A restaurant located quite far from Japan, in Lisbon, Portugal, honors these traditions in a very unusual way: through symbolic architecture. The Ajitama Ramen Bistro by JCFS Architects contains a gorgeous wooden trellis installation featuring a repeated motif of egg shapes. Located in a newly refurbished building on a block that dates back to the early 20th century, the bistro occupies a prominent position on a street corner, and the illuminated installation can be glimpsed from the doorway not long after dark.

The trellises are meant to recall the kind of complex wooden construction that’s often seen throughout Asia, commonly hand-crafted with an emphasis on the craftsmanship of the joinery. The architects explain that to them, the trellises symbolize the determination, rigor, and precision of the Japanese people. The egg shape, on the other hand, is pure comfort.

JCFS hoped to represent a duality between Eastern traditions and their Western interpretations, elegance and informality, softness and structure. The wooden framework is geometric but sculpted into ovoid shapes, sometimes stretching down vertical surfaces for a sense of continuity and envelopment. The design of the space would be serviceable enough without it, but the installation truly transforms the interiors.

The design team explains: “The Ajitama Ramen Bistro is a restaurant fruit of the dream and ambition of two friends in love with this traditional Japanese dish. After their visit to Japan, their long friendship was reinforced by this passion, the search for the most authentic ramen of Lisbon. Unlike many countries in Europe, the Ramen in Portugal was until a few years ago an unknown concept. The two friends, not being satisfied with the existing offerings, decided to venture into their own project together.”

“When JCFS was challenged to develop the [concept] for the restaurant, the egg – ‘the Ajitama,’ is present in everything that is the most beautiful, tasty, and memorable, and that we keep in memory when eating the ramen of these friends, [making it] the generator of all the construction of the idea for this place.”

“The repetition and interpretation of the egg gesture is projected in these facilities, [the] counter, [the] bathrooms … the result is a mixture of sensations in which the neons of the facade transport us to the crazy streets of Tokyo. The suspended wood, sculpted in the form of an egg, confers a lightness to the space, leaving us the sensation of having no end and in which the sky has no limit. The counter makes us remember the Japanese meal in its natural habitat, in which we visualize the chef to cook the beautiful delicacy.”

Is anyone else suddenly craving a hot bowl of fresh ramen?

The post Egg-Shaped Wooden Trellises Hang from the Ceiling of Lisbon Ramen Restaurant first appeared on Dornob.

The holiday season is upon us, and people everywhere are heading out in droves to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. From caroling to festive fun and frolicking, there’s certainly no shortage of spirit right now, and one of the most recent trends to emerge at this time of year is that of intricate lighting displays. Whether it’s individual homes coming alive with projections of angels, snowflakes, and Christmas scenes, or plazas, squares, and boulevards decked out with ornaments, decorations, and strings of fairy lights, you’re bound to find fun Christmas lights pretty much anywhere you go. It’s also a great opportunity to go out and be a tourist in your own town.

In honor of all that, we thought we’d check out some of our favorite Christmas light displays from around the globe.

Tokyo, Japan

Japan’s capital is known for its bustling intersections, loud audiovisual spectacles, and quirky character, and this really comes to the fore at Christmas time. Various neighborhoods across the city enter into something of a competition to see who can produce the best winter light installation, giving tourists visiting the city around the holiday season the treat of glittering arrangements in lots of different districts. One of the most popular winter illuminations is located in Midtown, where visitors can see a carpet of blue lights laid out on the ground. The “Starlight Garden” area here also features a whopping 190,000 LED lights.

Las Vegas, Nevada

“America’s Playground” is undoubtedly one of the most extravagant places in the world all year round, but it really outdoes itself when it comes to Christmas lights. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a race track that’s turned into a neon tunnel every holiday season, where visitors can venture beyond the famous Strip and ride down the two-and-a-half-mile “Glittering Lights” circuit. All in all, 500 displays appear in the LED setup, so you’re sure to be entertained while you wait for your turn.

Dublin, Ireland

The Irish capital is a great place to visit at any time of year, but lovers of the winter holidays will find that Dublin has a couple extra-twinkly treats in store for Christmas. The city’s famous Christmas lights are switched on every November, but this year the city’s most prominent buildings, including Trinity College, Central Bank, and the Customs House, are used as canvases for projections of Christmassy displays that make for a great walking route for anyone new to the city and looking to explore.

Austin, Texas

The cultural capital of Texas is no stranger to top-notch light shows, as it’s been hosting its “Trail of Lights” event for some 50 years now. Visitors can follow a 2.1-mile-long trail that takes them through the city’s Zilker Park, where an incredible 800 trees are lit up. An additional 50 light displays round out this amazing spectacle, cumulatively taking over 500 volunteers to set up each year. Austin is also home to the Zilker Tree, the self-proclaimed “World’s Tallest Manmade Christmas Tree” that towers 155 feet above the ground.

The post Stunning Christmas Light Displays From Around the World first appeared on Dornob.

If you were a kid growing up in the 90s, had a kid growing up in the 90s, or even walked into a Target school supplies section during that time period, you’re probably already familiar with Lisa Frank’s work. If you were living under a rock and haven’t heard of her, don’t worry, we’ve got the inside scoop for you.

Frank’s designs feature highly stylized animals, bright neon colors, and rainbow patterns. Her products are marketed mainly towards children, including folders, lunchboxes, stickers, and posters. The products gained huge popularity in the 1980s because they were unique, exciting, and just all around fun. Her work quickly became so iconic that you couldn’t enter an elementary school classroom without encountering a kitten with enchanting rainbow wings or a technicolor dolphin swimming above a mass of neon coral.

This penthouse flat, located in downtown Los Angeles, has everything a pre-teen girl (or an adult woman wracked with nostalgia for simpler times) could dream of. The bedspread is all rainbows and unicorns — literally. The bed is stacked with cloud-shaped pillows and sits within a neon pink bed frame. It’s also topped with a white, gauzy, light-up canopy to complete the extraordinary aesthetic.

When you finally pull your eyes away from the bed, you see rainbows everywhere. The curtains are beautifully technicolor and open to windows of rainbow hues. You enter the kitchen and are instantly confronted with a bold rainbow pillar. The cabinets? Also rainbow, but with tiger stripes and filled with stuffed animals. Even the dishtowels are an homage to ROYGBIV. If this feast for your eyes is not enough, the kitchen is stocked with a complimentary mini bar of sugary treats, including Pixy Stix, Pop-Tarts, and Fun Dip.

Lastly, the flat offers a magical underwater-themed bathroom. A roomy shower and tub gives you the opportunity to bathe among intertwined dolphins, colorful coral, and fish blowing heart bubbles. Every detail is stylized, from the bright pink bathrobe to the fish scale bath mat. Your toilet paper roll is even handed to you by a playful, friendly dolphin.

It wouldn’t be a Lisa Frank Flat if it didn’t include writing supplies. The room offers colorful pens, bright stickers, and iconic Lisa Frank stationary. And what’s the point of going on vacation if you can’t send your friends well wishes on brightly-colored leopard print paper?

Unfortunately for all the Lisa Frank lovers, the flat was only open for two weeks and completely sold out in the very first hour. Sorry 90s babies, but for now it looks like you’ll just have to keep the decade alive by watching Friends and wearing crop tops.

The post Nostalgic 90s Lisa Frank Apartment Lets You Relive Your Childhood first appeared on Dornob.

Thankfully, more and more gyms are getting the memo. Among them is Waterbeat Society, the first and only hydrospinning center in Italy. Located in Milan, it’s got a highly memorable (and Instagrammable) look courtesy of NoMade Architecture and Interior Design.

Located just around the corner from the city’s iconic Duomo, Waterbeat Society is a two-level space decked out in a soothing palette of blues, greens, and violets, emphasizing its connection to aquatic sports. While a lot of standard gyms are more evocative of grunts and body odor than anything else, Waterbeat hits the trendy #wellness vibe with living plants, neon signs reading “BE A HYDROLOVER,” billowing curtains in rich marine blue velvet, and spaces that feel minimalist and welcoming all at once.

The architects explain: “Waterbeat Society was conceived and designed as an innovative place, significantly different from any fitness gym you are used to. WBS is a place where ‘cool,’ ‘friendly,’ and ‘pop’ are the key words, connoting an innovative character able to convey a fresh and colorful mood. The goal was to make you feel immediately Californian atmospheres. The colors of the project focus on a range of green, light blue, and blue, [with] walls and ceilings pervaded by the freshness of these colors.”

On the ground floor is a reception area with a small waiting room and three massage cabins, two of which are housed within velvet “cocoons.” The workout spaces themselves are underground, including a swimming pool that fits 13 hydrospinning bikes, another waiting area, and several changing rooms.

The NoMade team says they wanted the space to feel fresh above all else, accented by unexpected materials and bright colors that are “the ingredients that characterize Waterbeat Society.”

They add: “From the waiting room, it is possible to see the swimming pool through a large window. Through a long, white, and bright corridor, a sort of chromatic pause, you can access the male and female changing rooms and the pool. The access to the pool is through a short staircase, where the back wall is covered in water-repellent wallpaper, on which there are [a] logo and foliage.”

“The niches, used for storing exercise tools and showers, are covered with the same tiles present in the reception. Changing rooms are characterized by very fresh accents. Here, there is a game of two colors, water blue for women and blue for men, while the showers are covered in white tiles, with black grout in this case.”

The fact that it feels so much cooler than the average gym probably says more about the standard lack of ornamentation than it does about any real innovation, but it works nonetheless. Do you care about whether your gym has an interesting look? Do aesthetics enhance your experience while working out, just like they might in other aspects of your life?

The post Waterbeat Society: A Stylish Gym Full of Neon Lights and Plants first appeared on Dornob.

Every year, Burning Man artists bring their A-game to Black Rock City, the temporary community constructed on the playa just for the event. The annual festival has taken place since 1986, and it only seems to grow in scale with each new year.

With a theme of “Metamorphoses,” the 2019 display was as dazzling as ever.

The festival’s website reads: “This year’s theme is a celebration of change, and an exploration of uncertainty. As such it invites a consideration of time; not its circular nature, or its attendant ritual, but in this case the relentless flight of time’s arrow, and an embrace of the elusive now. Memory is fickle, and the future is uncertain. None of us knows what he or she will become, but we can seek to understand where we are at this point in our transformative trajectory, this fleeting chord on the strings of existence.”

Check out these 7 standout features, and find the rest on Instagram under the hashtag #burningman2019.

Temple of Direction — Geordie Van Der Bosch

Burning Man 2019 kicked off on August 28th with the burning of “Temple of Direction,” a large maze-like structure that aims to provide a vessel where people can take or leave whatever they need. “This typically involves death, grief, loss, and pain, but also remembrance and love.”

The Folly — Dave Keene

“The Folly represents an imaginary shantytown of funky climbable towers and old western storefronts, cobbled together from salvaged and reclaimed lumber from original San Francisco Victorians to be reborn in the desert, affording shelter, entertainment, and perspective to the community.”

Stone 27 — Benjamin Langholz

This fun interactive piece was fully climbable, daring attendees to “confront nature and yourself as you journey along 27 stones floating above the Playa. Step into an alternate reality where destructive energy has been harmonized with nature to create moments of physical and mental elevation. Stone 27 finds great inspiration in simplicity, minimalism, and math to create clearness and consciousness in a material world, inviting you to a moment of complete presence.”

Art Park — Olivia Steele

Each year, artist Olivia Steele creates a neon-centric piece. This year’s piece, “Art Park,” is a collection of eleven illuminated works made of hand-bent iron and filled with propane. The piece pictured reads “Wish you were here.”

I.L.Y — Dan Mountain

This 35-foot-tall animatronic arm by Dan Mountain can be manipulated with a system of cables and winches, so festival goers can use it to make larger-than-life gestures. The artist says it’s “meant to engage participants in various visual, physical, and emotional ways.”

Valyrian Steel — Henry Chang

This may not count as an “installation,” but art cars are some of the coolest features Burning Man has to offer, and artist Henry Chang definitely didn’t disappoint with his intricate metallic creation.

The Man — David Best

As the name suggests, Burning Man isn’t complete without setting an enormous effigy ablaze. David Best continued the tradition that began with festival founder Larry Harvey with “The Man.”

The post Our Favorite Installations from Burning Man 2019 first appeared on Dornob.

The Baltimore-based duo has been working together since they met at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2001. Expressing emotion through a dazzling array of patterns in vivid hues, Jessie and Katey have developed a signature style that’s undeniably eye-catching, whether the work is a small screen print framed on a wall or a monumental mural stretching several city blocks in length. Their work has appeared in locations throughout their home city, all over the eastern coast of the United States, in Seattle at the Starbucks headquarters, and even as far afield as Hawaii.

One of their boldest pieces is “Summer Kaleidoscope,” a 400-foot-long floor mural and pop-up park developed in collaboration with Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program. Transforming a local park known as The Oval, the piece features 3D elements and painted mazes, encouraging visitors to interact with it at every step of the way.

The duo also designed a gorgeous staircase for the city of Knoxville, Tennessee in the summer of 2017 that produces an optical illusion when you stand at its base, with shapes seeming to protrude out from the steps. That design was based on traditional Appalachian weavings.

In Seattle, a snake-like mural winds its way along the floor at the base of the iconic Space Needle. Measuring an incredible 350 feet long, “Liquid Sunshine” was created through artSEA, a local mural program, in summer 2016.

A 2017 project called “Allumination:Boston” sees the duo not only painting all four sides of a small house, but also the floor and roof, adding details like recycled tin cans, plastic bags, and bottle caps.

“We often describe our work as being like music,” Jessie told Flood Magazine in a piece about their design for the 2018 Lollapalooza festival poster. “It’s abstract and it’s fluid. It’s sort of a collaboration of different shapes, like how different sounds collaborate in music. And the fact that we collaborate with each other is pretty cool. We’re a band, basically.”

In their bio, Jessie and Katey speak of taking inspiration from textiles and board games as well, saying their work “explores themes of movement and symmetry, inspired by bold color combinations, patterns in nature, and woven textiles.”

“Over the past two years the team has been exploring traditional batik, hand dyeing, and appliqué methods in their studio, where they have created several large-scale framed paintings. These painting have been exhibited in Brooklyn, Miami, Baltimore and Russia. They have been awarded two PNC Transformative Grants to bring their bold geometric paintings to Baltimore community. Their unique partnerships with the community earned the team residencies with the The Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo, NY, The Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME, and the John Micheal Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, WI.”

Want more murals? Be sure to keep up with Jessie and Katey’s projects on Instagram.

The post Playful Patterns: Neon Op Art Murals Enliven Urban Spaces first appeared on Dornob.

If you were to design a shop that looked the way ice cream tasted, what would you come up with? Your answer to that question would probably say a lot about your favorite flavor, whether that’s triple chocolate topped with rich hot fudge or an airy vegan mint sorbet. For a Bronx business offering Cookie Monster sundaes and other quirky treats, something lighthearted and colorful was in order, and interior design firm Asthetíque certainly delivered.

“Ice Scream” opened at the Mall at Bay Plaza in December 2018, specializing in liquid nitrogen ice cream, which typically has a creamier, denser texture than the regular stuff and gives off a vapor resembling smoke. Naturally, these qualities make it highly selfie-worthy, so it only made sense to design the actual store to be similarly appealing. Founded by New Yorker Julien Albertini and Moscow-born designer Alina Pimkina, Asthetíque wanted to make sure guests had “plenty of Instagrammable moments” inside.

The firm came up with all of Ice Scream’s branding, from the interior design down to the uniforms, business cards, and packaging, infusing them all with a modernized take on the 1980s Memphis design movement. They call it “a waffle cone of modernism, pop art, and a sprinkle of 1950s Kitsch design style,” as characterized by things like its soothing pastel color palette accented by neon lights, abstract geometric shapes, and living palm trees.

It’s those shapes that first get shoppers’ attention as they approach the entrance, reflecting brightly off the front window. Pass beyond the chic vertical oak cladding of the facade, and you’ll enter a space that instantly feels refreshing, with a vaguely tropical vibe and fun retro touches apparent all around. The 24-seat ice cream parlor features four main arches accented by multicolored LED lighting that slowly alternates through a rainbow of colors. Each sign features its own back-lit wooden slogan, like “Ice Scream is Better Than Therapy.”

The designers say they beveled the inner edges of the ceiling to make it feel as if it were carved out by an ice cream scooper, installing rainbow lights along the perimeter to further highlight it. Below that, the space is anchored by a central 15-foot-long communal table with a white oak plank tabletop, with high-top wooden tables and stools lining the parlor’s outer walls.

“The main architectural feature is the Ice Scream shop’s cash wrap,” says Asthetíque. “The facade of the counter was custom painted to match the brand’s signature multicolored motif. Pastel pinks, blues, and yellows form an abstract camouflage print which is overlaid by white geometric shapes. This striking feature entices patrons to photograph the distinctive process of utilizing liquid nitrogen to create the smoothest ice cream.”

“With it’s neo-Memphis design, Ice Scream was manifested to create a vibrant yet relaxed milieu allowing for a full mental holiday. Consciously elevating the nitrogen Ice Scream brand experience while bringing courageous and modern updates to the habitual ice cream space was what Asthetíque set [out] to achieve, and the nostalgia of this era was brought to the forefront to lure hearts in one scoop at a time.”

The post The 80s Are Back At This Memphis Design-Inspired Ice Cream Shop first appeared on Dornob.

Modern minimalism builds on the art, design, and architecture movements of the 20th century, celebrating the freedom and raw, immediate emotions to be found in stark simplicity. Reduced to the bare essentials, minimalist design uses elementary geometric forms, a lack of decoration, a focus on functionality, and wide open spaces to craft a dramatic visual impact. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s unquestionably the defining aesthetic of our era — and it’s only continuing to evolve along with our collective tastes.

It’s not hard to see why minimalist design is so often monochromatic. Not only do all-white spaces express the sense of visual “purity” upon which the style is based, but they also call to mind the technology and materials of the space age. But after decades of adhering to modernist principles valuing the look of a nearly blank canvas, aren’t we getting a little bored? Some architects and interior designers are starting to infuse otherwise minimalist spaces, which can read as sterile, with unexpected splashes of color and ornamentation.

In a fun new residential project in Mexico City, architect Miguel Ángel Aragones transforms a complex of three houses and a studio set in a wooded area called Bosques de las Lomas. By day, Rombo IV (just one of the four buildings) is a modernist delight. It’s full of dynamic shapes and voids expressed through spherical sculptures, reflective black pools, mirrored floors, textured white surfaces, and striated marble punctuated by irregular cutouts revealing the rooms or outdoor spaces beyond. Occupying three floors, the house is one big Cubist sculpture down to its smallest details.

With its careful attention to pleasing asymmetry and eye-catching silhouettes, this home is far from yawn-inducing. All of those white surfaces highlight the greenery outside the windows, including many small courtyard gardens scattered throughout the property, and there’s always something to look at. But by night, Rombo IV takes on a whole different personality thanks to an installation of rainbow-hued neon lights. The feel of each and every room, hallway, and nook is instantly transformed, almost as if an artist came through and splashed all of those blank canvases with paint.

Shifting waves of color keep the spaces constantly changing over time, so you never quite experience them the same way twice. The reflective surfaces that appear black in daylight multiply dramatically illuminated shapes and cutouts under the neon lighting for a pleasingly disorienting effect. The way in which Aragones pulled off this dual personality is so simple, yet the result is so striking and unexpected.

He explains: “Photography tells a small part of the history of what we discover as architecture, leaving aside the touch and expression of materials, the hardness and the softness, the heat and the cold, the voice of a space that accumulates the journey of the wind in the leaves of a tree, the sound of a fountain, the cooing (murmur) of silence, a picture does not describe the fragrance of a garden or the smell of incense: all this speaks of atmosphere and shelter, and I only find it in spaces that have the need to murmur with light. The shape of their most natural accident is nothing but the consequence of a space in search of intimacy, with oneself and of experiences that we wish to repeat in the form of architecture…”

The post Neon Lights Transform This Minimalist Home After Dark first appeared on Dornob.

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