Interior Design, Design News and Architecture Trends

Author: designer

Fashionable Cubed Bed by Francesca Paduano for Bolzan Letti

Designer Francesca Paduano envisioned for Bolzan Letti one of the most interesting and attractive bed we’ve ever seen. Cubed Bed, as it’s named, is among the most recent products of Italian manufacturer and draws attention immediately thanks to its innovative and dynamic design featuring a game of highs and lows as they were the keys of a piano or the volume leveling. Born by extruding along a cubic curve, polyurethane foam modules with different sizes were assembled to give shape to this appealing and youthful bed design.

Striking simplicity, clear lines, a catchy blend of colors, Cubed Bed looks original and is a great addition for modern minimalist bedrooms. The feeling of the game is amplified when one bed has modules in distinct colors like in the first photo below, obtaining a pleasing, creative optical effect for the viewer. Each module of this furniture piece is made of polyurethane foam and the coating is provided in alcantara or leather.

Photos © Bolzan Letti

March 23, 2013
Wonderful California Cottage Renovation Revealing Inspiring Details

Whether she work on small or large design projects, Santa Monica-based designer Tess Bethune love to create gorgeous, happy and dynamic spaces that are comfortable, inspired, pragmatic and reflect the clients’ lifestyle, vision as well as economic goals, and this beautiful cottage renovation is a living example of how she approach projects. Her mission was to give a new look to a 50-year-old house and make it a warm liveable temporary home for a British family of 4, until they manage to build their dream house found at the back of the same property. The property is located in Venice, California and this small family cottage which is 1,200 sq ft (a living room, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms and one bathroom) is planned to be a guesthouse in the future for their relatives from the U.K.

Looking at these lovely pictures, she manage to bring smart updates with a budget around $60,000 and the result is a cheerful and sunny cottage enhanced by creativity and color. The clients didn’t want anything to feel fussy or overly traditional, so it was chosen a predominantly grey and white color palette spiced with various colorful touches, especially bright orange, and wooden elements, which led to a simple and functional design that could grow with their family. To add visual space, the house was reorganized by knocking down stifling walls, removing some unnecessary doors and adding in a few extra windows that helped expand the kitchen with a dining corner. Working with warm but inexpensive materials that would look good, the designer kept the home’s original wood flooring and most of the original windows and molding.

The light fixtures were replaced with timeless, classic pieces, while vintage furniture all over the house give a warm feel. By redesigning the space, the living room, the dining nook and the kitchen received more sunlight than before and create an airy atmosphere throughout. Both bedrooms feature a simple and lovely design, with closets that provide plenty of storage as needed and comfortable beds. The cottage features one single bathroom, just behind the kitchen’s chalkboard wall. Dark hexagonal floor combined with white tile make for a classic but fresh look. Discover other appealing design details in the photos below and share with us your favourite one.

Photos © Tess Bethune Interiors

Souce: @houzz.com

March 22, 2013
Original Design for Starbucks Coffee Shop in Dazaifu, Japan

The Starbucks Coffee Shop in Fukuoka, Japan, showcases an incredible use of wood, an interesting design approach that is present in many architectural projects of renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and his staff from Kengo Kuma and Associates. This time, they imagined an intriguing yet highly original interior design for the franchise “Starbucks”‘s shop the city of Dazaifu, where you can relax and enjoy a great cup a coffee.

Inspired by another project of them, Prostho Museum Research Center, whose architecture originates from the system of Cidori, an old Japanese toy, Starbucks Coffee’s structure features a never seen before system of weaving thin woods diagonally. The main purpose of building such a structure was to harmonize it with the traditional Japanese buildings in one or two stories found along the main path on one of the most major shrines in Japan.

2,000 stick-like parts in the sizes of 1.3m – 4m length and 6cm section were necessary to make this assembly throughout the coffee shop, four steps come to one point because of the diagonal, resulting in a more complicated joint than in Prostho Museum Research Center. Four wooden sticks were divided in two groups to avoid concentration on a single point, creating in this way a unique shape that is diagonally multiplicated along the walls and ceiling from the entrance to the other end of the shop in order to bring in a sense of direction and fluidity. The method used in designing this structure was taken from the traditional architecture of Japan and China and improved with state-of-the art technology. The result is a cave-like space with simple, minimalist furniture and of course with a predominantly natural wood color palette. Take a look on the pictures below and tell us how do you find it using our comment section.

Photos © Masao Nishikawa

Project details:

Architects: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Location: Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Client: Manten Corporation
Structure: Jun Sato Structural Engineering
Facility Design: Tosai Corporation, Kyu-den Ko Corporation
Construction: Matsumoto-gumi Corporation
Purpose: Coffee shop
Total floor area: 210.03 m2
Completion: 2011

March 21, 2013
Clever Multfunctional Coffee Table Design for a Modern Lifestyle

Adapting to change with a fresh, original vision became a necessity in a constantly evolving world and meeting the more informed client’s expectations may give you a leading position in a highly competitive market. Being original means sometimes taking a common concept to the next level, giving it a personal, highly creative approach, and these days we see a huge diversity of great-looking and ingenious design projects which try to perfectly match to our busy modern lifestyle.

Today, our attention was caught by this catchy multifunctional coffee table designed by Croatia-based designers Brigada and we wanted to share its clever design with you, our friends, to inspire you to find the best solutions when designing and decorating your rooms. Versatile, with a minimalist look and a modern color combination, this furniture piece is perfect for energizing a contemporary home, making your space more efficient than before.

Thinking that people use to transform their coffee table into a temporary place for various publications which they read when having a drink, designers from Brigada, inspired by this idea, create a coffee table that beautifully combines newspaper and magazine storage and a table, making it one functional object. It consists of different spaces available for keeping your favourite books, magazines and newspapers easy accessible any time you want. The upper level feature a several grooves highlighted in yellow color, which practically hold your publications organized. Very creative design that goes well with many interior design styles.

Photos © Domagoj Kunić

March 20, 2013
L-Shaped Modern Residence Integrating Traditional Thai House Design

The feeling you get from viewing the interiors of this beautiful modern residence in Yen Akat Road, Bangkok, Thailand, is that of tranquility and spatiality: minimalist design sprinkled with authentic elements of décor, extensive use of glass and a generous greenery area visible from every angle. Recently completed by architect Ayutt Mahasom from AYUTT AND ASSOCIATES DESIGN (AAd), YAK01 is a tasteful and welcoming 500 sq m house specifically designed for a small modern family. The residence was envisioned as a space that offers plenty of privacy, being in the same time in permanent connection with the nature through a large outdoor area that surrounds it. As clients requested to have sun shades and rain protections, the architect’s proposal was cantilevering practically half of the house over the ground floor area.

In order to improve the utilizable space and maximize the green space, he designed an L-shaped residence and one side of the house’s wall very close to an adjacent plot of land. With a white, grey and natural wooden palette, the interiors are modern, spacious and transparent and the overall impression is that of lightness and relaxing atmosphere. It’s flooded by natural sunlight thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows placed especially in the north of the house, since the northern sunlight is the least intense in Thailand. Besides that, adding glass walls provides a natural cross-ventilation for every room that keeps the building cool during daytime and creates also a seamless transition between the two environments. The bathrooms, storages, staircases and service areas are designed as buffer zones to absorb the heat and ensure more privacy for the main private space on the north. This layout not only comes to meet the client’s needs, but also generating, as we previously said, a large open area for gardening (almost 50 percent of the total 560 sq.m private land). Another idea to draw cool air into the house is to position the outdoor swimming pool in parallel with the building.

The modern approach of the house meet traditional Thai house design and this makes even more interesting and original its architecture. The ground floor is arranged in Thai design style with a central courtyard that functions as a feature foyer and distributor before accessing to the main living space. A staircase enclosed in a glass box seems to float over the front garden as a principal characterictic for the entrance. The main living room occupies a center position, receiving light from two sides. The space is directly directly connected to the terrace, the garden and the swimming pool with double -height folding windows that facilitate the fusion of spaces. In this way, the family can enjoy various activities related to the outdoor garden and swimming pool.

To increase the aesthetic element and to ensure shading in the same fashion as a traditional Thai house, the master bedroom is located upstairs and is designed in a cubic shape and is entirely cantilevered over the whole length of front foyer. YAK01 house looks like a silver box floating on a black granite sheet below due to customized Silver Aluminum Extrusion Strips assembled vertically on the wall of the master bathroom and master bedroom with both modern aesthetic purposes and air buffer insulation to cool down the main bedroom area. Two other bedrooms are located on the other side of the house by extending on top of the swimming pool on a cantilevered concrete slab enclosed by a big glass wall with black aluminum cladding.

Photos © Piyawut Srisakul

Details:

Project name: YAK01
Year : 2011 – 2013
Architect : Ayutt Mahasom
Interior Designer : Ayutt Mahasom
Landscape Designer : Ayutt Mahasom
Client : Rawin and Supamas Boonyanusasna
Site area : 560 sq.m.
Construction area : 500 sq.m.
Location : Yen Akat road, Bangkok, Thailand

March 19, 2013
Bring Magic and Color to Your Room with Living Pixels Lamps

We love creative designs! This splendid collection of lamps entitled “Living Pixels” is a very interesting design project envisioned by Hong Kong -based group of designers from SDWorks (Chan Wan Ki Kay, Chen Siu Wa Shai Chai, and Suen Ka Hei Catherine) that rank high in originality, as well as in functionality. They were certainly looking for less ordinary approaches when starting this project if we think that recycled advertising banners are the material used to create these appealing, colorful volumes of light and texture.

To give that unique three-dimensionality to the material and to build that cloud-looking perfect irregular shapes, the designers took the right advertising banners that were printed on only one side and cut them into small pieces and then combined them to design each light shade individually. They sort out matching colors and sew each banner swatches by hand, creating a balloon of multi-colored light that emerges from the inside and generates a vivid luminous pattern through holes left intentionally with this purpose. When the lights are off, they look white and maybe not so attractive, but switch them on and you’ll see a spectacular play of colors that bring magic and create a pleasant atmosphere in your room due to the fact that each element of these lampshades patchwork allow differences in light shade. The lampshades are attached to vintage lamp stands and feature low-energy-consuming lightbulbs.

Photos © SDWorks

March 18, 2013
Smart Multi-Purpose Lounge Chair Design -LLSTOL

Simple yet comfortable, LLSTOL showcases an interesting and efficient multi-purpose lounge chair design envisioned by Slovenian architect student Luka Locicnik. This creative idea came up during a design workshop at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, Slovenia and looking to develop a chair using minimal resources, Luka Locicnik managed after one year of research, tests and material support, to manufacture the LLSTOL chai,r adaptable to multiple uses. Two identically “L” shaped elements from moulded plywood are combined creating a multifunctional furniture piece suitable for any modern interior décor thanks to its minimalist and elegant design.

Easy to assemble in a variaty of furniture types, LLSTOL can be configured as lounge chair, shelving, coffee table, rest support, drawing board, bench or landscape, and the fact that it can be folded and stored in a small place, makes it ideal especially for small apartments where as we all know, every inch counts. It can also be used as an extra seat when you have guests. Made entirely of quality beech wood, which is the most common type of wood in Slovenia, and coated with matte lacquer, the chair is designed for both private and public indoor settings such as private residences, student dormitories, coffee shops, book shops, libraries, galleries, etc. New variants are to be taken into consideration in the future to give clients the opportunity to customize the chair. It is possible to be made from different materials, have various perforations, colors and even textile accessory. Lovely project, what do you think?

Photos © Matej Gruden, Blaž Jamšek

March 17, 2013
Futuristic Newton Console Showcasing Exquisite Design

Boca do Lobo furniture is all about modern and contemporary luxury design for an exclusive home interior and this intriguing Newton Console is a representative example of their extraordinary Limited Edition furniture collection entitled Large Emotion. Inspired by Newton’s law of gravity and their recent outstanding Newton dining table, Newton Console is an emotional piece of furniture that reflects the sphere attraction as they were joined with their mass, force and energy.

Elegant and modern, with a strong personality, its unique, look never seen before is a fusion of art and design, that will certainly will never go unobserved. Designed for people who pay special attention to style and good taste, passionate about culture and attentive to everything that surrounds them such as environment, books and art, technologies, this artistic Newton Console is made from aluminum and features gold plated spheres that joined together in an undefined structure to support the top made of semi-spheres.

Most of them are laquered in black, with a high gloss varnish, this contrast making it look like a sophisticated jewel ideal for luxurious cosmopolitan interiors. Presented in limited edition, the Newton Console is a really special furniture piece of highest quality, being handcrafted in Portugal from the finest materials by skillful and experienced artisans who manage to combine traditional manufacturing techniques with the latest technological methods. Take a look and check also their website for other magnificent furniture designs.

Photos © Boca Do Lobo

March 16, 2013