simplehuman, best known for their wastebins and innovative, design-driven kitchen and bathroom accessories, are entering into the beauty category with the tru-lux Sensor Mirror. The free-standing magnification mirror features a full-spectrum LED light ring that mimics sunlight with a color rendering index (CRI) of 90. An embedded sensor at the top of the mirror automatically lights up when you step in front of it. At 5x magnification boasts of a "precise curvature for distortion-free optics," providing great detail while allowing users to see their entire face.
The mirror is adjustable—tilting back fully—with a telescoping stem. The stainless steel base houses a USB port to recharge the mirror and maintain a cordless, clutter-free environment. simplehuman boasts that the mirror can retain a charge for up to a month with normal use.
The same rechargeable USB ports are being applied to their wildly popular sensor pumps—the newest models are stainless steel and feature a hinged cap for refilling liquid soap.
Expanding on the success of their DrawerStore Cutlery tray, British kitchenware designers Joseph Joseph are venturing into new corners of the kitchen with a new line of drawer organizers previewed at the International Home + Housewares Show to help contain and arrange the miscellany. The expandable organizers fit drawers sizes from 13.5" up to 21".
The DrawerStore Organizer includes stackable modular trays and a variety of differently sized compartments to keep your bits and bobs in order. The DrawerStore Stowaway organizes your kitchen essentials with compartments for grocery bags, rolls of aluminum foil and cling wrap.
Along with the drawer organizers, Joseph Joseph continues expanding their thoughtful, design-driven kitchen line with a number of safety innovations. The Mezzaluna, a traditional chopping utensil for preparing herbs, gets a modern update with pivoting handles that fold into a blade guard for safe storage.
The Duo magnetic cheese knife set's handles clip together securely—protecting both the blades and fingers when stored in the drawer.
The SodaStream booth was definitely on our radar this year, since they unveiled the Yves Béhar-designed Source soda machine just a month after the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show. As with last year, the New Jersey-based company went all-in with a massive booth in the Wired+Well section of the Housewares Show, though they opted to forgo the walkthrough mini-movie booth for a relatively simple cage filled with plastic soda bottles.
Even so, this year's booth was no less spectacular than last year: between the sculptural installation Keurig-like flavor caps and an alcove for the new Samsung refrigerator that features an integrated carbonator, SodaStream made a strong showing at McCormick Place. Check it out:
When we were filming her introductory remarks, Design Programs Vicki Matranga made an offhand comment that SodaStream was among the major success stories for the kitchen category, marking a shift in beverage consumption habits. We noted that at least a couple competitors were nipping at their proverbial heels last year, but we were impressed with the new offerings as SodaStream continues to innovate and collaborate in order to reach new customers in the expanding market for home carbonation.
If you aren't up on NYC design drama, last week, in what one would hope is a publicity stunt and not a self-serious act of protest, Quirky, an invention-development company, put up a billboard and gathered a crowd to draw attention to the similarities between a product they brought to market in 2009 and one OXO, the housewares company, did recently.
We've seen plenty of furniture and lighting from prolific designer Benjamin Hubert, as well as the 'groovy' minimalism of the "Plicate" watch, but it's always hard to predict what to expect when a designer tries his hand at other objects. Of course, Hubert is talented enough to put his signature touch of refined restraint on just about any object imaginable, and his new series of vessels is no exception. This past weekend saw the debut of the London-based designer's aptly-titled "Pots" at Maison Objet—designed for Danish brand Menu, the terracotta vases and jars are minimal yet expressive, a perfect example of Hubert's aesthetic.
The storage jars stem from the studio's 'Materials-driven, process-led industrial design approach' researching the typologies and language associated with ancient and contemporary methods of keeping products cool and dry utilising terracotta.
'Pots' feature an exterior of natural, raw terracotta contrasting with the gloss glazed interior and soft rubber lids, providing a multitude of experiences for your senses.
The collection represents an uncompromising contrast between the ancient traditions found in terracotta and the industrial modernity embedded in the mass-produced rubber lids.
I'm sure I'm not the only person who hides the Brita when company comes over and feels terribly guilty tossing those carbon-filled plastic filters every couple of months. In fact, it's always been a bit of a mystery to me why there wasn't a beautiful, more sustainable and affordable alternative on the market.
I clearly wasn't the only one looking for a design solution for a consumer product I interact with on a day-to-day basis: Introducing Soma, a glass carafe and 100% compostable water filter. The filter, designed by David Beeman, is made from all-natural Malaysian coconut shells, vegan silk and food-based PLA plastic. Beeman, with over 30 years of experience creating water formulas for Starbucks, Peet's and other global brands, talks a bit about the design process in the video below:
The glass decanter has a beveled edge which results in drip-free pouring. The product is manufactured in the United States and the subscription-service style of renewing the filter is as good as it gets. The founding team behind Soma comes with their own set of good as it gets credentials: Mike Del Ponte (founder/CEO of Sparkseed, an award-winning social innovation accelerator), Rohan Oza (brand genius behind vitaminwater, smartwater, vitacoco and popchips), Ido Leffler (co-founder of Yes To Carrots, the 2nd largest natural beauty brand in America), and Zach Allia (his apps hit #1 on Facebook, Apple store, and Chrome store). Advisors include Tim Ferriss, and founders and executives from Method, Incase, Warby Parker, Birchbox, TOMS and the UN Foundation.
And while they're in full launch mode for for their product, early adopters can get the Soma carafe + 6-Months worth of filters for $50 (each filter delivered to your door every two months). As of press time, they've blown past their initial $100,000 goal—we're waiting to hear what sort of reach goals they might have and what type of add-ons they might have for their early backers. Get in on the ground and support Soma!
Years ago, in Art History class, I remember learning that carving a veil out of marble—i.e. creating the illusion of lightness from stone—the ultimate challenge in ancient sculpture. I can't imagine it's gotten any easier over the years, and it so happens that designer Gonçalo Campos notes that it's at least as difficult, from a technical standpoint, to achieve the soft effect of drapery in porcelain. Thankfully, he was able to develop a process to cast molds from fabric with the help of Vista Alegre, a Portuguese Porcelain and Crystal company. He cites the veil as the inspiration for his latest project, "Tecido" platters:
Usually a modest item used to create anticipation and draw attention to whatever it conceals, and now it becomes an object in its own right. Affirmed by its own elegant and delicate shape, in a simple, yet impressive arrangement, it becomes a functional product that can be used daily, as much as in special occasions. This is a product to inspire each one of us to appreciate the simple things in life and see the beauty in all the details that go unappreciated, such as the gentle shapes in a veil.
Where Rogier Martens' fruit bowls took their form from their contents, Campos' wares obliquely refer to still life compositions, especially when augmented by line drawings of potential delicacies.
I bet André Breton himself could not have foreseen the 'consequences' of inventing Exquisite Corpse: four score and seven years after he popularized the collective writing/drawing game, designer Chloe Lee Carson has resurrected the surrealist pastime as a collection of playful tableware.
For her "Exquisite Cups," Carson came up with a total of nine characters—further refined by an illustrator—divided into three sets, which loosely adhere to the themes of "Folk," "Wild," and "City." (The pun is less successful in French, as the game is known as cadavre exquis. C'est la vie.) In homage to the game, each cup "displays different body parts that stack up to form a complete image. Once stacked, they can be twisted to create amazing cross-breed creatures."
Every now and again, we see a concept bike that incorporates a hubless wheel, typically a bicycle, which is invariably met with backlash such as: "the hubless wheel is a hallmark of naïvety." Yet idealistic designers continue to pursue the void—hell, we've even seen a prototype of a bicycle with a hubless wheel—and there's no denying that it's a striking form factor. It seems that the judges of the Red Dot Award concur, noting that the hubless wheel "captivates due to its exceptional ergonomics."
Of course, they're not referring to a vehicle but a rather more mundane (or, conversely, practical) object: the Rösle Pizza Wheel.
Thanks to the innovative, patent construction with a rounded, free-running blade, the pizza wheel glides quickly through the fresh pizza, without causing the topping[s] to displace. The stable, stainless steel blade is sharpened on both sides and assures exact and effortless work. The pizza wheel can be easily dismantled for cleaning.
The Pizza Wheel turned up in our forums (in a thread about "Good design you love to have," no less) where member mo-i notes that a pair of Americans—Jessica Moreland & Chris Hawker of Trident Design—came up with the design for the German kitchenware company. Although the hubless blade goes by a different moniker on the Columbus, OH-based consultancy's website, it didn't require much digging to learn more about the Pitzo: Moreland and Hawker are duly proud of the recognition they've received, and the backstory is available on the microsite:
The Pitzo Pizza Cutter was conceived in 2009 by Jessica Moreland, an industrial designer working at Trident Design, LLC, a product design and invention development lab... While on a scouting trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond with Chris Hawker, president of Trident, it was noted that the pizza cutter was a product that could use some fresh eyes.
The plastic version is available at Walmart, among other retailers
In the interest of showcasing young and emerging local designers, Messe Frankfurt has seen fit to include a 'Talents' section at the Interior Lifestyle shows in Tokyo and China. Of course, the organization's modest-sized Asian tradeshows are duly less ambitious than their flagship show in February, which boasts upwards of 60 talents compared to dozen young designers at last week's Shanghai exhibition.
More interesting still is the decision to include several non-Chinese designers: half of the talents hailed from Japan and Europe, all of whom had participated as Talents at prior shows in their home regions. (Given the Frankfurt-based company's penchant for providing international exposure at little to no cost to the designers, it's well worth applying to be a 'Talent' at Ambiente in February.) The lucky few were handpicked to complement the Chinese designers, as well as for their potential to succeed in the Chinese market. Far be it for me to speak on behalf of the nation's buyers, but my personal favorite (among the non-Chinese designers) was work from Kai Linke.
The Frankfurt-based designer presented just a couple small tabletop objects as well as a sample of a bespoke wall treatment that he has developed. As in the "Engrain" keyboard, Linke takes advantage of the fact that the grain of wood expresses differences in density, such that a controlled sandblasting process reveals the grain in three dimensions. After he creates a vector graphic to a client's specifications, Linke masks the area on a panel of spruce, which is sandblasted to reveal an image in relief. Although he exhibited just a handful of the panels—in the interest of easy transportation from Germany—the overall effect is quite striking. (The panels can be quite large, or they can be cut into a few standard sizes for easy transport and visual variation; this particular wall can be viewed in full here.)
I could see the "Pi" mirror, a round looking glass 'set' in a block of marble, as a fixture in a high-end restaurant or hotel here in Shanghai or, frankly, any major city.
At first blush, industrial designer Sam Thompson's gently-arched 45-Degree Bowl, above, looks like it might be made from veneers that were steam-bent and laminated together in a form. But flip it over and you'll see it was CNC-milled out of a solid block. If the protruding feet aren't a dead giveaway, Thompson's intentionally had the bit leave kerf marks to remove all doubt:
"The smooth sanded top of the tray contrasts with the exaggerated kerf on the bottom," he writes, "showing the process of CNC routing in an intuitive and surprising manner."
The awesome video below shows an earlier wooden bowl, the Big Square, that Thompson designed and produced via CNC—his tagline is "I make things by hand, with digital tools"—and while it lacks any explanatory narrative, you don't need it. It shows him performing every step of the process, going from prepping the rough-cut lumber to drawing the 3D files to running the CNC mill and the laser engraver:
Within the Passionswege ("pilgrimage ways") craft and design project of Vienna Design Week, Vienna-based designer Valentin Vodev was asked to collaborate with J. L. Lobmeyr, the renowned Viennese glassware manufacturer, now run by the sixth generation.
Vodev developed a series of pictograms to reveal "secret" information about the long-standing Lobmeyr product portfolio—information about the glassware that is never communicated to the buyer, yet passed on verbally from generation to generation to distributors and within the company.
These inside stories are based on technical as well as socio-cultural properties that have been discovered over the past 150 years of the Lobmeyr business. Vodev has brought these attributes to the surface to make them visible. Even though the unobtrusive symbol engravings are not clearly marked at first sight, the delight of discovering them at a second glance is part of the experience when looking through the Lobmeyr glasses.
For one of the Passionswege projects of Vienna Design Week, London-based designer Mathias Hahn was assigned to work with Staud's, a Viennese producer of fine vegetable and fruit preserves.
Hahn created an intriguing installation in which he approached the world of Staud's by poetically addressing color, material and the meaning of preserving for winter time. Each of the various vessels on display seemed to capture all the good stuff that summer has to offer; almost like a time capsule, recallable during a long, cold winter.
Eindhoven-based designer Dave Hakkens has been on our radar since we first got wind of his "Break Soap" concept, and it so happens that wind was the inspiration behind the more recent oil pressing machine. So too does his latest project begin with a seemingly straightforward concept—that porcelain shrinks when you bake it—and end with a fascinating, allusive series of objects. Curious about the 'diminishing returns' of the material, Hakkens "made a huge jug from all kinds of materials to see the shrinking process on different textures."
From this jug I made a mold and poured porcelain in. Then baked it at 1260 degrees, and it shrank... With this porcelain model I made another mold and baked it, it shrank again. Made a mold from this model and so on... Every time the porcelain deforms a little bit and slowley the textures loses its detail.
After 13 rounds of casting and baking, he arrived at a collection of 14 jugs, each of which comes in at roughly 60% of the volume of its progenitor. Thus, the original jug is a healthy, pitcher-sized 5000mL, while the last one holds a mere 10mL, or a whopping two teaspoons.
Meanwhile, minor deformations emerge in more subtle fashion, as details fade and the vessel develops a slight crook in its back. Although molds are intended to mass produce exact replicas from a single template, Hakkens' "Shrinking Jug" series clearly illustrates the variations that characterize handmade objects.
Marli Fruit Holder for Matzah or Display Apples. Designed by Laura Polinoro
With the High Holidays in full swing, Alessi and The Jewish Museum in New York City have partnered again to offer a special selection of homewares from the Italian brand. The new collection includes a Rosh Hashanah Apple and Honey Set by Christopher Dresser and Honey Pots shaped like apples by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA.
The ongoing collaboration between Alessi and The Jewish Museum began in 2010 with the introduction of the Connection mezuzah by Dror Benshetrit exclusively for The Jewish Museum. This year's offering includes accessories for the Sabbath as well as a beautiful Passover Seder Plate that combines Zhang Ke's Ming tray and six of Pietro Gerosa's Blip spoon rests. See more from the 2012 Collection after the jump.
We're not sure if Marco Maturo and Alessio Roscini, the designers behind Studio Klass of Milan, are taking the notion of 'eye candy' a bit too literally, but their new "Non là" clock looks mighty tasty for a timepiece. In fact, I don't know that I would have guessed the actual inspiration behind the sculptural clock:
"Non là is a ceramic table clock with conical shape, inspired by the famous straw hat—Nón ló in vietnamese—and usually used by asian people to protect themselves from sun and rain. The form comes also from a functional aspect: when the watch is placed on the table, the base of the cone—on which the quadrant is on—is tilted, thus facilitating the reading time.
Yet the rounded, conical form resembles a spinning top or a turnip as much as it does a bon-bon, making it a perfect fit for Italian manufacturer Diamantini & Domeniconi, who boast a broad portfolio of unconventional clocks and housewares.
It's easy to be distracted by the political antics and acrobatics of an election year. Luckily, our friends at ODLCO are here to remind us to focus on the fundamentals and just pass the butter. Their Capitol Butter Dish, designed by Morgan Carter and made by ceramicists in Chicago, cuts through the fat while providing a tabletop spectacle for those who might be prone to debate politics at the kitchen table.
The Butter Dish is a fun take on the building souvenirs found at the local tourist gift shops around Washington DC; keep the going-ons in the hallowed political halls of the nation's capitol on the table. The front "lawn" of the Capitol Building serves as a knife rest reminding your round-table of advisors that the buck stops here.
The decorative vessel has long been an object of cultural significance, and the flower vase in particular embodies a certain dynamic meaning, as it is intended to complement the ephemeral beauty of its contents. For her most recent project, Israeli designer Hadar Glick chose to focus on vases precisely for their broad appeal—"they are communicative [to] a wide range of audiences"—arriving at "Six," series of as many vases that are "a memory of a loss."
Her statement (liberally copyedited by yours truly):
Day-to-day life in the Israeli society is intertwined with loss, who brings with it memory. The loss of a loved one is a part of our life cycle and the memory of that person, remains with us. After researching this subject in depth, I came to one major realization, which remained present in my work process: it does not matter if your loved one is a son, a father, a mother or a good friend. A loss is always a loss.
The world of memory and loss has an affinity to one of flowers and nature. Expressions such as "cut down in his prime" or "nipped in the bud" are familiar to many Israelis from their daily use of the Hebrew language. A flower is worn out and provisional, it resembles a clock and serves as a timer.
In our culture, flowers symbolize life and they can frequently be found at any home. They are present in our life cycle on its highs: in moments of joy and happiness such as birthdays and weddings, and in its lows in funerals and memorial days.
Vases are collective objects but they meet the individual. The vase as an object has an inner void, an exterior and it encapsulates.
Of course, any vessel refers us to this Taoist notion of 'emptiness' (a cup or bowl is the classic example); it's a matter of how the form expresses the idea. Each vase begins with a concept (given in its name) that informs the design—from daily rituals to materialism to the arrangement of the flowers themselves—to capture emotion and "allow people to express the memories of their loved ones" in a subtle manner. Thus, the recent Holon grad notes that, "in contrast to flowers, which wither and fade away with time, the vases are all made out of non-biodegradable materials and are constant [as] an eternal testimony of our memories."
And you thought you'd seen it all in ice cube making. Currently under consideration at Quirky is the Cube Tube, an ice tray designed to solve a specific problem: That annoying moment after you fill the tray at the sink and slowwwwly walk it over to the freezer, trying not to spill the water.
You fill the Cube Tube up, and close it, at the sink. There's presumably a little Archimedes action when you slide the insert in, but once that's done with you toss it in the freezer, spill-free.
The base is made out of silicone, so after it's frozen you can hit it against the counter to loosen the cubes. Then you just pull the insert out—there's draft angle, naturally—to dispense.
From what I can see, there's nothing that would stop you from refilling it when partially empty, as well.
I realize those of you with 'fridges that make their own ice don't give a damn about objects like this, but it's something an ice-tray-using peon like me could really use.
No, we don't usually go in for infomercial-grade products, but then again we've never seen the Sushi Bazooka before. When was the last time you saw a kitchen gadget being hocked by three singing sushi chefs, each holding a perfectly made sushi roll on a graphic with the slogan, "Make perfect Sushi rolls! Quick! Easy! Hilarious!" If you aren't excited yet, maybe the sixteen exclamation marks on the ad will do the trick, or perhaps the fact that you can become a sushi master with this "convenient and washable 3-piece set" will get you to pick up your phone and order NOW!!
We understand that some people are actually good at rolling sushi with nothing more than a bamboo mat, but for everyone who's ever tried to impress a date with a homemade sushi dinner only to wind up with rolls that disintegrate when you cut them up, this Sushi Bazooka, as cheesy as it is, is actually kind of awesome. Oddly enough, it's produced in New Zealand, so the instructions are in English—not that you'd actually need to reference them. This plastic wand is pretty self explanatory: "Make sushi. Eat sushi. Wash sushi off. Repeat the process at your convenience." What more do you need to know? Could this just be the next $25 piece of kitchen crap you buy? Yes, it very well could be. OR it could also be the light saber of the sushi world? Remember, "Do, or do not (make sushi). There is no try."
Set up by Benetton in Treviso, Italy in 1994 as a communication research center, Fabrica describes itself as "an applied creativity laboratory [and] talent incubator." If you were at Salone de Mobile earlier this year, you may have seen their impressive presentation for which they asked designers to create 25 objects inspired by the 1930s-era Villa Necchi in Milan. Fabrica is consistently generating good work. Most recently they staged a live performance by Sam Baron in the windows of the Sisley store in Piazza san Babila and created a line of seven outdoor furniture products for an event at the Milano Scala Hotel.
Fabrica has a proven eye not only for remarkably beautiful and minimal design, but also for color. Take "Objet Colore," a system of store display fittings for Benetton's retail locations. All the pieces are modular and customizable so they can be used in any store around the world. And like the company's full title ("United Colors of...") suggests, the items are bright, bold and lively blocks of green, red, yellow and blue.
Another collection exhibited as part of their presentation at Salone del Mobile that's worth calling attention to is their limited edition collection of glassware for Secondome gallery. Eight pieces by seven designers include vases, vessels and more unusual pieces like Catarina Carreiras' "Necklaces," a set of two to three vases strung together like gem stones on a gold chain. The pieces can be hung on a wall or set on a table. The most successful pieces in the collection—in my opinion—are by Scottish designer Dean Brown. His "Uplifting" series of carafes for chianti, prosecco, balsamic vinegar and olive oil (his specifications, not mine) create the illusion of suspended animation. The larger carafes operate as normal, with a handle, while the oil and vinegar vessels are set into a larger glass stand and lifted with a smaller, looped handle.
Keep tabs on the other exciting projects coming out of Fabrica, including two short films and a calendar/yearbook. You can also apply to be part of their creative design incubator.
Tradeshows are often induce sensory overload, and design shows are no exception. Every booth and its contents scream for attention—"Over here! Look at me! Touch me! Hear me!" All of it can quickly wear on the senses, and my patience.
Oddly, Dwell on Design—held this past weekend in LA at the Convention Center—felt more calm than most trade shows. Having recently moved from NYC to LA, I am hyper-aware of these differences, but I was surprised at the marked contrast between the Dwell show and ICFF nonetheless. Granted, the two events are incomparable in many ways: ICFF is a huge annual event, overtaking the NYC design scene for days, while Dwell on Design is decidedly more low-key in its intentions and purpose overall. But, whether due to the scale, or general NY/LA differences, it was actually a pleasure to casually walk the show and talk with participants, rather than run around in a frenzy trying to catch it all.
One booth where my senses were actually intrigued and happily engaged was at the A+R Store. The LA shop had a few new, interesting sound design objects for the home, for music and otherwise. Each have a refreshing take on how we hear.
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
Taiwanese designers Balance-Wu's loop speaker is a hollow loop of pressed, recycled paper pulp. The power supply and amp sit in the base, distributing sound through the circular tube, with the paper acting as a filter. The speaker has a rechargeable battery and USB outlet, and connects via an earphone plug. The device is incredibly lightweight, the sound is decent, and the presence of the paper pulp loop is nicely subtle but recognizable as a speaker.
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
Another interesting sound machine in the A+R space was Louise van der Veld's Chick-a-dee Smoke Detector (pictured at top). Inspired by the "canary in a coalmine" story of miners relying on canaries' senses to detect and warn of gas leaks, van der Veld created the American black-capped Chickadee to detect and warn of smoke. After winning the Dutch Association of Insurer's competition for new solutions for fire prevention back in 2006, the design was recently approved for use in US homes.
Earlier this year, we told you about the "Live/Work" Design Contest, which challenged designers to dream up the next "classic of tomorrow" for the home office. Today, our friends at Dwell on Design and Design Within Reach gave us a little heads up and shared with us this year's winner, whose design could potentially be manufactured and sold by DWR.
Besting 587 entries, the grand prize winner is Chicago-based designer Amanda Ip with the Innermix Desk, created with the designer's own live/work preference. The desk offers a large workspace and simple storage solutions that together create a clean, organized work area. That touch of color also adds a sense of fun and play, a welcome change to a predominantly gray and bleak office furniture.
Congratulations, Amanda! We hope to see the Innermix Desk in DWR stores soon!
Before you ask, it's actually somewhere between a bowl and a plate... and seeing as it has a hole in the center, I'd rather use Martin Zampach's "Poly" for a BLT than a bouillabaisse. As for the cork bit? Well, it's made of a 'lightweight but firm' material that consists of cork sandwiched between layers of veneer.
Flexible build materials allow for extreme shaping of the segments. When all parts are locked to form the bowl the structure gets its strength.
The bowls come in different sizes and proportions. They fit together in several ways to form illusional 2D/3D ornaments. Their simple functionality makes the bowls an ideal table accessory.
Although life in Tokyo is more or less back to business as usual since the tsunami last spring, one of the long-term effects has been the setsuden efforts: to conserve energy in a country that relies on nuclear reactors for upwards of 30% of its power. Nearly all of the nuclear power plants have been shut down since then, and the nation has made a commendable effort to reduce energy consumption in kind... especially during the sweltering summer months, when air conditioning is all but required to maintain sanity in the urban heat island of Tokyo.
Although setsuden is no longer mandated by the government, individuals and companies alike have adopted energy conservation for good. In addition to efforts at more conscientious and efficient manufacturing, Japanese companies also have a concrete incentive to develop eco-friendly products for staying cool and dry during the rainy season and beyond (Uniqlo, for one, is incorporating deodorant and 'silky dry' technology in much of their undergarments). Thus, several Japanese companies at InteriorLifestyle Tokyo were pleased to present natural products to rival AC as the primary means of combating the oppressive humidity.
SOIL by Isurugi Co. & H concept
Developed by Isurugi Co., LTD and H concept, "Soil" is a product line that incorporates traditional plastering techniques with a material known as diatomaceous soil. The naturally-occurring material is "known for its moisturizing and absorption qualities, as well as a pleasant touch," which makes it both recyclable and non-irritating to the skin. According to the press materials,
Diatomaceous soil is a sedimentary layer formed from deposited plankton on beaches and lakes. The "soil" is very porous and therefore good at absorbing moisture, moisturizing, and deodorizing. The soil is naturally found in different environments and climates, and therefore naturally has different colors.
As for the craftsmanship? Isurugi specializes in sakan, an age-old technique of plastering soil (and later, cement) that dates back to the year 645 AD.
The mat is mostly dry after just 10–15 seconds
The product line consists of desiccants and deodorants for a wide variety of household applications. From food containers to small blocks for, say, a salt shaker to dishracks and floormats—all with an understated aesthetic—"Soil" is a veritable ecosystem unto itself.
Since 1875, Japanese manufacturer Kaikado has been creating beautifully crafted tin canisters, Chazutsu for tea and drygoods storage. These airtight containers are simple, everyday objects of form and function that get better with use—the patina from regular handling can be admired below and some Kaikado chazutsu have been passed down through generations. The 6th generation family-run company has been handcrafting each canister from their Kyoto-based studio for over 130 years.
The manufacturing process for the Kaikado chazutsu involves anywhere between 130 to 140 steps, "the hand-made tea caddies have virtually remained true to the designs established by Kaikado's founding generation. The die and mold used in the early years of the company is still in use today, whilst some shapes of tea caddy used 130 years ago are still in production today."
FRIEZE NEW YORK 2013
INTERNATIONAL HOME + HOUSEWARES SHOW 2013
TOKYO DESIGN WEEK 2012
BEIJING DESIGN WEEK 2012
Pedestal not included
The plastic version is available at Walmart, among other retailers
Marli Fruit Holder for Matzah or Display Apples. Designed by Laura Polinoro
Honey Pot designed by SANAA
Louise van der Veld's Chick-a-dee Smoke Detector
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
Balance-Wu's loop speaker
The mat is mostly dry after just 10–15 seconds
