Jennifer Newman Studio’s M-Bamboo Table

Jennifer Newman Studio will be showcasing their new M-Bamboo table at Clerkenwell Design Week this week.

The M-Bamboo table is the first product designed by the Studio that incorporates bamboo surfaces. And because bamboo is a fast growing, replenishable grass it is also a sustainable resource.

When bamboo is compressed in to solid material it initially has the appearance of a high quality semi-hard wood, it transforms into a dark hardwood following treatment to avoid bacterial degradation for use outside.

The table comes in a dark chocolate coloured top for use outside or inside, or in a light caramel top for inside use only.

The frame of the M-Bamboo table is made of powder-coated aluminium as is the M-Bench which fits the table perfectly.

Jennifer Newman Studio will be exhibiting their designs in the Farmiloe Building at Clerkenwell Design Week from the 21st-23rd of May.

Morgan Furniture at Clerkenwell Design Week

Morgan Lucca Chair

Morgan Furniture will be exhibiting at Clerkwenwell Design Week again this year, with their original furniture launches for 2013.

Morgan Lucca Chair

Showing at the Farmiloe Building in St John’s Street, Morgan will be unveiling several new furniture pieces, designed by Katerina Zachariades and the in-house Morgan design team, from the contemporary Modena, Lucca and Soho collections.

Morgan Moderna Armchair

Morgan design and develop all their products in a low energy consuming factory, using materials from sustainable sources. The company is accredited by the Furniture Industry Sustainability Programme (FISP) and was among the first in the industry to be awarded ISO14001.

Morgan Modena Three Seat Sofa Lime

Morgan is also part of a lean and environmental improvement ‘think tank’ which includes other British manufacturers. Their elegant and high quality work, reflects that sustainability and design are highly compatible and one does not need to be substituted for the other.

Morgan Lucca Chairs

‘Evolve or die’: Hendzel + Hunt at Green Week

Back in March of this year, Hendzel + Hunt hosted a spin off 24HR Design Challenge, open to students at London College of Communication, during the University’s Green Week. The range of events sought to champion intelligent and ethical creativity with a selection of workshops, exhibitions, screenings, lectures and design challenges taking place throughout the week.

The University’s annual Green Week is full of interesting ideas and innovative designs.

“A platform for showcasing current good practice, Green Week will see students, staff and guests collaborators utilize design and media thinking to unpick this year’s themes of waste, transport, consumption, biodiversity and water”.

This years theme was ‘evolve or die’ and the video shows the diverse results of the challenge. The video featured on Hendzel + Hunt’s website was created by Netta Peltola.

Triangles by Bertjan Pot

Milan Design Week 2013 presented a preview of Golran‘s «Triangles», by the Dutch designer Bertjan Pot. Pot was selected for his focus on textile research, patterns, and colour palettes.

The collection is composed of four different designs of Kilim, some of these are also available in several colours. All designs’ starting point is the study of the kilim weaving, in order to emphasize the horizontal and diagonal linear features of the art.

The whole collection is based on the triangle, reiterated to form a grid of different patterns, from which diamond and hexagonal shapes ensue. The colour play pair up slightly contrasting tones, creating woven kaleidoscopic rugs.

This colour harmony along with the pattern’s research, perfectly links the historical background to this new contemporary context. To emphasize the geometries and plays of colour, the designer has created poufs in different forms to be combined and contrasted with a carpet for a complete look corresponding to certain expressions of contemporary art.

Bertjan Pot was born in 1975 in Nieuwleusem, Netherlands. After graduating from the Design Academy in 1988, he began his career as a designer alongside Daniel Withe, under the alias «The Monkey Boys».

In 2003 he opened his own studio in Schiedam. His work centres on the creation of furniture and furnishings, intensely focused on the technological research of materials, patterns, colour palettes, and the textures of fabrics.

Material research is the general starting point for almost every project. Technical research and creativity are the elements that break the boundaries of industrial production, as with his self-produced projects. In addition to these, he has collaborated with a large number of companies and institutions such as Moooi, Arco, Goods, Montis, Feld, Gelderland, Established & Sons, Alturo Alvarez, Richard Lampert, Domestic, Moustache, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, and the AUDAX Textielmuseum Tilburg.

Reinventing Oriental Carpets: Golran at Milan’s Design Week

Golran reinterprets oriental carpets with a perfect mix between expert technique skills and sensitivity. It has taken a new contemporary turn with this new Kilim collection designed by BertJan Pot under the direction of Francesca Avossa Studio.

The new generation at Golran is driven by a contemporary approach that began several years ago. This approach aims to promote research, while also conveying a new company spirit.

A collaboration with the Francesca Avossa Studio two years ago allowed for a redesign of the brand. This led to the development of a new identity that would unite the various activities of the brand, and create a cohesive message in both publicity and collections.

After the revolutionary Carpet Reloaded collection, whose innovation has been the engine of the company’s repositioning, Golran decided to invest further in contemporary collections.

The first two collections designed by Isabella Sodi – “Memories” and “Shadows” – preceded the collaboration with the studio of Francesca Avossa; a former consultant for several companies, including as artistic director of the brand’s collections at Ligne Roset.

The new editorial line has been designed in harmony with the spirit of Golran: reminiscent of the East, with traditional and artisanal know-how, using a contemporary approach to décor and a particular style of transgression.

Joost Gehem’s Transformation & Distribution Centre for Abandoned Household Items

The Eindhoven based designer, Joost Gehem, stumbled upon an eco-friendly design process almost by accident. While he had a long standing interest in recycling and sustainable life styles, he came across re-purposing materials from an unusual angle.

Joost Gehem stools

His research into recycling waste brought his attention to statistics affecting our society, such as the number of deaths, divorces, bankruptcies and the amount of elderly people needing to move to retirement homes. When he considered what may link these statistics, he came to an interesting conclusion – household items. These often tragic and life changing events often result in discarded or unwanted objects, as houses are sold or cleared out.

The original and end product

Joost started to wonder what happened to these objects and where they ended up. After searching the internet he realised he could obtain the entire contents of a house that people no longer wanted. Many of these unwanted objects were the result of deaths and divorce, but he was also interested in the people who simply wanted to change or update the interior of their homes.

He says:

“I could hardly believe how cheap a complete interior could be and how much of it you could obtain in this way. I began to see it as a material and I envisioned a little factory in my mind. What if I could create products out of this unwanted material. “

Close up bottom of the stool

He saw this material as almost a raw material that would be re-purposed and remoulded into a different form, changing its appearance and consistency to give it a new life cycle.

The upper mould

Pressing the stool

At first he was a little concerned about what the grieving friends or family think. Whether they would welcome the possibility that objects once belonging to their deceased friend or family member would be broken down into a pulp and be reused as a material to create a new product.

The mould

Tool

However after presenting his idea to the son of an elderly widower from whom he was buying the entire 1960s interior of a house, he realised that many people would welcome the reuse of these objects. Reshaping and transforming these old pieces of furniture and household items, gives them a new meaning and a new purpose when they have become obsolete.

Taking the top of stool out of the mould

Joost working on one of his stools, spinning it around.

Joost explains:

“So some people think it’s about recycling or up-cycling etc. I can’t disagree with that, but I did not start this process as an engineer, I’m not qualified to do that. I looked at the process from a different perspective, I focused on the powerful life events like death, divorce, etc. these things happen a lot all over the world. Most importantly I can relieve the ‘owner’ of the product in a considerate/air/appropriate way and create a new usable product ‘life cycle’. That’s my first priority.”

Joost believes in the importance of improving our lifestyle in general, changing the way we live and consume. His products not only provide a solution for unwanted objects resulting from a change of circumstances, but they also provide a way to gain value from something that has possibly been deemed to be worthless. By creating a new product he can change the aesthetics and the purpose of the product itself giving it an completely new lease of life. For more information visit the Transformation & Distribution Centre for Abandoned Household Items.