Buying Christmas gifts for a brand conscious friend or a family member can always be tricky especially if they see themselves as purveyors of luxury. However with the Louis Vuitton Rug Travel Set you can do no wrong as even the most discerning individual will be charmed with its Tartan Pattern and luxurious finish. Made from premium Cashmere wool, the roll-up travel rug will warm the cockles of the heart of even the most jaded soul since is the ultimate in luxury. Designed for modern day travelers, the rug is easily transportable thanks to its stand in LV’s iconic VVN leather and the removable address holder also makes for a nice tough.

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[ Filed under Recycled or in the Furniture category ]

One would be hard-pressed to call a stop sign refined, or consider kitsch clutches anything beyond modestly clever … but these pieces walk that strange narrow (dotted white or double-yellow?) line between junk object reuse and fine furniture design.

Designer Tim Delner labels his work as “stolen government property built by Tim” and, sure enough, the wear and tear on each of these signs suggests it saw some real-life use before being co-opted as part of a new art/furniture object.

But now down to the nuts and bolts: public signage, license plates, plumbing pipes … all of these have been utilized as craft project materials before. So what makes these different? From coffee tables and miniature cabinets to stools and chairs, the answer is in the details.

Each curve, joint and intersection is carefully arranged in response to various elements, from the existing designs on the signs themselves to the overall layout of the pieces.

Great care was taken to make these look less like cobbled-together, yard-sale scrap and to start seeming more like precious pieces of hand-crafted artistry. Still, no matter how hard you try, it is a little hard to take the ‘No Dumping’ sign chair too seriously. Clearly, some fun was had here as well.

It’s not every night that you get to sleep under the stars, especially with all this snowing going on, is it? But if you love the sky and the stars then why not recreate it all in your own bedroom? Using the Starlight Lamp you can now do that as this bedside table comes with a polygonal structure that has 126 LED lights, or shall we call them stars, embedded into it. What’s more interesting is that the polygonal structure can be moved around and bent according to your needs so your starlight sky can be customized each night. And while it’s definitely understandable that you’d want to use this particular night lamp for yourself, think of your children first, as this could be the perfect night light source for their rooms too. Via Omrid

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[ Filed under Ultramodern or in the Architecture category ]

It would be easy to mistake this large private residence for a most public branch library. Stacked shelving and packed bookcases (featuring thousands of volumes) reach up three floors in the main open-plan interior volume, sandwiched between giant panels of heavily-reinforced pre-cast concrete.

A series of floating metal mesh walkways and suspended concrete staircases weave been different levels. Each floor is left incomplete, with gaps and voids allowing views and light to pass up and down. Reading and work rooms are located on upper levels where privacy is deemed not to be a problem, while day-to-day cooking and dining take place on the ground floor, out of public view.

grupoSP sought to take advantage of views and lighting possibilities while using minimal materials and simply structural strategies. Concrete defines the structure, from the outer perimeter walls and interior masonry-based dividers down to the cast-in-place floors and suspended structural sides.

On either end, large windows bring in controlled daylight while overhangs protect the interior from direct rays of the sun. Private rooms are set to one side of the main space, sufficiently enclosed but with the same open-end treatment along their narrow faces.

The house is successful on many levels (no pun intended). It manages to make use of a notoriously cold and impersonal material without compromising the sense that this is a comfortable dwelling. The design also emphasizes openness and light but manages to make cozy enclosed spaces along the sides and a human-scaled first floor at the same time.

Chrome and glass decanters always make for a classy gift and the vintage car themed set of decanters will be appreciated by the car lovers. Since taking out that sexy car for a spin after a few drink is big no no, hence its always better to settle for the decanters depicting Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Mercedes, Bentley and Jaguar SS100. Available from Nicholas Brawer, each model has been accurately scales in the original materials, so that they may be regarded as genuine collectors’ items. So incase you know a discerning drinker (is that even a type?) then you know what to gift them this Christmas.

Post from Christmas Gift Ideas: Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Mercedes, Bentley and Jaguar SS100 Decanters

As a somewhat purveyor of stunning contemporary fireplaces, imagine my excitement when I came across the Fire Line Automatic Burner from Planika. Blurring lines between function and form, the burner can be mounted on a wall, onto a shelf, or used as a see-through free-standing fireplace. UL compliant and CE certified, the Fire Line Automatic Burner has been equipped with a LED display which is remote operable. Unlike the quintessential fireplace, the Fire Line Automatic Burner has been specifically designed for urban living spaces and has a unique ornamental quality to it. Don’t be fooled by the aura of fragility around it since it is shock-proof and CO2 sensitive and will react to any seismic activity.

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[ Filed under Lamps & Lights or in the Furnishings category ]

Style is built on associations, and few folks alive in the 80s (or even 90s) can forget the feeling of putting in a magnetic tape to play their favorite tunes … or the sinking sensation of an analogue player eating your unique mix of radio-recorded tracks.

This refined design known simply as the TapeLamp plays on our memory, but lets you play with it directly as well – each little tape can be wound left or right, changing the look and satisfying our urge to tinker.

The lamp frame is minimalist and unobtrusive. A single laser-cut, plexi-glass sheet matches the clear plastic of the tapes that slot inside the spaces. Curves toward each corner make for small supports without adding separate legs.

This is not the first design featured here to include recycled retro cassettes, but offers a somewhat different take – rather than reusing, mixing and matching, the process is incredibly controlled and the product correspondingly more refined. Neither is necessarily better – perhaps one of each would work best, for the classical-music fan on the one hand and the punk rocker or metal head on the other.

Recycled skateboard furniture wouldn’t inspire much confident in design connoisseurs but the the creative team of deckstool will certain free you from the misconception. A great anecdote for those who feel choked by uniformity, the works at deckstool reverberate with individuality and completely is indisposed to homogeneity. Manufactured benches and stools from broken skateboard is not as simple as it sounds as each deskstool is meticulously constructed by skilled craftsmen in Pennsylvania. For instance the new deckbench is made from 100% reclaimed and recycled broken skateboard and cuts quite an imposing figure with its 14″W x 60″L x 18″H measurements. The stools on the other hand are constructed from shattered skateboards and the striking scuffed graphics result in a vibrant and cacophonous imagery. The deckstool collection packs quite a punch visually and has widened the ambit with its stimulating design ethos.

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Are you looking for the perfect colors to paint your apartment in? No problem then as in this case we have the perfect solution for you: use all the colors and you won’t be sorry! Check out the apartment in the images below, which uses all the colors of the rainbow and then some. Designed, or better said decorated, by Tham & Videgard Hansson Arkitekts, this particular apartment will really impress any visitor. The problem is that you’d have a very hard time finding matching furniture for such a paint job. Not to mention that regular furniture might totally ruin the rainbow effect of this particular custom paint project. And if you won’t use absolutely all the colors of the rainbow to paint your apartment, at least you can check the images below to see what colors work together and what nuances should be left untouched. Via Tvark

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[ Filed under Space-Saving or in the Interiors category ]

From ancient Greek temples to the modern open-plans homes of Mies van der Rohe, columns are curious things. They stand right in the middle of rooms, but are taken for granted over time like walls and doors. One could easily miss that this is anything but a structural support, suspended from the ceiling but seeming to reach all the way down to the floor.

In fact, the upper (wooden) portion is a storage system – a series of doors open to reveal shelves and drawers. The lower (marble) piece is not a static base, but rather a pull-out step stool one can use to reach higher on the column or sit on to work with something lower down.

The layout of the openings and sizes of various spaces inside are somewhat beside the point. The real key to this clever design is the use of normally-architectural elements in an unusual way, while simultaneously transitioning away from the normal layout strategies for storage pieces (typically found along walls).

Each piece is custom-designed by Sophie Mensen to suit a particular interior. In this instance, the forty-five-degree angle makes it parallel and perpendicular to the zig-zag wood flooring instead of the walls, which in turn gives the ‘secret’ away somewhat.

With the right materials and orientation for a specific space, though, one could really go a long way toward hiding this in plain site.