Translated by Silvia — Surfing around the Internet yesterday looking for solutions for sustainable furnishings, we fell upon FLEXIBLE LOVE. We immediately liked the name and, indeed, it sums up in two words the philosophy which hides behind this project. It is, in fact, a fantastic example of social, ecological and philanthropic design that manages to mix concrete utility and love for the environment and for others.

It is born from a very simple but effective concept: a flexible chair that uses fully the structural properties of honeycomb, applied to the working of an accordion. An incredible result of extensibility, resistance and rigidity, considering that the material used is nothing more than… paper!

A myriad of used sheets of paper that are recuperated, recycled and reused in a completely new way by the new Taiwanese designer Chishen Chiu for an extendible chair that can also be compact and multiform to host anywhere from 1 to 16 people! A group of good friends, a soccer team, a school class…

Take a look at the 2 videos and the images you will find below and in the cut.

The birth of FLEXIBLE LOVE chair was greatly influenced by Chishen Chiu’s personal experience from when he stumbled into a cardboard factory in the suburbs on Taipei. Immediately intrigued by the use of the bee’s nest structure in the industrial production of cardboard panes as substitutes for wooden ones, the young Taiwanese student developed in just a few days the concept of a chair, transformable from a seat to a bench, exploiting the huge resistance and rigidity that this material can take on in this specific structure.

Using only eco-friendly materials such as recycled paper, post-industrially rejected wood (plywood panels, chipboard panels, OSB) and ecological glue matched with pre-existing production processes, FLEXIBLE LOVE chair is thought out, from its very existence, to be a chair with a low environmental impact.

It can take on different shapes: linear, S-shaped, etc. for an almost total interactivity and adaptability with the user. Produced in 5 versions (other than the 16-person model, there’s also the one for 12 people, for 8, Couple for 2 and Mini, a 25:1 scale rendition of the Flexible Love 16) its first editions were immediately snatched out of stores.

It deserves another few words for its dimensions: 64cm tall and 56cm wide, its extendibility goes from 22.5cm in the compact version to 720cm open to the max. It weighs only 25kg, but can take a load of up to 1920kg!

An interesting piece of social and democratic design: you just need to coordinate yourself with your seating companions so as to avoid unfortunate capsizings.

+ FlexibleLove.com

An interesting presentation (in Chinese) by the designer Chishen Chiu.

Translated by Silvia — The creativity of the so-called “Reuse Design” lately is forever more appreciate from an earth-friendly and “NON Useless” design point of view, but more importantly even of “RE-useful”.

Here is for you a selection of interesting projects born from the creativity of sensible designers looking for ecologically sustainable solutions, selection which goes to show the fact that reusing is an effective solution and can also be aesthetic. 12 propositions which come, in the most part, from discarded objects, rethought and modelled into a new existence, for a renewed and original desirability.

A source of inspiration and encouragement for our daily recycling.

All details in the link below.

We’ll start with lighting design. Above you will find the original suggestion made by the designers of Toronto’s Castor Canadensis: a suspended lamp which resuscitates those terrible discarded neon bulbs which we never know how to get rid of for lack of a proper disposal solution and usually end up throwing in the communal bins against our ecological good will. [via Inhabitat]

Another chandelier which most certainly won’t leave you indifferent: this time because, if you look at it closely, you’ll see a whole lot of used biro pens (exactly 347 in this image, but there’s another version with 895!) elegantly arranged in circles to create exhilarating light plays on the walls of our houses. It is called Volivik 347 and was imagined but the Spanish design studio Enpieza [via WebUrbanist].

For vintage lovers (and not only) here are table lamps Made in Italy made by a passionate Italian creator, Maurizio Lamponi Leopardi: the Lamponi’s Lamps are born from the reusing of real car parts and electro domestic appliances, literally made to shine in a new light!

We couldn’t, in this post, not speak of Reestore, the English studio which has made Reuse Design its own philosophy and company mission. From Max McMurdo’s creativity have been born bizarre yet functioning objects with the added appeal which hangs between eco-chic and boho: like the Annie chair which you can see in the above images: a shopping cart re-thought to a new utility…

…the Max couch, a bath tub transformed into a chaise for some dry relaxing…

…and Silvana, a post-industrial looking coffee-table obtained from the drum of a washing machine.

These here are Andrew Gregg’s coffee tables, gotten from the wheels of old bicycles: compositions with elliptical lines, original and dynamic at once. A nice example of Bike Furniture Design.

Another original suggestion for home décor is this collection of seat, bar stool and armchair conceived by Amir Zinaburg from Israel and entirely obtained from used soda cans, artfully compressed to offer a new and durable support function. A robust and colourful solution which would help even our beaches, too often disfigured by beer and soda cans abandoned there without shame.

One particular chair which re-suggests and gives a new nobility another of the most common elements of our waste these days is “Panda Chair”, suggested by Belen Hermosa from Spain. It’s an original way of reusing old CDs which aren’t used anymore or have been scratched. For those wondering about the odd name, the young designer explains that it’s made from the initials of the 5 friends who gave her a hand to build it and to whom, as acknowledgement of their participation, she dedicates this creation of hers: Pedro, Arantza, Nagore, Diego, Aritz. A fun product of eco-design and friendship! [via TechnaBob].

From Turkey we get this very special luggage: Sit Bags by MayBeDesign, old luggage which ends its journey not in the trash but in our houses, giving itself a new utility [via Treehugger].

Keeping with the theme of travelling and flights, here is a curious and practical suggestion to program for another destination, on Earth this time, the airplane carts. Bordbar is the collection created but the German designer Stephan Boltz to give us a new and super customisable cupboard on wheels. Adaptable to any kind of use, it is usable anywhere one may need to put things away with order and a touch of style [via Ecoble].

And finally, as grand finale, the eccentric and refined limited edition from Toni Grilo, the young French designer from Objection Design who signed, for Christofle, a collection of accessories and an incredible coffee table, the “Precious Famine”, entirely made from silver cutlery. Thought of controversial utility, it is without a doubt a flighty application of creativity to such common objects which enhances the beauty and artistic workmanship. It will definitely have an effect! [via Casasugar].

Translated by Silvia – A young and fresh duo, Puah Kim Sing and How Sim, industrial designers for Dremu Design, a newly created studio that’s been active for less than a year. Already 3 important awards received at the latest edition of the Furniture Design Awards in Singapore (FDA 2008): Most Honorable Mention for Mimo & Simi Bar stools, a pleasant couple of stools made of ABS, surmounted by hairpieces made of expanded EVA foam for a fun Playmobil look. Two Young Designer Merit Awards for the 2 seats TORS Chair and HAGE Chair. The last one, of which you can see an image above, is a wooden armchair with essentially balanced lines, made of a single rectangular sheet of plywood, at the centre of which was made an “H” shaped cut, and later curved and modelled for an interesting aesthetic result and robust but light frame, playing with the tension of the material used.

More images and information in the link below.

Original Edition – Mimo & Simi designed by How Sim

Unfortunately their site is not surfable yet. We will have to wait for June this year in order to see other interesting novelties from Dremu Design, like the next series of Mimo & Simi dedicated to mythological creatures, celebrities and superheroes in limited editions.

+ dremudesign.com

[via DremuDesign e Culturepush]

TORS Chair designed by How Sim

Translated by Silvia — The Orange22 studio says yes and strikes again.Founded in the year 2000 by Dario Antonioni in Los Angeles, this Californian laboratory of creativity immediately gained itself some illustrious clients and recognition. Last year, it launched Botanist, a collection of indoor and outdoor furniture, the first of which is tainted pink with the “Pink Limited Edition” in favour of the battle against breast cancer (all images under the cut). The latest issue is “Blank Canvas”, a social design project in which 8 world famous designers were involved for the first edition, from Milton Glaser (the creator of the iconic logo “I heart NY”) to the omnipresent Karim Rashid, from Ives Behar (an idol of ours) to the Italian duo of Massimo and Lella Vignelli.

You will find the images of the Botanist collections and more information in the cut below.

Botanist ‘Pink Limited Edition’

To the basic Botanist collection and the “Pink Limited Edition”, composed of 3 Flora series (une sheet of aluminium decorated with water jet cuts), Flow (without decorations) and Natural (coated with a plate of precious wood, only for indoors), Orange 22 joins, as from this year, the personal suggestions of Yves Behar, Margo Chase, Milton Glaser, Kahi Lee, Karim Rashid, Joe Ricchio, Massimi and Lella Vignelli and Claude Zellweger. The are the first 8 illustrious names to have collaborated with the Californian studio for the “Black Canvas” project, bringing in their own creative contributions in a line of furniture which actively contributes to social works thanks to funds gathered from the proceeds of the sales.

In 3 very colourful formats, Bench, Cocktail and End Table, Botanist is entirely produced with eco-friendly materials and manufacturing. It’s grand debut in the public eye will be during this year’s ICFF edition, that will be held from the 17^th to the 20^th of May at the Javits meeting Center in New York City.

A great example of Social design in which creativity is altruistic.

+ Botanist ‘Blank Canvas’ Project

+ Botanist ‘Pink Limited Edition’

+ Orange22

 
Botanist Bench ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Yves Behar

Botanist Cocktail table ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Margo Chase

Botanist Cocktail table ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Milton Glaser

Botanist Cocktail table ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Kahi Lee

Botanist Cocktail table ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Karim Rashid

Botanist Bench ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Joe Ricchio

Botanist Cocktail table ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Massimo e Lella Vignelli

Botanist Bench ‘Blank Canvas Edition’ by Claude Zellweger

[via Neu Black]

Translated by Silvia – Designers of Frank O. Gehry’s calibre (since the beginning of the 70’s) and recently ever more representatives of the new generation of industrial designers from the whole world have brought forward new materials like cardboard, scruff paper and polystyrene for creative experiments in the field of furniture, often winking back to sustainability.

And it is to their seating solutions, obtained from economic or recycled materials, that we are dedicating this post.

Easy Edges Wiggle Side Chair. Photo: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Associates.

Cabbage Chair by Nendo

Old News chair by Ezri Tarazi

Paper Mache Arm Chair by Majid Azif

Soft Polychair by Max Lamb

Styrofoam Sofa by Kwangho Lee

Translated by Silvia — If restricted domestic spaces are the new indisputable trend, it doesn’t mean that we must say goodbye to the conviviality that us Mediterraneans are famous for, nor must we wave goodbye to good design.

Indeed, the designer’s creativity helps us with practical suggestions so that we need not deprive ourselves from the pleasure of a nice little dinner between good friends for the well-being of our spirit and sharing instinct… since 1953, year in which the Danish Hans Olsen designed the first of 5 “1 table+4 chairs” solutions to which this post is dedicated and of which you can see more pictures in the cut below.

Dining Table by Hans Olsen

Fusion Set by Sandra Kragnert for IKEA

Kitchenette by Marta Antoszkiewicz

Bulb Table by Marta Antoszkiewicz

Sushi Table by Gloster