The Ravenscroft Desk by Leonhard Pfeifer

above: The Ravenscroft Desk at the Museum of Modern Art, Estonia

Characterized by functionality, essential form and purity of materials, the Ravenscroft desk was designed to look striking from any angle so it could sit in the middle of a room instead of pushed up against a wall.





Conceived by London furniture designer Leonhard Pfeifer, the desk has a wide worktop that finishes in angled nooks, creating handy filing compartments for paperwork, while the raised rear surface is ideal for auxiliary monitors. Pfeifer included a low shelf for power transformers and external hard drives, integrating technology into the form.




Ravenscroft is produced in Europe by furniture brand Woodman in Oak with contrasting Walnut partitions. The desk launched at the Maison & Objet fair in Paris last week (9-13 September 2011).

www.leonhardpfeifer.com
www.woodman.ee
www.maison-objet.com



Be sure to see more of Leonhard's beautifully crafted furniture designs

18k White Gold Diamond Glove By Daphne Guinness and Jeweller Shaun Leane.

You may have seen a few images of this custom creation being touted as the "World's Most Expensive Glove" but it is so much more than that.


above: Jewelery designer Shaun Leane and his sketch of the diamond and 18k white gold glove

The artisanal creation, a collaboration between legendary style icon Daphne Guinness and fine jeweller Shaun Leane took over four years to be realized. Named Contra Mundum (translated as Against the World), the armour-inspired gauntlet is made up of more than a thousand grams of gold and is set with over 5,000 pavé white diamonds and was unveiled in a very dramatic fashion.




above three images shot by Nick Knight

The Piece
Weighing over 1,000 grams, the 18k white gold chain maille glove has striking diamond birds cascading around the arm, as though caught in mid-flight. The hand is protected with a bold 18k brushed white gold metal cuff, hand-forged and beautifully engraved.




Made in two parts, the cuff can be worn alone as a hand glove, or extended into an evening glove. Every detail in the piece, including the chainmail, has been carefully constructed by hand to ensure a perfect fit to Daphne’s arm.


above image from W magazine by Nick Knight


The Presentation
This collaborative effort was unveiled in typically dramatic fashion. The piece was exhibited by Jay Jopling of White Cube gallery, in an exclusive viewing in London, with Daphne lying in state only to be wakened by a kiss from director and designer Tom Ford as her fashionable Prince Charming.





Guests watched Daphne’s beautiful presentation of the piece - dressed in the bespoke glove and shrouded in white silk tulle, her lie-in state symbolised the concept of the objet d’art; Sir Thomas Malory’s compilation of the legendary tales of the Knights of the Round Table.





As the evening drew to a close, guests (which included Tom Ford, Suzy Menkes, Lily Cole, Livia Firth and Alexander McQueen’s Creative Director Sarah Burton) were presented with a gift bag containing a solitaire diamond and a beautiful message signed by Shaun and Daphne as a remembrance of a beautiful summer evening.

Information courtesy of Shaun Leane and images courtesy of Vogue Italia, W Magazine, Zimbio and Daphne Guinness

Modern Tech Meets Traditional Japanese Gold-Leafing in these USB Flash Drives.

With most new fangled technology gadgets being made of silicon, titanium or polypropylene, it's a refreshing change to come across something useful that harkens back to tradition.



Famous Japanese kinpaku manufacturer Hakuichi, who is known for their gold-leafing of several types of products and edibles, enters the computer peripheral world with these portable USB drives decorated with high-quality gold leaf designs, called hakue (or gold leaf pictures).





Chrysanthemums to birds to Mount Fuji adorn the front of these 4GB USB thumb drives or flash drives. While they are perfect for storing your data they bring an element of traditional Japanese hand-leafed gold design to the table.



The Hakue portable USB drives feature ten different distinctly Japanese designs:



Akafuji (Mt Fuji at dawn)
Fūjin Raijin (God of Wind and God of Thunder)
Houou (East Asian phoenix)
Kiku to Ryūsui (Chrysanthemums in water)
Kingyo (Goldfish)
Kouyo (Autumn leaves)
Nakiryu (Temple dragon)
Sakura Fubuki (Cherry blossoms)
Temari (Temari hand balls)
Tsuki to Usagi (Moon and rabbit)


Please note that this product is manufactured after receipt of order; as such, orders for this product cannot be cancelled. Additionally, the one-year hardware warranty only covers the USB solid state drive, not the design on the outside.

In Japan you can buy them directly from Hakuichi here.

In the US, you can buy them here for $198.28 USD

It's About Time. Nike's Back to the Future Shoe, Campaign and Charitable Auction.

To raise funds for Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Nike designed 1500 pairs of Nike MAG shoes based on the kicks worn by Fox's character Marty McFly in the original movie, "Back To The Future" to be auctioned off on ebay and at select Niketown stores.



The project consists of the shoe auction, a short film, poster designs, ceramic models of the shoe, souvenir pins and impressive displays- complete with DeLorean, flux capacitor, hoverboard and more.





The MAG shoes feature an electroluminescent outsole, spage-age materials and a rechargeable internal battery good for 3,000 hours. Designed by Tinker Hatfield and Tiffany Beers, the Nike shoes took six years, three restarts and thousands of hours. Not recommended for athletics, it's a coveted collectible by both entertainment industry and sneaker freakers.


above: Tiffany Beers and Tinker Hatfield designed the collectible shoe



By now, all of the shoes have been auctioned off, but the Wieden + Kennedy two minute film featuring Bill Hader with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Dr. Emmett Brown is quickly climbing the viral charts:



Tinker Hatfield, Donald Fullilove and KD also make appearances in this short film about the most famous shoes never made, in an effort to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.



2011 Nike Mag Price Infographic
For sneaker collectors and enthusiasts curious about the recent 2011 Nike MAG developments, a pricing infograph has surfaced courtesy of Fordham University Graduate School of Business student, Zach Kingsley:



This piece of information above illustrates the economics of getting a pair in the most popular size 10. The infographic compares the price points of Nike’s coveted shoe against a timeline to see its steady decline. Updated every night, sources of this infograph come from eBay’s completed listings of MAG’s nightly sales.

Poster designs for the Back For the Future Event:


above: Back to The Future Nike poster designs by Kate Gibb, Brent Rollins, La Boca and Will Sweeney

Michael J. Fox says a few words about the project:


Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
To learn more, go to www.back4thefuture.com