March 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Slade Architecture: Virgin Clubhouse and…

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Virgin Atlantic’s new JFK Clubhouse – designed by our good friends James and Hayes Slade of Slade Architecture – opened yesterday at JFK International Airport here in NYC. The 10,000 square foot lounge includes a beautiful curvy bar, cool seating such as the also curved, oversized, custom-made flame red ball sofa, and a large maple wood and burgundy billiards table in the ‘Entertainment Zone’. Bumble and Bumble has opened their first US airport salon and spa as part of the Clubhouse, as well.

Slade Architecture have a slew of great projects under their belt (many of them award winning) and an impressive range to boot; from residential to commercial, educational to cultural…plus furniture and product design, to boot! Below are some of our recent favorites, but you should really visit their website to see much more.

Top three photos: Barbie Flagship Store in Shanghai; second from bottom: Pup Tent; bottom left: Diffa Installation (discarded furniture covered in duct tape); bottom right: East 67th Street Bathroom.

All photos courtesy Slade Architecture

via Virgin Atlantic’s facebook page

February 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Superflex: Copy Light Factory

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After going through Cindy Sherman’s (the queen of ‘selfies’) new retrospective at the MoMA this past Saturday—an interesting show in itself—I made a quick loop through their other major exhibit next door, Print/Out. Though met with mixed criticism, I have to say, it’s hard for me not to like rooms filled with colorful contemporary graphic prints, posters and books, much of which involve typography, so, I was pretty pleased. But one project that stood out was Danish design studio Superflex’s (coincidentally one of the collaborators on the previously mentioned Superkilen Park in Copenhagen) Copy Light Factory. In this workshop (I was there during non-workshop hours) lamps are created by copying images of well-known lamp designs onto translucent paper and then attaching them to wooden cubed frames. Here is how their website puts it:

Copy Light Factory is a workshop producing Copy Light – cube shaped lamps made of translucent paper with photocopied motifs of various well-known lamp designs. However, the owner is free to change the image to a lamp design of his/her own choosing. Thus Copy Light seeks the borders between the copy and the original. As a copy of a copy Copy Light turns into something new: an original lamp that communicates the problems of the current copyright system.

I loved this idea and will totally be making one for my next apartment.

You can visit Print/Out at the MoMA through May 14, 2012.

Table photo courtesy of Superflex; all others collabcubed.

February 23, 2012 by collabcubed - 4 Comments

Katya Malakhova: Russian Nesting Dolls

Russian graphic designer and photographer Katya Malakhova, clearly an industrial designer as well, has put a spin on the traditional Russian nesting doll (matroyshka) concept in many directions, all a lot of fun. From Batman to a dominatrix, anatomical versions and bling, they all made me chuckle. Oh, and Gene Mutation has a nice surprise at its core.

These have got kidrobot written all over them, don’t you think?

via redbubble

February 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

WC Line by Kontextür

Design company Kontextür has just come out with a new line of bathroom accessories called the WC Line designed by Josh Owen, the same designer responsible for the similar-in-feel, previously released tissue box cover. The WC Line consists of a plunger, toilet brush and waste bin, all made of silicone with wood handles and comes in five colors.

Also fun on the Kontextur site is the Duck Harry which functions as a toothbrush/toothpaste holder, or alternatively as a doorstop. I think it would be fun right by the bathtub as well; an updated rubber ducky.

All available here.

February 17, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Arjen Born: Photographs from the Future

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Recently, I’ve mentioned to my future-industrial-designer-daughter Daniela that I believe there will be a great demand for smartly designed, affordable gear for the elderly in the not-so-distant future, with everyone living longer and the price of healthcare increasing while insurance coverage declines. Clearly, Dutch photographer Arjen Born feels the same way.

These photographs are at once comical and moving. They envision health aides of the future as robots or contraptions that assist. I’m assuming that Born creates these humorous ‘prototypes’ himself judging from the name header on his website.

via gup magazine

February 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Shay Frisch Peri: Energy Fields

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Shay Frisch Peri is an Israeli artist and industrial designer living and working in Rome. Creating an almost weave-like look with the repetition of electrical adaptors and light indicators, Frisch Peri’s light sculptures are like energy fields. The one that Daniela and I saw this past weekend in Chelsea (Campo 4012 N – the circular one with ‘N’ signifying the color black) had a wonderful glow to it as we walked into the gallery. Frisch Peri takes into consideration each individual space and the appropriate proportion of light required.

This piece, as well as Campo 1 N (the individual component used to create the larger work) will be at Haunch of Venison in Chelsea through March 3, 2012. You can see more of Shay Frisch Peri’s work here and here.

February 9, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Dan Collier: Typographic Links

I saw Dan Collier’s Typographic Links —hand-sewn book—this past summer at the MoMA’s Talk to Me exhibit. This one-off book maps interesting links and connections throughout the world of typography using red threads as three-dimensional ‘hyperlinks’ to guide the reader through the pages. Collier, a London based graphic designer that works with large international brands is currently working on a second edition. If you have an interesting typographic fact or connection, you can contribute it here.

January 31, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

More Highlights from the NYIGF

There is SO much to see at the NY International Gift Fair that just mentioning a few items doesn’t seem right, but that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Below are some things that caught my eye in a variety of areas, from toys to home.

Hoptimists were originally created by furniture designer Hans Gustav Ehrenreich in 1968 and are now designed in new materials and with new expressions, still in Denmark. Super cute and bouncy.

Uno Magnetic is an interactive, magnetic jewelry, designed by architect Luis Pons, that can take the form of a necklace, bracelet, or ring, depending on how you choose to wrap the individual colored chains and where you place the magnetic ball that keeps it all together. It comes in cute packaging, too, though I couldn’t find an image.

Cavern is a boutique wallpaper design firm with a fun take on wallcoverings. Their hand silkscreened designs take inspirations from natural as well as urban landscapes. The I See You paper, full of googly eyes was set up in their booth with pens for all to draw faces. Especially fun for a kid’s room. Other fun ones include Watertowers and Thesis.

Time Rings Puzzle from Argentina, is made from the wood of cypress trees that died naturally in Patagonia. There are two designs, one super difficult with the wood grain on both sides, and a slightly easier version that’s painted black on the back. Available through Looksur.

Amac and House Industries have teamed up and put type on these colorful acrylic boxes of varying sizes. Hard to go wrong when numbers and ampersands are involved.

And, of course, this list would not be complete if we didn’t include our exciting collaboration with Fred on a variation of our EARonic iPhone 4 cases: All Ears, due out in stores in the next month or two. For those who want more variety, All Ears offers slip in sheets with different his or hers sets of ears. The long-awaited Vulcan ear is now a reality as are other options. But don’t worry, for those who prefer the original EARonics, those are still available at our shop.

January 30, 2012 by collabcubed - 7 Comments

New Pantone Home and Office Products

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Just when you think there is nothing left to Pantone-ify, ROOM Copenhagen comes out with a new tableware/kitchenware and desk accessories line. I spotted these lovely pieces—the silky matte feel of the polypropylene is hard to resist touching—at the NYIGF yesterday. Sure, the Pantone products are always fun and appealing, but these objects would even be appealing sans the Pantone aspect, that’s how nicely designed they are. The Pantone colors and style are just an added perk!

From the placemats and coasters, to the triangular water jug and stackable boxes, all these pieces are just great. And how is it that no one came out with the business card holders before?!

The new line of products should be online soon, once ROOM Copenhagen gets their site up.

Gift show photos by Collabcubed: catalog images courtesy of ROOM Copenhagen.

January 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Marios: Summer 2012 Collection Nowhere

These are fun! Marios, a fashion brand founded by Mayo Loizou and Leszek Chmielewski initially in Japan, now based in Milan, focus on contemporary, unisex, convertible garments. Their Summer 2012 collection Nowhere, a collaboration with photographer Kuba Dabrowski, features landscape photography in its designs.

via prosthetic knowledge

January 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Rise & Sigh Sheets: Martina Carpelan

These made me chuckle. Finnish designer Martina Carpelan put a new spin on embroidered bedding. Her Rise and Sigh sheets have suggestive flirty sayings embroidered in reverse to leave a temporary tattoo-like impression on the occupier’s skin.

Wonder what these would do to Ariana Page Russell?

via design milk

January 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

SKIN: Pavilion of Knowledge

The Pavilion of Knowledge in Lisbon is an interactive science and economy museum. The design firm P-06 Atelier, in collaboration with architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça, created a “skin” with a state of the art touch transforming the space into a playful and evocative landscape, employing a perfect mix of bold graphics, tactile patterns and typography.

The moveable walls have the American Standard Code for Information Interchange cut out of them as an analogy for the museum’s intention of sharing information. Through the different sized stencils, both noise and the white LED light are filtered differently at different points of SKIN.

I’d love to see this in person. Looks like a great effect.

via red dot design

January 6, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Eternal Chair: Shinobu Koizumi

Tokyo-based designer Shinobu Koizumi describes himself as someone who “Proposes unique ‘experiences’ as spaces, furniture, and products.” His most recent creation is the Eternal Chair, made of stone and embedded with multiple glow-in-the-dark clocks with a single second hand each that tick away. As everything decays with time, the decorative clocks are there to remind us that nothing is eternal…not even a stone chair.

via designspotter

January 5, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Roof Top Lights

This is such a clever idea, especially ideal for the many dark New York City apartments out there. Roof Top Lights, by Lightboys, are large-format illuminated photographs mounted on an ultra-thin housing that contains LEDs. Suddenly, you not only have an overhead light, but a skylight or church dome or treetops, even a disco ball, right over your head, as well! To quote their website “These are images which not only open up rooms, but also hearts and minds…”

Lightboys also make Lightwalls and Polaboys (backlit large-scale photos with the look of a Polaroid).

Very cool, if a bit pricey.

via bb

January 4, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Footbag

Here’s a fun idea that has both of my daughters written all over it. Footbag, designed by Italian designer Marco Scuderi, repurposes pairs of old rubber boots into elegant and sturdy shoulder bags. I would imagine this could really take off after the current rain boot craze subsides a bit in a year or two. So many possibilities with all the fun rain boots that are on the market these days.

via coroflot

December 20, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Google Earth Carpets

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These have been out a few months, but somehow I missed them. German designer David Hanauer came out with WorldWide Carpets; using satellite imagery (from Google Earth), he creates carpets that emulate the patterns of classic Persian carpets with contemporary landscapes from a bird’s eye view. From area rugs to wall-t0-wall flooring where the patterns are endlessly repeated.

I’m not sure I’d want one in my home, but it’s a clever concept and I certainly like the way it works at the Sacramento International Airport (bottom photo).

via SpotCoolStuff

December 15, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Antonio Cos: Déjà Vu Glassware

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Originally from Strasbourg, designer Antonio Cos lives and works in Milan. As an industrial designer he has designed everything from door handles, to kitchenware, to lamps and furniture. In his glassware collection titled Déjà Vu he experiments with traditional glass techniques and shapes, giving it that already-seen-it-before quality but adding a contemporary twist by piecing those familiar components together in an unconventional way, giving them new life and creating imaginative shapes that are beautiful, modern, and fun.

Photos: Antonio Cos, At Casa and Interni

via rua confettora 17

November 28, 2011 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Free Domestic Shipping on EARonics!

Starting today, well, actually yesterday, we are offering free shipping on all EARonic iPhone 4/4S case orders within the U.S. and, now, $5 shipping on international orders. To guarantee arrival by Christmas, for those doing their holiday shopping, please order by December 15th on orders within the U.S. International holiday orders should be placed as soon as possible since we cannot guarantee less than 3 weeks for delivery…international shipments have varied from as little as a week to as much as a month.