Alessi Essentiel de Pâtisserie Cookware

French designer Matali Crasset's collection of beautifully modern tools by Alessi for the pastry chef

Award-winning industrial designer Matali Crasset‘s new collection for Alessi, aptly called Essentiel de Pâtisserie, distills her research and time spent observing renowned French pastry chef Pierre Hermé into must-have instruments for pastry chefs. Beautifully modern, Crasset designed the four instruments for amateurs and professionals alike. While they can’t guarantee macaroons as light and delicate as those made by Hermé, the simple but rigorous design makes …

Lehel Kovács: Google Street View Illustrations

A Hungarian designer uses Google Streetview to illustrate an alphabet of whimsical cityscapes

> What happens when when the ABCs meet Google Map’s street views? Using the online superpower’s vast database of photography, Budapest-based designer Lehel Kovács illustrates a partial alphabet of locations such as Florence, Indianapolis and Ostrava in a series of vignettes. Kovács’ whimsically simple style strips each picture down to near outline form, strategically coloring them to highlight each place’s main attraction. With a degree …

Acne Furniture

Stockholm's multidisciplinary design house Acne makes stretched, squashed and pulled denim versions of Carl Malmsten's furniture

Launched yesterday in Paris, Acne‘s first foray into furniture tweaks Carl Malmsten’s New Berlin Sofa by upholstering it in denim and distorting it. Playing on what has come to be known as Malmsten’s typically Swedish design aesthetic, Acne founder Jonny Johansson explains that he decided “to objectify its form from a perspective play, …stretching, squashing and pulling the simplistic shape.” Johansson compares the remix, guided …