dsgn | drinking corner: cornered - James Laurie

March 29th, 2010

London designer James Laurie has cut the top of a drinking glass into a point so that it can be used to trap spiders in the corner of a room.

Called Cornered, the tumbler can still be used for drinking.

Here’s a tiny bit of text from the designer:

Cornered

Frustrated with spiders and other insects trapping themselves within a corner of a room making it difficult to catch them, to counter this common problem a glass was designed to fit the shape of the corner.

A tumbler glass was cut and shaped to a right angle. The design also functions as a drinking glass.

dsgn | ladder where you want - itay laniado

Israeli designer Itay Laniado has designed a collapsible ladder held together by a strap under tension.

The strap is tightened with a ratchet and forms two rungs of the ladder once assembled.

A loop in the strap acts as a handle once collapsed.

“The ladder is a tension system that relays on the ratchet to hold it, no screws or glue involved,” says Laniado. “The ladder is also collapsible: it can be disassembled and assembled in a more compact way.”

pckgng | self-made-sound: GGRP folding cardboard phonograph

Now that hardly anyone owns a record player, record jackets today must also serve as their own record players. Hence: audio firm, GGRP’s brilliant “cardboard record player” promotion.

Thank to Breno, who commented below, we now know that this particular record-playing cardboard package was actually developed in the late 1960s by GRN, The Global Recording Network, a Christian missionary organization. 

Using this package for GGRP’s promo was apparently the idea of Geoff Dawson, associate director at Grey Vancouver who handled GGRB’s re-branding. The self-sufficient packaging makes a very low tech, yet audio-capable record player. According to Dawson, “It’s actually shocking how good the sound quality is.”

dsgn | david taylor makes scaffold became object

Designer David Taylor has created an LED lamp using a clamp, folded tube and a found yellow shade.

Taylor has created a pair of candlesticks each made of three silver tubes clamped together by a found plastic component to form a tripod.  

The text below is from David Taylor:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

My work with complimentary interior objects is made on a very small scale. Often made to order and place specific. This lamp utilises a dimmable LED unit giving a good reading light. The shade is plastic, cannabalized from a fleamarket find, as are the plastic construction elements. The candlesticks are made from silver, the light source here being of course a candle.

Made for a private client as part of a larger interior project.

dsgn | when simple is simple - kink osko+deichmann

Berlin design duo Osko+Deichmann will present a collection of tubular steel and pine furniture at Helmrinderknecht Gallery for Contemporary Design in Berlin later this week.

The complet set include chair seats and backs, table tops and shelves.

The project will be on show as part of an exhibition named Funktionale Beschädigung – The Beauty of Deliberate Kinks, Dents and Bends.

The text below is from Osko+Deichmann:

On show is a family of tubular steel furniture called “Kink”. The tubing used in the furniture is not bent – as is normally the case – but rather functionally folded, dented and kinked.

The chairs, tables and other furniture derive their final form and function by means of this intentional process of “damaging” the tubular steel.

The process’ traces, which would normally be regarded as defects, are in fact integral to the design.

The chairs, tables and other furniture derive their final form and function by means of this intentional process of “damaging” the tubular steel: the process’ traces, which would normally be regarded as defects, are in fact integral to the design.

For the exhibition, “Happy Birthday Bauhaus”, we created the “Straw Chair”, a functional homage to the classic Cantilever Chair made of kinked, tubular steel.

A second four-legged and stackable version of the “Straw Chair” was introduced on the occasion of the Stockholm Furniture Fair by Blå Station in 2010. It was bestowed the +1 Award for the year’s best new product.

The “Kink” series consists of a table, chair, writing table, cantilever chair, sideboard, shelf, coffee table and floor lamp made of tubular steel, pine wood and clamps.

All exhibited objects are part of a small limited edition and exclusively available at HELMRINDERKNECHT contemporary design gallery.

dsgn awrd | min-kyu choi wins brit insurance design of the year Award 2010

Min-Kyu Choi designed the prioduct while studying at the Royal College of Art. See our earlier story about the project here.

All the shortlisted projects (see our earlier story) remain on show at the museum until 6 June. See the seven category winners here.

Above: jury chair Antony Gormley and Min-Kyu Choi

dsgn | quinze & milan and eastpak

Belgian design brand Quinze & Milan will present a sofa covered in pockets for backpack company Eastpak at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan next month.

dsgn | rem d.koolhaas & galahad clark.united nude shoes

Dutch architect Rem D Koolhaas and British shoemaker Galahad Clark have launched the latest collection of footwear for their brand United Nude.

The collection includes new versions of their Eamz design (above), a tribute to American designers Charles and Ray Eames.

United Nude have also collaborated with Dutch fashion designer Antoine Peters to create Label Shoe (above), covered with banners bearing the designer’s name.

See our top ten stories about shoes here.

More about United Nude on Dezeen: Flagship store in Amsterdam (November 2009)

dsgn | yiannis ghikas.game of trust

Athens designer Yiannis Ghikas has designed a coat rack comprising three Y-shaped components leaning against each other.

Called Game of Trust, the prototype is made of wood and relies on each part supporting and being supported by the other two.

dsgn | K.Rashid bobble, bobble, bobble

Designer Karim Rashid has created a bottle that filters tap water as the user drinks it.

Called Bobble, the product features a replaceable carbon filter, available in six colours.

Each cartridge can filter up to 150 litres.

dsgn | paul smith for stelton

Fashion designer Paul Smith has reworked a coffee pot by late Danish designer Arne Jacobsen to mark the 50th anniversary of Danish brand Stelton.

Smith has selected a range of 12 colours for the handles of the stainless steel Cylinda coffee pots, from bright tones to pastels.

The British designer has also created a corresponding collection of stainless steel bowls with 54 different colours applied to their inside surfaces and lids, called Dot.

dsgn | Twilight by Anicka Yi & Maggie Peng

Anicka Yi & Maggie Peng
Shigenobu Twilight
This is the first handcrafted scent by NY artist Anicka Yi and architect Maggie Peng. The fragrance is inspired by the Fusako Shigenobu, former leader of the Japanese Red Army, who was believed to be in exile in Lebanon for many years after orchestrating some of the group’s most political statements. Yi and Peng have chosen cedar wood as a central theme of this fragrance’s narrative, as cedar is highly regarded in Lebanon as a national emblem. The scent uses three different kinds of cedar wood as its base note, along with violet leaf and nutty heart notes, and top notes of yuzu, shiso leaf, and black pepper. The packaging for this hand-distilled fragrance is made of raw cedar wood, each bottle uniquely (and painstakingly) hand-cut by the creators in architectural geometry, encasing a 10ml glass bottle of liquid within. Shigenobu pics by Noah Sheldon!

grfk | Daniel Carlsten

dsgn | A.M.L. Clamp Light by Andreas Martin-Löf

Swedish studio Andreas Martin-Löf Architects have designed a lamp with a brass clamp for attaching it to shelves.

Called A.M.L. Clamp Light, the product was designed to use components produced by the studio’s Swedish suppliers.

The production run for the A.M.L. Clamp Light is limited to 100 numbered pieces. The components were all produced by manufacturers throughout Sweden that have acted as suppliers to A.M.L. Architects during the year. Final assembly and packing were located to the A.M.L. office in Stockholm.