LOCAL LADS PICK UP A LOERIE

Congrats to my mates Kevin Parry and Greg Davies of In the Beginning for their first ever Loerie Award. This is truly a great achievement considering they've only been on the scene for a short while, and were the only Durban agency to win this year. They picked up a silver for their work for Ardmore in the design mixed media campaign category. The agency was briefed on translating the renowned ceramic pieces of Ardmore Ceramics into a range of mediums, including silk scarves, fabric design, furniture design ( couch and ottoman), as well as tableware. The couch in particular was nominated for the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award, and has been featured in Visi Magazine and the Sunday Times, and travelled to Milan for the Talking Textile exhibition. See more of their work here. So proud!

GREENPOINTWORKS ACAPULCO CHAIRS

Inspired by the beach town of the same name, there's something distinctly African in these handmade Acapulco chairs from Brooklyn, New York based company Greenpointworks. Featured above is the indoor only chair with leather cording which is available in a range of natural colours and below that is its vinyl cording sister. A redesign of a chair prolific to Mexico, these chairs use locally sourced American-made materials.

BRUNNO JAHARA

Browsing through a recent issue of Wallpaper I found these pieces of furniture that function as both tables and storage units. Made from scraps of wood found in Brazil's favelas each piece is named after a shanty town in Rio. See brunnojahara.com for more.

DEMAKERSVAN

It's been quite some time since my last post (today has been one month exactly) and this is my attempt in spite of current demands to get back to regular posting.

Translated as "themakersof", Dutch trio Demakersvan is comprised of brothers Jeroen and Joep Verhoeven and Judith de Graauw. With a highly enviable and crazily fast rise to stardom in their related field, the group seem to have miraculously maintained a humble attitude regarding their new found fame, and all this at 29 years old and straight out of college. Read more here on Behind the Scene.

JACK CROSSING

Netdiver, an online design/sub-culture mag, released their 1oo best finds for 2007 a while back. This list includes work by Jack Crossing, who produced this bench-cum-bookshelf piece featured above.

BIANCA AND FAMILY

Bianca and Family stock an amazing selection of furniture and decorative objects for children. They have an awesome range of chairs which have been sorted into three categories, restored, vintage and nowadays.

I found this site via new and fantastic blog discovery about some things.

SIT AND BREATHE

It's good to be back online. Really need to get hooked up at home. So the year begins and we all have our goals, hopes and dreams. Travel more, stress less, make more time for those we care about but rarely see. Well one of mine is too spend more time sitting and just taking it all in. My life, my blessings and the things that are calling me but I've felt incapable of stepping in to.

So it's only fitting to post something relevant as the first post of the new year. I discovered these fibreglass ( fully stable ) chairs in a magazine, but have since forgotten which one mag it was. Pop on by b9furniture when you get a mo.





On another note I found something new at the local dump the weekend before last. Yes, the local dump. It's proved more thriftworthy ( cheaper and more original finds) then most shops, even if the pieces need a little TLC. So in light of this I plan to do a bit of research and compile a list of thrift/junk and second hand shops in Durban. The list will detail what they stock, value for money, and contact details and addresses, so check back now and again. I hope to have it done by the end of this month.

GNR-GREAT

Gnr8 has to be my site of the month. This site has made me go ooh more times than a overly verbose owl on the longest night of the year. Some of my favourites are the slightly weird Little Joseph porcelain candle holder by Czech Maxim Velkovsky, the very Scandi Scando Table, and the simple with great clean lines Alba alarm clock.

DECADES

Just had to post about this great find via Bloesem. It's a chest of drawers by Swedish design company WIS design. "Decades" is made up of old and used drawers found at fleamarkets. Love the mix of different woods and handles from different eras.

OSBORNE AND LITTLE

I'm not really into fabric and wallpaper but had to post a little about Osborne and Little. Clever little colour combos and patterns abound. I like the patchwork quilty feel and victorian-ish legs of the last one.

CHAIRS FROM VITRA

Amazing chairs and other products from legends the like of Philippe Starck and others at Vitra. Starck is responsible for the BaObab desk (fifth from the top ). Organic and unconventional in design the desk has the functionality of a regular office or home office desk with plenty storage space and little holes for multiple cables. Another favourite, purely for it's originality and general aesthetic has to be the Ravioli chair by Greg Lynn (second from the top ). Lastly and by no means least though Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec's algue screens (second to last and last ) which can be hung as a light screen or a dense screen according to your needs.

THE GREGORY STOOL

Spotted this gem in an issue of Wallpaper ( realised today it's also featured in Issue 50 of Elle Deco ). The brainchild of Gregory Lacouna, this piece simply named gregory, is now part of Ligne Rosset's range. With the simple pull of the button on the centre panel, the panels slip into place transforming the 120cm x 120cm rug into a 75cm x 75cm stool or small table. Marvellous stuff!

NANIMARQUINA

Spain's nanimarquina produce a range of household items with their primary products being rugs and carpets. They do however make damn fine cushions, tables and comfy places to plonk your butt. My favourite rugs are the "flying carpet" and "little field of flowers" featured above.