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David McCandless is a London-based author, writer and designer. His passion is visualizing information with a minimum of words. He says his pet-hate is pie charts, or in his words ” Love pie. Hate pie-charts.” His site Information is beautiful features many great, thought provoking visualizations. Here’s a couple of our favorites.
This is about colours and cultures. You can see this image on the Information Is Beautiful site. All sorts of interesting things. Evil is black everywhere but death is black, white or green. Success is red or green. Why red? Why green?
We think this would definitely make Modenus blue, and probably purple!
And finally, the site reproduces a graphic by designer Yang Liu on cultural differences between the East and the West. Posted on the Brain Pickings blog.
Size of the individual’s ego
Complexity of self-expression
Perception: How Germans and the Chinese see one another
Lifestyle: Independent vs. dependent
How to stand in line
Problem-solving approach
Attitude towards punctuality
The volume of sound in a restaurant
The evolution of transportation over the last three decades
We spent some time thinking about the title of this piece. Is Brent Comber an artist or a furniture maker? He is, of course, both. His furniture is art and at least some of his art is furniture. His materials are also his inspiration. His art is about the very wood he uses. That wood is unprocessed with cracks, bark, sinews and knots. At first it was salvaged from demolition yards and elsewhere. Now Comber sources cast off wood from mills and lumber yards.
This is Shattered, made from a pile of cedar pieces that had been sitting in a corner of Comber’s shop. As he split the wood with an Axe Comber says , his senses were heightened with the sounds, smells and textures reminding him of his first experiences chopping wood on his step-father’s farm.
China Grove is made by covering Western Red Cedar with white porcelain paint. Ethereal and surprising, they are a forest within a forest at Salt Spring Woodworks on Salt Spring Island.
Inspired by the stone wall around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Brent Comber created Garrison by splicing together blocks of wood from three Cedar logs into a single form.
Long Saddle, made of Douglas Fir and available in a variety of stains. 13″ wide, 60 ” deep and weighing 290 lds. Fascinating that something so substantial is also so elegant.
The Alder Saddle, made of Alder twigs. As Comber says, bringing a touch of the out doors into a residential or commercial setting. 15″ wide, 60″ long and 18″ high, 150 lds.
Modenus has English friends. The English friends talk about all sorts of rituals that are important to them; drinking tea, of course, drinking warm beer, moaning about the weather and Sunday lunch.
Sunday Lunch is a fixture, a custom, a ritual and a delight. It can be at home around the dinning table, in a pub or on a cloth spread out on Hampstead Heath or the local equivalent.
If it is at home or in the pub it will, indeed must, feature roast meat, roast potatoes and some sort of pudding. Wine and beer are probable. On the Heath the food and wine flow. People may eat slices of cold meat, the dreaded pork pie and pickled onions or any of the exotic concoctions that Londoners , and ok, we are talking about Londoners, forage from the city that is host to six and a half million people from around the globe.
The two essential ingredients for Sunday lunch, however, are plenty of time and people you love. This is how it works. You sit, you relax, you gossip, you share, you enjoy each other. Sometimes family, sometimes friends, sometimes both.
It’s a bit like a weekly Thanksgiving without the stress. And we’ll drink to that.
Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, veg. And enough room for rhubarb crumble or Eaton Mess for ‘afters’?
The Garrison pub in Bermondsey Street London. A civilised place for any meal.
And enjoying sunset from Hampstead Heath. You are going to have to imagine the picnic. It’s gone!
She only finished her degree a couple of year’s ago but Sanna Lindström has already created a couple of pieces which we feel deserve greater attention.
Her children’s furniture collection – Heirloom A was created in collaboration with Matilda Lindblom. Basically its a box with ears. It comes in a couple of sizes, the top is MDF, the bottom is Bearch. For sale via Scandinavian Design Centre. Simple but fun.
And this is the Grand Central table, inspired by a subway map and folding out like a blossoming flower. It is a collaboration with Sigrid Strömgren, was on show at Milan and we can’t find out if anyone is manufacturing it. Please tell us if you know otherwise.
Mirrors and Artwork are often the finishing touch on a well designed space and sometimes they can even be the inspiration for the space in the first place if they have enough personality and presence to do that. Made Goods continue to come out with some pieces that may do just that.
When I first saw Giselle I was fascinated by its complexity but alarmed at the thought of harvesting the fragile and endangered coral reefs. I needn’t have worried. Somehow Made Goods have found a way of recreating the beauty of coral without diving for the real thing. Its available in white or red but I love the red, I love the red, I want the red.
Bolder still in all it’s marine opulence, the Margot, is a mix of seashells and corals sure to create interest anywhere. Remember our blog about all white interiors? That would be the place. This mirror has a 24″ diameter.
The surround of Edur is made from metal coated with matte plaster. The branches each have an individual shape and the overall effect is remarkably organic. Its dimensions are 30″ wide and 38″ high.
Striking a pose is Madena and that’s row after row of matchsticks surrounding the mirror! I wonder if the artist is still in therapy?
This is Blake, presumably not named after Amy Winehouse’s troublesome boyfriend. The finish is reminiscent of tortoise but it is, in fact, Young Pen shell. I particularly like the soft irregular shape of this hand cut mirror. Dimensions 32″ diameter.
So keep mirroring away just keep in mind that design with mirrors requires not only selecting a great frame but it’s all about location, it’s all in the reflection baby!
We’re not suggesting that this would actually work in a client’s home. In fact, according to the artist David Garcia, it is intended for the nomadic reader who can step inside and ‘walk away with half a ton of books’. Its called Archive 2.
Archive 1 is basically a seesaw with the reader pushed ever higher by the weight of books in he library. Sadly we couldn’t find a picture of Archive 3 which is for censored books and slams the book shut if anyone approached the reading stand.
We present this for your entertainment. You can go back to work now.
Archive 2, for the nomad reader, apparently. And,
in the background, Archive 1 is for, er, oh I don’t know. Fun maybe?
We met with DB Sources at Highpoint and soon found ourselves chatting about inspiration. Deborah Wilson, the firm’s eponymous founder told us about her background in, and love for fashion. Carry Bradshaw’s Vivian Westwood designed wedding dress for “Sex and the City” was amongst the sources mentioned. The influence of foreign travel and different cultures is apparent and a keen sense for visual texture makes this line so intriguing.
And guess what? Maybe sometimes all it takes to freshen up a room is a coat of paint and a few really great pillows.
For those of you who may have missed out on one of the cultural highlights of the decade, here’s the dress -
We don’t know that the dress really was the inspiration for it but we love the lush texture and romance of the pillow just as much as the dress and it doesn’t have that weird head thing. What is that? Birds? Feathers? Birds of a feather?
OK so I’ve never warmed up to aqua and I’m not starting now and yes it makes me think of Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl” due to the inherent association of turquoise and the 80′s, I think but it’s sexy and curvy and dressy.
Nothing to snuggle up with but a striking visual accent.
So much detail in every piece, enlarge this one to see that they’re all beads. Of course, if someone wants to make a bag like this…
Intricate, lush, wonderfully textured.Wouldn’t it make a great frock?
Do take a look at DB Sources web site, enlarge the pictures and look closely. Better still seek them out. They really are inspired.
Furniture manufacturer Environment says it is. And their clients, which include Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio seem to agree. That said, they can also boast the services of Jean-Marie Massaud as their Creative Director along with fellow Italian’s Aldo Cibic and Alessandro La Spada, all with very impressive CVs, to give nature a helping hand.
Environment takes its eco-credentials seriously using reclaimed, recycled and re-purposed woods and canvas. The designs show genuine respect for the materials allowing the natural qualities of wood to be fully apparent. They also actively raise awareness of environmental issues claiming the mission of ‘create beauty – respect the planet’.
We sometimes struggle to find just four or five items of furniture to illustrate a manufacturers range while maintaining the interest of the reader. More than that and we think we are in danger of losing you. This time, however, we’re knocking ourselves out. The Environment catalogue features over a hundred pages of really lovely furniture. Here’s a selection.
OK. If this doesn’t make you smile you we’re not sure what it’ll take. The Giramundo Swivel Chair is upholstered in recycled yarn, these richly colored scraps are hand woven and hand knotted together to make the soft and woolly cover.
Nice office! The Santos desk has tapered legs crafted from reclaimed Peroba Rosa wood from Brazil and a modern Mahogany top. Peroba boasts a rich range of colors: honeys, golds, browns and sometimes a little red.
Environment tell us that The Beam Coffee Table was inspired by a play on opposites: the image of a weathered wood beam balanced atop a pair of thin, steel blades. The Beam is composed from planks of Peroba Rosa, a Brazilian hardwood they reclaimed from barns, benches, and fences that once stood in rural Brazilian villages.
Made from reclaimed Dunnage Wood the Butcher Table is one of our favourite Environment products. A triumph of allowing functionality and material shape design. Wonderful.
That said, we love all their tables. This is the Leblon End Table, complete with an inlay of naturally weathered Peroba Rosa wood set into the table top.
And this is the Campinas X Side Table made from Mahogany from Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) approved suppliers and reclaimed Brazilian Peroba Rosa.
We may have mentioned that we love shoes, bags and scarves almost as much as we like furniture. Well Environment don’t do shoes, but..
But they do do scarves made of organic hemp that has been organically dyed and beautifully hand stitched in California. Available in white, charcoal, plum, olive and sand. And we think we should get one for doing this long plug for you, Environment!!
And when you are taking this bag you know the weekend is going to be good!
The Boro Weekender is built from vintage U.S. military fabrics and WW2 hardware. Each piece is designed, cut and built individually in California.
And finally, as ever, to the bedroom.
We couldn’t chose our favourite bed, so here’s a couple;
The Edge Bed is described by Environment as like driftwood floating peacefully out at sea. An extra wide platform that eliminates the need for end tables or a bedside bench. Four sliding drawers underneath serve as perfect hideaways for blankets and sheets, while the bench-depth ledge surrounding the bed offers space to place bedside reading.
And the Montecristo Bed made from reclaimed Brazilian Peroba Rosa; Headboard Cushion- recycled army tent canvas, Grade 2 linen, or leather.
Sleep well!
Adidas commissioned Thai artist Ratinan Thaijareorn a.k.a. ISE to paint a couple of chairs in the window of the Adidas Originals store in Siam center, Bangkok.
She used acrylic paints, made Adidas very happy by gathering a good crowd, and produced these. Feeling inspired?
This is the artist’s blank canvas. We’ve seen similar. In fact, many similar.
And here she is at work.
Maybe not restful, maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but…
we love them, and she even got the logo in! Good girl!
It’s the thirtieth anniversary of the invention of Post-It Notes this week. They were invented by Geoff Nicholson, a Brit working in the States for 3M. Geoff, now in his seventies and living in Texas sagely said “Research is the transformation of money into knowledge. Innovation is the transformation of knowledge into money,” Other pearls of wisdom from the great man, the sort of thing people scribble on his invention, stare at for a day and then loose include that “Creativity and inspiration are when you see an accident and recognise its value” ,a handy one for our trade, and less up-beat “”Every great new product is killed at least three times by managers.”
Geoff’s tenacity won through and his semi sticky pads became ubiquitous. And without them, we wouldn’t have these wonderful creations.
This from Mad Silence, one of our favourite non design blogs. Are we alone in actually quite liking the sofa and pillow? And from the same site,
I love the idea of this being somewhere which is for sale. Lets hear the Realtor (Estate Agent, for Brits) explain this one. And how would you drive to the viewing?
Coming straight from work?
This is not the Modenus office!
And at the end of that long hard day…
