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That’s a Juicer?

Nothing like a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice to kick start the day. The Seed is product aimed to make that task easier without offending your minimalist aesthetic. It’s supposed to look like a seed pod of sorts, hence its name. Put an orange in and squeeze that clamshell shut time. Juice collects into a reservoir below. I won’t knock it but I’ve always thought juicing requires a twisting motion to be the most effective. Oh and about that cup of OJ in the morn; don’t drink it after you brush your teeth. Yuck!

Designer: Gray Goh Szjin

The Perfect Gift for the Historic Boat Builder

If that special person in your life happens to be a New England lobsterman from the late 19th century, I know he would appreciate this chair based on the framework of historic “pea pod” boats. Designed by Palette Industries out of Canada, it comes from the same folks who brought us the Dhama Lounge. I can’t say it looks overly comfortable (having no back and all), but I’m willing to buy anything with that much visual appeal.

Designer: Palette Industries

More Disturbing Machinations from Isolation Unit

When I make my own studio, I’m going to call it Friends Party. And we will do battle with Isolation Unit, the studio of Teruhiro Yanagihara- the designer of this fantastic little flower pot creation. To activate the pot, all you have to do is follow the instructions given by the nice lady in the preview picture: open, expand over cup, look approvingly, and insert flower!

Designer: Teruhiro Yanagihara at Isolation Unit

The Power of Seating, I’m Queen Elizabeth

In an effort to transform the norm into the eccentric, the concept of power was explored through seating. This includes the power of mind, body and identity represented through three symbolic figures: Queen Elizabeth II, “The Thinker” by Rodin, and Superman. To express each character, a standard chair was transformed to personify each power and to explain their unique meanings individually. The final exhibition is called Power of Seating.

Designers: Sung-Hyun Kyung, Jesse Weser & Gesthimani Papadopoulou

90° Furniture Makes Your World Super Flat!

So you aren’t satisfied with your folding chairs, huh? You say that your sleeping bag isn’t cutting it anymore. You want true flatness. You want to be able to really fold your furniture up. Kaptein and Bolt will flatten it out for you. Here’s 90° Furniture for your paper-thin, flippy-floppy world.

Designers: Louwrien Kaptein & Menno Bolt

Slimdesk Hides All Your Office Supply Unmentionables

Another practical furniture design from Manuelsaez, the Slimdesk reconfigures a desk’s drawers top open on the top of the desk, rather than the sides. Also hiding a power strip and USB ports beneath its cherry veneer, the desk takes everything in to account, even using one of its hollow legs for cable management. Now if it only came with a IV caffeine drip and a bed pan, I would never have to leave my desk.

Designer: Manuelsaez

A Lounge Fit for Captain Kirk

I know I’m not the only one salivating over the forthcoming Star Trek movie, so to appease our mutual appetites for the franchise reset I present the Daybed from Manuelsaez. Designed for its client Humanscale, Manuelsaez attempted to prevent unhealthy postures born of coffee table and couch computing. Although Intended for light home office use, anyone with one of these in their den is definitely putting in extra hours on the ol’ intertubes.

Designer: Manuelsaez

Stacking Awesomeness

Miso Soup Design are designers of some sort. There is a lot of architectural speculation on their site which we chose to skip over. However of interest is their Za Stool, found in their furniture department. We’re not ones for furniture speculation, but this one looks simple and interesting. It’s a bent plywood stool, visually reminiscent of Sori Yanagi’s famous 1956 Butterfly Stool, with the exception that this one is stackable. Take the two halves apart, and voila! Stackable stool. Simple and brilliant.

Designer: Miso Soup Design

Wood Lock and Slides Together, Kinky!

The Karma Chair is a stylish piece of furniture designed for comfort and simplicity. It’s ergonomically shaped for lounging but the real story is the construction. Made from 2 identically shaped pieces of layered and formed bamboo veneer. They’re individually finished with opposing mating details so they slide-lock together with simple hardware. Flat pack shipping means this thing is destined for IKEA which in turns means it has a 100% chance ending up in my living room. DO WANT!

Designer: Jeffrey Wollenzien

Stand Forget Breathe Acknowledge Observe

I’ve heard it said that there are no new ideas, only great executions. If there’s one thing the Dharma Lounge is, it’s a great execution. Using type to constitute structure isn’t a fantastically new idea, but this lounger from Palette Industries will no doubt gives anyone pause. I’m still a bit dodgy on how to take the apparent instructions printed on the chair, but I’m willing to sit down and think about it for a while.

Designer: Palette Industries

Specific Materiality

Blurring the line between sculpture, furniture, and millwork is one of our favorite topics. These days the categories are not as easily definable as they once were. First and foremost there is the influence of new technologies, which are sometimes turned into a style in and of itself. More interesting to me is the blurring of attention that allows young designers to simply ignore any form of category. That is why we are very partial to custom furniture masters at Martin Sprouse Furniture.

Designer: Martin Sprouse

The Next Big Thing: Masochistic German Furniture

Designed deliberately to be uninviting, the Unidentified Object Chair by Prime supposedly redefines what our perspective on furniture should be. While the bottom half is comprised of laminated wood, the top half of the painful pyramid is filled with foam for a ‘comfortable sit’. I’m not saying this is a complete waste of fabric and timber, but I’m not a fan of anything that tries this hard to make us think about design.

Designers: Prime

Polish Tour De Force

The Slovak Republic is attempting to launch itself onto designs world stage with the newly formed “Exhibition Creator 2008″ While the name is as cryptic as it is uninspiring, the talent being unearthed is certainly worth some attention.

The “Neon Lamp” my look like lighting from space, but for designer Lucia Mrvíková its inspiration is actually a lot closer to home.

Exhibition: Creater