THE DESIGN

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CRISP designers, Brian Law and Tan Sixu, drew their inspiration for the INCONVERSATION floor loungers and low tables from traditional Asian culture, where daily routines of work and play were all performed on the floor.

Brian explains, “A living room should be as it suggests, a “living room”; a space within a home dedicated and faithful to the flow and movement of people and vibrant conversation. Regrettably, degrading social patterns of interaction and the emerging dissolution of the family cluster has effectuated increasing reclusion and disengagement among family members. By infusing emotive qualities and extracting silhouettes and curves from human postures to form different ‘characters‘, the series of floor loungers whimsically cast the impression of people in conversation with one another.”

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THE DESIGN

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Bacus Boo’s fascinating playtable can be appreciated as a sculptural object as well as an entirely functional piece of furniture. The design is inspired by Dakotsu Iida’s poem, Snowy Valleys:

“Dew on a leaf of taro. The mountains rectify their shadows.”

“In this poem, the eyes of the poet focus on the play of visual scale versus the distant views. He presents the imposing image of the mountains and the deep valley in a surrealistic way. The foregrounds such as “Dew on a leaf of taro” play secondary parts and decorate the distant views, making beautiful harmonies like the offering of flowers in front of an altar. My idea is to create a pseudo-perspective on this table by combining the distant view (the mountain and valleys) and the foreground (the objects). This predominant design theme encourages the relationship and interaction between nature (the table) and humankind (the user), which also emphasize that form and function are one. The name Asobu, in Japanese means “play”, and also means “amuse one-self” where my design concept adds an exciting dimension to this furniture. The spirit of “playfulness” weaves a sense of enjoyment, appreciation of the humble, acceptance of the ephemeral and acknowledgment of the greater life’s mysteries. It enables one to contemplate to reach the nature of things touching the deep recesses of one’s being and allowing peace and freedom to create.”

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THE DESIGN

Mozzy is a room divider as conceived by Page Tan together with Ross Faulianna and Xu Bin, three final year Furniture Design students at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Made of red oak and yellow poplar, the design has many fluid curves inspired by the continuous movement of fabric.

“The fluidity of fabric has fascinated us in more ways than one. We wanted to achieve a similar characteristic using wood. The sinuous pattern is essential for it to stand on its own. We can hence relate this to the softness of fabric; the way fabric flows and the subtle curves that it produces. The difference in height within the Mozzy partition, hopes to pull off a sense of excitement and at the same time give the user some privacy. But the details don’t stop there. Cast light onto Mozzy and a beautiful silhouette can be seen.”

Spotted! is a digest of fly work by fresh off creatives.

THE DESIGN

PY Chong’s Flaw or Flow chair, with its aluminum leg, carries an important message: “We should learn to accept the beauty of disability and deformity and appreciate how it can build a better personality and quality.” PY’s design received an honorable mention in the Student category at this year’s Furniture Design Awards (FDA).

“Flaw or Flow is not only a chair, it is also a piece of sculpture that speaks for a special group of people. There is a tension in human lives which results in the birth of a new life which is less fortunate, disabled or even deformed. I twisted and distorted the silhouette of a normal chair which results in producing a form which is visually unproportioned and unbalanced. By doing so, I created tension to the form but also an emotion. The chair now looks deformed and tired. I believe, I also gave the chair life and feeling. The introduction of the aluminum leg, which is designed to be more stable and conventional, causes contradiction in our perception. Visually, the aluminum leg is an artificial part, but emotionally it gives viewers a sense of confidence to sit on this deformed chair. We should not judge an object or a person by its superficial appearance. If we initiate to explore deeper, things may not turn out what we perceive them to be. The elegant lady’s chair is to test the perception of the viewers. A piece of sculpture should be speaking for itself. Perception has no certainty, you can choose to look at it’s flaw or it’s flow, or even it’s flaw and flow. My quote: ‘If flaw is an imperfection, let flow be the acceptance of the situation.’”

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THE DESIGN

Clean, cool and contemporary, this eye-catching, “knot” shaped light provides instant visual appeal and is a nice change from the standard stale, lifeless and boring table lamps. On show at the Singapore Expo last month at the Furniture Design Awards (FDA) exhibit, the lamp, designed by Kenne Cheong, received an Honorable Mention in the Young Designer Category.

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THE DESIGN

‘Urban Pulse’, designed by Eric Lim and featured at this year’s International Furniture Fair, mirrors the landscape outline of today’s developed urban society. The distinctive shape of the chair was inspired by ECG readings .

“Urban Pulse is inspired by urbanized landscape structures and the readings reflected on electrocardiogram, or more commonly known as ECG. The peaks and troughs of the ECG model the beating of the heart, where irregularities in the heartbeat are represented by more peaks and troughs of higher intensity and closer proximity. Coincidentally, the peak and trough design of the chair also mirror the landscape outline of today’s developed urban society. Urban Pulse attempts to conjure up the feeling of tension and anxiety - through a series of irregular peaks and troughs throughout the design of the chair. Urban Pulse is made from fiberglass colored in red to further emphasize the feeling of tension. The bold design also aspires to remind metropolitans living in the era of urbanization to slow down their pace and relax, allowing the heart to take a rest.”

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THE DESIGN

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We totally love disposable-to-design here at Culturepush. Magmag, a recycled magazines ashtray, is two designers’ interpretation of printed matter in our daily usage.

“magmag reminds you of the hidden gifts yet to be identified within the pages of old magazines. To question what is of essential in the mundane printed matter: think how to deal with a magazine, not where to dispose of it. A series of print advertisements were produced to share and encourage different ways in which we can treat an old magazine. ‘melting+paper’ thus, translated into questions of how print medias are being interpreted in our daily usage.”

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THE DESIGN

One of the pieces that fascinated me at last month’s Furniture Design Awards was the Incomplet Table-Chair, designed by Interior Design student Melvin Ong. This year’s competition invited the participants in the Young Designers and Students category to work around the theme of “Tension”.

“I was trying to see the theme of of the competition in two ways. When the chair and table are apart, they are unable to support themselves which results in a tension of existence. As furniture that support people and items, they are not self supporting. The other interpretation of tension can be seen when the chair and table are pieced together. The physical tension between the back legs of the chair and slots in the table top hold them together, allowing both to exist purposefully.”

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THE DESIGN

Designed by How Sim, and part of his Original Edition series, the Mimo & Simi bar stools will not fail to stimulate your imagination. ABS plastic and EVA foam interplay with each other to make a stark statement of design. The bar stools received the Most Honorable Mention Award in the open category at this year’s Furniture Design Award competition.

“Mimo & Simi is a set of bar stools shaped like the heads of a couple. The design originates from toy figurines. There are a few designs in the Mimo & Simi series. The original edition is the basic design while mythology, celebrity, Super hero, etc will be limited editions.”

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THE DESIGN

Chairs are absolutely covetable, when they look as good as the Hage chair, designed by Puah Kim Sing. The chair was shown at the 2008 Furniture Design Awards (FDA) exhibit, where it received a Young Designer Merit Award.

“The Hage chair is practically unbreakable even though there is tension when one sits on it. It is formed from a single rectangular piece of plywood with the letter H cut out from it. The plywood cut-out is then molded into the Hage chair. Through moulding the plywood, the structure acquires strength that makes it safe for use. Yet, it retains a buoyant effect, similar to that of a spring, when sat on. Natural beauty and strength are key qualities of this molded plywood piece.”

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THE DESIGN

Wirawan Hasbi Suryanto’s Adam and Eve Love Chair was one of my favorite designs at this year’s Furniture Design Awards (FDA) exhibit, which took place at The Singapore Expo from 9 till 12 March. The theme for FDA 2008 encouraged participants in the Student and Young Designer categories to explore the element of “Tension”.

“Tension can be defined as a balanced relation between strongly opposing elements. I relate this definition to a relationship between couples. When an argument arises, both parties shout out loud about their point of reasoning, which creates a balancing act of tension force. Adam & Eve is love furniture that reacts and changes trough this balancing force, using black to represent Adam and white to represent Eve. Inspired by the beauty of a swan, Adam & Eve took the elegance of its smooth body curvatures and surface indentation. Each form is represented equally, proud and strong. Despite these characteristics, they are physically weak. When you try to sit, Adam & Eve will give a great deal of instability. Without each others support, Adam & Eve will not be functional and become a sculpture piece. A scar line is created in each of them as a representation of a lifetime bond, a scar line that is responsible for the connectivity between Adam and Eve. This scar line creates a need of dependency and a tied knot between Adam & Eve. They may be a strong representative of their own, but their weakness is obvious when they choose not to depend on each other. When users understand the need of existence for Adam & Eve, they will be reminded of the importance of a loved one.”

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THE DESIGN

Nico Teo’s obsession with sewing has led her to create her own universe of fantasy designs known to us as PLUSHISM. First launched at the end of 2005, PLUSHISM already stocks numerous plush toys in an eye-popping array of colors.

“Animal SAM is a fun loving helpful and positive creature. It has a passion for the little things. It wants to rock the world! Miracles will happen when you get to know this beautiful creature.”

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THE DESIGN

If your collection of CDs takes center stage in your living room, you can display them within this unobtrusive, streamlined QUADRA frame, designed by Lui Honfay. The design won first prize (Grand Award, Young Designer Category) in this year’s Furniture Design Award competition, organized by the Singapore Furniture Industries Council.

“Order and chaos can be observed within QUADRA. The CD shelf which comprises regular grids, become and disordered, with the injection of irregular shapes of various sizes within the middle section that is designed to accommodate CD casings of different sizes. Therefore, chaos arises due to functionality. In QUADRA, function and aesthetics are fused together, creating tension.”

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THE DESIGN

EverydayWeekend designers Herman Rahoam and Aiwei Foo extend the usefulness of a bed by transforming it into a part-chair, part-bed furnishing.

“The clash of prints and other theories is one of three chairs that we have made under EverydayWeekend, a label that combines our abilities and disabilities, but mostly something we would think is exciting enough to sustain the interest of what we are doing. The structure of this chair is a reclaimed bed which we turned into a floor chair. Now the ‘bed’ is not just for sleeping, but we have removed its bedroom status, to blend in with other living room activities. It has become more versatile as you can still lie on it or sit on it, do anything to it or let your pet have it. All cushions are hand made, with carefully chosen fabric in a juxtaposition of different prints. The reason for using different prints is intentional, so that they clash with each other, yet still feel like everything looks ok.”

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THE DESIGN

Sound is omnipresent, yet we seem not to notice it …

Yong Jieyu’s Paper Ceramic Loudspeakers are part of a noise and sound research project, looking into different aspects of sounds in our environment and our relationship with them.

“When the phonograph was invented, scientists talked about how broadcasting will liberate mankind from lonely isolation. There is perhaps an innate need for us to broadcast our views, propagate our beliefs and share our passion. I created the paper ceramic loudspeakers to draw memory to the way a child uses paper cones as loudspeakers. Since then we have advanced many materials in an attempt to perfect sound amplification. The loudspeakers are made with discarded musical scores and ceramic. Ceramic, having one of the lowest sound absorbent coefficients is one of the best materials for sound amplification; while discarded musical scores are given a second chance to fulfill their destiny - the propagation of music.”

THE DESIGNER

Yong Jieyu is currently pursuing a Masters degree with the Design Academy Eindhoven. ” I am interested in the connection life and design draws.”

Spotted! is a digest of fly work by fresh off creatives.