2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Anderson Horta

Anderson Horta`s designs are special because they are not only (lovely) objects, they also express emotions. Anderson, who was born and lives in the Brazilian countryside city of Sabará, transforms his childhood memories into products. In addition, he has a very good understanding of different materials, such as acrylic and ceramics.

Anderson is still looking for a partnership, to begin a large scale production. In the meantime, he keeps a blog and a website, where you can buy his creations.

 

 

 

Fusion Tables for "Fun"ctional Dining Rooms

We know two different couples whom, in the interest of lifestyle, have placed pool tables in their formal dining rooms. Great idea for casual California living, but on the few occasions they actually need the dining space their guests are, of course, left with sticks instead of forks. Voila! The new multi-functional fusion table offers recreation or dining with the flip of a cover.....make that a streamlined contemporary veneered cover that comes in five finishes. The table originates from Belgium, designed and manufactured by Aramith-Armand Billiards, a group who's been in the business since 1923. This one definitely goes into the"why didn't I think of that" category!

 

     

10% off Spot On Square!

Exclusive 2Modern promo! Receive 10% off all Spot on Square items during the entire month of May. This adorably modern kids and baby line is Eco-friendly and made in the USA. Product ships fast! Use promo code: SPOT10 at checkout to receive your discount.

Lampa sponsors earth-friendly educational projects

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day, I thought I'd share a couple of good deeds from eco-friendly lighting company, Lampa.  The company has sponsored some great educational projects in their New York community.  Check out this smiley bug designed by school children and  made of laundry detergent bottles. The polar bears were constructed entirely out of plastic bags and the windmobiles provided a lesson in harnessing the potential of a new powersource. Lampa's entire line of wood veneer lighting is completely sustainable (no whitewashing here!) from FSC certified woods and environmentally safe processing to green packing and shipping materials. Check out Lampa for their colorful contemporary collection and for more info on the educational projects.

Baby Star Price Reduction!

Baby Star has just lowered their prices on 2Modern! Times are hard, and Baby Star is doing their part to help you save money!

Does your baby need to be sedated?

Then you gotta check out Rockabye Baby ! A cool little shop that takes the likes of the Ramones, ACDC, Bob Marley, Beatles, Metalica, Coldplay and more and turns them into lullaby's. Although we all like the old school lullaby's,  hearring the the music of Joey Ramone in a soothing cradle song pulls at my heart strings.

Staffed by music lovers from all corners of the world. Headquartered in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake, the label was born of the need to make children's music cool--not only for babies but for their parents too. Turning to their record collections for inspiration: punk, metal, classic rock, the resulting albums are revolutionary yet reverential. In other words, the perfect gift for a newborn, new parents, or yourself.
 

 

 

Monte on 2Modern.com!

Monte is now on 2Modern! Monte Design Group was founded by designers Ralph and Michelle Montemurro who envisioned comfortable, functional and design-driven products for the nursery and home. Their furniture line aims to be pure and uncluttered, yet warm and welcoming. Each piece includes clean lines, superior quality, and exceptional comfort. Offering gliders, such as the Luca Glider and Low Rider Glider (with matching Luca and Low Rider Ottomans), as well as the Alto Rocker, Monte brings you beautiful, well-crafted, Modern luxury for you and your child.

New from OFFI

OFFI has some fun new chairs and lamps to brighten things up! The classic Perch Lounge is now available in Ebony or Ivory Leather. Hand-blown glass lamps like the Cupstack Lamp, Zig Zag Lamp, and the Flare Tower Lamp make for fun lighting with a modern twist. The Cachet Swivel Suspension Chair gives perfect balance to your posture and the environment, since it's 99% recyclable! And the minimal yet comfortable Paket Table and Paket Chair Set can be folded up and packed away, saving room without sacrificing visual appeal.

IdeaPaint Sparks a Playroom Makeover

When I first heard about IdeaPaint, I thought what a brilliant concept! Created by a couple of colleagues feeling constrained brainstorming on a small dry-erase board, IdeaPaint provides anywhere-dry-erase coverage and won multiple awards at NeoCon in 2008. A single can of IdeaPaint covers 50sq ft. This is definitely too good a concept to be limited to the workplace.  We decided to give our 5 year old daughter a permanent canvas in her playroom. Ulterior motive? - saving space and paper!  We created three trees on the playroom wall so mates could have drawing space too.  We've encouraged her to save the higher branches for her teenage years.

Some tips for this weekend project? First be patient. IdeaPaint is so new to the market, most retailers still don't carry it. We ordered ours online. It's a bit pricey, but will last until you paint over it - and we figured we'd save on the cost of newsprint pads and rolls. The shipment comes with one foam roller but I'd recommend picking up a few foam brushes for any small areas you need to cut in. We taped our tree outlines with masking tape and cut out leaves from decorative paper  (a great piece of the project for the kids to help with). IdeaPaint is environmentally friendly and does not off-gas once day, but the application needs to be well ventilated.  It goes on a bit like Elmers glue and dries fast; so if you are new at painting you may consider using a contractor.

Below are some more wall application ideas from the IdeaPaint website sure to spark ideas of your own!

Greener Gadgets 09

Greener Gadgets, now in its second year, is a one-day conference scheduled for February 27, 2009 and features key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Fastronaut toy concept, modeled after the pedometer. Powered by play, each figure has a rechargeable battery, and each vehicle has a dynamo.  Each Fastronaut has a power indicator that can be pressed to make the Fastronaut talk. Children get instant feedback as they create energy, and that is strong motivation to be active.

Move Your Energy- Move Your Energy is a rocking shell chair with an LED lamp specially designed for reading. The armchair is power independent - a dynamo provides the electric energy for the lamp which is connected to a special kinematic mechanism. This mechanism is very similar to the one that is characteristic in steam engines. It works together with a lever that runs a fly-weel disk when you rock.

The Power Hog-  designed to capture the interest of parents and kids alike and serve the wider environmental cause. Power-Hog visually and symbolically associates power conservation with savings by using the iconic piggy bank as a visual reference. Kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or video game by feeding the Power-Hog with loose change. The Power-Hog meters consumption and blinks red when time is running out. It also helps parents meter the amount of time spent watching the tube.

You can see more of these gadgets and vote on them here.