Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Seeing RED


Bushido - A recently opened Restaurant/Bar/Lounge in Bahrain (the previous place of the Blue Elephant Restaurant). It's a chic trendy Japanese inspired setting featuring samurai armors in floating glass cages, with refined ornaments, and a majestic concept. The food combines traditional "Robata" and "Fusion" cuisine in this elegant restaurant that's rich in atmosphere and ambiance.
Feel like reading a book? A book of Fashion? Fashion A to Z: An Illustrated Dictionary by Alex Newman and Zakee Shariff is it. With more than 2000 entries, and up to 240 pages, this book fills a gap in the market for an affordable, accessible and up-to-date guide to fashion terminology.

Temperley London and The Rug Company has collaborated together to create this vibrant new Nepalese Rug, Ophelia, by Fashion designer Alice Temperley, along with other handmade cushions. It's a hand-knotted 150 knot, Tibetan Wool rug. The Rug Company is located at City Center Bahrain.

This oversized bell lamp is a new creation by Italian lighting manufacturar Axo Light, which is great for use in large spaces. It comes in other different colors.


The Volant Armchair by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola for Moroso. It's made out of Alcantara, an extraordinary non-woven textile that has tactile qualities of leather. It's finished off beautifully with a hand printed motif in vivid red and small series of smock embroidery also in red, contrasting the beige base and breaks for a brief moment the repeating rhythm of the pleats.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Do-It-Yourself Creativity! Seriously!

A boot becomes a vase, a trowel to serve sushi, a rope becomes a fruit basket, a chain becomes a stool..you get the idea. Something strange yet simple and very creative, just one thing, you can do this on your own! Change do-it-yourself objects and make design objects of them: inspired from creative designer Herve Van der Straeten.

Herve Van Der Straeten currently draws models for the manufacture of Sevres vase and works on the opening of the design art gallery of Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah in Dubai.


A pair of wellington boots is used as a vase. Fill it half up with some water and add in some pretty roses or any flower to your liking. It would be beautiful if you contrasted the colors of the flowers with the boot color.


Tired of your old lamp? What you can do is take some copper tubes, and bend it to create a modern shape. Once you put it next to a traditional gilded framed mirror, it looks beautifully chaotic.


A useless chain can become a stool, it just needs some cleaning, some welding, and some painting and you're done. Place it next to a velvet Louis XVI settee, to look unusual.


A rope can be braided to become a fruit basket. Choose a bold color, but please no tacky stripy patterns, it will just counteract the effect.


When friends come over for some sushi, get creative by not serving the sushi in plates, but in trowels.


The bread basket just got interesting. Take a shallow open container, bolt in some wheels, and you have your own bread basket cart. If you have a mini shopping cart, it'll look good.



Gallery Van Der Straeten
11, street Ferdinand Duval, 75004 Paris.
Tel.: 01 42 78 99 99

photocredit: CMF

Remember Lego?



Back in the days, it was great playing with LEGOs, and I always thought it really fuels your creative juices to come up with the most abstract ways of creating/building something, from a funky house, to a dinosaur, etc.. I was amazed when I saw these and thought what a creative way to use LEGO bricks to cover holes in the walls! Dispatchwork is a project by artist Jan Vormann, now located in Berlin, he did this previously in Bocchignano (a village near Rome), and Tel Aviv. With some helpers, he filled in World War II bullet holes in a building of Humbold University, and some other walls around town. You can go for a great walk around Berlin looking for LEGO patched up walls. He also has a exhibiton at Jarmuschek + Partner gallery until June 13th.


Jarmuschek + Partner
Invalidenstrasse 50/51
Halle am Wasser
10557 Berlin
Tu-Sa 12-18 h
+49 (0)30 28599070


via

Playing with the Lines


It's something that you don't see in facades of modern buildings, yet it kind of reminds me of our traditional wooden Bahraini windows.

The colorful aluminum panels on the main facade is giving off such a light-hearted fun feel, that shows you can really do anything to the facade to make it more attractive and welcoming. Step Up on fifth provides homes, support services, and rehabilitation for the homeless and mentally disabled.. located in downtown Santa Monica, California, designed by Pugh + Scarpa Architects. The custom-made water jet-anodized aluminum patterned panels gives off a rythmic contrast to the other side of the building with its asymmetrical horizontal openings. The building is a great success of the articulation of elements.



via

Monday, May 18, 2009

Visual Poetry


I was just in awe when I saw these!! Words are merely not just words..they speak, dance, play, move us in so many different directions. They are alive..and tell us such amazing stories as these sculptures do by designer Ebon Heath. His visual sculptures just makes us stop and admire how words could be so powerful in our world today..at the same time looking at them feels like time has stood still for a mere moment or two. Creative no? Imagine if he did it all in arabic?! Ahh..B E A U T I F U L !




photocredit: yatzer

Wild Etiquette by Dima



A new concept lounge chair is ready by Russian Industrial Designer Dima Loginoff. The "Wild Etiquette Lounge" chair is based on the shape of a big wave influenced by feminine curves. Decorated with the classic toile de jouy fabric, it makes it a unique piece of furniture. The lounge comes in two parts - the lounge body and the fabric sunny cap (which can be removed).



photocredit: yatzer

Friday, May 15, 2009

A new hunt..



Skitsch is now one of my new favorite hunts for unique furniture pieces! Located in Milan, Italy, it is a new Italian design brand that was debuted in Salone del Mobile, where it presented its first collection, and opened its new store. Skitsch worked with 28 international designers including Maarten Baas and the Campana Brothers. In its retail store located in Via Monte di Pieta, the house collection is complemented by a carefully curated selection of contemporary pieces of furniture from other design brands. Founded by Renato Preti and a team of creative enterpreneaurs, it is a place filled with statement pieces of furniture.



photocredit: modemonline, skitsch

A colorful exterior houses colorful art




A striking building with an unique facade of 36,000 brightly colored ceramic rods stands in Munich as a new landmark. Soon on May 21st, is the opening of Museum Brandhorst in Munich, Germany! This colorful building is designed by Berlin Architects Sauerbruch Hutton, gives you the opportunity, from the 21 - 24 of May, to get to know a contemporary modern art exhibition by artists Udo and Anette Brandhorst, for free. The museum houses around 700 artworks from artists such as Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol - alongside 112 illustrated books by Picasso. If you get the chance to visit, it would be wonderful!


photocredit: Museum brandhorst, cubeme

A Shop for Modern Curiosities


Looking for an antique stapler? or a gilded motorcycle helmet? or maybe something that you don't have yet but will put a nice touch? .. Look no further..its all found here in Partners & Spade, located in Greenwich Village, New York. It is best described as a retail experiment, which is very interesting, filled with random assortments of modern curiosities in every place of the shop. Founded by Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti. A place well worth the visit, it's more than a concept store.. its a unique retail experience. Thirtyoneseven gets inspired from places like these!


photocredit: men.style.com

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The International City of Lace and of Mode




It's almost time for the unraveling of the Cité internationale de la dentelle et de la mode! in Calais, France. A museum of Lace which is nothing new for a city which since 1816, has devoted such gracious designs and touches to this uber delicate airy fabric. After much history, Calais today has six companies of lacemakers (Boot, Brunet laces, Codentel, Cosetex, Desseilles international, Noyon laces), accompanied by eight companies of completions (cutting, dyeing, etc.), all in the same levels of famous fashion houses like Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dior, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Chantal Thomass, Aubade, Warner..

The inauguration is set at June 11, 2009, by the Mayor of Calais. The building is designed by architects Alain Moatti and Henri Rivière (worked in the head office of Jean Paul Gaultier). What they had to say about the project, “To keep the traces of time and the scars, to thus allow the factory to continue its life and to add, with the frontage light moving, a ultra-technological object, an unreal world, an always renewed glance. There is not of another relationship between the factory and this frontage, only that which opposes the softness of lace with the brutality of the factory”.

The museum will house an extraordinary permanent exhibition showcasing the history, the present, and the future of the lace of Calais. Many visitors would be able to discover the trade secrets of the most extraordinary fabrics. There are so many great events that follow the opening that is sure not to be missed!


Cité internationale de la dentelle et de la mode
135, quay Commercial, 62100 Calais
Inauguration on June 11, 2009.
“Sea - lace, lace - sea”, of Maria Dompé
Varnishing on Thursday May 14, at 6 p.m.
www.citedentelle.calais.fr


via prestigium mode, ville de Calais.

A little simplicity..


is all that it needs.

Sometimes its just something that's so simple, it makes a difference. You can radiate a room with a contemporary touch, some playfulness with a bold color, a different texture, and a great finish. My simplicity? A hot pink stance chair by John Niero accompanied with an Inchino floor lamp for Busnelli designed by Antonio Sciortino.

Simple yet Modern.




via contemporist

Monday, May 4, 2009

When they say "More is More"



Beautiful Chaos takes inspiration from Ricky Kenig's Residence in Brooklyn, New York by Slade Architecture.

"More is more" but its not clutter in this case. Well designed and organized, a lot of pictures on the wall, or an organized collection of rare shoes, or stacked coffee table books, or... you know where I'm going with this don't you? This is pulled off brilliantly, and I have to say, it speaks out about the personality of the homeowner. So when putting on display a unique collection that belongs to you, it can tell us a lot about your personality. Do so..bring them out rather than having it collect dust, or tucked deep away in the closet. If you're afraid to put it out there, then have it secured.

Let people know who you are! But please, no clutter! you want to display it like its in an art gallery, not make a mess out of it.



photocredit: Archdaily

Mirrored Treetop Hotel


For the savvy adventurer and hotelier who loves to try new experiences..head to Harads, Sweden (the north of Sweden), where you would find treetop hotel suites, a concept for a tree hotel by Architects Than & Videgard Hansson Arkitekter to be ready by next year. By raising the Eco-tourism to new heights, these treetop suites are actually lightweight 4x4x4 meters aluminum boxes clad in mirrored glass, and built around tree trunks. What seems camouflaged in its own surroundings, its a peaceful retreat above the grounds in a modern way for those who seek the high life unique hotel experience.


photocredit: dezeen

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Ladies Toilet @ the V&A




Fun, Stylish, Elegant, Circles, Fan-like, Flow, Simply Beautifullll!...When going to an Art Museum, especially a well-known one, even the toilet has to meet the standard of promoting fine decorative art with great craftsmanship applied..and these architects have done it well.

This is the interior of the ladies toilet, off the grand entrance at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Done by London architects Glowacka Rennie, after winning the competition from the Museum in May 2008.

Descending down the stair-case to the toilet, the height of the space is exaggerated by the rhythmic flow of the panels, along with the painted whimsical blue circles by Swiss artist Felice Varini, which is only revealed as complete circle shapes when looked at from the basin mirror.

The light space is contrasted with a black stone wall and black cubicle interiors. A sense of jewelery-like accents are played in the space with the use of brass fittings and trims, giving a touch of style to the monochrome interior.



via dezeen