Comfy Cargo Chair

This is the Comfy Cargo Chair, and as you can see you can fill it with what ever you want. It is designed by Stephan Schulz and the idea behind the chair was to create a piece of furniture that has no restrictions as far as the form is concerned. What is great about this chair is that the designer gives the original shape to the chair but leaves its owner to complete the design; this way the surface the item remains unfinished giving the user the opportunity to change its form in any possible way. 

The design consists of a three dimensional grid. An open structure of hollows that allow the user to fill with any material; books, newspapers, pillows, anything you can imagine. The choice of material, shape and texture of the things that will “fill” the chair reflect the taste of the owner whilst it makes it a personal design at the same time. A creative procedure that can be repeated over and over again, a chance for everybody to be the creator of an individual piece of furniture. The Comfy Cargo Chair consists of 52.46 meters of 8mm sturdy rounded steel. It has 66 curved elements and alone weighs 20.89 kg, with a volumetric capacity of 0.5 cubic meters. Together the cross beams and curves provide a very stable construction for sitting. 

This is a very creative and fun idea, and I like the fact that you can choose the filling of your own chair and change it as many times as you'd like. If you get bored with the look of your chair, you just put something new inside of your chair! This is perfect for an indecisive person or someone who likes to change things a lot. You don't have to buy a new chair, you just find what ever lying around in your home and put it in your chair. Its as simple as that!

If you would like to see more of this chair or from the designer, you can visit www.studio-stephanschulz.com.

Soji

Soji is a series of daily use items and it is designed by japanese design studio Mute. This series consists of Sara (plate), Hako (stacking case), Wan (bowl) and Tutu (canister), and each piece is made from Sen (castor aralia) and is produced by Unomatudo.  

The design studio Mute believes in producing products that are ordinary tools used in daily life, and not creating for decoration or solely for use on a special day. They want to design something with high function, something usable but something beautiful that you still can use without being afraid of damaging it. What is the point of owning something that you can't have the joy of using? The trick is the impeccable quality and materials that are durable. 

This is a series that exhibits the natural beauty of the wood in which they are made, and takes great pride in old japanese carving traditions. The series is made with by Yamanaka who is famous for its carving wheel called Rokuro, and it is also treated with Yamanaka-shikki (japanese lacquer ware) which focuses on the technology of making great wooden objects. I would say that Yamanaka has succeeded!

I think that the Soji series is not only beautiful, but also very practical. Mute has done well with the idea of not considering the visual part of it, but also the practical part. I like that you can stack them and keep them as a group so that you can enjoy them with each other while not in use. The beauty of the natural wood is undeniable, but I like that they have used red as a pop-color as a bright contrast on some of the pieces of the series.  

If you would like to see more from Muto, you have to visit either www.unomatudo.co.jp or www.mu-te.com.

Coffee Hanger

This is the Coffee Hanger and it is designed by Milan-based Amir Alizade. This is not a very practical function other than that you can hang it anywhere you can hang your clothes, but this is a very creative idea and a fun way to keep your coffee mugs.

These cups are made out of ceramics and have a hook in the place where the handle should be. The hook is made out of steel and has the same design of a hanger. I don't know if you can get these mugs in other colors, but you can get them in either blue or white. 

If you want to read more about this Coffee Hangers, you have to visit www.amiralizade.com.

Marginal Notes

This is a collection from Note Design Studio and its called the Marginal Notes. This collection consists of seating, lighting and storage pieces, which all have popping and bright colors. The inspiration behind this collection came from the small doodles and sketches they found in the margins of their notebooks. The ones that occur intuitively and which are often disregarded and forgotten. They decided to play around a bit and took some of their sketches and transform them into reality. 

This is the Tembo stool and high table. In Swahili "tembo" means elephant, and the inspiration for this name comes from the fact that one of the elephants legs always remains on the ground while walking. Due to their straight legs and pad-like feet, they have the ability to stand for a long period without getting tired. The Tembo table are stool is a construction of wooden, cork and metal elements, of combined hybrid shapes which overall take on a thickness in form similar to that of an elephants leg. 

These two lamps are called Yesterday Island (the orange one) and Tomorrow Island (the mint one), and the inspiration for these lamps came from the forms of the Diomede islands located in the middle of the bering strait, situated between Alaska and Siberia. It was their awkward man-made separation that was a starting-point for the group. They are sometimes called "Tomorrow Island" (Big Diomede, Russian territory) and "Yesterday Island (Little Diomede, US territory) as their difference is 20 hours apart, even though they are as close as 3 kilometers from each other.

I could not find a name or description for this one, but it is actually my favorite! I guess these are vases or  candlesticks, and the things I like about them are the pastel colors on the top and the wooden base. I also like that the different colored ones come in different sizes and shapes, and I love the group together as well as apart. Beautiful, simple and special at the same time. Not bad for being a doodle in the margin of a notebook, huh? 

This last design is called the Half-time Object, and I do not know what this is. Judging by its size, I think it is either a side-table or a stool, but it is not finished in process yet, and is not ready for using. This is one of the prototypes and sketches Note Design Studio developed during their process. They are considered the early seeds that influence the final objects. Though they are not fully functional yet, they were the catalysts for the collection and could be developed in to working pieces eventually.

If you want to see more pictures of the pieces in the Marginal Notes collection, you have to visit www.notedesignstudio.se.

Analog Group

This is the Analog Group and it is designed by Jonas Damon. Jonas is the Frog Design's Creative Director, and he came up with these three brilliant pieces to use with your Apple products. This is how he describes the idea- and building process of one of the pieces:

"Last summer I had some fun with my iPad, and built a wooden housing for it that was shaped like an old cathode-ray tube TV set, complete with the bump in the back. It found a nice following online, and also served as inspiration for a two other objects like it, rounding out my ‘Analog Group’."

This first one is called the Alarm Dock and it is an iPhone cradle that resembles an old-school flip clock. This is also a dock for your iPhone, so that you charge it while it works as a clock for you. You just buy a flip clock app for your phone, and it will look like the picture above. Love it!

This is the Radio Dock and it is a housing for either an iPod or an iPhone. It resembles an old radio, and is a portable dock. You just load your songs into your pod or phone, and the speakers in the wooden radio will work just as well as any other dock. Genius!

This last one called CRT and is the housing for the iPad. It is inspired by the old cathode-ray tube TV set, and I just love how Jonas Damon has taken such new and modern technology and put them together with familiar and classic pieces that once were high-tec electronics! I love, love, love the Analog Group, and I would love to own this series one day.

If you also love the Analog Group and want to see or read more about it, you have to visit either www.jonasdamon.blogspot.com or www.designmind.frogdesign.com.

Couture Lamp

This lamp is named Couture and it is designed by Hiromi Fukikoshi, Kelli Pearson, Isaac Piñero and Roberto Rossi, all students of Scuola Politecnica di Design Milan. This lamp is made out of hand blown Murano glass, and these lamps are in limited production. "The project recycles discards of industrial manufacturing processes, all different one from the other, combining them to new, handmade objects of a fashion feel." is a description of Couture from one of the designers. The lamp is shortlisted for the Targa Giovani, the collateral event of the XXII Compasso d'Oro ADI that promotes the best thesis presented in the Italian design schools during the last three years. If you want to read more, you could visit www.scuoladesign.com.