Shedding New Light on Soft Architecture

APERTURE

 A crevice or rupture may be perceived as a severe imperfection in need of repair, as jagged edges and unpredictable angles often suggest sudden and undesirable friction.  Flos's 'Wall Rupture' may be the antidote for this notion.  Designer, Thierry Dreyfus instead highlights the "break" with LED lighting luring your attention and drawing you in.

 above | photography by Riaad Algarei

above | Flos "Wall Rupture' commercial installation | Designer: Thierry Dreyfus | Light Source: LED 

above | Flos "Wall Rupture' | Designer: Thierry Dreyfus | Light Source: LED 

above left | Glas Italia 'Trim' Tables

INTERTWINED

In order for living and even non-living things to be effective they must relate to one another and connect.  Ron Gilad has hit the mark with his demonstration of connecting and interrelated elements.  The 'Wall Piercings' from Flos illustrate the interaction and dynamic relationship between architecture, lighting and the latest LED technology.  With individual rings interlacing, these simple forms take on a whole new life.

above | Photomicrography by William Mark

above | Flos 'Wall Piercings' | Designer: Ron Gilad | Light Source: LED

top | Kartell 'Masters' Chair

middle | Living Divani 'Bolle' Table

bottom | Paola Lenti 'Spun' Rug

A SPROUTED CEILING

As a young boy, Marcel Wanders would stare at the ornamental molding on his bedroom ceiling and conjure up ways of creating a magical reality that may only live in dreams.  That magical reality came to fruition cleverly disguised as a lighting concept in collaboration with Flos.  The 'Skygarden' is available as an integrated recessed fixture or a bold suspension lamp.

above | Flos 'Skygarden' Recessed | Designer: Marcel Wanders | Light Source: Halogen

    top | Flos 'Skygarden' Pendant | Designer: Marcel Wanders | Light Source: Halogen

   bottom left | Moroso 'Fergana' Tables

  bottom right | Moroso 'Hello Lovely' Mirror

SOLAR LED ECLIPSE

A solar eclipse is a beautiful and rare occasion, yet it is not advisable to fixate your stare.  The carefully designed   'G-O' from Flos will delicately light your path without distracting your attention or burning your retinas. Suitable for indoor and outdoor applications. 

above | Flos 'G-O' | Designer: Jorge Herrera | Light Source: LED

 

second from top | Living Divani 'Tube' Table

 bottom | Glas Italia 'Round' Tables

                                      

MOONSHINE

The moon is magnetic; a loyal nightly backdrop for our multi-faceted lifestyles and relationships. Flos has struck a cord by introducing the USO Cove.  The soft inset glow of the Cove, applicable to the wall or ceiling, will leave you moonstruck.

above | 'Moonwalk' filmed by Bryan Smith

 Earth's moon can be generously shared by all, but wouldn't you love to have one all to yourself?

 above | 'Private Moon' by Leonid Tishkov and Boris Bendikov

above | Flos USO Cove | Designer: Flos | Light Source: LED

above | Flos USO Cove - commercial application | Designer: Flos | Light Source: LED

above | Flos USO Cove 

above left | Paola Lenti 'Zoe' Rug

above right | Paola Lenti 'Shell' Pouf

ILLUMINATE

With ingenuity, quality materials and low environmental impact Flos has introduced a brand-new approach to lighting our environments.  Flos's soft architecture demonstrates the powerful relationships between innovative technology and architecture with extraordinary possibilities.  Take the plunge and light up your world.  The future is bright.

above | 'Alternative Landscapes' photography series by Benoit Paille

By Nicolyn Alarcon

                      

Eric's Salone 2013 Top 10

Fresh off the plane from Milan, Dzine’s head of furniture Eric Zimmerman shares his impressions on his top 10 picks from the most anticipated design event of the year. 

1. The ‘Mikado’cupboard, one of Front Design’s latest pieces for Porro, has a light wood slat structure that lets you catch a glimpse of what is stored inside. The slanting and staggering of the wood slats gives the cupboard an exotic yet playful feel, adding a little flair to any austere modern interior.

2. The ‘Helen’ lounge by Flexform is simply a beautifully crafted chaise. The seat is made of woven leather braided around Flexform’s trademark sleek nickel-satin frame.  

3. ‘Stelle Filanti’ by Venini comprises of a glass pendant light held in place by a cage-like leather harness. It’s strange beauty makes it more akin to an artwork than a light fixture.

4. Another Front Design design, the ‘Doodle’ sofa for Moroso has an intricate pattern quilted in the leather, giving it a quirky yet luxurious effect.

5. Nendo’s ‘Deep Sea’ shelving for Glasitalia features glass shelves in deeper and deeper gradations of blue, creating the effect of looking down into a large body of water. This piece really captures Nendo’s quintessentially Japanese minimalist beauty. 

6. Modeled on the ‘Quattroporte’ by the famous Italian car manufacturer, the ‘Maserati’ chair by Zanotta breathes comfort and luxury. 

7. ‘Mate’ by A+B for Living Divani is a versatile chair cum ladder cum clothes valet, which could find its place in any interior with its discreet but distinct personality. 

8. ‘Aim’, by the Bouroullec brothers for Flos, is an adjustable pendant light which can be tilted in all different directions. An interesting piece on its own, it looks particularly animated in groups. 

9. A highlight of the fair year after year, Paola Lenti’s presentation of their outdoor furniture collection with a palazzo backdrop is a sight for sore eyes. Their vibrant rope finishes create fields of color in all kinds of comfortable looking variations.

10. The real showstopper of this year’s Milan fair however was undoubtedly the Moooi presentation on via Savona. A juxtaposition of vignettes, each one more lavish than the next, the space was filled with quirky out-of-scale accessories, dripping with gold and delicate pendant lights and adorned with wall-covering photos by Erwin Olaf.

by Claire Toussaint

Paola Lenti - Display at this year's Salone del Mobile

Here is a short video walking you through Paola Lenti's display at this year's Salone del Mobile.  Enjoy!


DZINE store on Vimeo.

Pied-a-terre by day, dance party by night

by Zahid Sardar for the San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco's new Mint Plaza is a symbol of urbanity. It is studded with the Old Mint, a venerable 1870s Greek revival stone building with vestiges of its Gold Rush past, and surrounded by frayed single-room- occupancy buildings, elegant cafes, restaurants and chic, revamped live/work lofts in 16-story buildings. That was exactly what attracted a pair of young men from the Peninsula who live amid suburban homogeneity, although one of them works at Google's hip headquarters, to buy a penthouse pied-a-terre on the plaza.

"They wanted something unique, like a nightclub of their own," says Nicole Hollis, the San Francisco interior designer who helped them find their dream loft in a 1920s 10-story steel-and-concrete building. The 2,000-square-foot loft also has a rooftop garden.

Hollis has known the couple since 2005 when she decorated a smaller flat for them in Mountain View and remembered their penchant for glamour and fashion.

"We had to think of Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Tom Ford rolled into one," she said.

To unify that vision, Hollis coordinated details with project architect Ian Birchall, lighting consultants at Lumatech (who worked on the San Francisco nightclub Ruby Skye) and landscape design firm Living Green. They created a bespoke two-bedroom home that morphs with push-button speed into a full-fledged nightclub replete with a mist machine, disco ball, video projections and surround sound. The owners can fill it almost as quickly with friends who get invited via text messages.

The bare-bones standard condominium was stripped to its steel and concrete shell and Hollis restored a minimum of partitions to form two bathrooms, a private study and guest room. The slope of a ramped L-shape entryway is now barely discernible. Lightweight walk-through aluminum chain-link curtains and see-through glass walls divide the remaining space.

"We needed some surfaces to project images into the middle of the space and chain link was better than wood or steel-beaded curtains for that," Hollis said.

Guests can dance in the living room under strobe lights (hidden above retractable ceiling panels), swill at the backlit bar that has a cascading fountain as its backdrop, or go up Birchall's showy white Corian staircase to the roof garden.

A Boffi kitchen and modern furnishing from Dzine, a crisp steel storage wall that conceals audio/visual equipment and a flat-screen TV add polished counterpoints to raw concrete left exposed in several areas of the loft.

Because the furniture is deliberately low, the party loft seems larger than it is.

When parties swell to larger numbers, revelers can spread upstairs to the roof deck where Hollis has supplied a stainless steel barbecue and more seating alongside Paola Lenti ottomans on an artificial-turf carpet.

Hollis and project designer Edward Ngiam were not allowed to change any part of the historic shell or add or alter windows. During the day the natural colors of concrete, wood, brick and black lacquer cabinetry make this a relaxed setting to enjoy daylight and south- and west-facing views, but at night, as if to compete with showy sunsets, Hollis used a basic trick: colored lights (a la artist James Turrell) that dim and change from blue to red to pink to create the illusion of sunsets within the mostly white space.

"At night," Hollis said, "even the kitchen island seems to change color."