Design Stockholm House Work Lamp.

Design house Form Us With Love designed these lamps for Design Stockholm House last year. I love them. They remind me of those work lamps in mines, boats, or construction sites but luxed. My favourite one has got to be the gold cage one. The lamps come with a switch on the lamp holder and on the 10 feet long wire, there is a dimmer. It can be modified into a pendant lamp. I bought the last piece just today from Style Nordic while it was on sale. It has become my new bedside lamp. Will take some photos soon and share it with you.

Form us with Love is a Swedish design studio inspired by the interaction between people and products and driven by a genuine love for design. The group consists of designer trio John Löfgren, Jonas Pettersson and Petrus Palmér, Work from Form us with Love includes furniture and lighting for several internationally recognized design companies and awards such as “Red Dot Design Award” and the “Young Swedish Design Award”.

The Boundary, London.

This is my perfect hotel, perfect in every way. For starters, it has only 17 rooms; 12 guest rooms and 5 suites (inspired by some of the most iconic designers). Then there's the fact that it has a rooftop bar, a lovely casual cafe + food store and also a more formal restaurant. Couple all these with the green technology that has been used to insulate it, and the collection of art that has been installed in the building. If, The Boundary is really a dream, Sir Terence Conran and his wife, Vicki must be the dream weavers. I can't wait to see the next project that they work on.

Sir Terence Conran Suite.

Eileen Gray Suite.

The Charles and Ray Eames Room.

The Bathroom of the Charles and Ray Eames Room.

Bathroom inspired by Shaker.

Peacock Chair by Cappellini.

The Peacock Chair was introduced to the world at this year's Milan Furniture Fair by Cappellini. It is designed by New York based Israeli, Dror Benshetrit. I love the chair's construction, check out the last image on how the lovely rich wool felt is pleated near the legs. The chair is made with two pieces of felt (to create a rich colour on one side and a muted grey on the other) and pleated lovingly into shape. Look at the way the backrest meets the seat, so orderly and perfectly in place making it aesthetically provoking yet charming.

Vivienne Westwood for Cole and Son.

Vivienne Westwood, best known for her British inspired quirkiness, has collaborated with Cole and Son ( the folks who have manufactured wallpapers since 1875) to design a collection of wallpapers inspired by fashion. Personally, I love the Union Jack wall panel (270 X 150cm) and the Trompe l'oeil Drape wall panel (270 X 270cm). They are so dramatic and definitely screams Vivienne Westwood.

Louis Poulsen 50th Anniversary Editions.

Last year, Louis Poulsen released two 50th anniversary editions of their most iconic lamps, PH5 and PH Artichoke. As many have already known, the initials before the names of the lamps represent the designer. Eg. with the PH refers to Poul Henningsen and AJ refers to Arne Jacobsen.

Poul Henningsen was trained as an architect between 1911 and 1917 but he did not graduate. Instead he tried to be a painter and inventor. In 1958, he designed the PH lamps, of which the PH5 was the most popular. I met a couple of Danish folks and they tell me it is almost as though every other Danish home had a PH lamp in the 70s. For that same reason, it was not hard getting two pre-loved PH 5 pieces for my own home imported from Denmark. The simple lamp had a red and blue light filters so that the colour of the light would be soft and the concentric design eliminated visual glare. The 50th Anniversary editions are aptly named PH50. They come in 5 different colours to update the already modern looking lamp. The finishes are glossy giving them a wet look.

The PH Artichoke lamp is definitely one of the first lamps that drew me to lighting fixtures as an art piece. I love how the 72 pieces of leaves are put together without screws in a geometric fashion. The leaves are designed to reflect light and eliminate glare. It's original Danish name is PH Kogle which meant conifer cone, which was what Poul Henningsen took inspiration from. For the 50th anniversary, a sand blasted glass version was created. Unfortunately it came only in its smallest size. Out of curiosity, I decided to make a trip to Space Furniture to see it in flesh, bask in its beauty and also have a peek at its price. It's a king's ransom, ouch!

Poul Henningsen.

PH Artichoke Lamp, 50th Anniversary.

PH50, in 4 of the 5 colours. The 5th colour is just a high gloss white.

Pashley Cycles.

In Asia, riding a bicycle usually concocts ideas of un-stylish people riding a beaten heap of metal and rubber with a bell, or folks in tight Richard Simmons inspired outfits milking power (and sweat) out of their sporty mountain bicycles.

People with such thoughts at the mention of bicycles have obviously never heard of Pashley. Pashley Cycles has been making bicycles since 1926 (that's over 80 years). Their town and country bicycles have been painstakingly hand-built by a team of craftsmen in Stratford-upon-Avon. It is their attention to detail and passion that has made them the most exclusive bicycle manufacturer. They also make tricycles, work bicycles, cargo bicycles and load carrier tricycles.

My choice would the the Pashley Sonnet Bliss in cream and midnight blue. What would you pick? This could be the perfect way to get a bit of exercise and also save the earth (and fuel) on those short distances.

Pashley Princess Sovereign.

Pashley Guv'nor.

Pashley Poppy.

Pashley Sonnet Bliss.

Pashley Roadster Classic.

Worker Sofa and Chair By Vitra.

Another fine example of functional art meets furniture. Hella Jongerius of Jongerius lab designed these for Vitra's 2006 collection. Her style signature is distinct; a mischievous play of different materials, textures, colours and manufacturing technics. In this case, you can see the mixture of aluminium and wood, prints and solid colours, and if you look close enough, you will notice parts of it are machined and handmade.

The little details like the choice of different kinds of wood matched with powder coated aluminium joints, the handles on the top of the seats, the backrest in a contrasting material, the simple back brace and also the front legs being so different from the back legs. I am a lover of thoughts. It intrigues me that so much thought has been put into designing one single piece of furniture. You can simply stare at the piece and never get quite sick of it. I assure you, this is not just an artwork, it is also a very comfortable chair.

Limited Editions.

I came across the Limited Edition Fortuny Lamp done in silk taffeta. I love the beautiful purple folds which Mariano Fortuny has made famous. He was remembered as a dress and fashion designer, but he was also an engraver, painter, photographer, architect, lighting technician, set designer, inventor and impresario. That's why this lamp encapsulates what makes Mariano Fortuny, him. Simply Inspiring.

For some reason, I thought of the Limited Edition Eames Egg Chair as well which was reproduced by Fritz Hansen did for the 50th anniversary of the chair. This chair ranks rather high on my list of favourite chairs. Many people don't know that Eames was a smoker, and because of that, on most of his chairs, you would be able to balance an ash tray on its arm. Why I love this edition? The dark leather, matching suede underside and the cooper legs makes this chair so sensually inviting. Gives an old chair some form of grandeur and a new lease of life.

Vintage Chair Restoration.

I bought a more than 50 year old South African chair from a lady last year. The lady inherited it from her in laws but she hated it and wanted to sell them. So with the blessings from her mother in law, she sold them in loose pieces to make way for new dining table chairs. I bought one of them from her and recently the leather cords on the old chair had started to give way. I suppose it is fair after all they are that old. I ordered new leather cords from ebay two weeks ago. Being the overzealous me, as soon as I saw the package, I set out to the hardware store to buy some supplies to get started. Restoring the chair was lots of fun.

Hope you'll enjoy the pictures as much as I did restoring it.

Anamorphosis By Droog.

If there is one design school that I would die to go into, it would definitely be Droog's. I absolutely love the way they change your mind about how you perceive the world. Take for instance their Anamorphosis series which they unveiled at the Milan Furniture Fair. It's awfully meaningful, at least to me. I think that as humans, we are so limited by our our own human boundaries and we forget that things are sometimes not what they appear to be superficially and we need help to see clearly. Take for instance, in this case, they have painted some precious (close to extinction) birds on white porcelain plates like what would usually happen on traditional porcelain plates but with a twist. Without the matching bottle or cup, the plate just looks as thought they are painted with colourful lines. The metal cup or bottle reflects the hidden birds.

Simply beautiful and poetic.
http://www.droog.com/presentationsevents/detail/anamorphosis-/