All posts tagged: product design

Two Brazilian Shoe Brands Collaborate with Iconic Designers

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Move over Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. The shoe world is drawing more big-name designers to the footwear industry, starting with a collaboration between the famous Brazilian shoe brand Ipanema and the world-renowned designer Philippe Starck. Called Ipanema with STARCK, the Spring/Summer 2016 collection is a re-envisioning of the modern sandal. Offered in four distinct designs in 12 colors each, the collection is both modern, yet comfortable, qualities that do not always go hand-in-hand (or foot-in-foot?) when it comes to shoes. The sandals are made of 30% recycled materials and are 100% recyclable. To achieve Starck’s designs, Ipanema adapted its industrial process to be more manual and artisanal, resulting in a production process employing a proprietary plastique injection technique. Available worldwide, the shoes range from $30-$40. Perhaps not to be outdone by their countrymen, another Brazilian footwear brand, Melissa Shoes, has collaborated with the furniture design duo the Campana Brothers. Inspired by their Baroque furniture collection, the Melissa Barroca x Campana collection are plastic flats that “lend a playful interpretation of Italian Baroque infused with the vibrancy of everyday Brazilian culture,” according to the brand. In celebration of the latest designs, the Campana Brothers have launched an installation Barroca: The Harmony …

Croissant-Shaped Baby Rattle

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Mary Arnold Toys, an Upper East Side institution since 1931, is bringing an outpost of the Oxford, Mississippi art and design shop Amelia to its Upper East Side store starting October 20 through the holidays. After F.A.O. Schwartz closed its doors for business this summer, Mary Arnold Toys became the oldest continuously run toy store in the U.S. One of the first items on offer through the Amelia outpost will be this adorable croissant-shaped baby rattle. The idea of a toothless baby chomping down on this soft rattle is almost too cute to bear. Handmade in the USA by the Los Angeles-based toy maker Wild Pines, the linen-wrapped rattle is available in a limited number for $28.00 exclusively at Amelia’s website and the Amelia Outpost at Mary Arnold. Doughnut shaped rattles are coming out next, so the question remains … can Cronuts be far behind? Images courtesy of Mary Arnold Toys & Amelia.

Kikkerland’s China Design Challenge

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At an event held last month at the company’s shop in Manhattan, Kikkerland presented finalist designs from the Kikkerland China Design Challenge, an competition held in collaboration with Beijing Design Week Organization and Redstar Design Fund. Held during Bejing Design Week 2014, the theme of the challenge was “A Passage Into Design,” which encouraged young talented Chinese designers to present unique ideas based on Chinese heritage, history and mythology. The ideas also had to exhibit the quirky sense of humor and wit characteristic of Kikkerland Design. Nearly 1,000 design submissions were received, from which 30 were selected and prototyped during a workshop with professionals. Ultimately, 17  finalists were chosen from the challenge. During the New York event, an award was presented to challenge winner  Zhou Yi, who designed the Hutong Eraser, an eraser that represents the disappearing traditional architectural style that was once prominent in Beijing. “As the streets of Beijing are filled with more and more high-rise buildings, there are less and less Hutong style streets left,” says Yi. “The eraser will disappear as you use it, like the the disappearing Hutong.” The eraser, along with eight other finalists’ designs, will be produced and sold worldwide …

Sun and Moon Miyamoto Watch by Mr Jones Watches

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London-based Mr Jones Watches has launched their latest unusual timepiece, and this one will appeal to the old-school gamers out there. Named after the designer of the Super Mario video games, Shigeru Miyamoto, The Sun and Moon Miyamoto Watch features graphics inspired by the cartoon landscape of the world of Mario that many of us know only too well. Printed and assembled by hand in the watchmaker’s London workshop, the watch is produced in an edition of 100 pieces with each one numbered on the back of the case. The case is made of brushed stainless steel and the strap is navy and grey leather with pink stitching. “Sun and Moon” watches were first produced in England in the late 1600s during a period of experimentation with ways to represent the time. The position of the sun or moon in the crescent-shaped sky indicates the hours. As the hour disc rotates, the landscape changes from day to night. The minutes and seconds are displayed in the center dial and these run in the conventional way, so each …

Desktop Accessories by Beyond Object

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Beyond Object is a design label of the London-based design studio Poetic Lab that creates and distributes “poetic objects” around the world, including desktop objects, accessories, and tableware that are manufactured and crafted in Taiwan. After creating a temporary showroom during Milan Design Week in April, Beyond Object presented their new line of sculptural desktop accessories during the Maison et Objet Americas fair held earlier this month in Miami. One of the stars of the new collection is Cantili, a tape dispenser made of a pair of cantilevered mirror polished concave disks available in gold, cooper, and silver finishes. Penpo is a magnetic desk organizer made of three tubes of different materials, height, and size that have magnetic joints to form playful combinations. Funno is a pencil sharpener machined from a solid block of metal and hand-polished to a mirror finish in various colors. Funno, which also doubles as a paperweight, comes in mirror-polished gold, copper, and silver. Last but not least, Lino is a structured letter opener that has been reduced down to its outline. Handmade in stainless …

Pup & Kit Pet Furniture

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The Toronto-based modern pet furniture company Pup & Kit broke some barriers for animal-kind last March when they became the first pet-related company to exhibit at the Architectural Digest Home show in New York City. The company, founded in 2013 by Leslie Hemming, was invited to exhibit within the shows MADE section featuring bespoke products from across North America.   Pup & Kit offers several kinds of pet beds for both cats and dogs of all sizes, all handmade-to-order by local craftspeople in Toronto. The solid wood pieces are made of oak, walnut, or maple with an all-natural soy-based foam insert, and can be customized with a variety of fabric options made of outdoor Sunbrella fabrics. The Missy Cave, above, can even double as an modern end table, that is, if its tenant doesn’t mind.       All images courtesy Pup & Kit.