“I had a BMX until I was about 14," says Taylor. "I still have a certain nostalgia for its mushroom grip handlebars. It just made perfect sense to make a torch based around that.”

A circular funnel that directs the light from the LED is attached to the ribbed silicone handles that give the torches their name.

The red version of the torch was first launched at The Conran Shop during London Design Festival 2012.

Praxis is a new brand specialising in small silicone objects. It's also producing a selection of small pots that can't be left open by Slovakian designer Tomas Kral and bird-like containers by Swedish designers TAF.

See all our stories about silicone products »

Photographs are by Alexander Taylor Studio.

The post Grip Torch by Alexander Taylor
for Praxis appeared first on Dezeen.

Called Flex, the pots make use of the material's flexibility and have covers that are fixed at one side but flap up at the other. "Looking like small animals, the flexible lids can be opened easily and always close back, so the containers never stay opened where they are not in use," says Kral.

Praxis produces silicone desktop products by a number of European designers including Alexander Taylor, Big-Game, Alexis Georgacopoulos and Tomàs Alonso. We featured bird-like silicone containers by Swedish designers TAF for Praxis back in May.

Tomas Kral has a studio in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he also teaches at ECAL. Other designs by Tomas Kral on Dezeen include his graduation project combining cork and glass, and a pencil case with teeth.

Photos are by Martin Haldimann.

The post Flex silicone pots by Tomas Kral
for Praxis appeared first on Dezeen.

The Skin Secret collection is made from silicone rubber cast in a mould to look like dimpled skin before being sewn together or attached to metal parts to form each piece.

Among the collection is a pair of earrings with circles of skin dangling off black needles and a brooch covered in nipples.

There's also a necklace on a long chain, a mask that's held up like a mirror and a pair of glasses with skin acting as a blindfold.

I-Ting created imperfect, blemished skin to prompt feelings of fascination as well as disgust in the viewer. "I want to create a challenging situation, a conflicting dialogue with the audience," she explains. "People just cannot move their eyes away from those disgusting scenes that grab their attention."

The Taiwanese designer completed her MA at Birmingham City University's School of Jewellery this year.

Earlier this year we featured a collection of silk shrouds printed with faces and bodies to disguise the wearer as someone else.

See all our stories about jewellery »
See all our stories about fashion »

Here's some more information from the designer:

My work demonstrates a long journey of self-exploration. By peeling the skin layer by layer I get to the core of myself; I try to express what I explored and interpreted through my experiments in materials.

The feelings I want to achieve in my pieces are quirky, fantastical, and surreal. I focus on human skin, which is my main inspiration because it has many different and unique textures, several layers, and tells even some stories behind the scars and marks on its surface. “Skin Secret”, the title of my project, is about the “id” and “ego”. People usually use products or accessories to beautify themselves, or want to create an identity so that other people perceive them in a different way. Therefore, these possessions they hold or wear are like the “second skin”. Based on the main concept, I developed two bodies of work. The first one is constructed by using representations of body organs, which are reconstructed elements of organs and skin. While in the serial work, there are dialogues between people and daily objects; in this way, the creative work offers a thinking method to discuss human behaviors.

In my view, skin is soft but not as fragile as we think. Therefore, in “Skin Secret” one of the characteristics is juxtaposing the skin texture with metal structure, in order to create a conflicting image – hard and soft.

Inspiration

Skin, the largest organ on human body, spread on every corner outside to protect us; it is changeable, and has various unstable factors inside. I found these symptoms and some imperfect parts of skin, such as allergy, keloid, vitiligo, and other skin problems, by my own and other people’s experiences. These symptoms, especially allergy, did bother me every night since I came abroad. But once I looked at them closely, there was something attracted my attention. An idea came to my mind - to change the role of skin, recompose its definition, and challenge people’s thinking.

Concept

Self-awareness, one of the important human behaviours, reflects one’s personality. Based on this, people usually use objects to present their thinking, or taste. However, sometimes, people desire to build another personality with other items, or to strengthen their identity, especially for social reasons. In Buddhist’s philosophy, human body is just a skin shell, which is like a dressing of your mind. Therefore, in my explanation, all those apparels, accessories, make up, purses, shoes, and anything that could beautify people or improve their identity are the second skin to us.

While talking about the main element used in my project – skin, it is a debatable issue for most people since the point I focus on is about the imperfect skin, not as flawless as people desire to have. The reason why I choose this kind of blemish is want to create a challengeable situation, conflicting dialogue with the audience. People just cannot move their eyes away from those disgusting scenes that powerfully grab their attention. In the project, my work will not be viewed just like ordinary jewellery that is shiny or attractive, but will encourage people to think differently.

Making

The focal point in my project is to use a different medium to convey some fantastic images that people usually want to ignore. Therefore, I focus on modeling, casting, and colouring. In the modeling production, having basic knowledge about the parting line, and how to set the modeled objects in a specific position are very important; while in the casting process, mixing with appropriate proportion of the chemical compound and experimenting with an accurate cure time are what needs to be the main focus; In addition, it took me a long time to get the colour I want, which looks real, and also pinky like a girl.

The post Skin Secret
by I-Ting Ho appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2012: these little storage containers by Swedish designers TAF are made of silicone but coloured to look like clay.

They come in three sizes and rock gently on their bases, shaped to resemble three birds with slightly different characters.

The Figurine Containers for Hong Kong design brand Praxis were shown at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in Milan last week.

See more work by TAF here and more silicone products here.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here, plus photos on Facebook and Pinterest.

Photographs are by Nicolas Genta.

Here's some more information from TAF:

The Figurine Containers are made of silicone but coloured in three different colours referring to natural clay. They function as containers for small objects like coins, jewellery or keys.

You find them rocking when giving them a gentle push. The three friends own character is something in-between man and woman, human and animal, function and decoration.

The post Figurine Containers by TAF appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: we've teamed up with Hong Kong studio Kitmen Keung to give away five of their silicone mouse pads, designed to hold small items like paperclips and pens in place on their sloping edges.

Congratulations to the winners! Karen Donald in the UK, Walter Montepoli in Italy, Joseph Coy in the UK, Pieter-Jan Debuyst in Belgium and Thomas Grievink in the Netherlands all won a mouse mat by Kitmen Keung.

Kitmen Keung created the mats as an extension of their Silicone Duo project for taking tea in silence, which we featured on Dezeen in November.

The mats are available in orange, grey and blue, and Winners will be able to choose which colour they receive.

Read our privacy policy here.

This competition is now closed. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

Subscribe to our newsletter, get our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for details of future competitions.

Here are some more details from Kitmen Keung Studio:

A4 MOUSE PAD

The 5mm thick, A4-size silicone piece brings together the convenience of a mouse pad and a resting place for tiny desktop accessories such as clips, coins and pencils in the form of an inwards sloping edge. This 4.3 cm wide corrugated secondary surface pulls round objects towards the carved slot much like a magnet. The top surface of the mouse pad is finished with a layer of oven-baked polyurethane coating with tiny micro grids on it, which results in a noiseless, low-friction but rough textured surface. Colors available are Charcoal Gray, Orange and Cambridge Blue.

The post Competition: five mouse mats by
Kitmen Keung to be won appeared first on Dezeen.