Laufer + Keichel Designs 330 Chair Series for Thonet

Thonet has recently commissioned Berlin-based industrial designer duo Julia Laufer and Marcus Keichel to design the 330 product family.

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HOME ANNOUNCES EXCITING PLANS FOR 2013

After a hugely successful debut show in 2012, preparations are in full swing for Home 2013. Having firmly established itself as the must-see first UK homewares and interiors event of the year, the second edition of Home is set to present the hottest line-up of international brands and creative homegrown talent, who will all be showcasing the very best in exciting new homewares, housewares, interior accessories, furniture, lighting and textiles. Home 2013, which takes place in Earls Court 2, London, is THE place to buy, specify, select and commission new design for the home. 

Beyond light: Diva

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Frame Moooi Award Selects Jana Scholze as 2013 Juror

Organizers of the Frame Moooi Award are thrilled to announce the juror for this year’s competition: Jana Scholze, Curator of Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

‘We are excited to join forces with Jana and the Victoria and Albert Museum – a leading international design institution – for the 2013 edition of the award,’ says Robert Thiemann, editor-in-chief of Frame. ‘As a curator and expert, Jana is a neutral authority with an eye for the most inventive, fresh, modern and creative designs. We look forward to seeing who she selects as the 2013 award winner.’

As the Frame Moooi Award juror, Scholze will select the top 10 finalists who will be invited to the grand finale party during Milan’s Salone del Mobile in April, 2013. Here the award will culminate at a cocktail event on 10 April, where the grand prize winner will be announced – and walk away with the €25,000 cash prize. Scholze will also be part of a panel discussion and Q&A session on 11 April, where press and public will be invited to ask her about the process of selecting a winner.

‘The Frame Moooi Award is as exceptional and meaningful as it is open, specific and generous,’ says Scholze. ‘The aim to celebrate and promote innovation is convincingly supported by inviting simply everyone with a suitable project. The significant prize acknowledges not only excellence in design thinking and making, but encourages both designers and the creative industries alike.’

Scholze has worked on a number of major exhibitions, including Cold War Modern: Design 1945-1970 (2008), plus she often publishes and teaches internationally about contemporary design.

‘Hosting the Frame Moooi Award 2013 is a great honour and I am expecting to see outstanding and compelling, attractive and quiet, as well as fascinating and speculative work,’ says Scholze. She follows French architect and designer Philippe Starck, who was the 2012 award juror and crowned Dutch designer Bertjan Pot’s Stairway to Heaven as winner.

Submit your work at www.framemoooi.com

naughtone's popped up

New naughtone products have arrived at the pop up exhibition and the doors are open!
Please book for viewings.

sales@naughtone.com

76-80 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3JL

Arper Showroom launches in London

With showrooms already located in Milan, Cologne, Stockholm and New York, the London showroom in Clerkenwell will become the company’s new centerpiece – a flagship space in the heart of London’s architecture and design district. Beyond showcasing stunning Arper pieces this showroom presents the opportunity to share the company’s design vision – the pursuit of the essential – with the London design community.

The showroom has been designed by renowned architects 6A, who share Arper’s values of simplicity through pure design, focusing on elegance and sensuality of form and avoiding the superfluous. The concept for the showroom takes its inspiration from this philosophy as well as from the local environment, its history and cultural context. It aims to convey the innate qualities of Arper and Treviso with the style and exuberance of London. The space is a simple architectural unit constructed from different materials in shades of white, inserted into a concrete shell to make a singular backdrop for the furniture. Natural white plaster, bleached oak and enameled cast aluminum form a soft, finely crafted space open to the street on two sides. Finer details of the build — doors, ironmongery, skirtings — have been stripped back. The focus is on the relationship between space, light and furniture.

This space will be more than a showroom – it is an Arper ‘experience’ for architects, specifiers, designers and the public to learn more about the company and its ethos of open-ended and generous design.   It has also been designed to be flexible to allow it to play host to different types of events, through which Arper can communicate with its new London audience.

Claudio Feltrin, CEO of Arper, said: “London will be our flagship showroom across the world, more a brand embassy than simply a store. Clerkenwell is the perfect location for us as it has one of the highest concentrations of architectural and engineering companies in the world. And London is a dynamic hub of creativity, design and innovation, which has really inspired us.”

“Through this showroom we hope to increase Arper brand recognition but also position ourselves at the heart of one of the world’s leading cultural capitals.”

Tom Emerson, founder of 6A, said of the collaboration: “I am really excited to be working with Arper on this project, as they share so many of our values. Traditionally, Clerkenwell was London’s Italian quarter, a centre of manufacturing and precision engineering and we are reflecting this history in the showroom’s design. It is on a fantastically noticeable corner of Clerkenwell so transparency and visibility are key – we are hoping the Arper Showroom will inject a calm pause along this busy street.”

The showroom will be open from late October 2012 and will showcase Arper’s new collections of Saya and Juno chairs, unveiled at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile this year. It will also be home to Arper’s classic designs, from the iconic Catifa chair through to the playful Pix collection. 

A Sofa with a Heart

The Heart modular sofa from Softline, is much more than a sofa.  You can build single seats, a sofa or a day bed - Or configure lounge sofas of any desired length by combining the elements to each other. The backrest can be removed easily and attached again horizontally – giving you all the flexibility you need.  It is an ingeniously simple idea that is at the root of ‘Heart’.

www.softline.dk

Furniture Retail Quality Group publish a new guide for glass in furniture

FIRA is pleased to announce the publication of a new industry Standard for glass in furniture: FIRA-FRQG G001 Glass in furniture - requirements. The document has been produced by FIRA in conjunction with the Furniture Retail Quality Group (FRQG), comprising technologists from the major retailers of furniture in the UK.

The guide has been introduced to ensure that basic safety levels relating to glass in furniture and mirrors are maintained.

The introduction of harmonised European Standards has forced the withdrawal of a number of key British Standards covering the use of glass in furniture. The FRQG felt that the new European requirements did not fully address the safety risks posed by glass in furniture, and therefore were not compliant with the obligation to supply a safe product as required by the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Subsequently, the FRQG has produced this new guide that contains, and updates, the requirements from the now withdrawn standards BS 7449 (glass in storage furniture) and BS 7376 (glass in tables).

It is expected that this document will become the document of choice when assessing the suitability of glass and mirrors to be used in the domestic environment.

The document is available for purchase online at FIRA’s online book shop – www.fira.co.uk/publications. 

Successful 100% Design for LG Hausys

LG Hausys, the manufacturer of HI-MACS®, presented elements of a sophisticated display known as “Contemporary Décor”, featuring a kitchen produced entirely from the new generation Solid Surface at the recent 100% Design show.