Artist Derek Pearce has been making beautiful, custom ‘water tables’ since 1997
Since 1997, artist and designer Derek Pearce has been creating beautiful, one-of-a-kind ‘water tables‘ where the glass represents the surface of a body of water and the base consists of animals like hippopotamuses, dolphins, otters and seals.
These ‘furniture sculptures’ are made from tempered glass with animals either carved from wood or cast from resin. Derek’s ‘Water Tables’ have been exhibited and sold across the globe and you can even commission your own special water table by Pearce.
Derek also recently launched an online store where you can purchase his more popular designs with the base made from resin.
For more information visit his official website at DerekPearce.com
Lovers of cats and video games will love this Mario Cat Complex by Catastrophic Creations.
The hollow complex with sisal-lined portals allows cats to jump through one end and ‘teleport’ out the other. The boxes are made out of birch wood, the question box is made with pet proof mesh and the entire complex can support up to 85 lbs of feline feistiness.
The Mario Cat Complex is pictured here with the cannon and bullet sets (sold separately). For more information visit Catastrophic Creations.
Designer Jongha Choi built furniture that can collapse into flat, 2D shapes you can hang on your wall
For his Master’s Thesis on contextual design, Jongha Choi built and designed a series of stools and tables that can transform from functional 3D furniture into flat, 2D shapes.
Choi calls the collapsible furniture “De-dimension” and you can see it in action in the embedded video below. This was Choi’s final project at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Previously, the Korean designer had earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Fine Art in Sculpture from Seoul National University in South Korea.
For those interested, you can read his Master’s Thesis here and see more designs from Choi at his official website.
Fallen Furniture uses reclaimed parts from both military and civilian aircraft, giving the pieces new life as functional works of art
Fallen Furniture uses reclaimed, authentic aircraft parts from both military and civilian aircraft, giving the pieces new life as functional works of art.
The design studio is located just outside of Bath in Somerset, England, and all pieces are custom-made to order. From chairs repurposed from old Boeing engine cowlings, to wall clocks made out of fuselage and a drinks cabinet retrofitted inside an old cluster bomb, each piece is built with a strong belief in design as applied art.
For more from Fallen Furniture, check them out at the links below.
At the ECAL low-tech factory, two design students have built a whimsical rocking chair that knits you a hat as you rock back and forth
At the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne’s (ECAL) low-tech factory, two graduate design students have built a whimsical rocking chair that knits you a hat as you rock back and forth.
Swiss designers Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex use a series of gears that are triggered by the rocking chair’s motion to knit the hat.
Low-Tech Factory is a project by ECAL. The university of art and design is based in Renens (in the urban area of Lausanne, Switzerland) and is affiliated to the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland.
It’s one of the best uses of small space we’ve seen
Hong Kong-based architects LAAB have just completed an incredible home that maximizes every inch of this 309 sq ft (28.7 sq m) flat in Hong Kong’s Central district.
The clients had a long wish list that included: full kitchen, bathtub, home cinema, gym, storage—and cat-friendly features for their three furry roommates. After 40 iterations, LAAB came up with a solution that is both functional and elegant.
Hong Kong is one of the world’s most expensive cities where an average square foot costs about US$1,416 [source]. The clients, Andy Knight and Michelle Tennant, had a decision to make:
purchase a flat with about 90 more square feet, or completely redesign and renovate this 309 square foot apartment which was in the location they loved.
To realise their ambitious plans, the team at LAAB had to think beyond static spaces. They began considering time as a factor, eventually designing the space around a “Form Follows Time” philosophy, which means that spaces open and close depending on the purposes needed at that particular time.
The “Form Follows Time” philosophy is best demonstrated by the bathtub area of the apartment. This one space can take the following forms:
1. The traditional bathroom with bathtub.
2. Separate bathtub so that a guest can shower while the host brushes teeth or vice versa
3. 2nd tier seating creating a two tiered home cinema or seating for large groups of friends
4. Guest bedroom for short stay guests
The apartment was not only designed for Michelle and Andy but also for their three cats, Banoffee, Dumpling and Tuxedo. Cat areas include a cat walk around the ceiling, cat ladder, litter box hidden beneath the bathroom sink, cat food trays hidden within the kitchen cabinets and a hidden den for them to relax in.
Materials, details and mechanical systems were all strategically designed to keep the spaces dry, cleanable, cat-friendly, and free of undesirable smells. As an example, the cat toilet has been equipped with its own ventilation system that pulls smells out of the building. [source]
A range of app-controlled smart home technologies have also been implemented, primarily Philips Hue bulbs and the August smart lock. The lights are able to slowly brighten the room in the morning, giving the couple a gentle wake-up while the door lock means they can enter effortlessly or send electronic keys to friends to help them look after their cats. [source]
For his art residency at the White House Farm in Suffolk, UK, artist Alex Johnson carved this incredible chair from a single large oak stump
For his art residency at the White House Farm in Suffolk, UK, artist Alex Johnson carved this incredible chair from a single large oak stump.
Entitled Glemham I, the magnificent oak chair took roughly six months to complete and was debuted at the 2014 Alde Valley Spring Festival. For more information visit the official blog posts on the chair here and here.
Based out of Lynden, Washington, Klassen works by himself, creating one-of-kind pieces by hand
Artist Gregory Klassen (featured previously) creates one-of-a-kind furniture that uses glass to transform knots and live edges in wood into rivers and lakes.
Based out of Lynden, Washington in the US’s pacific northwest; Klassen works by himself, creating one piece at a time by hand.
If you’re interested in any of his works, check out his online store here. For more, be sure to get his latest updates at the links below.
At her family’s carpet factory in Buenos Aires, artist Alexandra Kehayoglou noticed there were piles of discarded thread lying around
At her family’s carpet factory in Buenos Aires, visual artist Alexandra Kehayoglou noticed there were piles of discarded thread lying around. Inspired by the beautiful natural landscapes of her native Argentina, Kehayoglou used the discarded pieces to create unique wool rugs that resemble grasslands, meadows, moss and forests.
The textile is weaved (handtuft system) with a pistol that the artist manipulates in racks of vertical format to create point by point the weft that will breed the final piece.
Below you will find a select gallery of her incredible one-of-a-kind wool rugs. For more, check out her work at the links below.
“No matter how beautiful or sophisticated our designs might be, the shapes we find in nature are often more mysterious and intriguing” – Sebastian Errazuriz
Sebastian Errazuriz is a Chilean born, New York based artist and designer that is highly regarded for his original and provocative works on a variety of areas and disciplines. Raised in London, Errazuriz obtained a design degree in Santiago and an MFA from New York University.
Tackling everything from political artworks to giant public art projects, experimental furniture to product design and women’s shoes to motorcycles; Errazuriz is known as a prodigious and obsessive workaholic.
In an ongoing series of ‘functional sculptures‘, Sebastian creates shelving units, coffee tables and desks from fallen branches and dead trees. The series “attempts to let the natural forms found in nature dictate the majority of design,” with subtle additions of supporting rods and glass to accentuate the tree’s natural beauty. Errazuriz adds:
“no matter how beautiful or sophisticated our designs might be, the shapes we find in nature are often more mysterious and intriguing”
Sebastian Errazuriz is represented by Cristina Grajales Gallery and Salon94 in New York. For more from the artist, check out the links below.
