Modern Sanctuary in Czech Republic: St. Bartholomew

Above: St. Bartholomew's Church exterior

Working with designer Jakub Berdych under the Qubus Studio banner, the interior of St. Bartholomew’s Church features Verner Panton chairs customized with a punched-out crucifix, Persian rugs and chandeliers of rough-cut crystal.





An absolutely stunning combination of old and new: St. Bartholomew’s Church by Maxim Velcovsky

More Carpet Artistry: Meet Reuber & Henning

I've posted some stories on rugs and rug designers (see previous post on Amazed, Ltd) that are nothing short of art. And yet, here's another!

In January, the first Reuber Henning Collection 2007 was presented at [d3] Design Talents IMM Cologne.

Meet Reuber & Henning.

above:Franziska Henning & Thorsten Reuber

The following is reprinted from their website:
TRIM DOWN TO THE ESSENTIALS: BEAUTIFUL, GOOD RUGS

We come from two different worlds: Franziska Henning studied painting and has been designing artistic rugs for several years. (www.galerie-roehr-ripken.de)

Thorsten Reuber learned something about marketing and sales in the music and new media business.

Once he had caught her infectious passion for the beauty of color and material, it was only natural for them to decide to join forces and create beautiful rugs together: Reuber Henning was born.

Franziska Henning calls her carpets "Poetic Images" - images that "have been inspired by a wide variety of regions, periods and moods."
The designs of our first collection are partly based on German 19th-century silhouette cutouts and traditional Japanese woodcuts.



Our rugs are knotted from fine Himalaya wool and chinese silk following ancient Tibetan handicraft traditions.

We want to create rugs that belong to people, beautiful rugs in the very best quality, which will keep creating a special atmosphere a whole life long, and whose beauty and character only grow stronger with the passing years.


We are newcomers. We want to develop further, make lots of new things and lots of things better - please join us and give us your suggestions and ideas!

Franziska Henning & Thorsten Reuber




Reuber Henning: This is where Franziska Henning, Maker of artistic carpets, and Thorsten Reuber, a Marketing and Sales Manager, join forces: A Label for aesthetical, clear, natural, graphical, poetical, for - beautiful rugs!

*High quality materials, handcrafted under fair conditions
*In all sizes and colours
*Available at selected retail, and here on www.reuberhenning.com

Erica Wakerly Fabrics And Wallpaper - Young Designer 2007

ERICA WAKERLY has been named as 'Young Designer 2007' at the Homes and Gardens Classic Design Awards. The award was presented at the Victoria & Albert museum, London, for wallpaper Collection 01.

Wallpaper designs:






Below: Close-up of houses wallpaper



ERICA WAKERLY's printed blinds and Japanese screens have been launched in collaboration with Eclectics at the Design Interiors show in Birmingham, including 'SPIRAL' and two new designs, 'HOOP' and 'BANGLE'. For more information please contact Eclectics t.01843 608789.

ERICA graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2005 (MA Printed Textiles), specialising in surface design for interiors. Her designs are aesthetically innovative, exploring unconventional motifs and ideas of contrast through a combination of the hand drawn and graphic line. Her background in illustration and graphic design has provided her with a unique outlook on print design, with a degree in illustration from the University of Brighton. During her time at the RCA she was awarded 1st prize in the Graham & Brown Wallpaper Design competition, and joint 1st prize for the Dorma Textile Design award.

Printed fabrics:




Below: close-up of her homes fabric


Alongside designing print for wallpaper and textiles, ERICA also works on a variety of freelance design projects and commissions.

Illustrations:







ERICA WAKERLY Collection 01 was launched in 2006, at ICFF, New York and at 100% Design in London, for which she was awarded the 100% Design Bursary, and shortlisted for the 100% Blueprint best newcomer award.

You can buy these fabulous wallpapers and fabrics by clicking here.

Funky Find of The Week: Want & Need Water Glasses

It's a piece of art that makes a statement AND it's a functional drinking glass (as long as you don't fill it above the 'need' line). Helping you to curb your waste, each glass is hand signed and numbered. And only $24 a piece. Available in clear of 'foamed'.

Just click on the pic above and you'll be given more information and the option to order.

From Alesina design.

Win a Wii, eh? Canadian Sweeps for Artsy Wii

Lucky Canadians!
Nintendo in association with Magic Pony has the coolest giveaway but it's available to Canada residents only. Six different Wii players designed by Canadian artists will be given away in this sweepstakes. Four of the Wiis are visible below, the other two will be by mystery artists.

If you're eligible, enter the sweepstakes by clicking here.


Above: Gary Taxali's Wii

Above: Hoi-An Tang's Wii

Above: Illscarlet's Wii

Above: Udon's Wii

To read more about it and to enter the sweepstakes, click here.

By - A New Store That's Designed To Feel Like A Home

Mixing commerce with domesticity, three Italian companies — Boffi (kitchens and baths), Porro (tables, chairs and case goods) and Living Divani (mostly upholstered furniture) — have joined forces in By, a newly opened retail space at 142 Greene Street that looks less like a showroom than a sophisticated loft. “I didn’t want to sell a catalog image,” explains Piero Lissoni, the prolific Milan designer who is also the art director for all three companies. To that end, Lissoni mixed antiques and art with the companies’ products, and used glass partitions instead of walls to maximize light and space, which he calls “the real qualities of luxury.” Too bad the kitchen and bathroom don’t actually function, or we’d move right in.

Click on the link below for a video tour of the retail establishment that feels more like a loft than a shop.

permalink to video

Funky Find of The Week: Meat Alphabet

20 year old Robert J. Bolesta from Oxford, PA is a multi talented creative graduating from the Pratt Institute this year. Amongst his many interesting projects is the Value-pack. Packaged ground beef in the shape of each letter the alphabet (as well as numbers).
After all, when was the last time ground beef made you giggle?


Feel free to check out his work here at his site.

Product Pick Of The Week: Your Own Signature SIGG Water Bottle!

Are you one of those people that totes a water bottle around with you everywhere you go? I know many people who do.

If so, you may as well make it one that both reflects you as a person as well as one that doesn't destroy the taste of your drink or add to our landfills.

That said, I suggest you check out mySIGG.com

If you aren't already familiar with SIGG brand bottles, they are a swiss engineered water bottle with a variety of tops. Reusable, they have received rave reviews for the fact that they don't leach into the liquid, keeping your drink tasting pure, and they look cool too.


Above: Sigg's double walled construction

But even more exciting is that now, at MySIGG.com, you can create your own distinct and fashionable water/sport bottle with your choice of tops. With 144 bottle designs to choose from and 22 interchangeable lids, you have a plethora of choices. They have lifestyle designs, classic designs, even kids' designs.




In addition to that, they donate 1% of their sales to the natural environmental group, 1% For The Planet.


Here's a little history about them:


Above: Actual photo from the SIGG archives

SIGG Switzerland dates back to 1908 when metal processing specialist Ferdinand Sigg established an aluminum product factory about 30 kilometers outside of Zurich. Along with his colleague Xaver Küng, the two men combined their love of metal and the strong belief that "aluminum is the material of the future". Their product line, which was called SIGG AG Aluminiumwarenfabrik, was initially comprised of saucepans, frying pans and bottles, all of which sold rapidly and were immensely popular. By 1958, SIGG had thousands of products that were all manufactured in the company's own rolling mill and drawing shop.

It was in 1990 that the course for the future of the SIGG bottle was determined: a new shape, still typical of today's bottles, was developed and the quality achieved was superior. The beautiful shapes and design of the bottle is one of the reasons that in 1993 SIGG was incorporated into the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 1997, the company was bought by an investor group and changed direction to focus on its #1 "star" product... the SIGG bottle.

Approaching its 100 year anniversary, SIGG has its sights set on growing the brand outside of Europe. In 2005, SIGG launched a USA subsidiary based in Stamford, CT. "This brand has tremendous history and for generations has been the must-have water bottle for Europeans," stated Steve Wasik, SIGG USA President. "Americans are now discovering that using a high quality, reusable bottle like SIGG makes great sense – both financially and environmentally."


Above: Just six of their many fun designs

mySIGG.com