Design Debate

I love a piece of design that makes you look twice, and Gregory Beson’s Salt Chair certainly does that. Created in 2019, it is fashioned from 76 blocks of Himalayan pink salt. Yes, actual salt. Beson is a New York-based designer and sculptor with a fascination for materials and the stories they carry. The salt blocks came from a cave in northern Pakistan before being sculpted into the chair in New York. It is simply beautiful, but the choice of material is about rather more than its lovely pink glow. The Salt Chair was created for the 2019 In Good Company exhibition, and Beson used it to explore our complicated relationship with natural materials and resources. Salt feels completely ordinary to us, yet here is a natural mineral extracted in Pakistan, transported across the world and transformed into a piece of collectible furniture. That contrast is really the point. There is another clever reference hidden in its architec...

I love any excuse to draw and I do often get the opportunity for our c lients. Being based in beautiful Cornwall makes an easy subject, one I never tire of.  Our clients Cornish Horizons have a stunning portfolio of holiday cottages based up and down our fair county, they asked if we could draw them some maps of where their offices are based to hand out to customers.  I needed to make sure these maps could actually be useful as well as pretty to look at so I marked on key roads and illustrated landmarks. Dotted with drawings and full of colour and texture, hopefully conjuring that holiday feel. They will be used as print-outs in welcome packs and available to download at the Cornish Horizons website.  We have done some really lovely projects with this client, creating tote bags, brochures, magazines, greetings cards, email marketing - even cookies and a fairground-style selfie frame!     

  Inspired by the camouflage capabilities of the squid, this jacket looks quite like a normal black jacket by day, but by night it reflects every known colour in the spectrum. Made from 2 billion tiny glass spheres embedded into the jacket, Vollebak co-founder Steve Tidball says  "when light hits the jacket, it travels through the curved surface of these black glass spheres and strikes the back of them, before being reflected back at the original light source and scattered away from it simultaneously, so that the fabric looks like it’s emitting light.’ The fabric resembles an oil slick and the fully waterproof jacket has a liquid aesthetic that looks quite alien. Pretty cool really, see more at Design Boom . 

I thought it was about time I show you some of our latest work at Pickle Design . It has been busy and varied in the studio, lots of lovely projects coming to fruition.  Above is the website we created for Coast Creative Joinery, just a simple one page site with room to expand in the future. Image carousel and new logo sit centre stage. This wasn't a complete redesign, more of an update for their now well established brand. For the business card we used a clear spot varnish for a subtle but eye-catching memento. Below Coast we have the logo we designed for new climbing centre, The Prow. Simple, graphic and bringing that connection between coast and climb. For fish and chip restaurant in Indian Queens, Port and Starboard , we designed a website allowing them to upload pdf menus when needed. The design reflects the importance of provenance to the newly established restaurant. To the right is another website, this time for Laid Back Coffee , part of Wadebridge's new...

This large bold building caught my eye today, I think its the green that sprawls over the wooden frame that sets this concrete structure apart.  'Rebel' is located in Amsterdam, straddling the gap between a quiet residential neighbourhood and a business district. This new building seeks to offer it all - places to meet and socialise, small business and large offices with homes in all shapes and sizes.  I'm drawn to the grid-like structure and the use of wood. Built to be sustainable and flexible, it can evolve over time. Light filters down through the greenery and makes for a lovely atmosphere, not cold and impersonal but dynamic and filled with that attractive urban buzz. Created by  Studioninedots   &  Delva , found via Yanko Design .     

The architects of this tall scale-like building are Bureau de Change. They wanted to create a façade of 'uncertain heritage' for their project 'The Interlock'. This particular area in London, Fitzrovia, is characterised by many different periods of architecture from 19th Century terraces to post war commercial buildings. What unifies them all is the use of brick. I am quite fond of the brick, being down in Cornwall stone is prevalent, giant grey granite blocks combine with blue slate. I do sometimes miss the brick cottages of my childhood in Hampshire. There is something so satisfying seeing the whole made up of small dovetailed pieces. These bricks are a marvel though, almost like black armour protecting this mix purpose building. Made from 44 misshapen clay blocks you have the impression of gears turning, morphing and twisting. The colouring is a fine Staffordshire Blue Clay that helps the building stand out from its neighbours in a quietly confident...

Shannon Goff, a native to Detroit, created this brilliant cardboard car - by hand. Miles to Empty explores the car as a metaphor for American life.  The sculpture is of her Grandad's car, the 1979 Lincoln Continental Mark V, Goff recalls how riding in it felt like gliding on a cloud.  For her, this project was about demonstrating the high level of skill and ingenuity that was once at the core of the manufactory process, before 'the production line eradicated first the hand, then the whole individual'.  Originally found at The Jealous Curator .