Occasionally whiz-kid designers beat the pros at their own game when it comes to concept cars. At the very least they open up a world of possibilities that the car companies themselves may be too timid to explore. (See our earlier reports on the Audi Shark and the Chanel-mobile, for example). The latest entry comes to us from Iran, where despite all the unrest creativity still flourishes. The razor sharp new Lamborghini concept by Iranian designer Emil Baddal is an angular evolution of the Gallardo. It's bound to please some purists and offend others with sharper angles and lines and an edgier ethos all around, as these things go, but we think the Lambo by Baddal is badass.

After many years of planning, Hotel Missoni Edinburgh is set to open in June, and is now accepting online bookings. The 136-room hotel is a collaboration of Rosita Missoni, one of the brand's founders, and The Rezidor Hotel Group. The hotel's palette is officially described as black and white, with splashes of color throughout, but as you'd expect from Missoni, the overall effect is more exuberant rather than restrained -- it's about layers of patterns and textures, in rich colors and in black and white too.(See lobby photo above.)

If this sounds chaotic, overall, design lines are kept modern and simple, which should balance out the effusive use of pattern and color. Still, I'm not sure I'd want to pack anything other than basic black in my suitcase without the aid of a stylist, lest I clash with the hotel!

In any event, black wardrobe works just fine to attend Edinburgh's Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world which goes off August 7th-31st-- always a late summer highlight. With its central location, Hotel Missoni should make a fine base of operations for the festival, and as of now, still has rooms available.

Next up for the Hotel Missoni brand? A property in Kuwait, slated to open in Fall 2009.

Henrybuilt, the American high-design company known for its sleek, hand crafted lines, has just launched a series of closet designs that will be custom to each client and built to order in the company's Seattle workshop.

Weaving together its trademark modern design with unsurpassed functionality, these "closets" (it seems they should get a new, much fancier name with all the included bells and whistles) feature wooden valet trays, leather-lined storage compartments, hand crafted leather pulls and an integrated lighting system -- so you'll be sure to look as good in whatever's in your closet as the closet itself.

Prices available upon request from Henrybuilt, which has a New York studio in addition to its Seattle shop.

The Red Dot Award is of the more desirable "good design" awards out there. Emphasis is always on form and function. You'll find that most award recipients are often excellent selling products. The award is given by the Design Zentrum Nordheim Westfalen in Germany. This year two Tag Heuer watches received Red Dot Awards, and this is the fifth time in seven years that Tag Heuer watches received such Red Dot Awards for good product designs.

The two watches that received the award are the new Tag Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 36 and the new Tag Heuer Aquaracer 500M with the Calibre 5 movement. The Grand Carrera Calibre 36 is an odd watch with a sound design concept for measuring 1/10 of a second accuracy in its chronograph complication - in a unique manner. The best way to appreciate it is to view the video here. It is a cool concept, but isn't going to be a high volume seller like the Aquaracer 500M.

The new Aquaracer model is very well done - really advancing the concept of a "professional diver watch" for Tag Heuer. You can read more on what I think about the Tag Heuer Aquaracer 500M here. It has an automatic movement, 500 meters of water resistance, and comes in various colors and materials that each have an strong industrial feel to them that is still inline with being a tasteful timepiece. Fair award recipients if you ask me.

Via Europa Star.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

The Muse Hotel in New York City is a true gem. The pretty little boutique hotel is located on West 46th Street, near Times Square and the theater district, and now, even New Yorkers will be frequenting it's chic lobby. Why? They've opened a terrific new restaurant: Nios.

We checked out this swanky new hotspot on opening night - May 13th. Click through the gallery of the opening party for quotes from Puccini Group's Robert Polacek, one of the designers, and Kimpton Group's master sommelier Emily Wines about the decor and the fabulous wine selection.

I've seen a wide variety of rings but none quite as arresting as the dream house rings from Philippe Tournaire. The rings are miniatures of actual buildings rendered in 18-karat gold and platinum rings. The brand which has a boutique in Paris is bringing its creations to the U.S. The Villa de Reve collection of rings may not be the most wearable pieces I've ever seen but who can argue with this level of craft. The brand will also make custom pieces, tiny metal and gemstone versions of private homes for clients. The ring shown above is the Maison Lafitte.

[via National Jeweler]

Watch in awe. That tiara is worth 4.2 million dollars. Average price for a good Maltese? $1,000 - $2,500 (according to Anna's Heavenly Maltese -- a site that astonishes, to say the least). Kanune, age 15, is a lucky dog!

The tiara was created by young Thai jewelry designer Riwin Jirapolsek, who reportedly used jewels from his mother's jewelry collection to make the very special crown. The tiara is made of titanium, and encrusted with 250 carats of emeralds and diamonds.

Jirapolsek told Reuters: "I will make a hair clip next time because my dog has to wear clips everyday otherwise its fur will block its view."

I'm all for loving your dog, but I sure hope his family also threw at least $4.2 million to charity this year.

Riwin Jirapolsek has no plans to sell the tiara, but I bet the dog has.

[via Luxury Launches]

What's an automaker to do when the majority of the earth's surface is covered by water and its clients want to take to the high seas? Design a boat, of course. This is actually BMW's third venture into naval architecture, after its DesignworksUSA studio penned the 60-foot Zeydon Z60 sailing yacht and the Bavaria Deep Blue 46 motoryacht. Now it's back with Bavaria for the German shipyard's new flagship, the Cruiser 55.

Launched this weekend at the Palma boat show in Majorca, Spain, the Cruiser 55 benefits from the latest advances in both automotive design and naval architecture in a sleek 55-foot sailing vessel for those who prefer to take in the salty air with the wind in their hair. After perusing the high-resolution images in the gallery below, we're already imagining leaving a BMW Z4 roadster by the docks and sailing off into the sunset.

Martha O'Hara interiors is a Minnesota-based interior design company which provides uniquely comfortable luxury nationally and internationally. Above you see a New York city penthouse designed by Martha O'Hara Interiors.

Martha O'Hara, founder and owner, has been designing for eighteen years now, and has built strong relationships with builders and manufacturers, as well as her clients. She tailors each project to her client's "personal expression," and the results, whether classical or contemporary, are always alluring and lovely -- Martha O'Hara Interiors is now recognized as a premier design studio in the United States.

The designers know how to pair exquisite elegance with down-home Midwestern sense.

"We hate the idea of being trendy-nobody wants to invest in a design that will look outdated by the time it reaches their home."

See the gallery below for some of Martha O'Hara Interiors' fabulous Traditional, Transitional, and Comtemporary designs, as well as items from their brand new showroom -- "luxury furnishings at sample sale prices" -- in St. Louis Park, MN (just outside of Minneapolis).

Could a former oil rig become a luxury hotel? Houston-based architecture firm, Morris Architects, has conceived a new purpose for old rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, turn them into hotels with beautiful views. The hotel which won a design competition earlier this year, would have a glass lobby floor, rooftop white sand beach and infinity pool and pre-fabricated guest-room modules which would close up during the Gulf's hurricanes.The spaces are organized around a core of water that stabilizes the rig and could also serve as a venue for aquatic shows. The hotel would be powered with wind turbines and solar power. The design also shows a helipad and a docking area for boats.

[via WSJ Environmental Capital]

Designer Eduardo Garza is famed for his trays that feature coral, spiders, snakes and other naturalistic themes. For Vivre he's cooked up something a little different, a trio of lucite trays embellished with rock crystal, amethyst or jet stones around the handles, Vivre is having a spring sale this weekend, these trays usually sell for $585 but are $351 each until Monday night.

Famed French champagne house Veuve Clicquot is known for inspiring a wide variety of interesting accessories to enhance what's already a luxurious quaffing experience. The latest example is merely conceptual but the company should seriously consider producing it in our opinion. French industrial designer Thomas Lemaire came up with the innovative tribute to one of his country's finest products. The Dry Blizzard consists of a high-tech cooler and champagne flutes ensuring the wine is always perfectly chilled.

The super-sleek cooler uses dry ice and a battery-powered fan to circulate cold air around the bottle, dispensing with wet, messy melted ice. The system keeps the champagne at the optimum temperature and also prevents the label from coming unstuck in icy water. The three-part flutes are also designed to keep the Veuve from being warmed by your hand. Double-walled glass insulates the contents, while an aluminum grip for your fingers also keeps unwanted heat at bay.

Moss, New York's store for fashionable and quirky design, has always had a good supply of Fornasetti products. Now Murray Moss has worked with Barnaba, the son of Piero Fornasetti to bring back three silk scarves from the Fornasetti archives. The three designs are ones which were designed and produced in the 1950s. 'Arlecchino' and 'Acrobati' are long thin scarves printed on a silk chiffon and sell for $198 each while 'Times' shown above is printed on a silk twill and sells for $595. The production is described as "very limited." With newspapers disappearing at a rapid rate, the image of wildflowers wrapped up in newsprint seems both very retro and oddly comforting.

Miami-based furniture designer Facundo Poj believes in the freedom of the line. His bamboo designs extend from the idea of continuing a single stroke of a line on a paper. His pieces are made of Plyboo, bamboo-based plywood. He layers the Plyboo with non-toxic glue and threads them with oak dowels to create designs that are solid but soft-edged. All of his pieces are limited editions or unique.

He also makes" re-incarnated" pieces from airplane parts, antique bathtubs and other finds. My favorite is the 727 jet lounge made from two aluminum Boeing 727 emergency exit doors, steel legs and a covering of Argentine cowhide. The cow hide comes from Argentinean "Holando-Argentina" cows, milking cows which are allowed to grow old and live a full life before they are sacrificed. This is, as Facundo Poj puts it "experienced skin." I asked Facundo just how he got his hands on a pair of airplane doors. He says he lives near an airline graveyard in South Florida and established a relationship with the manager and buys some parts before they are recycled. The piece above is at the Avant Gallery in the Miami Design District and sells for $4500. He has also made a long sofa out of the landing flaps from the wing of a large DC-10 jet.

A video of Facundo Poj hard at work is after the jump.

Architect and designer Zaha Hadid has put her curvilinear aesthetic sense to creating a tap for British manufacturer Triflow, a brand which has created a three-way tap. The Hadid tap brings spout, body and handle into one flowing shape. It channels filtered water through a separate waterway keeping it separate from the hot and cold water streams which are controlled by the tap handle. The filtered water is turned on with a electronic button.

[via Dezeen]