Posts by Natalia Repolovsky - Author at Minimalissimo

Nest

One of Apple’s finest minds Tony Fadell is the force behind Nest, a new thermostat manufacturer. The device is a sleeker and smarter alternative to a traditional wall eyesore most people are used to. Nest learns your heating and cooling preferences and adjusts accordingly. It is also wi-fi enabled and can be controlled directly from your computer or smartphone.

Technology should be about more than newest, loudest, prettiest. It should make a difference. We take what’s familiar and look at it in a new light. Our team focuses on making technology that’s simple, fresh and helpful.

This ability to adapt is also reflected in the design of the device. A true chameleon, Nest blends into any wall and reflects any colour. Apple influences are strong in the shape of the piece. And it seems that Steve Jobs’ war on buttons has gained a new mighty little soldier…

Watch the video to see Nest in action.

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Steel Landscapes

These minimalist wall sculptures by Cecilia Vissers are made from steel and aluminium and inspired by the Scottish and Irish landscapes. The pieces are characterized by simple compositions, powerful lines and laconic shapes. The surfaces retain the natural texture of the material, creating inspiring visual effects.

I want my sculptures to be entirely simple, to be viewed quickly, the focus is on the smooth and flat surface, my abstractions are grounded in the landscapes of Scotland and Ireland, the remoteness and silence.

Cecilia Vissers’ work will be displayed as part of a group show at Acquire Space in London from November 13-27, 2011 and in a solo exhibition at Masters & Pelavin Gallery in New York, February 23 to April 5, 2012.

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Goodbye Edison

This collection of minimal lamps, rightly called Les Fines, was created by Paris based designer FX Balléry and manufactured by Goodbye Edison. And as the brandname implies, this design is a nod to the disappearance of traditional light bulbs and the advent of new light sources. The pieces are comprised of an aluminium diffuser and steel base. The light source itself is an LED 24V lamp.

These thin and delicate parallelepipeds with softly diffused LED light create ambient frames for any objects put inside them. The lamps are available in two sizes and come in mat black and shiny white.

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Ordinary House

Ordinary House is a single family residence, recently completed by Japanese bureau FORM / Kouichi Kimura Architects. Located in Shiga and surrounded by an underdeveloped area, the house makes an exciting visual statement. Slick and minimal, the structure has very few windows. Each window strategically laid out to direct movement of natural light in the interior.

The private section of the house is located on the ground level, whereas the living, dining and kitchen areas are one flight of stairs away from the front door. This section of the house is generously illuminated with a skylight, placed directly above the staircase. This clever architectural feature ties the common zones together and defuses soft light around the entire house.

The sitting and dining areas are segmented by half-walls – another great design decision. These elements give openness to the space and allow unobstructed communication.

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Drawn in Steel

This collection of minimal furniture and lighting by Swiss design and manufacturing company mïxcv was recently shown during Paris Design Week. Each sculptural piece is an attempt to explore the relationship between the object, its role, the space it occupies and those who use it. Designers Volciane Cassanovas, Stéphane Dentand and Thomas Labarthe created a collection so raw and unembellished, it walks the line between minimalism and expressionism.

With unadorned design and no unnecessary frills, mïxcv’s simple and precise production is the fruit of the shared desire of a designer and a metal construction company to create contemporary production. To generate matter in a precise space so that it maintains the intended role there, to develop an emotional and functional structure, the existence of which aims to touch, question and involve space and those who move within it.

Constructed from mostly tubular structures, the pieces resemble lines, linked between points, as if drawn in space with a marker. The materials include steel, aluminium, LEDs and fabric.

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clOck

clOck is a strikingly minimal project from UK based designer ShihWen Wang. The shape of this simple and rather unique timepiece has been stripped down to just a ring, making its visual impact on a wall, subtle and elegant. The look of the clock changes depending on a surface it put against, allowing the user to co-create the design in some way.

ShihWen Wang explains:

Devoid of numbers, clOck allows the creation of a subjective, personal time. While being hung on the wall, the whole piece seems like dissolving into the background, an integral part of the wall.

And because there is no structural support for hands, the time is represented by two dots; the red dot displays hours and the black one indicates minutes.

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Sail

Sail collection of etherial chairs by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga has been recently revealed at Andreu World in Valencia. The silhouette of the Sail chair is slim and simple, the weight is reduced to a minimum thanks to the clever combination of polypropylene and fiberglass. The shape goes beyond aesthetics, however, embracing human body and providing strategic curves where needed.

Sail tense to reach the right shape to receive the body in a comfortable way. Technology is pushed to the extreme to obtain a very light but very strong chair without nothing more than the needful to be nice.

The shape also allows maximum stackability, and the range of subtle hues makes stacked chairs look quite beautiful. Sail comes in black, beige, cream, white, and red.

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Yabané

The Yabané dresser by French-Japanese design duo Aki and Arnaud Cooren is an example of high craftsmanship and simplicity. It is also a celebration of the material. Handmade of ash wood by French woodworking firm Walnutsgroove, the piece shows off natural grain lines and knots. Designers claim that their work is often inspired by Sori Yanagi designs, which is clearly pronounced in this piece.

The name Yabané is referring to a traditional graphic pattern (the word means ‘arrow’ in Japanese). My favorite feature of the dresser is its construction, allowing it to open on both sides. Thus, it can be placed in the middle of a room as an elegant and functional room divider.

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Ora Lattea

Minimal design does not always have to be serious. I love the ironic nature of Denis Guidone‘s Ora Lattea watch, created for Nava Design. The piece plays with our expectations of what a traditional timepiece should be. Instead of hands there are two moving dots circling around the third one in the middle. The bigger dot represents the hour while the smaller dot represents the minute; the central dot remains fixed.

It is pleasing that the brand name is displayed on the side of the watch. This way the dial remains untouched, giving the dots all the negative space they need. The Ora Lattea wristwatch is available in two sizes and suitable for both men and women.

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Spaces, Etc.

These sculptural objects by New York based designer Ron Gilad, together called Spaces, Etc., are minimal three-dimensional outlines of various familiar shapes. Gilad is known for his experiments with architectural forms, which were triggered by an infamous New York moment. In 2008 his entire building was evicted due to a fire code violation. Living without a permanent place for three months, the designer started exploring the idea of spaces and homes, trying to define what a home really is.

The process of translating ideas into three dimensional functional objects is something that has always intrigued me. I am not inventing anything new. I’m basing my thinking, research, and creative process on what I see, know, and what already exists. Almost naively I ask the question, why is it like this?

The visual tension between the lines is so strong, the objects show the signs of optical illusions, stretching the frontier between transparent and tangible, functional and abstract.

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