To mark the occasion of its 60th birthday, the well known speaker manufacturer Elipson is honoring the landmark models that have shaped its history. The first speaker to gain fame was the famous bs 50, an acronym for its full name Staff Ball, 50 cm diameter. Designed in 1953, the bs 50 was created for the first sound and light shows at the Château de Chambord in France. Its ear allowed for precise sound diffusion. Elipson is reproducing this legendary model in today’s material and it is a perfect illustration of minimal design and high quality sound. I love it.

Beautiful and minimal shelf system developed by artist Liam Gillick. Throughout modern history, artists and architects have created their own furniture, or appropriated industrial objects, to satisfy their own needs and to demonstrate their vision for an improved way of life. The work of Liam Gillick breaks through the genre- and media-specific boundaries of the visual arts. He undertakes architectural and structural, spatial interventions as well as creates minimalist objects. Shelf System A is made of six powder-coated aluminum elements to be mounted onto the wall, three different color combinations. Produced by Schellmann Studio, limited to an edition of 100.

Continuing his research into the meaning and use of colour in objects, Sebastian Bergne has made a small studio edition of a contemporary Colour Nativity set. Each of the characters is a minimal wooden block that is recognisable by it’s colour, proportion and place in the composition. Bergne says: The project makes use of our learned experience from exposure to thousands of images, toys and christmas cards over the years. The hand made and painted beech wooden blocks are stored in a box that completes its character as a toy set with a difference.This signed and numbered studio edition of 6 sets are available only through Sebastian Bergne website.

British designer, David Weatherhead has developed the Round and Round Calendar which involves three discs that read the date at the finger turn of a disc. The innovative calendars are available in a variety of colours and sure beat turning the page on the usual desk calendar. A minimal shape, color language and hand gesture movement are brought together for a design that is both playful in use and in it’s visual presence. I love it. Round and Round Calendars are produced by Seletti.

Designed by Benjamin Graindorge, in association with Paris based Design Gallery YMER&MALTA, betweenShadows is a minimalist and very poetic alcove. A piece of art produced in only 8 pieces signed and numbered. I love when art meets design. Graindorge says: An alcove made for day-dreaming, covered in a veritable ceramic bisque skin, betweenShadows places us in an in-between world on the line between the profane and the sacred; where shadow comes from light, where they reveal one another. The space where fire comes to life. Light doesn’t just sparkle; it can also be calm and profound. I like to think that this shadow object lights up our inner life, a space that is too fragile to take too much brightness. Benjamin Graindorge was selected two years in a row for the Design Parade festival and won the Cinna and Audi Talents Awards in the design category.

Designed by Lee West, Nomu is a cork and ceramic teapot that has no handle but instead has a removable cork sleeve to stop you burning your hands. The pot, and the accompanying ceramic cups are called Nomu, meaning to drink in Japanese and are produced by Eno Studio. The homage to Japanese craft mixed with a compact and minimal design result in a functional object that recreates an everyday tea ceremony.

The KM Table, designed by french architect Jean Nouvel is a narrow 85cm wooden table, made to measure, with a minimum length of 4m. The example exhibited here measures 6m 35, according to the dimensions of the gallery. The extraordinary proportions of the table are determined by a constructive principle whereby its span is miraculously supported within the thickness of the material itself, which is a lamination of oak and hornbeam. With this building technique, any length of table is imaginable, even one kilometre…The table is produced in Italy by Unifor. Like many of his modernist predecessors who worked across related disciplines, Nouvel describes himself as an architect who also makes design. Jean Nouvel says: The key word of my work is elementariness. I’m rather looking for singularities and traits linked to simple functions. I have a special affection for tables because a table is a simple thing, but it is not because it’s simple that it is easier to do.

Taking inspiration from the game Bou-Toshi, Japanese designer Yukihiro Kaneuchi created a series of minimal vases made of sand and resin. The game is simple, the objective is to keep a pole up that’s been placed in a heap of sand. Each player takes turns removing sand until the pole falls. If you cause the pole to fall, you lose. With its primitive element of creation and destruction, this game has been played for centuries. The vases resemble the heap of sand and the flowers placed in a glass tube would be the pole – time stopped with resin. The shape nears collapse, bringing a tension and delicate beauty to the flower.

The American Donald Judd (1928-1994) is widely considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century worldwide. In the 1960s he came to fame as one of the champions of Minimal Art, and expanded his creative reach to include the fields of architecture and design. Few have known to date, however, that Donald Judd also worked intensively on furniture design. This aspect of crossover between design and the visual arts has prompted a collaboration between two institutions that live under the roof of Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany, namely Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich – and the Sammlung Moderne Kunst – Collection of Modern Art - A Good Chair is a Good Chair exhibition presents a focussed selection of furniture designed by Judd. It also includes prototypes and early items that Judd himself built for his own use that, up until now, have rarely been on show outside Judd’s home towns of New York and Marfa, Texas. On display at the Pinakothek der Moderne, until October 10th 2011, so if you are in the neighbourhood, check it out yourself!

Designed by Joey Ruiter, the ultra compact Inner City Bike is about simplicity in design, it is the ultimate stripped away piece. So stripped even the chain is gone. Joey Ruiter says: Our goal was to hit the reset button on bike design, it’s a city cruiser, more fashion than function. It is really good for simply popping out to go a short distance, and you will look smashing while doing so. But, it is not one you would use to get to work every morning…

Designed by Nathan Danials, the Burd-Haus birdhouses are actually inspired by famed case study architects. The Burd-Haus birdhouses are colorfully abstract and minimal, adding a sculptural presence to regular home or garden places. Very chic, i love it.

Around 6000 holes puncture the concrete exterior of the Kanazawa Umimirai library in Kanazawa, Japan. Designed by Kazumi Kudo and Hiroshi Horiba of Japanese firm Coelacanth K&H Architects, translucent glass fills each hole, diffusing natural light into the 12 metre-high reading room of the library. Kazumi Kudo and Hiroshi Horiba architects say: For a public library such as this, we thought that the most important thing to have would be a reading room that provides visitors with a pleasant, comfortable space to read. This environment would allow users to experience the joy of reading while surrounded by a treasure trove of books with an overwhelming physical presence, something that the convenience of electronic and digital books cannot offer. I love this space because of its minimal and single reading room that resembles a forest, filled with soft light and a feeling of openness reminiscent of the outdoors.