Modern Furniture Made From Volcanic Rock by Maffam Freeform of Latvia.

The Manu series of products from Maffam Freeform, a workshop of the Latvian interior designer Raimonds Cirulis, is made from Volcanic rock (basalt) fibers bonded with eco-resins. Each item is one-of-a-kind, practical, and 100% handmade.





The furniture collection is designed for the outdoors but can also be used in large indoor spaces. The seats, tables and other products in the collection are waterproof, sturdy, environmentally friendly, unbelievably light, and distinctly innovative due to the properties of basalt.









The company, Maffram Freeform, offers hand-made furniture for garden or terraces, as well as stylish design objects. "I wanted to find and think of something unique. Something new and I did it," says designer Raimonds Cirulis. He is the first person in the world to make furniture from basalt fibers.





The designer has managed to develop 17 types of design objects. The furniture is light, but stable, and has the unique basalt lace pattern. Two identical objects are impossible to make, because every piece of furniture is 100% hand made.




Uniqueness lies in two important aspects. Firstly, basalt absorbs all kinds of harmful rays - ultraviolet, radio, electromagnetic, mobile phone, even the earth gravitational radiation and X-rays, emphasizes the designer. So people are protected when they are relaxing in basalt furniture from many things which can negatively affect them. Secondly, basalt is unusually durable - even stronger than fiberglass. Therefore the furniture will last for generations.

"This furniture not only takes a practical, utilitarian function, but with that comes story of its unique design and mysterious volcanic origin. Every product have it’s personality," said SIA "Maffam Freeform" project manager Karlis Parsonoks. The company focuses on three main customer groups - hotel, leisure center, restaurant owners, people who are able to pay for a unique design, interior design showrooms.



Note: The Manu Nest suspended chair will soon be available in the two sizes shown above.

Maffam Freeform is a workshop of the Latvian interior designer Raimonds Cirulis, creating unique items from basalt fibers bonded with eco-resins – true synthesis of art and technology. Each item is one-of-a-kind, practical, and 100% handmade. More than 10 freeform pieces are included in the 2011 Maffam Freeform collection, with new items added monthly.

Maffam Freeform

Fab Foursomes. Modern Design, Architecture, Fine Art, Fashion and Music T-Shirts & Posters.

Inspired by the & T-shirt movement that started with Experimental Jetset's John&Paul&Ringo&George shirt, Fab is offering their own versions for lovers of modern design, modern art, pop music and fashion.


All the t-shirts are printed on American Apparel 50/50 cotton-poly blend and the posters are printed on 80# coated cover stock.

T-Shirts

Graphic Designers:

above: T-shirt references Saul Bass, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand and Herbert Lubalin.

Architects and Furniture Designers:

above: T-shirt references Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.

above: T-shirt references Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Eero Saarinen.

Fine Artists:

above: T-shirt references Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein and Jeff Koons.

Fashion Designers:

above: T-shirt references Coco Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin and Karl Lagerfeld.

Pop Music artists:

above: do you seriously need me to say who this T-shirt references?

Posters


They are also selling Poster Prints of fab foursomes, unframed and printed on 80# coated cover stock. Below are just a few.


above: Print references Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen and Poul Henningsen.

above: Print references Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi and Matteo Thun

above: Print references Tom Dixon, Ron Arad, Marc Newsom and Philippe Starck.

above: Print references Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier.

Both the T-shirts and the poster prints are available at the discounted price of $18 each (regularly $30 each) through Fab.com for a limited time only. The wonderful site is by invite only, so if you're not a member, feel free to use the link provided below.

http://fab.com/y06r4g

Funky Find of The Week: Hole In The Floor Storage By Raw Edges Design Studio.

Hole In the Floor is a collection of special edition wood storage units for books that appear to be coming out of the floor by Israel based Raw Edges Design Studio.

About Raw Edges Design Studio:

above: Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay

This official collaboration between Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay started after many years of sharing life, thoughts, ideas and everything in-between. Yael’s main focus includes turning two-dimensional sheet materials into curvaceous functional forms, whereas Shay is fascinated by how things move, function and react.

Since their graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 2006, they have received several highly respected awards including The British Council Talented Award, iF Gold Award, Dutch Design Award, Wallpaper* Design Award 2009 and the Elle Decoration International Design Award for best furniture of 2008_09 and just recently the Designer of the Future Award for 2009 from Design Miami/ Basel.

Their works have been exhibited at Johnson Trading Gallery in New York, FAT Galerie in Paris, Scope Art Fair in Basel and Rossana Orlandi Milan. Their designs can be found within the permanent collection of the MoMA New-York and The Design Museum London, and in production with Cappellini, Established & Sons and Arco. In addition, Yael & Shay produce unique and limited-edition designs within their own studio in London. Their work has been featured in many major design publications and newspapers worldwide.



See more of their wonderful concepts and production pieces here

I Dare You To Throw A Stone. Glass Houses & Furniture by Carlo Santambrogio and Ennio Arosio.

Santambrogiomilano, the brainchild of architect and ideator Carlo Santambrogio, is an entrepreneurial reality which realizes projects in glass with an exclusive character, unique pieces that can integrate themselves in all environments of daily life.

To showcase his glass furnishings collection named Simplicity (the individual items of which are shown later in this post), he has designed two transparent glass concept homes.









The collection named SIMPLICITY was born from the collaboration between Carlo Santambrogio and the designer Ennio Arosio with the aim of giving “transparent” shape to a precise and essential way of conceiving and living the spaces. The elements, even if strongly distinctive, do not overpower the atmosphere that surrounds them entering in perfect symbiosis with it.

Glass Staircase:




SIMPLICITY is realized in extra clear glass by Saint Gobain, tempered and stratified, named Diamant for its characteristics of extreme purity and brilliancy. It is interpreted in a unique way with the use of important thicknesses (30 mm) and treated with special technical procedures to guarantee total security.

Glass Bed:





The essential characteristic is the “unicity” of the single elements which permit to realize standard pieces as well as complex projects. Our creations can vary in shape, dimension and finishing every time, allowing a high level of personalization.

Glass Sofa:




The use of glass sheets in a structural way excludes the need of profiles or other supporting elements. This way we eliminate all what may distract the eye from a contemplation of pure shapes and extreme elegance, born to surprise and to spread aesthetical pleasure.

Glass Bookcase and Glass Shelves:




The tendency of integrating glass with different materials as wood becomes concrete also in the editions of the SIMPLICITY kitchen and tub.

Glass Kitchen:




Glass Bathroom, Basins and Bathtub:






Starting from the SIMPLICITY concept, mixture of joints and glass sheets, the surfaces vanish thanks to the transparency of the suspended planes and of the glass beams.



An incredible effect derives from the staircase with its structural elements entirely in glass, devoid of any steel profile, and standing out with its transparency and lightness.

Glass Chair and Glass Lamp:


Glass Benches:







For more information:
Santambrogiomilano
T + 39.02.76020788
Mail: info@santambrogiomilano.it