Shadow Art

Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita (1968) is known for creating realistic imagery from invisible sources. Her shadow art has earned Yamashita international recognition with works appearing in such venues as Seattle Art Museum, Boise Art Museum, Yerba Buena Centre, San Francisco, the Esplanade in Singapore, Hillside Gallery in Tokyo and the Kent Gallery in New York. The pieces are comprised of ordinary everyday things and a single light source, which brings these objects to life. Alphabets and building blocks, scattered across the wall, become realistic human figures, coloured resin plates give shape to facial silhouettes, and credit card imprints create portraits.

Kumi Yamashita will be having solo exhibitions at the Sato Museum, Tokyo and the Dillon Gallery, New York in 2012.

Composition Light

Composition Light is a project recently completed by Canadian born designer Miya Kondo. The collection is comprised of a series of light sculptures that vary in size and colour. Used in combination, the objects can create different effects. Depending on the position of the elements and their relation to each other, the quality of light is modified and the ambiance of the space altered.

The installation of the Composition Light project recently took place during the Dutch Design Week 2011.

Mini Ceramic Fan Heater

Japanese design studio Plus Minus Zero (±0) who produce household electrical goods and household items, released their latest product – the Mini Ceramic Fan Heater. Compared with their original ceramic fan heater, however the mini version is of course smaller, thinner (H210 x W105 x D148mm), lighter (1.2kg) and less expensive.

Tina Frey

Tina Frey is San Francisco-based designer creating modern designs in resin. Besides jewellery, her collection also includes everyday objects. The pieces in the collection are hand sculpted and when the clay design is completed, hand-made molds are created for each object. The molds are used to cast each item individually by hand in small batches by color. After the pieces are cast and removed from the mold, they are hand sanded.

Animali Domesticki

French designer Jean-Sébastien Poncet and ÉSÉ present a series of abstracted wooden animals based on an extremely simple and minimal concept. Pieces of wood, cut in simple geometries, are put together in order to create archetypal animal forms, a doe, cow, bull, rabbit or a stag.

The resulting objects recall the impromptu toys of our childhood, when a few pieces of wood and a lot of imagination resulted in endless creative play-time and improvising narratives.

The Animali Domesticki series form a home accessory or children’s toy. Jean-Sébastien Poncet also decided to scale up one of the series elements to transform the original piece into a sculpture.

Ballpoint

Minimalux of London is a design brand, who produce modern collections of desk accessories. Minimalux’s latest creation is the simple Ballpoint – a variant of the common, disposable ballpoint pen, made from a single fluid sleeve of lasting solid brass.

The pen is not plated or lacquered, which allows its surface finish to change with use and age becoming uniquely personal. The ergonomic design pays careful consideration to weight and balance to deliver a smooth and fluid line with very little applied pressure.

Photography by Peer Lindgreen

Sculpting Sound

The Swiss artist Zimoun is currently exhibiting his latest installation at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida (USA), which runs until January 08 2012. Zimoun builds architecturally-minded platforms of sound using simple and functional components, which result in unique soundscapes.

The Sculpting Sound installation, curated by Matthew McLendon is an example of structural simplicity in an industrial-like setting, which reveals an intricate relationship between the artificial and the organic. Zimoun’s creations often use multiples of the same prepared mechanical elements to examine the creation and degeneration of patterns.

bs 50 Tribute

To mark the occasion of its 60th birthday, the well known speaker manufacturer Elipson is honoring the landmark models that have shaped its history. The first speaker to gain fame was the famous bs 50, an acronym for its full name Staff Ball, 50 cm diameter.

Designed in 1953, the bs 50 was created for the first sound and lightshows at the Château de Chambord in France. Its ear allowed for precise sound diffusion.

Hoop

Hoop is a pendant lamp recently designed by the Belgian lighting manufacturer toosB.

I think they have designed a smart and simple product using a flexible LED strip, which hides inside the steel ring. The result offers a great softness through the indirect light created, dispersed by the surface.

It is finished in a matte white paint, can be equipped using RGB full-color LED’s and available in 16W, 45W and 90W.

Libratone Lounge

Copenhagen based audio company Libratone have simply one purpose – to liberate sound. Libratone adopt three factors in their single sound source development approach – wireless technology, hi-fi quality and Scandinavian design. Their aim is to deliver a minimal alternative to the typical cluttered sound system without compromising the audio experience.

This approach resulted in the design of the Libratone Lounge. A sound system, which allows one to stream audio wirelessly from an iPhone or iPod through AirPlay.