French-Brazilian architects Triptyque offer some spectacular design ideas for one of their past projects, a private apartment in São Paulo.

I'm not a big fan of organic forms, but the (sexily) curvy bookcase that wraps around the building’s circulation is a stunner in every way. As the architects spoke of this monumental structure, it "embraces the technical core of the building (elevators and stairs). It presents itself in every room and defines the whole project: through the bookcase is made the entrance to the apartment, like walking into a cave, through the dark towards the light."

The kitchen is equally impressive: "a great concrete stone – from where fire arises – that stands in the center of the project. It is the element of encountering and articulation and is placed in the central position, speaking directly to the great structure (the bookcase)." The ultra-long cantilevered table top that adjoins the island unit amazes me.



Stan

Curly-Sue is a strange-looking but cleverly designed desk lamp from Wendy Tytherleigh. The collapsible spiral shade allows the user to achieve varying light levels.


KUS

I can't decide if this limited edition White Treasure Clock is stylish or just plain bad taste. And I'm definitely not buying it for US$130. But it does provide room for thought on what you can stick right there and make your own version, doesn't it?

Stan

Images that interest me a lot this past week - both at work and on a personal level.

An Indian Summer


Alda Pereira, Canada

Anna Monahova, Russia

Made Wijaya (Michael White), Indonesia

Yun-Yi Interior Design Studio, Taiwan

I await Time magazine's Design 100 list every year. This year, the list once again covers the cream of the crop in various design categories, including Bathsheba Grossman's Quin.MGX (for lighting category), Dezeen (for website) and Jean-Marie Massaud's Manned Cloud (for hotel), an experimental airship or blimp that is also a hotel with a capacity of 40 guests and 15 staff.


Stan

Minimalist maven Naoto Fukasawa of Japanese design house Plusminuszero has turned one of the ugliest objects in the household - the humidifier - into a work of domestic art. Link


KUS

Maki Kahori's illustration is magnificent. Via Frame


Stan

Teuco has presented the Rotator shower by Ron Arad during I Saloni 2008. The Rotator can slowly turn around, thus serving as either a bath tub or a shower. You can drain out the water just by turning the model upwards to its position as a shower (see below).

I really dig this idea, though I'm not sure how much space it'll take up...


Stan

Teresa dropped me an email yesterday, pointing me to an ultra-cool line of concrete tables created by artists Parvez Taj and concrete artisan James Dewulf. You may really like this...

The duo have combined their talents and unveiled a line of contemporary concrete tables printed with Taj's fresh, hip graphic designs. The project was made possible by the use of ground breaking printing technology that uses UV light to cure eco-friendly inks. The cement table is a sustainable alternative to using natural stones which generally involve large quarries and requires massive amounts of fuel consumption. Dewulf and Taj broke conventions by pioneering a new technology to design an edgy, functional yet earth friendly piece.

PLAY+SOFT specializes in stylish soft furnishings for creative play in interior settings. Developed from an idea by Maurizio Fontanili, with the pedagogical consultancy of Reggio Children (a team of twenty-eight innovative international designers) and the art direction of ZPZ Partners, these products aim to introduce new sensory and aesthetic qualities into interior environments for children, based on the notion that 'children have a right to beauty'.


Stan

Christiaan Postma's clock is by far the most complicated (and bizarre) one I've ever seen.


KUS

Thanks to a Korean designer called Choi, Byung Hoon, I rediscovered the unpretentious and primitive beauty of the stone. Link

White is one of the worst colors for interiors? Link


Stan

CL3, Hong Kong

Mink Architects, Singapore


Ingrid Baltasi, U.S

The Putman is the latest service apartment collaboration between Andrée Putman and Hong Kong’s leading property developer National Properties Holdings Limited. Located in the Central area, The Putman offers the magnificent city and harbor views of Hong Kong in an elegant setting.

Stan

My favorite design concept of the week is Shinpan Athichathanabadee's BAM series of chair and table, which cleverly displays the versatility of bamboo as a material for home furnishings. The designer from Thailand's Trimode Studio carved out unique-looking furniture pieces by slicing and bending parts of the bamboo tubes into arcs.

Via Frame

IKEA's latest marketing tool: the Kobe Portliner Monorail. Link


KUS

Jo Nagasaka (of Tokyo-based Schemata Architecture Office) shows us how to 'design' a bench with six chairs, one plank and some books.

No, these tables are not Transformers. But they come close.

I can't stand the colors, but Karim Rashid's Flap serves the best of both worlds: as a table with round top or one with a rectangular one.

I've been getting a little health-conscious as of late. Yes, you know the usual stuff that come with it: eating healthier food and sitting around less. And as if that's not enough, I've been hitting the gym much more. Life can be a struggle at times, and it's incredible how getting all sweaty - magically - rejuvenates the body and mind altogether.

That brings me to point you to this chic private fitness and wellness area designed by Italy's BRH+. Located at the basement of a private residence in Firenze, this gym is set to get the heart pumping. Those walls – definitely the eye-catchers of the space – consist of red, black and pale-grey pads that overlap like the scales you see on a snake.

The cushioned ‘shingles’ – each a MDF panel clad in a matte PVC-like material – are individually attached to the walls with metal rings. By covering both side walls with these custom-made pads, the designers emphasized the length of the interior and amplified its sense of spaciousness.

Adjoining the gym is a spa. The design here is calm and tranquil, the perfect environment to spend the afternoon after a workout.


Stan

If you think decorating up a home is a lot of hard work, wait till you see the process of setting up shop at Milan's Salone del Mobile.

Bhavna, our Design Asia partner over at An Indian Summer, has compiled a bunch of beautiful South East Asian rooms.


KUS

This just about proves that everything under the sun and in the home can be re-designed to be better-looking, if not to function better.

Artecnica recently launched WirePod, a multi-point electrical 'power pod', in Milan. Designed by Dutch designer Joris Laarman, this device is made of thermoplastic rubber and branches out from the power source into four curled arms, each with a single three-pin socket. Its arms and body roll and unfurl as needed to accommodate the user's usage.




Stan