Tag: Sancal

Back It Up…

Privacy and a sense of luxury often go hand-in-hand, so it stands to reason that with the prevalence of open-plan homes, wall-free workplaces and vast hospitality venues, we instintively seek to demarcate our own domain.

Designers are heeding the call and rising to the challenge by putting some back into it – literally.

Endeavouring to create miniature retreats within our homes, hotels and workplaces: designers are affording us greater variety in lounging options through the use of high backs and wrapped or winged arms.

Each of the collections pictured here is steeped with the afore mentioned sense of luxury – the pieces take on coccoon-like characteristics that are once is comfortable, sophisticated and intimate.

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Two To Tangerine Tango…

It’s that time of the year again!

The aesthetes at colour HQ: Pantone, have announced the annual Colour Of The Year!

Hot on the heels of last years “Honeysuckle” comes the racy “Tangerine Tango”!  Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute® has the following to say of this years shade:

Sophisticated, but at the same time dramatic and seductive, Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it…. Tangerine Tango marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.

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Spain Invades Japan (For Design Week)…

In November the 2011 Tokyo Designer’s Week (TDW) saw Spanish brands curated en masse in an exhibition titled: SPAINALIGHT a celebration of ‘light and passion’ staged at the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo .

Spainalight’s mise-en-scene pays tribute to the warm, Mediterranean light which Spanish designers make full use of in their work – a charming, playful light conducive to creativity, which celebrates innovation and avant-garde experimentation.

Showcasing 116 pieces by 43 designers and 52 companies, the exhibition was very well recieved and highlighted the shared Spanish/Japanese ethos of innovation as a driving force in creative persuits.  Sancal, nanimarquina, Vondom, Andreu World, and Lzf Lamps (amongst others) celebrated the recent works of Patricia Urquiola, Bouroullec Studio, Mariscal and Jaime Hayon!

Recent disasters in Japan did little to dissuade participants and visitors to the annual fixture on the creative calendar.  German architect Florian Busch was engaged as creative director for 2011.  In the central exhbition centre not far from SPAINALIGHT the concept of exhibiting was given a fresh perspective:

By putting no restriction on the booth height and by arranging the booths in checkerboard street pattern, we have created a town-like exhibition space…

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Stick ‘Em Up…

So you have the furniture, you’ve treated the floors but staring back at you are some blatantly bare and desperately wanting walls…

  • Fine Art? Yes, quite fine for those that can afford it.
  • Paint a single feature wall? Too ‘done’.
  • A loud wall paper? It’ll date too fast.

So what if you combined all three of the above in a way that keeps you happy, affords you versatilty and yet keeps the space dynamic?  Clap your eyes on this “Magnetic Wallpaper” from Vij5.

Last year we brought you their amazing invention: newspaper wood (which has gone on to become a wonderfully adaptable material) and now they’ve taken this passion for design and recycling, quite literally: to the wall.

Employing readily available magnetic wall paints, this collection uses specifically sought out vintage wallpapers (not modern day vinyl wallpapers) backed with foil and then cut as tiles, in two sizes.  The brilliance is evident in that you can than mix and match and play with the array of patterns to create an ever changing backdrop to your living or work space.

Too floral? Vintage papers aren’t your thing?

Why not try the very contemporary Tea Wall Panels from SANCAL and Rafa Garcia!  An extension of the wildly succesful Tea Sofa Collection, these upholstered boards are offered  in bold hexagonal tiles that, like their predecessors, incorporate the distinct hexagonal quilt detailing and the possibility of creating both bi-coloured and bi-textured statements – It’s basically smart art.

What? Too Soft?

Harden up then with the wonderfully evocative properties of porcelain tiling.  Take these “Cardboard” designs from Academy Tiles for example.  Replicating a corrugated card effect, the material that is so often relegated to use in flooring has great potential for giving that blank wall a burst of personality.

Still cant decide?  Hang it all then and throw a mirror on the wall like the Showtime Mirrors from Jaime Hayon and BD Barcelona – at least that way you’ll always be happy with what’s staring back.

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QUBIQUE: Sky High Design…

On October 26th, Berlin’s decommissioned and wonderfully atmospheric Tempelhof Airport, will for the first time, become Europe’s new Mecca for furniture professionals and design enthusiasts.  Qubique is promising to be a Next Generation Tradeshow.

Concerts, exhibitions and presentations act as an interface between the areas of design, art, architecture, and music, increasing the value for both exhibitors and the visitors in the process.

Taking the fair out of the endless exhibition halls and soulless convention centres, Qubique frames the latest in design with a venue that imbues the tradeshow circus with a whole new sense of character.  Inspiring as it is breathtaking the expansive hangars, baggage halls and airfields become a pop-up city teaming with creativity, repurposing the historically rich location.

Qubique boasts an exhibitors list that rivals some of the biggest shows on the calendar, with everyone from Lzf Lamps, nanimarquina, Established & Sons, Sellex, Artifort, Sancal, Thonet to Arper, Vitra and Bolon -  this is one big event that is sure to take off.

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Young Blood…

The fervour of youth and all the ingenuity and creativity that comes energetically bounding along with it never ceases to astound.

In a country where emerging designers are consistently nurtered there are two young Spaniards really standing out from the crowd.  Meet Cristina Alonso and Isaac Piñeiro… aka Nadadora.

One part graphic designer, the other industrial design trained, the whole of the parts present as a design studio that sees little benefit in limiting creativity to their respective disciplines, rather embracing the relationship between the two. Their similarities and contradictions are explored and expressed through their wonderfully diverse portfolio.

The studio, at only five years old, has already developed works for Sagen Ceramics, Almerich Lighting, Sancal and Nutella,  before that they have each independantly flexed their creative muscle working with some of Spains largest design houses, in Cristina’s case: Lzf lamps.

The beauty of their work is that humour and a sense of playfulness are worn proudly – there is no pretense and things are kept endearingly simple.

Keep an eye on these two… the future looks bright as a button.

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Now Now Now…

The 6th newsletter from the team at SANCAL is now available.  Click here or the image above to download as a PDF.

Of special note is the recent Diageo Sydney office fit-out by Hamilton Thomson where the wonderful Boomerang Chill Lounge Chair by Quim Larrea is used to great effect in the firms waiting area.

Check it out… Now!

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Pauli Is A Cracker…

Pauli – by the boys at Nachacht Studio is a delightful addition to the SANCAL family.  Paying homage to the childhood building toys: Meccano, this coat rack responds to use by shifting and rotating to counteract the weight on whichever hook your coats and jackets are hung.  Simply playful – Pauli is available in two sizes and is wonderfully mechanic and organic -  all at once!

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And So To Bed…

Down here in the Southern Hemisphere we’ve pretty much kissed Summer a sweet goodbye and we’re now staring down the barrel of a wet Winter…but not all is lost!

Cool climes can be the perfect excuse to hibernate so we’re taking a look at whose good in bed!  From headboards to bases, to wall treatments to canopies: with this slumbersome selection sweet dreams are assured!

Click on each image to find out more!

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Down By The Danube…

© Julien Lanoo

Pritzker prize winning Architect Jean Nouvel signed off on the Sofitel Vienna in December last year.

From the street, sheer walls finished in glass and steel – some at atypical angles, trade surprisingly well within the subdued hues of historic Vienna.  Ultimately though, these elements belie the moments of riotous colour and haphazard geometry that jump out sporadically from internal balconies, feature ceilings and wall detailing.  The panoramic double height top floor restaurant offers sweeping views across Vienna, the canopy of colour overhead imbuing a sense warmth even when the city beyond the huge panes of glass is dusted in winter snowfall.   Rafa Garcia’s luxurious Artica Armchairs for Sancal were selected by Nouvel for the same reason. Their crisp, formal lines reflect the language of the external architecture all the while providing superior comfort and warmth for the user.

© Julien Lanoo

© Julien Lanoo

The prolific Frenchman has been turning his hand to International projects further and further afield with Australia soon to get it’s own taste of the  Ateliers Jean Nouvel at Central Park, Sydney.  Having designed One Central Park for Fraser Property Group, the Frenchman’s dramatic foliage-clad residential tower with cantilevered mirror elements and Babylonic gardens will play neighbour to Frank Gehry’s forthcoming  “Wrinkly” Business Faculty for the University of Technology, Sydney.

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