Leaves Crayons by Shion Ito

I adored getting a new box of Crayola crayons when I was a child...the promise, the colors, the smell, the idea that I could draw anything I could think of with them. And I loved the bigger box with the sharpener at the back!

Japanese product designer Shion Ito has taken that love and mixed it with a regard for the natural world in his new Leaves crayons. Like a fallen autumn leaf, each one contains flecks of secondary colors to the main hue.

https://shionito.com/leaves

Highlights From Milan Design Week

I like to keep an eye on emerging design in the world and the annual Milan Design Week is a pretty interesting event to be aware of. Last month's MDW had a lot of the usual Italian modern minimalist design that, frankly, leaves me a little cold. But there were a few products of note...even if a few of them are on the minimalist side.

The blown glass cylinders of the Noctambule light fixture by Konstantin Grcic for FLOS are fairly unique.

Take a look at the amazing DC 1206C Chandelier by Milanese architect Vincenzo de Cotiis (he is also showing at this year's Venice Biennale--busy guy!).

LED lights have made possible a slew of lighting fixtures never before imagined. I love this Wireline fixture by Formafantasma for FLOS. It looks like tube lighting suspended by belting leather!

The FORM totem light by London-born and NYC-based furniture and interior designer Anna Karlin is truly stunning.

Bethan Laura Wood had a solo show at the new Nilafur25 space. Here are some wild, jungle-y, maximalist sconces I would love to put in someone's home!

It wasn't just lighting that caught my eye...here is a new rug by Fornasetti called Peccato Originale...

...and another rug collection that is just gorgeous is the Feathers collection in round and freeform designs by Maarten De Ceulaer for CC-Tapis.

Creative Director Michael Reynolds, Hoffman Creative, and Flavor Paper teamed with the Tom of Finland Foundation on a custom wallcovering. Conceived by Reynolds and Hoffman Creative, the design combines archival illustrations by Tom of Finland with expert manufacturing by Flavor Paper.

I'm in love with these Bubblegraphy vases by Adrianus Kundert in collaboration with Thomas van der Sman for Oddness. The pattern on each vase is created by a special process of blowing air bubbles in the glaze!

https://www.salonemilano.it/en

The Vild Vorld of Verner Panton

Verner Panton (1926 - 1998) was an amazing designer of furniture, lighting, textiles, rugs, and rooms. He created his major works in the 60s and 70s in a wildly colorful, psychedelic style. Panton was very interested in psychotherapy and studied how color influenced people in their environments.

http://www.verner-panton.com/

Bill Amberg Studio Prints On Leather

English leather craftsman Bill Amberg of The Bill Amberg Studio commissioned artists and designers to create patterns to be digitally printed onto leather hides. This new technology offers exciting possibilities in the world of leather upholstery but also other applications as well: leather floor tiles, wallcoverings, and fashion items like bags and shoes!

Avant garde furniture designer Faye Toogood opted for an abstract pattern reminiscent of cave drawings...

...while L.A.-based interior and product designer Natasha Baradaran went a different route with a traditional floral lace pattern.

Design icon Tom Dixon created a pattern that mimics crinkled aluminum foil! This trompe-l'œil effect will surely delight anyone who first sees the pattern and then feels the soft smoothness of the leather!

And interior designer Alexandra Champalimaud imagined a set of hand drawn concentric circles in soft, comforting colors. They recall growth rings of trees.

https://www.billamberg.com/

The Pampshade

Japanese artist Yukiko Morita first had the idea for a lamp made out of bread way back in 2007. After years of prototypes and graduating from Kyoto University of Art and Design, Morita's bread lamps, or Pampshades as she has dubbed them, are ready for sale.

Each piece of bread is baked, carefully hollowed out by hand so only a very thin shell remains, and finally coated with a resin which preserves the bread forever. The various shapes and styles of bread ranging from a batard or baguette to smaller croissants and champignons are then fitted with LED lights. Pampshade lights can be purchased through Morita's website (they are rather affordable) and the good news is she now ships globally!

http://pampshade.com/index_en.html

BEAUTY: Furniture--Rick Owens

Regular readers know that every January and June, this blog is given over to coverage of the runway shows that happen in England and Europe. I follow fashion the way some people follow art or artists and I think designers at the highest level are indeed creating conceptual art. One of my favorite conceptual fashion designers is the incomparable Rick Owens who has been creating wearable sculpture for some time. And considering my love of his sculptural work, and the fact that I am by trade an interior designer, you'd think I would have posted about his furniture design as well. But looking back, I see I have somehow neglected to share his vision for interiors. So here we go...

His furniture designs which are created in collaboration with his French wife Michele Lamy are naturally reflective of his clothing (if you'd like to see what I mean, click here to see past posts of his runway shows). Simple, monolithic shapes dominate. His seating and objects have an ancient, Neolithic sense to them--tables seem like altars, stools and seats seem like ritual objects. This sense is highlighted by rough or elemental materials like alabaster, cement, marble, cast bronze, and plywood. To add interest, he uses hair-on-hide, leather, and moose antlers...

This is his double recamier, below, made of raw plywood and leather...

...and here it is in the living room at the Hamptons home of Dominique Lévy and Dorothy Berwin.

A Rizzoli book about Rick Owens' furniture designs was released earlier this year and he and Lamy signed copies at the opening of his newest store in Manhattan in May.

And look who showed up at the opening: Nick Wooster!

https://www.rickowens.eu/en/US/furnitures