Where Design and Interiors Meets Happiness and Wellbeing
Every day we are confronted with floods of different images and ideas about the latest interior trends.
Rather like going on a long shopping trip, it can become overwhelming to the point of confusion. So that you’re no longer sure what you even like anymore.
Do you truly love that particular decor? Or is it just you’ve seen so much of it, that you’ve been convinced you do?
Now that autumn is here with colder weather and the nights drawing in earlier, doesn’t this room look like a snug place to hibernate for a while?
This cosy looking bedroom with its sloping wood-beamed roof is one of the five star rooms at the Lloyd Hotel Amsterdam.
It is an unusual hotel, with an even more surprising history, as I discovered.
Southern Ocean Lodge is a fusion of modern design and nature. If you’ve ever wanted to get away from it all to somewhere completely different, a place of total relaxation and a retreat from the stresses of every day. Then I think I have found just the place for you.
This unique boutique hotel is situated on Kangaroo Island in Southern Australia. Known as Australia’s Galapagos, the island features spectacular natural attractions, native wildlife and views of the South Ocean stretching toward the Antarctic. With more than a third of Kangaroo Island declared as a conservation or national park, it is the perfect place to explore and get close to nature. The climate is Mediterranean like, with warm summers and temperate winters.
Christoph Schindler and Margarita Salmerón
Margarita Salmerón Espinosa is one half of the Zurich based architectural partnership schindlersalmerón. Born in Valencia, Spain, she studied Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Between 1998 and 2004 she worked as an architect at MVRDV in Rotterdam, Meili Peter in Zurich and Herzog & de Meuron in Basel. As well as her work for schindlersalmerón, Margarita is a contributor to the magazine Mundo Hispánico, where she writes about issues related to architecture and design.
Together with partner Christoph, they design and develop innovative – yet simple – modern furniture and home accessories in which the focus is the interrelation between form, function, tool, and material. Their best-selling Kleiderleiste Slimline Coatrack still belongs to the very few furniture products successfully implementing mass customization principles.
Space saving design and multi-functional products are two areas of interior design that fascinate me.
The Coffee Bench caught my eye as it is a piece of modern furniture that combines these two elements. Designed by Karolina Tylka of the Polish design studio BEYOND, the Coffee Bench is a simple but clever concept. It functions as both a bench and table; adjusted and transformed by rotating the elements of the bench.
Dani Gassner and Ori Saidi
Dani Gassner is one half of the design duo that forms Ototo. He completed a Masters degree with honours in industrial design at the Domus Academy in Milan; and in 2002 Dani co-founded Studio Ototo in collaboration with designer Ori Saidi. Together they design fun and quirky modern home accessories, such as the recently launched Jumpin’ Jack Salad Servers.
Holly Palmer is the designer of the original and playful Tea Cup Stool. She graduated from Bucks New University, UK, in 2008 where she studied Contemporary Furniture and Product Design.
Here she tells us the story behind the design of Tea Cup Stool, the process involved in manufacturing it; and reveals to us the designers who have inspired her.
This striking minimalist bedroom, is part of a suite known as the Lioness Den, in the Hempel Hotel, London. Famous for its daring design feature – the bed is on a platform, suspended from the ceiling by metal bars. Also situated on this mezzanine is an en-suite bathroom and storage space. Below, there is a spacious, light and sunny lounge.
The design of the room is sleek modern minimalism with a warm and organic atmosphere. It is in keeping with the interior in the rest of the hotel: a blend of minimalist design and 21st century technology and comfort, inspired by the essence of modern and ancient travel.
The sleeping area is intimate, yet feels spacious and is perfectly proportioned. It achieves balance and harmony through the use of warm lighting and some of the natural elements associated with Zen philosophy: earth, wood, metal and fire. The inspiring modern design offers many interior ideas you could use to create your own minimalist bedroom.
