Nendo has done it again with another ingenious chair! Japanese design studio Nendo’s Transparent Chair appears as only backrest and arm rests but is a fully functioning chair wrapped in polyurethane film. a transparent material that is commonly used as a packing material for precision instruments and products susceptible to vibrations and shock. Nendo was able to use this material in a chair due to its high elasticity and ability to return to its original state.

The work of Nendo continues to invite the viewer into their creations for something a little unexpected and pleasant. the plastic chair seems to invisibly support one’s weight and form into a hammock while one’s body seems to float in space to other viewers.

London interior designers and stylists Studio Toogood  invited food and design collective Arabeschi di Latte  to serve black food to guests at midnight dinners in a darkened apartment in Milan last week. Waitresses at the Underkitchen dinners wore perspex headpieces designed by Faye Toogood with milliner Zara Gorman and food included cheese served on coal, burned artichokes, bread dyed with squid ink and eggs cooked in black tea.

Titled Natura Morta, the Italian term for “still life”, the installation at Erastudio Apartment Gallery presented Toogood’s second furniture collection, Assemblage 2 . The outsized still lifes showcased in this provocative exhibition, which are composed from an abstract collection of hand-made and found objects, celebrate the darker side of the natural world. By replacing the delicate sycamore, brass and Portland stone found in Toogood’s first collection with more elemental materials, Assemblage 2 seeks to reinterpret its clean geometric forms made using leather, sand-cast aluminium, melted pewter, bronze, wax and resin.

The exceptionally detailed insects, created by an American artisan gave birth to ‘Johnny B. Butterfly’, a small limited series of pendants. Butterflies and dragonflies dance around an over-sized light bulb, wrapped with a frosted strip of telfon to create a whimsical and light-hearted fixture.

Dutch Designer Mieke Meijer’s ’Newspaperwood’ produced in collaboration with vij5 is a reversal of traditional production processes – instead of production going from wood to paper, it goes the other way around. the material is made from surplus amounts of newspapers that are layeredin such a way that they produce the effect of wood grain or rings of a tree, giving the product the aesthetic of real wood. it can also be cut, milled, sanded and can be treated like almost any other type of wood. 

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has collaborated with french lifestyle brand Hermes to create a paper house pavilion on show at Milan Furniture Fair 2011. located inside Hermès Maison, the structure follows in the architectural style of Ban, constructed from paper.

A wooden frame is in place which acts as the support for paper tubes which are placed vertically to form the walls of the structure. paper is then woven horizontally across through these ‘columns’ to close off the space, offering more privacy. The house is open on each end, allowing visitors to walk through the structure with ease The pavilion stands as an exhibition space for the first contemporary furniture collections designed for Hermès with pieces by Enzo Mari, Antonio Citterio, Denis Montel and Eric Benqué, along with new home furnishing fabrics.these furniture objects are arranged within to create a real domestic space.

At Milan Furniture Fair 2011,  Fendi presents the first Italian exhibition of their project, ‘Fatto a Mano for the Future’, featuring the performances of london-based designer Rowan Mersh, Italian artist Nicola Guerraz, Italian sculptor Sandro Del Pistoia, and Fendi artisan Federica Antonelli.

The live design series invites artists and designers to join a fendi craftsman in creating sculptural objects using discarded materials from the fendi production process, as a conceptual illustration of the interactions that take place between designers and artists, production and tradition, and creators and materials.

As a huge admirer of Ben Quilty’s work, I am so pleased to hear that he has just been announced the winner of this year’s  Archibald prize.

AGNSW: Now in its 90th year, the Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. J F Archibald’s primary aims were to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians. When Ben Quilty first asked legendary painter Margaret Olley ( the 88-year-old doyenne of Australian art, who was also the subject of an Archibald winner by William Dobell in 1948 ) to sit for him,  she said no. ‘Her lack of ego is so appealing,’ says Quilty. ‘Margaret didn’t understand why anyone would want to see a portrait of her.’Quilty met Olley when she was a guest judge for the 2002 Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship, which he won. ‘She’s been a friend and great supporter of my work ever since,’ he says.

Born in Lismore in 1923, Olley was awarded the Order of Australia in 1991 for service as an artist and to the promotion of art. In 1996, she was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia. ‘She’s such an inspiration,’ says Quilty. ‘She was a feminist ahead of her time. She’s vigorously passionate about social and political issues, as well as art, and is enormously compassionate. Margaret has such an infectious attitude to both life and death. Recently, I was amazed at how many new works she had on the go. She said to me, “I’m like an old tree dying and setting forth flowers as fast as it can, while it still can.” I thought that was such a powerful metaphor.’

As for the bright palette: ‘You just need to walk into her home, which is also her studio, to see that you couldn’t use anything but striking colour. It’s full of translucent works-in-progress, beautiful drawings, sculptures and flowers, so I wanted the portrait to reflect that.’

Most of Quilty’s work to date has been about masculinity but he says, ‘Margaret has had such a powerful bearing on my career. She has asked me constantly for years to stop painting ugly skulls and paint something beautiful.’ Quilty has just finished a series of paintings of his wife.

Now that I finally have the opportunity to design my own beach house we have been sourcing our favourite pieces of Danish furniture from here and abroad. Nothing suits the style more than the design classics of Borge Mogensen. His range for Fredericia encapsulates the worn in casual beach style we have created. The J39 chair, inspired by his teacher Kaare Klint and American Shaker Furniture, and the 3237 chair both feature in Borge Mogensen’s own home images. Vintage finds are currently on their way to us as we print!

The Safari chair  was designed by Kaare Klint in 1933 for Rud Rasmussen.

Kaare Klint wanted to produce af light, portable armchair and was inspired by the English officers chair he had seen in a travel guide from Africa. The purpose of using the chair in the field was maintained as the chair is easy to disassemble – and assemble – with no tools. The chair – maybe the world’s first “D-I-Y furniture” – can be rolled in carton and dispatched worldwide as I have recently done for my Sorrento beach house.

The craftsmanship is what grabs me. Just look at all those beautifully turned Ash timber legs, natural canvas or oxhide covers and thick leather strapping. So simple and so cool!