Karim Rashid

Simon Upton

Karim Rashid is a brilliant designer, and I'm proud to say grew up (partly) in Canada and went to the same university I did (Carleton, here in Ottawa). He lives in a space EXACTLY as you would imagine - filled with vibrant colours, bold patterns and alot of white. See for yourself.

Bilyana Dimitrova	Bilyana Dimitrova
Bilyana Dimitrova	Bilyana Dimitrova
Mark Luscombe-Whyte	Simon Upton

Maarten Baas

Dutch designer Maarten Baas has quite the imagination. I was totally blown away when I saw his work. He is so talented and creative that Moooi adopted his Smoke designs and his furniture has been bought by museums and collectors such as Philippe Starck. Did I mention he is only 29 years old?

SMOKE
Burned pieces of furniture, preserved with clear epoxy.

CLAY FURNITURE: Industrial clay, hand-modeled on top of metal 'skeletons', surface painted with colored lacquer.

"HEY, CHAIR, BE A BOOKSHELF!"
All kinds of products became a bookshelf, coated in P.U. coating.

Box Furniture

A while back Jo published a post about colour. In this post was the following photo featuring an incredible mirror.

Image from Inside Out

I received a lovely email today from Marcel Opstal, who, with his wife Maya Basyroel, design and manufacture their own range of furniture, including the mirror above. Their company is called Box Furniture and they are based out of Jakarta, Indonesia. Their furniture is exquisite and I am amazed at how well they mix Eastern influences with contemporary design. Here are some photos from their catalog and a small sample of the items they designed.

Adriana Barra

I published this and the following post for Jo who is visiting with her sister for the weekend.
-Kim

Adriana Barra is one of the foremost fashion designers in Brasil. Each year as she releases her collection she restyles her atelier in the neighbourhood of Jardins in Sao Paulo. Her designs have translated to other areas such as homewares. Great shop, great ideas and amazing website.

All images from Adriana Barra

Grant Featherston

Grant Featherston (1922-1995) is another Australian design icon I would like to share with you. What Hans Wegner is to mid century devotees in America, Grant Featherston is to Australians. Devoted to promoting a philosophy of good design and opposing the stifling forces of conservatism with an alternative to the overstuffed post-war sofas Grant Featherston gained success in the 1950s with his clean organic designs. The now famous contour chair can still be found in homes as well as fashionable design stores and museum collections.

Z300 chaise Inside Out	Expo Sound chair Inside Out
D350 dining chair Belle	Stem dining chair Belle
R152 Contour chair Architronic	B2 series armchair Vogue Living Australia
Scape chair Inside Out	R160 contour chair Australian Vogue Living