SEA CHAIR | Um Banco Vindo Do Mar.

Ontem andava à procura de videos para o meu blog Peixe É Fish quando encontrei Sea Chair de Studio Swine. Desde então tenho reflectido sobre o mesmo e não deixo de achar que este é um dos melhores exemplos que explica em pouco mais de 3 minutos a essência do (bom) design.

Design é a solução encontrada para um problema. Tão simples quanto isto. Há excedentes deste material provavelmente mais do que desejamos, mas se sozinhos não conseguimos resolver o problema, devemos portanto encontrar uma forma para o transformar em algo útil. Que melhor do que a "ciência" do design para chegar lá?

O video é sobre a recolha de plástico no Oceano Pacífico, transformá-lo em banco num barco de pesca. Também pode ser o alerta que apela à nossa consciência quando deitamos fora este tipo de material ou até o uso abusivo do mesmo.

Vejam o video: a narrativa que carrega é forte e a inspiração mais que muita.


Sea Chair from Studio Swine on Vimeo.
Short film about collecting plastic to make a chair on a fishing boat at sea.
www.studioswine.com
Since the discovery of the Pacific Garbage Patch in 1997, which is predicted to measure twice the size of Texas, five more have been found across the world’s oceans with the Atlantic gyre predicted to be even larger. This plastic takes thousands of years to degrade, remaining in the environment to be broken up into ever smaller fragments by ocean currents.
The gyre stretches from the coastlines of California to the shores of Japan. Recent studies have estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer of the world’s oceans. The number of plastic pieces in the Pacific Ocean has tripled in the last ten years and the size of the accumulation is set to double in the next ten.
Sea Chair is made entirely from plastic recovered from our oceans. Together with local fishermen, Studio Swine collects and processes the marine plastic into a stool at sea.

Credits
Concept & Design : Alexander Groves & Azusa Murakami
Film : Juriaan Booij
Music : Elisa Luu / 22 Marz
Links
juriaanbooij.com
studioswine.com

Spring Is Calling For Neon.

Sim, é verdade, estou um bocadinho fixada nos neons.

Fim do ano passado comecei a trabalhar num projecto onde usei neon e o mesmo conceito em design gráfico. Adorei o resultado final. Foi um sucesso!

Agora passei da lampada de neon para as cores de neon, de preferência cores primárias.

Encontrei um post (clica aqui) a mostrar, duma forma muito simples, como se recupera um banquinho perdido nas velharias. O resultado é muita personalidade, muito estilo.

Vejam. Inspirem-se e deem-lhe neon. Spring is calling for it. 

Müller Möbelwerkstätten | German Details.

Cada vez mais temos menos dinheiro para gastar, principalmente em coisas que se podem considerar supérfluas. Contudo, não tenho duvida que empresas como a Müller Möbelwerkstätten têm mais probabilidade de chegar ao consumidor final.

Uma marca funcional cujos produtos são só pormenor. 

Não temos dinheiro para gastar num sofá novo, mas um produto da Müller Möbelwerkstätten chamará à atenção dos amigos no próximo jantar lá em casa (com a vantagem de investimento reduzido se comparado com o tal sofá).

KONNEX | Design by Florian Gross

HANGUP | Design by Moritz Putzier

LUNO | Design by Prof. Andreas Kramer (chair)

STOOLX | Design by Raumfieber

PADNEXT | Design by Michael Hilgers

Cloth Pins | A Product Forever & Ever.

I've a thing for cloth pins! Love the objects' simplicity. It's probably the highly functional product on earth. Always works and if broken (which doesn't happen often), can be fix it straight away. 

I use it for many different function: in the kitchen bathroom and living/home office.

The wooden ones are my favorite. Like these on the picture by ferm LIVING I love to style them.

What about you, do you have a thing for things?

I Heart TupperWare | Vintage.

Sou fã! Provavelmente herdei esta admiração da minha mãe. Aliás, todos lá em casa herdaram esta admiração incondicional pela Tupperware. Nenhum outro recipiente de plástico entra nas nossas casas: na da minha mãe, da minha irmã nem na minha. E tenho a certeza que a herança vai estender-se aos membros mais novos da familia.

Acho que só quem percebe DESIGN percebe porque é que a Tupperware é a melhor e porque é que vale a pena investir nesta marca americana (que tem uma fábrica em Portugal - a balança comercial agradece).

A qualidade do material, funcionalidade e principalmente a forma fazem dela a Nº 1.
Digo principalmente a forma porque quem olha para um recipiente sabe de imediato se é ou não o original, mesmo se não o compra e isso só reflecte que toda a dedicação à forma foi a escolha correcta. Afinal os olhos são os primeiros a comer, não são?

Mas o que eu quero partilhar aqui é um pequeno detalhe da minha cozinha.
Lembram-se destas caixas? A tampa das duas de cima tornava-se num prato e a "tecnologia" de fecho da amarela pôs todas as mulheres a abrirem e fecharem as caixas, muitas das vezes só pelo gozo que lhes dava por ser diferente.

Tenho mais uma, a verde azeitona que faz conjunto com a amarela, mas essa está noutro cantinho do cozinha. Mostro-a para a próxima.

Estas caixas pertenciam à minha mãe. Agora são minhas. Fazem parte das muitas lembranças que vou guardando em forma de objectos.

Scandinavian Design.

Depending on the country, languages are different though they all come one from another. For example, I got to know yesterday, Student in Norwegian Student (Estudante in Portuguese, my first language). All very similar, though with different accents.

Design is a language too, therefore, and depending on the country, the "accents" are different. From Asian to European, American or Arab, you can tell by the look where it is come from, don't you?

Scandinavian Design is probably my favorite language. It embraces simple traces and organic look, though it's the colour and the textures that actually defines all the details and maybe that's why I feel so comfortable with this language.

Hay | Denmark

Ferm Living

Ligne Roset @ Rue du Bac.

Ligne Roset has the stylish sofas I've ever seen. They're comfy for sure, but what I really love about them is the personality they emanate, like a french woman riding a bike along the Seine.

Here's my selection form the Rue du Bac main shop, where trendy people mingle and design is written all over the place.

Moël |

 Inga Sempé

Moël |

 Inga Sempé

Ploum | Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Facett | Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Nomade Express´| Didier Gomez (on the right)

Nomade´| Didier Gomez (on the left)

Okumi |  Elisa Catoir, Studio Catoir (on the right)

Conran | Paris, Rue du Bac.

Conran is probably one of my favorite shops in the design business. Love the contemporary and relaxed approach to design and decoration.

Every time I visit one, I always feel the idea "design is not an option, it's the only choice you have" and I must say, I love it!

I love to watch people checking furniture out. Sometimes crazy questions pop up yet quite pertinent when you think about them. We all have different life choices and different habits, therefore furniture different needs. 

Plates are the new paintings. Glassy finish the only option. 

Huge coffee tables in wood finish is all you need at home. Your home parties appreciate. 

Light wood is the new black.

When working at home is the option for many of us, a good desk and chair are the key for success. Though a lamp by Studio Ilse is the key for happiness. 

White and silver plates on the wall to recall our grandmothers' home.

A great shelving unit, but if books are the main decoration, forget it. Not an option.

White on white.

More plates. More walls. More colour. 

French(iness)  

The right touch if you're in a country mood.

I've always loved everything about laundry, specially the smell of washed bed linen.

Paris Design Week 2012.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Paris for a business meeting. Sunday afternoon I'm back in sunny Lisbon, though I promise to report as much as I can from the city center and the Maison & Objet.

Stay tuned.

Bella Bambina | Oslo.

You don't need to pay a fortune to enjoy a delicious meal on a beautiful space.
Bella Bambina right next to the central station in Oslo is a perfect example.

Italian food, earthy interior styling, very kind people and a menu with 2 different size plates: medium for someone like me (rather taste different things in small portions) and large for someone with more appetite.

Now, get inspired! I already did, both on food and interiors.

High ceilings and windows bring in all the light form the outside.  

Counter styled with Italian food.

They've several Olive Trees inside. My favorite tree, by the way! 

Open kitchen. Great smell. 

Natural light.

Details on the table.

Bruschetta and pasta with spinach & ricotta. 

Røst | Bergen #1.

If I have to define Scandinavian design I would probably call it "Quite".

The lines and colours always hand in hand with the Mother Nature feeling make everything very peaceful and cosy, don't you think?

Røst,a shop in Bergen, has an amazing amalgam of brands which I would love to take them all back with me to Portugal. Maybe one day, who knows?

Detail Detail Detail | Working Top.

What's design? Isn't design the solution to make our life easier and of course prettier? Here's a great example of design.

Muuto @ Stockholm Design Week 2012.

When I look for new brands or products I always wonder the commercial side of the business, their business. For instance, how much do they need to sell to survive (specially with all the competition in this business), costs (where and what's made off, quality, etc) and what's their commercial strategy.
Of course I could ask or research the subject, but I think it's more fun to wonder. It makes me think and sometimes find solutions for my questions.

Anyway, when I bumped into Muuto I wondered, and wondered a lot. It's a brand with lots of little (and great) things, therefore volume must be something quite difficult to achieve. Though, I don't think it's difficult for them to survive.
Muuto's design and product quality are high and the product versatility, like the Stacking Self, is a product fairly easy to live in many spaces around the world, not to mention "Designed in Scandinavia" it's a great selling point.

The smaller and versatile the product is, the easier it gets to travel around the world. Maybe that's their strategy. who knows?

Stacking Self
Restore Basket (under the wall shelving)

Unfold Suspension (grey ceiling lamp)

Muuto's accessories 

Detail on Stacking Self - The clips

Stand's overview

Keep Table, one of the most interesting products they have