1 Thread Wrapping Machine Collection by Anton Alvarez
Recent Royal College of Art graduate Anton Alvarez invented a contraption to join various materials, whether steel, plastic or wood, into one object by wrapping them in vibrantly hued thread coated in glue. Conveying a Franken-stick vibe, his first collection of stubby stools and tripod lamps and shelves debuted at Design Miami / Basel in 2013.
2 Favela Bed by Edra
Referencing the haphazardly constructed housing in Brazil’s slums, the Campana Brothers’ Favela chair became an instant icon when Edra released it in 2003 (the Italian manufacturer recently debuted a limited edition in marble). Like the chair, the bed is made of pine slats. Craftspeople nail them together in a harmoniously messy way unique to each bed.
3 Frameworks by Mieke Meijer
Many young design studios are toying with new joinery, creating shelving and furnishings that users can grow and shrink on a whim. Studio Mieke Meijer of the Netherlands contributes this lightweight shelving/divider unit with steel rivets to the trend of rod-like assemblies. Made of oak and fitted with glass shelves, Frameworks is inspired by lattice-
work with its repeated triangular structures.
4 Ruben by Casamania
This quirky coat rack, which incorporates a wooden coin tray, looks like a stick drawing of a deer. Ilaria Marelli meant her household design for Casamania to have an ironic tinge. Composed of tubular metal segments, lacquered white, green or blue, the piece is a slender, minimal ode to organization.
5 Yoshi Bar by Naoya Matsumoto
Naoya Matsumoto found an imaginative way to test his design skills and beautify his school campus. Along with his classmates at Seian University of Art and Design in Japan, he devised this pop-up bar with a cross-hatched enclosure of locally sourced reeds. Inside is a solid wooden tabletop, with a base that carries through the pick-up-sticks structure.
6 Rue Picot by Avenue Road
This luxe bird’s nest of a chandelier is by Kelvin Goddard and Lisa Santana, of Toronto’s Unit Five. Handwoven in brass-plated bent wire and measuring 120 or 244 centimetres in diameter, it is one of the newest additions to Avenue Road’s expanding in-house editions line.
7 Tribute to Alexander Calder by Arne Quinze
Arne Quinze expands on his vision of “cities like open-air museums” with this 70-metre-long, 12-metre-high cloud of sticks, which animates the entrance to the MAMAC museum in Nice, France until the end of October. Made of PEFC-certified lumber painted white and red, it recalls similar works he has erected in Brussels, Shanghai, and Rouen, France.
8 Home for All by Toyo Ito
At last year’s Venice architecture biennale, Toyo Ito joined his compatriots in proposing housing solutions for tsunami-ravaged Japan. Now the Pritzker Prize laureate has realized a building in Rikuzentakata based on the model he presented there. Supported by wooden stilts and framed in wood stakes, his Home for All stands as a crude fortification that overlooks the still-untended area.
9 Splash Coat Rack by Blu Dot
Available through American design stalwart Blu Dot, this coat rack by Scott Smrstick, in powder-coated steel and solid walnut, evokes a cartoon-like teepee. It comes in five shades: bright blue, complete yellow, putty grey, humble red, and minimalist white.
10 Unam by Very Wood
Curved wooden elements – the structural back supports that extend as arms and legs – make this chair stand out. By German designer Sebastian Herkner for Very Wood, it emphasizes a classic aesthetic (enhanced by the twine backrest) inspired by Pierre Jeanneret’s architectural collaborations with Le Corbusier in India.
11 Mikado by Porro
Swedish trio Front created Mikado, an unreservedly Japanese-inspired creation, for Porro. The doors and legs recall bamboo reeds swaying in the wind.