Friday 30 April 2010

Raindeer Coat Hanger by Baita Design

One of the first things I bought when I moved into my new apartment was a vintage coat hanger from the 60-ties (I think), from an amazing store selling old (but renovated) furniture, that I will describe furthurmore a bit later. It's red and blue and orange, has a mirror and stole my heart at first glance. This however is an alternative idea for someone who doesn't have a big hallway in their apartment or wants to keep the space simple. The chair with raindeer top, in funky lime colour, was designed by a Brasilian studio Baita. it.

Floppy Disk Lamp by +OYO

Do you have a bunch of old, completely useless floppy disks lying around? They aren't as easy to come by these days, the way we love to throw things away, but if you do have a few here's an idea what to do with them. Polish design studio +OYO - a duet of young designers Olga Dabrowska and Adam Groch - created a floppy disk lamp. Floppy disks in collaboration with plexiglass lasercut shades give modern effect, with a bit of industrial charm. Works great especially in minimalistic spaces. Looks good to me.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Convallaria Lamp by Pink Pug Design



Convallaria  is a collection of lamps inspired by nature, made of polyester felt designed and produced by a Polish studio Pink Pug Design. The shape was obviously inspired by nature and beautiful summer flowers (I imagine). The lamps featured above are the standing, or perhaps rather the sitting version, but there's also Convallaria lamps you can hang from the ceiling.



Wednesday 28 April 2010

Kacheli Vodka Packaging

I'm not going to wax lyrical about this design, because it was very well described by the agency responsible for it (Russian studio KIAN) themselves:

During the joint venture with the company Raimbek-Group (Kazakhstan), the KIAN brand agency developed brand platform and identity for the “Kacheli” brand. The company positions itself in the subprime segment, targeting the ad-sensitive consumers, for which the presence of an emotional component of a brand is highly important.

During the process of working on the project, several options were suggested to create a positive brand conception and strong brand identity. The first option suggests pulling the attention towards the natural products that are used in the making. This idea is supported by an eco-friendly, refined design, assuming the presence of a bright visual brand identity. The second option is oriented towards a more progressive and modern target audience and involves an innovative minimal design, concurrent with the latest European trends. The third option appeals to the traditional values. The developed conception suggests a calm but colorful solution, using engraving technologyin the formation of the background, as well as an extensive area for Client communication, used to deliver all the advantages of the product to the consumer via the label.





Ubytek Table



In 2009 Warsaw Fine Arts Academy together with Holon Institute of Technology organized design workshops for their students called Idea To Object, Object To Product. Students of both universities worked on projects for the Polish "Być Razem" foundation, working with the unemplyed and socially included. Two tables above were designed by Lukasz Wysoczyński and Daniel Zelig and they both play on the idea of organising objects within the furniture itself. The magazines are simply swept inside the hole cut in the table and after that they work as decoration that can easily be changed. More projects can be seen on the project website.

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Maja Ganszyniec - Plugless Sink

Maja Ganszyniec is a young designer from Poland, graduate of the Fine Arts Academy in Krakow and the Royal College of Art in London. Despite her young age she has already been featured at many design shows all over the world and made herself known for combining simplicity with usability of the objects she designs. She's one of the members of Love Kompott (check my post about their wooden boxes furniture here) and I also previously featured her Pocket Wall design here.

Plugless sink is exactly that, a sink without a plughole. To get rid of the grey water we have to tip the water out. By doing so we become more conscious of how much water we are using and mainly throwing away. This sink shows the value of water through its volume and promotes water re-usage. I was inspired by the old traditional bowls for domestic water usage; this sink allows to use the water in a more traditional and, I believe, much more enjoyable and pleasant way.

Saturday 24 April 2010

Glass Birds From iittala

A couple of weeks ago I presented a small collection of porcelain beauties from the Polish glass factory in Ćmielów. I think I was self-inspired by my post and I started to look for more examples of porcelain items to (possibly) decorate my home. The birds featured above all come from iittala's collection and were designed by Anu Penttinen, Giorgio Vigna and Oiva Toikka. I think they are all gorgeous...



Wednesday 21 April 2010

Marloes Tenbhomer's Shoes


One thing I can confess about myself is I'm a shoe fanatic. I own way too many pairs of shoes. My friend told me the other day she would spend more money on shoes for her wedding rather than on her dress - and I understood. Without going any further, let me present shoes by Marloes Tenbhomer that are simply a piece of art. Make sure you check the rest after the jump. 



Tuesday 20 April 2010

Nathan Sawaya - Lego Brick Sculptures

When I was a kid, in the lovely comunnist times in Poland, I didn't have Barbie dolls or a fancy set of My Pony horses. I did however have a set of Legos, I'm not sure where from. I loved to build and play and imagine how I own a castle built in the middle of my room. That sentiment towards lego bricks remains inside me today as well. I think it's the kind of toy you can easily use and play with when you're an adult as well. Which is why I'm not suprised to see how Nathan Sawaya dedicated his career to building sculptures out of lego bricks (or maybe another brand bricks, I'm not quite sure). They are pretty big, pretty accurate and pretty funny. Check out the photos after the jump, to see much more. My personal favourite is the lifesize replica of Stephen Colbert :)



Monday 19 April 2010

Joanna Figurniak - Felt Bags


Joanna Figurniak is a Polish designer whom I previously featured here with her wine carry bags. Joanna likes to work with felt and her line of bags are also made from this material. They are a combionation of bold colours and simple curved lines. She also works with recycled materials producing amazing objects to decorate your house, but that's a subject for another post! Clik here to check out Joanna's Moo Studio.

Thursday 15 April 2010

Krakowski Kredens' Chocolate Packaging


Last month I mentioned Krakowski Kredens (Krakow’s Cupboard) - Polish brand of traditional food products invented by delicatessen chain stores Alma (see here). The whole series was designed by item:grafika and Igor Banaszewski, who continues to develop the brand. The above chocolates are called “Milk chocolate of the Szlak street pensioners” and “Dark chocolate of the Sobieski gymnasium students”. I think the original old photographs are so charming...

Tuesday 13 April 2010

SHE! Lamp

SHE! Lamp from UCCOI accessories collection for this srping was inspired by the traditional dress from the Łowicz region of Poland (top left photo). Later on the form developed and changed into toher designs such as the nurse and another folk pattern, this time from Podhale. The base of the lamp is made of red durable plexi, the top from UV printed hard foil. Check a couple more images after the jump.



Monday 12 April 2010

Wooden Boxes Furniture by Kompott

Searching ebay and surfing the net this weekend, looking for things that would fit in my somewhat empty apartment, I came to realise how many furniture and objects can be made of simple things we use everyday. We are so accustomed to perceiving them in just one way, we forget to experiment and come up with new solutions. This cupboard made of ordinary wooden boxes, that are usually used as the simplest way to transport food and present in so many aspects of our lives, this time found a new purpose and use. It was designed by Love Kompott, Polish group of talented youg designers: Paweł Jasiewicz, Maja Ganszyniec, Krystian Kowalski and Marcin Krygier. Maja Ganszyniec has already been featured at Say Hi!, and you are very welcome to check that post here. Below few words about the project.

Working on a borderline of the Old and the New, we were tempted to reinterpret the most elementary object for storing - a wooden box.. Basing on its construction - using the slots in between the planks - we have developed a simple storage system based on the traditional way of connecting wood.



Friday 9 April 2010

Ćmielów Porcelain Figurines








Traditions of the Porcelain Manufacture in Ćmielów go back to the beginning of the XIXth century. It was famous in the whole region of Eastern Europe for their finest dining sets. Today, after privatization of the company in 1996, these traditions are cultivated by AS Ćmielów. Porcelain figurines from Ćmielów became a fashionable collectible item. Their design based on 50 and 60-ties aesthetics fits beautifully in modern apartments. All the figurines are hand made from high quality porcelain and then also hand decorated. Each product comes in limited number edition, they are signed with a unique number and designer’s name, then packaged together with an authenticity certificate.

Thursday 8 April 2010

Harfa Traw - Package Design by Dododesign

Simple and stylish package design by Zuzanna Łazarewicz from Polish studio Dododesign for an organic food farm Harfa Traw. Very minimalistic design is completed by rich colours and very nice illustrated patterns, different for each product. Apart from the packaging, Dododesign developed whole brand identity and website - you can see it after the break. Tres chic!



Tuesday 6 April 2010

Kate Cusack & Julia Pogodina

Last September I had a short post on the amazing jewelry (made entirely of zippers) by Kate Cusack. Ever since discovering her unique fashion accessories, I try to follow Kate's work process on her blog - Kate's Update. The thing I wanted to share with you today however, isn't very recent and includes photos by Russian photographer Julia Pogodina. Julia was born and raised in Saint Petersburg and moved to New York to pursue her career in fashion photography (which she started while working full time as a corporate lawyer). Last year she made a photoshoot with Kate's jewelery, which apparently was widely discussed and commented for featuring an aged model - Candace Woodward. Personally I think the model looks stunning and I can't imagine the jewelry looking better on any celebrity or young and anorectic model. There's something about her rather unhappy face, the sad eye, beautiful hair...

If you want to learn a little bit more about Kate and Julia read interviews with them at afingo (Kate) and copiousmagazine (Julia). And follow up after the break to see the rest of the photos and read Julia's reaction to the comments on the session.



Furniture from Japan

I was away for a few days (easter and family duties), I hope you didn't get bored to death without the fresh portion of insopiration! :) To start the week off lightly I decided to present something very light as well - furniture concepts by Japanese studio h220430 (if that's really their name, all the numbers sound a bit suspicous...). From left: Baloon Bench, Crutch table, Ivy Chair, Mimic Bench.

Monday 5 April 2010

Nanobiocare - Package Design by Brandy Design

Nanobiotic is another example of (great) package design by a Polish graphic studio Brandy Design (previously featured here with their take on healthy food packaging). Nanobiotic is a packaging line for nanobiotechnological beauty products made by polish company NBT. Each of the products contains particles of gold (Au) and silver (Ag). Minimalism and modern design allow to build a credible and exclusive character of a new brand.



Friday 2 April 2010

Waiting For the Sun - Wooden Sunglasses

French boutiques Kulte cooperated with another French team Waiting For The Sun to come up with something unique: very fashionable sunglasses made of wood. Each pair is: handmade, carved out of tea wood, ultra light, stylish, enviroment friendly, wrapped in one of a kind packaging (2041 cm2 scarf designed by various artists).

Dobra Kaloria - Package Design by Brandy Design

Brandy Design is a Polish graphic studio specializing in branding and package design. They are known for their package design for the most famous Polish alcohol brands. The design above was created for a health food brand Dobra Kaloria, thus the design was made simple, to convey the message of the purity of ingredients. Colour combinations were applied to the products to define their groups, green for snacks, red for cookies and orange for breakfast products. The packaging was printed on matt carton to furthermore emphasise natural character of the product.

Thursday 1 April 2010

Plopp Chair by Oskar Zięta

Oskar Zięta's Plopp Chair, designed for Danish furniture brand Hay, looks like a feable inflatable toy chair. Don't let it fool you though, as there is nothing feable about it. It was made of hydro-formed metal: two sheets of metal are welded together following the outline of the stool, which is then filled with fluid under pressure. The legs of the stool are then bent into place, creating a form that Zieta likens to inflatable furniture. (dzeen). The misleading looks and high quality of both design and the product itself won Oskar Zięta and his Plopp chair the Red Dot Design award in 2008.

Plopp is a complete piece of design that went through all the FIDU forming process stages and experiments. We managed to bring the final form of Plopp after building many prototypes and testing the 'bionic', 'alive' behaviour of inflated steel. (zieta.pl) Check out the making-of video after the break.



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