B3 Designers Blog

Lucas Maassen & Sons Furniture Factory.

Lisl — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:55:09 +0000

Lucas Maassen, a Dutch designer, ingeniously employed his three sons, Thijme (9), Julian (7) and Maris (7) to paint the furniture hand built in his factory. The boys get paid 1 Euro per piece of furniture painted, as agreed in their contracts and due to Dutch child labour laws they are only allowed to work three hours a week. This motivates the boys to paint fast, influencing the final aesthetic. The resulting pieces are simple, honest and revelatory of the manufacturing process.

Film and images by Mike Roelofs.

Red Pif Restaurant and Wine Shop by Aulík Fišer Architekti

Lisl — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:43:26 +0000

For the design of the Red Pif Restaurant and Wine Shop, Czeck designers Aulík Fišer Architekti decided to keep the inspiration and execution as pure and natural as the wine served. The designer and owner worked together, using photographs of bars and wine shops in France as inspiration, but drawing from their honesty rather than their style.

The architect said about the design: “We put most of our effort to make our work invisible at first sight. Our interior should be a background allowing enjoy good wine and meal here and now.”

The first step in the renovation was removing any superfluous building elements so that only the original 19th century structure remained. Bottle-shaped shutters were added that pivot open to reveal the stripped back interior that has been modestly furnished with design classics and simple, elegant fittings. Wine bottles are stacked high in a steel rod framework that creates simple geometric patterns on the walls. Dimly lit, bare light bulbs create an intimate atmosphere where the original intention of the space is allowed to quietly reveal itself.

Photography by AI Photography.

The 25hours Hotel Hafencity, Hamburg

Lisl — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:24:17 +0000

The 25 hours Hotel Hafencity, a harbour city hotel that draws inspiration from maritime culture, was designed by a multidisciplinary team headed by architect Stephen Williams. The architects worked together with a storyteller, an events agency and an illustrator to give the project meaning at all levels. The hotel forms part of one of Europe’s most ambitious urban construction projects and aims to form part of a lively new city quarter.

Stephen Williams says: “We wanted to create a web of meaning with interrelating signs and symbols referring to seafaring and harbour life. A place where old and new stories come to life. It all began from the poems of Joachim Ringelnatz with the fictitious sailor Kuttel Daddeldu, a good soul who’s deeply rooted in the seafaring life, but also coarse and a little cheeky.”

The design team drew a parallel between the guests of the hotel (‘nomads’) and sailors (‘maritime nomads’). Markus Stoll, the brand storyteller, interviewed 25 international sailors in the Seaman’s Club Duckdalben in Hamburg as part of the team’s design research. He went on to adapt their stories into semi-fictional accounts that guided the concept development of the hotel and were later illustrated by Jindrich Novotny.

The ground floor consists of a lobby, restaurant, bar and shop and is intended for use by guests and non-guests alike, continuing the lively, inclusive atmosphere of the new quarter that is being developed.

Heimat Küche + Bar takes its name from the German word for home, taking its inspiration from seafarers longing for home. The space, however, however has an industrial, shipyard aesthetic. The chaotic space is filled with ’shipping’ furniture such as warehouse shelves and rough wooden boxes, in addition to a selection of furnishings that were chosen by Connie Kotte to complete the warehouse aesthetic.

The shipyard aesthetic is continued into the conference room that sits in a shipping container donated by Hapag-Lloyd. The container wall is movable and can be hoisted up to allow access to the space or to join the conference room with the restaurant.

(Images via Dezeen)

Goat Town, New York

Lisl — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:06:49 +0000

Goat Town, in East Village, New York is meant to be an ‘elevated everyday American bistro’ according to owner Nicholas Morgenstern. Brothers Evan and Oliver Haslegave of Home is responsible for the interior that is filled with reclaimed industrial pieces. While the use of white subway tiles is by no means unusual, the designers used them in a surprising way – tiling the banquette seating. This detail adds a hint of glimmer to the monochrome space that contrasts dark wood and rusty steel with light walls and floors. Details like salvaged signage and decorative ceiling panels complete the aged appearance of the space.

Ubon, Kuwait

Lisl — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:49:36 +0000

Charred timber and shiny copper accents characterise Ubon, a Thai bistro in Kuwait. The restaurant, designed by architect Rashed Alfoudari, seamlessly integrates the interior with the existing structure of the space, making use of a reserved palette of colours to create a bistro space with an Asian feel. The golden copper, used on the walls and insides of lamps is a nod to Thai ornamentation and adds interest to the subdued hues of the walls and exposed concrete floors and ceilings. A darkened mirror separates the dining space from the service spaces, subtly making the space seem larger. Visual continuity is maintained throughout the space and continued into the restroom where the texture of the wood grain is imprinted on the concrete walls.

(Images via Aome)

The Exchange, Amsterdam

Lisl — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:01:48 +0000

The Exchange, a brand new Amsterdam hotel located on the Damrak, one of the liveliest and oldest streets of Amsterdam, has a special love of fashion. The hotel was developed in close collaboration with the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) and is part of ‘The Red Carpet’, an urban-renewal project.

The hotel is spread across three buildings, one of them dating back to the 17th century, and shares the buildings with a contemporary department store, Options! and a restaurant, Stock. The project was initiated by Lloyd Hotel and Cultural Embassy with Suzanne Oxenaar and Otto Nan responsible for the concept.

Each of the 61 rooms in the hotel have been dressed up like models on a catwalk by graduates and alumni of the AMFI. The result is a mix of interior and fashion design, with each room having a distinct identity. The diverse rooms draw inspiration from the multiplicity of the neighbourhood the hotel is located in.

Cafe Moto, New York

Lisl — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:58:32 +0000

One New York’s more humble flatiron buildings houses Cafe Moto. The peeling paint exterior of this Williamsburg artists’ cafe can be misleading about what goes on inside; but as you enter through the rusty industrial doors the atmospheric interior seems both familiar and unsettling. Sepia tones are punctuated by shiny metal fittings and marble table tops. In the centre of the cafe sits a curving bar with taps made of repurposed bike parts – hence the name Moto. Low lighting, battered wood and antique glass ensure that the cafe has a cosy, intimate feel which is occasionaly interrupted by the faint “please stand clear of the closing doors” and rumbling of the overhead train that runs by it.

Esprit, Cologne

Lisl — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:05:04 +0000

Designers Reich und Wamser have completed the interior of fashion brand Esprit’s Cologne outlet. The Lighthouse shop juxtaposes masculine and feminine elements. Exposed brickwork, timber and steel frames throughout are used throughout in contrast to softer elements like woven light fittings. Similarly gauzy curtains that conceal the fitting room at the back of the shop complement the harder materials used in the design and add a soft, feminine touch to the otherwise rigid interior. Furnishings and fittings are also more delicate: walnut tables and cabinets are used, along with clothes racks with slender profiles to display clothes and accessories. Another distinguishing feature of the space is the glazed courtyard that is naturally lit by a skylight above and filled with plants and flowers.

(Photos by Peter Janczik and Reich und Wamser.)

Capanna by K-studio in Athens, Greece

Lisl — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 08:34:57 +0000

Capanna, an elegant new Pizzeria and Trattoria in Athens was designed by K-Studio to simulate the experience of eating outside. The adaptable facade allows the floor to ceiling windows to slide upwards and join the restaurant with the side-walk. The interior design subtly combines Italian and Greek influences to great effect: the resulting space is warm yet spacious.

The most eye catching feature of the space is the cladding of the mezzanine level: rows of narrow wooden shutters run along the side of it and then bend around its edge, continuing on the ceiling underneath. Similar to the cladding that extends from the wall to the ceiling, the geometric patterned floor tiles also extend onto the double volume side wall of the space, giving the vintage feel tiles a fresh appearance and drawing your eye upward.

Simple Scandinavian furniture and low hanging ceramic light fixtures complete the contemporary space that still manages to feel traditional.

(Images via Yatzer)

Les Grandes Tables de L’île, Ile Seguin, Paris

Lisl — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:00:10 +0000

Les Grandes Tables de L’île on the outskirts of paris could be mistaken for a greenhouse – or even a house still under construction, but it is actually a bar / restaurant conceived as a temporary meeting place while Jean Nouvel completes a museum project in the area. The restaurant is housed in a large timber ‘container’ suspended in a scaffolding frame that doubles as an events space.

The interior takes its cue from the restaurant’s temporary nature and uses simple building materials like wood in its crude form for both walls and floors, while playing with the positioning of windows and capitalising on the view it gets over the area. The restaurant will stay open for a total of two years before the entire structure is dismantled and removed, leaving the site practically untouched.

(Images via Wallpaper)