Dezeen Wire: Elle Decoration editor Michelle Ogundehin has declared British furniture brand Habitat “as good as dead” in an article on the magazine’s blog, stating “I give it two years max” – read the blog post

Ogundehin says that the retailer, which closed all but three of its UK stores earlier this year, failed to react to competition within the market and “increasingly misunderstood ‘Lifestyle’,” its key selling point. She claims that Habitat has lost its original focus on innovation and simplicity, and rubbishes plans by current owners the Home Retail Group to sell Habitat products at Argos and Homebase outlets, adding that their one remaining interest is to “flog stuff.”

See our previous story on Habitat going into administration.

A team of illustrators and graphic artists camped out for a week in this Rococo-style dome hidden under a carpark in Soho, London, covering every surface and arch with a sinister, sprawling illustration for new restaurant and bar Meat Liquor. More »

Dezeen Screen: Sebastian Wrong, design director for British brand Established & Sons, gives a tour of their exhibition inside the former fire station at Berlin Tempelhof airport in this movie Dezeen filmed at new Berlin design fair Qubique 2011 last month.  Watch the movie »

No more searching around for a pencil sharpener in the bottoms of pen pots or backs of drawers: this waste-paper bin by Korean designer Giha Woo has a sharpener in the lid so it’s waiting right where you need to use it. More »

A series of circular apertures puncture the rectangular concrete buttresses of a nursery in Valencia by Spanish architects Rstudio. More »

Continuing our fifth birthday celebrations this week, here is the Dezeen team’s list of the five best parties we’ve hosted since we launched in 2006:  More »

Glass screens slide back and forth across a timber grid that divides this apartment in Japan. More »

We’re finalising plans for our Christmas shop, The Temporium, with many more designers and brands signed up – including Swedish outfit Bookman, who are supplying special red and white versions of their cult Bookman cycle lights (above) to decorate the Christmas tree.

We also have Japanese snacks, knotted collars, limited-edition prints, paper eyelashes, bird cushions and much more… More »

Dezeen Wire: the U.N. World Intellectual Property Agency has reported a rise in the amount paid as royalties and licensing fees from $2.8 billion to $180 billion in the last 40 years, representing a 60-fold increase – The Washington Post

The report shows that high income countries such as France, Germany, Japan, Britain and the United States continue to lead the way in research and development but that China’s share in the global market has risen from 2.2 percent in 1993 to 12.8 per cent in 2009.

Last week we reported on measures being taken by the UK government to improve intellectual property laws, designer James Dyson also raised the issue when he accused a Chinese manufacturer of copying one of his brand’s vacuum designs and Elle Decoration editor Michelle Ogundehin has criticised companies who reproduce classic products.

Dezeen Watch Store: iconic German brand Braun returns with a collection of watches inspired by the classic designs of the original Braun design team, including the BN0021, now available from Dezeen Watch Store.  More »

Dezeen Wire: British architect Richard Rogers has warned that plans by the UK government to simplify planning regulations could lead to unmoderated urban sprawl, “with rust belts and towns joining each other” – Daily Mail

He added: “If the framework is not improved it will lead to the breakdown and fragmentation of cities and neighbourhoods as well as the erosion of the countryside.” Rogers’ concerns about the government’s new National Planning Policy Framework are shared by environmental campaigners who say they don’t offer a clear enough definition of sustainable development.

Richard Rogers was involved in a planning battle in 2009 over his proposed redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks in London – see reports on Dezeen Wire

Dezeen Wire: England footballer Wayne Rooney has hired architects Pulmann Associates to design a shed in the garden of his £4 million home – The Sun

A bevelled cantilever contains the living room of this house in Nagoya, Japan, by architects Studio SKLIM. More »

Dezeen Wire: architecture critic Rowan Moore claims that corporate facilities integrated into the plans for the controversial London River Park would turn it into a “gigantic hospitality suite with a fairly nice walkway threaded through it” – The Observer

Moore describes architects Gensler‘s proposal as “the latest example of a widespread type of the 21st century, the pseudo-public space.” He criticises the design for the walkway and rentable pods, describing them as “offensively indifferent” to their historical surroundings and says the project organisers should learn from New York’s High Line park in order to turn a good idea into a popular public space.

See our previous story on the 35-metre model of the London River Park.