Air Culture Lab | Sarah Daher

Air Culture Lab by Sarah Daher
photography by Siavash Maraghechi

The website of recent Master in Contextual Design Sarah Daher opens with a quote by Peter Tompkins (co-author of 'The Secret Life of Plants'):

“Plants are living, breathing, communicating creatures, endowed with personality and the attributes of soul. It is only we, in our blindness, who have insisted on considering them automata. Most extraordinary, it now appears that plants may be ready, willing, and able to cooperate with humanity.”
- Peter Tompkins, 1973

And that's no surprise, since the graduation project she exhibited during last years' Dutch Design Week revolves around plants communicating through air by releasing chemical molecules. 

Daher built a semi-scientific installation to harness the air enriched with those molecules, that could benefit health when inhaled. 

Air Culture Lab by Sarah Daher
photograph by Siavash Maraghechi

More about this project on Dezeen, where i spotted it, or on Sarah Dahers' website.

Photograph by Siavash Maraghechi

James Hartley | people with masks in a field

photograph by James Hartley

No, for as far as i know that's not the official title of the work, and i couldn't actually find a lot more information about the photograph or photographer James Hartley.
But i love it anyway and here's his website.

Robust, Minimalist, Green | 12 bathrooms to soak in

Bathtub by House of Thol
photograph by Johannes van Assem

My mother taught me to not linger under the shower, but wash and be done with it, in order to avoid spilling water.
T is a bit less waterconscious, and uses his showertime primarily to think and relax.
I'm an advocate to save water of course, but looking at the following round-up, i can imagine i'd easily waste away more gallons in these bathrooms.

Luckily for the environment i don't actually own one of these.
And in a couple of years, when i do, i'm sure the whole greywater-system (that helps you recycle water within your home) is way more advanced and i can enjoy my shower or bath time with a clear(-er) conscience knowing the water will be reused.

Anyway, here goes...

How about this minimalist and functional bathroom in a Melbourne family home?
I'm liking the simple yet chique tiling because the tiles seem to be slightly smaller than usual, yet they're so recognizable. Also, love the faucet, marble floor and wooden accents.

Family home of Jeff and Mariko Provan in Melbourne
photograph by Eve Wilson for The Design Files

On the topic of wood: i'm pretty sure this wooden bathtub in Bette Midlers' residence in New York is hardly ever used.
It just doesn't look that comfortable.
However, it does look stylish and rustique, and most importantly: it's made of the sacred Hinoki Wood, which has a slight lemon-like scent and is used in all kinds of rituals in Japan.

Bathroom in Bette Midler's Manhattan Penthouse
By Architectural Digest

About Japan.. how about this sunken bathtub made with lavastone tiles. The company making the tiles is actually Danish (Made A Mano), but the print on these tiles is unmistakingly Japanese.

Photograph and tiles by Made A Mano

Robust yet so serene, this bathroom in a vacation house in Greece, designed by Greek architectural studio Block 722.
Liking the semi-sunken tub, and i'm pretty sure this bath-area is actually incorporated in a bedroom, which i love.
I'd just be a wee bit self-conscious about the large window without curtains.

Vacation House on the Greek isles by Block 722
photograph by Yoanna Roufoupolou for Yatzer
Spotted My Domaine

What i love about this smart concrete bathroom, is the combination of the sunken bath with a regular shower.
I can imagine the inner corners of the tub make nice little nooks to sit on and/or keep hair products.
Not so sure if the actual tub is that comfortable.

Private residence by Molitli Interior makers

I know i know, enough with the sunken bathtubs already...
Just wanted to share this last one.
Because of the special nook for the shower and the beautiful flower that would totally not be there in real life.

LA Guest suite of designer Michaela Chaerrer
photograph by Matthew Williams for Remodelista

This following shower space has an industrial concrete wall with functional robust metal hooks and reminds me of sports-club showers, - albeit a very stylish and clean version of those showers.
I'm loving the combination of the rough concrete, functional showerhead and small glazed tiles, not so sure about the large round light-fixture.

Shower room in a San Francisco remodeled Victorian by Jennifer Morla and Nilus de Matran
Photograph by Mimi Giboin for Remodelista

While we're on the topic of communal shower area's, Dutch company JEE-O, that makes amazing industrial bath-fixtures, came up with this stylish shared shower.

By Jee-o

We're slightly going darker when it comes to spaces, and i didn't want to leave out this dark concrete wet room in a Morrocan Villa by Studio Ko.

Villa E by Studio Ko
photograph by Dan Glasser

Maybe not so very minimalist, -or robust, for that matter-, but i love these beautiful large plants for a bathroom + check out that circular shower curtain rail.

Melbourne Home of Alex Kennedy on The Design Files
Photography: Eve Wilson - Production: Lucy Feagins / The Design Files

Talking about green and robust, how about this photograph that's circling the web?
It was originally published in a National Geographic magazine in January 1991 and judging by the greenery i'm pretty sure this is somewhere tropical.

Photographer unknown - From National Geographic Magazine January 1991
Spotted on The Shiny Squirrel

Which bathroom would your like to soak in?

Ceramics | Cristina Schou Christensen

photograph from christinaschouchristensen.dk

10 minute countdown - just for fun

Chocolate done well | Compartes

Photographs from Compartes.com

Compartes.
Seems like a pretty solid business case to me: Take something everyone loves, make it look pretty.
Why didn't anyone think of this before?

Photographs from Compartes.com

It's not just the packaging, the bars themselves look equally beautiful.
And with tastes like 'Cocoa Caliente' (dark chocolate with cinnamon and pepper), 'Pina Colada' and 'Caramelized popcorn', these chocolate bars probably taste as good as they look.

I need to try these.

Photograph from Compartes.com

Photographs from Compartes.com

For more, check out the website of this LA-based chocolatier.

Charging your phone with a stained glass window

Current Window by Marjan van Aubel - print design by Marine Duroselle

image from Marjanvanaubel.com, Photograph by Wai Ming Ng

From the designers' website:
"Current Window is a modern version of stained glass — using current technologies. The coloured pieces of glass are generating electricity from daylight, and can even harness diffused sunlight. This electricity can be used to power a whole range of electrical appliances. The glass pieces are made of ‘Dye Sensitised Solar Cells’, which use the properties of colour to create an electrical current — just like photosynthesis in plants. Similarly to the various shades of green chlorophyll absorbing light, the coloured window panes harness energy.
Plug in your devices through integrated USB ports in the window ledge. The greater the surface exposed, the more energy will be collected. Imagine these windows in churches, schools, and workplaces! Current Window offers us an example of energy-harvesting in a natural and aesthetic way, for our future."

Yes please.

I like these photographs from Marjan van Aubels Instagram account even better:

And there's a table too:

Current table by Marjan van Aubel - Graphics by Marine Duroselle
image from Marjanvanaubel.com, photograph by Wai Ming Ng / Mathijs Labadie

Crayons, but better

photographs courtesy of fromkeetra.com

COLORS: Retooling Crayons by Keetra Dean Dixon.

photographs courtesy of fromkeetra.com

photographs courtesy of fromkeetra.com

modular, raw, industrial - kitchen inspiration

Reform kitchen by Norm Architects.
Materials: fibre concrete, mdf, tombac
Photographs from Norm Architects / Reform (spotted here)

Kitchen for a private residence in The Hague, by Interior Architect Remy Meijers.
Photograph from Remymeijers.nl (first spotted here)

Cabinet Kitchen by Studio Thol / House of Thol
Materials: American White Oak, Aluminum, Concrete
Photographs via houseofthol.nl

Halbhaus by Jonathan Tuckley

Designkwartier Den Haag 29-31 May

See you there? (more information here)

Sea-made beauty: Intertidal Deployment Object Series 2

Intertidal deployment object series 2 - 0001
By Something Like This Design
Image courtesy of Something Like This Design

 US Design Studio 'Something Like This Design' (Trygve Faste and Jessica Swanson) came up with this beautiful collection of ceramic objects that are both man- and sea-made.

Intertidal deployment object series 2 - 0002
By Something Like This Design
Image courtesy of Something Like This Design

The separate porcelain pieces were submerged in the ocean, allowing marine life like barnacles to attach to their surface.

Intertidal deployment object series 2 - 0004
By Something Like This Design
image courtesy of Something Like This Design

Love this!
One little thing though: I do wonder how these objects smell.
Living near the seaside i brought home many a barnacle-clad beachfind, and though pretty, they don't exactly smell of roses.

Intertidal deployment object series 02 - 0006
By Something Like This Design
image courtesy of Something Like This Design

More information on the 'Something Like This Design' website.
Spotted on Designboom.

In Hwa Lee: Ethereal porcelain

Shadowed color cup
White porcelain, 8,3 x 8 cm
By In Hwa Lee - photograph via Artaurea

Bowls - shadowed white cylinder set
White Porcelain, 26,5 x 10,5 cm
By In Hwa Lee - photograph via Artaurea

For more about South Korean Ceramic artist In Hwa Lee, check out Artaurea.

Been busy with this lately...

 

Ebbe, born April 14th 2015

Crooked Mirror | Tafla by Zieta

Tafla Mirror by Zieta
image courtesy of Zieta

I love a mirror that invokes a certain playfulness, like this one by Polish company Zieta: i can imagine making faces in the crooked reflection of the edges everytime i'd pass it.

For more shapes and information about prices, check out the Zieta website.

Spotted here.

Kokedama // i want to make this

Klaproos
Photograph from Stringgardens.com

And once again i wish my fingers were greener.
Because if they were, i might be able to make a lovely Japanese Kokedama / string garden like the one above.

I guess that's way out of my reach, but with the help of this tutorial i found on Gardenista, i might just be able to build a kokedama like this one:

Gardenista Kokedama DIY by Erin Boyle
Photograph via Gardenista