Tom Dixon has launched a collection of marble sculptures

British designer Tom Dixon has launched a new collection of marble sculptures inspired by his frequent trips to India.

Called Rock, the seven-piece collection is described as a series of “weighty, sculptural and functional artefacts,” and consists of tealight holders, medium and large candle holders, round, long and oblong serving boards and a 2.5 KG dumbbell.

The pieces are made from green marble, to resemble a forest landscape, and each piece boasts a pattern and texture unique to the piece of marble it was carved from, giving each one an individualistic quality.

“Rock is a collection of interactive, playful and stackable sculptures,” says Dixon.

“The design inspiration for Rock was my many trips to India, observing the hand lathe workers of Rajasthan and Agra. I wanted to create simple shapes that could be hand turned on the lathe and constructed like playful children’s building blocks.”

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Ed Carpenter Photo: Nicola Tree

Very Good & Proper (VG&P), a British furniture brand, has curated a new dining collection that combines traditional woodworking techniques with a contemporary aesthetic.

The collection includes pieces from a number of designers, including Ed Carpenter and André Klauser, whose Canteen series consists of a table, chair, bar chair and coat hook, and is described as VG&P’s signature collection.

A reimagination of the post-war British school chair, the Canteen Utility Chair is a lightweight and stackable chair with a simple design that retains the nostalgic feel of the school chair in a versatile and modern colour palette and is available in two versions: upholstered and un-upholstered.

Available in four sizes; regular, large, extra-large and console; the Canteen Table is a versatile table also inspired by post-war British designs and has a number of customisable options including table tops and edge details in a range of finishes.

“Inspired by the classic post-war British school chair, the Canteen Utility Chair is a design classic, specified by the likes of companies such as Google and Facebook for their respective HQs,” says Ed Carpenter, designer and company director at VG&P.

“The Canteen Utility Chair’s simple, light-weight and stackable design retains the look and feel of the original, while simultaneously updating both the aesthetic and production methods.”

Other pieces in VG&P’s new Canteen collection include the Bird collection by Michael Marriott and the Pino Chair by John Tree.

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JOHN POMP

John Pomp Studios, a design practice based in Philadelphia in the US, has expanded its Tidal collection to include five new pieces inspired by the undulations of the tide.

The new additions include the Eclipse Pendant light, a two-tone hand-blown glass pendant that features a moon-like form that emits a soft-glow, due to a concealed light source, reminiscent of a lunar eclipse.

Other pieces include sculptural chandeliers Tidal and Calla, which feature hand-cast sculpted glass crystal pieces and the Calla Pendant, which consists of a crystal scuplture attached to a rigid stem.

The Tidal Console table, consisting of a hand-poured glass table top set on a sculpted, polished base, completes the new line up.

The studio, headed by artist and designer John Pomp, specialises in the artistry of glass making, skills Pomp learned from Murano masters and has honed over the past 25 years.

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The Eclipse Pendant emits a soft glow

Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Helberg

Multidisciplinary design firm Space Popular has created a video installation for the Gwangmyeongmun Gate at the Deoksugung Palace in Seoul, South Korea. Commissioned by the MMCA – National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea – the installation, called the Gate of Bright Lights, forms part of the ‘Architecture and Heritage: Unearthing Future’ exhibit.

It is designed to show visitors how screens and digital interfaces have replaced physical objects - doors, gates, etc - as the gateway between us and the rest of the world.

Located in the central opening of the Gwangmyeongmun Gate, the screen shows a video of a wooden gate that reveals a new scene each time it opens, first opening on a view of the Deoksugung Palace under the rule of the House of Yi, Korea’s royal family before another more ornate door closes on that scene and opens on an internet chat room.

“Every time the doors of the Gate of Bright Lights shut they reveal a different design, and everytime they open a new and stranger space is revealed,” say Space Popular founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg.

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The installation draws paralells between the palace gates and modern devices

Tino Seubert and Theodora Alfredsdottir

London-based designers Tino Seubert and Theodora Alfredsdottir have teamed up to create Corrugation Lights, a lighting collection inspired by mid-century and post-war furniture-making techniques.

The lights consist of a wavy plywood component, reminiscent of corrugated cardboard encasing an aluminum tube holding a single frosted bulb. A modular system, the lights can be used individually as wall sconces or grouped together to create unique lighting structures or combined in a single line to make suspension lighting.

“The collection takes veneer forming as a starting point – a process that requires skilled craftsmanship, which was introduced to the furniture world by design names like Alvar Aalto and the Eameses – and pairs it with off-the-shelf aluminium tubes,” the designers said.

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The designers have created a customisable lighting solution Photos: Fernando Laposse

Jen and Oliver Pelle

Jean and Oliver Pelle, the husband and wife team behind New York-based design studio Pelle, have created the DVN Table, a low table inspired by traditional Japenese carpentry.

Described as an experiment in hand craftsmanship and manufacturing, the DVN Table combines simple materials with sophisticated Japanese joinery techniques that are used to create furniture without using nails or fasteners.

The table consists of three aluminium legs, milled down to a thousandth of an inch to create three curved supports, connected to a round tabletop via concealed tongue-and-groove attachments that create clean lines and give the table the appearance of being a single form.

“The DVN Table has an abstract and minimal expression,” say Jen and Oliver Pelle. “We were interested in developing a language for the DVN Table that creates a sense of wonder and surprise in what otherwise is a simple form.”

“Rather than celebrating connections of material to stay true to a specific constructive logic common to them, we liked the idea of suppressing connections and detailing while using a single monolithic material.”

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The legs are connected to the table via concealed attachments

Tess Launay

Arlon Graphics, a California-based plastic and vinyl manufacturer, has launched a range of architectural graphic vinyl films for use in commercial, retail, retailtainment and residential settings.

Aimed at interior designers looking for innovative and affordable renovation solutions, the architectural range is made up of 10 graphic vinyl films including wall films and window graphics.

The self-adhesive films are designed to be used on both interior and exterior walls, as well as rough and smooth surfaces, and offer “high impact design in a versatile product.”

Tess Launay, marketing manager EMEA for Arlon, says: “Our range gives architects, interior designers and other design experts the opportunity to reimagine interior decor and exterior facades.”

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The films are opaque and flexible and offer clean removability