Here is a design that hints on its purpose: Knowledge in the Brain, Book Ends. Karim Rashid’s creative mind is a never-ending source of ideas and striking design. In fact, his own head served as the model for these rubber-coated stone-resin book ends – with a greeting from Karim. Sliced in two with the brain showcased in a different colour, so it takes on a life of its own.

Karim Rashid is one of the most prolific designers of his generation. Over 3000 designs in production, over 300 awards and working in over 40 countries attest to Karim’s legend of design.His award winning designs include luxury goods for Christofle, Veuve Clicquot, and Alessi, democratic products for Umbra, Bobble, and 3M, furniture for Bonaldo and Vondom, lighting for Artemide and Fabbian, high tech products for Asus and Samsung, surface design for Marburg and Abet Laminati, brand identity for Citibank and Sony Ericsson and packaging for Method, Paris Baguette, Kenzo and Hugo Boss.

Karim’s touch expands beyond product to interiors such as the Morimoto restaurant, Philadelphia; Semiramis hotel, Athens; nhow hotel, Berlin; Universita Metro Station, Naples as well as exhibition design for Deutsche Bank and Audi. Karim’s work is featured in 20 permanent collections and he exhibits art in galleries world wide. Karim is a perennial winner of the Red Dot award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design award, I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, IDSA Industrial Design Excellence award.

Karim is a frequent guest lecturer at universities and conferences globally disseminating the importance of design in everyday life. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the OCAD, Toronto and Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington. Karim has been featured in magazines and books including Time, Vogue, Esquire, GQ, Wallpaper, and countless more. In his spare time Karim’s pluralism flirts with art, fashion, and music and is determined to creatively touch every aspect of our physical and virtual landscape.

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The Chair One is indeed number one. It boasts an industrial design with elegance to boot. Chair One is constructed just like a football: a number of flat planes assembled at angles to each other, creating the three-dimensional form.

The designer, Konstantin Grcic was trained as a cabinet maker at The John Makepeace School (Dorset, England) before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London. His talent was immense and his creative output is phenomenal. Since setting up his own practice Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID) in Munich in 1991, he has developed furniture, products and lighting for some of the leading companies in the design field. Amongst his renowned clients are Authentics, BD Ediciones, ClassiCon, Flos, Magis, Maharam, Muji, Nespresso, Plank, Serafino Zani, Thomas-Rosenthal and Vitra. Many of his products have received international design awards such as the prestigious Compasso d`Oro for his MAYDAY lamp (Flos) in 2001 and the MYTO chair (Plank) in 2011. Work by Konstantin Grcic forms part of the permanent collections of the world´s most important design museums (a.o. MoMA/New York, Centre Pompidou/Paris).

Most recently Konstantin Grcic has curated a number of significant design exhibitions such as DESIGN-REAL for The Serpentine Gallery, London (2009), COMFORT for the St. Etienne Design Biennale (2010) and BLACK2 for the Istituto Svizzero, Rome (2010). Solo exhibitions of his work have been shown at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam, 2006), Haus der Kunst (Munich, 2006) and The Art Institute of Chicago (2009). The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) appointed Konstantin Grcic “Royal Designer for Industry”, in 2010 he was fellow at Villa Massimo in Rome. Design Miami/ arwarded him the title “2010 Designer of the Year”.

Magis is the brand that has given a novel twist to domestic design, building its identity on incorporating leading edge technology into mass production. Founded in 1976 in the bustling north eastern corner of Italy by a newcomer to the furniture business, Eugenio Perazza, Magis is today a giant international design laboratory that constantly puts itself to the test, seeking technological sophistication and employing a highly diversified workforce. Magis is characterised by the multiplicity of its expressive languages, its search for a deep meaning of the project, and its ethics instead of aesthetics. Magis takes three/four years to turn the idea of a project into a finished product. Magis faces projects, both difficult and complex, taking high risks. Projects are completed as long as they are supported by a high spirit of experimentation and elevated technical cleverness.

Excellent designers, a good design team and an extraordinary supply chain – that’s what Magis is all about.Magis actually exports 80% of its production to 70 countries all over the world. Magis is a company in perfect health because it has good projects to develop as well as good intellectual capital, which is the distinguishing feature of the company.

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If you’re looking for the most elegant and the most soothing, Nathalia is here for you. This product is a combination of functionality and beauty. Perfect for any living room or office room, the Nathalia reclining Chair has a certain flare that personifies luxury. Perfect for moments of relaxation.  Nathalia’s ergonomic recliner chair features: Retractable footrest; Backrest inclination from 90 degree  (seated) to 170 degree (sleeping position); Headrest adjustment; Articulate armrests ; One-leg full 360 degree swivel aluminum base.

Lafer is one of the most traditional furniture companies in Brazil. Over 80 years it has manufactured high quality furniture known for its great comfort, elegance and ergonomics.

Lafer produces different reclining chairs crafted with care and refinement to offer you many years of comfort. The company’s rigorous quality control guarantees first-rate products, made with high quality raw material and perfect finishing. The excellent customer service offers full support for your total satisfaction with your recliner.

On all models, regardless of their shape or style, you will find the amazing Lafer customized comfort. A complete collection of reclining chairs of different models, colors and finishing options, all of them with the exclusive Lafer retractable footrest, and the independent headrest and backrest fine adjustments.

They’re compact: you can put them almost anywhere. All recliners have a compact design. When closed they become an elegant regular chair, when reclined they provide ideal comfort in various different positions. Lafer developed a shophisticated fully adaptable adjustment system that adapts to every person’s needs, and an exclusive invisible retractable footrest system that offers support for the whole body.

The retractable footrest is an exclusive Lafer patented device: Invisible and compact -It remains totally invisible when closed, releasing room in front of the recliner. No need for footstools.

Fully ergonomic – The whole body remains in the correct position for total relaxation when you sit, lie down, work, watch TV or sleep.

Easy to use knob, easily set by a slight touch of your fingertips.

Got height? No problem! The optional footrest extension is integrated to the recliners structure and offers total support for very tall persons’ legs and feet. All in a one-piece furniture that fits anywhere, no need for footstools. As simple as that.

They’re perfectly adjusted for you. Lafer developed a sophisticated and innovative fully adaptable ajustment system controlled by smooth and easy-to-use devices that adapt perfectly to your body: Retractable footrest, ,Headrest angle,The fully adaptable adjustment systems have been developed and enhanced for the past 20 years to provide the best experience of comfort a reclining chair can offer you, whether in an active position, such as talking, reading, watching tv or working with a laptop, or in a position of pure relaxation, rest or sleep.

Give your body a chance to relax. Try a Lafer recliner. Comfort for a lifetime.

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The Big Bang is all about an explosive elegance. Looking like an explosion of bars, the force of light is perfectly portrayed by the branching out design of the exterior.  Big Bang Pendant Light provides an intense, decisive and direct light. The particular arrangement of the surfaces guarantees maximum reflection and at the same time avoids dazzling, whilst offering a different lighting effect from all angles. Suspension lamp comprising a lightweight geometric frame in anodised metal, with blown satin glass elements. Big Bang Suspension Lamp by Foscarini – Irregular and apparently random intersections of spatial planes create a volume around the light source and produce the dynamic character of the exuberant pendant light designed by Enrico Franzolini and Vicente Garcia Jimenez.
Vicente Garcia Jimenez was born in Valencia (Spain) in 1978. Graduated in Industrial Design at the faculty of Castellon de la Plana, he moved towards Barcelona where he collaborated with Santa and Cole. A great need of developing his formal and creative skills brings him in Milan, whence, after brief professional experiences, he moved towards Udine. There he set up his Studio, that collaborates with a lot of companies, developing lighting products, furniture and exhibitions’ settings. Born in Udine in 1952. He studied in Florence and graduated in architecture at the University of Venice. In 1972 he was invited to the 36th Biennale Exhibition of decorative arts in Venice, exhibiting two objects produced by the Livio Seguso glass-manufactory in Murano. In 1978 his first personal exhibition at Plurima Gallery in Udine marked the beginning of his interest in minimal architecture. At the same time however he became interested in architecture and interior and product design. He has worked with several of the most important furniture companies such as Accademia, Alias, Cappellini, Crassevig, Gervasoni, Knoll International, Montina, Moroso and Pallucco.

Big Bang is available in red or white and comes in two sizes.

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Foscarini Tress Stilo Suspension is the latest addition to the Foscarini Tress family designed by Marc Sadler. It is inspired by the seduction of a woman’s tresses. The criss-crossing pattern both reveals and hides, making the observer anticipate the light. This is a grand design made to tease, as the light that it emits playfully touches your living space. Foscarini Tress Stilo is made of composite material on a lacquered fiberglass base, available in three colors – white, black and red. Foscarini Tress is a web of threads and resin that acts at the same time as the structure, decoration and screen, a never before seen interplay of full and empty spaces, light and shadow. The Tress Stilo Pendant Light is perfect for both commercial and residential applications. Complex in design but stylish in approach, the Foscarini Tress would be an excellent decorative piece in any space.

Marc Sadler was born in Innsbruck on December 4, 1946. He is a French citizen and currently lives in Milan. He graduated from the E.N.S.A.D. in Paris in 1968 and he has collaborated with a number of French firms. He has been involved with the sport sector in particular, where the research and development of new materials and production processes is particularly consolidated, and in 1971 he began to work in Italy designing plastic ski boots. A designer, he has worked a long time in the sports sector, where he experimented with new materials and innovative production processes. He also worked successfully in furnishing and consumer products. In 2001 he has won Compasso Di’Oro with Mite and Tite of Foscarini.

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Dress 07 Table Lamp by Foscarini – Lamp with base in stainless steel and lacquered metal. The Dress 07 Table Lamp features blown polished glass diffuser, white in the inside and colored on the outside. It has a dual on-off switch for simultaneous independent use. This lamp has the grace of the feminine curves.

This contemporary table lamp focuses great attention on creativity and taste of innovation, out of the ordinary, and with highest care for details both of design and of functionality. A perfect addition to your home furniture collection, with class and elegance. With its modern look and feel, it can easily complement your existing decor. An ideal decorative lighting for your living room and bedroom.

Defne Koz is an industrial designer who started her career in the sphere of the Domus Academy. She provides consulting for product development and creative support for product strategy innovation in household appliances, electronics, furnishing, urban furnishing, accessories for the home and table, lighting systems, interior design and objects for homes and shops.

Research and innovation, attention to quality in production and services offered, an international focus, maximum flexibility and, above all, a product-centred culture that is the result of good design: these are the elements that characterise Foscarini’s company identity. As a result of these qualities, Foscarini has managed to develop its collection of models with a strong personality, the fruit of coherence between design and production. Its partnership with grand masters and young talents from the international design circuit, with different types of professional experience and creativity, the central nature of the project and the company’s flexibility, have led to original products that are dictated each time by the features of each single design.

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The new series from Next Lighting mimics the elgance of the fluidity of water. The liquid light series is here to reinstall appreciation to the first and basic element of nature: water.

Liquid Light presents light in a fluid form. The different shapes of Liquid Light offer a warm and diffuse light for any space. Illuminated drops float weightlessly in the air, run down a wall, build a soft rain of light or melt out of the ceiling like a viscid fluid. This award-winning series of lamps visually enhances every type of architecture.

The daily necessity of illuminating a room is a challenging task. Next removes light from its shapelessness and dresses it in a design of contemporary standard. The results are luminaires that create an atmosphere and radiate warmth – a perfectly shaped highlight for every room.  Made in Germany.

Constantin Wortmann studied design in Munich, followed by an internship and several freelance design projects for Ingo Maurer. In 1998 he co-founded the design studio Buro Fur Form with Benjamin Hopf. Numerous international awards and exhibitions confirm the success of the studio which focuses on interior design, industrial design, furniture design and lighting design.

In 1999 Constantin Wortmann was introduced to Thomas Schulte in Leipzig and with him to next. But to call his work for next home collection just a freelance design job would be an understatement. Wortmann is part of the team, a member of the next family. Logo, CI, foto shoots, catalogue, trade fair stalls – all are unmistakably Buro Fur Form and definitely Constantin Wortmann. Thomas Schulte is the man who recognised the potential of Hopf and Wortmann and had the courage to work so closely with the young and yet unknown designers. While Benjamin Hopf has been going new ways since 2007, Constantin Wortmann created Alien for next and is once more toying with the viewing habits of his audience. Stay curious about what else he is going to design. We are looking forward with anticipation to what Wortmann is going to present next.

The daily necessity of illuminating a room is a challenging task. Next removes light from its shapelessness and dresses it in a design of contemporary standard. The results are luminaires that create an atmosphere and radiate warmth – a perfectly shaped highlight for every room.

Shop original Next Drop 1 Ceiling Light at http://www.metropolitandecor.com/NEXT-DROP-1-CEILING-LIGHT.html

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Quality design hanging by your doorstep? Here it is. What we know as a doorbell, a square box, does not actually indicate its function. In Bottoms up doorbell nothing is hidden. The sound is created and symbolized by the crystal wineglasses. The guests are announced with a musical toast of this doorbell. Bottoms Up has received the Red Dot Design Award 2007.

Peter van der Jagt works as a freelance designer and for companies such as Authentics, KesselsKramer, Karlsson and Pressentime. He was a design consultant for Invention Promotion from 1996 to 1999. He also teaches at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Arnhem. For his ‘Tile Kitchen’, made in collaboration with Arnout Visser and Erik Jan Kwakkel, he has won several awards including the Red Dot award in 2007.

The core of Droog’s work is its collection of more than 120 products, which were either created by one of its group projects or commissioned from their designers by Bakker and Ramakers. “The criteria are flexible and shaped by developments in product culture and the designers’ own initiatives,” states Droog. “The only constant is that the concept has validity today; that it is worked out along clear-cut, compelling lines; and that product usability is a must. Within this framework literally anything goes.”

Droog was different. It shared the simplicity of minimalism and its careful choice of materials, but deployed humour – albeit a dry or ‘droog’ humour – to strike an emotional bond with the user. Rudy Graumans’ 85 bulb chandelier is an inspired example of lateral thinking in design, but it is impossible not to smile at the verve with which the designer transformed an everyday object like a standard light bulb into a spectacular chandelier. The stack of standard lampshades that Marcel Wanders turned into his Set Up Shades lamp and Tejo Remy’s bundle of battered old dresser drawers elicited the same response. “It is a comment on many things: on plenitude, over-consumption, the pretensions that beset the profession,” said Ramakers of Remy’s piece.

Since 1993, when it was co-founded in Amsterdam by the product designer Gijs Bakker and design historian Renny Ramakers, DROOG has championed the careers of such designers as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, while defining a new approach to design by mixing materials and interacting with the user.

Droog Design did catch on. It was the hit of the 1993 Milan Furniture Fair. The French newspaper Libération suggested that the “unknowns” responsible for Droog should be given a medal for spiritual savoir vivre”. Many of the pieces unveiled in that first Droog exhibition – like Graumans’ 85 Bulbs Chandelier – are now regarded as iconic objects of the early 1990s. And many of the young designers featured in that show, such as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, have since emerged as pivotal figures in contemporary design.

Looking back it is easy to see why Droog made such a splash. By the early 1990s contemporary design had rebelled against the self-parodic cacophony of candy coloured plastics and kitsch motifs of the mid-1980s Memphis movement by adopting a restrained, sometimes overly retentive minimalist aesthetic. As Renny Ramakers put it: “Design became much more sober.”

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Droog Slow Glow Lamp by NEXT architects & Aura Luz Melis light source is immersed in fat. As the heat from the light slowly melts the substance, an intriguing process gradually unravels before your eyes. The light glows brighter and brighter and the lamp becomes warmer and warmer in a comforting way.  Lamping consists of 25W G9 Bulb. Materials include Glass, Vegetable Fat, Cork. Made in the Netherlands

NEXT architects & Aura Luz Melis worked together on the Slow glow lamp for Droog.
NEXT architects is an architecture practice that covers the full spectrum of the architectural field. Since 1999 NEXT has explored the boundaries of its own discipline, and searched for areas that overlap with others. This exploratory attitude has resulted in a highly diverse portfolio that ranges from design products to urban plans.

Since 1993, when it was co-founded n Amsterdam by the product designer Gijs Bakker and design historian Renny Ramakers, DROOG has championed the careers of such designers as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, while defining a new approach to design by mixing materials and interacting with the user. Droog Design did catch on. It was the hit of the 1993 Milan Furniture Fair. The French newspaper Libération suggested that the “unknowns” responsible for Droog should be given a medal for spiritual savoir vivre”. Many of the pieces unveiled in that first Droog exhibition – like Graumans’ 85 Bulbs Chandelier – are now regarded as iconic objects of the early 1990s. And many of the young designers featured in that show, such as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, have since emerged as pivotal figures in contemporary design. Looking back it is easy to see why Droog made such a splash. By the early 1990s contemporary design had rebelled against the self-parodic cacophony of candy coloured plastics and kitsch motifs of the mid-1980s Memphis movement by adopting a restrained, sometimes overly retentive minimalist aesthetic. As Renny Ramakers put it: “Design became much more sober.”

The core of Droog’s work is its collection of more than 120 products, which were either created by one of its group projects or commissioned from their designers by Bakker and Ramakers. “The criteria are flexible and shaped by developments in product culture and the designers’ own initiatives,” states Droog. “The only constant is that the concept has validity today; that it is worked out along clear-cut, compelling lines; and that product usability is a must. Within this framework literally anything goes.” Droog was different. It shared the simplicity of minimalism and its careful choice of materials, but deployed humour – albeit a dry or ‘droog’ humour – to strike an emotional bond with the user. Rudy Graumans’ 85 bulb chandelier is an inspired example of lateral thinking in design, but it is impossible not to smile at the verve with which the designer transformed an everyday object like a standard light bulb into a spectacular chandelier. The stack of standard lampshades that Marcel Wanders turned into his Set Up Shades lamp and Tejo Remy’s bundle of battered old dresser drawers elicited the same response. “It is a comment on many things: on plenitude, over-consumption, the pretensions that beset the profession,” said Ramakers of Remy’s piece.

Shop original Droog Slow Glow. Free shipping within the US.

Whatever that lasts is amazing. The Bestlite series has lasted for more than half a century. Like the BL1 Table Lamp in chrome finish with base and shades in matte black, matte ivory, or glossy white. Height is adjustable from 20-33. This table lamp is wired according to US specifications.

This modern table lamp focuses great attention on creativity and taste of innovation, out of the ordinary, and with highest care for details both of design and of functionality.

One day, back in 1989, Lisbeth and Gubi Olsen were browsing the shops in central Copenhagen when they came across a simple and functional lamp which immediately caught their attention. When they entered the shop, which happened to sell shoes, they were told that the lamp was a Bestlite made by the lighting manufacturer Best & Lloyd in Birmingham, UK.

Shortly afterwards, Gubi and his eldest son Jacob booked a flight to Birmingham, where they had a meeting with Bestlite’s manufacturer. Once, Best & Lloyd was a jewel in the UK manufacturing sector, supplying Buckingham Palace, the Titanic, Downing Street, the Orient Express and other prestigious customers. Now there were only 15 employees left in the old and dilapidated premises, which were once occupied by 1,000 workers. Gone were the boom times when the company had its own shops at exclusive addresses in Paris, Rome, London and New York. The products were now wrapped in newspaper, and it was hard to find evidence on the site of Best & Lloyd’s glorious past. In 1994, the two Best and Gubi families signed an agreement that Gubi would take over the sales rights in Scandinavia.

In 2004, Gubi took over the global production and sales rights, and Bestlite could look forward to a promising new future. Today, Bestlite is sold in the best design shops worldwide, and a noble history has been revived.

Bestlite saw the light of day in Birmingham in 1930. Today, the lamp is regarded as a jewel in the English design tradition.

When Robert Dudley Best launched his Bestlite lamp in 1930, its functionality first made it a hit with the industrial sector. The lamp had its real breakthrough in 1932 with the English architectural community after being described in the prominent architectural magazine Architects’ Journal as the first example in the country of a Bauhaus product.

The British prime minister had his official residence fitted out with Bestlite. This has made Bestlite one of the most famous lamps in the country.

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