New Zealand's Definitive Design Destination

Established in 1999 by Aucklander's Gary Willis and Sue Haldane, The Boiler Room specializes in restoring and re-working objects. Playing on the pieces industrial past, the duo give new life to furniture and objects that have formed part of our country's industrial heritage. With an large collection of new and interesting pieces recently completed, The Boiler Room is hosting an exhibition, details of which are as follows:

The Boiler Room Exhibition
November 30 – December 24
Shed 8, 90 Wellesley Street, Auckland
10am – 6pm. Open 7 days.

Sculptor Nick Van Woert uses equal parts of humour and talent in creating his unconventional busts. His use of mixed and colourful materials adds an almost macabre by generally humourous touch to the otherwise traditional art of sculpting busts.

French designer Cecile Planchais has designed the Icila Chair. Made from a single sheet of steel which is cut and folded without welds, it is inspired by the Japanese art of origami. Made from 8mm steel - the profile is thin and delicate.

Visual artist Claire Morgan, born in Belfast and now based in London, creates these stunning sculptures. Working predominantly with natural and organic materials, there is often a theme of birds throughout her work. We like the movement in her work, there is a suggestion that it's fluid, and ever changing.

She is now working on a selection of fixed and temporary commissions for public spaces.

Nendo has created a wireless speaker system encased in a birdcage to allow you to listen to music from a computer or bluetooth mobile phone. The Music Cage, as it's called, can be plugged into a wall socket or hung from the ceiling. It might also produce a nicer sound than your average indoor bird.

For more information go here.

Edra is making a special edition of the Campana brothers Vermelha Chair. Taking four days to produce (with only one person in the factory able to weave it), the chair uses 500 metres of natural and acrylic cotton rope. It is one time-consuming chair. And, this edition in the colours of the Italian flag is suitably named - Italian Pride.

Edra is available locally from here.

Pierced by a soldering iron, these disposable plastic spoons become perforated petals in a lampshade by Japanese designer Daisuke Hiraiwa. The holes in the spoon allow diffused light to filter through - which in turn creates soft lighting. It's another good example of how ordinary objects can be used differently.

'Muscle' 2009

'Y'

French designer Alexandre Moronnoz has introduced a new piece to his expanding urban furniture collection. Made from steel and named 'Muscle', he wanted it to resemble the tendons of a muscle - each metal blade compressing and stretching to be as dynamic as live movement. 'Muscle' joins his other works 'Y' and 'Intereferences' as design alternatives to standard commerical seating.

Any typeface made from chairs is going to catch our attention - but American graphic designer Andrew Byrom holds it when he experiments with letterforms made from a variety of other objects including letter boxes and venetian blinds - all of which, are equally as impressive.

Swedish design studio Front has developed a method to materialise free hand sketches. Each pen stroke is recorded in the air with Motion Capture and converted into 3D digital files. After which, the sketches can be materialised through rapid protoyping into real pieces of furniture. 

To see more of their work go here.

We've seen raindeer, bells and holly, but typically grenades don't feature as our preferred choice for christmas tree decorations. That is until Manchester design team Dorothy designed this decoration for British design brand Suck UK. The designers wanted to remind us of the suffering in war torn countries during the festive season.

To see more of their work go here. 

French designer Emmanuel Babled has released the Sunshare Chair. A chair of contrasting movement and fluidity of form, made of carrara marble. The chair's shape was created with the use of innovative computer programs.

I was last week reminded of this fantastic home by architect John Lautner, while watching a re-run of film  The Big Lebowski. The home has become somewhat of an icon of Hollywood cool, having featured in other films such as Charlies Angels. The house is also one of the best examples of Lautner's work; he designed not only the house, but the interiors, windows, lighting, rugs, furniture, and operable features. The house is extensively detailed and you can see the range of the architect’s work through the different stages of the re-mastering. All of the furnishings enhance the house and are completely related so that the aesthetic of the forms is a function of the whole. Originally built in 1963 the house fell into disrepair until new owner James Goldstein purchased it in the 1972 and engaged Lautner to re-invigorate its appearance by undertaking a series of remodelings that took place over two decades. James Goldstein still owns the house today, and continues with constant upkeep to maintain the architects vision.

Inspired by the work of Charles & Ray Eames, design company Klein Reid have created these spinning tops for the Herman Miller Select series. Select is a once a year limited edition release of an item that stands out for its originality and authenticity. The Spinning Tops are inspired by Charles & Ray Eames philosophy of 'serious pleasure' and their 1969 film "Tops". "Toy's are not really as innocent as they look. Toys and games are preludes to serious ideas"  - Charles Eames. The Spinning Tops are made from solid walnut and are available as a set of three for a limited time only.

Herman Miller is available locally here.

Launched earlier this year at Milan the Tatì Lamp is the perfect mix of Deco and Modern styles, the sharp lines of its exterior shape are softened by the lamps internal folded fabric finish.

Kartell is available locally here.