Both items debuted on April 1st, prompting many to wonder whether they were actually real or just an April Fool’s Day joke. But despite their tongue-in-cheek nature, these things are fully functional. Designed by Japanese firm Gelchop for IKEA’s Art Event 2021, the LED table lamp (€39/$46 USD) aims to encourage viewers to question “an object’s ‘true’ purpose in the world,” according to a press release. It’s designed to lay flat on a surface, charges via USB, and consists of aluminum and plastic. The accompanying LED torch (€25/$30 USD) comes in blue or silver and is hilariously oversized.

“The inspiration for our ideas comes from everyday experiences and objects that, with a different approach, we transform into new, fun, and playful works of art and everyday gadgets,” says Gelchop. “IKEA ART EVENT 2021 table lamp and torches are a great example of how we work. So many people associate the Allen key with IKEA, yet it has a completely different function here with our interpretation. It’s something that we hope will even be appreciated by those who are not fans of assembling furniture.”

IKEA’s sixth annual Art Event is a limited collection blurring the line between art and functional design. The brand selected five artists and designers to create pieces that capture the imagination while doubling as useful household items. The other items in the 2021 range include a dramatic black and white tabletop clock by Daniel Arsham, a slitted round wall light by Sabine Marcelis, a framed drone collection by the firm Humans since 1982, and a glass vase and blanket printed with graphic lettering by Stefan Marx.

Many people see art as something to gaze at from a respectful distance in a museum or gallery, but IKEA hopes the event will help democratize art by removing some of those boundaries and encouraging physical interaction. Truly, each one of these pieces has its own story to tell.

An official company statement on the collection reads: “Driven by curiosity, these visionaries take recognizable objects and add their unique artistic spin, shifting our view of what a simple clock or lamp, flashlight or throw, vase or picture is. Each of these pieces has a vision of its own, elevating the ordinary into the extraordinary. IKEA ART EVENT 2021 showcases the future of living with art — where it can be picked up and used as well as thoughtfully reflected upon. There are no boundaries in IKEA’s new vision; art every day for everyone.”

If you like these quirky items, you should snap them up right away, because they’ll only be available for purchase in select stores or for delivery via IKEA-USA.com through May 2021.

The post IKEA Pays Homage to Its Most Iconic Tool with a Fun Allen Key Lamp first appeared on Dornob.

The Originals series includes a stool, chair, bench, and tree tables made of birch plywood panels that simply clip together using heavy-duty steel clips normally used to hold together plywood shipping crates. In other words, these fasteners mean serious business. If they can be trusted by the commercial packaging industry to move billions of dollars worth of merchandise every year, they can be trusted to hold your dining set steady.

The QIK clips come from manufacturer Clip-Lok SimPak. As detailed in an interview over at Dezeen, FUZL Studio founder Oliver Theobald chose the clips because they use spring tension capable of absorbing “un-holy levels of industrial abuse,” able to withstand forklift trucks, tons of dynamic forces, and drop tests. That also means they don’t need to be tightened regularly.

It’s hard not to think about a certain Swedish mega-retailer and the oft-lampooned difficulty of assembling its furniture when viewing the refreshing simplicity of the Originals system. That was on Theobald’s mind while designing this series, too. When flat pack furniture was first introduced, it felt revolutionary because it made it so easy to transport. It shouldn’t be so difficult to put together that we have to hire help (not to mention comically disposable).

With the Originals series, Theobald hopes to demonstrate that flat-pack furniture can last a lifetime, look cool, and make moving the easiest it’s ever been. The collection uses the same exact clip to put together each piece of furniture, so as long as you don’t mix up the flat-pack components from different items, you should have no problem taking them apart for transport or storage and then putting them together again.

The Originals furniture may be simple, but it’s not boring. The pieces have interesting lines and shapes, and the FSC-rated timber sourced from responsibly managed forests is hand-finished in a range of VOC-free, food-safe colorful oils and pigments including burnt orange, olive green, vivid chartreuse, black, and cream. Plus, when you get your box of parts, you won’t find a mass of styrofoam, paper, and little plastic baggies inside.

“We’ve kept our designs ‘tool free’ so there are no nuts and bolts involved — so no more of those small plastic bags with fixings that all have to be produced, and similarly no synthetic glues or varnishings,” says Fuzl Studio. “And we’ve done away with printed assembly instructions in favor of online assembly instructions. We’ve also developed 100-percent recyclable protective packaging for our products. We use only biodegradable paper tape and origami folding and fixing methods, using recycled cardboard that is ‘cut to order’ meaning there is no unnecessary waste. This means no bubblewrap, no plastics — just 100-percent easily recyclable materials.”

The pieces start at £150 (about $200 USD) and can be purchased online directly from FUZL Studio.

The post Flat-Pack Furniture System by FUZL Studio Held Together by Metal Clips first appeared on Dornob.

Hot tip: if trick or treating the usual way doesn’t feel quite right this year, consider putting a bell in your yard and shooting pre-bagged candy out to tiny goblins, ghouls, and witches through a painted PVC pipe or slide of some sort. You’ll still get the pleasure of seeing all the costumes while remaining 12 or more feet away.

Vintage Metal Luminaries at Oriental Trading

Love the look of luminaries but afraid of truly terrifying fire hazards? Oriental Trading has a set of three flameless metal luminaries with cut-outs that read “ENTER IF YOU DARE” when placed side-by-side. Just add your own battery-powered flameless candles for a safe but spooky flickering effect that’s perfect for the yard.

AtmosFX Ghostly Apparitions Digital Decor

Connect this AtmosFX “Ghostly Apparitions” DVD to your projector and aim it at your front windows to create a ghostly display of awesomely realistic-looking specters. If you’re a fan of Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” ride, this will give you a similar effect, albeit a bit scarier. If you don’t feel like spending money on the DVD, there are also some free loop-able options on YouTube.

Witchy Decor at World Market

Going for a witchy effect? This affordable trio from World Market would look great on a black lace-covered table on your porch. The items include a set of two “Mystic Halloween Hands,” an iridescent light-up LED crystal ball, and a black and natural spider web coir doormat.

Vintage Paper Decor by Beistle

If vintage-style Halloween is more your speed, check out the Beistle Vintage Halloween store on Amazon, which is stocked with adorable classic designs of black cats, witches, moons, jack o’lanterns, and more. Everything is highly affordable, ranging from $6 to $18, and since they’re all flat-packed paper, they’re super easy to store. Best of all, since a lot of them have Amazon’s Prime shipping, even procrastinators can get them in time for the holiday.

Dragon-Themed Yard Displays from Grandin Road

If you’re a Halloween overachiever looking for some dramatic outdoor decorations and still aren’t over Game of Thrones, Grandin Road has some pretty cool yard displays. The six-foot-tall “Animated Dark Night Dragon” turns its head, flaps its wings, and roars when motion-activated, while its eyes glow a steady yellow. The dragon tail, which comes in three pieces, will achieve an especially cool effect in a shallow pool of water or on fluffy cloud-like snow.

Spine-Tingling Styrofoam Tombstones at Spirit Halloween

Head to your nearest hair-raising abandoned big-box store (aka Spirit Halloween) for all the last-minute decorations you can handle, including loads of lightweight styrofoam tombstones perfect for digging your own personal front yard cemetery. These ones include the grave of Michael Myers, a light-up ghost, a classic R.I.P. cross, and a 3.5-foot-tall gargoyle.

Cool Creepy Lighting from Amazon

No Halloween decor is complete without some spooky atmospheric lighting. Try a shimmering “water wave” style light projector on the red or green setting for an animated effect, or replace some of your indoor and outdoor light bulbs with candle-like LED flame bulbs.

The post Make Halloween 2020 Splendidly Scary With These Decor Ideas first appeared on Dornob.

The way these tiny treehouses interact with houseplants is similar to the work of artist Jedediah Corwyn Voltz, who selects potted plants and bonsai with shapes that mimic real trees and builds adorable, realistic mini treehouses around them. Voltz’s work is definitely on another level, and these flat-pack kits can’t be customized to your plants in quite the same way, but you can still achieve a similar effect.

The model kits come in a range of difficulty levels, some bearing dozens of intricate pieces. The easiest models are rated 3/5 for difficulty, while the ornate six-story “Temple of Supreme Serenity” is a full-on 5/5. It takes two to four hours for the average person to assemble one miniature structure, with minimal glueing required. The styles include several beautiful temples, multi-level pagodas, a dangling lantern-style treehouse, and a more conventional rustic treehouse. Even better, more designs will be unlocked as the campaign meets future stretch goals.

Speaking of lanterns, here’s one of the coolest things about these mini flat-pack treehouse kits. Each model comes with LED lights and batteries so you can turn the tiny treehouses into softly glowing lamps, illuminating their interiors so all the details are visible in the dark. Models like “Tropical Lookout” and “Home Base” even have minuscule furniture arranged inside, including couches, dining sets, and beds small enough for ants to lounge on.

If you want to work on these models with kids without worrying about losing all the small parts, the creators just released the option of choosing larger versions of each treehouse, which makes them a lot easier to build. The regularly sized models will sell for about $45 each, and the scaled-up versions will cost an extra $14. The Kickstarter campaign ends Thursday, October 15th, and they’ll likely be available for retail sale at some point in the near future.

“Ever since I was little I loved arts and crafts, and now design has become a key tool for my self expression,” says creator Lars. “I love the problem solving, being hands on, and the way I get to manifest my own reality. My goal in life is to bring a bit of joy and happiness to the world, and to empower creativity in others. But really, I just love creating awesome stuff! Honestly, designing a product and bringing it into market has been a huge ambition of mine since I was young. If you back this project, you are helping me achieve a very big dream!”

If you love the idea of building architectural models but your tastes are more modern, there are plenty of other kits available for you, too. Just check out these mini modern “dollhouses” by toymaker BrincaDADA!

The post Build Your Own Tiny Treehouses With This DIY Model Kit first appeared on Dornob.

Here’s a new one for you. IKEA has teamed up with Pizza Hut for a limited-time-only collaboration. The first half of the campaign, created by advertising agency Ogivly, isn’t nearly as weird as the crossover sounds: Pizza Hut offered its standard pepperoni pie topped with IKEA’s beloved Swedish Meatballs. A little adventurous, maybe, but not totally out of left field. Available only at Pizza Hut’s Hong Kong locations, the special lasted for a week.

There’s probably something lost in the translation of this caption posted on Facebook by Pizza Hut Hong Kong, but here it is anyway, for humor’s sake:

“When the old man first knew that he wanted to approve this meatball batch, in fact, he refused! Because he felt that we couldn’t ask him to approve, he immediately [did]. He wants to try it, and see if the batch is big! Very Round! Very Juicy! At this time, one of the colleagues studying the new batch of sleepless day and night suddenly picked up a batch of big praises: ‘It! Home! Batch!’”

“The crowd was shocked in the room, and the old lady who had always [been] serious, could not help but laugh. He asked the colleague to pass him a batch. After the taste, he knew it was IKEA batch. The old man bit down… the fragrant spicy sausage and cheese even more called him to refuse to reject it. That’s it, this ‘must win IKEA’ approval. Thank you for your support for us and IKEA yí jiā jiā jū. We will be able to eat at Pizza Hut from March 2nd. Takeout, take-out delivery, or delivery.”

But that’s not all. Pizza Hut X IKEA also produced another unexpected mashup in the form of actual furniture. If you’ve ever wished you could scale up that little white “table” that comes in your pizza box to keep the cheese from getting stuck to the cardboard, you’ll appreciate this.

The Säva Table, named for the Swedish word for “pizza saver,” is instantly recognizable with its simple, three-legged white design. The center is even stamped with Pizza Hut’s signature logo. It comes flat-packed in a pizza-style box, and its instructions include a few steps you wouldn’t find in any other IKEA product, telling you to order a pizza and place it on the table at the end.

On top of all that, the table isn’t even available at IKEA stores. Pizza Hut customers who ordered the meatball pie had the option to add it onto their order at the time, so if you want one, you’ll have to chase down what’s probably destined to become a collector’s item.

The post IKEA Created a Full-Scale Version of That Little White Table in Your Pizza Box first appeared on Dornob.

Ian and Joie Alvaro Kent are the founders, owners, and designers behind NOMAD Micro Homes. They specialize in creating small homes that are not only within the average person’s means, but also environmentally friendly and connected to nature with oversized windows and doors on all sides.

In 2013, the duo burst onto the scene with the NOMAD Micro: a 100-sqaure-foot design with a space-saving staircase to the loft, a range of ceiling heights, and (as always) doors and windows that maximized natural light.

Six years after the NOMAD Micro went to market surrounded by great reviews, the Kent husband-and-wife team unveiled the NOMAD Cube. Measuring 13.5′ x 13.5′ x 13.5′, The Cube is not only slightly larger than its predecessor, it’s also available through mail order on Amazon for just $38,800. Even better, qualified buyers can finance their Cube through a company-affiliated lender.

The newest NOMAD model boasts several other advancements over its predecessor. For starters, it’s flat-packed, which dramatically reduces the shipping costs. Its parts are also manufactured using highly developed 3D-printed steel frame and CNC-mechanized technologies to guarantee everything fits together for quick and simple assembly.

Joie Kent explains: “Our customers also save money because they have the option of either completing the assembly themselves or hiring people to do it at handyman-level labor rates. Through our unique computer-driven manufacturing process, we’ve created components that fit together perfectly for quick construction that’s similar to IKEA’s model of selling inexpensive furniture through streamlined production technology.”

“Once it’s assembled, the home can be dismantled and moved if necessary,” adds Ian. “The components are light and can be hand-carried to locations that would otherwise be unreachable by truck or crane.” The materials used in the Cube are also termite, moisture, and fire resistant.

Inside the Cube, an open-plan kitchen boasts full-sized appliances and white cabinetry. The Kents say they “selected the color and style with the intention of blending the cabinetry with the walls.” They also included adaptable furniture that easily converts the living area, which has a non-claustrophobic 12-foot vaulted ceiling, into an office, dining room, sleeping space, or den.

“I knew that effective design could make a space this size feel comfortable. My goal was to produce an efficient yet cozy home with minimal impact on yard space and the environment,” says Ian Kent.

Need even more space than a single Cube has to offer? You’ll be happy to learn the structure can easily be enlarged by ordering additional pre-designed modules.

The post Ultra-Affordable NOMAD Micro Home For Sale on Amazon first appeared on Dornob.

Adding to an existing structure can be a tricky undertaking, especially when there’s historic value attached to it. After all, it’s nearly impossible to find the exact same materials that were originally used, let alone materials that have aged and weathered in a similar way. Designers might find themselves attempting faux finishes in an effort to camouflage the addition, or having no choice but to accept imperfect matches.

Still, chances are they aren’t going to fool anyone. That’s why so many architects choose to design additions in contrasting styles, with no attempt to hide the transition between the old and new. But what happens in the future, when those additions look dated and are no longer desirable?

That’s where modular systems come in, like the flat pack U-build kit by Studio Bark. Designed to make the construction process “truly affordable and truly self-built,” the system consists of slatted wooden panels that are delivered to a client’s doorstep in flat-pack form. They come with easy-to-follow instructions, and they can be assembled with little more than a mallet and a drill. The wooden boxes bolt together to create a rigid frame. Crucially, it’s all easy to disassemble when its presence is no longer desirable.

In Essex, England, the first extension to be built using the U-Build system has just been completed. “The Mill Lane Project” is a first-floor extension of an 1830s Georgian cottage facing a garden. Once the prepwork was finished on the existing house by local building renovation specialists Francis Builders, the clients took on the delivery and assembly of the new components themselves.

Externally, the extension is clad in black-stained slatted wood. Internally, the elements of the U-Build system are left raw for a clean contemporary effect. It contains a new guest bedroom, bathroom, open plan kitchen, and dining space for guests of the retired owners.

“We think that buildings should be affordable and adaptable. Why pay to have a new wall built, then pay again to knock it down in the future when your needs change? U-Build allows you to take control of the whole build process: designing, creating and adapting your own spaces.”

Studio Bark, the creator of the U-build kit, explains: “U-Build takes a circular economy approach to building. The system uses a selection of durable non-toxic materials — choose cost-effective OSB, robust spruce, or refined birch. The walls are insulated with natural sheep’s wool insulation, and can be clad in a variety of materials.”

The clients say they had a great experience working on the project, even though they had no prior building experience.

“Carrying out our recent build project with Studio Bark has been an amazing experience. We wanted to add a first-floor extension to our 1830s cottage to provide an upstairs yoga space and bedroom with an en-suite shower room and a landing space to accommodate all our books. Studio Bark came up with an innovative design with high ceilings vaulted in birch. It managed the difficult task of sitting well with the existing building while not attempting to copy it. They managed the planning application process, kep[t] us informed, and worked with us to ensure that we understood the proposals. To our delight, they told us that if we wished we could have some involvement in the build process, and we happily agreed.”

If your interest is piqued but you don’t feel quite ready to take on a U-Build projectt of your own, you might be interested to hear that you can also use the system’s accompanying design software to help design your own space. Check it out here.

The post First Home Addition Made with Studio Bark’s Flat-Pack U-Build System first appeared on Dornob.

The Voyager Kettle does all that and more. This highly portable kettle can go virtually anywhere you do, making it easy to boil water within minutes whether you’re at the office or out on a backcountry trail. While it’s not the first collapsible kettle made of food-grade silicone, it’s the first one that doesn’t require an accompanying hot plate or stove.

The Voyager features a 1000W heating element that can be powered by either a 110- or 220-volt current, which means you can use all sorts of different charging devices to power it up, including your car, without the need for an inverter.

The kettle’s coolest feature (other than its collapsibility, of course) is the fact that it will hold your water at the selected temperature for as long as 30 minutes. No more boiling a kettle of water, stepping away for a few minutes, and coming back to find that the water isn’t hot enough.

A digital screen displays the temperature inside the kettle, and you can either choose from 10 preset temperature options or set your own to get things brewing. True tea and coffee aficionados will love that feature, since different types of tea leaves and beans can require different brewing temperatures for optimal flavor. Just remember that the next time you use the kettle, it will automatically heat up to the temperature you last used unless you specify otherwise.

If there’s one caveat to the Voyager, it’s the fact that you still have to plug it into an outlet or charger. A truly portable electric kettle would actually be battery powered so you wouldn’t have to fuss with cords or power supplies while on the go. But perhaps making it self-contained would add too much bulk to the base and defeat the purpose.

The Voyager Kettle recently completed a successful round of crowdfunding on Kickstarter, raising over $43,000 to go into production. With any luck, it should be available to the public in the near future.

The kettle’s Kickstarter page reads: “My company, Nomad Joe, introduces Voyager Kettle to make your time away from home feel more like home. It is our mission to bring people worldwide a simple solution for making coffee or tea while traveling.”

“If you want to have your coffee just the way you like it, why not make it yourself, no matter where you are? People need a simple solution for making coffee or tea while traveling. Whether you’re a world voyager or you just want to make a decent cup of coffee in your office, dorm room, or Airbnb, you need a portable coffee-making option to help you get your fix.”

The post Flat-Pack Voyager Tea Kettle Collapses For Easy Travel first appeared on Dornob.

IKEA is beloved by people around the world for its affordability, unfussy modern designs, and the ease of loading and unloading its flat-pack furniture boxes. But the process of assembling your new IKEA bed frame, bookshelf, or wardrobe is notoriously confusing and time-consuming, and depending on how durable it is, you might have to repeat the process all over again every time you move.

A new collection of furniture and accessories aims to solve that problem by appealing directly to people who move often and tend to live in small spaces. RÅVAROR consists of more than 20 items that can quickly infuse small spaces with the comforts and convenience of home, including couches, a daybed, a mini kitchen, open storage solutions, lighting, textiles, and storage boxes.

Revealed at the company’s annual Democratic Design Days press event, RÅVAROR’s primary selling point is its adaptability. The set is minimalist and compact, and every element can be broken down into pieces that are easy for a single person to carry, even if you have to navigate flights of stairs. It’s scaled down significantly from your average living room furniture set, but for people living in spaces that measure under 250 square feet, that’s a good thing.

“More and more people are living and moving into cities. Approximately an extra 1.5 million people join the urban population every week. Living spaces are shrinking, and for many people the concept of home is no longer a geographical constant; it’s a space that’s here today, and maybe somewhere else tomorrow,” reads the company’s press release on the collection.

“Our starting point and creative idea was the reality of urban life. We asked ourselves; what is needed to turn a small space, such as 12 square meters [129 square feet], into a home? And what is needed to create that homely feeling even though you might be moving on to a new place soon?,” says Viveca Olsson, Creative leader, IKEA of Sweden.

“There is a rapidly growing urban population and people are living in smaller spaces as well as moving more often than before,” Olsson continues. “With RÅVAROR we wanted to create a few key items that have a new level of versatility, functionality, and simplicity. And when it is time to move, it should be easy to pack everything up, stack them together, and relocate to your next home.”

Obviously, RÅVAROR isn’t for everyone. People who like to spend a lot of time at home might find it worthwhile to place more of an emphasis on comfort than portability, even if it means hiring movers. But for many urbanites, home is just a place to crash and store belongings, with the city outside serving as their living rooms and kitchens.

The collection is also neutral enough that you could treat it like a blank canvas, using it as a backdrop for items that express your personality and tastes. And if it’s popular enough, maybe IKEA will eventually offer additional colors and styles that are just as easy to transport.

RÅVAROR will be available beginning in September 2020, so be sure to check back with us for updates on this exciting new collection.

The post New Packable Furniture from IKEA Makes Moving Easier Than Ever first appeared on Dornob.

A whimsical take on the classic glass table, the Cork Stopper Table from designer Hyeonil Jeong combines traditional and modern elements to make a delightful piece of furniture.

The table consists of a round glass top, four wooden legs, and a large cork – just like one you might find on a bottle – to hold it all together. The tops of the legs fold over in a sort of clip shape, grasping the smaller cutout circle in the table’s center.

According to the designer, this fun table can be assembled in less than a minute. No hardware or special skills are required to turn these simple pieces into a truly unique and lovely piece of home furniture.  To take it apart, you simply remove the cork and slide out the legs one by one. That makes it almost flat-pack, so it can easily be transported and stored. Pretty clever, huh?

“The Cork Stopper Table a DIY coffee table Which is both beautiful and functional; demonstrating that you don’t need to sacrifice aesthetics for ease of use or assembly. Courtesy of the cork stopper and its deceptively simple use in construction, the building of this table requires only less than a minute and no need for glue, screws or other hardware. With its unique and simple design, the Cork Stopper Table is free from the usual DIY furniture kit obstacles such as complex instructions, lengthy assembly time and an unpolished appearance.”

“The combination of hand-crafted cork, high polished tempered glass and birch plywood achieves an elegant look ; allowing the table to be poetic pieces of functional art that is easily constructed. The Cork Stopper Table might be one of the most beautiful coffee table that can be put together in just one minute.”

“Hyeonil Jeong is a New York based furniture and product designer.To simultaneously achieve functional efficiency and visual amusement, his design approach is focused on experimenting with the structure and mechanisms found in everyday items. 

The post A Cork Holds This Table Together first appeared on Dornob.

Known for their highly creative wooden micro-architecture, French design studio Fabbricabois applied the same sense of ingenuity to an origami-inspired coffee table that doubles as a pet shelter. ‘Nidin’ consists of seven geometric pieces of wood that fit together using rubber bands, eliminating the need for glue or other fasteners.

The table is delivered in a flat-pack kit, as the designers believe that the assembly process is part of the fun. It only takes a few minutes to fit the pieces together and secure them with the bands, creating a flat diamond-shaped table surface with a niche underneath.

That triangular niche of this adorable modern pet bed is lined with a soft, washable cushion, and just large enough for a cat or a small dog. Two angled spaces on the side also offer storage for items like magazines and remote controls.

“Sharing space with a pet can be difficult if you don’t have much space, but it’s another story if one can somehow integrate pet comforts with that of yours. That appears to be the idea behind Nidin, a multipurpose coffee table that also doubles as a bed for your cat or dog. The table is a re-interpretation of Japanese origami, consisting of seven geometric pieces that come flat packed, and are assembled with elastics, rather than fiddly fasteners or glue.”
“Once assembled, the by 38″ by 24″ by 18″ table has a generous, diamond-shaped surface for all manner of coffee table-related functions, and convenient book storage on both sides. But best of all, the table’s unique form has a central niche — which is lined with a custom-made ergonomic cushion from an Italian company — for a small-sized pet to snuggle in. Characterized as a « pragmatic geometric composition, » this clever space-saving coffee table can fold flat if not needed, can assemble in minutes, and provides humans with a free surface and a furry friend with an instant shelter.”

The post Origami Coffee Table Doubles as a Pet Bed first appeared on Dornob.

Quiet Inspiration

Stummel’s story is as simple as his furniture collection. Him and his wife were out shopping for furniture for their Shepherd’s Bush “Tin House,” a home that was itself on the 2016 shortlist for RIBA’s House of the Year prize. The unique structure is made up of a group of pyramid-shaped rooms clad in red metal and artfully arranged around a central courtyard.

The shopping spree sparked Stummel’s core design-based beliefs: that buildings and furniture should be built to last, create the least amount of waste possible, and echo the way their source materials were used.

Dissecting Nomad

Stummel’s premier furniture collection consists of the basics that every living room needs: a two-seater sofa, an armchair, and a coffee table. Each piece yields minimal waste and is extremely easy to take apart and pack flat. On top of all that, there are no tools or hardware required to set them up, with no instructions necessary! Stummel says that all that’s needed for set-up is “two minutes of common sense.”
Each piece can be broken up into five 2D cutouts, which Stummel hails as a major victory. “It takes so long to have anything made in England. These 2D cutouts were an epiphany: you can send off a design and get it back the next day,” he says.
A single sheet of birch plywood is used for each piece, with strategic cutting techniques using almost all of each sheet and further keeping waste to a minimum. Stummel explained that five pieces were needed to give the sofa, chair, and table optimum stability and strength. The upholstery for each set of chair and sofa cushions is manufactured from a single leather hide, again with minimal waste in mind.

Comfort is King

Stummel’s a big fan of relaxation, and he wanted to make sure that value was reflected in his furniture. He designed the sofa frame to be strong but supple and incorporated all the right angles for maximum comfort.

“The frame is just a useful vehicle,” he explains. “The surface is what makes the experience of the sofa; the leather transcends time. That’s where the focus is, where you sit, watch TV, and fall asleep.”
The leather cushions, custom-made by father-and-son design partners Phil and Sam Timings from UpTec, are made from premium aniline cowhide and finished with a solution of oil and wax that creates a naturally distressed, silky-soft surface.

Market Goals

Stummel believes his easily movable furniture line will attract the young people in London, many of whom live in various rental properties before buying a home. He notes: “That’s why flat-pack is so great. IKEA flat-pack has all these funny little pieces that you need to build it, so you construct it and never take it down. With Nomad, you don’t even need a tool. No glue, no nails; you just slot the pieces together. It’s so easy.”

The post No Waste, No Tools, No Problem: This Flat-Pack Furniture Has an Answer for Everything first appeared on Dornob.

The post Move Often? This Flat-Pack Furniture System is Modular & Ultra-Portable first appeared on Dornob.

What appears to be an ordinary cabinet in the corner of the living room expands to reveal a kitchen – and then expands again for lots and lots of storage space. Circular skylights let in lots of natural light. Entire walls can be opened to the outdoors.


Additional features include hexagonal decks (expandable, of course) as well as removable slatted privacy screens, green roofs, solar panels and composting toilets. Each individual cell has adjustable legs, so the units can be placed on uneven terrain in any configuration.

The post Hivehaus Hexagonal Flatpack Home Hides Lots of Storage first appeared on Dornob.

When you’re in college or just starting out on your own, moving from one place to another is a frustratingly frequent event. Lots of people at this stage in life accumulate cheap furniture and simply throw it away or give it away rather than having to lug it to yet another home. Room in a Box offers a much more eco-friendly way to move without the need to ditch your old stuff and buy more later.

Room in a Box is basically everything you need to set up a single room, whether it’s in a dorm or a shared house. The cardboard furniture folds flat to fit into an easily-transported box; when you get to your new place, you can assemble everything in less than 30 minutes.

Included in the box are a bed frame, a chair, a desk, a dresser, a garbage bin, and a recycling bin. The dresser consists of four individual boxes that can be moved around and configured in any way you want; the bed frame is made of the same type of boxes (with connectors holding them together) to provide additional storage. All of the pieces are made of 75% recycled materials, and everything is 100% recyclable when you wear it out – which, according to the designers, should take years.

The cardboard is coated with waterproof material so you don’t have to worry about a spill ruining your cool new desk. No tools or glue are needed to assemble or disassemble the furniture, and when you’re between homes everything fits into a neat outer box. The storage box even has wheels and a handle to make it simple to move from one place to the next.

“Typically, furnishing a new place involves certain trips to a furniture company, (often a Swedish one) a rented truck, pulled muscles, a cost of around $1000, and a blister-inducing relationship with an Allan Key… We don’t know who this Allan is, but we can’t say we’re a huge fan. The idea for our business  came while we were undergraduate students experiencing the difficulty of furnishing student housing semester after semester.”

Check it out at IndieGoGo.

The post Room in a Box = Instant Move first appeared on Dornob.

This eclectic line of side tables from designer Cédric Canaud use a variety of materials and finishes to make a big impact. The series, called À Partir du guéridon – or From Pedestal – incorporates interlocking panels to create easily assembled, easily movable pieces of decorative and functional furniture.

Each pedestal table consists of two panels made of raw pine sandwiched between two sheets of colorful paper. They have slots that let the two pieces fit together perfectly.

Once the column is assembled, a circular or rectangular surface made of cork or imitation granite. The surface sits atop the column to create a narrow table that’s perfect for plants or small decorative items.

The two-sided panels have a different color or design on each side, letting you customize the look of your table simply by turning it. The tabletops are interchangeable, adding another layer of customization.

” À PARTIR DU GUÉRIDON is a range of trolleys / racks extending the experiments of the collection «Jouer la matière», which  was launched in early 2014 with the project «La corbeille». These trolleys are made of panels/chassis  of raw pine wood, sandwiched between two sheets of colorful pasted paper, imitating wood, marble, glass or slate.”

“Easily assembled, the two panels fit one into the other to build a column. Continuing this method of installation, assembling two columns together builds a larger version, which looks more like an easy to move piece of furniture. Ideal in the living room, next to a chair, as a coffee table or as a side table for plants, these columns, whether as individuals or as numerous installations, provide an easily mountable landscape-removable, adjustable and interchangeable.”

“A plate will sit on top of the whole thing to provide a flat surface to support objects. These trays are available in two materials – cork and foam imitation granite – and in two versions, a circle 20cm in diameter used on the two options, single or double column and a rectangle 35x20cm for double columns. Each panel is double sided, so depending on the panels, the geometric panel changes color or the pattern produced changes depending on your will. The double face: “Turn your trolley and it will change color.”

The post Flat-Pack Pedestal Tables first appeared on Dornob.