Posts by Maarten

Impact

Gautier Pelegrin and Vincent Taïani are two Frech designers who work together under the flag of Noon Studio. Noon Studio is based in London, U.K. and Avignon, France.

The designers teamed up with Arkheia, which is the commercial exponent of LERM, the French Laboratory for Material Research and Study. Arkheia developed a quick setting concrete in an attempt to elevate the material to a nobler rank.

The result: Impact, a coffee table with a concrete top shaped into a bowl. The bowl could be used to hold books, but just as well as a fish tank – wouldn’t that be a conversation piece?

If you happen to be in Paris at the moment, do stop by at the Maison & Objet exhibition. Noon Objects have a stand (D46) with Impact on display.

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Padfoot

We’ve seen quite a few iPad stands since it hit the market, but the Padfoot by Dutch designer Michiel Cornelissen is just a bit better than what I’ve seen so far.

It’s just so simple: a piece of polyamide with a slot. It’s lightweight and impossible to break. Perfect! (Thx, Pawel)

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Herr Erich

This table, dubbed Herr Erich (Mister Eric), was designed by Simone Korte of Swiss design agency Form2.

Even though it stretches up to 3 meters or 10 foot in length, the Herr Erich is a very solid table, thanks to it ingenious design – which doesn’t use a single bolt or screw. Pretty amazing.

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UniformWares 100 series

You’re looking at two watches from the 100 series wristwatches by Uniform Wares. If the hour hand didn’t have a pointed tip, we’d be looking a design made of just circles and squares. I like that.

They come in an array of colours (7 to be exact), and with a rubber strap as standard. However, if you prefer leather straps, these are also available.

Personally, I’m most drawn to the grey one; which one has your preference? (Thx, Jmeel!)

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Drawing Lamp

Not a particularly beautiful lamp, but interesting nevertheless, is this Drawing Lamp by Austrian designer Thomas Feichtner.

Born from practical need (the designer prefers to have a light precisely above his sketching paper), the lamp can be tilted from a high to a low position.

The interesting bit is of course the minimalist design – a tube with light coming out of it, bent for tilting, stop. That’s it. And that’s exactly enough.

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White-on-white/black-on-black playing cards

Even though I am really not a fan of card games, these all-white or all-black playing cards made me look.

They may not be the most practical (especially in lower-light interiors), but they sure are mighty stylish. Want! (Thx, Morgan)

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How is this for a definition of minimalism?

For the past few years, I’ve been collecting notes and quotes on minimalism, and with those trying to sculpt a new definition of minimalism. The one Wikipedia uses (‘the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features’) is just too loose for my liking. Minimalism and its extensions are so diverse, that it has proven [...]

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Magica and Magica2

Magic!

The black Magica and his sister, the white Magica2, will make anyone look twice. Their designer, the Italian Davide Conti, replaced two legs with plexiglass to create the illusion of an impossible balance.

The Magica’s are not in production yet, so manufacturers: give Davide a call!

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Round Calendar

I’m totally in love with this Round Calendar.

In one view you see all the dates, year-round – literally. This makes it not only beautiful, but also a really practical and visual planner for the year ahead. Just jot down your notes in the white space surrounding the dates.

The Round Calendar is a side-project of Petr Bykov from Russian design studio Saccade. You can purchase the calendar via their web shop (Russian).

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9 Hours

The 9 Hours is a capsule hotel: a Japanese hotel concept with sleeping pods instead of rooms, and shared bathrooms. They target hard-working business people and travelers.

Usually, these capsule hotels are far from well-designed. The 9 Hours is nothing like that. Instead, it’s an amazing example of applied minimalism.

The 9 Hours is managed by Tokyo-based Cubic Inc., and designed in a collaboration with designer Fumie Shibata of Design Studio S.

Monocle recently did an excellent report on the hotel, which we have embedded here. (Thx, Peter!)

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