Dwell Sep-15

“Success…seems to consist of an object’s ability to transform the atmosphere of surroundings in an unusually powerful and pleasing way while managing not to exclude or overpower the other objects in the room. Though this may be the goal of every project, it’s not often the result.” —JASPER MORRISON The quote above appears in the British designer’s recent tome, A Book of Things, in reference to the marketplace’s afinity for the Glo-ball lighting pieces he created for Flos in 1998. As he gratefully nods to the collection’s persistent success over the past 17 years, Morrison acknowledges that he can’t pinpoint exactly why it remains a best seller—noting also that if he could, he would like to repeat such a favorable outcome more often. It’s intriguing to use the words of…

Two rounds of applause for the May issue. The first one for another series of products made in America (Modern World, May 2015), the second for a piece on the storage of renewable energy (Energy 360, May 2015). William Lamb and Francesco Muzzi explain and illustrate several ways green energy is generated and stored, mostly in the American West. What we might add to their list is the availability of energy in the magma under volcanoes. Deep drilling in Hawaii and in Iceland has reached the magma, and there is active research on harnessing the energy under Iceland. We now know that a massive amount of energy exists under Yellowstone, which produces a super volcano every 600,000 years (we are close enough to that event to think about it). Talk…

Kelsey Keith We are thrilled to welcome back to the pages of Dwell our former special projects editor, Kelsey Keith, who is the editor-in-chief of the website Curbed. She visited the Charrier residence outside of Copenhagen (page 108) at the tail end of an unseasonably hot summer in Denmark. “Though I wish I could have brought home a Hans Wegner original as a memento of the trip,” she says, “I made do with the best honey I’ve ever tasted, courtesy of the Charrier family beehives.” Favorite piece of furniture: A Charles Pollock-designed executive chair for Knoll that she waited to buy until she found just the right color combination—a custom ivory tweed upholstery on a black base. Dan Rubinstein Currently the home and design editor at Departures, Dan Rubinstein lives…

LUVO Pick up a friend with benefits… nutritional benefits. It’s time to #GetFresh in the freezer aisle with Luvo and their wholesome, convenient meals made from fresh, nutritious ingredients. Delicious dishes that use less of the stuff so many of us want to cut back on — like sugar and sodium — and more of the things we really need, including fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Luvo thinks you shouldn’t have to sacrifice nutrition in the name of convenience. Whether you’re just getting into eating well or well into a long-term commitment, this is a relationship with food you’ll never regret. DESIGNED WELL luvoinc.com SOLAR WATER HEATING SoCalGas presents the next generation of efficiency: solar water heating. Solar water heaters work with traditional water heating systems to deliver hot water day,…

What does your favorite song look like? BeatWoven, the music-inspired textile line by London-based designer Nadia-Anne Ricketts, might just have the answer. “It’s bizarre, but I always get a bit of a color palette in my head when I hear music,” says Ricketts, who transforms songs into silk using a proprietary software that helps her visualize sound. From there, the designer intuitively adds color and edits the patterns before they’re woven on digital jacquard looms at a British silk mill that dates back to the 18th century. “I usually think of an interior story and then choose music that fits within that story,” says Ricketts of her audiovisual inspirations. British pop music served as the starting point for the collection she debuted stateside at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair,…

Since 1999, brothers Erwan and Rowan Bouroullec have run an independent practice from their Paris-based studio, working with furniture brands such as Vitra, Kvadrat, and Cappellini. This year, they launched the Officina collection with Magis, using wrought iron to achieve the modern, elegantly functional pieces for which they are known. We caught up with Erwan at the Milan Furniture Fair to get his thoughts on the use of an ancient technique for a contemporary collection, and how production choices hold the power to shape the industry. How did you first approach the idea of using a traditional method for a contemporary line? If you compare it to cooking, to play with wrought iron is just like having an incredible fish—a beautiful one, like whole tuna. You shouldn’t do anything. You…