looking to cater to its artistic residents who care about how fragrances are made and where they come from.

Photos by Mauricio Rivera

For Salone next month, Italian fashion label Marni will present Animal House at Viale Umbria 42, a festive caravansary in which giraffes, ostriches, rabbits, ducks, donkeys and flamingos, made of metal and bright coloured PVC, will take over the space, joining the products of the brand's limited edition charity project.

Friday, 21 March 2014

German manufacturer of premium bathroom and kitchen fixtures, Dornbracht will unveil its new collection at Milan next month. This will include Cyprum, a range of rose gold and copper taps.
Subscribers can read our report for bath autumn/winter 2015/16 trends here.

Milan preview: Bisazza x Emilio Pucci

Onde by Bisazza

Bisazza will showcase a new collection of graphic mosaic patterns at Fuorisalone next month. Inspired by original prints by Emilio Pucci, the daring wall motifs blow-up ornate details into fresco-sized murals.

Floral and geometric prints from dresses and scarves designed in the 1960's are thus transformed into wall art for the living room.

Thursday, 20 March 2014

Antic biotec by eliumstudio and Duende Studio - Photo by Felipe Ribon

Multidisciplinary creative agency Duende Studio has invited Parisian designers from eliumstudio to reinterpret the ancestral vinaigrier.

Canadian company On Our Table creates original and functional handcrafted accessories for the kitchen and tabletop. As the trend for sober food styling continues and chopping boards are turned from food preparation requisites to unpretentious serving platters, the designers' objects respond to all three aspects of "cooking, dining and sharing". They wish these objects to be used not for special occasions but for everyday life and be passed down for generations.

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

Veglo has developed and created a range of innovative bike lights which aim to tackle driver’s inability to see cyclists in the hours of darkness. The Commuter X4 is made up of four fibre optic light guides and a projective central light. The light can be worn over the cyclists’ rucksack or placed directly on their back using straps which fit over the shoulders. When the fibre optic setting is switched off, the straps become their own reflectors to car lights. The device is water-resistant, USB rechargeable and durable, adjusting to multiple bag sizes up to 35 litres, and fits over rain covers.

Crest bottle openers - Photo by Brian Ferry

New York-based design studio Fort Standard is responsible for a line of kitchen accessories with mystical and graphically symbolic inspiration, in line with our autumn/winter 2015/16 macrotrend Data Divination.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Talisman Designs is exhibiting its collection of beechwood kitchen utensils at this year's International Home + Housewares Show which runs until today in Chicago.

Portofino collection by Vincent Van Duysen

During the upcoming Salone del Mobile, Paola Lenti will present a new collection of outdoor furniture and rugs at Chiostri della Società Umanitaria, in Milan, a stunning location which will celebrate its 20th anniversary of business activities. As usual, the brand's vision of outdoor living is focused on functional and elegant, simple and long lasting, but mostly colourful pieces.

Spruce is exhibiting its range of silicone glasses at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, which runs until Tuesday.

Monday, 17 March 2014

Le Creuset has launched its new colour during the International Home + Housewares Show. Named Palm, it is a soft green shade inspired by the seaside.

New Metro Design is showing one of its latest products at this year's International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago: a microwave caddy called Coolgrip.

Re Imagined by Nina Tolstrup for 19 Greek Street

Nina Tolstrup transforms unwanted furniture items and leftover fabrics into a striking range of chairs, showcased at furniture and interiors showroom 19 Greek Street. Disregarded furniture, found on the street, has been stripped back to reveal the frame and re-welded into new minimalist structures. The bright powder coated framework is complemented with plump padded seats and striking bright upholstery.

Friday, 14 March 2014

BMWi8 by BMW

The 4th edition of 1.618 Sustainable Luxury will take place next month in Paris. Focusing on the creation of a better future in the long-run, the show will present authentic and respectful products which will soon form the new codes of luxury. Highlights will include the BMWi8, the first electric sports car; a solar plane; electric and solar yachts; and some ethically grown oysters.

Swedish design company Baux has just released a new range of modular acoustic wall panels. Designed by Form Us With Love, the Träullit collection is composed of 6 shapes, coming in 2 sizes and 20 colours, which makes for 240 possible graphic compositions.

Thursday, 13 March 2014

Gorman, Melbourne, Australia - Photo by WGSN

Juicy bright fruit prints at lifestyle store Gorman, in Melbourne have caught our eye.

The brand makes a statement with a collection of expressive painterly mark-making and naïve watermelon repeats, in a clash of zingy brights. This creates a high-summer Australian vibe across bedding, scatter cushions, kitchen textiles and apparel.

Kantha stitch cushion cover

Toast's collection of soft furnishings for spring/summer 2014 is made of bedspreads, cushions and throws, all taking inspiration from Indian, Moroccan and Korean crafts.

Floor cushions are created from shredded recycled cotton and jute, silk cushion covers are hand embroidered using Kantha running stitch, bedspreads combine traditional block printing and stitching, while rugs are woven from coating coloured fabric and jute cord.

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

The furniture collection Domitalia will present at the upcoming edition of Milan's Salone del Mobile will be made of three series: Urban, Traffic and Cross. All pieces were designed by Radice Orlandini.

Tuesday, 11 March 2014

3D printing hardware store Inventables announced an intuitive new program for CNC designing today at South By Southwest Interactive.

Called Easel, the platform will simplify the process of designing a file for computer manufacture, making it possible for novices to create a 2D shape, apply it to a 3D material such as wood, and visualise how factors such as bit size and material will affect how the final product looks.

The scents of Paris by Made in Paris

The City of Paris has commissioned Made in Paris, designer of high-end home fragrances to create a collection of scented candles paying tribute to classic areas of the French capital. 100% made in France, the eight candles aim at promoting the best of French savoir-faire and the idea of Parisian chic around the world.

Cherrybomb is a new lighting system created by American designer Lindsey Adelman for Nilufar gallery, due to launch during Salone del Mobile next month. A network of slender brass angular tubing is punctuated with hand-blown mini-globes, creeping up the wall and along the ceiling like a cherry blossom branch.

Monday, 10 March 2014

Shanghai hosted the first edition of Design Shanghai, attracting about 60,000 visitors from February 27 to March 2 to the city's Exhibition Centre. The fair, which was the first of its kind in Shanghai, featured leading international brands such as HAY, Magis, Flos, Tom Dixon and Republic of Fritz Hansen. 90% of exhibitors were never seen before in China.

Kikki.K, Sydney

It’s like being a kid in a sweet shop at Kikki.K with their irresistible leather bound journals, patterned notebooks and organizers…

Oreo's Trending Vending lounge is offering visitors the chance to specify their own free custom cookies at South By Southwest this week, by choosing from a selection of topics that are trending on Twitter.

Friday, 7 March 2014

Meg by Alma Design

Italian furniture brand Alma Design will release a new collection, designed by Mario Mazzer, at this year's Salone del Mobile.

Gallery Pangolin London will host 'Sculpture in the Home', an exhibition that aims to highlight the relevance of modern sculpture within period and contemporary interior design. The gallery is partnering with agency Carter Wells to bring the concept to life.

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

A recent exhibition at Paris concept store Merci featured the vintage archive of a Saint-Étienne ribbon manufacturer, with books and samples laid out for visitors to browse.

Harnais collection by Michele De Lucchi. Photo: Yann Deret

Hermès will broaden its home line at Milan Design Week this year with two lighting collections, Pantographe and Harnais, created by Italian designer Michele De Lucchi, and the portable, modular La Lanterne d’Hermès lamp, designed by French visual artist Yann Kersalé.

Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Pizza Hut has released a video of a concept touchscreen table that is activated by diners' smartphones and guides them through building and ordering their own custom pizza. Made in collaboration with Chaotic Moon Studios, the concept also includes integrated payment and a timer that keeps track of the pizza on its way to the table.

The video follows other recent touchscreen innovations such as the Displair, which allows users to swipe through menus in mid-air.

Hexi: a wall coverage that responds to movement

Hexi - responsive wall from Thibaut Sld on Vimeo.

Made of 60 identical components, Hexi is a wall coverage created by Thibaut Sld that responds to movement thanks to an embedded camera and a smart fixture.

The honeycomb-shaped components are made of vacuum casted aluminium and PVC and are fixed on the wall with a fixture that allows them to move and mirror the user's movements and appearing to be floating over the wall.

The surprise element is becoming more popular among designers and artists, who are adding unpredictability to day to day products. Homebuildlife subscribers can read more about this trend here.

Design Indaba Expo 2014: key trends

Monkeybiz at Design Indaba Expo 2014

Design Indaba Expo, part of the Design Indaba Conference, ran from February 28 to March 2 and showcased the best in South African design and high-end craft in jewellery, furniture and homewares. Geometric shapes, retro Scandinavian and folk print, as well as African-inspired design were some of the key themes of the show.

Yellow Owl’s Little Prints shows parents and children how to create practical hand-printed items, covering the basics of stenciling, stamp and prints with clear instructions, lists of materials and graphic templates for each project.

Hiroo store And The Friet offers fries made from six different varieties of potato including rare Bintje potatoes imported from Belgium and Satsuma potatoes from Okinawa. There are also six cuts - straight, wedge, curly, half, crispy or hash out - and more than 10 choices of seasonal dips and sauce.

For more on this idea, Homebuildlife subscribers can read our trend report on mono dining and focused food retail, Pure Produce.

Three Coves Mirror by Brook and Lyn

Monday, 3 March 2014

Made from solid American walnut, the Three Coves Mirror by Brook and Lyn is as much a design object as a useful dressing table accompaniment.

Twinings loose leaf collection: the theatre of tea

Twinings' new loose leaf teas for spring include a fine black tea, rare green tea and flowering green tea, showcased in a clear glass tableware collection so that the brewing process is transformed into a special viewing experience.

Homebuildlife subscribers can read more about the theatre of tea in our kitchen and tabletop trend report from Maison & Objet.

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