Virtually There - July 2008 |
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Forget practical sofas in sensible colours. Life is too short to buy dull cabinets just because they fit the stereo, or boring chairs because you can clean them with Spray n’ Wipe. It’s time to take some risks with your furniture.
And what could be riskier than the ‘Pig Table’ from Moooi ( www.moooi-online.com)? As they so rightly ask, who wouldn’t want a pig to serve your guests? Moooi calls it “furniture to fall in love with at first sight or hate forever”. Clearly they have insight.
The real cutting edge of furniture design was on display earlier this year at I Saloni, the international furniture exhibition in Milan. Design weblog Inhabit ( www.inhabitat.com) has highlights, my particular favourite being the knitted sea urchin pouf. Israeli designer Shay Alkalay ( www.shayalkalay.com) and his Raw Edges design studio exhibited stackable drawers – called ‘Stack’, of course – at I Saloni. Alkalay treads the fine line between innovative design and the completely unhinged – check out his rocking chair slippers.
Martino Gamper is another furniture designer on the fringe of rational. His self-imposed mission? To design and build 100 chairs in 100 days, using recycled… chairs. The results are strange but appealing ( www.gampermartino.com). Gamper’s concept of DIY furniture with a difference can be interpreted in all sorts of interesting ways: www.foldschool.com for instance, which is a collection of free downloadable patterns for cardboard furniture for kids. Sturdy, stable, cute, frugal and green; this stuff ticks all my design boxes.
If the concept of build-your-own cardboard furniture appeals, www.bloxes.com sells interlocking cardboard building blocks for making walls, benches, tables and tunnels. Retur Design ( www.returdesign.se) has more cardboard furniture – tables, chairs, lights, shelving and cabinets – all designed with that peculiarly Scandinavian elegance and sparseness.
At the opposite end of the design scale is the world’s most expensive piece of furniture. The Badminton Cabinet is a baroque riot in ebony and ormolu, bought by the Liechtenstein Museum in 2004 for a mere £19 million. It’s a must-see but is well hidden – follow the permanent exhibition link at www.liechtensteinmuseum.at.
If that’s all a tad rococo, but you like the classic Euro aesthetic, let me suggest a look at the shabby chic reproduction furniture from English manufacturers Sweetpea & Willow ( www.sweetpeaandwillow.com). They make distressed painted furniture copied from 18th century Scandinavian originals, country farmhouse dressers and French-inspired Louis XVI-style dining tables and chairs and will deliver worldwide.
My personal taste runs to the modern classics: www.20thcenturychairs.com has a far more interesting collection. Even better, they have a spin-off site for those with big dreams but small budget: www.miniaturechairs.com sells miniature versions of your favourite chairs. At least the doll’s house will be chic.
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Must-haves you never knew you neededOn one level, this site is nothing more than pictures of cute animals talking baby talk. But, on another level, www.icanhascheezburger.com/ is perhaps the finest example of an internet meme (catchphrase) in existence. In the eighteen months since its creation (a lifetime in cyberspace), I Can Has Cheezburger has got the world talking about “lolcats”, “bukkits” and “monorails”. Phrases such as, “It has a flava”, “I’m at yr desk ernin yr salary” and “This is relevant to my interests” are now part of the online vernacular. If you have no idea what any of this means, search lolcats on Wikipedia and then go to the site. It will make you smile – I promise.
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Story: Kim Rutter
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