Designed in Hackney: accessories like lamps and dividers attach to this desk system by Tomás Alonso through a gap in the surface of the table.

Called Offset after the off-centre position of this gap, the collection was shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month for Italian brand Maxdesign.

Alonso is part of OKAY studio, based round the corner from Dezeen in Stoke Newington.

See all our stories about Tomás Alonso».

Here's some more information from the designer:

Offset, a collection of tables and accessories for the home, home office and contract environments designed by Tomás Alonso for Maxdesign. Customisable, innovative and flexible, Offset responds to the new spatial needs born from contemporary working habits in which the line between home and office is ever more blurred.

The project explores the idea of the work table as a microsystem with separate elements that can be combined into an array of possibilities. An object of common use, the table is broken down into its basic components to which a series of functional accessories can then be added. The configuration of all these elements is left to the user who can arrive to their own solution in response to their own functional and aesthetic needs.

At the core of the system lies the simplicity of its construction. A simple gap defines the working area by separating the top in two surfaces while serving as the connecting element for both, structure and accessories. This simplicity extends to the frame as well. The design of the aluminium profile used to secure the legs to the table allows for both aluminium and wooden legs, or a combination of both.

The research of materials and the accurate design, combined with the wide range of finishes and colours make Offset a very flexible system, easily configured in different environments and for different functions. We can imagine Offset in a dining room, in a home office or in a meeting room. Offset is as a place to eat, a place to work and a place to meet all at the same table.

Tops available in natural ash or lacquered wood. Legs in either powder coated or anodised aluminium. Accessories powder coated steel in a wide range of colours

Designed in Hackney map:

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Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands
Green = street art

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney each day until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

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by Tomás Alonso appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2012: this table with folding trestle legs by Spanish designer Tomás Alonso is one of nine new products that Japanese furniture brand Karimoku New Standard will present at Erastudio Apartment Gallery in Milan later this month.

Collaborating with the brand for the first time are Swedish design duo TAF, whose Soft Triangle low table (above) is carved into a form somewhere between a triangle and a circle.

ECAL student Lucien Gumy was inspired by a mountainous landscape when designing his Berra card holder (above).

The Castor chair (above) is a new addition to the range that Lausanne studio Big-Game presented during last year's furniture fair (see our previous story).

Dutch design duo Scholten & Baijings have created two new products, the first of which is a series of chestnut containers ranging in size from a desktop pot to a large waste bin (above).

They have also designed a dining table (above) to supplement their Colour Wood range, which was part of the original Karimoku New Standard collection launched in 2009.

Karimoku creative director Teruhiro Yanagihara has designed a table made from oak and maple with hexagonal legs (above).

Alonso Frame Desk by Tomás Alonso

Italian design group Arabeschi di Latte will serve dishes and drinks derived from trees, referencing the material from which the furniture is made.

Colour Bin by Scholten & Baijings

Last year the gallery in a 100-year-old Milanese apartment hosted Natura Morta by Studio Toogood - read more and see photos from the even in our earlier story.

Soft Triangle table by TAF

Tones Stool by Sylvain Willenz 

See all of our stories about Milan 2012 »

Photographs are by Takumi Ota.

Here is some more information from Karimoku New Standard:

A New Standard in Japanese Furniture Making

Karimoku New Standard is a trademark of the Japanese firm Karimoku Furniture Inc., known as Karimoku, launched in 2009 under the creative direction of Teruhiro Yanagihara. Collaborating with emerging international designers and with its products sold internationally, it is the most innovative brand in the company’s over-70 year history. Karimoku New Standard distinguishes itself from other brands with high-quality furniture items that follow the concept of ‘Everyday Life’. All collaborating designers turn their back on fast-moving trends with products that hold functional flexibility and cater to a wide range of individual tastes and life-styles.

Castor stool by Big-Game from the 2011 collection

In line with Karimoku’s philosophy, Karimoku New Standard supports the sustainable use of forest resources and experiments with new methods to retrieve a balance between global environments and local industry. Karimoku New Standard products are predominantly made of solid Japanese hardwoods such as maple, chestnut and oak. The wood stems from low-diameter trees that have previously remained significantly underused, usually ending up as wood chips for paper pulp. Likewise, Karimoku New Standard makes the most out of Karimoku’s know-how accumulated over generations of furniture-making and uses its well-equipped factories for manufacturing. A deep understanding of experienced craftsmanship, together with cutting-edge technologies produces furniture that meets the highest standard. Since its founding, Karimoku New Standard has manufactured 15 innovative pieces of furniture and 4 home accessories, all of which are versatile products that carry the silent beauty of every day life.

Homerun chair by Sylvain Willenz from the 2010 collection

Milan Design Week exhibition 2012

Where New Furniture Starts to Blend With Existing Lives

A 100-year-old apartment building at Milan’ s Via Palermo forms the ideal setting to present the new collection of Karimoku New Standard during the Milan Design Week 2012. It is a place that, over the years, has been used by many different people in various ways. Exactly in this kind of everyday environment we would like to show that Karimoku New Standard furniture can easily mix in with any existing living environment, and be used by anybody at any time. In addition to the existing products in the brand’ s collection, we will exhibit an additional 9 new prototypes.

Homerun paperweight by Sylvain Willenz from the 2010 collection

Besides designers Scholten & Baijings (The Netherlands), Big-Game (Switzerland), and Sylvain Willenz (Belgium), and the Karimoku Design Team, creative director Teruhiro Yanagihara this year invited ECAL/ Lucien Gumy (Switzerland), TAF (Sweden) and Tomàs Alonso (UK) to participate. In four apartment rooms Karimoku New Standard presents four new tables, as well as a chair, a stool and small daily objects of a paper bin, a wall hook and a cardholder, which are mixed with items previously designed by our collaborating designers, such as vases, rugs and lamps.

Colour Wood tables by Scholten & Baijings from the 2010 collection

Food Preparation meets Furniture Making

In order to highlight the “Everyday Life” concept of Karimoku New Standard, the Milan Design Week exhibition will host a food installation prepared by the Italian design unit Arabeschi di Latte. Under the title of ‘TOKENS / Love for Food and Wood’, special dishes and drinks will be served based on ingredients derived from ‘trees’, the very origin of furniture. Arabeschi's food TOKENS refer to "small food units" or "snacks" inspired by the Japanese way of eating from different small plates. In this setting, we would like visitors to experience something indispensable on a very ordinary day.

Erastudio Apartment Gallery
Via Palermo 5 (3rd floor)
20121 Milano

Tuesday 17 – Sunday 22 April, 11.00-19.00
Event with Arabeschi di Latte, Thursday 19 April 17.00-21.00

The post Karimoku New Standard at Erastudio
Apartment Gallery appeared first on Dezeen.

Eleven designers including Tomás Alonso, Philippe Malouin and Study O Portable took the fictional character of a lady called Vera as their muse and presented the results in a west London basement during the London Design Festival.

Above: Veralyn Fragrance by Emmanuel Philip

Called Vera, Chapter One, the project was curated by Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller (KM and ÉM) and asked each participant to respond to one photograph of Vera, taken from a set discovered at a junk shop in the seaside town of Brighton.

The eclectic presentation included shoes with Corian heels, bottles of scent inspired by a visit to the sea and wallpaper depicting Vera's dreams.

Above: Conch Shells by Loris & Livia

See all our stories about the London Design Festival here.

Photography is by Benedict Morgan.

Above: Play It Louder by Study O Portable

Here are some more details from KM and ÉM:

Vera, Chapter One is a multi-disciplinary exhibition orchestrated by KM and ÉM as the first part of an on-going project evolving around a fictional character.

Above: Play It Louder by Study O Portable

The first chapter has been exclusively launched during the London Design Festival in September 2011.

Exploring a literacy approach to design, this exhibition showcases an eclectic body of work, including product design, illustration, graphics and olfactive design, by some emerging international talent.

Above: Collection C by Eelko Moorer

Vera is a fictional character based on a series of photographs from a girl’s family found a few years ago in a second hand shop in Brighton.

A group of artists & designers have been commissioned to respond to one image from the series in order to create the first chapter of Vera’s fictive and collaborative biography.

Above: 1:4 by Philippe Malouin

Vera’s material and sensorial world is brought into reality through this speculative body of work.

The exhibition room becomes her intimate space into which the visitor is invited to discover an original series of suppositional artefacts.

Above: Vera's Dream by Arlette Ess

The works featured in this publication are the different responses from the commissioned artists and designers to a brief they were given in July 2010.

This brief is presented below to give you a deeper understanding of the thinking and working process behind this project.

Above: Strap Lamp by Camille Blin

‘There are thirty one photos of Vera in total, ten of them will be released for this first chapter. You are offered to choose one picture from the series to work from.

This image is the beginning of your narration. The work you will produce is a direct continuity of this photo and it will be one of the stories contributing to Vera’s fictional and collaborative biography.

Above: Vera's Vase by José Levy

You are free to respond to this image as you wish. Your answer might be realistic or fantasied, dramatic or comical, profound or superficial, emotional or practical – the tone is yours.

Your story can be rooted in the photo’s temporality but could also be anticipating or succeeding it.

Above: Secret Alphabet by Roma Levin

You can pick any detail from the image to build your own story – a character, a printed pattern, an object, a colour range, or any element which seems relevant to you.

What we think should be vital in the approach of your work is to keep Vera at the heart of the narration.

Above: Her Scarf by Malika Favre

We might sound mystical when saying this, but we believe that the work should almost be incarnating Vera rather than interpreting her.

Above: Aintree by Tomás Alonso

That it isn’t about telling what we think about her rather than making her come true.

Above: Aintree by Tomás Alonso

We wish you the best for this adventure. We hope that Vera will inspire you. She is now your muse.’ KM & ÉM

The post Vera, Chapter One by KM and ÉM appeared first on Dezeen.

London designer Tomás Alonso presented a range of shelves and lighting that combine ash timber with leather saddlery during the London Design Festival.

Each shelf is suspended on natural leather straps, of a similar tone and colour to the wood.

The timber and leather are joined with little brass studs.

The collection also includes a basket, a tray and a lamp with a glass shade.

Vera, Chapter One was an exhibition curated by Kirsty Minns and Érika Muller (KM & ÉM), which asked designers to use a fictional character, Vera, as their muse.

See all our stories about the London Design Festival here.

Photographs are by Benedict Morgan.

The text below is from Vera curators KM & ÉM:

Tomás Alonso
Aintree

Every weekend, for as far back as she could remember, Vera and her parents would go away for day trips, sometimes to the beach, sometimes to the hills, sometimes to see her Aunt and Granddad. It was what they did.

She especially liked going to Stanmer Park. It was a regular outing spot for her and her family, but she didn’t mind because she could see the horses there. She loved horses.

Looking at them in the fields always gave her a feeling of freedom. It made her daydream of all the places they could go the day she learnt how to ride. She was especially fond of Aintree- that’s the name she gave her favourite one. She imagined he would grow into a strong pure bred that would win the Grand National, who knows maybe even ridden by her one day.

The post Aintree by Tomás Alonso
at Vera, Chapter One appeared first on Dezeen.

London based designer Tomás Alonso has designed this collection of stackable steel cutlery, now in production by design brand Italesse.

The Stamp collection is designed for both indoor and outdoor use.

The pieces are held together with a small steel clip.

See our interview with Tomás Alonso on Dezeen Screen »

More cutlery Stories on Dezeen »

Photography is by Cemal Okten.

The following is from the designer:

"Nomadic" set of cutlery easy to take around both indoors and outdoors.
Avoiding any unnecessary elements, the design of Stamp 
cutlery uses the form to give structural strength making the 
most out of the properties of the stainless steel sheet material.

This process of reduction applies not only to the form but also to the amount of material, making the stamp cutlery set very light weight, which combined with the reduced thickness and its stack ability allows it to be easily taken anywhere, from a picnic in the park to the office.

Produced by Italian company Italesse, Stamp cutlery is now available in selected shops.
Italesse HORIZON at The Design Supermarket in la Rinascente- Milan 2011.

Object: Stamp cutlery
Client: Italesse
Dimensions: Fork: 183 x 25 cm
 Knife:183 x 23 cm
 Spoon: 185 x 37 cm
Material: Stainless steel
Design: Tomás Alonso

See also:

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Join by DING3000	Shape/Form by Lukas Peet	iD Cutlery by Ineke Hans

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