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Multifunctional office furniture : more and more fashionable

Posted on January 13, 2014 // Leave a Comment

desk-bed

Mira Schroeder desk bed

Mira Schröder desk bed

 

cooler-table

cooler-table

Lack of space, but also an economic crisis that demands frugality and functionality make multifunctional office furniture the trendiest of all. On the right here, a barrel has been transformed into a bar table with cooler.

Above, a desk which is soon a bed.

multifonctional sink

multifonctional sink

Here on the right it is not a office furniture, but the idea is great and convenient. If you’ve ever struggled to fill-up a basin in a narrow a sink, you will immediately understand what I mean.

stairs bookshelf

stairs bookshelf

stairs with bar

stairs with bar

 

 

On the left, a staircase cabinet bar, and right, a staircase library.

Finally, here at the bottom, a beautiful small dining table which quickly turns into a table PC.

PC-Table

PC-Table

Filed Under: Mashups //

Lancia Flavia, December 2013 Yuck Design Award

Posted on January 8, 2014 // Leave a Comment
Lancia Flavia

Lancia Flavia

After only 18 months of its launch, production of the Lancia Flavia convertible was interrupted. Indeed, instead of 2000 Lancia cars intended for sale on the Italian market in 2013, only 225 copies of these convertibles were sold, despite a resounding commercial launch and a price reduction of € 13,000, from 37,900 euro to 24,900 euro. It is a commercial failure all the more bitter that Fiat Group, which owns Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Chrysler, has always had a tradition of success in the design of beautiful cars. Just throw a glance at the Alfa Romeo 4C, below, which FHM Magazine, the best selling fashion magazine of the United Kingdom, named “Car of the Year 2013”. Alfa Romeo

Alfa-Romeo design: the 4C

Alfa-Romeo design: the 4C

So here are the reasons to award Lancia Flavia the Yuck Design:

  1. there are many reasons to admire American cars, but we must also be aware of its capabilities: the Italian design furniture and cars has nothing to envy to the American design, so why try to sell in Europe an American car design?
  2. considering the higher price of gasoline, and minor consumption of diesel cars, why this cabriolet was available only in petrol version ?
  3. why call Lancia a car that looks pretty much as a Chrysler?
Filed Under: Yuck Design Award //

Cookie shaped pillows, a new trend in Italy

Posted on December 27, 2013 // Leave a Comment
cookie shaped pillows

cookie shaped pillows

Now, everybody talks about it, everyone wants one, everyone chooses their favorite, he gives or requests it for gifts, this is one of the latest fashions: this year we talk about cookie shaped pillows, which resemble well the most popular cookies in Italy. A pillow -shaped cookie is soft to rest on one’s office chair, you can put a cookie-pillow at home, to get an even more comfortable sofa, everything is handmade.

The shape of the star cookie is certainly ther easiest to make: in a store we buy a foam pillow, round, and dark brown and cream fabric. First, we put the brown fabric face down on a table, we put above it the pillow and with chalk or a pencil we draw the outline, leaving it an inch taller, we repeat the same procedure twice and we cut to get two pieces of fabric around the same.

At this point, we begin to sew by hand, when half of it is sewn we will return it in the right direction, insert the foam pad and finish sewing. Once the pillow is finished, with fabric cream color, we can create stars of different sizes then apply them with hot glue, and get a pillow that looks like a delicious star cookie (Italian: Pan di Stelle). Yum ?

Filed Under: Design //

Mini office, why it’s increasingly popular

Posted on December 20, 2013 // Leave a Comment

mini office deskThe mini office is a growing trend. There are even wide ranges of small office desks designed for mini offices, as here on the right. Beyond the fact that it is tidy and beautiful, that working in such an intimate space gives a sense of soft and cozy protection, there are other reasons for its popularity:

  1. Telecommuting is becoming more common, hence the need to build a home office in his house, apartment or garden. Mini office offers the benefit of separating workers and potential visitors from the rest of the family.
  2. Computing has made the office a individual workplace, the moments of exchange and meetings are rather held in dedicated rooms. 
    mini officemini office containersmini office deskmini office gardenmini office in the wildmini office podoutdoor mini officewooden mini office
Filed Under: Life at the office //

Christmas greetings from La Mercanti: a slideshow of marvellous design nativity scenes

Posted on December 16, 2013 // Leave a Comment

We want share with you this beautiful slideshow of beautiful design nativity scenes, which are sold on the Internet giving earnings to charities. Read the history of these design nativities here.

mini officemini office containersmini office deskmini office gardenmini office in the wildmini office podoutdoor mini officewooden mini office

Filed Under: Travel //

Carbios, a French start-up will make self-destructing plastic, a bonanza for office furniture?

Posted on December 11, 2013 // Leave a Comment
executive desk

executive desk

Plastic office furniture will be less expensive thanks to a new recycling technology

Of the 25 million tons of plastic waste generated each year in Europe, only 25% are recycled, according to the European Commission. To put an end to this mess, the French start-up of green chemistry Carbios confirms having already identified the first biological catalysts that have the potential to degrade the ten most used plastics in the world, such as polyethylene terephthalate polymers (PET) for bottles. “This toolkit we enrich is the foundation of our future developments and provides the basis for the development of our industrial bioprocesses,” says Jean-Claude Lumaret, Carbios CEO. “We proved that we can make plastics that autodestruct and we can be confident, because the green revolution we promised in this sector is on.”

“This major breakthrough will allow us to enter into pre- industrial phase to improve the recycling of plastic waste, biodegradable polymers to create demand and develop competitive biopolymers, Jean-Claude Lumaret plans. We will have two years to go to industrial pilot.” For now, Carbios enjoys a global exclusive patent held by Valagro and CNRS , two of his partners in this project , which protects the results confirming its ability to integrate enzymes in plastic and control their degradation speed.

What are the consequences of this technological advance in plastic recycling for office furniture? There is a safe bet that the plastic will become cheaper, because it will be easier to recycle. Therefore, designers of office furniture can benefit in a growing extent from such a flexible and malleable material, ideal for their creativity.

Filed Under: Technology //

The November Weird Design Award, the hedgehog coat

Posted on November 27, 2013 // Leave a Comment

I am pleased to introduce the Weird Design Award of the Month : each month, we assign a price to a comically weird design. It does not mention the designer, both because it’s not nice to criticize others for fun, and also since very often the designer himself knows he has designed his funny masterpiece for fun or to generously give others the opportunity to laugh a little.

Here is a picture of the winning November Weird Design Award, the hedgehog coat :

weird design: hedgehog coat

weird design: hedgehog coat

The purpose of this jacket design is to prevent other travelers to crush you when the subway is packed. The Weird Design Award is well deserved : just see the looks of other passengers, it says “weird” on their faces. It’s not an artificial pose in order to win the prestigious  Weird Design Award. A sweat stain on the armpit of the traveler on the right demonstrates that this is a spontaneous picture.

  1. weird: the poor girl looks like a hedgehog
  2. weird: if this trend spreads, travelers will remain entangled in each other when subways are full
  3. weird: we could not even exchange a hug with this girl without being painfully stung
  4. weird: if a person wearing an hedgehog coat bounces into another traveler because of the inevitably shaking subway, he may pierce him

It’s true, however, that this hedgehog coat would be effective to keep off the sex maniacs who take advantage of public transport to abusively touch girls …

Filed Under: Yuck Design Award //

Benefits of having a glass executive desk

Posted on November 25, 2013 // Leave a Comment
design glass desk Rialto

design glass desk Rialto

Whether it be a design desk or an executive-desk, we always have a wide selection of glass desks. Before deciding, it’s better to consider what are the advantages of this material compared to other materials, such as wood or plastic used for design or executive desks.

The glass desk, a statement furniture

Here’s small list of the main benefits of a glass desk :

  1. It sports a stylish, modern and sleek aesthetic
  2. You can choose tinted glasses in different colors
  3. It can be easily cleaned and sanitized
  4. The sun can not tarnish it
  5. Aside from scratches, it fears nothing, unlike a wood and plastic
  6. It’s not porous, is much more hygienic than wood since it cannot shelter bacteria on its surface if cleaned regularly
  7. If your office is in a small room, a glass desk will make it seem much larger because is transparent and allows light to pass
  8. He does not suffer the heat. So, if you put  a cup of hot coffee on your glass executive desk, you will not damage it, as would be the case for a wooden desk
  9. The glass contains no chemicals with harmful exhalations, unlike plastic or wooden desks, especially when new
  10. The glass is fully recyclable.

The cons of a glass desk :

  1. It can be scratched
  2. It can be heavy to move

And you, would you fancy having a glass desk ?

Filed Under: Comfort, Design //