Bon Appetite

This is another post that will be sort of like many posts in one, but it all stems from a group called Council from San Francisco (of course: truly some of the most astonishing design work is coming from there lately), but the designers are potentially from anywhere in the world.

First up is Mike & Maaike from San Francisco, who I spoke to and wrote about for the magazine last year.  I'm not going to go into the stuff I saw then, but if you don't know about them, I highly recommend looking through their website, because they really are brilliant.

Anyhow, for Council, they've designed the "Mute" chair and ottoman, which is just peaceful, simple, and lovely:

Next is Nendo, working out of Japan.  For Council he's designed this bookshelf called "Radial":

Sorry about the weird image, they don't have the images from their photo shoot, yet.  But basically it forces its perspective with the vertical panels.  I think it's very smart because it would make itself, and therefore your room, appear far, far bigger and longer than it actually is.

Not for Council, but to be found on his website were a couple of other cool items, these are "Polar" tables for a company called Swedese:

They're basically nesting tables, but the glass is polarized in just such a way that, when it overlaps, it creates these really interesting floral patterns.

Conceptually, it's a great idea, but I'm sure that seen in person, the optical effect of this--where you can't quite tell where the flowers are coming from, would be quite magical.

And this pitcher and tumbler set:

That's not necessarily cold.  It has nubbly blobs of glass on the outside and the glass is smokey toward the bottom.  It would look like that even with a hot liquid in it.  I think that's a fantastic optical illusion.

And lastly, here's Khodi Feiz from the Netherlands.  For Council he's created this "Peel" line, which is fantastic--the ottoman:

But it's hiding something:

Such a simple idea, but I think very clever, streamlined, and flexible.  Here's the chaise:

Not for Council, but for the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, Feiz designed these chairs:

It's carved very geometrically out of one solid block of polystyrene foam.  Its lines are so Space Age and sleek, but I think it looks totally comfortable--it bends under your weight--and evidently perfectly fine for outdoor use; it sounds like it was designed for a park-like space.  Here's the upholstered version, which is interesting in its own unique way:

He also did these portable speakers for Nokia:

He did an especially tiny speaker set--as in you could wear it around your neck like a pendant--but I thought these were awesome.  They can be hooked up wirelessly to any bluetooth device.  They click together with magnets, protecting the speakers:

The heavy duty cable becomes a carrying strap.  Now that's seriously clever.

Council

415-550-1750

©2008, Ryan Witte