After the success of his award-winning Plumen lightbulb, Samuel Wilkinson turned his attention to a new home for the already iconic energy-efficient bulb and created the Vessel series for London-based design studio Decode London.
The lamp from mouth-blown glass, cut at a slant with all of the perfect imperfections that come with hand-made glass pieces that give each object its own personality. When illuminated the glass tint mutes the light without hiding the form and produces an unexpected irregular reflection that appears holographic.
The Vessel Series consists of three mouth-blown forms. The designs were produced specifically to complement the flowing forms of the Plumen 001 designed with Hulger.
Marketing campaigns don’t often grab me. They are often expensive, over-produced and missing the point but occasionally I see something that stands out for its simplicity to get to the heart of why someone would buy a product and says it so succinctly, I had to stop and snap a photo.
Whether I would drop £180 for a stool is one thing, but I often find people buy products on how they look and what they cost rather than heritage and quality. The Aalto stool 60 might be a tremendously more expensive than the IKEA copy but if style is all that is copied, what purpose does it serve? I guess that what it does do is bring a design that is out of the reach for many to a price point that they can afford, although along the way it devalues the original product and those that could afford it no longer see the reason to.
This is a problem that faces most furniture manufacturers making products that will last from materials that are ethically sourced and made by people that are appropriately rewarded. IKEA have made statements previously that they cannot guarantee that the wood they use has been sourced from legal forestries. I can’t comprehend how a company with so many unethical policies can have such a reach amongst us. It is about time that the original sources stood up and made a strong statement.
Buy now, keep forever. Could you say that about a purchase from IKEA?
I can’t pretend that this is the most ground-breaking piece of furniture on the market, but I am struck by three things of the Jonah sofa by Elle Decoration award-winner James Harrison.
Firstly, this sofa is in proportion with most modern homes, which is often not the case with furniture, especially from the high-street retailers… I mean, how are we supposed to get these things in to our homes – take the windows out?!
Secondly, £499. Need I say more? This is such good value for money and yes, I have sat in it and was pleasantly surprised. I am not going to say that it was the most comfortable chair I have ever sat it, but we’re all on a budget right so that Eames alu chair is going on hold.
Third, this sofa is made in the UK. Hurrah. I am a big fan of this label as we’re keeping people in manufacturing jobs, keeping skills alive and helping our economy just that little bit. We all want things to be cheaper but there is a cost that comes with that, so I am really pleased that Made.com have managed to make this product in the UK for a great price.
If this doesn’t replace the awful Klippan that, as a nation we seem to love so much, then I’ll be sorely dissapointed.
The Jonah seating collection consists of 7 pieces – two armchairs, three 2 seater sofas and two 3 seater sofas, available in berry red, warm grey or origami pattern. They are constructed from a solid wood frame with foam and fibre filling.
Made.com say “We champion the best in fresh, homegrown design talent. As soon as we met rising star James Harrison, we knew he was one for us.
To celebrate British design with a unique seating collection made here. In trademark style, James drew on retro lines and shaped them into something new and original – a modern classic.
The key is a clean look. So our makers build the cushioning into the structure, and craft a single seat cushion. They then clad it in linen mix fabric or cotton blend jacquard, with minimal seams to keep it crisp. Right now retro.”
Traceability may be an important question when buying food, or ordering from a restaurant but with furniture we are much less concerned by this. Designer Max Lamb might not have intentionally set out to redefine this in furniture, but his short time-lapse films show the materials used and how each piece was made.
As he told Dezeen in 2009 “My furniture is very personal; people only buy it if they respond emotionally, so they’re unlikely to throw it away. Lifespan and the relationship between an item and its user are more important than so-called ecological materials. It’s the culture of disposal that I think we need to address. The materials and processes I use are very durable – you can be very rough with them. And I don’t follow fashion.”
This rings nicely in my ears as I think about the objects I own and what matters to me when I buy pieces… ‘will it last?’, ‘how was it made?’ and ‘will it grow on me or against me?’. Max works to help answer these questions.
Bend Seating was founded by Gaurav Nanda, a designer and entrepreneur. Gaurav always loved to create. As a kid growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Gaurav would find himself building something, joining something, or bending something, whether it be constructing a teepee, painting with oils, or throwing pots. Once he made a screen printing machine, where he built a frame, stencil, and got a squeegee to pass paint thru. It was to mark the beginning of his t-shirt printing business. Needless to say, he gave it up for bigger and better things. Today Gaurav is doing the same thing. He is creating.
I get excited by order. Whilst I’m not adverse to some eclectic styling, when I see items laid out in perfect order it appeals to the tidy side of me.
So, when I was browsing the web looking for some ideas to blog and stumbled across Vetted, a shop by graphic designer Antonio Carusone.
Simply put: Design, vetted. They have a highly-curated collection of simple, modern, unique, and hard-to-find products that are hand-picked for their superb level of design, function, style, craft and content.
I have written about Düller before, when I was loving the Dietrich Lubs pen and now I see their products appearing in ever more places. Kukko blocks are great and I was recently able to get up close and personal with them at the mydeco press show.
Also, I am a fan of the magazine Apartamento already and look forward to each issue with the excitement of a small child at Christmas so this continues to keep ticking boxes for me. And nestled amongst Dietrich Lubs and Dieter Rams products makes this shop heaven for any design geek. You know who you are. Own up.
