Still Life: Steuben Glass Artware

Tags: beth lipman, glass, glass art, steuben crystal, Steuben Glass, Still Life

The fascinating world of glass art has only been around for a few decades, but is one of the most interesting and popular uses of glass. The use of shiny, clear or dusky glass in the production of any object, be it artistic or practical in nature, lends to it a beauty that is hard to reproduce with any other material.

This month, Steuben Glass will launch Still Life, a collection of glassware inspired from still life paintings from between the seventeenth and the twentieth century. Designed by artist Beth Lipman, the collection which will make its appearance on the 16th is aimed at capturing the metaphorical beauty that the inspirational paintings had followed. However, unlike a painting, this collection which includes a number of fruits, flowers and other objects will have a continuously changing view, as manipulated by the viewer.

Read the rest of this entry »

FormTank Unveils 2d3d Tables

Tags: 2d3d, FormTank, Industrial Design, Metal Origami, Tables

We have always been covering interesting furniture designs and this has to be one of the most interesting we have covered so far. FormTank recently launched 2d3d tables, and is a London based design company. The table looks slightly industrial, and quite beautiful. The table is cut from a single sheet of steel and is then folded into a position as can be seen in the final product.

This may remind you of metal origami and is sustainable and also reduces transportation and manufacturing costs. Very little steel that is used is discarded and you could be rest assured that you are not harming the environment with this stylish and industrial looking table. The table appears neat, clean and is ergonomic and would accentuate the chicness of your space. The table is yet to be released, and hence prices are not known yet.

Via: GearCrave

Rough Diamonds: Pimped Up Furniture Collection by Lee Broom

Tags: Armchair, Chair, Corner girl, diamonds, Lee Broom, London Design Festival, Luminaire Berger, Milan furniture Fair, Neo Neon, neon lights, rough diamonds

Diamonds are forever and how could we possible go through a day without being near them. This seems to have been in the mind of designer Lee Broom when he presented a line of furniture, titled Rough Diamonds. The Art Furniture collection presented at the London Design Festival is created with the intention of making a melange of the vintage and the modern. Lee strived to accentuate the beauty of each of the ancient pieces by imbibing a piece of contemporary design into it, creating a hybrid that would be in fashion within a modern decor, too.

The leather armchair with the lights, Club Chair, does appear as though it has been splattered with sparkling diamonds and the same look is achieved by the Corner Girl and Side Show (though sitting on these two pieces may prove difficult!) Bright on Bistro and Luminaire Berger have been outlined with neon lights, reminiscent of Lee’s debut collection, Neo Neon. The collection, which also made an appearance at the 2008 Milan furniture Fair, has been sold to New York, Paris, London, Kuwait and Las Vegas.

Via: Dezeen

Grand Pianist: World’s Tiniest Piano Being Sold on eBay

Tags: Beethoven, eBay, Grand Pianist, grand piano, Japanese, mini piano, replica

Beethoven may still be deemed the world’s best piano player and may have claimed to be able to play with any piano, but I bet if he was alive he wouldn’t be any better at playing this piano than you or me. The Grand Pianist is a miniature replica of a grand piano, and it can actually play a number of tunes. The tiny piano is being flaunted as the world’s tiniest piano and is up for sale on eBay. The shiny black piano, complete with its own tiny music sheet and stool, weighs just 7.9 pounds.

The SEGA Yamaha grand piano has 100 built-in songs, stored in a chip, that plays with just a touch of a button situated on top of the piano. The sound is delivered via speakers. This Japanese product can be bought off eBay at $500. Mass producing the mini piano wouldn’t be a bad idea as a lot of people would see this as a chance to teach themselves how to play a piano in the privacy of their rooms (the keys actually move with the music). And Japan, as the forerunners in robot making, may soon make a mini tutor to go with the tiny piano!

Via: TechBlog

The Art of Sheep Stomach Lampshade by Julia Lohmann

Tags: Art, Julia Lohmann, Lampshade, Nazi, Sheep, sheepskin, Stomach, UK

First you shave him of all his fur to make a pretty sweater out of it, then you cut him up and eat up all his flesh, and finally you make a lampshade out of his stomach. Sounds familiar? Those are the three uses of a sheep and if the third does not seem familiar to you, apart from being slightly repulsive, then let UK-based artist Julia Lohmann explain. Lohmann insists a sheep stomach should not be considered disgusting when we already wear its fur and eat its flesh. And to stress on this point, she has gone ahead and made lampshades out of sheep stomach.

Making the lampshade takes some time, since the stomach has to be cleansed of excess flesh and whatever else resides there and after a week of preservation, the stomach is made to take a bulbous shape by inserting a balloon into it and leaving it to dry for another week. And voila! The sheepskin lampshade is ready. Lohmann insists it is illogical to view the innards of a sheep as disgusting and wishes to humans to think about the relationship between them and animals beyond consumption. But I can’t help but be reminded of the ‘skin lampshades’ that had been popular during the Nazi regime.

Via: ImpactLab

Brain Lamp For An Eerie But Soft Light

Tags: Brain, Brain Lamp, Home Décor, Lamps, Lervik Design

We have always wondered about the brain, and it still remains a mystery. Scientists have explored, experimented and dissected so much but there still remain a number of unsolved mysteries about this organ. While the scientists are still busy researching on the brain, the guys at the Lervik Design have created a cool Brain Lamp, which also is an accurate 3D modeling of the artist’s brain. He obtained the shape and image thanks to the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and used a 3D printer to create this awesome lamp.
You could use this lamp to decorate your bedroom and at night would look almost surreal. Though a little macabre, I’m sure you would love the soft light emitted through the artist’s real brain model. Now I’m sure you must be wondering if the designer has created lamps based on any other body parts. Well, for now, it is just the Brain Lamp. The pricing details are not known but we bet something like this must be priceless.

Via: UberReview

Carlo Rossi’s JugSimple Collection Wows Wine Lovers

Tags: Carlo Rossi, Furniture, Home Décor, JugSimple Collection, Wine

Wine must be the oldest beverage known to man. The oldest sample of wine was a 7000-year-old vintage from Shiraz, Iran. The fetish for wine has only grown in these thousands of years. We drink wine, use wine to cook, gift and what not! If you were a high-end wine connoisseur, you would love to stash your house with wines imported from France, Spain and Portugal. Now, the fetish for wine drinking goes a step further and we introduce Carlo Rossi’s JugSimple Collection.
You might wonder if you really could sit on this Cabernet Couch, which seems to be supported by wine jugs. Well, you actually can. If you want to take this wine fetish a step further, you could also get yourself the Chardonnay Chandelier, Paisano Plasma TV Stand, Sangria Sound System, Burgundy Bookshelf, and Rhine Reading Lamp. However, it is not known how much these exquisite designs cost, but we are sure they will leave your pockets dry.

Via: Luxist/ Neatorama

Stylish and Soft Chairs by Tanya Aguiniga

Tags: Chairs, felt, industrial impermanence, natural materials, Soft, stool stump, Stylish, Tanya Aguiniga, textile

A prototype of a chair may remain in our minds as something with a flat surface and four legs, perhaps in respect to our ancestors, but that is rarely what a chair looks like these days. It is not just something to give our behinds some much-needed comfort, but is something to add style and personal signature to our living spaces. Designer Tanya Aguiniga has constantly, with every creation of hers, changed our concept of what a chair should look like. And her beautiful designs and comfort-prioritised chairs get only gratitude from our bottoms!

Based in Los Angeles, Aguiniga intends to design chairs that ‘soften industrial impermanence’. This softening is seen in the way she abundantly uses felt, string and other textiles and natural materials in her designs, but is not limited to the feel. The softening experiences have spilt onto the look of the designs also. Check out the different designs by Aguiniga; at least one of it is sure to appeal to you. Personally, I love the stump stool that looks like a tree trunk inviting me to sit down on it with a good book. I can almost smell the fresh leaves with that one.

Via: DesignBoom

Israeli Designer Shay Alkalay Creates The Stack

Tags: Chests, Color, Drawers, Furniture, The Stack

There is something really beautiful about a piece of elegantly designed yet colorful specimen of furniture. Colors can add a lot of fun, vibrancy and art to your living space and also has a therapeutic effect on your mind. Traditional chest of drawers are not only boring and space consuming, but also designed badly. Israeli designer Shay Alkalay has designed a The Stack, which is a colorful collection of drawers that can both be pushed and also pulled in any direction you want. By doing so, you can reveal all the storage and is available in 8 drawers and also 13 drawers.
8 drawers piece costs $4100 and the 13 drawers piece costs $6100. When you leave the drawers partially open they look uniquely colorful and elegant. Established & Sons, who are marketing the product also have a number of other designs which are worth being checked out. With The Stack, you can not only add a bit of color, but can also manage all your goods in a compact piece of furniture which brings home a bit of art and a lot of order.

Via: FurnitureStoreBlog

Aresteline Xten Chair by Pininfarina: Designed for Elite CEOs

Tags: Aresteline Xten, CEO, Dynatec, Ferrari, Italy, Maserati, OFIS, Olympics, Pininfarina, Technogel, UAE

Have you ever tried to imagine the sight of Donald Trump sitting in his elegantly spacious office at the Trump Towers? If you have never seen pics of his office, then it would be hard for you to guess if he has potted plants in there or what colour the walls are painted. But you can safely bet his million dollar butt is probably comfortably seated on this million dollar chair. After all, the Aresteline Xten office chair by Pininfarina must have been created for the likes of Trump to cost $1.5 million!

Pininfarina, the Italian car design firm has an impressive clientele including Ferrari and Maserati, but this time their attention is focussed on the elite CEOs of major companies around the world.  Designed to provide the best comfort, to a body that wouldn’t be aching much when you are thriving on a diet of foie gras and have a bunch of people to do all the work for you. The Aresteline Xten is made from a cushioning material Technogel, which apparently reduces fatigue by 60%, and Dynatec, popular amongst Olympic athletes as a material that leaves you sweat free. The Aresteline Xten is available from OFIS, UAE in a variety of colours, provided you can foot the bill!
Via: Luxist