What I'm Obsessing Over

I stumbled across a picture of this hanger and I thought it was a designer’s take on everyday objects modernized for hospitality use. Such as this hanger shown below from Doug Mockett that sells for $41.00. It looks cool, but it’s still just a hanger.

It turns out I was completely wrong. This hanger, designed for Biomega, by Paul Crofts Studio is a bicycle hanger for the fashion conscious.

“The products I have designed for Biomega are based on simple twists on everyday objects, from bike clips to a sponge to clean your bike. The design of the bike clip was to be produced from Laser cut sprung stainless steel. An accessory previously overlooked, my aim was to take the object from the mundane and purely functional to a level that was more in tune with jewelry and the quality of the Biomega bikes.”The Designers for Biomega focus on the product goal and general feel instead of the technologies involved. The result is that the Human-Machine interface seems simpler and is more in harmony with your feelings towards the product.

Biomega Bikes

Biomega is a Copenhagen-based, Danish brand of designer bicycles. launched in 1998 by Jens Martin Skibsted. It is known for engaging international designers from outside the bicycle industry—including Marc Newson, Ross Lovegrove, Beatrice Santiccioli and Karim Rashid— in designing its products.

Biomega Bikes are the perfect Commuter Bicycles. Featuring Chainless bikes with shaft and belt-drive systems, it is possible to make your commute in fashionable clothing without the need to worry about grease getting on your clothes. Biomega makes bicycles that are as much a work of art as they are extremely efficient modes of transportation.

Biomega started collaborating with Puma under Antonio Bertone’s creative supervision. Skibsted designed the initial Puma bike, known as BOS / Boston for the Biomega portfolio. A folding mechanism allows the bike to be reduced in size by fifty percent to fit in tight spaces. Its main feature is a lock that is integrated within the structural framework. If a would-be thief breaks the lock, the bicycle breaks as well.

Recently The NYC bike, designed by KiBiSi – a design firm co-founded by Biomega’s founder, Jens Martin Skibsted, the architect Bjarke Ingels, and industrial designer Lars Holme Larsen. was launched at Eurobike and Interbike 2014.

The NYC / New York city bike is based on Biomega’s innovative CPH / Copenhagen design, but reengineered it to include functions that make commuting safer and more comfortable. The NYC incorporates chainless cycling with its carbon fiber belt drive that transfers power to the rear wheel. While classic in silhouette, the NYC utilizes a integrated front mudguard within the aluminum down tube.

Both the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMa) have Biomega bicycles in their collections.

October 1, 2014

Calacatta Nuvo

Caesarstone’s interpretation of natural Calacatta marble, Calacatta Nuvo brings you wide, elegant, cascading, grey veins on a white opaque base.

Calacatta Nuvo 5131, available nationwide this fall, comes in 20mm polished slabs 56.5″ x 120.”

Calacatta Nuvo makes an unforgettable impression and upgrades any interior design into a masterpiece. This latest design from Caesarstone offers the beauty of luxurious natural stone with the ease of Caesarstone care and maintenance.

Its hard, nonporous surface makes Caesarstone simple to clean. In most cases, soap and water or a mild detergent is all that is required to maintain its luster. If necessary, apply common, non-abrasive, household cleaners such as Soft Scrub Liquid Gel with Bleach or Comet Soft Cleanser Cream With Bleach directly on a damp cloth or sponge and wipe the surface, rinsing thoroughly after cleaning.

Caesarstone products come with Limited Lifetime Warranty as long as your material is permanently installed inside your primary residence and not used as flooring. If you prefer your local fabricator add a honed finish to your slab be aware that this could void your warranty.

September 28, 2014

Appliance News

General Electric (GE) recently announced it is in an agreement to sell its home appliances business to Swedish white-goods group Electrolux for $3.3 billion.

It’s hard to imagine GE, a household name for more than a century, leaving the consumer appliance industry.

This deal is a major shake-up in the home appliance industry, pairing the second- and third-largest companies in the industry.

Under the deal, GE has a long-term agreement with Electrolux to keep using the GE Appliances brand alongside its own Frigidaire brand in an attempt to leverage the company’s long history.

Although the boards of directors of both companies have approved the transaction, it is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is due to close next year.

Electrolux said the acquisition, the single biggest deal it has made, represented “an attractive strategic fit” for its operations in North America, expected to generate “significant synergies” particularly in procurement and day-to-day running of the combined business.

GE has sold devices to people for its entire 122-year history, starting with the light bulb, which was invented by company founder Thomas Edison. The lighting division will stay, but it’s just a tiny part of GE. Now GE will sell its products almost exclusively to other companies.

GE is the only remaining member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, first calculated in 1896. But, GE has frustrated shareholders by underperforming both the Dow and broader stock indexes for much of the last decade.

There was no mention of what would happen to FirstBuild which is a partnership between GE Appliances and Local Motors to create a new model for the appliance industry and manufacture those designs in its Microfactory.

My trip to the Monogram Experience Center last October. Being able to cook on
the appliances is an incredible educational tool and meeting designers and dealers
from around the country was very insightful.

September 21, 2014

Nouveau Rebel

It’s hard to believe a year ago I was attending the London Design Festival and visiting amazing showrooms. How can a year go so quickly? One showroom tour I really enjoyed was Lee Broom in Shoreditch.

This year Lee Broom launched a new collection of lighting and objects at Electra House, his flagship store, under the tongue in cheek title, ‘Nouveau Rebel.’

“I named the collection Nouveau Rebel as it is a material favored by the traditional art world and also the nouveau riche. I like the tipping point between these two worlds, and I wanted to create contemporary products that use the material in new ways whilst referencing 80’s styling and traditional production methods”

The lighting features diffusers made from hollowed out Carrera marble. A light source inside illuminates the stone’s veined surface from behind.

The collection includes Chamber pendant lights, a spherical Dome light and a linear light called Tube.

The Tube Light is made from a cylindrical piece of marble that is just six-millimetres thick along its length, with LED bulbs inside and bronze caps on each end.

“It’s a marble take on a fluorescent light,” said Broom. “It’s probably the difficult piece in the collection to make because its using one long piece of marble.”

Nouveau Rebel lighting at the launch party at the Ace Hotel