2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Inmodern and Ecotots

2Modern launches 2 brand new vendors: Ecotots and Inmodern! Inmodern features sleek modern furniture like the Rekindle Side/End Table, the Surfin Desk, or the Intown Coffee Table. Ecotots has great new products for your little ones, like the Project Table and Stools, or the fun Easel for your child's creative side. Both lines feature high-quality, environmentally-friendly pieces made from 100% renewable FSC Certified Smart Wood®.

Shed a Little Light on the Subject

I spotted these cool kits recently and had to share. They're called Designer Emulation Kits or DEK's for short. Created by designer Mark Mckenna, DEK's are homages to some of the greatest modern lamp designs and designers. Each kit is a cut-out of a classic lamp style and actually light up with a 9 volt battery. DEK 1 is the Lucellino lamp by Ingo Maurer:

My favorite lamp of all time is also represented, the Arco by Achille Castiglioni.

At under $30.00 each - this is some good design that's hard to pass up!

all photos from mmckenna.
post by Alison Brownrigg

"People Move but Houses Stay. What did the Wallpaper See?"

Nienke Sybrandy is a Dutch designer whose design works are inspired by basic items often overlooked and houses that have a story to tell if you listen hard enough.

Instead of traditionally presenting new home owners with a damask tablecloth, how about giving a table cloth with the house's construction drawing.....and check out these drapes which take the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) "a computer language invented in times we could not send our pictures by pixels" and use it to form a beautiful tree silhouette.

The Writer's House: Gianni Botsford's Casa Kika

Architect Gianni Botsford and his company aim to "create an architecture of local adaptation; to climate, environment and culture". Their approach, according to their website, is to avoid falling into preconceived solutions  to design problems through a process of detailed analysis of site and brief prior to any design phase, and have experience in many sectors and at all scales - from master planning to product design. They work with an extensive range of consultants, teaching, and collaborations with architects, craftsmen and artists, to enrich the outlook of the  studio.

Situated on a beach side plot on the Caribbean coast, Casa Kike is a house for a writer. Specifically the architect's father.  A house designed as a retreat for him, it had to house his 16,000 book collection. In combination with his environmental sensitivities, it created a unique challenge for Botsford.

The book collection suggested the layout and interior solution. Then, indigenous techniques were combined with modern technology and design into a lightweight structure of timber covered with metal sheets and faced with glass at both ends.

The building is comprised of two parallel shaped pavilions, sitting pretty on stilts 1.2m high. In response to the tropical environment of Costa Rica with its high levels of sunlight and rain, Botsford used detailed analysis environmental software, and the culture, using local construction techniques and materials.

Because of this, the roof became the main element of design. The simple parallelogram that was developed is relative to the sun’s path, ensuring complete shading throughout the day, yet open on the front and rear to allow sea breezes to naturally cool the house. All trees were retained with the house woven between them.

Of course, the building was not without its share of "trouble". Botsford's father, as a creative person himself, felt he could make changes at his whim. Pointing out to him that the relationship of architect/client is much like the one shared between writer/editor, with the constant changes in a text, he eventually relented.

Budget £55,000
Contractor : Lechenne Construction
Structural Engineers :Tall Engineers
© Photographs copyright Christian Richters

Hotel Tomo

San Francisco's Japantown is now home to Hotel Tomo, a modern J-pop collaboration with artist PCP and asian pop culture magazine moguls Giant Robot.
 
Each of Tomo's 125 rooms feature a PCP mural, Giant Robot goodies, and fresh, modern furniture that hints towards Scandinavia as well as Japan.

Public spaces are equally inviting and the Igloo-style globed rooftop serves as a meeting place for the pop-savvy traveler. You'll even find a Giant Robot vending machine in the lobby filled with toys, magazines, and other Japanese kitsch collectibles

This Halloween Go Green

Go Green with online Halloween invitations from Sendomatic.com. Invitations include scary sounds, funky music and animation! - forget paper invitations this year and go completely electronic. Some favorites:

• Scary Lantern
• Boo
• Devil
• Halloween
• Broom
• Haunted House

Have a ghostly holiday!

2Modern Photo Contest

2Modern is having a Photo Contest! Show us photos of your 2Modern product in your space. One winner per week. Prizes include fabulous product from 2Modern. It's easy to win!

To submit your photo, simply do the following:
1.) Make sure the photo you want to upload has been uploaded into your own Flickr account already.
2.) Go to http://www.flickr.com/groups/2modern/ and click the "Join This Group?" link.
3.) Go to your uploaded photos, find the one of your 2Modern product, and click the SEND TO GROUP icon at the top, then choose "2Modern Photo Contest."
4.) That's it. Good luck!

Here are some example entries:

DISCLAIMER: By participating in the 2Modern Photo Contest, all participants grant 2Modern, its affiliates and assigns, the right to print, publish, broadcast, and use in any manner it deems appropriate worldwide, in any media now known or hereafter developed, including, without limitation, the World Wide Web, at any time or times, the participant's name, photographs and any language contained therein, for public information without additional consideration or compensation. Participants further release 2Modern, its affiliates and assigns from any and all liability, claims, or damages arising out of or relating the participant's submission. All photographs submitted become the property of 2Modern and will not be returned to the entrant.

A Couple of My Favorites from 100% Design, London

Keeping on the theme yet another week of the Design Crack Series exploring purely Dutch and British Design, I wanted to mention that 100% Design in London just ended with a number of really exciting products just exhibited. 100% Design, by the way, is a design exhibition focusing on the latest trends in interior design.

All our exhibitors are vetted by a selection panel that contains the most important movers and shakers in the industry from the UK's foremost contemporary furniture retailers, to a clutch of heavyweight designers. It means that every stand at the show meets our own exacting criteria ensuring that the show is kept truly 100% Design.

While we have always prided ourselves on creating an event where real business can take place, we also believe an exhibition should be fun. Over the years 100% Design has become renowned for the quality of its exhibition design, its food and arguably most important of all its bar. It's a place where visitors can catch up with old friends, be inspired by new ideas and catch a glimpse of the future.

I urge you to look at the 100% design website if you want to see the forefront of interior design, and I'll also include a bunch of other cool links at the end. Now, on to a couple of products that really resonated with me. First, are you an ultramodernist who demands the absolute cleanest sharpest furniture made for your house? Do you live somewhere cold? If you answered yes to these questions, and you have $10,000 + to spend, I suggest a fireplace upgrade to an Encompass. It's like having one of those slick Danish Stereo consoles from the 60s except you throw logs in it and it burns things.

On the less austere and much wittier tip, is a product like Mixko's Footbowl ( a play on football for obvious reasons) . I particularly like this piece because it's a beautifully crafted ceramic representation of a deflated football. Also, I just like the cleverness of this scenario:

Come Home. Football's flat. Should I throw it away? Hell No. Just smoosh it down and it's a fruit bowl. Repurpose whatever you got. No waste.

So, that's two of the 964 products that are featured in this year's exhibition. I leave you to explore the rest. For further reading, check out:

• some images from Flickr
• great coverage of the London Design Week by mocoloco

Jefdesigns Marine Series Silkscreened Panels

New from Jefdesigns - beautifully silkscreened wooden panels from his marine series. Each piece is hand printed on wood by the designer in a signed, limited edition of 60 prints per image. Available with Octopus, Gorgonia, or Seaweed.

Wall Flower

This is not your grandmother's wallpaper. Granted the Julien MacDonald collection at Graham & Brown is drenched with florals and ornate pattern, but without the kitsch or cheesiness. Stylized detail add grace and subtle animation to these wall coverings that its predecessors missed by miles. For rooms with added wow! and pow!, check them out at grahambrown.com