Happy New Year

Holga D

In the old days of analog photography, waiting for results was an integral part of the experience. First you wait until you finished the entire roll of film, and then you had to wait even longer for the film to be developed.

However, this delayed gratification did make seeing your photos for the first time a lot sweeter than it is today.

India-born designer Saikat Biswas tries to bring back some of those qualities with this concept for a digital camera, the Holga D.

Whilst large displays are all the rage nowadays, the Holga D doesn’t have a display at all. Your photographs remain mysterious until you download the images.

Its other functionalities are also kept to an absolute minimum – almost rudimentary. Very few controls, a 2 speed shutter, 2 apertures and a very basic focusing ring – just enough functionality to make it useful.

MIMA House

Inspired by Japanese architecture, these customizable houses are flexible, light and simple. Envisioned by MIMA architects as an answer to quick life changes and demanding nature of today’s real estate market, these projects are affordable and mobile, not to mention – they are designed in part by their owners.

MIMA houses are so light and flexible, they can be redesigned in a matter of minutes via moving the partitions and creating a new layout entirely. You can also add or remove panels to control privacy.

Endémico

Located in Valle de Guadalupe in California, the Endémico Resguardo Silvestre hotel from Mexico’s Habita hotel group, is a set of twenty independent rooms of twenty square meters each.

Designed by architect Jorge Garcia, one of the principal premises was not to interfere directly the land, as part of the philosophy of the project is to respect nature in every possible way.

Minimal steel structure elevates the skeleton of the room, named EcoLoft, to avoid contact with the soil. The employment of corten steel to cover it, which over time changes its color, achieving harmony between the environment and the building.

Roche office building

Projected by Christ + Gantenbein the regional bank of the Swiss canton of Baselland is setting up a new and representative commercial building on the station square in Liestal, a town on the outskirts of Basel. The prominent volume, a contorted ashlar narrowing on the base, receives its shape from the triangular lot of land it is set upon. Towards the station side, the façade is cut out to open up to a generous canopied area. It provides a roof for waiting passengers from the station and for the shoppers on the

ground floor level. A modular façade grid embraces the building’s top floors and traces the volume’s distortion at the bottom. Each façade panel relates to an office axis inside and forms a small oriel. 

Photo: Walter Mair

Chick Lamp

Italian Graphic designer Luca Vagnini, based in Pesaro, is the creator behind Chick Lamp – a simple and portable rectangular light on legs.

The simplistic and modest form of the Chick Lamp allows it to be used as a table lamp due to its size, or as a portable floor lamp, providing a lantern-like effect. Made with oak wood, the lamp has been designed with the option of both black and white lacquered iron rods. The whole structure is fixed by only two small screws located under the wooden box and is best used with low energy bulbs.

L’oiseau

This decorative wooden object was created by French design duo Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra. Called L’oiseau (French for The Bird), the piece is a minimal tribute to the famous Eames House Bird, which is also being produced by Vitra. Inspired by Nordic folk art, L’oiseau is made from solid maple and gently smoothed into a laconic shape.

Season's Greetings

Wood Christmas Tree

Wood Christmas Tree it is a design by the Finnish studio Verso Design, specialised in interior products of personal design and high quality. The design is a example of simple Scandinavian design with the ornaments made in felt and a candle on the top. It has been edited and produced by A+R.

Wish You Were There

Based in Manchester, England, freelance artist, illustrator and designer, Rob Bailey has created this illustrated series of thirty landscape drawings – Wish You Were There. They were originally based on the blank address lines on the reverse of a postcard.

These simple illustrations, measuring 30cm x 50cm, present a reduction of visual elements without compromising the space and shape of the landscapes.