Memphis Design Retrospective

Azzedine Alaïa gallery recently unveiled an original 28-year retrospective of Memphis design now on display in Paris. Conceived by a gaggle of talented—and tipsy—architects and recently making a comeback in the design world, the Memphis movement came of an evening spent endlessly listening to Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. The Milan-based architects—led by the late Ettore Sottsass—decided to name their group after the southern U.S. …

Heath Ceramics Canisters

by Julie Wolfson The gorgeous set of limited edition canisters on view at Heath Ceramics' upcoming show are the result of a three-way collaboration between Heath, Commune Design and Alma Allen. The shape of the canisters, hand thrown at Heath's Sausalito studio, combined with Commune Design's custom made natural tone glazes and Alma Allen's polished walnut tops makes for an exquisite one-off addition to any …

Active Furniture

Active Furniture, a project by Spanish designers Virginia Pol, Ferran Lajara and Cristina Guardiola, uses counter-intuitive design as an antidote to our increasingly sedentary lives. The three objects—a floor lamp, a desk and a wall hanger—each require a level of exertion on the user's part to function. The floor lamp must be held upright, both to illuminate the bulb and keep the lamp vertical. Drawers …