This is Oak, the result of an extracurricular, collaborative student workshop at Lund University School of Industrial Design, Sweden. The goal: to explore archetypes and stereotypes in the world of furniture. The group developed a range of independent pieces, but which are actually impressively coherent. Of course it helps that they’re all made from the same single material, American oak. One of the participaring students, Karl Jönsson, describes how all pieces were stripped down to their origins. From those elements, together with a hint of humor, new pieces have been created, while considering form, usage and interaction with their surroundings. The icing on their cake: Oak was exhibited during the Milan fair 2011.

This is one gorgeous house. Guerrero House, located at Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz, Spain, was designed by the famous Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza. The play on light, space and proportion is extraordinary. A small opening in an 8 meter high square wall is the only entrance. Center of the house is the 9 x 9 meter central square, which has a ceiling of again 8 meters high. All these bold measurements together aid to what Campo Baeza calls the construction of a luminous shadow. Now that’s poetry.

Minimalissimo talks to well-known and not-so-well-known minimalist designers, architects and artists about their ideas and motivations. As a result, we should be able to compare views – and you can form your own. Today: photographer Hans Hiltermann.

Minimalissimo asks well-known and not-so-well-known designers, architects and artists about their personal views on minimalism. As a result, we should be able to compare views – and you can form your own. Today: artist Adrian Clement.

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 to be difficult to find the common denominators. I started at Minimal Art, continued through minimalist architecture, and looked at industrial design, graphic design, photography, and so on, and so on. Right now I’m at at point where I think it’s got something. Time to ask for thoughts and feedback, so here goes:

These days, football stadiums are built to become city landmarks in their own right. Luckily, the good people of Dutch design firm GRO design set out to design an equally spectacular and memorable foosball table. A team of designers (Graham Hinde, Roland Bird, Roger Swales, Paul-Etienne Mélinge and Frank Heijlighen) put their minds together, and gave us 11. Wow. We actually bought a foosball table at our office this very week (true story), but this beauty completely overshadows ours (thx, Lorenzo ;-)

Meet Bucefalo, a dauntingly dark sofa by Italian designer Emanuele Canova. Inspiration came from the figure of Bucefalo, a legendary black horse which only Alexander The Great succeeded to tame. The sofa has multiple functions: it allows you to sit, to lounge, and to store your books or design objects (thx, Lorenzo).

Do you know The Mixtape Club? It’s a great initiative by designers Micah Panama and Brian Thomas. Each month, The Mixtape Club publishes ten mixtapes from ten different contributors on their (lovely minimalist!) website, with the purpose of finding and sharing great music. And you get it: This month, they’ve invited Minimalissimo to submit a mixtape! I asked my Minimalissimo team mates to submit a song, one which they like to blog to. The result is surprisingly eclectic, so check out the mixtape. Update: mix is no longer available online, but you can download it here. Want to know which team member submitted which song? You’ll find out after the jump.

Minimalissimo asks well-known and not-so-well-known designers, architects and artists about their personal views on minimalism. As a result, we should be able to compare views – and you can form your own. Today: Rocha Tombal Architects.

Minimalissimo reader Stijn tipped us about the work that designer Jess McGeachin did for the Melbourne Minimalism Festival 2009. A festival on minimalism! Yay! After some digging, I learned that the MMF was actually an imaginary festival, part of a university project for RMIT students in Melbourne. Their assignment: to create the festival’s visual identity. I stumbled upon some amazing concepts, made by those students. I’ve compiled them here for your enjoyment.