Produced in Freiburg, Germany at Waldmeister, this amazing bike was originally a concept built by designer Marcus Wallenberg Meyer. The prototype was so successful, it is now in production in a limited edition. It features a wooden frame, with fork and wheels of carbon, and truvativ crank, stem, and handlebars.
Looking for a light with and Stealth aircraft quality movement, you can’t do much better than the Kinect Chandelier by Bosung Kim. See the video below to see the how the light raises and lowers so elegant.
Designers web site http://www.bosungkim.com/
The next sections on the appliance wish list are refrigeration, and sinks; subjects which will be burned in your recent memory from Xmas Xcess. Did you have enough room for the turkey mayonnaise, gammon dijonnaise and flaming turkey wings (or any other variant of left-overs)? Did you have enough ice for the odd Xmas tipple? Did your oven pans fit into your existing sink?! As with ovens, hoods and hobs, technology abounds to help simplify these tasks: “The appliance of science” to coin a phrase. This said, beware brand recognition through advertising; just because you’ve seen it on telly ad infinitum, does not make it good. Necessarily. A smart idea with any appliances is to have a look how they rate in Which? magazine and ask advice from your friendly kitchen designer. They will have had the phone calls when they go awry, and will definitely have an opinion. As a general rule of thumb with appliances, thinking German won’t steer you far wrong…
5. Refrigeration
As with ovens, we can split these beasties into two distinct camps; the more traditional and the more modern. Traditionally we used to dry store goods in the pantry, but as technology developed, the free-standing fridge was born. These are generally not good-looking products, although a large American style unashamedly industrial stainless steel piece or a curvy fashionable thing may offer some resistance to this trend. These come in a variety of sizes, but if you wish to go for the American style side-by-side version, their footprint can be 92cm wide, (91.44cm or 36”) and up to 70cm in depth. This will stand forward of most worktop lines. Also of note is that they have both slim fridges & freezers, but the depth can make finding food an exercise in shelf shuffling to get to the back. Often these are left free-standing at the periphery of the kitchen, and generally are accepted as technology and immune from the rest of the country style design, if placed in a traditional setting. They can be better housed in a ‘goalpost’ design with technical tall storage units either side (as above: note worktop depth) but you need a lot of space. Especially with some garish technological additions like TV screens, touch screen monitors, external ice-makers and so on, I’m not 100% sold on their use in a traditional kitchen design. They generally tend to break up the form of furniture lines and only really work in ‘anti-design’, unfitted kitchen scenarios. But that’s an entirely new blog in itself…
The integrated fridge however, can sit in both a traditional and modern designed kitchen, as they hide behind cabinet doors; although they do have two main drawbacks. They are more costly, pound for pound, than their free-standing counterparts and they offer less storage space, on the whole. But as with the ovens, you can collect a variety of different widths, mostly 60 & 90cm, and thanks to some forward thinking, with a variety of different uses. I have to say that the Gaggenau range (above) is second to none here, as you can integrate some useful configurations accounting for the side-by-side depth issue by offering a full 90cm width fridge & freezer below. You can also have a separate freezer (with external ice maker) & fridge, a separate wine cooler (including humidor for your Cuban cigars) and mix & match combinations. A less expensive option for large capacity built-in is to use the Kuppersbusch version of the old Rex or Electrolux 90cm four-door fridge freezer, but sadly it comes without an ice-maker. Or just install standard 60cm integrated larder fridge and freezer side-by-side, although this eats up dry storage space. And if you are desperate for an ice-maker, these are available in fully integrated standard configurations, from Miele and Liebherr to name two.
6. Sinks
Sink configurations can be overwhelming, as the choice is huge. They come in these main configurations:
Onset- These are either complete in their own worktop, to be slotted directly onto the base units & replacing the worktop itself in the sink area, or Belfast style (as above)
Inset- The standard sink generally used that drops into the worktop, although the Uragano from Foster above is a tad oversized. There is a new breed of minimal profile insets as well, that are almost flush mount, but without the extra cost of recessing the worktop
Flush mounted- Basically the same as inset but with a clean edge to be dropped into a recessed worktop. Generally only for stone & composite worktops, although Lechner do a version in laminate tops and Spekva produce them in wooden worktops (limited choice of bowl though)
Undermount sinks- As the name suggests, these are fixed to the underside of the worktop.
Enclosed, concealed or hidden sinks- Again, a relative new comer into the market inspired by some innovative kitchen designers and kitchen suppliers. Now available from Blanco (as above) these are very cute additions to any sleek kitchen design short on preparation areas.
Essentially the starting point for sink choice is the worktop, as this may eliminate the undermounts and flush mounts straight away. As the most durable tops are stone or composites, the most popular choice is under or flush mount and will be complimented by choice of hob (as in Part 1). The finish that is opted for is generally stainless steel, as this will compliment the mixer tap & your kitchen appliances if you prefer the more industrial look and also give you a lot more choice in sizes. All materials will be subject to limescale damage, even the white composite or ceramic sinks. If you are worried about this, planning and installing a water softener will be appreciated by your sink (through hot water only), dishwasher, washing machine, boiler, hair and skin. In fact, if you are an eczema sufferer this is not a question of if you should install a water softener, but when. This cannot be recommended strongly enough, machines and skin last longer!
Hopefully you are now armed with a better idea of not only what is available out there, but how your appliance wish list is integral to your kitchen design. Should you have any queries or are after further details of any of the suppliers mentioned, feel free to drop us a comment or tweet myself @interiorporn or @morphinterior and we’ll be glad to help. Next week: mixer taps, hot water taps, waste disposal, waste sorters and dishwashers…
Eindhoven-based designers Vincent Wittenberg and Guy Königstein have developed a series of
alternative street furniture for urban spaces. For their project entitled ‘streeeeeet’, the duo observed the habits of residents’ and there use of private chairs in public spaces. Although the arcades in front of the shops might be publicly used within the street, the area officially belongs
to the shops. Every morning the shop keepers place a chair in front of their stores and use it throughout the day.
Wittenberg and Königstein have proposed to the local council to replace existing public benches with an option that consists of individual seats. Working on a system similar to that of paying to use a shopping trolley at the supermarket, here, the bench itself is a docking station. Using a five shekel coin, one can release a seat and place it in a different spot. The deposit is returned when one brings the seat back.
One thing we really passionate for here at Morph is reinvention.
Ron Arad has again created this incredibly unique design with a fresh approach to an established form. The luxury bath shower rotating unit.
Arad worked with Italian bathroom design brand Teuco to bring the concept to life, at this stage it’s still a prototype but Arad is confident that with Teuco’s production expertise his bath dream will soon be a reality in our own homes. We want one now. (via Sept issue of Wallpaper magazine)
