Change The Record: Paul Cocksedge at Ron Arad's Curtain Call

© Mark Cocksedge

One of the most anticipated design events of the summer, Ron Arad's Curtain Call at London's Roundhouse is set to be an unusual experience to say the least.

Arad has invited a selection of designers, artists and musicians to participate, in a series of events which will run 9 - 29 August 2011. During this time, the Roundhouse's main stage will be cloaked in a suspended curtain, made of 5,600 silicon rods, described by the organisers as "a canvas for films, live performance and audience interaction".

The Art of Being British: St James’s at your service

Fortnum & Mason afternoon tea

The Art of Being British is an event taking place on Saturday 10 September, 12pm till 5pm, to celebrate everything that is British. British fashion, lifestyle brands and lively activities will fill the full stretch of the famous Jermyn Street, in St. James, London.

HBL Book of the Week: Ai Weiwei Speaks

Ai Weiwei at his installation for the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, Sunflower Seeds (2010)

With the paperback edition just out, WGSN-homebuildlife has been reading Ai Weiwei Speaks with Hans Ulrich Obrist (Penguin, 2011). This collection of conversations between Weiwei and curator Obrist, which took place over a number of years, covers many subjects, including the artist and activist's influences, childhood, and political opinions.

HBL loves: the chance to see inside Wewei's mind on such a broad range of topics. We found him especially inspiring on the subject of blogging - and there's food for thought throughout the book.

HBL Blog of the Week: Shoebox Dwelling

While some design blogs provide a broad overview of the design scene at that moment, others choose to focus on very specialised areas of interest; our choice this week is of the latter variety. Written by Russian design journalist Natalia Repolovsky, Shoebox Dwelling is devoted to "finding comfort, style and dignity in small spaces". Now that, as our recent report Multifunctional Furniture in the Versatile Home points out, "more than half of the global population lives in cities", it's a good time to start reading it.

HBL loves: the simple, problem-solving nature of the projects featured, which range from furniture and accessories to entire living systems.

HBL Analysis: Glazes

Ice cream white cups with pink dripping by Lenneke Wispelwey

Whether hand-thrown on a potter’s wheel or mass produced to a stock shape, the application of a glaze to ceramics can completely transform a piece.

WGSN-homebuildlife explores the curious world of finishes and glazes: from eccentric, bubbling lava glazes and rugged, earthy stoneware to the pure matt surfaces of bone china and porcelain.

Frame Moooi Award: Call for entries

Publishing company Frame and design brand Moooi have teamed up to launch the Frame Moooi Award, which seeks to find the best furniture or lighting designed for a predetermined interior. Applications will be accepted online from 1st September, with the winning design set to scoop a 25,000 Euro prize and a feature in Frame magazine.

WGSN-homebuildlife original designs

WGSN-homebuildlife original artwork

Each year, the WGSN-homebuildlife design team puts together a collection of original designs - 25 lamps and 65 furniture pieces - inspired by our extensive global research and product resource library.

This year's downloadable original designs - both sketches and high resolution renderings - are now live! Subscribers can access by clicking here for the lighting collection and here for the furniture collection.

HBL Analysis: Pets lifestyle

Fine dining at the Longcroft Cat Hotel

The pet industry caters for a uniquely large market. 62% of US households own a pet - a total of 71.4 million homes. More than half own a dog, while 38.2 million own a cat. Across Europe, 62 million homes across Europe own pets, with 60 million cats and 52 million dogs.

These figures are echoed around the globe: we are a world of pet-lovers, and we want only the best products for them. In a major new report, WGSN-homebuildlife presents the current and emerging trends in lifestyle products for pets.

Chigo: kids' lifestyle brand focus

Following our recent report on wooden toys for children, as seen at the Tokyo trade shows, WGSN-homebuildlife focuses on the unique Japanese brands which specialise in wooden toys for kids - beginning with Chigo.

Yoichi Yamamoto Architects 2D/3D chairs at Issey Miyake, Tokyo

Yoichi Yamamoto architects for Issey Miyake, Tokyo

Japanese design firm Yoichi Yamamoto Architects has created a visual merchandising display in Issey Miyake’s Tokyo store windows entitled 2D/3D Chairs, which plays with perspectives. Inspired by Miyake's philosophy of "from 2D cloth to 3D dress", Yoichi Yamamoto have sliced the tops off a series of traditional, comb back dining chairs and arranged them across the shop floor. When viewed from a front-on perspective the chairs appear in full form, complete with seat and legs.

Modern Frustrations at the Sumarria Lunn Gallery, London

Tim Phillips, 2011

Some of the world’s greatest advances in technology have been developed to alleviate the stresses of everyday life. Who would have thought that these modern advances could lead to greater frustrations? The desire to streamline processes has seemingly led to more aggravation due to overcrowding, bureaucracy and information overload. Coming to London’s Sumarria Lunn Gallery in September, Modern Frustrations is an exhibition that brings together the work of Tim Phillips, Ross Jones, littlewhitehead and Blue Curry in four different explorations of this theme.

Sweetch18 by Benoit Lienart

Drawing inspiration from Gerrit Rietveld’s 1928 classic Red and Blue chair, the Sweetch18 is a multifunctional piece: a coffee table that can turn into an armchair and vice versa. Designed by Benoit Lienart, Sweetch18 is available at Outdoorz Gallery, a prestigious design gallery based in Paris.