Jul 22, 2008

Cédric Ragot

Recently we seem to be posting the odd piece by designers and artists which pop up and strike us as inspiring there and then. This post is a change to that recent trend. Cédric Ragot guy is a designer who is coming up for his tenth year in professional design. His work spans development of mobile phones to basic furniture and beyond.

Pictured above is a crop of a set of vases, called “Fast”, which do actually look, well… fast I guess. His work is inspiring to us because he uses a range of techniques which push the limits of the materials he uses whilst retaining a real sense of proportion and form with good functionality (not necessarily in that order), the basis of all good design.

Click the picture above to go to his website to have a few minutes looking at the various project on which he has worked, and see what you think about his style and evolving ideas. Take time to check out the Reverso table range, which we think would look great in our studio… any one? donation? OK, we’re saving up.

Jul 22, 2008

VW's vision of future car design.

One of the things that everyone seems to be worried about these days is the future of transport and how we get around. With rocketing oil prices and a rapidly deteriorating environment, it is a fair concern.

The clever people at VW in Wolfsburg, Germany are currently stating their vision for the future of private transportation. Not only will you not be driving anymore, but you won’t need to remember where you parked your car, it will come to you.

Don’t just take our word for it, click the image above to go to the very slick VW website to let them tell you all about it. A well presented video and some great 3D graphics tell the story perfectly for everyone who wants to listen.

Everybody says… well done VW, this is the most believable vision of the future of cars yet.

Jul 22, 2008

Radiator cover

Anyone who has read my posts on other blogs knows that I don’t like to put the radiators on in the house during the summer months even when it is as cold as it is at the moment in Rotterdam. My fascination with radiators goes back a long way mainly due to the way they look being so damn boring and ugly. People like Joris Larman have designed some wonderful radiators which do the job efficiently and in a pretty manner. If you don’t want to go to the expense of putting in a new radiator, flooding your house and then paying a person who knows what they are doing to do it properly, these are perfect for you.

Designed by Bumrae Jo & Zemzem Kaya, these covers are a great way of hiding your ugly wall mounted heating device and adding a little bit of colour to your place. They are available in two colour ways, Red and White and Grey and White. Featured on the cover is a “nest” which will keep things warm (obviously being on a radiator) but, hey, maybe you can put your underwear in it on those cold winter days so it’s nice and toasty warm for you when you wake up.

Everybody says well done radiator covering people. Nice job.

Jul 15, 2008

A single cubic metre

Designer, Arik Levy, has produced a piece of storage furniture which is a modular system, when combined adds up to a single metre cubed. The piece is constructed from 7 individual pieces in either Aluminium, Blackened Oak and Clear Oak, the black one is shown above. Unfortunately this is an extremely limited piece and is only available in 5 of the Aluminium ones, and 12 clear oak or Black oak ones. The cube is a fashionable shape this year which is something you will see lots more of… mark our words.

Everybody likes this loads and would like one of these in the studio, thank you – please.

Jul 15, 2008

Inspiration in tiny bottles. Many of them, in different colours too.

Artist, Aleksandra Stratimirovic, a Yugoslav, resident of Sweden has produced an installation entitled “Sunny day”. It is produced by filling 4464 small medical glass vials with different coloured liquids. When displayed with a fluorescent backlight, the coloured vails become bright and by taking a couple of steps backwards an image of a girl appears. The framework is 2 by 3 metres and the image depicts a girl stood by a lake with a rolling hill as a backdrop.

It’s another example of how the inherent properties of glass can be used to create art and by adding a simple coloured translucent liquid, something completely different can be created. Click on the image above to go to the artist’s website and see for yourself how the illusion works.

The work has been exhibited in Vzigalica gallery, at the Svetlobna Gverila festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2008.

foto: © Bojan Brecelj IPAK