Interior Design, Design News and Architecture Trends

Author: designer

Leather Sensuality and Lacquered Wood Coldness -Alix Sofa Limited Edition

Tilt, an internationally recognized graffiti artist, teamed up with Amaze workshops to create a remarkable, yet unusual and unexpected piece of furniture. Alix, as it is named, is an exclusive place dedicated to languor and dream, where graffiti art meets contemporary furniture design. Defined as a unique experience without compromise both in form and function, this unconventional modern sofa features curved shapes and sophisticated appearance, an original design approach that reveals the two sides of the creative idea.

Tilt‘s incredible creativity and imagination delivers a genuine work that showcases black and white, chiaroscuro, line and curves, leather sensuality and the lacquered wood coldness. Made in France, the sofa is very stylish and of high quality, with an attractive composition of elements that creates a perfect sofa for various seating and lounge positions.

Seen from behind, the sofa displays an interesting graffiti artwork with a lot of white, while seen from the other site, it shows a totally different aspect, looking like a luxurious piece of furniture , with an inviting erotic edge. The bold monochrome palette intensifies the identically striking contrast of the clean wooden framework with the padded leather.

Photos © Amaze

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July 10, 2013
Create a Fine Background Ambience with Pivot Passive iPhone Amplifier

Made by hand in America, Koostik‘s products are designed for enhancing the functionality and enjoyment of our Apple devices. How? Very simple: by passively amplifying the volume output of the external speaker on our iPhone or iPad without any external power. They create a soft background ambiance that can fill a room with our favourite music or videos.

Exploring the principals of acoustics, those from Koostik really make some cool objects suitable for smaller, more intimate settings, rather than larger spaces. Take for example one of their products called “Pivot”. It’s one of the designs we liked very much, being compatible with the latest versions of iPhone: iPhone 4, 4S and 5.

Specifically designed as a personal accessory for our iPhones, than as a replacement for home audio system, Pivot passive amplifier is a cleverly carved block of harwood which offers you two or four times the volume of your smarphone. Its attractive geometric shape features a phone dock where you can place your iPhone in both portrait or landscape mode. The Pivot works with no case as well as with many of the most popular cases, up to 1/2” thick. Whether you choose Hard Maple, Makore, Cherry or Walnut finish, your “Pivot” will definitely be a natural compliment to your device.

Each piece is carefully hand crafted and beautifully finished, expressing a striking combination of simplicity, elegance, natural beauty with amazing function. Whether you are working in your office, or preparing meals in the kitchen, this small objects can be taken anywhere, being also idealy portable. Just turn on your favourite tunes on your iPhone and place it on the amplifier, and that’s all. Efortlessly and without electricity! It will be a very pleasant background presence that still allows for conversation. Have a look at the video at the end of this post to see how it works!

Photos © Koostik

Pivot Passive iPhone Amplifier

July 9, 2013
Minimalist Three-Legged Chair by Albert Puig

Simple, yet sophisticated furniture pieces are becoming more and more popular these days. They are very appealing and draw attention instantly thanks to their intriguing forms that most of the time are between art and functionality. AlterEgo is an interesting chair with a creative design envisioned by young designer based in Barcelona Albert Puig. The idea behind his project was to translate his personality -his being- into a common, everyday object. Complex, daring and dual are three adjectives that truly represents the designer and that are found also in this latest work.

Fascinated by the experimental design and crafts, Albert Puig plays with materials and forms to create functional, yet unique objects. AlterEgo chair features a strong formal complexity, which is paradoxically simple designed: through the repetition of an element consisting of two triangles. This geometric repetition led to a clean and symmetrical structure characterized by aggressive yet sophisticated lines that initially transmits you an uncomfortable feeling when looking at it. Made of beech wood, the chair structure has three legs and its unsual backrest support is especially designed to adapt to the lumbar area, offering a greater feeling of freedom to the spinal column. That triangles seems to perfectly fits our positions, according to designer’s description.

Photos © Albert Puig

July 8, 2013
9 Original Themes to Design Exciting Kids’ Rooms

When deciding to create a dream world for our kids, we always look for unique ways to design something special, where kids will have fun, sleep, explore and play with their friends. Their rooms should be aesthetically pleasing, but also functional and practical. Cheerful and colorful on one side, safe and meeting the highest quality standards, if possible, on the other side. Children are naturally creative and expressive, so making the room for active play and art is essential.

Setting up a lovely place like your child room needs imagination and creativity, or finding a specialist such as interior designers or well-known children’s brand where you can find quality products and a lot of inspiration. Here we show you some original themes we liked very much from the Danish brand LIFETIME , to make these spaces awesome so that both you and your children can enjoy for many years.

With brightly illustrated bedfront, bed linen, duvet covers, rugs and cushions, each one of them has a particular charm, being carefully designed to make kids’ dreams come true. Their furniture items are all made from sustainable materials (pine wood) grown in the forests of Northern Scandinavia, so their quality is the highest possible. Besides, a wide range of cool matching accessories (storage solutions, high-quality mattresses, large wardrobes, nice colored bookcases or toy cabinets, delightful details) are available to put the finishing touch to the bed and the whole room.

Smallest details make all! Take children’s bedrooms to the next level with these 9 gorgeous themes below. Let imagination run wild and have fun with decorating, and also check out other inspiring ideas for your children’s rooms on Designlike.

Photos © LIFETIME

July 6, 2013
Wooden Coffee Table with Red Accents by Archinteriors

A little while ago, we were sharing with you a gorgeous, fresh interior design of a small apartment in Bucharest, Romania, signed by Romanian design studio Archinteriors. We liked their work, so we check out if they have other ongoing projects and we discovered this very appealing coffee table 100% made of wood designed by interior architect Monica Corduneanu. The world that surrounds us is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and talented designers always manage to achieve amazing results starting most of the time from simple ideas.

The story concept of the little table entitled suggestively “Spiral” has its roots in the form of a snail shell, a spiral-like shape that she tried to broadly translate through the geometric arrangement of table legs. “Spiral” is a coffee table with personality and beautiful detailing. Its simple countertop made of fir wood is give with stain to accentuate the fibers and is highlighted by etching of circles corresponding to the legs.

The natural and colored parts of the countertop taken into consideration both technical and design reasons. The two thin slices, red and white, is a lovely addition that gives more personality to this coffee table, solving also the problem of hiding grips. Measuring L 60 x l 40 x h 42 cm, it’s lightweight and the red painted accents make the furniture item to stand out. Its geometry imprints the space interesting shadows, especially if you place it as much as possible in light or near a lamp. What do you think? Would go for this type of furniture?

Photos © Archinteriors

July 5, 2013
Steel and Wood Combined to Create Cool Pendant Lamps

How do you change a setting with a lamp? The answer to this question can be these wonderful series of pendant lamps called “Slope” that we’d like in our home or office. And this is not just because any project that helps us create multiple color accents is received with open arms, but also because it would totally change the dynamic scenery.

The collaboration between Italian brand Miniforms and the Milan-based design studio Skrivo led to this eye-catching design inspired by the shapes of mountains and hills, a design that will make a contemporary decor interesting and unique. The concept draws attention through its a creative approach to form, functionality and color. The designers beautifully mixed steel and wood, two distinctly different materials, creating modern conicalhanging lights with industrial appeal. Based on the same creative idea, yet each piece comes with a special approach and with every standpoint you are likely to discover surprising details.

Clean lines and pleasant colors (yellow, gray, & white) , the unique look of “Slope” pendant lamps is enhanced by the 3D volumes created by carving into the cones, technique that unveils nicely also the inner grains of their beech wood top. They consists of a gray & white stripe woven fabric cable and collabsible conical structure which make them very easy to assemble and transport. A very classy lighting object transformed into a highly appealing version, perfectly suitable for a large variety of modern settings.

Photos © Gabriele Lemanski

July 5, 2013
Rocco Design Architects Completed W Guangzhou Hotel & Residences in China

Over the past few years, the southern China’s largest city, Guangzhou, is an ever-growing city, becoming one of the most remarkable architectural places in China. This fabulous 106,500 sq complex consisting of hotel and residences is the latest addition to the new Central Business District of Guangzhou. Situated along the central axis of the district, with the main boulevard on one side and the residential building (part of the same urban block) on the other side, the development acts as an interface between its two different site contexts: the inner landscaped courtyard and the busy, public Xian Cun Road.

This imposing and glossy addition to the city showcases a distinctive architecture with an expressively rich composition that goes beyond the daily conventional. Two buildings with different functions ( a 317-room boutique hotel and 160 serviced apartments) are architecturally unified into one amazing monolithic block.  According to architects, the two sections are run by the same management, being practically mixed with the same overarching aesthetic keeping in the same time through subtle design features their contrasting elements.

The taller part of the building feature apartment units designed for permanent residents. To have the best living conditions, the residences  block is directed towards  the quieter south-eastern Xian Cun Road junction, while those who stay in the hotel rooms can see the Xian Cun Road / Jin Sui Road roundabout with a much livelier energy. A matrix of vertical glass fins delicately defines the dark granite and glass cladding of the  private residential part consisting of apartments and guest rooms.

Besides its functional role, to accomodate  bars, restaurants and spa, which means the public part, the transparent glazed boxes that visually spring out from the dark background of the building have also the role to animate the western façade. A gracious, welcoming, and surprising ambience is created through large vertical opening designed in the centre of the development. This feature connects both visually and spatially its tranquil inner park with the public street. It acts as a “Window to The City” allowing free passages of air, light, and different views. Spectacular appearance at night!

Photos © Liky Lam

Project details:

Architect: Rocco Design Architects Ltd
Local Architect: Guangzhou Foreview Architect Institute
Interior Designer: Yabu Pushelberg, Glyph, AFSO, A.N.D., DesignWilkes
Structural Engineer: RBS Archectural Engineering Design Consultant Co Ltd
M&E Engineer: J. Roger Preston Ltd
Hotel Operator: Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Pte. Ltd
Location: Guangzhou, China
Year: 2006-2013
Client: KWG Property Holding Limited
GFA: 106,000 sq m

July 3, 2013
DIY Inspiration- Colorful Puzzle Stools for Children
Are you planning to do a playroom or a nursery for your children on a tight budget? Today, we will share with you tips to create beautiful and modern puzzle stools on your own, with the help of designers from HomeMade Modern. We recently discovered their DIY projects and couldn’t help not to show you at least one of them (all of them are interesting) and decided on these charming stools that kids will certainly love them.

Playrooms and nurseries are going to be used by children, so it’s important to adapt any furniture item to their needs and also choose pieces that stir their imagination and make them creative as well. These DIY puzzle stools are great because besides the fact that they are brightly colored in various tints, they can be used separately or together. As you’ll see, making your own puzzle stool isn’t so hard as it seems, if you’ll have the right tools and follow the steps in the video at the end of this post.

Here’s what you need:
- ¾” furniture-grade plywood with a sanded finish (for 2 puzzle benches a single 4’ by 8’ sheet of plywood cut into 12” strips is more than enough);
- 1¼” wood screws are excellent;
- 220 Grit Sand Paper;
- 1” Diameter Dowels – 48” Long;
- 1/2” Diameter Dowels – 48” Long;
- wood glue;
- paint in various trendy colors;
- tools (18 Volt Cordless Drill and 6.1 Amp Variable Speed Jig Saw);
- patience 🙂
Photos © HomeMade Modern

It should take you no more than 7 hours to complete the project and in terms of money, if you have already the tools, it seems to cost you around $60 less or more. The result will be worth the effort and both you and your kids will love these fun and functional furniture pieces. They’re just an awesome touch for a cool and modern playroom. So, be creative and save money too with these professional tips! If you put this into practice, please tell us if it came out just like in these pics.

For more detailed instructions, check out HomeMade Modern website.

DIY colorful puzzle stools
July 2, 2013