Posts by Maarten

Corona

Our beloved Japanese design agency Nendo brings us yet another gem: a set of globes called Corona.

Rather than the common blue and green, the Corona globes have white oceans and black land masses. Furthermore, the globes show country names, but no borders. The purpose of this simplification was to:

…create a new kind of globe that would be more emotional, rather than simply presenting information.

I love how the designers reduced the amount of information – even though some African countries seem to be missing…?

The globes were designed for Japanese globe manufacturer Watanabe Kyogu.

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WE Collective opening posters

Israelian friends Luka Or (multi disciplinary designer), Orian Canetti (interior designer) and Elad Ziv (developer) joined forces to form WE Collective, a new design studio.

To celebrate the start of this new venture, Luka Or designed these colourful minimalist posters.

I love how they do away with the popular notion that minimalism has something to do with the absence of colour, which is completely wrong of course (it’s merely the number of colours).

So: hooray for colour, and welcome WE!

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Copperfield

This pendant, Copperfield, was named after the famous magician David Copperfield. Inspiration for the name came from the ‘magic box’ of glossy plexiglass inside the lamp, which creates an interesting mirror effect.

With its industrial look, this would look mighty nice over a dining table or snooker table.

Copperfield was designed by Maxime Szyf from Belgian design studio Dark. Interestingly, Szyf also works under the nickname Maximal Design ;-)

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Onda

When you can draw the design of an object with one single line, and do that even after you only saw it briefly more than a week ago, then you know you’ve encountered something special.

Lounge chair Onda by Spanish designer Diego Granese consists of a single piece of stainless steel, covered with leather. It saw the light in 2003 and is produced by the Spanish furniture manufacturer Frajumar.

I haven’t been able to try it for myself, but it looks like quite the balancing act. Either way, a great conversation piece.

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Kinetic Sculpture

Oooh this is nice!

The Kinetic Sculpture consists of 714 metal spheres, hanging from thin steel wires. Each sphere can be moved individually, and through some amazing software, moving shapes can be created.

The Kinetic Sculpture is created by ART+COM, a digital media design agency based in Berlin, Germany, for the BMW Museum in Munich, Germany.

ART+COM have animated a seven minute long mechatronic narrative – a dance in mid-air. (Thx, Floris!)

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Bin

This beautiful minimalist bin, designed by Japanese designer Shigeichiro Takeuchi, consists of nothing more than a cylindrical body and a wooden lid – but no moving parts added.

The wooden lid tilts without a mechanism; it just balances on the diagonal cut of the cylinder. The shapes and angles doing all the work.

And although it consists of just two parts, the bin definitely has its own identity.

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Shellf

Prompted by our recent post on single-drawer Less Stuff, Belgian industrial designer Pieterjan Deblauwe sent in this prototype he made a fw years back.

If you’re a bit like me, your first response will probably something like ’Okay, a shelf, yeah, so?‘ In that case I suggest that you read the next line and then quickly click on through to the rest of the images.

What you are looking at here is Shellf: a bedside table to hide your little secrets. The designer says this:

Objects take volumes out of the space which surrounds you. Here the idea is to use the space which is taken by the object.

Pretty smart!

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Less Stuff

Sometimes all you need is one drawer!

Less stuff is a chest consisting of just one drawer, making it an interesting variation to, say, a nightstand.

I think I am most struck by the simple archetypical form of the object, and the incredible lo-fi-ness of it.

Less Stuff is made by Studio Ditte, a design agency specialized in concept development and product design. Studio Ditte is formed by three Dutch designers: Natasja Heesbeen, Endry van Zwam and Marieke Dirks.

The drawer has a plain matte white finish, and can be hung without the points of suspension visible.

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Home Away

I just fell in love with this gorgeous dual alarm clock, Home Away.

It was designed by Kitmen Keung, a designer who lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Dual clocks are a practical tool for people who spent time away from home, because of work or travel. Keung has given the two clocks different degrees of color contrast. Home is high in contrast, the Away clock is vague – mimmicking the distance away from home. Additionally, each clock has its own unique alarm sound.

To be honest, I think I would use the faint face as the Home clock instead… just feels more natural. What do you think?

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Movie posters by Eduardo Prox

Wow, it’s raining minimalist movie posters! We’re really not going to post them all, some are better than others, but these are great.

Inspired by Albert Exergian’s set, Brazilian graphic designer Eduardo Prox made his own alternatives. One shape, two colours – that’s all, folks.

So far, he’s only made three, but maybe we can expect some more… Eduardo?

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