Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Pieteke Korte has made a collection of leather samples that use iridescent colours and geometric patterns to create distorted visual effects (+ slideshow). More about Pieteke Korte creates optical illusions with leather for Visual Interferences collection
News: architecture firm RMJM has won a competition to design a landmark tower for Doumen, China, with plans for a 93-metre-high structure covered in scales (+ slideshow). More about Fish-inspired skyscraper by RMJM wins Chinese tower contest
Holes in a wrought iron platform are filled with planted rockeries at this Kobe showroom by Yuko Nagayama & Associates for Japanese fashion brand Sisii (+ slideshow). More about Sisii showroom by Yuko Nagayama & Associates is interspersed with rockeries
Dutch studio i29 has designed a minimal stainless-steel kitchen island for a classical Paris apartment (+ slideshow). More about Slim kitchen island installed at Home 10 by i29
UK architecture firm 5th Studio has added a shingle-clad extension to a house in a listed former inn that is raised above the flood level of the River Cam in Cambridgeshire (+ slideshow). More about Wildfowl Cottage extension by 5th Studio is clad with shingles and raised over a flood plain
Belgian studio Fou de Feu has created a collection of tableware shaped like teardrops from a range of materials (+ slideshow). More about Fou de Feu designs droplet-shaped tableware for Rhythm collection
Budapest studio Gereben Marián mixed cement with local earth and rock to create the rugged walls of this series of buildings, which accommodate visitors to a vineyard in the Eger wine region of Hungary (+ slideshow). More about Earthy cabins hide amongst the vineyards at the Almagyar Wine Terrace in Hungary
Israeli designers Idan Noyberg and Gal Bulka have replaced sewing-machine needles with stamps that print lines of patterns onto fabric. More about Noyberg & Bulka uses sewing machines to stamp ink patterns onto clothes
A vibrator that can be worn as a necklace, Lego's new building blocks aimed at the architecture community and Rebecca Litchfield's photographic project chronicling the decay of abandoned Soviet architecture (pictured), feature in Dezeen Mail issue 215. Click through for the latest news, jobs and reader comments from Dezeen.
More about Dezeen Mail #215
Opinion: when the creative industries across Europe go offline for the holiday season, the archetypal English country cottage becomes an incubator for problem-solving design brilliance says Kieran Long. More about "Holidays bring out the best in designers"
London office Studio Octopi has revised its proposal for a floating swimming pool in the River Thames, to become a pontoon of three freshwater pools in a new location beside Temple underground station. More about Studio Octopi's Thames Bath concept evolves into floating freshwater pools
Canadian studio Chevalier Morales Architectes has reinterpreted the traditional Swiss chalet to create a top-heavy timber house in the mountain landscape of eastern Quebec (+ slideshow). More about Canadian lodge by Chevalier Morales references Alpine chalets
San Francisco company Scribble Technology has revealed a prototype for a writing device that can scan specific tones and then write in the same colour (+ slideshow). More about Scribble's colour-matching pen can write in millions of tones
Rammed earth walls built using soil from the desert site are wrapped in a protective weathered steel shell at this courtyard house near Phoenix by local firm Wendell Burnette Architects (+ slideshow). More about Desert Courtyard House by Wendell Burnette features rammed earth walls
An old farmhouse in France's picturesque Loire Valley has been converted into a summer retreat by Paris architects Septembre (+ slideshow). More about Septembre converts old French farmhouse into holiday home
This wooden community centre in the earthquake-affected Japanese town of Yamada, by Dutch studio Van Der Architects, features a semi-opaque glass wall and an artificial grass playground (+ slideshow). More about Timber community centre by Van Der Architects built in earthquake-hit Japanese town
London Design Festival 2014: London design studio Industrial Facility has created a stool to join its Branca family of wooden furniture for Italian brand Mattiazzi. More about Industrial Facility adds Branca Stool to collection for Mattiazzi
Narrow strips of steel give an undulating facade to this renovated commercial block in Tokyo by Japanese firm Amano Design Office (+ slideshow). More about Amano Design Office wraps Tokyo office block with steel ribbons
The design arm of architecture studio CF Møller has created a white porcelain tableware set in which different pieces all stack together (+ slideshow). More about CF Møller Design creates Ensō architectural tableware set
As a Danish architect unveils plans for a snowflake-shaped floating hotel, Dezeen selects 13 of the most ridiculous, outrageous and unusual hotel designs we've ever published – including a flying whale, a person-sized bird's nest and a room that allows guests to sleep with the fishes (+ slideshow). More about 13 crazy hotel designs