Conquering Time and Space

(BD)

Here's some brilliantly intellectual work from Takeshi Miyakawa.

Not to generalize, but one thing I really adore about the designers trained in Japan is that so much of their work seems to have deep, spiritual implications.  It can often be quite clever, also, but they're able to create truly beautiful pieces that express the most timeless concepts.

Miyakawa's "Infinity" is the perfect example:

He's taken the arrangement of a traditional (opposite facing) loveseat and executed it with an M.C. Escher sort of Surrealism...as much as a real object can be surreal, that is.

"Rabbit" is still only a prototype, but he had a cute little model of it at the show that I was playing with.  He told me that's how he usually works, by first making a miniature and then translating the model to life-size:

This falls into the "clever" category, and here I go again with the idea of adaptability.  It can fold up to be a stool or a small table.  In playing with it, I also thought it could be positioned in different ways to provide a higher or lower seat, one that allows the user to recline more, and so on.  

Some of the positions I tried may be unsound under the weight of a person, but there's no reason the lever things couldn't be made to lock into place to solve that problem.

"14+1" looks like a random stack of boxes:

I could be wrong, but something about the proportions of the boxes strikes me as obeying the Golden Mean or some other ancient formula.  In any case, the cool thing is that some of the boxes slide out, revealing secret compartments on the inside and openings through the piece:

But perhaps the most astonishing thing Miyakawa has done is "Fractal":

Priced at $20,000, it's really more of an art object than a piece of furniture, but he says the piece is extremely difficult and time-consuming to make, and I can most definitely believe that.  Still, it's totally functional.  Fractals of course are infinite formulas, a marvel of modern geometry, and while the drawers in reality can only get so tiny before he has to stop (the smallest is a cube a little larger than a quarter), the spiritual symbolism of this is truly incredible.

Takeshi Miyakawa

718-782-0951

©2008, Ryan Witte

iDeas

(BD)

Here's some clever furniture from Users & Makers (UM).

At first, I thought their work might just be the stuff of a 1960s Sci-Fi film (not that there's anything wrong with that, and it does look awfully cool).  But I'm glad I took a closer look, because it turns out their designs are very smart, on top of it.

They had these two tables at the show, so you can see what I mean (click):

Already kind of clever, the circular opening conceals a storage space for magazines or whatever.  The wooden panel slides open.

I love the use of wood combined with what I'm guessing is Corian or something like it.  There's a lovely tension between a warm, natural material and a cool, synthetic one.  The interesting joinery helps, too, giving it personality in the details.

Here's a bunk bed and desk for a kid's room:

It's so delightfully Space Station, what kid wouldn't love that?  I also love how the lighting is built in, and all the different compartments come together so seamlessly.

Here's an indoor/outdoor table/stool/bench:

I'm always a big fan of designs that have great flexibility and adaptability in their use and form.  This goes above and beyond the norm where that's concerned--it's very much a multi-use set of furniture--and I think it's quite beautiful.  Great for someone whose last name starts with "S," too...or "C."

This is called the "Carbon Fiber Table":

This is exquisite.  The carbon fiber and wood veneer allow its profile to be so dangerously thin and delicate.  It almost looks like if you rested your elbow on it, it would crack in half, which it undoubtedly wouldn't.  The tension between material and form, form and use is quite stunning.

This one impressed me on their website, "The Lodge Chair," designed for a music production company:

The chair itself is an mp3 player dock, with speakers built into it, for complete sound immersion.  The subwoofer is incorporated into a side table.

Awesome.  And look at how THICK that cable is; these people know how to pay attention to details.

And last but not least, I need to have a pair of these real, real bad:

GIMME.  That's such a freaking cool idea I can't even tell you.  It's so rare to find ingenious jewelry that guys can wear without looking like a peacock or a Las Vegas lounge singer.  Wooden cuffs...now that's just downright classy.

UMProject

Users & Makers

718-383-7070

©2008, Ryan Witte

Wallpaper or Bust

(BD)

Here's some really beautiful wallpaper from Jill Malek.

She told me she does all the drawings by hand, but then manipulates the images on the computer to make these really extraordinary patterns out of them.  This is really cute, "Baby Elephant Walk" (click them):

Awesome for a kid's room.

Here's "Flux":

I think that was my favorite.  It's birds in flight, at different stages of wing beat.  I just love the way it creates these undulating patterns if you step back.

This one is called "Resurrection":

That's also really beautiful.  It has the quality of being a traditional wallpaper pattern, maybe with a little bit of an Art Nouveau hint to the floral design, but it's very clearly the result of new technology.

This one is called "Stampede."  You definitely have to look at this up close to figure out what she's done:

I just love how, from far away, it reads like a very abstract pattern, but when you look more closely, it's actually something very natural.  It's the outline of a galloping horse in profile.  But then she plays with it, changing the size, so that it continues to overlap again and again to create the pattern.  Unlike some other papers along these lines, this doesn't strike me as requiring a goofy Stable Theme with riding crops and saddles on the wall to look really nice.

Jill Malek

Luscious Print and Wallpaper Designs

718-207-9587

In other news, it was no mystery to me that Lincoln Center has a truly astonishing collection of art, but I just discovered that we have a bust of Gustav Mahler by Auguste Rodin, I think somewhere in Avery Fisher Hall:

--photo UWO Music Library
Holy cow.

©2008, Ryan Witte