milan

Sleep on Cashmere Sheets in Milan

If you've been pondering springing for the $5800 Manrico cashmere sheets but would like to test them out first, you can head to the Presidential and Royal suites at the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan. The Manrico sheets are also available for purchase at the hotel. The hotel is getting ready for its 80th anniversary and has 48 newly refurbished guest rooms and plans to open a new restaurant, Acanto. Of course given that the Royal suite costs $3,500 and the three-bedroom goes for an astounding $13,000 per night you might just be better off buying the sheets and using them on your own bed (but where would the fun be in that?) The Presidential suite has its own elevator, swimming pool, Turkish bath, sauna, dining room, parlor and corner terrace all on the tenth floor of the hotel and is one of the most fabulous hotel suites in all of Europe.

Source

Tags: cashmere sheets, hotel principe de savoia, manrico, milan

Futuristic Kitchen by Zaha Hadid

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Dining

Zaha Hadid is an architect known for her innovative and deconstructionist designs, which are found throughout the world. During Design Week in Milan, Hadid created a futuristic kitchen setting out of DuPont Corian. The Z-Island kitchen included two main units, one associated with "fire," which housed the cooktop, and one associated with "water," which had the sink and dishrack. In addition to these fairly basic functions, the "sensory- responsive kitchen environment" had multimedia sound and video equipment embedded into the islands, all of which could be controlled with a central touch panel. The modular wall storage featured a coating that gave it "advanced sound and light diffusion capabilities" to enhance the overall experience of being in the room.

Source

Tags: architect, corian, design, design week, future, futuristic, hadid, kitchen, milan, multimedia, sink, stove, zaha hadid

Continue reading “Futuristic Kitchen by Zaha Hadid”

Clay Furniture from Maarten Baas

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Last week in Milan, Dutch designer/artist Maarten Baas debuted an unusual furniture collection made of clay. Not only is it made of clay, but it is hand-sculpted by the designer himself. While the furniture is much more appealing than I would have expected clay furniture to look, there is still the question over whether such a design could appeal to a wide audience, beyond the walls of the exhibition room. Is it comfortable or must it be resigned to the same status as a sculpture and preserved as art for the sake of art?

Source

Tags: artwork, baas, chairs, clay, clay furniture, decor, furniture, hand made, home, maarten Baas, MaartenBaas, milan, sculpted, sculpture

Z Island by DuPont Corian

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Is this the kitchen of the future? Innovative architect Zaha Hadid partnered with Corian and Ernestomeda to create the Z Island by DuPont Corian. The kitchen island, which was shown off at Milan Design week, has two free-standing island units, one for "fire" and one for "water," a modular wall cabinet, a wall covering system with special light and sound diffusion capabilities, and a long work bench. The main island unit can change from a horizontal cooking and eating surface into a vertical digital surface with an LCD screen for TV or computer use and an iPod. The cooking area has a special heating plate and the main island has a touch control panel. The wall treatment has acoustic properties and a customized LEDs that allows the user to change the music and lighting. The kitchen island even has a scent diffusion system that can be programmed to dispense different scents throughout the day. Pictures of the Z island in Milan can be found at designws.com.

Source

Tags: corian, design, dupont, ernestomeda, interior design, kitchen, milan, sink, zaha hadid

Bombay Sapphire Martini Glass Winner

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Spirits

You've probably seen those Bombay Sapphire Gin advertisements that feature unique martini glasses. Check out the winner of their Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition, Global Final 2006 which was announced as part of Milan Design Week. UK-based designers, Tomek Rygalik and Jorre van Ast created this glass called 'Inverted' and won themselves a $15,000 prize. In order to drink from the glass you pick it up by the long stem. Interesting but one too many martinis and I'd be certain to poke myself in the eye with this thing.