I recently stumbled across this article on designboom about the history of the rocking chair showing some of Charles and Ray Eames’ early prototypes for their iconic rocker. It’s always interesting to see the evolution of a chair from prototype to production. Here’s the link to the article and to see the contemporary version licensed to Herman Miller as sold by Living Edge click here.
Filed under: Education, Events, Sustainable design | Tags: Design Victoria, Eco Design, Ursula Tischner
Design Victoria are hosting a free public lecture next Thursday night in Melbourne titled ‘Eco Design. A European perspective on eco-design and shaping the future’ by German architect and industrial designer Ursula Tischner. For more details and to register click here and to learn more about Ursula Tischner check out ecoconcept, she is director of the organisation.
Filed under: Chairs, Events, Exhibitions, Textiles | Tags: Eames Wire Chair Bikini, ICFF, Thomas Paul
Textile designer Thomas Paul used a bit of creative custom upholstery on an Eames Wire Chair with bikini to promote a line of textiles that he’s launching soon. I found this on Design*Sponge as part of their ICFF coverage.
Filed under: Australian Design, Competitions, Emerging Design | Tags: Climate Competition, Droog Design, Tommy Cehak
Droog Design, the Dutch company known for their witty and playful take on design launched their ‘climate’ competition at last years Milan fair. The brief was open – anyone could submit any idea in any form as long as it concerned the ‘climate’ theme. The entries are in and finalists chosen and we were thrilled to see Australian Designer and COFA graduate Tommy Cehak chosen as one of only eight finalists for his Sea Level Rising Bath Plug (below), a playful yet poignant design. His lonely polar bear floating on an iceberg rises as you fill the bath just as the sea level is rising because of climate change, threatening our real life polar bears. You can check out all the finalists and vote for your favourite here.
Posted by Lauren Evans
Of the many of blogs out there, this one really took my fancy. A little cartoon character called Darcel created by the Rinzen graphic collective. It’s an interesting way of promoting themselves and brings a new dimension to the art of cartooning. If you’re having a bad day Darcel’s blog will bring some cheer.
Filed under: Australian Design, Events, Exhibitions, Furniture, Lighting | Tags: bernabeifreeman, criss cross, Ghetto Design, Home Beautiful Designer Rooms, Leaf Light, Sydney Home Show
Home Beautiful recently asked a number of designers to create a series of rooms for the Sydney and Melbourne Home Shows. We liked Ghetto Design’s use of bernabeifreeman’s leaf and criss cross lights in their bold red bedroom (below) at the Sydney show. Check out all the rooms and vote for your favourite (to win prizes) here.
Inhabitat the weblog team with the mantra GREEN DESIGN IS GOOD DESIGN, GOOD DESIGN IS GREEN DESIGN are running a chair competition. The One Good Chair Competition is looking for some smart new designs that balance beauty with comfort while letting sustainable forms shine through. The winning design receives US$4500 to help fund prototyping. You can register until May 30th and entries close June 9th. We enjoyed their selection of favourite chairs for inspiration – below are their pick of chairs made from trash. Check them out yourself here.
Filed under: Australian Design, News, Textiles | Tags: Ethical wool processing, Instyle Contract Textiles, LIFE Sustainable Textiles Collection, Mulesing, Textiles
It was exciting to see Michael Fitzsimons from Instyle Contract Textiles on the ABC news tonight announcing Instyle has signed the industry’s first ethical wool processing agreement using wool from plain bodied sheep that don’t require mulesing. Instyle will release the EthEco™ wool as part of it’s LIFE (Low Impact For the Environment) Sustainable Textiles® Collection.
As Instyle states on their website, the agreement marks the first time architects, interior designers, governments, corporations and hospitality operators will have an alternative to buying superfine Merino wool from mulesed sheep – an important step in maintaining ethical standards in the furnishings and interiors sector.
It will be very interesting to see how this agreement influences the commercial design industry. To read the full ABC article click here.
Filed under: Australian Design, Emerging Design, Exhibitions | Tags: Add new tag, Design Now, Graduate Exhibition, Graphic design, Object, Sian Power, Student Work, Wallpaper
We are delighted that Sian Power, the winner of the Living Edge Travelling Scholorship has agreed to be our guest blogger and share with us the story behind her wallpaper that we posted about here previously. If you haven’t seen the Object’s graduate exhibition Design Now, hurry as it finishes June 15. Here’s Sian’s story in her own words.
HIDDEN NATURE: DESIGN INSPIRATION, INFLUENCES & PROCESS
The human relationship with the natural environment has always interested me. It’s strange how we seesaw between seeking to dominate nature & being at it’s mercy. Our survivals are interlinked, yet we seek to control nature & she is forced to remind us of her power. For me, Nature is very much the one in control. A strict mistress: powerful, deceptively beautiful, often dangerous & sometimes cruel.
NO WALLFLOWERS
Hidden Nature: The resulting series of three wallpapers urge you to forget pretty wallflowers & look closely as nature reveals to you her hidden side, a seedy, intriguing underworld. A world of wicked fruit & deadly flowers.
The wallpaper designs grew from three main stories, those of the tree, the poppy & the apple
TREE: LIFE & DEATH
The story of the tree is the story of life, death and regeneration. The Ancient Egyptians often depicted man between the tree of life and the tree of death, holding a twig of both, symbolising the transience of human life & the enduring presence of nature. (Detail of Tree, above)
Sketches of cabbages for ‘Tree’ (above). I draw everything in pencil on tracing film, as it stands up to the rubber test, I finalise everything in pen. The film allows me to layer elements physically to see how they work before scanning into CS3.
Branches (above) the skeletal hand & branch drawing was one of my first.
POPPY: SEDUCTION & DESTRUCTION
The story of the poppy is one of seductive beauty and a flower forever linked with tragedy. The poppy is a symbol of war: loss, death, remembrance and is also linked with the seedy world of opium: addiction, seduction, destruction. (Detail of Poppy, below)
APPLE: SEX & SIN
The story of the apple is rich in symbolism, filled with lust & temptation. The apple, a wicked fruit, will be forever associated with the Garden of Eden & the story of original sin. (Detail of Apple, below)
The resulting graphics are a mix of hand drawings, images & photos. I was inspired by a range of sources including traditional works such as those by Ernst Haekel, Carl Linnaeus & Da Vinci’s drawings to contemporary influences such as the work of American painter Tiffany Bozic, graphic collective Rinzen, textile designers Timorous Beasties & old school tattoos, among others.
An example of Poppy in situ (above)
An example of Apple in situ (above)
Thank you Sian! To see more images of Sian’s wallpaper, check out our previous post here.
Filed under: Chairs, Furniture, Tables | Tags: Blofield, Inflatable Sofa, Lime Studio, Milan
Posted by Darren Howell
A few extra goodies from Milan. An inflatable Chesterfield style sofa by Blofield from The Netherlands. Available in 2 colours and manufactured in China.
Triangular Coffee Table Series by UK based Lime Studio. Ceramic composite top and powder coated steel frame.
