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Produced in collaboration with The Woolbeding Charity and the National Trust, Glasshouse acts as a spectacular focal point for a new garden that takes visitors on a 12-step journey through a mock Silk Road. The ancient network of Eurasian trade routes played a central role in cultural, political, and religious interactions between the East and the West, and it still influences the designs of English gardens to this day. Some favorite English garden plants like rosemary, lavender, and fennel were brought to Britain for the first time along this route.

Following the garden path, visitors will discover over 300 plant species across 12 regions of the Silk Road, including Mediterranean evergreens and Gallica roses brought to Europe by traders from Persia. Inside the Glasshouse, they’ll find tropical species like umbrella trees, magnolias, bananas, and a rare Aralia vietnamensis. During colder weather, the structure’s ten steel “sepals” remain closed to protect the plants. When it’s warm, the sepals open using a hydraulic mechanism to provide access to sunlight and ventilation.

“This is a place and a project that literally unfolds,” says Heatherwick. “You step through this bewitchingly beautiful garden and discover an object that starts like a jewel and ends like a crown as the Glasshouse slowly unfurls. I think it also speaks of our need to keep creating amazing pasts. Weaving contemporary inventions into the fabric of historic settings and having the confidence to let each one speak to the other.”

It takes about four minutes for the Glasshouse to fully open, a process that must be a spectacle to behold in person. The structure already looks like a beautiful gem when closed, but once the sepals unfurl and point toward the sky, it catches the sunlight in a whole new way, scattering spiky geometric shadows all over the lawn.

“This Heatherwick Glasshouse represents the cutting edge of technical design and engineering, but it’s also a restoration of something that is part of Woolbeding’s history,” says Mark Woodruff of The Woolbeding Charity. “It stands as a crowning achievement in contemporary design, to house the flora of sub-tropical south-west China at the end of a path retracing the steps along the Silk Route, from temperate Europe and across mountains, arid lands, and high pastures that brought the plants from their native habitat in Asia to come to define much of the richness and glory of gardening in England.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChkJ7_3Y4PA

The Woolbeding Glasshouse and Silk Route Garden were created with the help of engineering firm Atelier Ten, MRG Studio landscape architects, moving structure specialist Eadon Consulting Ltd., Bellapart glasshouse engineering design and construction, and others.

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“Suspension House” preserves all the charms of this very special setting but lessens the home’s impact on the creek. The project presented an engineering problem at the outset: how would the architects expand and modernize the home without changing its outline? Their solution was to stack a whole new level on top of the two existing ones and modify the structural supports so they could accommodate the extra weight.

The original 1970s version of the home was built on columns driven into the creek bed. The new structural system uses steel supports under the floors to anchor the home to the bedrock so that no part of it is touching the water. The tranquil flow is unimpeded, and nearly every living space inside the 2,500-square-foot dwelling enjoys a beautiful view. Each level has its own glass-enclosed balcony, and a spacious deck (also following the contours of an existing structure) spills out onto the hillside. From inside, massive new floor-to-ceiling windows create an immersive experience.

Set at a 90-degree angle to the two original floors, the new addition contains the home’s primary suite, bedroom, and flex room. The shared spaces like the kitchen, dining area, and living room are on the middle level, and the spaces closest to the water include a guest room and utility room. The pale zinc cladding and black steel framework coupled with the stacked rectilinear shapes preserve the original home’s modernist feel.

“Transparent materials and carefully considered sight lines merge the home with this dramatic landscape,” say the architects. “The two lower floors stay studiously within the confines of the original building; yet the minimal glass volumes, steeped in the surrounding beauty, feel more expansive than ever. A third floor addition strikes a more slender profile facing east to engage the breadth of the site. The experience is one of being in nature and also humbled by it.”

Of course, the project calls to mind the famous Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, a 1935 home in southwest Pennsylvania built partly over a waterfall on the Bear Run creek. But that’s not the only beautiful home that enjoys such unusual surroundings. “Bridge House” by architect Dan Brunn hovers above a small natural stream in the mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles, using lightweight modular steel for a low impact on the natural site. And in rural Australia, architect Max Pritchard built a similarly bridge-like home with recycled corrugated metal siding, set across a seasonal winter creek that divides the property.

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To incorporate that sense of bonding with the beyond, Duy and his team at Duy Le Architects decided to use lots of glass and mirrors to create duplicating illusions throughout the space.

“At some specific angles, an infinite view can be seen within the house,” he says. “Some details in the house are only half-designed and once reflected by the mirror, they will reveal the complete pattern.”

The top floor hosts a Catholic altar for linkage with ancestors, and an extra bedroom upstairs further hints at the Coco theme with a solitary guitar positioned in the corner.

exterior

The entire exterior facade is composed of curved glass bricks in a nod to the eternal waves of the ubiquitous waterways intersecting the Sóc Trăng region. They also provide an open and airy feel, allowing the indoor spaces to flow seamlessly into outdoors.

The residents also wanted to be able to run their medical business out of the house, and enjoy their hobbies of gardening and koi fish ponds. The architect maximized the small space (only 15 feet wide) by removing as many walls as possible and creating clear sightlines across both levels.

The bottom floor includes a parking area, a clinic work space, the primary bedroom, bathroom, and an open concept kitchen and living area. The kitchen island was designed to expand between six and 18 seats, according to the daily family or business needs of the residents. The lounge area in this space feels like a tropical getaway, with a giant hammock opposite the island and seating inside a boat floating in a koi pond.

To accommodate the clients’ passion for gardening, the Duy Le team created five separate gardens spanning both floors of the Coco House, with marbled pebble skylights and glass block walls providing abundant natural light for both the vegetation and koi fish.

In fact, the architects created an entire microclimate for the home by strategically placing vented glass blocks in the walls. “The design utilizes ventilation bricks to ensure protection from rainy weather. It also allows air circulation from the facade to every nook and cranny. The selection and arrangement of the ventilation bricks, which have been under thorough consideration from the architect, are set up in different directions for aesthetic aspects as well as functioning as drainage and ventilators,” says Duy Le, who adds that the pond also helps regulate the temperature within the tropical abode.

The Coco House fits in perfectly with Duy Le Architects’ mission. “Our two main design influences are sculpture and climate,” the company website says. “It all starts with being sensitive to the local climate and mitigating the effects of climate change by using readily available, cost-effective, energy efficient, sustainable materials.”

The founder adds, “I always want to create impressive and different architectural works, sustainable with time, expressing the creativity and personality of Vietnamese people, not only for Vietnamese customers but also…all over the world.”

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The coolest thing about the Living O’Pod is the fact that it rotates in a full circle, spinning on its base to change up the views whenever you feel like facing a different direction. Depending on where you put it, you could be gazing out at the forest by day and enjoying the moonlight glimmering on a body of water after dark. Though it looks like it a lack of insulation would make it hard to keep cool or heated in extreme weather, UN10 Design says the pod is equipped with a thermal insulating layer and heating system to ensure normal operation in winter.

The interiors are designed to be comfortable enough for two people, featuring a kitchen, bathroom, and living room on the lower level and a curving sculptural white staircase leading up to the mezzanine bedroom, which is itself large enough to include a desk and seating area. The entryway is a circular glass door that appears to be the only part of the pod’s shell that opens to the air. The interior elements are all made of plywood.

The Living O’Pod is hypothetically set within the Repovesi National Park in Finland, one of the country’s most popular parks featuring picturesque hilly landscapes and forests that are now recovering from heavy commercial timber production. It seems that the company hasn’t yet built an actual prototype, but they explain that all of the pod’s components, including the main steel frame, would be prefabricated in a factory and transported to be assembled onsite to ensure the precision of the spherical shape.

UN10 Design doesn’t get into the technical details, so it’s unclear whether this glass living pod is just a beautiful dream or a fully fleshed-out concept ready to hit the assembly line. In either case, it at least seems possible to achieve. Glass dome homes and houses that rotate on a spinning base both already exist, so why not put the two ideas together in a form as captivating as this one?

“Home should be a personal space where you feel secure, creative, and inspired,” says UN10 Design. “The next housing concept should nurture the habitant’s soul, mind, and also be resilient for upcoming social, environmental, and technological challenges. Minimal, decentralized but connected, smart, and functional spaces need to be considered instead of the conventional urban fabric. The Living O’Pod is a space where you can communicate with mountains, trees, the sky, and streams.”

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The Hotel Hubertus is set at the foot of a popular ski and hiking area called Kronplatz in Valdaora’s Puster Valley. “Hub of Huts” gazes out at this serene landscape from a high vantage point, its series of glass-walled structures collectively forming a “zen-like refuge” for the wellness-oriented hotel. It’s located on the southeast side of the complex, at the edge of a glass-bottomed and cantilevered pool noa* added to the hotel six years ago. The beautiful 82-foot-long water feature has since become the hotel’s star attraction, so the architects used it for inspiration when designing the Hub of Huts.

Architect and noa* founder Lukas Rungger explains that the firm thought about all the activities swimmers tend to do in the pool, like standing, sitting, floating horizontally, and diving upside-down. “Each of these positions have a different horizon, and from this interplay of perspectives, the idea of the project came to life.”

Emulating a small village, the huts contain showers, changing rooms, and additional pools on the upper side of the platform. Below, in the volumes that appear inverted, even more pools can be found, along with saunas, showers, and a foyer. The architects also hid a water purification system for the pools and tiered seating for the saunas within the upside-down gables. The warmth of the saunas and protection of the platform overhead make these spaces feel sheltered and almost subterranean despite their elevated position.

The aesthetic of the huts mimics those of the Hubertus Pool and the rest of the Hotel Hubertus, which was extensively renovated by noa* in 2016. In addition to adding 16 new suites, a new kitchen with restaurants, a wine cellar, and fitness and relaxation rooms, the firm created a new facade from native larch tree trunks. This rhythmic, undulating exterior connects the hotel’s old and new volumes and gives them a visual cohesiveness. The same debarked larch trunks are used as pillars for both the cantilevered swimming pool and the Hub of Huts.

The architects add that “the new pool, which imposingly rests in-between the two accommodation wings, seems like a floating rock, come to rest at the site, overlooking the valley. The hidden edges of the pool, kept in anthracite-colored stone, abolish the gap between pool and landscape, creating the impression of the water flowing into nothing, disappearing between pool and landscape. The pool metaphorically reminds [one] of a mountain lake, nestled into the astonishing mountainscape of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Dolomites…”

Network of Architects is known for its spectacular and imaginative architectural creations, particularly in the areas of hospitality and cultural institutions. Also located in South Tyrol, its AEON hotel uses dramatic color contrasts and ultra-high ceilings to set a contemplative mood. The firm has also recently created a striking “floating” library for Milan based on the Tree of Knowledge, and a modular building system used as the basis for a sustainable community center.

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Restaurant owner and chef Motonori Hirata was looking for something brand new that felt long-established. “I was asked to design a building as ‘heavy’ as possible,” says Ishigami. “’I want an architecture whose heaviness would increase with time,’ [Hirata] said. ‘It cannot be artificially smooth but rather something with the roughness of nature. Authentic cuisines require such a place.’ He also told me that ‘it has to look as if it has been there and will continue to be there for the longest time.’”

Creating such a structure in the middle of a modern residential neighborhood presented plenty of challenges. Instead of focusing on what he currently had to work with, Ishigami took a subtractive approach, concentrating on what he could have if he removed parts of the existing space.

That line of thinking resulted in an underground cave dwelling that’s every bit as organic and “heavy” as it is practical and functional. Ishigami began with a design that would leave the roof of the new building flush with the ground level. Using state-of-the-art 3D software, he was able to determine the exact points for pile driving. When construction began, workers “dug the holes manually for precision while constantly confirming the position and shape on an iPad.”

Once all the holes were hollowed out, concrete was poured in to create the form of the organically-shaped columns. Then the rest of the space was excavated to create the living and working areas.

Ishigami tried to embrace accidents as they popped up, working the unknown into the process. “Unexpected factors such as growing grass, soil collapsing, or errors due to manual labor were tolerated as much as possible,” he notes. He hoped that the by accepting these “un-precisions,” he would create an architecture that “internalizes natural distortions and uncertainties.”

The original plans called for washing away all the dirt to reveal a gray concrete structure, but Ishigami and his team were so impressed with they way the soil-caked columns looked that they chose to leave them as-is. That decision is what gave the project its cave-like feel and inspired a redesign of the interior spaces, which now include a bedroom, bathroom, industrial kitchen space, and three courtyards that can be filled with dining tables during restaurant hours (or used as living spaces at other times).

Almost imperceptible glass creates walls around the structure to keep it warm and safe from the elements. The flat roof was filled in with concrete except for three skylights, and whitewashed to keep it distinctive from the surrounding topography.

Considered a design wunderkind in architecture circles, Ishimgami started his career with Kazuyo Sejima at SANAA, after graduating with a Master’s in Architecture and Planning from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 2000. In 2004 he started his own firm, junya.ishigami+associates, and has since gone on to win multiple awards, including becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize in 2009 for his ultra-thin glass Kanagawa Institute of Technology workshop. In addition to his architectural work, Ishigami also serves as the Kenzo Tange Design Critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

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One of their latest creations is “Atri,” an A-frame off-grid house with a mix of open living spaces and private rooms spread out over three levels, all connected to an open atrium shielded by a glass ceiling. Built in Sikhall, Vänersborg on the shores of Lake Vänern, the home is designed for a completely self-sufficient lifestyle with solar power, a wood-burning stove, built-in raised bed gardens to grow your own food, and connection to on-site well water and septic so no outside utilities are required. Its pointed design mimics the shape of the surrounding conifers.

The home essentially creates its own little microclimate thanks to the greenhouse effect, which can be amplified by the wood stove in harsh winter weather. Not only is that conducive to growing even heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes and peppers in winter, it also lets occupants enjoy an outdoor lifestyle year-round. Throughout the home, you have the ability to gaze out the glass A-frame roof, providing a direct connection to nature. It’s a refreshing change from architecture that can often feel in conflict with nature, working against it instead of with it. The architects intentionally kept the building site as free from intervention as possible, simply creating a gravel pad that visually connects to the neighboring sandy beach.

If there’s one caveat to such a design, it’s the question of whether the home could become uncomfortably warm in the summertime. Though it would increase the cost by a lot, perhaps the kind of glass that can change from clear to opaque on demand would help fine-tune the level of sun protection when needed. That price, by the way, is SEK 7,850,000 ($770,310 USD). The Atria home measures 1,335 square feet and has two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. Other homes by Naturvillan boast similar greenhouse-inspired designs, including the Mini, Midi, and Maxi.

Naturvillan offers a utopian vision of how such homes can be used. “With most of the outer garden only formed by nature you enter your own dream garden inside a greenhouse with a breathtaking high ceiling filled with brightness and clean air. Park the electric car and connect it to your own grid generating new power or to use for electricity in your house. Pick a couple of tomatoes along the green eco cycle wall before you go inside the dwelling. The entry hall is spacious, has easy access to next floor which contains bedroom(s), WC, balcony, and a library. Climb up to the roof terrace and breathe the air, relax, and enjoy the view.”

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This might just be the most fun twist on traditional Delft pottery you’ll ever see. Dating back to the 16th century in the northern part of The Netherlands, the very Dutch craft involves artisans hand-painting intricate scenes of landscapes, windmills, and houses in beautiful Delft blue. Calamityware’s version takes those idyllic scenes and inserts Sasquatch, giant frogs, pirates, sea monsters, cephalopods, and a “devil blob,” among other horrors.

Available as sets of two or more cups and saucers, or saucers alone, the 8-ounce teacups add a new option to Calamityware’s previous 12-ounce “Things Could Be Worse” mugs. They’re all made and decorated at the award-winning Kristoff porcelain workshop in Poland using the traditional in-glaze technique and are food safe, microwave safe, and dishwasher safe.

By the way, Calamityware has a host of other “Things Could Be Worse” products on their website. To go with your new teacup set, you can purchase four different bundles of matching tea accoutrements, including a teapot, sugar crock, and creamer carafe. A special holiday edition of the mugs introduces giant robots, pterodactyls, and zombie poodles into a festive winter scene alongside Santa, Christmas trees, and giant gingerbread men.

As their Kickstarter page says, “Your Things-Could-Be-Worse Teacups and Saucers are sure to become treasured family heirlooms cherished for their beauty, utility, and humor. Plus, these teacups help you achieve inner peace by keeping life’s setbacks in perspective and promoting a healthy attitude of gratitude. Things could be worse. In-glaze porcelain is fired at extra-high temperatures to allow the image to melt slightly into the surface of the plate. Connoisseurs will appreciate the beauty of the in-glaze technique which the artists at Kristoff have been refining since 1831. This is the look of porcelain you see in museums. Sweet.”

The teacups are expected to be available in the shop later this year. A set of 2 teacups and 2 saucers sold for $68, while a full set of 8 of each cost $264. The original Calamityware mugs and other products are available on the company’s website starting at $21.

About Calamityware

The company website explains that “Calamityware is a tiny, five-person, one-dog company headquartered in Pittsburgh. We love bringing the darkly whimsical view of our founder and chief monster-maker, Don Moyer, to life. Our products are high-quality, meticulously manufactured items that make wonderful gifts for you and other weird-adjacent people in your life. Our goal is to make you smile.”

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Set on the grounds of Fiskars, an art and design hub, the KOJA treehouse has been realized in 1:1 scale for the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale. Made of sustainable materials like wood and wool, the treehouse captures Polestar’s design language and planet-protecting values, “symbolizing a shift in both the way we use materials and the way we define a space,” as the brand explains.

Designer Kristian Talvitie was inspired to create a structure that allowed people to immerse themselves in nature without traveling far. The idea is that while it’s important to make the technologies we use to travel more sustainable, it’s also important for everyone to travel less in order to respond to the climate crisis. The treehouse nestles up into a tree canopy, which can be located virtually anywhere — even in a backyard, or a public park in a major city. That makes the experience of relaxing among the branches more accessible, reducing the need to intrude upon the wilderness.

The design is a black capsule with a nearly 360-degree ribbon of glass along the facade, granting occupants sweeping views of their surroundings. Stairs at the back grant access, and inside, visitors will find a bench wrapped around the tree trunk, essentially turning it into a sculptural focal point. Padded benches and work surfaces also line the interior walls. The roof is made of glass, too, so you can look up and gaze at the stars. This modern treehouse is made of locally sourced materials to help it blend in with its environment but has a futuristic aesthetic, demonstrating that sustainable design can be sleek and interesting, too.

“It’s amazing how well it embodies our brand values,” says Martin Österberg, Head of Marketing for Polestar Finland. “It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and the fact that it’s made from locally sourced spruce really emphasizes our focus on sustainability. We think we found the perfect home for it here at the Biennale.”

KOJA wasn’t the only sustainable micro-house displayed at the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale. As part of the exhibit “House by an Architect,” it joins six other mini-homes which are available for rent through Airbnb. KOJA will remain open to the public through September.

The two other winning designs of the 2021 Polestar Design Contest are “Glad to Be Dirty” by Mingwei Liu in the Student category and “Polestar H_UB” by David Vultaggio in the Professional category. The former is a small, geometric car which an architectural take on Polestar’s design vocabulary that actively filters dirty air as it goes, “allowing the user to feel proud of driving a dirty car.”

The H_UB is both a brand experience center and a place to hang out while charging your Polestar vehicle, which generates its own electricity and produces hydrogen from a biomass roof. The design is “a comprehensive reimagining of what once might have been called a garage.”

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The design draws inspiration from black holes, equating them with the mysteries of the deep. What looks like an eyeball is really a spherical glass dome providing guests with multi-level viewing platforms and uninterrupted 180-degree vistas of the ocean. The Zion is capable of hosting 20 guests in 10 luxury rooms, including a master suite on the main deck, along with 20+ crew members. A glass elevator travels from deck to deck, and a flybridge allows passengers to enjoy views “in all weather conditions.”

“The owners suites located at the main deck have electrically operated sky lounge balconies on either side,” the designers explain. “The main deck has open dining space connected to the glass bottom infinity swimming pool via hanging bridge. The lower deck has a large tender garage that allows for easy and safe deployment of tenders, jet skis, and other water toys. At the aft of the lower deck is a beach club with a dedicated gym and an open garden space. The beach club converts into an expandable sun bathing space through foldout bulwark terraces. The upper deck has a 12-meter helipad accessible by glass column elevator to all the decks.”

The glass bottom infinity pool is definitely a notable feature here, as is the nearly 40-foot helipad on the upper deck. Then again, are you even superyachting if you don’t have these? The main deck also has an open plan alfresco dining area adjacent to the pool, accessible via a sizable hanging bridge stretching beneath the helipad. The side terraces offer direct access to the water via ladders.

The Zion is currently just a concept, and Bhushan Powar Design says they created it just for fun. But we all know that billionaires love to collect outrageously expensive toys, so it wouldn’t be surprising at all if one of these were commissioned to hit the seas in real life. It would undoubtedly come with a very high price tag, but that’s nothing new.

The top 10 most expensive yachts in the world range from the $300 million Pelorus, owned by Hong Kong property tycoon Samuel Tak Lee, to the $4.8 billion History Supreme. The most expensive yacht of all time was designed by Stuart Hughes for an anonymous Malaysian businessman rumored to be Robert Kuok, founder of the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts chain.

Wondering what in the world would make the History Supreme so expensive? Well, let’s start with the 100,000 kilograms of solid gold and platinum used in its construction, including the base, deck, railings, and anchor. Then there’s the real T-Rex bone mounted on a wall made of meteoric stone in the main bedroom.

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The Canadian designer spent almost a year researching innovative and sustainable alternatives for the glass industry. She also experimented with fiberglass (a material traditionally used as a composite with casted plastic for various applications) by melting it in the ultra-high heat of a kiln. As the glass reached a soft state, Roseman manipulated it into intricate shapes and patterns, including lattice, lace, and honeycombs.

“The resulting material shows the movement of the melting of glass and carries surprising tactility that shows textile in a new way,” explains Roseman, a recent graduate of Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands. “This glass work technique is a dialogue between the textile and the kiln, as both parts of the process can be adjusted in order to achieve different results.”

She played around with those techniques by letting the glass drip and slump in different positions before fusing pieces together.

“Glass is a dynamic material, and the technique of slumping allows delicate control over the movement of its molten state,” she adds. “The beauty of working with glass in this intricate way is the ability to see the melting material caught in midair, creating a material that can look like it is suspended in time.”

Submitting her project to Dutch Design Week 2021, Roseman produced a collection of pieces, highlighting the many possible variations of her “Soft Silica” material. One twisted tube looks convincingly like it’s made of woven string and flexible mesh fabric, while another mimics the tiny pattern of medical gauze. Others are spaghetti-like layered masses and gloopy stacks of loops.

“The challenges lie in the dialogue between the knitting process and the kiln, as both influence the end result,” Roseman notes, adding that “throughout my research, I have learned to think from both perspectives to achieve optimal results.”

The artist’s translucent sage green tapestries and sculptural handiwork were one of 60 projects on display at last year’s Dutch Design Week as part of the Isola Talent Factory exhibit. The cutting-edge event offers a look at “the design of the future and the future of design” each year, with an emphasis on innovation, experiment, and cross-overs. New, young talent like Roseman is particularly sought after at Dutch Design Week.

One exciting application of Roseman’s soft silica is the ability to run copper wiring through the complex glass pieces while they’re still flexible, making it possible to turn the material into lamps or other electrically-powered items. Roseman successfully inserted fine wire into the glass at all sorts of angles and shapes.

“The electricity can run directly through the material to power multiple light sources, which opens up the possibility of creating intricate wiring systems integrated directly into an object,” she says. She intends to continue her experimentation with soft silica as she begins her career as a designer and materials researcher.

More of Roseman’s work can be found on her Facebook page and Instagram account.

The post Soft Silica Material Blurs the Line Between Glass and Textile first appeared on Dornob.

Every piece by BOMMA is handcrafted to preserve the company’s long history of superior craftsmanship. “Every manager says they are proud of their team, and all glassmaking is fascinating to watch,” says BOMMA owner Martin Wichterle. “But seeing our craftsmen handle oversized pieces of cut glass with extreme precision is an otherworldly experience. You never get used to it.”

BOMMA invited artists, designers, and architects to take their five modular shapes and transform them into spectacular grouped creations, and now they’re sharing the results.

Dechem Studio crafted a multi-pendant centerpiece using the Dark & Bright Star collection. Within smoked and frosted white glass vessels, a light source shines in the shape of a crystal star. The designers alternated the colors as two interlocking spirals spilling down the center of a white spiral staircase.

Dechem Studio also came up with two arrangements for the Pyrite collection, which is itself inspired by the famous “fool’s gold” stone. The golden version of the Pyrite light is in the shape of a perfect cube, and the silver version takes inspiration from salt crystals. The designers envisioned one installation as a series of swags reminiscent of a layered necklace, while another tightly groups the lights together in the shape of a larger shard.

The Soap Mini collection features glass blown into teardrop shapes without the use of a mold to mimic the appearance of soap bubbles glistening in shades of silver, gold, and blue. Designer Oto Svoboda put that iridescent quality to work, turning 1,070 frosted droplets together to form a sort of crystal canopy.

The Lens collection plays with the way lenses refract and reflect light, in this case pairing two lenses into a single object to multiply the illumination of the bulb within. Since these pieces are hand-painted, they can be made into any desired color. Studio deFORM took 16 Lens lights in amber glass and suspended them from a living room ceiling to create a dual-purpose chandelier and sculpture.

The Metamorphosis collection draws its inspiration from the scales of snakeskin and gothic arches. Produced as a collaboration with designer Rony Plesl, it comes in shades of amber, frosted white, and pearlescent gray.

BOMMA also collaborated with Studio deFORM and CMC architects to produce the Stellar Dust customized collection, which pairs 727 mouth-blown crystal droplets with 2,476 additional glass components to create an installation for the ceiling of J&T bank’s entrance hall in Prague.

What would you create if you had access to these gorgeous customizable lighting elements?

The post BOMMA Invites Designers to Turn Its Blown Glass Lighting into Beautiful Constellations first appeared on Dornob.

Founded in 2018, Bosie is a Gen Z-oriented brand aimed at “constantly exploring fashion that is suitable for both men and women. Through retro childlike fun and unique products, we can break the shackles and boundaries and show the innocence, seriousness, freedom, and romance of adults.” The Huaihai Road store is their 27th retail location and the fifth to be designed by Leaping Creative, but it’s certainly the most noteworthy of them all.

“The retail trend in China nowadays is day by day focusing on offering an exciting and fresh shopping experience. By working closely with the brand founder, we approached the design by defining the actual customer expectations for a shopping destination,” adds Zen Zheng, the Design Director of Leaping Creative.

And what is it that Gen Z wants? Novel experiences that take you on a journey. Bosie isn’t just a clothing store — it’s also a supermarket, ice cream café, pet supply store, and multimedia museum. The clothing isn’t categorized by gender or even type of garment. The displays are a lot more fluid than that, following particular moods and themes. As shoppers wind their way through the new flagship location, they’ll find a Jetsons-like setting designed to make them feel like they’re traveling through space and time.

The design embraces a slightly retro-futuristic vision of space travel. Reflective stainless steel sheets and lots of glass frame minimalist clothing displays and oversized decor, including an installation resembling a rocket engine. At the entrance, two semicircular glass elevator shafts have been modified into floor-to-ceiling LCD screens playing Bosie lifestyle content to draw passersby inside. A set of spiral stairs shaped like a UFO lead to the escalators. Conveyor belts, capsule-shaped fitting rooms labeled “no gender border,” and porthole windows add to the effect.

Even the restrooms, water dispenser, and vending machines look like they came from a 1970s sci-fi movie. Upstairs, the Bosie brand mascot, a goose, is reinvented as a 17-foot-long fiberglass machine. There’s a pet hotel so shoppers can drop off or interact with dogs and cats, and a photo booth labeled “Time Machine.”

The mannequins don astronaut helmets, and accessories are displayed in a high-tech laboratory-style environment. All of these elements come together to produce exactly the kind of space young people flock to for TikTok content, drawing even more attention to Bosie, which is quickly becoming a cult favorite. It’s a great example of what we can expect to see from retail design over the next decade as more brands embrace the idea of shopping as an interactive experience.

The post Bosie’s New Shanghai Store is a Space-Themed Interactive Experience first appeared on Dornob.

Designer and collector Lisa Perry takes up that mantle with her restoration of the iconic Scull House in the Hamptons. Originally designed by architect and urban planner Paul Lester Wiener, the Scull House was designed in the early 1960s for Pop Art collectors Ethel and Robert Scull. It’s a modernist’s dream dominated by sharp lines, stark aesthetics, and plenty of glass — a Wiener signature seen in many of his glass pavilions of the era (many of which were also built in the Hamptons).

Wiener himself had a strong connection to the Hamptons, summering there often before his death in 1967. It’s this history that inspired Perry to take the plunge after seeing the home on Instagram, along with with the fact that “it made me feel like I was home,” as she explained in a recent interview with New York Magazine.

The home was in need of serious restoration, but Perry was definitely up for the challenge. “The qualities of the design, the provenance, and [the house’s] history” made it a worthy endeavor for the creative designer, who ultimately decided to keep much of the original structure intact while still incorporating her own updates for a hybrid of past and present that honors the original while creating a livable space for the future.

This is especially true of the home’s former laundry area and storage room, which Perry has converted into a gallery and artist-in-residency space for women creatives. Dubbed Onna House, the space is yet another way to connect the house to its past as a midcentury haven for Hamptons artists and creatives. Though the Hamptons art scene was a boys-only club in the 1950s and 1960s, Perry’s space is devoted exclusively to celebrating the work of women — women whose voices would not have been heard in the Scull House and Hamptons of the past.

With her creative reimagining of the former Scull House in the Hamptons, designer and collector Lisa Perry has found a way to revitalize an important cultural space almost lost to the pages of history. By forging a connection to the past, she’s also found a way to build a better future by providing a space for women artists to flourish within a former modernist masterpiece that’s been given new life.

The post Lisa Perry Reimagines an Artistic Past With Hamptons Scull House Restoration first appeared on Dornob.