Posted on

New Lighting trends

As the night’s are drawing in, it seems a perfect time to focus on the work of some innovative lighting designers.

I was able to take a personal look at some of their work, and trends to look out for, at the ICFF contemporary design showcase event earlier this year.

This combination of walnut sits well with the unique excavation technique employed by New York based In.Sek. Designer Ashira Isreal adds quartz crystal to specially blended concrete, creating a torn window effect for the shade, which in turn casts a sprialing light and soft glow across any space.

In Sek Design, New York, Excavation Dune Pendant
In.Sek Design, New York, Excavation Dune Pendant

Created from painted stainless steel mesh, the apparent simplicity of these Arturo Alvarez designed lamps belies their delicate crafting. Fine pleats form two overlapped layers creating two different lamps full of dynamism – two lively shapes born from one, creating the same movement yet at a different tempo.

Tempo Vivace pendant lamps designed by Arturo Alvarez

I particularly like how Iranian-born designer Ali Siavoshi works with everyday objects, transforming them into light fixtures, whilst injecting a sense of humour into these stylish and innovative displays.

Ali Siavoshi lamps on display at ICFF 2016 New York
Ali Siavoshi lamps on display at ICFF 2016 New York

Another designer who creates extraordinary pieces of art and lighting from ordinary “up-cycled” everyday glass bottles, is Altanta based Kathleen Plate. Her innovative techniques and sophisticated designs sit well within contemporary and stylish restaurant and hotel groups.

Smart Glass Art (SGA) custom chandelier designed by Kathleen Plate
Smart Glass Art (SGA) custom chandelier designed by Kathleen Plate

Zac Ridgely is a trained artist who uses his talent in the medium of light, son of a famed Canadian architect he quickly learned how to navigate his way through architectural drawings. The CRISS-CROSS series was created from a genuine desire to blend art with lighting, and this sculptural piece of cut steel rod is carefully arranged and welded in a seemingly random pattern.

Zac Ridgely's Criss Cross wallsconce

Zac Ridgely’s Criss Cross wallsconce

I hope these inspirational creations will give you some ideas for transforming your living or working spaces.

Moody Monday offers a bespoke design service to complement any projects you might be considering, and I’d be happy to discuss these further, Eliza.

Sources: www.insekdesign.com

www.arturo-alvarez.com

www.alialiali.com

www.sdgconstructiontechnology.com

www.kathleenplate.com

www.ridgelystudioworks.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Influence of the Week – Bauhaus Inspired Ceramics

It’s early February and we think we’ve just caught the ‘ceramic’ fever. Perfectly timed with the month of love. Just when you think you’ve seen them all, then you stumble on yet another beautiful collection. Maison et Objet 2016 was on last week and has been a fantastic source of inspiration. As always, they showcased a vast array of designers, both upcoming and seasoned veterans.

We made an exciting discovery through Architectural Digest. These beautiful Bauhaus ceramics are the epitome of sophistication. They are influenced by the original works of German artist, Hedwig-Bollhagen Ritz.

blog1_maison-et-objet-ceramics_Hedwig bollhagen

Sometimes it’s the extra details which give a room that extra sense of character. We like the bold and structured use of black and white in the designs. They have a bit of an Art Deco feel to them. Each design seems to work harmoniously with the shape of the vessel.  Whether displayed singly or as a collection, these would look stunning on a coffee table.

blog2_maison-object_ceramics_hedwig bollhagen

Not sure of how to display ceramics at home? Apartment Therapy has some brilliant ideas. We’ll definitely be looking up more of this designer’s work.

Image sources

Maison Objet

Architectural Digest

Posted on

Inspiring Designer – Marcel Wanders

Marcel Wanders is a product and interior designer known for his bold and stylistic signature style. Some fondly call him the “peacock-like prince of Dutch design”.

We discovered his recent work at The Kameha Grand Zurich and couldn’t wait to share it.

blog1_Kameha-Grand-Zurich-hotel_Marcel-Wanders

blog2_MarcelWanders_KamehaGrandZurich

His style has mesmerised the architecture and design community worldwide since he became popular for his Knotted Chair Design in 1996.  He is the Art director at one of our favourite design brands, Moooi which he co-founded.

Marcel Wanders has made it his mission to “create an environment of love, live with passion and make our most exciting dreams come true”.

blog3_MW_KamehaGrand

blog4_MW_KamehaGrand

Who are the designers you think have a unique style? Share with us.

Story and images via Dezeen

Posted on

Luxury Watch Store Designed by Patricia Urquoila

Patricia Urquoila’s recent luxury retail store design is a perfect combination of creativity and sophistication. Panerai, the luxury Italian watch brand commissioned her to design its first US flagship store in Miami. Designers really do make the world tick, no pun intended.

The leading Spanish designer and architect has challenged the status quo. By creating an ultra-modern environment with class, she translates the brand’s ethos beautifully. We like the way fashion and design come together.

blog1_luxurystore_panerai

The luxury store complete with luxurious finishes like gold, marble and bronze has design elements. They cleverly pay an ode to the inner workings of watches. A large wall clock resembles one of the brand’s watch faces. An open stair also mimics the teeth of a gear.

blog2_luxurystore_panerai

According to Donna Karan, “Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable”.

We’re inspired by Patricia’s ability to exhibit this approach effortlessly time and time again. Last year, she designed her SHIMMER glass furniture collection which we shared in a previous blog post.

blog3_luxurystore_panerai

Story and images via Dezeen

Posted on

Top Interior Books to read in 2016

As we welcome 2016, it gives us the opportunity to look forward to fresh aspirations with a new lease of life. If you haven’t done so already, you can make some new goals today.  Think big and give yourself the chance to see your vision come to reality.

One goal of ours at Moody Monday is to challenge ourselves to innovate more. This will sometimes take us out of our comfort zone but we welcome this. We are eager to learn and find useful resources to help stretch our imagination.

What better way to start off 2016 than with a new book list? If it’s in the world of interior design, we have just the list for you. Read on for some of our favourite interior design books to open your mind up to a world of new possibilities. No doubt your home will thank you for it too.

1. The Tailored Interior by Greg Natale

Offering readers a step-by-step guide of the interior design process, Greg shares how he creates vibrant homes with his bold signature style. Find out more

blog1_thetailoredinterior

2. Bright Bazaar: Embracing Colour for Make-You-Smile Style by Will Taylor

This colour-popping book is bursting with beautiful images and great ideas on how to use colour in every space in your home. Find out more

blog2_brightbazaar

3. Sustainable Design Book by Rebecca Proctor

This book opens the door to a world of inspiration from over 200 designers who are taking ecological product design very seriously. It is sure to surprise and educate you. Find out more

blog3_sustainabledesignbook

4. Decorating with Style by Abigail Ahern

We love how she makes dark interiors look so luxurious and captivating. Find out more

blog5_decoratingwithstyle

5. Style Council by Sarah Thompson

Get introduced to unique interior spaces which celebrate savvy home style in Britain’s ex-council homes. Find out more

blog4_style council

Happy reading and a happy new year! Let us know which ones become your favourite.

Image mention

Posted on

Inspiring Designers Part III : Alvin Tjitrowirjo

This week in our inspiring designer series, we pitch our tent in the world of product design. It is unmistakably fundamental to interior design after all.

We recently discovered this gifted product designer, Alvin Tjitrowirjo. He is well known for his mastery of design. Our appreciation for innovative design instantly drew us to his work.

blog1_alvint_coffeetable
Photo: Round Table Bench, © AlvinT 2015

Passionate about preserving and protecting Indonesian culture at its core, his furniture brand AlvinT and design studio, AlvinT Studio  skilfully blend cultural elements with contemporary design. We like design which is honest and unexpected and are particularly intrigued by the considered use of natural and industrial materials to create beautiful, high quality furniture pieces which can stand the test of time.

blog2_alvint_table
Photo: Kawong (Coffee Table), © AlvinT 2015

With beautiful ranges of lighting, sofas, chairs and more, spanning three delightful collections, the designs bring a taste of innovation and a real sense of craftsmanship to many a design enthusiast.

blog3_alvint_kawong
Photo: Kawong (Shelves), © AlvinT 2015

Why not visit their website www.alvin-t.com? There’s more brilliant design to see.

blog4_alvint_interior1
Photo: Colette & Lola Grand Indonesia Shopping Town © AlvinT 2015

For previous blog posts you might have missed on the series, here are part I and part II.

All images sourced from and reproduced with permission from AlvinT.

Posted on

Inspiring creations – Glass sculptures

Before seeing this, it was easy to assume that it was impossible for something as seemingly delicate as glass and a material as solid as concrete could be a winning combination. By giving glass an almost liquid-like nature, the artist we’re featuring today perfects this effortlessly with great skill, superb intuition and bags of research behind him.

Ben Young creates intricate sculptural works from these two main materials. There is no sophisticated technology or digital help involved in the process as all of his creations are hand drawn, hand cut and handcrafted from 4mm float glass, the ones used in windows. To do the cutting, he uses a glazier’s oil filled glass cutter.

blog1_glass blog2_glass

He usually works on multiple pieces at a time, sometimes up to ten, with each one exquisitely unique in its own right. They vary in how long they take to make, from a few weeks to a month.

blog3_glass

A man of many skills – this self-taught artist, furniture maker, and surfer started this venture into glass-sculptures after seeing his dad make a glass wave years ago. He has no doubt developed his craft to perfection.
blog4_glass

There’s so much more to see of Ben’s work, have a look at his website, www.brokenliquid.com and Facebook page.

All images reproduced with permission from artist.

Posted on

Spectacular paper art – Designer’s Choice

Given paper art has been around for a while, it is always refreshing to see different expressions of it evolve across the globe. We recently spotted incredible work from a very talented artist in New York.

With ingenuity and creativity clearly flowing through her veins, Maude White makes fantastic scenes and stories with intricate carvings on a medium she says is reliable and constant – a sheet of paper. From elephants, birds to faces and magical scenes, this paper-cutting artist’s work oozes a high degree of attention to detail and unique artistic flare we at Moody Monday love to see.

carving1

bird2

owl

Maude explains that “By respecting and honouring paper for what it is, and not considering it a stepping-stone to something greater, I feel like I am communicating some of the pleasure it brings to me. I am not creating for Art’s sake. I am creating for Paper’s sake, to make visible the stories that every piece of paper attempts to communicate to us.”

elephant

instal

bird

For the love of paper, you can find more of her work at http://bravebirdpaperart.com

All images used with artist’s permission.

Via Creative Boom

Posted on

Texture in Fashion Design

Admittedly, this post’s topic if not what one would normally expect on an interior designer’s blog. However, all this talk about textured interior designs from our previous blogs has whet our appetite, and so in this blog post, we’re looking at the use of texture in fashion design. More specifically, we’ve fallen in love with a few fabric manipulation techniques – or in other words reshaping the surface of the material:

Blog-1-pleating-1

The fabric then takes on an additional dimension and depth, and creates a very exquisite look on the clothing items. To start with, we’ve selected a few haute couture designs that have won us over:

Blog-2-catwalk-textured-fashion

We find the designs to be a fascinating mix of simplicity and sophistication. On a more nature-inspired note, we also liked these two airy dress designs that use colour, texture and pleating techniques:

Blog-3-texture-fashion-design

As extravagant of these garments look, textured fashion design is not only reserved for the catwalk. So here are some of our favourite examples of prêt-à-porter textured fashion:

Blog-4-texture-fashion-desing

We think texture fabric is an excellent alternative to patters, in adding personality and elegance to an outfit, be it for the day to day wear, or that very special occasion that calls for a carefully selected dress.

Posted on

Tactile Texture for Interior Walls

Walls don’t have to be flat or covered in paint to be attractive. So continuing the theme of using texture in interior design, in this blog post we have looked specifically at textured wall coverings. As with all unusual interior choices it’s best to keep the textured wall surface to a limited area, as not to over crowd the space by having all walls covered with the textured pattern.

As we mentioned in a previous post, texture can be either tactile or visual, creating the illusion of tactile texture. Naturally, wallcoverings follows these two styles as well. In this post we’re looking at tactile texture, and we start with a very exquisite example used on interior walls:

3D wall covering

This is a creative use of ceramic tiles by David Pergier. We particularly like this wall as it conveys the power of 3D textures and the nice glossy surface of ceramic tiles. Also notice how the wall texture is broken into sections by the use of smooth vertical stripes. This further emphasizes the intricate areas, by creating a playful contrast and breaking the monotony of the wall.

One other way of using tactile textured walls is by creating feature walls in an interior space – be it at home or in a shared space. Here are two interpretations, both created using clean, plain white materials:

Textured wall covering

While adding texture to the walls may be enough to create a highlight in the room without needing to add colour variations (as in the examples we’ve given so far), sometimes colour can help go the extra mile, and create a truly unique mysterious or playful atmosphere:

Tactile textured interior walls

These two examples add an extra dramatic effect to the spaces by using dark colours (left) and high contrast, bright colours (right). While both these examples create a powerful look for the interior, they need to be surrounded by contrasting surfaces, to help highlight them. As such, notice the plain green hue used in the example to the right, which naturally draws your eyes to the textured stripe in the middle.