StyleFactory Blog

Every three years, designers from around the world converge on Hokkaido, Japan, for the IFDA. As usual, this year’s competition features plenty of excellent designs. Here’s how the committee describes this year’s theme: As the main material used in the furniture designs for the IFDA (International Furniture Design Fair Asahikawa) is wood, the competition is intrinsically linked to the [...]

Fire. Explosions. We’re used to them wrecking things, taking man-made objects and blowing them into unrecognizable pieces. Two designers, however, are turning this convention on its head. Kaspar Hamacher takes fallen and dead trees and turns them into stools. How? He creates fire within the wood pieces to create legs for his stools and tables. [...]

We’re all used to having Corian in our kitchens. What’s rarer is seeing it used to make tables, lamps, and mirrors. Fortunately for you, today is one of those rare days. First we have this elegant, swirling lamp from Greg Parsell. It was recently featured at the New Designers show at London. Here’s how Parsell [...]

For many Americans, their experience with bamboo is limited and short-lived. Other cultures have a long and friendly relationship with the material, as it grows quickly and easily under certain conditions. Add these qualities to the fact that some varieties are extremely sturdy (sometimes 3x the strength of oak), and you have a green material [...]

Lui Kawasumi has made a series of metal pieces using what he calls “an experimental laser-cutting technique”. I’ll admit, I’m not very familiar with laser technology. It all sounds pretty sci-fi to me, and therefore “experimental” by definition. While I may not know much about lasers, I do know that I love these designs. Via Core77: A [...]

We’re all familiar with the air mattress. We roll it out and fill it up for our guests, and wake up hoping that there’s still air in there. Though the air mattress has its flaws, its portability and ability to shrink make it an easy sleeping solution. While inflatable furnishings have been around since the [...]

Sometimes, your house guests are the life of the party. Other times, they can be snooty and rude. When the latter is the case, I view my decor as a kind of protection against snobbishness. Their holier-than-thou attitude is kept in check by the awesome chairs they’re sitting on. While most designers don’t think of their [...]

Here’s a trend you may have missed: Chairs that make a 360-degree vertical loop. Why, you may ask, would I want a chair that loops over my head? The Hug Chair has an answer to that question. As the chair loops vertically, it offsets horizontally, creating two seats that face one another. This design implies connection [...]

Concrete. It surrounds us from head to foot. A few months back, we discussed how designers are incorporating concrete into their work. Today we’re showing you a new way to look at this classic material. Or, to be more specific, a way to look through it. A few years back, Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi invented Light Transmitting [...]

Sometimes, the best designs come from nature.  Many “new” innovations have already been designed by  evolution (or God, if you prefer). One of the most frequent patterns in nature is the fractal, and when designers mimic it, the results are often beautiful. My favorite is the Fractal.MGX table by WertelOberfell-Platform and Matthias Bar. From sub-studio via Six Different Ways. [...]