Design Debate

I absolutely love this magneitc wallpaper from textile designer Sian Zeng . She was born in China, raised in Hungary and studied at Central Saint Martins. I love the fairy tale, folksy style. But the best thing though about her beautiful papers are that they are magnetic! The idea stemming from children's play, Zeng says she was " Inspired by the changeable nature of fairytale stories, where frogs can suddenly become princes". Wallpaper Zeng's only talent, she designs gorgeous fabrics, poetry inspired scarfs and she paints and illustrates as well. 

Just thought I would blog about one of our new websites. This clean and simple minimally designed website was for interior and lighting designers Millard&Flo .  When considering this design, the portfolio and pictures were clearly the focus, so I kept to a rigid grid, lots of white space and aloud the pictures to speak for themselves. We have fading images on the home, two galleries navigated by thumbnails and a bespoke blog. Definitely worth checking out! 

Quite literally! This striking hotel room has been graffitied by artist Tilt. The room, entitled ‘ Panic Room ', is at the Au Vieux Panier hotel in Marseille, France. This unique hotal has just 5 rooms and all are decorated individually by an artist or graphic designer. Tilt, as you can see just decorated half this minimal white room with his vibrant, colour-drenched graffiti. This room is entitled 'Fusion' by Philippe Baudelocque I am not entirely sure I would manage a night sleep in such a place, and which side of the bed do you choose! An interesting concept, creating distinctly atmostpheric rooms. I like the idea of entrusting the design to creatives who see the room as a concept. I do wonder if it would effect the kind of dreams you have... 

I remember when I took my cycling proficiency test I thought just how dangerous it was to encourage me to actually take my hands off the bike to signal. I would zig-zag all over the road! But thankfully they maybe an alternative.  This great idea is from The Lee Myung Su Design Lab in Korea. The backpack has a wireless controller so when the cyclist stop or signals direction the backpack lights up alerting drivers. I think this is so clever!  It is only a prototype at the moment but I'm sure this will become real one day. The concept won the Reddot Design Award 2010. Found via A Cup of Jo

This morning I stumbled across this beautiful paper art by Peter Gentenaar from the Netherlands.   Peter Gentenaar  'Cloud installation' Office of Joop van den Ende,  Amsterdam He started out as a print maker but faced with the constraints of the process he invented his own beater to make longer paper fibres.  Peter Gentenaar ' Waterkey two' 330 cm high,110 cm at widest point flax & kozo pulp with bamboo frame The twisted forms I think resemble orchids or Autumn leaves caught at a point before decay. It is entirely the process that creates these forms. The long paper is strengthened by bamboo. As it dries the paper contracts and the bamboo twists and distorts the 2d dimensional artwork into a 3d sculpture. 

This mesmerising installation is by artist  Gabriel Dawe . The way the light plays with the different tones of thread just makes the installation resound so much more. To me they speak of prisims and rainbows, tricks of light and even moments of sound.    This series is entitled Plexus.  Gabriel Dawe grow up in Mexico, and I think that is apparent in the richness of the colour he uses. He now resides in Canada exploring themes and concepts in the medium of textiles, which, as a child growing up in Mexico would have been forbidden for a male.  His recent themes look at  notions of social constructions and the and the self-organising force of nature.

This very bizarre picture is actually an installation by Buenos Aires based artist Leandro Erlichs. The piece is called  Bâtiment and is now on display in Paris. It looks so much fun, there is a giant mirror which reflects a house on the floor which visitors can crawl across like Spider man, or hang from windows. All this is reflected in the mirror. I love interactive art, it really challenges you to get involved. See more about Erlichs' work here here . Bâtiment, Leandro Erlich au 104 by Palagret