It’s hard to avoid mentioning the state of the economy these days, but why not make the best of it? Most of us have been downsizing our ways of spending in many different ways, and sometimes our living space can suffer. Here are 15 unique pieces of furniture that will help you upgrade and streamline the place you call home.
Back to Basics
(images via made in design, Stone Design)
Simplicity. The cube has been a great inspiration to space-saving living and the CUB8 is a classic example of this concept. It’s a clean, extendable coffee table with vast space. It even comes equipped with an integrated CD/DVD hanger. The SelfService furniture unit is an easy way to wine and dine in any small space. It accommodates four comfortably and the low seats slide right back into the table when the night is over.
Compact Dreamland
(images via BedUP, Lift Bed, bonbon)
Studio apartment getting you down? The BedUP bed and the LiftBed will allow you to lift your bed (either manually or electronically) to transform your space, and can save about 12 square feet. You don’t have to lower it completely, so you can keep your other furniture in place neatly underneath. Now, if only they installed the Lollipop bunk bed system in dorms! This amazing bunk bed can be hidden into the wall or you can opt to leave one unfolded to pull double duty as a couch.
Let’s Go Couchsurfing
(images via <a href="http://En Derin.com/Philippe Malouin”>Phillipe Malouin, Nicole Lehner & Luzia Kalin, <a href="http://En Derin.com/Blofield Inflatable Chesterfields Sofa”>blofield)
So you have company over, but need some options for extra sleeping space? Look no further than these couchsurfing alternatives. The Tent Sofa creates privacy with folding panels once transformed into a bed. Stay At My Home is an all in one package that allows you to provide a simple, comfortable sleeping option for your guest with a mattress, removable drawer, pillow, bedside lamp and carpet. This all fits in and around the side table pictured. Inflatable mattresses are so passé. Get an inflatable sofa instead. The Blofield Inflatable Chesterfields Sofa is constructed from the same material used in life rafts, which says something about its durability. You can use it as a permanent fixture in your place, or simply blow it up in less than five minutes for an overnight guest… or take it floating?
No Musical Chairs Here
(images via <a href="http://En Derin.com/Ontwerpers”>ontwerpers, <a href="http://En Derin.com/Corral Table and Bronco Stool”>unicahome, <a href="http://En Derin.com/Monolith”>gioia design, <a href="http://En Derin.com/”Dedon””>dedon)
The Cabinet Chair by Ontwerpers is quite crafty. Reminiscent of my school days, this chair is imbedded into the surrounding shelf. It even has a built in monitor and keyboard. A wonderful, eyecatching table set that doubles as a light, the Corral Table and Bronco Stool comes with 7 seats that fit snugly into the table’s design. Going along with that theme is the Monolith steel table that transforms into a sleek sculpture when not in use. I wonder how heavy it is? And since entertaining guests outdoors with little space can be challenging, especially in a city setting, Dedon has designed a few sets of amazing stackable outdoor furniture. They don’t stack like any other chairs, but into the form of spheres and obelisks instead.
The Holy Grail of Transforming
(images via <a href="http://En Derin.com/The Kenchikukagu”>kenchikukagu)
This is by far the holy grail of space-saving goodness. The Kenchikukagu is a set of mobile furniture that includes a fully functioning kitchen. Take a peep at the video clip below and behold the pieces in action. The set also includes a mobile guest room and work space with lighting. These are not concept designs, and are available at Amazon Japan for JPY 800,000 (about £7,346).
Indoor Sport
(images via <a href="http://En Derin.com/Hanger”>Ferran Lajara, <a href="http://En Derin.com/Tobias Fränzel”>Tobias Fränzel )
Want more fun and adventure in your 400 square foot space? Look no further than The Hanger and Ping Pong Door. You need to hang your jackets somewhere, but you’re tired of the coat rack; hang them on a miniature indoor rock climbing gym. Upgrade your Scrabble night to Ping Pong night with the Ping Pong Table designed by Tobias Fränzel. Flip the panel down to create instant fun, with equally easy cleanup when you’re done!
Small spaces are often associated with a lack of functionality and flexibility to live how you’d like. With these innovative examples of furniture and accessories for your home, you can soon turn your cozy space into a paradise, no matter what the square footage.
Old-skooler, SKIRE has just uploaded his new graff video “Solvent Abuse 98-08″ online as a torrent for free. Be sure to seed it lots! The more seeders, the better!
This is what Skire had to say about his vid release:
“Was gonna do a “Proper DVD release” but figured it wouldnt exactly make me rich (If anyone remembers the old Solvent Abuse VHS series, you will know we always knocked em out cheap and it was never about money) but then I figured it would be a pain in the arse getting it stocked in shops and whatever so I figured, what the hell lets put it out there for free. Its 1.5gb MP4 so it will work on PS3’s and MP4 DVD players etc, if your watching it on your computer I recomend Quicktime or VLCplayer (be sure to click on view and watch it fullscreen).
It aint no hardcore train video, Its a bit of everything filmed between 1998 & 2008 featuring a few London Walls – Legals, Tracksides, Streets Loads of Italian runners (FS, Napoli Roma), some classic Hanover, Amsterdam, Copenhagen & Warsaw trains, walls, damage circa 1999, British Jams like Sleeping Giants, Roxe Jam2008, Cans2, JamEmIn, Meeting Of Styles 2008 and Write4Gold 2006. Barcelona Halls of fame, Newcastle old & new plus a few quick trips to Belgium, Spain & Johannesburg.
A fair few London Commuters (2002 – 2008) and a couple of Tube runners.
It also features Crews like ATG, DWS, TNS, NM, DPV & THIRDECADE.
With music by MetalBoxProducts, DJ Klose One, Matt Nice, Sober & Critic.
Its taken a me a fair while to put together and I pretty happy with the end result (2 hours long and fast paced hectic editing)
I hope you enjoy it and if you dont… well fuck off then, its not like it cost you anything…”
Skire
Info from Hooked
There is a private view of an exhibition of new paintings on canvas and paper by London artists SHEONE and O.TWO.
18.30 – 21.00
Thursday, 30 July 2009
OUT OF STEP
95 RIVINGTON STREET.
LONDON.
EC2A
http://www.blackatelier.com
http://www.fadetogloss.com
Private View 30th July
Friday 31 July – Friday 18 September
Monday to Sunday 10am – 8pm | Thursdays until 10pm
Admission £10 | £7 Concession
Dray Walk Gallery, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London
A photographic event unlike any other
Rankin Live! is a radical twist on the traditional exhibition format featuring
two shows in one: Shoot Me Rankin, the ongoing photo shoot of 1000 individuals,
whose portraits will be immediately included in the exhibition, and the Retrospective, including 600 images selected from a vast portfolio of work
Rankin Retrospective From catwalk to Congo, Rankin has produced an enormous
& diverse body of work. This first ever retrospective of his twenty-two year career,
is a museum-scale show, featuring an extraordinary collection of beauty, erotica,
celebrity, charity and commercial images, as well as more personal photographs.
Shoot Me, Rankin! Shoot Me, Rankin! is the dynamic live shoot element that puts the
public in front of Rankin’s lens to create his own personal portrait of the UK today.
1000 Britons chosen for their unique sense of style, their character or their life stories will be photographed by Rankin during the exhibition in an open studio and have their portraits immediately added to RankinLive.
Multi-media group exhibition and screenings inspired by the world of electronic music pioneer and artist John Foxx. Contributors include Gary Numan, Alex Proyas and Jonathan Barnbrook.
The exhibition features gallery work and screenings and runs alongside the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2009 with media including fine art, photography, typography, architecture, filmmaking and music. Set in the unique surroundings of the Grade II listed Horse Hospital,the list of DNA contributors and the people they’ve worked with reads like a page out of Mr Edgy McCool’s address book.
DNA Contributors:
Jonathan Barnbrook (Award winning graphic designer & Damien Hirst and David Bowie collaborator)
Gary Numan (Electronic music legend)
Alex Proyas (Director of I Robot, Knowing & Dark City)
Craig Hewitt (Graphic designer who has worked with Bjork)
Ian Emes – (Director of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, The Wall and Duran Duran’s The Chauffeur.
Macota Tezka – (Award winning Manga Japanese film director. Surpervised CGI movie, Astro Boy & Pluto
Reiko Okano – Manga artist & musician. Collaborations include, Brian Eno
Karborn – Critically acclaimed new artist and VJ. Also, the son of John Foxx
Andrew Back – Has set up Glasgow’s hacklab
spaces: the Chateau Institute of Technology (ChIT) and Electron Club.
Antonino Cardillo – Critically acclaimed architect
Rob C – New contemporary artist
Steve d’Agostino – Musician and David Sylvian and John Foxx collaborator.
Kevin Sampson – Author of ‘Awaydays’
Ben Charles Edwards – Director of the Town that Boars Me featuring Kelly Osbourne, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Sadie Frost, Natt Weller, Zandra Rhodes, Andrew Logan, Dee C Lee and Jodie Harsh
Adrian Lee – Critically acclaimed international contemporary artist and ArtHertz collaborator
Angelo Cerantola – Graphic designer, artist and ArtHertz collaborator
Roger Spy – Visual Artist, DJ & ArtHertz collaborator
For more information about John Foxx and his career, and about specific times and events,go to http://www.arthertz.com
Exhibition open to public Tuesday to Friday 12pm – 6pm with screenings 2.30pm – 3.30pm.
VineGuard is a concept agriculture robot for near future designed to be used as an innovative working animal. The inspiration of this project came from the fully functional insects that needed to be eliminated. This concept insect killer machine works autonomously, leaving the user to relax from fretting about their work to be done. In special cases, this vehicle will provide the information to the owner automatically. It includes heavy duty batteries that provide hours of working by using a single motor on every wheel. The spraying mechanism comprises a nozzle and a camera that provides real time detection of the grapes and spray on them accurately.
Cell Reading Bookshelves concept was inspired by the cell and was derived from the vital need of a place where an individual can read without any kind of disturbance. In order to make a dedicated place that offers the calm environment as well as comprehensive privacy, this design comprises two major parts. First one is an innovative book shelf where the user can keep books of almost any size. Second part is a big vacuole shaped reading room where the user can grovel or lie on the cushion while enjoying the pleasure of reading in a relaxed way. Moreover, this reading place includes adequate lightening facility for the readers.
The Chiseled Faucet, one of a kind faucet, it will be a very excellent design in your bathroom or faucet, the concept is like that of a molded piece of chrome. It’s wide based, rear mounted as well as extended neck handle is providing a very efficient profile that reinforce stealth sharp edge as well as flat feature. This chiseled faucet had been created for a desirable usage of ergonomics and to fit the standard of sinks, with its components like filters, connectors, cartridge). There can also be optional finishing touches like the polishing of the brushed nickel or chrome.
This gallery is a testament to the fact that celebrities, no matter how wealthy and famous they are, are no different than the rest of us specially the beer drinking, liquor loving ones at least. Check out your favourite stars with “dumb” facial expressions.
The lavender plant is grown for extraction of lavender oil from the flowers.
When does a building transform from a shell into a work of art within itself? Can artists improve even beautiful architectural wonders, turning them into something more creative and meaningful? Some architectural art installations are done out of necessity because the work is simply too large to be contained. Others use the building to make a political statement, to give value to an abandoned space or simply for the pure joy of it. These 12 installations encompass the whole spectrum, making use of everything from the Sydney Opera House to a decaying factory.
Wrapped Reichstag by Christo
(images via: christojeanneclaude.net)
In 1995, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the entire Reichstag building in Germany with more than 100,000 meters of fireproof polypropylene fabric. The building, which housed the first parliament of the German Empire until it was severely damaged in 1933, had stood in ruins for decades and became a symbol for a divided Germany. The ‘Wrapped Reichstag’ installation was only up for two weeks, but drew five million visitors. Onlookers described it alternately as ethereal and graceful during the day, but ominous at night.
Lighting Up the Sydney Opera House
(images via: Inhabitat)
It may seem ironic, and even a bit preposterous, to use a large amount of energy to light up the Sydney Opera House as a statement about global warming. But musical producer Brian Eno’s goal was to turn artists into advocates for action against climate change when he curated the Luminous Festival, a sound and light festival that involved images being projected onto the sails of the Opera House. Eno told BBC News, “…[A]rtists can create a sense of what is cool and what is not, what is acceptable, exciting, timely… I would like to see a future where artists think that they have a right to contemplate things like global warming.”
Discarded Umbrella Installation at Channel 4 Building in London
(images via: Zimbio)
Artist Stephanie Imbeau came up with a strikingly creative idea to win Channel 4’s BIG4 public art competition. Her entry, ‘Shelter’, was an installation that involved constructing blocks of illuminated discarded umbrellas. Though unconnected, when viewed from a certain angle the blocks appeared as the number ‘4’. The installation stood in front of the Channel 4 building in London in March of 2009.
Tentacle Building Installation
(images via: FilthyLuker)
An artist calling himself ‘FilthyLuker’ installed inflatable octopus tentacles in the windows of an unnamed building in June of 2009, making it appear as if the building is being devoured by a bright green kraken that somehow emerged from the sea and got stuck inside.
Erwin Wurm’s House Attack
(images via: Dom Dada)
In 2006, artist Erwin Wurm had an art exhibit at Austria’s MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst), displaying work that was often architectural in nature such as ‘fat houses’. Outside the building, the theme continued with an installation called ‘House Attack’ – an actual house imbedded in the museum’s roof.
Inversion Tunnel House
(images via: OhGizmo)
People passing by this building in Houston may have wondered whether it had suddenly turned into a black hole, or was the setting of some kind of explosion that defies the laws of physics. In fact, the strange tunnel was an art installation called ‘Inversion’ by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, which was created just before the building was due to be torn down and replaced with a larger structure. The tunnel actually goes all the way through the building, ending in a private courtyard.
Turning the Place Over by Richard Wilson
(images via: Occasional Images)
In Liverpool, a former Yates Wine Lodge building sat empty and decaying for years until Richard Wilson, one of Britain’s most renowned sculptures, decided to make use of it for a project called ‘Turning the Place Over’. Wilson turned it into a piece of public art, cutting an oval from the exterior on one side and making it oscillate in three dimensions within the cutout. The artist, whose work is often inspired by engineering and construction, used a giant rotator usually used in the shipping and nuclear industries to keep the façade revolving.
Reflecting Light at Clark Shoes Headquarters by ROSO
(images via: ArchDaily)
“Light is only seen when reflected.” That is the observation that inspired an art installation called ‘Light’ by Studio ROSO for the Clarks Shoes headquarters in England. The work, situated in the communal courtyard in the center of the office building complex, consisted of mirrors strung from one end of the courtyard to the other. The strands of mirrors, organized into two ‘beams of light’, create a dynamic, ever-changing space as the wind and light changes throughout each day and as seasons pass.
Crochet Gas Station
(images via: CraftyStylish)
Jennifer Marsh, crochet artist and director of the International Fiber Collaborative, saw an ugly, abandoned gas station and realized she could use it as the setting of a unique art installation that calls attention to our dependence on oil. Soliciting 3×3 foot squares from fiber artists all over the world, Marsh covered the entire building, along with two gas pumps, with the donated crochet squares.
The Defenestration Building by Brian Goggin
(images via: FoundSF.org)
At an abandoned four-story building in San Francisco, furniture is leaping for its freedom from open windows – clocks poking their heads out and looking up at the sky, chairs making a run for it down the peeling brick walls and tables pitching themselves off the roof. The project is called Defenestration, a word meaning “to throw out of a window”, and was created by 100 volunteers.
Artist Brian Goggin describes it on his website thusly: “Located at the corner of Sixth and Howard Streets in San Francisco in an abandoned four-story tenement building, the site is part of a neighborhood that historically has faced economic challenge and has often endured the stigma of skid row status. Reflecting the harsh experience of many members of the community, the furniture is also of the streets, cast-off and unappreciated.”
1600 Empty Chairs
(images via: Universes-in-Universe)
To some people, this art installation is nothing but a bunch of stacked cast-off chairs. But to Doris Salcedo, each of the 1600 chairs precariously balanced upon each other between two buildings in Istanbul stands for a victim of mass violence in her home country of Colombia. Salcedo wanted to commemorate anonymous victims, portraying their loss through empty chairs in a visual that resembles a mass grave. The installation was created for the 8th Instanbul Biennale in 2003.
Crossword Puzzle Apartment Building
(image via: EnglishRussia)
The city of Lvov in Ukraine decided to give tourists an interesting enticement to visit: a crossword puzzle on the side of an apartment building that is completed by finding questions at major points of interests all over town. Walking around the city, visitors collect questions at museums, monuments, theaters, fountains and other locations and write down their guesses. During the day, the crossword puzzle is empty, but at night, special lights reveal the answers.
