Hi MLE,

This project brings back memories of our happy days at art school. Not at all because the project seems inexperienced, but rather because it is all about concepting rather than just the final product, and that is nice to see.

Seven door designs commemorates the 70th anniversary of Abe Kogyo, a Japanese manufacturer of wooden front and interior doors, partitions, fixtures and custom-made furniture.

From top to bottom:

1. slide
Much like a window blind, this door can create small spaces to let light in, to let a breeze through, and to create a greater sense of connectivity between rooms.

2. hang
A door fitted with internal 2.5mm magnet sheet, allowing the user to attach various accessories to it such as trays, dust bins, flower pots, vases, and other containers. This design feature has given a new function to the door as a storage device, rather than just a thing to go in and out of.

3. kumiko
A door that applies kumiko, a technique of assembling wooden interior lattices without nails, most often used in creating door fixtures for traditional Japanese tatami rooms.

4. wall
By covering this door with shelves and picture frames that one would usually fit to a wall, this unit dims the very concept of a door, allowing it to blend into the wall to an unprecedented extent.

5. corner
A door that allows the user to enter and exit through corners of a room, transforming the way we think about interior layout. As this door opens particularly wide, an additional practical result of this design

6. baby
Abe Kogyo also manufactures various interior fittings for nurseries and pre-schools, and this gave rise to the idea of having adults and children walk through doors that match their respective sizes.

7. lamp
A door and lighting fixture in one, employing the wiring techniques used in electronic locks.
More info can be found on the Nendo’s site, where I found this project.

Have a nice weekend!

Suzan

 

MLE happy 2016!

I always like when a fresh new year begins after some time off. For my first note of the year, I’d like to tell you about a special little shop I went to when I was in Wales: Jane Beck Welsh Blankets.

One would be surprised to learn that this tiny shop (that we had to drive a few hours into the middle of nowhere and could barely find), actually holds the largest collection of Welsh blankets, new and vintage, anywhere in the world.  They are beautiful!  So of course they have been featured in all the interior magazines, in various television programmes, theatre productions, and even a Vogue fashion shoot. Welsh blankets are a passion for Jane, and you can tell.  Her personal collection has been loaned to museums and is regularly accessed by students and artists.

Wales was once covered with small independent mills and weavers who supplied the local community.  Jane is one of the few people who can accurately identify the date and mill of a particular blanket pattern design/weaving technique.  With the commercialisation of the wool industry at the end of the C19th, almost all these mills have been lost except a handful.

Her Heritage Collection of blankets reproduces some of her favourite vintage patterns, dating from the C18th.  They are made in Wales, as they have always been: at a small independent mill, using age old looms and traditional methods.

In my pictures above, you can see Daniel in awe at the gorgeous blankets everywhere.  You can also see some of the incredible Welsh blankets that were on sale.  Of course we couldn’t leave without one!

Have a nice weekend my friend,

Suzan xx

 

 

Hey hey the MLE,

Reporting back from designjunction last night, a London event showcasing furniture, lighting and product design. It was quite fun, as it's a bit trade show, but also there are pop-up shops selling things, large installations, seminars, screening, and places to eat and drink etc. The venue itself was perfect, a derelict 1960s Sorting Office in central London.

In the first photo shows Daniel sitting in his favourite piece, a very comfortable chair, but I lost the card I collected, so don't know the designer. Second is the Nick Fraser coat rack. Third is the Hybrid No2 chair by Merve Kahraman (when I showed my interior architect friends in the pub after they did not approve however). What they did approve of is the fourth product, the classic Anglepoise 1227 brass wall mounted lamp, so that is good. And finally, both Daniel and I quite liked these Richard Brendon china sets. Well I thought they were entire dinner sets judging by the price, but they are actually unique individual cups and saucers. But beautiful.

Suzan xx