Posts from — September 2009

Modernica just emailed me about their latest creation, the Alpine Series Bed, hitting showrooms today. On a related note, I think my search for the perfect bed has ended. Designed by Jay Novak (one of the founders of Modernica), the bed uses structural bent laminated wood to achieve its stylish form. And I love that you don’t need a box spring. Me and box springs…we’ve had our differences. Wish I could afford the  $2895 price tag!

In Japan of course. The October issue of Nikkei Design (out Sept 24) highlights a new trend in product branding;  hot pink. Companies across all industries appear to be picking up pink buckets of paint and taking their brushes to whatever they can get their hands on. A number of the products were understandable but I was a bit thrown by the car and refrigerator. I have to say, my favorite is the EGG Mouse. That is one good-looking mouse. I should devote an entire post to that mouse.

Lets work through this top to bottom.
Sony VIAO laptop W series | Mitsubishi Electric refrigerator
Lamy Safari Pen series | Rico CX2 digital camera
AU KDDI PLY cell phone | Itochu Karakoron Kyoto series of traditional accessories (embracing their inner-barbie won them an ADC Design Award)
Takemoto Foods PONTO chocolate packaging
Nissan Skyline Crossover (hard to tell but shown in “sparkling rose-silver”)
Elecom EGG Mouse mini | COSE Esprique Precious line of makeup

via Nikkei Design

If you missed the awe-inspiring Tokyo Fiber ’09 Senseware exhibition (organized by Kenya Hara (hat tip)) at the Triennale di Milano earlier this year, now’s your chance to catch it in Tokyo. Starting this Friday, September 18th, Issey Miyake’s 21_21 Design Sight will be hosting the show for a little more than a week.

Check out the promotional video on youtube and the gnarly poster – I really want one.

Related:

• Kenya Hara Retrospective Part I, II and III
• Designing Design by Kenya Hara
• U-Tsu-Wa at 21_21 Design Sight
• 100% Design Tokyo at 21_21 Design Sight

Japanese star designers Nendo have given air fresheners a makeover. S.T. Corporation, maker of all things that smell like lemons and strawberries, but aren’t lemons and strawberries, have enlisted Saito Ooki and his firm to give their flagship product, the automatic air freshener, a facelift. Touting Shupatto as the first in a series of “design revolutions” the company aims to make their products more design-friendly while lowering or maintaining their prices.

Shupatto will hit stores on the 18th and will retail for 1200 yen.
Below are pictures from the release party last weekend. Courtesy of sankei news.

via sankei news

My post over on inhabitots is up covering Oji Masanori‘s line of evolving children’s furniture. Read the full story on inhabitots!

Japanese photographer Asako Narahashi’s first major retrospective, Coming Close and Getting Further Away, opened last week at the Tokyo Art Museum in Chofu (near my old high school!) Narahashi began he career in 1989 right after graduating from Waseda University’s fine arts program. After maintaining a presence in Japan all the way through the early 2000s, Narahashi won the hearts of critics abroad with her widely acclaimed series,  “half awake and half asleep in the water,” which was shown in Toronto, New York and Australia.

If you’ve never been to the Tokyo Art Museum now is a great time to go. Designed by Ando Tadao, the structure is indeed an exemplary work of Tadao that features his characteristic minimalist concrete look. To compensate for the lack of images from Narahashi, I have included some striking ones of the Museum.

Related:
half awake and half asleep in the water

Towards the end of the summer Japanese architects 16A (ichi-roku architects) put the finishing touches on SQY, a 5000 sq meter multi-purpose complex in Shanghai. As part of a redevelopment project of an entire neighborhood, the emphasis on SQY was to keep intact as much of the existing structure and trees as possible, which included a Western-style mansion, a small factory, and indeed quite a number of trees. By piling 5 x 10 meter compartments on top of each other the architects managed to create a dynamic yet sustainable design.

Related:

• Free style candle shade by 16A

I’ve begun contributing to inhabitots, an eco blog for parents, where hopefully I will be able to share more of the daddy-side of myself. My first post featuring “Bears on Melting Ice” by Masahiro Minami is up. Read the full story here!

Japanese brewery Suntory has been flattening and recycling their defunct whiskey barrels into furniture since the late 90s. In an attempt to expand their product line-up they recently announced that they have commissioned artist and designer Nobuhiro Nakazaki to design the Blend Series, a quite literal interpretation of the blending process used to make fine whiskey.

I applaud their recycling efforts but their new line is a bit too geometric and flat for my taste. I prefer their more rustic Barrel Series, which preserves the form and texture of these ancient artifacts.

via the press release

Related:

• Suntory Oolong Tea Mobile
• Yuji Tokuda for Suntory

I completely forgot to write about this last week but I wanted to highlight the winner of the 2009 id Design Awards. Ryoji Takahashi (who works in the design unit of an unnamed company) created this awesome hand functioning paper shredder that quaintly rests on any desk. One of the reasons that I have never been able to buy a paper shredder is because they are all so big and ugly. With the Paper-Pipe Shredder not only can you save on your electricity bill but it actually looks nice on your desk! The winning design gets commercialized so we can look forward to this one hitting stores in the near future.

Related:

• idsite – a great resource