Metaform: Re-tire Chair

Metaform Studio specializes in reusing industrial waste (pallets, tires, etc.) in furniture. I'm quite fond of their "Re-tire" chair, which uses tire strips as a seating surface. I'm not sure what material they are using for the structure, but it looks like plywood.

The bad news is that it costs $1200. It's a laudable concept, and I know this is just a little shop, and there's probably a lot of work in processing the tires, etc., but there aren't going to be a lot of takers at that price. I think the design industry needs to be doing more things like this, but it's not going to make much of a difference until the pricing hits a normal level.

Here's a thought: imagine how easy it would be to source recycled tire strips (or any recycled industrial material for that matter) in China.

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Robert Bult: Cirrus Lamp

The Cirrus lamp is the latest from Robert Bult, a designer whose work I first saw at the Design Downtown show a couple years ago. I don't really like the squiggly shape of the outline, but I do really like the embedded bulbs (Replaceable? I hope so.) and wire chaos up above. I think this would work better with a thicker rectangular slab of acrylic. No pricing, but it looks like a one-off, so you probably don't want to know anyway.

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Carbon Nano Case

My best friend and former co-worker Jason Anderson started a new company, C6, to make these cool cases for the iPod Nano. Simple carbon fiber looks right, does the job, and doesn't add a bunch of bulk. Cheap too- only $40. Now imagine it with thin, thin laser cut birch plywood instead. Even better. That's what I told him, anyway.

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Globalhaus Sticks Screen

This is probably the best idea for a room divider screen anyone has ever had. Designed by Australian company Globalhaus, and (apparently) exclusively sold by Corporate Culture. Not a terrible price at about USD$680, but you'll have to find a way to get it here. It's listed in the clearance section, so you might want to act fast.

EDIT: According to a commenter (none other than the talented Dirk Wynants no less), Sticks is also distributed worldwide by Extremis.

EDIT 2: Good news for America: these are being carried by Unica Home now, and the basic module is only $146 (rubber base and fiberglass rods). The price goes up if you get the base or sticks in wood.

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Folded Stainless Steel Leg Table

I can't find much information about this table, except that it was designed by David Spiteri at CDT Concepts, an Australian company whose main business appears to be stainless steel commercial refrigerators. I really like this leg treatment- simple, strong, well suited to flat packing, and not something you see a lot. I'm not sure if this table is even available for sale, so no idea on pricing.

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Milkweed Furniture

Milkweed Furniture is a local shop here in Denver run by David Larabee. I saw this piece at One Home last week. Simple lines, solid constrction, good finish. Just nice. (This photo isn't that great- looks better in person.) Expensive? $3300. Solid wood hand built furniture ain't cheap.

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Nixie Clocks

Nixie tubes were used in the olden days (1950's-1970's) in numeric displays on scientific equipment (I saw some used as floor numbers in an elevator recently, too). They have a strange, ethereal, organic glow that is missing from our modern LED and LCD displays. The tubes haven't been made in years, but there is still a pretty good supply of surplus New Old Stock around, especially from Russia. Mostly they are used to make clocks now. Most of these look like bad science experiments or bachelor pad accessories, but Finkbuilt has made a stunningly beautiful clock using the more unusual end view tubes. It's too bad you can't really mass produce a product that uses hard to find surplus equipment that hasn't been producded in 30 years...

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Tomoko Azumi: Table=Chest

An older design (1995), but one I hadn't seen until recently. Conversion furniture is nothing new, but this is an angle that hasn't been explored much. Both the table and chest seem too small to be of much practical use, but it's a great idea. From Japanese (where else?) designer Tomoko Azumi. Available in Japan from Abode for ~$1200.

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