I remember back in college the first time I ever saw a Rem Koolhaas house. I cannot remember the name of the house, now, but it was built for a wheelchair bound man and his wife. The house seemed simple enough at first glance, but it always seemed odd to me. Much later, I realized why: the house defied gravity. There was no simple explanation at to how this structure stood up. And this is the same feeling I got when I first viewed Stack. Initially, it didn’t blow my mind until I realized just how strong its illusion took hold of your imagination. Now, I find myself staring at this shelving for hours in awe. Okay, maybe not hours, but this furniture from Established & Sons‘ collection and the design house of Raw Edges garners, at least, minutes of deep pondering.

Tubes by Tsunami Glassworks was one of the highlights of ICFF for me. I’m a sucker for contemporary glass design, and this work surpassed all others in my opinion. Each piece in Tubes is hand blown and finished, and each piece has its own character and hue. When all pieces are assembled to make a forest of glass vases a perfect poem is created, but one that can change and evolved to suit the owner’s mood. Also, if you’re so inclined, these green glass vases will make the perfect vessel for the longest of long stemmed flowers. Crazy idea, I know, but why not?

I wanted to get this post out quickly because the BKLYN Designs Expo has just past, and yet I have not talked about the most prolific and possibly the most fun design collective: UM. Their work is just so damn clever. As my cop out, I’ll let them speak for themselves:

At the core we are designers and makers, sometimes designing, sometimes fabricating, most often doing both. We rely on one process to inform the other — often exploring new ways to realize projects.

We are regularly called to work beyond the built world. To date we have developed identities for our clients, mapped experiences for their customers and designed TV sets.

Another great find from BKLYN Design: Takeshi Miyakawa. Why is this guy not a superstar designer? Good question. His pieces are clever, refined, simple, and extremely desireable. And maybe most important of all (at least for design stardom), Miyakawa’s work is iconic. His fractal 23 shelving just has this timeless feeling about it. And this cabinetry is so incredibly useful. From small jewelry up to blanket storage and everything in between, this piece accomodates you. It’s almost as if every part of your life can be conveniently stores in the fractal 23. This piece passively unclutters your life while being aesthetically clean with its clever joinery.

Equally as impressive is Miyakawa’s shelving tower he calls 14+1. But I have so many more pieces to tell you about from BKYLN Designs that I’ll just show it to you. Enjoy.

Have you ever owned a piece of furniture so perfect that it made you feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven? If not then the coffin couch may be the perfect fit to bring you to eternal bliss. The coffin couch is a sofa full of beautiful details including handles and gorgeous legs. And if this furniture doesn’t knock you out then its $3,500 price tag may kill you.

Coffin Couches

I get so many more press releases these days from people promoting their furniture. That is how I found out about the Storage Unit by Eric Jourdan. If your piece looks like this beautiful piece of furniture or anthing close to this then please send your press release immediately because I would love to feature your stuff. This piece features an ingenious curved walnut frame with a highly desirable lacquered set of shelves. It’s like a dark rich Zune that has blown up in scale (sorry Apple, I’m tired of the iPod analogy). If your piece does not look like this or anything close to it, then please go away.