With spring approaching thoughts invariably turn to days spent out of doors, and, for those fortunate enough, to thoughts of leisurely days spent sat in the garden. Leisurely days spent sat in the garden, ideally, listening to music. ¿Listening to music about being sat in the garden; sat in the garden listening to songs about garden furniture......? The (hi)story of garden furniture is, inarguably, and somewhat logically, as old as the garden itself; a concept that stretches back to the
read moreDeveloped in the mid-1960s as an office furniture system, the inherent flexibility and variability of USM Haller's modular system has allowed it to naturally evolve alongside office practices and realities; for example, alongside the shift in recent decades from rigid to more flexible office scenographies, alongside the rise in recent decades of home working, or, most recently, with the USM Security Screen which naturally, and quickly, allows any existing USM reception desk to be effortlessly
read moreThe metal wire chair is such a well established seating genre it is hard to imagine it is possible to do anything new with it. Far less anything exciting. However...... ArNO by Bright Potato, as seen at Meet My Project, Paris Design Week 2018 ArNO by Bright Potato Presented in context of the exhibition Meet My Project at the VIA gallery, the joy, nay, the deep satisfaction, of ArNO by London based studio Bright Potato a.k.a Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology graduates David Beirne & Diego
read moreOn the train to Cologne the signs were unmissable, the sun may have been gloriously, victoriously, shinning, as it has done since Easter, from a clear azure sky: but autumn is definitely approaching. And while it may be a bit premature to start planning for next summer, at the annual spoga+gafa garden, freetime and equestrianism trade fair in Cologne, manufacturers presented what they expect us to sit on next summer in our gardens, on our balconies, while camping, the accessories they expect us
read moreDesigners are prone to spending inordinate amounts of time shaving a millimetre of a surface thickness. Or trying to increase the distance between two points by a couple of millimetres. Occupations which to the uninitiated can appear just a tick obsessive. In how far however relatively small changes of scale, differences of a few millimetres, can alter not only the physical appearance of a product, but the very character of a product, was elegantly explained by Danish manufacturer Houe at
read moreCelebrating the Renaissance era humanist and author Thomas More's contribution to the history of furniture design. And a work sadly now as lost as his fabled commonwealth.... Abraham Ortelius' map of Utopia (ca 1595) (Source https://commons.wikimedia.org/) Utopia: Then as now In late December 1516 the Flemish printer Dirk Martens published the first edition of Utopia by Thomas More, a retelling by More of an account of a far off commonwealth, one so strictly, logically and naturally governed
read moreAlthough the rumour persists that we only travel to trade fairs and exhibitions so that we can impress people in bars with phrases such as "Last week in New York..." or "For me the real beauty of Milan is...", in truth we do do a little work. And the fruits of that work can be seen, for example, in the ever expanding (smow)collection. And punctually to the start of The Ashes season we can now offer the extended Thonet outdoor range; quite possibly the most stylish furniture for sitting in the
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