Season sofa by Piero Lissoni for Viccarbe

Season sofa by Piero Lissoni for Viccarbe - £1804 (UK stockist: Crest Living, 242 Brompton Road, London, SW3 2BB)

Piero Lissoni's new collection for Spanish design brand Viccarbe comprises a series of undulating, upholstered benches designed for contract use. Called Season, the design is available in two versions, with two heights and a number of seating positions possible - and epitomizes a trend we highlighted at Neocon this year.

Urbanized by Gary Hustwit

Footage from "Urbanized" trailer

Urbanized is the latest addition to Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica (2007) and Objectified (2009). The feature-length documentary takes a holistic approach to the exploration of urban design. Hustwit looks at the roles that architects, planners and policymakers play in shaping the design of cities while also considering the great contribution that ordinary citizens make to their urban surroundings.

Home Affairs Bureau Civic Education Resource Centre

 Hong Kong-based branding and communications agency Marc & Chantal Design has taken inspiration from the city's homes to design the Home Affairs Bureau Civic Education Resource Centre.

HBL Blog of the Week: Pattern People

Pattern People's blog

Surface design studio Pattern People (made up of Claudia Brown and Jessie Whipple Vickery) blog from Portland, Oregon, about anything and everything to do with print. Visual inspiration is posted regularly in an attempt to keep "pattern lovers of all ages" satisfied.

HBL loves: the focus on print and pattern, as seen by two professionals in the field.

René Redzepi & Mad Food Camp

Noma founder René Redzepi featured in The Observer this weekend, writing an interesting piece for the British broadsheet which explains his love of local and foraged ingredients, as well as his role in organising the Mad food symposium - an event he describes as the "culinary Glastonbury". Read the full piece here.

Subscribers can read about Redzepi's influence on WGSN-homebuildlife's autumn/winter 2012/13 macrotrend Eco Hedonism here.

Designboom's Ferrari factory tour

Image: designboom

In a new three-part series, designboom brings its readers highlights from a tour of the Ferrari factory. Read the first two parts of the series, which cover the mechanical workshop and assembly line, here and here; and in the third part, you can see how the cars are designed and customised for their users - click here.

HBL Inspiration: Sicily

Sicily, Italy. Photograph: WGSN-homebuildlife

WGSN-homebuildlife observes the vibrant colours and interesting textures that are provided by both man-made structures and natural landscapes in Sicily, Italy.

HBL Retail: A/W 11/12 at Heal's

K Series by Erik Järkill for Heal's autumn/winter 2011/1

WGSN-homebuildlife presents a sneak peek of British retailer Heal's autumn/winter 2011/12 collection.

HBL Events: Vienna Design Week 2011

Vienna Design Week 2011; photo by David Payr

The fifth edition of Vienna Design Week takes place 30 September - 9 October this year, with a diverse programme of events on offer. Key themes of this year's events will be social design and e-mobility, and designers from Poland will also be in the spotlight in 'Just a thing', a special exhibition dedicated to the country and its talents.

Target and Missoni Collaboration Preview

Next month, Missoni will release its first mass-market collection for Target. Both apparel and home goods are included in the collection and items include tableware and softgoods such as pillows and throws. Also included in the preview pictures, posted on Target's Tumblr page dedicated to the collaboration, is a Missoni patterned bike. The collection seems largely geared towards Missoni's fashion fans, because though the iconic Missoni pattern is there, these pieces are a far cry from the richly hued, playfully elegant pieces for interiors that fans of Missoni Home might hope for.

The art of craft: the rise of the designer-maker

Variations upon an electric kettle by Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, shown at Design Parade 6
© Véronique Huyghe

Design critic Justin McGuirk's latest column for The Guardian tracks the roots of our current thirst for all things handmade, from origin stories to designer craft. McGuirk defines this as "a post-industrial nostalgia for the pre-industrial", and uses exhibitors at this year's Design Parade as a prime example.

Read the full article here - and subscribers can read our new report, Industrial Craft, for a US take on the subject.

HBL Book of the Week: Humble Masterpieces

This week, we return to the classics, highlighting a book which remains as relevant now as it was upon its release date in 2005. Written by MOMA's design curator Paola Antonelli to coincide with its exhibition of the same name, Humble Masterpieces: 100 everyday marvels of design (Thames & Hudson, 2005) sets out to draw our attention to the design classics which surround us, largely unnoticed, everyday.

HBL loves: finding out how such everyday objects came to be, from paperclips and bubble wrap to Slinkies and the LEGO brick.