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Dutch Design in Battery Park

Located in the heart of Manhattan’s waterfront Battery Park sits the recently completed New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion, a $2.3 million gift from the Kingdom of the Netherlands to New York City in honor of their shared values of innovation, creativity, diversity, & progress. The structure will be a major transportation hub, serving over 150,000 visitors & residents with visitor information & locally grown food at one of Lower Manhattan’s newest & most dynamic cultural gateways.

Designer: Architect Ben van Berkel / UNStudio

The Dark Side of Design

There is something really nasty about the Design Industry; something many know of but never really spoke of. In our ever-competitive society, we always seem to celebrate the winners, and outcast the losers. We often talk about the one that made it to the top and leave no space for second place.

Urban Diversity in Motion

This MA degree project at the Royal College of Art, MONOFORM addresses the automotive industry’s lack of cultural relevance. It stands as a point of view towards progressive mobility experiences that connect with the emerging philosophies of the 21st century and speaks directly to those who feel alienated by the conservative symbolism applied in modern automotive design.

Designer: Fernando Ocaña

Light Under My Bottom, Light Under My Drink

In an ideal world, we can touch any object in our environment to activate its inner-light. This will allow those of us who are night-owls to live in a well-lit workplace (or playplace) with light above us, below us, or all around us. When this day comes, it will be a magically all-lit fairyland of glee and friendship. Today we are one step closer to that dream with this light-seat-or-table from a mister Gilles Rivière, who names his light-tribution “Ti.Galet!”

Designer: Gilles Rivière and partners

Mesmerizing Table

Inspired by the intrigue of optical art, this pair of bespoke Lexham bedside tables plays with both the user’s understanding and vision, creating the illusion that the flat tiered sections are warping. The legs’ use of acute angles creates a forced perspective that further piques the viewer’s interest. Fabricated from Corian, the thermochromic liquid sheets are laser cut to size and shape. The inlay surface is also temperature sensitive, going through the color spectrum from deep red to dark blue as it responds to hot and cold.

Designer: Studio801

Small Budget? A New Door Can Work Wonders

The Iosa Ghini Collection is a collection of artful modern styled doors to liven up even the most boring spaces. The collection spans the gamut with art nouveau, complete with floral motifs, sweeping arches that turn in on itself, and overlapping lines. Not your cup of tea? How about textural surfaces? The Interprets Textrix series screams luxury with its leather finishes and detailed trim. Still not feeling it? How about the Materia line with its carved reliefs, a play between fine oak and cold metal.

Designer: Massimo Iosa Ghini

The Real Man’s Shaving Kit

Though it’s something I’ve only been able to appreciate in the last year or so, I believe the right shaving kit is a man’s best friend, & can also speak volumes about someone’s personality. Hail Perret is a sexy & stylish kit by designer Niclas Andersson that celebrates the art of the traditional straight razor shave in a minimal yet natural looking roll-up pack stripped down to the bare necessities: razor, lather, bowl, bristle brush, aftershave, & face towel. Perfect for the grooming craftsman or renaissance man.

Designer: Niclas Andersson

Artistic Robots Have A Future

The year is 2058 and you’re bored of the drab walls of your home. Your change in mood is sensed and from a discreet corner a strange spider-like creature whirs into life and scampers across the wall. You’re about to shriek and then you realize there’s nothing to worry about; it’s just your handy, Artificial Intelligent artistic robot, stamping out a Mona Lisa on the wall for you. Folks, let me present to you the Da Vinci of the future: xirrou.

Designer: Christian Gumpold

Uniquely CKIE

In today’s mass produced and mass consumer market, it’s harder to find unique items. Design is/has become “common” and the really original pieces are priced far beyond what the average person can afford. Product design should be a vehicle for great utility and art accessible by everyone. Projects on CKIE like traditional ceramic making with a modern twist and upcycling a discarded sofa to an exceptional ping-pong paddle case are unique, rare and remarkable. We need to support these kinds of designs.

Designers: Various

Sauna of Mammoth Proportions

Everyone’s favorite ice age creature is the focus of this sauna by AtelierForte. The last in a series of huge animalian sculptures that aim to join art and positive industrial construction, Mammuthus Belli features a 10 meter high body and support structure made of spruce as well as 6 meter long iron tusks. Water flows under the belly as well as through the trunk from a tank located inside the iron head. See the making of the mammoth on April 15th!

Designer: AtelierForte

I Just Don’t See The Time

Let’s call this a Swiss Watchmaker’s worst nightmare, a clock where you can barely see the time. We are so caught up in our own time-warps that we rarely get an excuse to pause and ponder. The Soft Clock here is best described as “an incessantly twisting art-object than a proper instrument for time measurement.” For those who want constant reminders of the persistent tick-tok, get a real clock. Let this Soft one be for us dreamers……

Designer: Egor Myznik

Tea Party

I’m not a fussy tea drinker and don’t give a rat’s tail about blend, brew or steeping, but I have this tea connoisseur cousin who has painstakingly mastered the art of brewing his perfect cuppa. For the impatient and the perfectionists alike, we have the Tesera Teemachine. It is an automated tea machine that dishes out the perfect cup by controlling the brewing time, water temperature and the amount of tea, depending upon the blend being used. This is how it should be!

Designer: Tobias Gehring