Marni Chairs and L’arte del Ritratto

Colombian wicker furniture and staff portraits

Unveiled in a flurry of buzz at the 2012 Salone del Mobile, Marni has created a collection of 100 colorful wicker chairs made by ex-convicts in Colombia re-assimilating into social and professional life. The chairs are constructed from metal frames with multi-colored PVC threads woven around the seat backs and armrests. The style of seat is traditionally Colombian, updated with Marni‘s reinterpretation of the woven …

Albert Zuger

Roughshod elegance marks a designer's handmade jewelry

In Albert Zuger‘s jewelry you can see Aphrodite taking Hephaestus’ hand; it is a heavenly marriage of beauty and the forge. The Toronto-based designer hammers out earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets in bronze that carry an unpretentious elegance, marks of the hammer, and the spirit of the American craftsmanship. Zuger’s involvement with jewelry began with an actual wedding—his own. As a metalworker since high school …

Heineken Open Design Explorations: The Club

The future of nightlife as conceived by a cross-disciplinary team of club-going creatives

“We wanted to show design in action, not on a pedestal,” said Heineken’s Global Head of Design Mark van Iterson as he walked us through “The Club”, the first project of their Open Design Explorations, a pop up nightclub in the Tortona district during Milan’s Design Week. He wasn’t kidding around. The culmination of a year’s work, it represents an ambitious collaborative research and design …