design

The Brit Insurance Design Awards are called "the Oscars of the design world" and showcase some of the world's most intriguing offerings in seven categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport. Items from the shortlist for this year's Brit Insurance Design Awards are on display in an exhibition at the Design Museum in London and include everything from Swarovski chandeliers to the popular Angry Birds game. Shown above is a new chair design called 'Spun' by Thomas Heatherwick. The overall winner will be chosen on March 15 but the exhibit runs until August.

Raul Melgoza, the Creative Director at Luca Luca whose Fall 2011 Collection will debut at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York next week, is not your run-of-the-mill fashion designer. Not by a long shot.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Melgoza has a resume that would likely impress the suits on Wall Street just as much as the creative types in the fashion industry.

After earning a degree in finance from University of Southern California, Melgoza worked for American Express's financial advisory division before taking a position with the U.S. Treasury. But he has known since he was a young boy that he would one day end up in fashion.

"When I was seven or so, I remember watching an episode of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous with Robin Leach that featured Oscar de la Renta," Melgoza told Luxist. "Being of Latin descent, I immediately felt connected to this man and to this world that I did not know existed."

Later on, while attending business school, Melgoza took a marketing class and became aware that he could converge his interest in art and design and his knowledge of commerce. "That led me to research design schools," he recalls. "I knew that business was just a foundation and that I didn't want to do it for the rest of my life."

Haworth, the world's leading manufacturer of high-end organic office furniture and work spaces, has entered the art and design world with the launch of an innovative, interlocking fabric tile that can be used as a sculptural art installation. Called "Clouds", the tiles add design and color to any space and make an ideal replacement or supplement to more traditional forms of art.

Clouds is the result of a collaboration between Kvadrat (a Danish textile manufacturer) and the French-born Bouroullec brothers---Ronan and Erwan, who are leaders in industrial design. Kvadrat's textiles are used worldwide by renowned architects, designers and furniture manufacturers for upholstery and curtains.

The soft-sided tiles are easy to assemble as they are attached to each other by special rubber bands. They are simple to mount, move, change and maintain and can be rearranged as often as you'd like to bring new ideas into a space. The tiles can be hung from a wall or ceiling, placed on the floor, or attached to railings and stairs, adding color, texture, and warmth, in addition to providing sound insulation.

With an incredible 3,000 photographs and illustrations, Rizzoli's massive new monograph on iconic Italian design house Fornasetti is a work of art in itself. Fornasetti: The Complete Universe details how the firm's founder Piero Fornasetti (1913–1988) achieved fame transforming everyday objects into works of art featuring idiosyncratic designs. His work is carried on today by his son Barnaba Fornasetti, who now runs the Fornasetti atelier and authored the impressive volume. Designed to be an "artist's book" that reflects Fornasetti's iconic overall approach to design, the slipcased $250 monograph is divided into two sections: the first half is dedicated to Piero Fornasetti as an artist and highlights his pictorial and graphic work and their artistic applications; the second half focuses on the 70-plus years of the atelier's production.

This includes furniture, sculptures and etchings, graphics, textiles, glass, screens, trays, ceramics, and more. The second section covers the activity of the atelier up to the present day as well. The book also addresses Barnaba's commitment to keeping the Fornasetti legacy alive by showing how Piero's ideas and models are "transformed, reworked, and contextualized." Today the Fornasetti atelier not only reissues historical pieces, but also "offers reinterpretations of themes and objects drawing inspiration from the vast repertory of the atelier's archive of lithographic plates, designs, notes, documents, and objects." Finally, the beautiful and comprehensive book includes a list of exhibitions and a register of the atelier's complete works.

Louis Vuitton called upon the talents of New York based tattoo artist Scott Campbell work with the famous French brand on their June 2010 runway show in Paris at the start of last summer. That wasn't the first Campbell has worked with Louis Vuitton - but recent news points to the fact that their Spring/Summer 2011 lines will focus on the aesthetic of Mr. Campbell. As a promo to the "lifestyle" behind his designs, Louis Vuitton will be issuing a series of videos that follow Campbell around to various "secret destinations." All part of putting life into the new collection. Will there be a Scott Campbell watch? That would be interesting. Here he is seen wearing one of Louis Vuitton's rare, but quite cool Tambour collection timepieces. You can see more about Louis Vuitton and Scott Campbell's work together here.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.

Wine's journey in the US, from its validation at the Judgment of Paris to its current celebration in film, design, and travel, is charted in a new exhibition, "How Wine Became Modern," at San Francisco's MoMA.

Running through April 17, 2011, the show examines the attendant culture that sprung up around wine, during the past 30 years, as its popularity skyrocketed. This includes everything from wine's influence on art and design, its effect on architecture, and the mainstream acceptance of concepts like provenance and terroir. Viewers are lead through a series of rooms, beginning with a photo-mural of the 1976 Judgment tasting, by New York architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and on through exhibits of soil samples (to explain terroir), wine bottle labels, and glassware. There's also a survey of significant wine-related architecture around with the world, with projects from marquee names like Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava and Herzog & de Meuron.

The culmination of "How Wine Became Modern" is a "smell wall," where seven flasks of actual liquid provide an education in nosing and the shifting culture of wine terminology.

We've covered the work of New York lighting designer Art Donovan a few times before. Now Donovan is taking his work to the high seas, with a new line of yacht-ready lighting, Sage Marine. His company has been working with the Sag Harbor Yacht Yard and Ship's Chandlery to create hand crafted premium cabin lamps for boats and yachts. The lights are made of indestructible marine-grade materials including mahogany, stainless steel, and fiberglass, and have classic clean modern design. Both lamps are priced at $1450 each and are available directly through Sage Marine, subsidiary of Donovan Design, Southampton, NY.

Famed French champagne house G.H. Mumm, founded in 1827 and now owned by Pernod Ricard, has unveiled a chic new gift box in time for the holidays. The limited edition Sabre G.H. Mumm was designed by renowned Paris-based architect / designer Patrick Jouin. He very cleverly re-interpreted the iconic Mumm Cordon Rouge ribbon that adorns the bubbly's label as the handle of a modernistic sword for slicing the top off the bottle. The curled handle is covered in luxurious red hand-stitched leather while the blade is made of stainless steel with a blunt square end. The set, priced at about $850, is presented in a white lacquered wood and leather box with a pull-out drawer specially designed to hold ice and keep a bottle of Cordon Rouge at the ideal temperature for serving – after you perform the ceremony of sabre-ing off the cork.

Abigail Ahern of Atelier Abigail Ahern, has an intriguing sense of style. She manages to bring together classical, playful and maybe a bit absurd together in a way that somehow redeems what might be otherwise cast aside. She unveiled her new lamps at this years' Parisian tradeshow MAISON & OBJET. The lamps are produced in the U.K. and are available for purchase internationally at prices from $190-$440. The dainty little shades perched like fancy hats are sold separately from $65-$78. For more Abigail check our her delightful decor-centric blog.

Retail design website DesignStory has announced an exclusive deal with Finnish designer Eero Aarnio to sell his new Soap Chair, and several established pieces not previously available in the U.S. Aarnio is famous for creating the ubiquitous Ball Chair and the Bubble Chair. Aarnio takes his inspiration from the shapes around him and the Soap Chair, as Remodelista reports, was inspired by a hand-held bar of soap. A niche in the chair arm holds a remote or cell phone. It is being manufactured in the same factory in Finland that has made all of his other products over the past 40 years.

"We are honored to be the first, and only, retailer to offer Eero Aarnio's Soap Chair for its worldwide launch," said Mia Lewin, co-founder and chief executive officer, DesignStory. "Eero Aarnio was the anchor designer for the launch of DesignStory earlier this year, and we are thrilled to be working with him again to bring his new Soap Chair and other iconic products to US consumers."

DesignStory is offering consumers an early chance to win one of ten limited edition signature series chairs signed by the designer. The promotion will run through November 8, 2010. New users to DesignStory visit www.designstory.com and register to enter. Existing members will go to https://www.designstory.com/promo/soapchair. The chair goes on sale on November 9 through DesignStory. The retail value of the chair is $2,500 but DesignStory's limited-time introductory price is $1,850.

There are numerous delights to be found inside the townhouse showcasing the 2010 Kips Bay Decorator Show House on the upper east side of Manhattan. One of the most uplifting, however, is the bubble theme used in two of the rooms designed by Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku of Coffinier Ku Design.

The acclaimed designers, who are based in New York, started with a single photograph by Melvin Sokolsky. Ku had found the image, which had been used in a fashion shoot for Harper's Bazaar in 1963, and was mesmerized by the beauty of a woman who was seemingly floating on the surface of the Seine in front of the Pont Neuf in Paris. The model was photographed while standing inside a large plexiglass bubble in a scene that would seem to be precarious yet it exudes calm and serenity.

The designers decided to use the overscale 50" by 50" archival print they found at the Staley-Wise Gallery and contrast it with a modern piece of art by Norman Mooney. Entitled "Smoke Panel 02", it was made through a process of blowing smoke onto a metal panel, which evokes another world.

Skulls, eyes, bare trees, the latest designs from Graham & Brown wallpaper echo the sombre season. Orange, brown and charcoal gray feature prominently but midnight blue and purple also make their appearance. Designer Amy Butler creates designs inspired by nature and full of vivid color. Legandary fashionista Barbara Hulanicki who founded the retail chain Biba in 1964, creates some of the most intriguing designs including "Antoinette" and "Skulls," a pattern that manages to use the oft-overused skull in a new and understated way. Less understated is the deliciously creepy Witness by Taylor & Wood, shown at right, which sells for $50 a roll.

We couldn't be at the 25th Biennale Des Antiquaires in Paris during September but luckily we had a friend on the scene to tell us all about it. Summer Thornton is the founder of Summer Thornton Design, a Chicago based interior design firm. Under her creative leadership, the firm has created work which has been featured in numerous design publications and websites. Primarily focused on residential and boutique design, clients seek her out for her innate ability to combine elements of contrast - new and old, rough and polished, high and low into a look that feels unpretentious fun and fresh.

Guest Post by Interior Designer Summer Thornton

Put diamonds, antiques, and french architecture in the same building and I'll be there. Actually I was there, in September at the 25th Biennale Des Antiquaires. Talk about an interior designer dying and going to heaven! Set under the beautiful architecture of the Grand Palais in Paris, eighty of the world's top antique galleries and seven of the world's top jewelers showcased their best collections.

With so many gorgeous showrooms, the thing that really stood out was the way in which many pieces were displayed. It seemed to be all about presentation, which varied so much by gallery that entering each gallery was like entering a different little world. The jewelers did an amazing job merchandising. Paris-based Van Cleef and Arpels pulled out all the stops on their showroom to include a fabulous 20,000 leagues under the sea themed room and display cases complete with submarine and a hot air observation balloon.

One of our very favorite spirits, Barbados' Mount Gay Rum is getting a new look courtesy of a Parisian design firm. QSLD Paris was charged with giving the iconic brand a refresher while keeping it firmly rooted in the traditions of the 300-year-old distillery.

QSLD came up with a new oval-shaped bottle, designed to be uncluttered and very comfortable to handle. The company crest is engraved on the bottle face and the label has been redesigned for a cleaner feel, while the rum's signature red cap remains.

QSLD had already re-designed the brand's Extra Old and 1703 Cask Selection bottlings before turning its attention to the classic, known as Eclipse. Founded by Denis Boudard, QSLD has done design work for several luxury brands including Guerlain, Lacoste, Chopard, Oscar de la Renta, Veuve Clicquot and Hennessy.

The new design also contains cues to the rum's nautical heritage. A legend dating from the 1600s relates that in order to prove passage across the Atlantic from Europe to the "New World," sailors were obliged to bring back a barrel of Barbados rum.

As evidence of its "profound and privileged relationship with the sea, with sailors and with ships", every year Mount Gay Rum proudly sponsors over 120 regattas around the globe.

An iconic American company is collaborating with an Italian design powerhouse with a co-branded line of T-shirts, sweatshirts and bags.

To celebrate its upcoming expansion in Italy, The Gap is partnering with 10 Corso Como to launch a limited edition collection in Milan, Italy during Milan Fashion Week. The collection will available at a temporary store on September 22 exclusively at 10 Corso Como.

The Corso Como Gap collection of tees, sweatshirts and bags will feature two themes on styles that are at the heart of The Gap's collections--the tee and the sweatshirt, as well as a series of matching cotton tote bags. One design features Corso Como's signature 'circles' graphic. The second designs features illustrations selected by the store's legendary founder, Carla Sozzani, from the work of American artist Kris Ruhs. The collection will be available in both men's and women's sizes.