Charles & Marie

We all know Arco as a traditional furniture maker from the Netherlands who has been developing well made furniture for decades now. Well Arco’s space at the Design Post makes you wonder whether there is a second Arco out there. Fresh and new designs, wonderful shapes and patterns as well as textures and structures have been used to create some stunning work. More images after the jump.
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Here’s something we really liked and obviously the judges at the furniture fair as well: Naama Steinbock and Idan Friedmann from Reddish won one of the fair’s innovation awards for their table called Yakuza. There’s not much info to be found about those two very talented designers, except that they were featured in Milano05 with other upcoming designers here and we found some background information on them here but we are in contact with them hope to provide you with more info about them soon…

Moroso has moved off the fairground premises and into the brand new design post, which we declare a brilliant move. The magnificent Liberty-style property features permanent exhibitions of some of the most innovative and inspiring furniture/decoration brands in the world: Moooi, Linteloo, Extremis and many others. We grew fond of this Marcel Wanders Print sofa. Bright and quirky, it’s a refreshing departure from the generally muted color scheme on display elsewhere. The interesting part about the overall design is that, even though the print appears to be random, it’s actually arranged purposefully in order to distribute the overall mass of the sofa. In other words, to make it appear smaller. Now that’s smart thinking.

We’ve never heard of Linteloo before, but were amazed by their work. We also enjoy saying the playful company name outloud. The Upsido table set really struck our chic chord. It’s more than a table set, as it swiftly transforms into an elegant shelf, which turns out to be just as beautiful as its table alter ego. These can’t be found in the States yet, but with this kind of creativity, we’re sure Upsido will find a cult following in no time.
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We’re mad about Patricia Urquiola’s work and have to admit that we are especially enamored by her ‘sliding outdoor’ collection for Giandia Blasco. In usual fashion, the pair’s work is only available in simple shades of black or white, but the result is a harmonious display of simplicity and pureness that we can’t get enough of.

It’s been a hectic day for those of us here in Cologne (what a marvelous and chilly city it is!). We haven’t been here for very long and already a few dynamic designs have registered on our radar. The first surprises come from Gudrun Gunnlaugsdottir, whose studio, StudioBility, is located in Iceland. She’s managed to thoroughly amaze us with her incredible displays of woodwork, so we’ve decided to point you to a few of her most decadent pieces. Check out Inner Beauty, a playful, delicate sideboard that we find representative of her unique style. Rocking Beauty also blew us away at first sight, as it has nearly revolutionized rocking chair design (in other words, it has eliminated the “granny” factor). This limited edition chair is so visually stunning and the quality of finish is so impeccable that we barely even winced at the rather extravagant price. Enjoy her site. It’s rife with amazing finds.
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