Again some beautiful work by Studio Kiki van Eijk presented this Maison et Objet in Paris. Bijoux is a glass & ceramics collection for gallery Secondome Edizione in Rome, all hand-made by some of the best craftsmen in Italy. The ‘delicate and tactile forms will be your bijoux for the house!’ (Pictures by Secondome Edizioni)
www.secondome.eu -  www.kikiworld.nl

Last week Areaware, the New York manufacturer of Ursa the Bear (a.o.), released their new catalog. They invited me to write a little piece for their Object Stories – ‘about the ways we become attached to the things we live with, how we develop emotional connection with ordinary objects, and how our belongings become extensions of ourselves.’ Enjoy some very nice objects, and some  stories on the love for objects, in the new Areawear catalog >

Bird, designed by Kristian Vedel in 1959, is making its comeback. The three birds, the child, the parents and the grandparents, are now available again via ArchitectMade. They are still hand made, in a traditional woodturner workshop in Denmark, piece by piece, in three different wood types, oak – smoked or natural, with its friendly walnut-eyes. Love it!

Upon a Fold did a post on a beautiful gift shop and tearoom in Tokyo called ori HIGASHIYA. The shop is specialized in the traditional art of Japanese confectionery known as Wagashi. The shop with the beautiful paper folded wall is designed by Simplicity, a Tokyo based design studio. Definitely worth a visit: ori HIGASHIYA, 1F 3-16-28 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0031.
Enjoy some more images at Upon a Fold >

I already considered the Laser sailboat as one of my favorite, but after Marian Bantjes did a collaboration with LaserPerformance I really want one. Wallpaper invited both companies to collaborate and this cubist pattern naval camouflage sailboat, inspired by the First- and Second World War ‘dazzle’ boats was the result. A limited edition of 12 of these works of art are available to order for £10,000, each with its own unique number discreetly moulded into the hull. Simply beautiful!

Frank Buchwald created a limited amount of highly unusual ‘Machine Lights’ made from brass and steel. These sinister objects are hand made based on visible components with an astonishing symmetry. Find out more at LH.

Started today, the Zuiderzee Museum is presenting two new projects at the Salone del Mobile in Milan by Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk. Shown above ‘The Poor Man’s Gold’ by Joost van Bleiswijk, was inspired on the voyages of the Dutch East India Company. Both projects will be on show at Lambrate Ventura zone.

Picture by Frank Tielemans

A great project by Swiss based designer Nicola Enrico Stäubli is now featuring in the Design Museum London: Indie Furniture, a DIY concept to create ‘a unique piece of furniture with the help of an online planning aid that also provides the list of materials. The connectors are purchased online whereas the wood is supplied through the carpenter around the corner or the do-it-yourself store.’

‘IkebanaMedulla’ by Benjamin Graindorge is the result of shi six-months residence at the villa Kujoyama where he transformed his line sketches into a real vase.
“When I began designing the IkebanaMedulla vases two things were foremost in my mind. The first was practical – design a vase that would be inhabited even when there were no flowers in it. The second was to think out a project whose form would bring together complete calm with a wild – almost animal – tension. I’m exploring the idea of natural savagery, and the IkebanaMedulla vases are my first attempt at a resolution.” — Benjamin Graindorge
From 24 to 28 March 2010 the ‘IkebanaMedulla’ vase will be represented by YMER&MALTA gallery at the Pavillon des Arts et du Design 2010. Find more information at Duende

Dutch online design magazine Fontanel published an extensive, custom designed article on Kenya Hara’s book Designing Design. Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara wrote a personal introduction addressed to Fontanel’s readers;

[...] I wrote this book out of a desire to communicate my approach and feelings to people around the world. Specifically, I envisaged the reader as being a Dutch woman designer aged about 27. Someone who no longer feels stimulated by brand marketing methods or advanced designs articulated by new media, and who is beginning to think about what sort of design is important for real people with bodies and feelings. [...]

The book is a lovely composition of his shared thoughts, philosophy, commercial work and expositions. Muji’s design and communication advisor wrote among others a delicate chapter on the beauties of white, an oath to the sensibility of all things paper and a refreshing final chapter on the history of design.
Read the review (Dutch only) on Fontanel and be sure to buy Designing Design.

Designed by Here Design this lovely hand-crafted leather case was made for The Balvenie Ambassador to present the Balvenie story from barley to bottle. It contains a miniature copper still, cask samples, miniature barrels and tasting bottles in bespoke boxes all beautifully finished. Be sure you’ll check the Here Design site for more great pieces of The Balvenie.
[Via LP]

Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov, former editors at the design magazine I.D. started the online publication Sight Unseen focusing on people and creativity.
They’ve already shared some very interesting views behind-the-scenes at design studios and factories as well as some nice book reviews and ‘city guides’ by creatives. As they can say it best ‘Sight Unseen uncovers the stories, inspirations, and obsessions of people who love to make things.’
A ‘must subscribe’ blog full of inspiration. And hopefully Sight Unseen and Anothersomething will collaborate somehow somewhere in a near future. To be continued…

Studio Juju made these beautiful cases to store your jewellery, to enrich the experience of choosing, matching and wearing the right accessories, almost as a ritual…

Is it a shop? No – It is a beautiful walk-in closet with walls of glass, made by Spazzi, the master cabinet maker from Spain. (via Trendir)

Daniel Heer, a young swiss designer now living and working in Berlin shared his work with us. Besides his fine horsehair mattresses called ROSSHAAR and lovely seating cubes called KEIL (made from walnut wood and leather a.o.) he creates this fantastic collection of bags called CHROM. Functional aesthetics and high-quality materials all come together in these minimalistic leather bags.

The name CHROM, derived from the Greek term chromos, stands for two aspects of this line: the material—the exquisite chrome tanned cowhide—and its color. First developed in 1858 the tanning process with chromium salts makes cowhide particularly durable without adversely impacting its look and feel.

The un-dyed chrome tanned cowhide bags have a distinctive white hue that acquires a patina from the owner’s individual use. Reflected in this dynamic coloring is the notion of vulnerability as a function of time. In addition to the unusual material, another distinctive feature of the bags is the outwardly displayed stitching. Rather than concealing the bag’s seams, Daniel Heer consciously uses these as a design element. He reveals how the bags are made and refers thus to the working process.

Daniel Heer comes from a family with a long history of experience in the traditional art of leather and horsehair craftsmanship. His great-grandfather Benedikt Heer first began fabricating leather and horsehair mattresses in 1890. Daniel Heer benefited from this family tradition in apprenticing as an upholsterer and saddle maker in his hometown of Lucerne before relocating to Berlin to work as an artist and designer.

The “Chrom I” model is inspired by the traditional bags of Swiss postmen at the beginning of the XX century… Daniel Heers great-grandfather used to manufacture them in Lucerne.

A little update from our favorite shop in Berlin. Andreas Murkudis organized a little Weihnachtsmarkt combined with the presentation of these beautiful Windmühlen knifes on 12 december from 12 til 19h at the Münzstrasse 21.

The people behind Project No 8 mailed me with this nice deck of playing cards. A series of cards designed by Tauba Auerbach, created in two iterations, Shapes and Functions. Each deck is produced in a hand numbered edition of 250. They’re available online at Moss and offline at No. 8b, 38 Orchard Street (corner of Hester Street) NY.