Pitchfork   The Dissolve   Festivals: Chicago | Paris
:

Hugh Miller's Folded Record Bureau isn't named for some cruel method of vinyl destruction, but rather for his handmade fabrication process that involves the bending of a solid piece of Iroko wood. Miller installed a 1985 Bang and Olufsen turntable completely flush on top of the console, with all original controls maintained, and built the main storage area on a slight slope to keep the records from tipping over. An easily accessible storage area on the right-hand side works for records on deck, or some printed matter.

The bureau was produced in a series of ten in Hugh Miller's Liverpool Studio.




Photos by Rob Lewis

When designer and artist Till Könneker moved into a studio apartment in Bern, Switzerland with no storage room, he sought a design solution. Könneker whipped up some drawings of a minimalist cube with a shelf for his vinyl collection, space for his flat panel TV, as well as clothes and shoes. He'd stash other odds 'n' ends inside the cube itself. And on top, he placed a bonus guest bed. Carpenter and fabricator Remo of holzlaborbern.ch brought the sketches into the realm of reality. And voila, a beautiful design piece that serves multiple purposes.

Often times when we see minimal furniture, we wonder if clean lines sacrifice comfort and hinder functionality for the sake of a sexy look. When we came across designer Christian Dorn, and discovered his process for his line of seating, we found sexy and practical in the same vicinity. Simple can be better when constructing loveseats, chairs, and couches. Polyurethane foam padding covered in high-quality fabrics and leathers are secondary to the shape of the master frame (available in five powder-coated colors), marrying understructure to forefront appearance. 

See more Dorn at Stiltreu Design.

 

The Adhocker line of chairs lives up to its improvisational title not only in function, but also in the process of its design. Adhocker 1, constructed from tape and plywood manages to create strength and stability from common materials, while Adhocker 2 and Adhocker 3 feature fabric improvisations on the stool to add comfort and flexibility to a basic tool object for sitting.

See more uses for all three chairs, as well as original production drawings from Annika Frye.









One can't utter the words "midcentury modern American furniture" without picturing that Herman Miller logo and iconic design pieces by Nelson and Eames. But, the American design house has actually been around over a century. Dutch agency Part of a Bigger Plan has made videos for the likes of Mr. Porter and Louis Vuitton and was tasked with covering Herman Miller's history in an anniversary video to hype the launch of the WHY platform. Cleverly, it packs 108 years of design history into just 108 seconds.

Twin Peaks

Inspired by Danish woodworking from the island of Amager, Chiaozza (pronounced "CHOW-zah") cuts its shelves by hand. Made with traditional Japanese wood saws, the company offers about ten different variations, with details like overlapping wood joints, subtle colors, and light wood that keep the designs modern. Each piece is produced in small runs of 10, and some can be ordered as mirrors. 

The shelves are availabe directly from the artist.






French designer José Lévy wants to make the exotic comfortable and familiar, and gosh darn it, he's excited about it. He's even given his collection, Morocco!, a not-so-French exclamation point.

Morocco!, an eclectic and minimal range of tables, seating, ceiling tiles, and mirrors, picks up elements from 1950s Moroccan design and combines them with a Parisian outlook and a little bit of luxurious fantasy. We love how Lévy has married the East with the West, building a tension between modern design and beldi, the Moroccan embrace of skilled trades and craft in everyday objects. His Beldi rug, fittingly, is hand-tufted in Casablanca. The patterns and textures evoke Morocco's love for the decorative arts, but here the pieces are meant to function in various interior settings far from North Africa.

Find out more at José Lévy.

 

By using an op-art design trick, Studio Roso's Circus Sideboard cabinet actually changes color during use. Sliding the doors to one side or the other swaps a red and white palette for a blue and yellow design. Both colors groove with the minimal white frame and triangular legs. [via Lin Morris]

See the cabinet in action below, and check out a few more images from Studio Roso.







Photos by Yewon Kim

Chicago is awash in street fests each summer, but the Guerrilla Truck Show, hosted by Morlen Sinoway Atelier during mega trade fair NeoCon each year stands out for its relaxed vibe and focus on creative work from small studios. Hundreds of designers and artists from Chicago and beyond show their latest projects and current wares from rented Ryder and U-Haul trucks. As one attendee noted Tuesday night, "it's a bad day to move out of an apartment in Chicago." As usual, we were inspired and enlightened.

By structuring a wall shelf around a central axis, the designers at Fusillo managed to create a modular system that can be adjusted to hold everything from a bicycle, to clothing, and even books. The shelf is made of a series of solid oak pieces, each with a hook built-in, that rotate to whatever arrangement works best for keeping your stuff in order. If you have a few bikes or more than a couple of coats to hang by the door, multiple shelves can be hung together for more storage. 

The Fusillo shelf is on sale now at Vice Versa.