24/01/2016
the first issue
The Nice Stuff All the nice stuff, in one place. Whether it’s furniture, lighting, kitchen-wear or home related goods, you will find it here.
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The Nice Stuff is the official spot for all things design, and all things nice. As a platform for publishing the latest and greatest, oldest and boldest design work from in and around the design industry, we aim to create a friendly and inviting community of design lovers, thinkers and expressionists. Design isn’t something that should be exposed, it is something that needs to be expressed. To express design not only means raising awareness of the latest concept creations, but also to act as a root of inspiration, for future solutions. The Nice Stuff is not only here to serve your interest, but as the stage for design expression, inspiration and awakening.
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Inside this month’s issue
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1
2
3
The Monthly Highlight
The Gallery
The Interview Corner
(p. 1-13)
(p. 14-35)
(p. 36-45)
4
5
6
Design Awakening
The Monthly Read
Get In Touch
(p. 46-51)
(p. 52-57)
(p. 58-59)
7
Submit your design (p. 60-61)
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The Monthly Highlight
HARU
Mikiya Kobayashi, HARU by KARIMOKU 2011 Chair
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Recognising the bold, blue and dense cushioning, or even the seductive, sloping arm support would be the least attentiveness one could execute, to salute the work of Mikaya Kobayashi, and the HC-2 chair. Standing (or sitting?) upright, rigid with it’s four-legged composure and rich in colour, this chair expresses a persona of maturity and dominance, setting itself, noticeably comfortably, within it’s situated environment.
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With it’s heavily contrasting and oh-so striking combination of lightweight/topheavy compositional weight, the designer has undeniably created with a product with a purpose of durability and longevity in mind. ` It is clear to say that Mikaya Kobayashi has injected this furniture piece with strong intentions that it is one to stick around for a while; this is not something we could possibly argue with.
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Placed effortlessly aside a brotherly furniture article, the HC-2 chair appears to portray it’s self distinctively on two separate aesthetic spectrum’s. At one end of the spectrum, thick-walled, block-like and geometrically strong, bodily shapes deliver a dominating and sophisticated aesthetic; a product with reason, to be attended with consideration and appreciation. On the other end of the spectrum, accompanied by luxurious, swooping forms is the soft and delicate touch of perfectly stitched, cushioned upholstery. Neutralizing the, initially perceived, aesthetic rigidity, the wholesome and textured material opens up a warming and inviting opportunity for engagement and product attachment.
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The Gallery
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Stacks
ALETI 2013 Lighting Installation
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Tรถjbox
WOUD 2015 Storage/Furniture Product
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Réaction Poétique
Jaime Hayon 2015 Home Appliances
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Kachi-Katah
Masamune Kaji’ 2012 Furniture
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Light Walls House
mA-style Architects 2013 Interior Design
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Terraliquida
Claudio Silvestrin 2010 Furniture
STEM
Dubokk 2016 Household Appliance
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VIKTIGT Collection
Ingegerd R책man 2016 Furniture Product
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Kanban
Andrea Ponti 2016 Furniture Product
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BRAUN HLD 4
Dieter Rams for BRAUN 1970 Haircare Appliance
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Umbrella Stand
Thom Fougere Studio 2015 Household Appliance
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Timesphere Clock
MoMA 2002 Household Appliance
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Rock 8
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec 2010 Shelving
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Dustpan & Broom
Hans Edblad and Tove Adman 2001 Household Item
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Ovanlig
Designer Unknown 2014 Bathroom Appliance
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TC6
Aldo van den Nieuwelaar 1969 Lighting Product
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Stick Table
Stone Designs 2014 Furniture Product
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Chandelier, model 2072
Gino Sarfatti 1953 Lighting Installation
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Incense Stand
MUJI 2014 Home Appliance
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Olio
Barber & Osgerby 2013 Tableware
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The Interview Corner
Heather Scott
Designer & Maker
Cornwall based designer and maker, Heather Scott, works mainly with wood to create a striking range of products for the home. Typically using locally sourced Oak, Heather also explores an array of materials such as steel, offering an impeccably high level of craftsmanship. Heather’s primary products are a number of well-considered sushi boards, but she states, “While sushi boards are the most viable and versatile. I want to move more into furniture.”
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Sushi & Serving Boards
Heather Scott 2014 Kitchenware
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Why do you do what you want to do? “My parents told me I couldn’t have chickens unless I built them a coop. So that’s what I did.” By only using the basic tools her dad gave her, she managed to shape her passion for carpentry. She humbly admits that she was lucky enough to meet people that gave her the opportunity to work with them. After volunteering for 2 years with a local wood worker, she was able to start her own design business.
“Learning practically is what I wanted to do – I really just wanted to be in the workshop. Working with your hands is so intuitive. Wood has a natural beauty that speaks for itself – it is really nice to discover that along the way. In a lifetime of woodwork, you will never know it all. I have a consistent opportunity to learn.”
How would you describe and express your style? “There is a difference in culture - In Scandinavia and Japan there is a general appreciation and value for craft. I have difficulty with designs that people are afraid to use – in our culture that is a problem. Functionality for me is very important. Something that people will actually use. If I see my plates or boards in someone’s kitchen and they’re battered, as long as they’re still working, that’s great. Scandinavian design is often recognised for its ability to add beauty to the everyday, in terms of aesthetics and functionality. In somebody’s everyday they will have that moment of good design – a moment to appreciate that. That’s vital to me.”
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What challenges have you faced? “For me, it’s just a matter of changing your measure of failure. I don’t expect immediate success. Every penny I earn is poured back in and at times it can be tough. I love being part of the whole process; the making, the selling, marketing and even the accounting. I thrive on the way of life down in Cornwall. Despite occasionally missing the energy and city grit, I am grateful of the beautiful surroundings. It gives me time to eat great food and socialise – it’s a balance of good things that really helps.”
Heather Scott
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Design Awakening
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Shapes in shapes
This month’s design awakening focuses on the existence of shapes within other existing shapes and how such a simple assembly of forms can significantly impact the final composure, expression and perception of a design. What is shape? How many are there? What do they mean? How are they made? These are just some of the many questions raised in regards to the topic of shape; the compositional arrangement of elements, to give something a visual and physical identity. Shape exists everywhere, within and around the world we live in. They also live within themselves. It could be said that, when all of it’s lines are closed and a solid state has been formed, a complete shape is the envelope for external content. This could include colour, additional shape or geometry, texture and purely a valuable meaning. A complete shape is container for expression.
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Shapes can be found existing inside themselves via a variety of approaches, due to the elemental arrangement of a product’s composition. There are those shapes which can found within the perimeter of another shape’s outline. (In reference to the bottom left image) Protected within the outline of the chair’s four-side seating platform, circular geometry can be seen as a result of the wood joinery. It could be said that the location of the shape expresses a level of encapsulation, wholesome structure and protection within it’s surrounding shell. Secondly, there are those shapes formed into a geometric formation via external element composition. (In reference to the bottom right image and top image) The overall form is based up on a diagonal compositional arrangement of
three four-sided (square) shapes. The three shapes have been placed specifically in an overlapping manner and due the diagonal formation, this has resulted in external geometry to be formed. We are now presented with a total of six shapes, of different size, situation and level. The intersecting and penetrating positioning of the initial three shapes has created a visual semiotic of strong connection, support, bonding and unity within the product. With a consideration for the symbolic connotations in which shape structures, formations and locations portray, we can apply the philosophy to our own design, thus producing more meaningful design aesthetics.
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The Monthly Read
Phenomenology of Perception
Merleau - Ponty 1962
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In an artistic fashion,Ponty discusses phenomenology as the experience of one’s own body or ones lived/living body, the role of the body in experience and the significance of the phantom limb. In relation to the ‘artist’, he expresses thoughts of how the body is not in the mental or mechanical physical realm, it is as it is, and develops his philosophical understanding of the phrase: “I think, therefore, I am”. With further reading, he develops an understanding of how the human consciousness is embodied within the world and how the body is infused with consciousness of the world. He states that “not only does the body hold everything around it, it is also an intertwining of vision and movement”. In relation to the artist, he tells of how our body is responsible for happenings of an experience. Just like a cat when falling, movement it is not a decision made by the mind’s thought, but by a decision made by its consciousness and conditioned thought; movement is self-moved. When the artist looks at a mountain, he does not appropriate what he sees, he merely approaches it by looking, “he opens on to the world.”
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Super Normal, Sensations of the Ordinary
Naoto Fukasawa & Jasper Morrison 2007
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Both designers Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa, compile a wide variety of everyday objects of which they believe to be “Super Normal” and of “Super Normal Design”. On a quest to find such species of products, both designs state that, in fact, they already exist. They are around us, we have seen them, and with much likeliness, we have touched ,used and experienced them. It is this experience which leads to the designers to expressing their beliefs on the existence of the phenomenon that is ‘super normal’. Fukasawa and Morrison state that it is located, as it were, beyond space and time; the past and present of product design both point to a future that has long since begun. In simple terms, it would be the common and mostly anonymous objects, which tend to go unnoticed and unrecognised, which fall into the classified state of a “super normal” object. Within the book, a diverse range of objects are displayed, such as the likes of furniture, kitchenware, electronics goods, and much more. With such a beautiful gallery, Fukasawa and Morrison make “super normal” objects truly visible for us.
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Get in touch
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Email Instagram Facebook
thenicestuffofficial@yahoo.co.uk @thenicestuff www.facebook.com/thenicestuffofficial
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Design Submission
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The Nice Stuff is constantly seeking new content to publish, and welcomes submissions from all areas within the design sector. ` Whether you are a product, graphic or furniture designer, architect or illustrator and you would like to see your work published, send us an email with:
-Your Name
-Product/Project Name
-Product/Project Description
-3-5 Product Images (JPEG Format / Max 5MB each)
We cannot promise that all submissions will be successfully published, but all submissions will be viewed and considered.
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Disclaimer
The Nice Stuff does not, in any way, own or claim to own the rights for any product image and gives full credit to owners, photographers and those responsible for supplying such resources. All images owned by The Nice Stuff are annotated. We try to credit all images as much as possible (e.g. product name, product designer, photographer), but it can be very difficult to give complete credit to all content published.
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