SODA - Modern Furniture Design from Nada Nasrallah and Christian Horner

above: the Lester leather indoor deck chair by SODA design.

Design studio SODA Design, based in Vienna, is comprised of Nada Nasrallah and Christian Horner, who met studying Industrial Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the ENSCI/Les Ateliers in Paris.

They have created tailored, elegant products for such respected and well-known brands as Ligne Roset, MDF Italia, Rapsel spa and Wittman and have garnered numerous awards, nominations and exhibitions for their work.

What intially caught my eye was their stunning leather tufted deck chair and matching ottoman, The Lester — a deckchair for indoor-use with fine leather upholstery produced by Wittmann Möbelwerkstätten.



So, I looked into them a little more and found they have have a project portfolio worth sharing.

Two of their most recent projects:

The SO chair presented at SALONE DEL MOBILE 09 at LIGNE-ROSET, and the ARNE bathtub nominated for ELLE DECO International Design Awards

Other projects:

Dorian Mirror/hanger:

Leather indoor raft (prototype):

The Lester with leather raft and leather innertube prototypes:

The Tavolino side table/magazine holder:


Salt and Pepe - Magnetic Salt and Pepper shakers:

The Rondo chair:

The Lux - an illuminated bar table:

The York leather sofa:



About the designers:


Coming from the different professional backgrounds of carpentry and gold/silversmith, the common interest that lead to their working together was the taking up of challenging design projects. With teaching experience from the NDC/Kingston University and work experience at Sottsass Associati and Paolo Rizzatto in Milan, Philips Design Vienna/ Singapore and SAGEM, Soda Designers are now based in Vienna and are engaged in a variety of projects covering furniture, consumer-electronics and interior design.


SODA Design

Nada Nasrallah & Christian Horner
Liniengasse 18, 1060 Wien, Austria
tel +4369919458281 / +4369919458282 fax +4319458281
mail: soda@soda.at

The LOST Supper & Other TV Casts As The Famous Painting

above: Detail of the LOST Supper, with character John Locke as Jesus

As a huge fan of J.J. Abrams' televsion series LOST as well as having written a previous post on fine art and photographic recreations of Da Vinci's The Last Supper, I couldn't blog about this fast enough.

ABC has released two photos of the LOST cast posing as "The Lost Supper" in which one is supposed to be able to find clues as to the character's fates in the final season.

Below are the two images, please click on them to enlarge:


above: “Lost” stars Zuleikha Robinson (Ilana), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Terry O’Quinn (Locke), Matthew Fox (Jack), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Michael Emerson (Ben), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Ken Leung (Miles) and Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus).

We all know this is not the first television show to pose their cast as Jesus and his disciples in the famous pose, but did you know about all of these?

Robert Altman for MASH:

and another view:


Northern Exposure:


That 70's show:


Gordon Ramsey Top Chef:


House, M.D.:


Battlestar Galactica:


and of course, The Simpsons:


South Park:


... and The Sopranos:


Yes, I know, many a blogger has written about the Last Supper Parodies or cartoons and pop culture paintings. But if you'd like to see a bunch of Last Suppers that are not parodies but instead are homages by famous artists and photographers, like Andy Warhol and David LaChapelle, check these out.

Louis Vuitton & Andre Launch New Site For 2010 Spring Summer Sunglasses

A few months ago I wrote about Gucci's specifically designed micro site for a particular line of their sunglasses.

Well, seems that luxury brand Louis Vuitton has also decided to launch a micro site of their own for sunglasses. The site has been designed for their 2010 Spring Summer collection of sunglasses with music by Koka, photography by ©LV and ©Andre.



Graphic Studio Louis Vuitton enlisted artist/designer/photographer/entrepreneur Andre Saraiva (aka graffiti artist Mr. A) as the photographer for the 'party pics'; a collection of online photos of models/personalities (including one of himself) donning some of the Louis Vuitton sunglasses. To learn more about André, and his collaboration with Belvedere Vodka, go here.

Below are all the models of sunglasses from the collection proceeded by André's photos.


Z0052, Z0075, Z0282:


Z0105, Z0286:


Z2069, Z0255, Z2083:


Z0275, Z0276:


Z0280, Z0281:


Z0288:


Z0291,Z0287:


Z0292,Z0293:



Z0294,Z0295:


Z0296,Z0297:


Z0298,Z0312:


Z0264,Z0299,Z0300:


Z0301,Z0302:

Z0303,Z0304:


LV answers to questions you might have:

WHY DID LOUIS VUITTON CHOOSE TO DEVELOP A SUNGLASSES RANGE AND WHEN?
The sunglasses collection was launched in November 2005 with the opening of the Champs Elysées store after 2 years of design research to ensure both the highest levels of eye protection and the ultimate in design.

WHY ARE THE SUNGLASSES ONLY SOLD IN YOUR STORES?
From creation to distribution, Louis Vuitton supervises the project scrupulously, as with all its other activities, to guarantee the best product presentation and service.

WHAT MATERIALS DO YOU USE TO CREATE YOUR SUNGLASSES COLLECTIONS?
Our sunglasses are made with the best materials available on the market. The collection is mainly made of acetate and metal. Acetate is a luxury material, the only one to come from cotton rather than petroleum. It is silky, warm and unique. We have also introduced new technology involving laser-cut lens frames. The effect is very light sunglasses with a strong identity.

DO YOU HAVE AN IN-HOUSE DESIGN STUDIO AND IF SO, WHERE?
We have a design studio in Morez in the Jura where the team is able to create sunglasses in 3D and precision models.

WHAT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE LENSES USED?
We use the highest quality lenses available on the market. All our lenses offer 100% UV protection. We also have unique LV lenses: LV Landscape and LV RoadscapeTM.

LV Landscape: these exclusive lenses offer excellent eye protection and visual comfort with two special treatments: polarisation and colour enhancement.

LV Roadscape: the LV RoadscapeTM lenses take photochromic technology to a new level.
For maximum comfort, standard photochromic lenses change from light to dark when exposed to direct sunlight (UV rays). This new technology allows the lenses to darken in all types of light. Unlike standard photochromic lenses, they are activated even behind a window or windscreen, blocking out 91% of glare. This makes LV RoadscapeTM lenses particularly suited for driving.

WHO DESIGNS THE SUNGLASSES COLLECTIONS?
As all LV products, the sunglasses collections are designed by Marc Jacobs.

CAN YOU BUY LOUIS VUITTON FRAMES FOR CORRECTIVE LENSES ?
LV's collection is a sunglass collection but the lenses on almost our models can be substituted for corrective ones by an optician.

CAN YOU SPECIALLY ORDER DIFFERENT COLOUR LENSES?
For the moment, this is not possible. In any case, we have a very impressive collection that is sure to satisfy all our LV customers.

DO THE LENSES PROTECT EYES FROM THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF THE SUN?
Of course! All our sunglass lenses are designed to protect the eyes from UV rays and the harmful effects of the sun as much as possible. Our lenses also aim to improve vision through polarisation (LV Landscape and LV RoadscapeTM models) to ensure maximum comfort.

HOW MANY STORES ARE THE COLLECTIONS AVAILABLE IN?
In almost all LV stores (442 stores).

CAN THE WIDTH OF THE SUNGLASSES BE ADJUSTED IN LOUIS VUITTON STORES?
If it is an acetate model, yes. As acetate is a soft material, the sales assistant can adjust the frames to fit the customer’s face.

IS AFTER-SALES SERVICE ONLY AVAILABLE IN LOUIS VUITTON STORES?
Yes. As we only sell our products in store, we only provide after-sales service in our stores where we can be sure to offer our customers the best possible service.

WHAT ARE THE INSPIRATIONS FOR THE 2010 SUMMER COLLECTION?
The inspiration for the 2010 SS collection is a blend of the natural world with myriad amazing details contrasted with the technological world of experimentation and innovation.

The women’s collection develops the Floral monogram world, taking its inspiration from nature with a language of soft, sinuous lines and volumes, appealing to different types of women: from the elegant woman drawn by the sparkle of stones to the sophisticated seductive woman to the cool, trendy woman.

The men’s collection develops the Damier graphic world, taking its inspiration from avant-garde contemporary architecture and appealing to the classic man, the casual, avant-garde man and the extravagant, egocentric man. This collection is packed with technological content with 3D hinges, original arm end details and pure lines. Colours range from black to honey tortoiseshell to lilac to multicoloured, which is where the “Rainbow“ name for the collection came from.




To learn about the Gucci sunglasses site, go here.