March Newsletter
Well it looks like Spring is upon us and the brighter mornings and longer days certainly lift the spirit. Here in Brighton painters and decorators are everywhere as the City spruces itself up for the start of the tourist season. When I'm out for my power walk at 7 in the morning the painters are already tending to and refreshing the miles of ornate Victorian iron work of the railings, lamp-posts and seats on the sea front so we should be ready for the busy weeks ahead.
With fresh ideas in mind this month's newsletter highlights some great ideas for bringing new life and interest into your home.
Child's Chair from Kristian Vedel
Firstly there's the child's chair by Kristian Vedel. Not a new design and perplexing why it's not more popular. It's a really versatile piece of furniture with pieces of laminated plywood held in place by tension without the need for screws, nails or bolts. It can be used for sitting or playing and converts from a chair to a desk or to a high chair.
Bike Chair by Andy Gregg
More intriguing seating. This time the Bike Chair by Andy Gregg who's based in Michigan. The collection includes bar stools and tables with train and car windows being used as the table tops and seat belt webbing for seating upholstery.
Garden Office Pod
More people are working from home these days and if you haven't got a spare bedroom then the garden is the place for your office set up. I came across these great Office Pods from Archipod. Each garden office comes with an ergonomic semi-circular computer desk, concealed lighting, an electric heater, data points and electrical sockets as well as a smoke alarm
Go to www.archipod.co.uk for more info.
Liven up your dinner parties
Look at these fun dining tables that do double duty as musical instruments. So now you don't have to leave your seat for those raucous after-dinner sing-a-alongs!
This one by George Bohle incorporates an electric piano. Find out more at
www.reluct.com/network/story.php?title=pianotable-by-georg-bohle
And this one's built like a marimba, with copper bars inserted into wooden bars of various sizes which have holes in them. The table sings by amplifying the sound of the wooden bars like a loudspeaker. Every time you place your wine glass back on the table it elicits different tones depending on how much pressure is applied to various areas of the surface.
For more on this table see: www.cotogotodesign.com
Design Museum - Brit Insurance Design Award 2010
You've no doubt seen the announcement in the media this week of the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Award competition held at the Design Museum. The winner was Min-Kyo Choi for his folding plug.
The folding plug already has a great pedigree as it was runner up in the James Dyson Award last year. These still images don't do justice to it's brilliance and simplicity of design so have a look at this video on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1c8g6dz8PU&feature=related
Based Upon
Moving away from the newcomers let's take a look at some stunningly beautiful pieces from a company that's well respected and established in the interiors world. Based Upon produce exquisite large scale artworks that are used across walls and doors and as well as horizontal surfaces such as ceilings and table tops. Using a palette of liquid metals, lacquers and resins their work often features in high end property developments and the picture below shows a stunning 6m x 3m piece commissioned by Candy and Candy for one of their London properties. Look closely and you'll see this metal wall panel shows London from the air.
Here's a closer look at the superb detail, this sections shows
Buckingham Palace and St James Park....
Here are a couple of their gorgeous tables.
Most pieces are one-off commissions but they produce a few limited pieces to buy from their website at www.basedupon.co.uk.
The Postcarden
Turning away from the wildly expensive and bespoke pieces from Based Upon here's a unique piece of real estate that can be yours for a mere £7.50. The Postcarden combines a gift and a greeting card that transforms into a mini living garden. There are three different designs to choose from The Allotment, The Botanical and The City and I'd be delighted to receive any of them. You can buy them online at www.postcarden.com
This one's The Allotment
And this one's The Botanical
And here's The City
IKEA Solar Powered Lights
Going from the indoor to the outdoor garden. Just launched by Ikea and ready for the summer are solar powered and re-chargeable outdoor lights. Forget those horrible blue and grey-tinged solar powered garden lights that we've seen too often in far too many gardens these are sweet little lights that look just as good in daylight as they do after dark.
These little table lamps run off re-chargeable batteries
and these little light sticks and domes are solar powered and look great hidden in garden foliage
There are garlands and strings of lights too.
The solar powered outdoor lights join the Sunnan solar powered desk lamp already available and coming from Ikea means prices are down to earth so there's no excuse for badly lit gardens this summer.
And a Final Funny ..........
This month's design oddities that raise a smile (and a glass) are inventive ice cube trays.
Cheers everyone!
Well that's it for this month. Enjoy the good weather and I'll be back in April with more of new and emerging designs for home and garden.
Jane
