I was in utrecht (if people say that amsterdam is a great dutch city they haven’t been in utrecht yet) in the last 2 days and spend a great evening with some former design academy students. stephan siepermann and jeroen wesselink have their studio in an old moat in the city centre of utrecht. koen lomans cooked a perfect dinner, my favourite beefsteak included. we had some wine and obviously a lot of fun.

‘leaft’ lamp – stephan siepermann (you can find the hanging version above)

‘saddle’ chair – jeroen wesselink

in the mix – work of both

| stephan siepermann |
| jeroen wesselink |
| jan koen lomans |

practical and a good laugh, too.

joo youn peak, student of interactive telecommunications in new york, made 50 limited editions and sold 47 pieces at the exhibition of the work and gained ‘pillowig’ fans. two months later fans did a group performance piece at the old palace, seoul.

| joo youn paek | – pillowig

I found this today. from last year’s the great indoors awards afterparty.

fabian von spreckelsen and me with item idem’s asa warschafsky

bernhard willhelm opened his first shop in tokyo on february 4th 2006. the design-duo item idem created an environment inspired by the shelters of japanese homeless which are build with found objects, cardboards, blue plastic and waste of the consumerist society.

‘this shop is the ideal palace for a dandy-homeless.’

| item idem |
– when I saw the homepage the first time I wasn’t sure if it is the right one. but don’t get confused. it’s the right one! when you use the link, you will know what I am talking about.. go for it

yuta watanabe graduated with first class honours in product design from ravensbourne college of design and communication in london. I enjoy the little clou in the reinterpretation of a pencil.

| yuta watanabe |

landscape photography has never been something I like. just as still lifes. I appreciate photos with people. once in a blue moon I like still lifes. the exceptions proves the rule, people say. here is one of these rare exceptions: ( damn, he is good )

nike | posters for shoes | 2007

intersection | eau de mobile | 2004

psp | white | 2006

doingbird magazine | coathangers | 2007

maurice scheltens is working in the fields of fashion, art and advertisement. he creates still lifes that are both hyper realistic and completely artificial. Usually he takes objects from the worlds of commerce, fashion and design. He tends to remove them from their natural habitats and places them in a new environment. Thereby he often exposes them to uneasy conditions. And THAT combination I find fascinating. And suddenly I like a still life.

| maurice scheltens |

another story from the furniture fair, IMM, in cologne. when I was there I had a nice chat with a salesman from fredericia furniture, denmark. I just walked by and wanted to sit down. I saw these cozy looking chairs and he offered me to sit. I ended up lounging there for more than a half hour and actually wanted to stay but I had to move on.

now I read that this chair, called stingray, got the ‘interior innovation award 2008‘. the idea für stingray had the young danish designer thomas pedersen and it is a re-thinked alternative of the stingray made of plastic. an oldfashioned rocking chair gets a new meaning and becomes a modern classic.

everbody wants to sit on the stingray

nice frederica salesman from copenhagen