Daniel Rybakken
Don’t look at the table, look at the shadow on the floor beneath it. Norwegian designer Rybakken’s Subconscious Effect of Daylight table gives the illusion daylight is coming into a room by projecting light and the pattern of a shadow onto the floor (the beam comes from a projector under the table). By far the cleverest piece we saw at Salone Satellite, the fairground’s young designers showcase, it opens up dark, claustrophobic spaces by giving the impression there is bright daylight streaming in.
Lotte van Laatum
Treecabinet by young Dutch designer van Laatum was one of several beautifully quiet pieces we saw this year. The piece is made from a diseased Dutch elm tree, and its tapering shape refers to that of the tree. The wonky front of the drawer is untouched – a reminder of the tree’s natural form.
Philippe Malouin
Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Malouin exhibited his inflatable Grace table at the school’s showcase in Spazio Rossana Orlandi. It’s welcome news for anyone who has hired a crane to transport furniture into their flat. Malouin worked with inflatable manufacturer Eurocraft, to develop a table strong enough to stand on and sit ten people when inflated – and fit into a duffel bag when deflated.
Ole Jensen
Danish designer Jensen enlarged his famous rubber washing up bowl design for Norman Copenhagen and added a hose for drainage, to make a freestanding bath. Rubber Tub could just squeeze into a cupboard, so would be perfect as an occasional bath in small bathrooms for those who have the patience to bucket the water in. The product was exhibited at Danish Crafts’ showcase in Zona Tortona.
Mark Braun
German designer Barun’s Lingor lights are made of phosphorescent enamelled steel, and they emit a soft blue glow when the electricity is on. But we like them most when they are unlit – a family of headless hats, hovering in the air.
Willem de Ridder
These (Nothing to) HIDE leather stools look like they are encasing something foreign and quite keen to escape, but they are hollow. To make them, a leather sack is fastened to an oddly shaped mould, and boiled. The hot water tightens the leather, and when it cools and hardens the mould is removed and the leather sack retains the mould’s peculiar shape and is strong enough to sit on. The young Dutch designer exhibited the piece at Design Factory Brainport Eindhoven’s show alongside other Eindhoven-based designers.
Nacho Carbonell
Made out of newspaper papier-mâché, the idea behind young Spanish designer Carbonell’s Evolution chairs is that they have speech bubbles – a reference to the mashed-up words from which they were made. But what drew us to them were the cavernous holes (just big enough for a curled up adult). The chairs are composed of a wire structure surrounded with mesh, and covered in lumpy blobs of mâché.
