Maarten de Ceulaer used materials provided by Fendi, a brand that traditionally specialises in fur and leather, to create the soft surfaces in the Transformations collection.

He drew on Fendi's signature motif, which is inspired by the geometric and abstract forms of Futurism and the Bauhaus, to create the patterned furniture.

The foam-filled planks are handmade from strips of leather and suede in various colours, and each has two eyelets for the leather-covered nails.

"I wanted to create a system with which I can create functional graphics, functional patterns," de Ceulaer told Dezeen at Design Miami. "So I decided to make them soft and to make them upholstered with foam, so they become nothing more than cushions, basically, stripes of cushions, with which you can do anything."

"You just smack it onto a wall with a special tool, which has a curve, so you can easily hammer it into anything," he added.

Whitewashed pine was chosen as a surface. "It’s logical that you nail something to wood," he said, "and I’m doing the same thing [with wood] that I do with the leather – it’s all different kinds of patchworks which flow from one to the other."

He added: "I didn’t want to design a sofa or a chair, but rather a system that does the same – you just find some boxes like you see here and you can create your sofa, or you can create your daybed."

Fendi has previously commissioned work from Formafantasma, who showed pieces made from discarded leather at the Design Miami/Basel fair in Switzerland this year, and Aranda/Lasch, who made seating out of foam pyramids as part of a project for Design Miami in 2010.

Other projects by de Ceulaer we've featured on Dezeen include a series of knobbly foam seats and colourful lights tinted by food colouring.

Dezeen was at Design Miami last week reporting on all the highlights of the collectors fair, including an "ice halo" made of Swarovski crystals, a cast bronze lamp shaped like a bent Eiffel Tower and an entrance pavilion that looked like inflatable sausages – see all our stories about Design Miami.

See all our stories about Maarten de Ceulaer »
See all our stories about Fendi »
See all our stories about leather »

Photographs are courtesy of Fendi.

Here's some more information from Design Miami:

Fendi presents Transformations by Maarten de Ceulaer
Design Miami/ Miami 2012

Following the Design Miami/ Basel edition in June with Craftica by FormaFantasma, Fendi has invited Belgian designer Maarten de Ceulaer to develop for the December 2012 programme a project that responds to its visual identity and its legacy of Modernist-inspired patterns and emblems. Maarten was selected for this project because he has demonstrated a remarkable affinity for crafting sophisticated furniture and objects imbued with lyrical, whimsical narrative.

The designer found particular inspiration in Fendi’s signature Pequin motif, creating “Transformations” in celebration of Fendi’s long heritage of abstract rectilinear and geometric imagery. Throughout the decades, Fendi designers have drawn from the beautiful, groundbreaking work of pioneering design movements such as the Wiener Werkstätte, De Stijl, Futurism, the Bauhaus and Art Deco. Since 1983, Fendi has incorporated striped Pequin materials into many accessory lines, from handbags to luggage. Numerous designs for Fendi furs also feature patterns that evoke the feel of vanguard graphic designs from the 1910s to the 1930s.

For Design Miami/ 2012, Maarten has transformed this repertoire of two-dimensional expression into a three-dimensional installation, exploring the boundaries between hard and soft, natural and man-made, organic and geometric, luxurious and mundane. Converting the idea of a stripe into a physical module based on a piece of lumber, “Transformations” juxtaposes lacquered wood boards and tree stumps with exquisitely handmade leather planks arranged in a variety of eye-catching, multicolored compositions. The result is a total environment that, as whole, becomes a living pattern reminiscent of design work from the early years of Modernism.

The “soft planks” that Maarten developed for this project can be applied wherever additional comfort is desired: the gesture of applying them is as simple as nailing a board to a tree.

The post Transformations by Maarten de Ceulaer
for Fendi appeared first on Dezeen.

Jens Praet created the Dressed collection in collaboration with his father, artist Jan Praet. "What I did is take leftover fabric and cut it in a triangular shape," Praet told Dezeen at the Industry Gallery booth at Design Miami. "All the fabric is then dipped in hot wax, and when it’s still hot you drape it over the under-structure."

The finished piece is then cast from this wax model in bronze and given an oxidised copper patina, before being placed on top of the brushed brass under-structure.

Previous projects by Praet we've featured on Dezeen include a table made from shredded paper and resin and a collection of Corian tables with grooves worn into their sides.

Dezeen was at Design Miami last week reporting on the highlights from the fair, including Snarkitecture's bundle of inflatable sausages over the entrance and Glithero's Gaudí-inspired inverted domes – see all our stories about Design Miami.

See all our stories about Jens Praet »
See all our stories about furniture »

Photographs are by Jiri Praet.

Here's some more information from the designer:

Dressed is a series of contemporary furniture items composed by bronze dresses and brass under-structures, designed in collaboration with Jens’ father and artist Jan Praet.

Leftover and discarded fabric has been immortalised in functional art objects. To this end triangular shaped fabric is being dipped in hot wax, draped and shaped by hand over a rigid under-structure and cast in bronze.

The bronze dresses, patinated in a reminiscent oxidised green color, are placed over a contrasting geometrical brushed brass under-structure in order to complete the functionality of each furniture item.

Each item is the result of different production steps, and in order to preserve the tactile feeling of the fabric, most is done by hand. The bronze patina and brushed brass surface may slightly vary in color over time, a beautiful aspect that is characteristic to the ageing process of these archaic materials. Each Dressed piece is unique.

Materials:
Oxidised green patinated bronze, brushed brass

Dressed Chair
Dimensions:
800 x 450 x 500 mm (h x w x d)

Dressed Table
Dimensions:
760 x 1950 x 950 mm (h x w x d)

Dressed Bench
Dimensions:
450 x 1710 x 400 mm (h x w x d)

Dressed Stool
Dimensions:
450 x 400 x 400 mm (h x w x d)

The post Dressed collection
by Jens Praet appeared first on Dezeen.

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram worked with experts at Audi's Lightweight Design Centre to produce the R18 Ultra, a chair named after and inspired by Audi's ultra lightweight prototype race car.

"We started using technology that you find in [the R18 Ultra] car and translated it into a piece of furniture, which is quite exciting because we got access to technology the furniture industry can’t even dream of," Weisshaar told Dezeen at Design Miami.

Earlier this year Dezeen reported on the public beta testing for the R18 Ultra, where hundreds of visitors to the Milan furniture fair sat on the chair while it was hooked up to advanced stress-analysis sensors.

"It’s a process somewhat borrowed from the testing and development of a racecar," said Kram. "Sitting is a very dynamic activity, weirdly, and everybody uses the chair differently," added Weisshaar. "So simply putting weight on it and doing static load tests doesn’t get you anywhere. You actually need people to engage with it."

Using data from the public beta testing, the designers worked out where they could trim off unnecessary weight from the carbon-fibre shell. "The nature of composite is it’s always a layering process," said Weisshaar."That also allows you to just take off layers where you don’t need the material.

"It’s completely different from any subtractive manufacturing or moulding, where you have a continuous wall thickness and continuous materiality. Here, not only can you manipulate the wall thickness, you can also manipulate the materiality."

The legs of the chair are cut out from flat sheets of aluminium and then put together using the same cold metal transfer technology that Audi uses to make cars.

"They’re mass production techniques," said Weisshaar, "but there are even more exciting mass production techniques in the making in the labs, which we couldn’t use because they’re totally locked away and top secret. So what we’re showing here is what’s happening tomorrow – but what’s happening the day after tomorrow is even more exciting."

In 2010 Kram and Weisshaar worked with Audi to install eight robotic arms in London's Trafalgar Square, where they spelled out messages in mid-air.

Dezeen was in Miami last week reporting on all the highlights of the Design Miami collectors fair, including the sausage-shaped inflatables around the fair's entrance, an "ice halo" of Swarovski crystals and an installation of perfect natural curves inspired by the art nouveau history of a champagne maker – see all our stories about Design Miami.

See all our stories about Kram and Weisshaar »
See all our stories about chairs »

Here's some more information from the designer:

R18 Ultra Chair
designed by by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram
for Audi

December 5-9, 2012
Design Miami/
Miami Beach, FL, USA

Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram have developed a chair using methods borrowed from the future of automotive manufacturing in collaboration with Audi's Lightweight Design Center. The chair's multi-material space frame is made from carbon composites, carbon micro-sandwich and high strength aluminum and weighs only 2.2 kg or 77 ounces. The chair embodies Audi's ultra lightweight design credo completely by following strict guidelines to shave off every ounce of excess weight.

The R18 Ultra Chair's genesis incorporates crowd-sourced data acquired through thousands of testing sessions held in Milan during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April 2012. Using advanced physics simulation software, the big data set enabled designers and engineers to analyze a wide variety of load scenarios and carefully adjust and optimize the carbon fiber lay up, geometry and dimensions of the final object accordingly.

At Design Miami/ the chair's designers and engineers are giving visitors an intimate insight into their studios and labs, displaying drawings, samples, models, mock-ups, moulds and prototypes from the various stages of the development process. This includes an industrial welding robot and the chair's namesake and inspiration, the R18 Ultra - the pace car for an entire technology: Audi ultra.

Audi ultra stands for state of the art lightweight construction, technology and design aimed at streamlining and optimizing efficiency across the board. This begins with the raw materials sourced for production all the way through various manufacturing stages, the operation of the vehicle, its fuel consumption and its deconstruction and recyclability at the end of its life cycle.

Aluminum is a key material in Audi’s repertoire of lightweight design technologies: The chair’s legs are made of folded sheet aluminum, welded by an industrial robot using a cold metal transfer process. The chair’s seat shell is fabricated from the latest carbon composite materials: a combination of carbon micro-sandwich and carbon rubber composites extrapolated directly from components of the racecar. The R18 Ultra Chair manifests Audi’s ultra lightweight design credo in a 2.2 kg (77oz) piece of furniture that is ultra light and extremely durable.

The post R18 Ultra Chair by Clemens Weisshaar
and Reed Kram appeared first on Dezeen.

The white Naturoscopie II lights by Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance contain LEDs behind their perspex "leaves", which slowly brighten and fade to reflect different background colours.

Above: image shows close-up of black version of Naturoscopie II

"This collection is linked by the fact I really wanted to express something a little bit more intimate than through a functional object," Duchaufour-Lawrance told Dezeen at Design Miami, where he exhibited the lighting in the Galerie BSL booth. "It’s more sculptural, because it’s not really a light, it’s more an object that provides an emotion by the contemplation of it."

Above: image shows close-up of black version of Naturoscopie II

Other projects by the designer we've featured on Dezeen include an airport business lounge with tree-shaped lamps and a spiral bookcase inspired by an ammonite fossil.

Above: movie of the Naturoscopie collection showing the moving lights

Dezeen was in Miami last week covering all the highlights from Design Miami, including Asif Khan's "ice halo" of Swarovski crystals and Snarkitecture's sausage-like inflatables over the entrance to the fair – see all our stories from Design Miami.

See all our stories about Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance »
See all our stories about lighting »

Here's some more information from the designer:

Naturoscopie II - Lights

This set of lights corresponds with the responsive transcription of the sun when it filters through tree foliage. Within each head, the sequence of the LEDs and their reflection on mirrors and coloured surfaces interpret this natural movement, in a both fugitive and perennial temporality. The light asserts itself in the form of sparkles and bright or mellow green, yellow or silver fragments.

In the mural compositions, the foliage pattern unfurls flat, on a single level parallel to the wall, the articulations of the heads making different positions possible. With the ceiling fixtures, the volume of the foliage opens out, the modules connecting at different heights.

4 wall hangings, with 2 and 3 heads:
H/175 x L/95 x W/14 cm (2 heads)
H/75 x L/135 x W/14 cm (2 heads)
H/140 x L/195 x W/14 cm (3 heads)
H/165 x L/105 x W/14 cm (3 heads)

3 ceiling fixtures, with 2, 3 and 5 heads:
H/33 x L/117 x W/78 cm (2 heads)
H/32 x L/165 x W/99 cm (3 heads)
H/38 x L/208 x W/154 cm (5 heads) – also available as a wall hanging.

Stainless steel, fibreglass, mirrors, paint and soft touch varnish, light diffusing plexiglas, LEDs. Two versions regarding the light diffusing plexiglas: matte finish or gloss finish.

Galerie BSL edition of 8 + 4 AP for each version.

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Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance appeared first on Dezeen.

Snarkitecture clad the Design Miami tent with weiner-shaped vinyl tubes, bundling them together at different heights to create a shaded social space at the entrance.

"We're always trying to make objects perform in unexpected ways and do things that they shouldn't really be doing," artist and designer Daniel Arsham of Snarkitecture told Dezeen at Design Miami. "So that sort of notion translates across our practice in general, as well as using a kind of limited palette, a limited range of materials."

"We really haven’t added any material – the vinyl is the material that is used for the tent anyway, all we’ve done is transform the way that it's presented. So we created these inflated tubes that are raised and lowered to create a sort of reverse landscape," he said.

Architect and design Alex Mustonen added: "A lot of times when we’re starting a project or thinking about approaching a work, it’s about looking at an existing condition, an existing space or architecture, and analysing or exploring the materials or structures or programmes of that space [...], and looking at ways that we can either reimagine or manipulate those elements to create a sort of additional programme."

Snarkitecture is a collaboration between Arsham and Mustonen, who met while studying at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City.

Above: photograph by Dezeen

Dezeen was in Miami last week reporting on the highlights of Design Miami, including an "ice halo" of Swarovski crystals by Asif Khan and a collection of luxury travel accessories for Louis Vuitton, including a hammock inspired by pasta ribbons.

Above: photograph by Dezeen

We also met Designer of the Year Vito Acconci, who told Dezeen that now is "not the best time for design" in the United States and added that he was sceptical about plans to build a playground designed by Acconci Studio in Miami.

Above: photograph by Dezeen

See all our stories from Design Miami 2012 »
See all our stories about pavilions »

Above: photograph by Dezeen

Photographs are by James Harris for Design Miami, except where stated.

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Snarkitecture appeared first on Dezeen.