Right now I’m swooning over this Swoon chair. I especially have an eye for that velvet one.
Category: Design
Beautiful Restaurant Design
It’s becoming one of the functional rules of the itinerant restaurant-goer’s life that, on arriving in a new town, one should immediately check out the old meat market. Unfortunately I’m not currently planning a trip to Copenhagen but if I was, I would definitely be dining in this restaurant, Kul.
The Copenhagen market is called Kødbyen (it translates, pleasingly, as Meatsville) and is a small architectural jewel. Though it’s become a hip “quarter” for bars, restaurants and an excellent craft beer scene, the governing authority has ensured that nothing can be insensitively modernized and that some of the traditional trades still take place. Tonight, a grazing herd of hipsters will be slinging hogs on to hooks. If you, too, are a fan of seared meat, niche ales and interwar Danish modernism, Meatsville might just be your personal nirvana. With its moody charcoal blue grays and minimalist design this place is simply beautiful!
Beautiful Design Stories
It all started with my love for graphic design.
In my career I started out as a graphic designer then became a marketing manager. However I having always done my own interiors (and for others) and fell passionately in love with architecture as my interests matured and boredom set in. This has led me to a career in interior design which I’ve come to love because it allows me to combine all my interests; architecture, graphic design, photography, furniture design, and marketing into one nice compatible family. Everyone tells me to make a niche but how can I give up one area of design for another? It’s like choosing one child over another, impossible. Combined with an interest in psychology and always curious about why we do what we do, I feel so fortunate to wake up every morning and have something to look forward to.
Which leads me to this fabulous article about other designers who transformed their careers. Enjoy your career and be especially thankful if it’s a creative one!
Beautiful Branding+Design
I adore this branding and interior design by Biasol in Austrailia for Kitty Burns based on a historic story. The concept of Kitty Burns is a tale of two sisters in Australia. The playful character and rich history of the Skipping Girl, nicknamed “Little Audrey” and also known as the “Vinegar Girl” create the concept and title of Kitty Burns. The original Skipping Girl was modeled on 5 year old Kitty Minogue in 1915 when her brother sketched her in a winning competition entry for the vinegar company. An updated version of the skipping girl was recreated a short time later where in fact the elder sister of Kitty Minogue, Alma Burns was used to create the current Skipping Girl seen today.
Kitty Burns was born out of tying their two names together to create a fictional character – reminiscent of the rich history of the area that reflects the serene, quiet yet playful nook where the spirited sisters liked to skip. Kitty Burns is conveyed as a home away from home for the residents of an apartment complex. A pitched roof design was introduced and incorporated into all elements of the project. The home concept was also carried through into the brand identity inspired by The Skipping Girl story creating a dual personality for the brand. The contrasting elements of the Kitty Burns personality are creatively woven into every design element- Kitty’s fun loving, playful personality, juxtaposed with Burns’ more serious and structured side.
The legacy of the two little girls that loved to skip can now be remembered through the name Kitty Burns.
Beautiful Pop-Up Coffee Shop
There are few things more important to us first thing in the morning than a morning espresso. It’s often the deciding factor in our daily disposition. Can’t think of a better place to get it than from this beautiful little pop-up cafe in Auckland.
Creatista Café is the brainchild of Nespresso. The space boasts Scandinavian-esque interior, there’s a sofa, lounge chairs and even a dining room table. It’s like sitting in your living room. Beautiful design, branding and product.
Photography by Helen Bankers
Beautiful Design History
Came across this entertaining Design History website, where has it been all my life. Love it, can’t enough of it. It’s like falling through the proverbial rabbit hole and getting happily stuck there.
Beautiful Hotel Interiors
Located in the heart of Venice Beach, California, The Parachute Hotel offers a new, one of kind destination. Dreamed up by local home essentials brand Parachute, it was designed by Scott Horne and Peter Dolkas, and has been stylishly curated with a cool California vibe.
Parachute bedding—a retailer of high-quality sheets evangelized by fashion and lifestyle bloggers—has transformed the loft above its Venice Beach store into a single 2,200 SF hotel room that functions more like an Airbnb. It has beautiful raw materials – wood and jute with a neutral, milky color palette inspired by the beach.
Catering for events, parties and private stays, Parachute features beautiful homewares, warm touches of rattan and statement artwork throughout, the hotel also has a ‘shoppable’ concept, meaning everything is available to buy.
Beautiful Art Walls
Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out how to hang art. Here is a great resource Artfully Walls. This company makes it so much easier! You can browse through pre-curated gallery walls based on theme, room or even designer picks. You can see everything in scale, buy all the items (framed!) or just some, edit the layout and even download a pdf of how to hang it (including recommended spacing).
You can also arrange your own wall with their Workspace Wall Designer feature which is so much fun to play with! If you really want to make sure the print or prints you want will look right in your space you can download their app and a picture of your blank wall and arrange the pieces virtually!
Beautiful Design
This beautiful living room by British designer Rose Uniacke is gorgeous. A talent designer with a discerning eye for detail. It’s rustic but clean mixing antiques and modern color into one fabulously chic result. Love the green and gray.
Beautiful Scandinavian Design
I am so enamored by this this classic Scandinavian apartment belonging to designer Hanne Bloch featured on Bo Bedre. The mix of mid century furniture, rustic materials and design simplicity blends so beautifully together. The Serge Moille lighting fixtures, the classic white tufted mid-century modern lounger, the Eames dining chairs — all of it works perfectly together. And the dark stained hardwood floors work sets everything off perfectly!
Beautiful Interior Architecture
Indigo Slam, designed by Smart Studio, was completed earlier this year and observing this extraordinary sculptural concrete building from the outside is evidence enough that something very special lies within. There are simply no words to describe the impact of this extraordinary house. There is a distinct calming sense that happens here as if entering a luxury spa, whereby you are instantly transported into a different world. The space compresses as a low and narrow corridor, before suddenly opening into a spectacular stair hall. Let’s just say it’s epicness of the central void – the soaring ceiling, the majestic staircase, the sheer scale of… well, everything really, balanced so beautifully with a highly restrained approach to materials and detailing with a monastic quality.
Taking it’s name from a crime novel, Indigo Slam transforms a former Simona warehouse site in Chippendale into an inspiring residence for Australia’s most prominent art collector and philanthropist, Judith Neilson. The Client’s brief called for something extraordinary – a piece of sculpture to be lived in. The team established a unique language of cutting, folding and stitching together for designing the building skin – something once flat becomes three dimensional and something once blank creates and enfolds space. This language is carried throughout each aspect of the design – from the concrete facades, to how the marble in the kitchen is sculpted and shaped, light switch or tap installed, to the planes and curves of the vaulted ceilings. The sculpted concrete facades of Indigo Slam are alive to the changes brought by light, shade, sun and cloud, providing the new urban park across the road with a lively backdrop to public life. The serene living spaces and monumental halls within create a dynamic spatial interplay of spare interiors in which the main decorative element is light.
The brief was for Indigo Slam to last 100 years. Materials are selected to wear and endure, with each fitting designed or selected to continue the language of overall design concept, occasionally adding a small element of surprise to the finely grained interior.
P.S. If you are so inclined, you can read a fantastic article titled ‘Designed From The Inside Out’: a conversation between William Smart and Heidi Dokulil, giving further insight into this fascinating project.
Images and drawings courtesy of Smart Design Studio and INSIDE World Festival of Interiors 2016. Photography by Sharrin Rees
Source: http://www.yellowtrace.com.au/indigo-slam-smart-design-studio/
Beautiful Musings 