2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

modern tea set by Gaia Gino

Modern creations by Gaia & Gino.

More modern products by this Turkish design house here.

Pepe and his Friends are an adorable new posse whose mission is to brighten up your kitchen. Bonnie, Momo, Sir Randolf and the gang come fully equipped to help you serve in style. Cute is the new cool.  Meet the guys here.

Pepe and Friends collaborated with the prestigious German ceramic manufacturer Rosenthal to create these dashing little workers that love to help out in the kitchen.

 

Butterfly Tea Light Holders

   

Every Spring I love to add a few items to my outdoor living area. This year Butterfly Tea Light Holders adorn my dining table in the trees. $8.00 each. Black or white. 2Modern.com.

The Goose is Loose

Another beautifully designed product from the folks at Pentagram.

This is a Grey Goose Baccarat gift box containing two limited edition Baccarat lead crystal tumblers, an aspirational package that provides the definitive expression of the Grey Goose brand.

Awesome!

--sdotg--

Porcelain Punk - Display Plates Get a Modern Makeover

 Although I can't imagine ever being tired of snow (I've never seen snow...ever!), I understand that many of my northern hemisphere friends are well and truly ready for warmer weather. And what better way to say goodbye to idyllic winter scenes than to sandblast them to oblivion?!

Brooklyn based artist and designer Cat Merrick has done just that, and the results are good enough to eat off.

The surface of these decorative plates are sandblasted to reveal varying degrees of bare unprimed porcelain, then finished with a dinner-friendly glaze. 

The remaining winter scenery seems to be melting away, just in time for Spring. But don't try this at home kids, grandma might not be so impressed if you experiment with her fine china.

Via Extreme Crafts

Merchant No 4: Oh my wood!

I think I love wood products, specially if they make your home life more comfortable.  So it was a very nice surprise to meet the web shop of  Merchant No 4.  They have there many interesting products, but my favorites are made on wood, like this fabulous examples that I show on this post.

As you can see on Poppy Talk, this products are Handcrafts made by Hidetoshi Takahashi in Japan, by the design of Rina Ono. 

Wow, I really fell in love with these!

Via Oh Joy!

Compassionate Modern? Supporting 3rd World Artisans

  You've heard the phrase doing well by doing good? How about doing well by good design? A couple of globally conscious entreprenuers launched Exotic World Gifts last year to bring the creations of remote villages to market, in turn providing the artisans a sustainable income. The clean lines of these bamboo, cinnamonwood and olivewood handcrafted trays, bowls and servers from Bali and Africa would grace any modern table!

        

      

ingrid bathe porcelain ceramics.

Ingrid Bathe's porcelain ceramics are exquisite. She crafts each piece by hand using porcelain paperclay -- it contains cotton fiber creating a visible texture -- and then glazes only the interior side of the piece, leaving the outer layer unglazed. The result is a delicate translucent vessel with a light bluish tint and where glazed, a light blue sheen. By using such a fragile material, the artist intends her work "to provoke a heightened awareness and sensitivity on the part of the viewer."

My fiance and I recently received Ms. Bathe's salt and pepper dish (above) as an engagement present and were really wowed. The translucent dish is accompanied by two tiny spoons that very much resemble small bones -- probably the most fragile thing I've ever held in my hands. And being that I'm quite a clumsy person,  I made sure to place it in a very secure spot. I suppose you could use the salt and pepper dish every day, but I much prefer to use it when entertaining guests, I don't want to push my luck.

To view more of Ms. Bathe's work, check out her Web site, here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

2009 will certainly go down as a very memorable one, to say the least. I think there will be a lot of reflection on what exactly transpired over this past year. There is no need to rehash it all, the Media does a great job at keeping us up to date with every detail possible.

I guess the one thing that I can decipher from all of this is this...if you are in a position of power, and your decisions impact several people, then make sure that you are acting with other people's best interest in mind. Make sure that your integrity is in check and that you are as concerned with other people's well-being as your own.

CEO's, Politicians, Hedge Fund Managers (Ponzi Scheme Operators), Teachers, Parents, etc...we all inherently know right from wrong. We all know when we are looking to 'just get ours', regardless of the end result of our actions on others.

I am sure I am preaching to the choir...as most of the people that are the root cause of some of these current global concerns will likely never read this, let alone have it sink in. Maybe if we start giving more attention to the people that are doing good things for people, doing the right or selfless thing when no one is even watching, then things will start to change in a positive direction. I hope that good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior isn't in 2009. That is my wish.

I sincerely hope that all of you out there have a very Happy, Healthy (and Conscious) New Year!

Greg

China pattern by Alexandre Herchcovitch

Inspired by Africa, its animals and vegetation, famous Brazilian fashion designer Alexandre Herchcovitch created this new china collection for Tok&Stok, Safari. Zebras, giraffes and elephants in warm color are printed in dishes, cups and bowls.