Photos Udo Spreitzenbath.
If you have ever travelled to India from the oxidant, you will likely have seen perfectly normal-looking student, or gap year travellers, leaving from the airport. On your return however, similar individuals have been transformed into dhoti and kaftan wearing beings whose sartorial thinking has been truly expanded. It does not last long. On touch-down in their home country, it immediately becomes clear how ridiculous they look!
It is all a matter of context of course. What looked smart and elegant in one location, looks out-of-place elsewhere.
With this in mind I was initially arrested when I saw the Nepal sectional sofa produced by German company Bretz Wohntraume.
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Photos: Matthew Millman.
Dating from 2009 this canopy designed by Aidlin Darling Design was fairly leading edge for its time, even if it looks simple enough now.
It used early NURBS modelling software to get the curves which then created the cutting paths for the individual ribs. In the end, after testing CNC milling it was decided to use a laser cutting process which was cheaper. Charring of the rib material, a consequence of laser cutting, was not an issue as the ribs were to be painted a dark charcoal grey.
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Photos: John Gollins.
There is such a direct connection in Australia between desire to build and build what you desire. At least it appears that way from the perspective of heavily restrictive zoning laws in London.
The Hewlett House, constructed in the Sidney suburb of Bronte, and designed by MPR Design Group, appears to epitomise this relative freedom to design. Read more
The formal arrangement of the Mhouse is of two rectangular boxes stacked upon each other in an offset way. The lower box, heavy and dark supports the upper white, and lighter looking volume. Where the boxes do not overlap a first floor terrace is created that commands the panoramic views. Read more
Carpet, annihilated in the popular markets by a shift in taste to hardwood flooring, is being reinvented.
Not that these carpets designed by the artist Alexandra Kehayoglou with the Design and Sustainability Lab of Spartan, a Brazilian company founded by his grandparents in Buenos Aires 70 years ago, will change that.
But these carpets help to rekindle an interest in the art form that has been out of fashion recently. Read more
