by Roberta Cruger, Los Angeles

Design & Architecture

Play: Bike Shelf by Chris Brigham for Knife & Saw. Photos by RCruger
Yves Behar’s Jambox wireless speaker, a Public lightweight bike, prefab playhouse kit, paper tables, a Coke bottle chair, and 20 other product designs got Dwell magazine’s stamp of approval for its first-ever Modern World Awards, presented at its Dwell on Design conference last weekend. It’s about time that the many snazzy items on display got well-deserved recognition. There’s always buzz about products on the show floor but this year it was finally official. The simple and clever handcrafted bike holder/shelf (pictured above) won in the Play category. Here are other nominees for Eat, Work, Live and Create:


And the Play nominees are:
In the Play category, other nominees included: Come & Draw by Tian Tang Design which provides a stack of colored paper circles to draw on its surface — handmade in Lessebo, Sweden, with untreated wood and environmentally-friendly VIDA paper. The Circle Playhouse by Gitane Royce for Modern Playhouse is a mini-modular prefab home made by California craftsmen with FSC-certified domestic lumber and a few easily assembled apple-plywood panels. The lightweight urban Public A7 Bike can be stored in the winning Bike Shelf by Chris Brigham for Knife & Saw – simple, practical elegance with space on top for your keys, books etc. It took the People’s Choice, too.


Live: Mangas Rug by Patricia Urquiola for Gan.
In the “Live” category, Patricia Urquiola won for her knitted Mangas Rug for Gan which look and feel like a comfy sweater underfoot. Her Klara Chair was also up for consideration in the same category and she was featured in the Bravos installation of outstanding Spanish designers.
Work: the 111 Navy Chair by Emeco with Coke.
In the “Work” category, the 111 Navy Chair by Emeco is a take-off on the classic “1006” style circa 1944, but instead of aluminum, the chairs are made from 111 recycled rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastic bottles with a mix of glass fiber and pigment for six colors. Even Emeco’s original version was made of 80% recycled aluminum.


Create: Molo Design’s Softwall paper chairs, table, lamps and wall also took Best of Show.
In the “Create” category, the Softwall by Molo Design won for its honeycomb paper chairs, tables, lamps and curvy temporary walls. Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, founders of the Vancouver-based firm Molo, created the multi-functional freestanding, expandable room divider of fire-retardant paper and textiles in white or natural. Its compressed form ships easily and can extend to 25 feet. The same material also makes luminous light fixtures fit with LEDs.


Lutron’s textile competition winner, the Ladybug fabric shade by Beth Loudenberg.
Also, the Fyrkat Picnic Grill by Bodum won in the “Eat” category. Other awards were presented including restaurants and various categories from Energy to Bath. The unique LG steam closet won for Home Appliances, Infinity Drain won for the Bath, Resysta’s Better Wood won for Design Materials (a fiber-reinforced hybrid with 60% rice husk, 22% common salt and 18% mineral oil). Green Form stools took it for the Outdoors, Kohler’s digital water-saving shower won for Innovation, and the Stokke’s Tripp Trapp highchair that grows with kids received the prize for Sustainability.


Leftovers are used for Green Form’s lightweight hybrid outdoor stool.
Jury members were affiliated with Remodelista, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, SCI-Arc, LA Times, and the Art Center College. Dwell on Design was part of the first Los Angeles Design Festival organized by Haily Zaki and co-director, Michael Sylvester, who also serves as managing director of the Dwell event, and was on hand at the ceremony to hand out trophies with editor Sam Grawes.
(Source: www.treehugger.com )