All posts by Kristen Ordonez

Q&A: Vegan Design

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“The place we live in can and should do three things: reflect who we are, bring out the best in us, and contribute to a better world.”

This mantra is the basic, driving principle behind the work of interior designer Deborah DiMare, founder of DiMare Design in Miami as well as VeganDesign.org, two businesses that strive to create a healthier world and save animals. We spoke with Deborah DiMare who discussed everything from her passion for vegan interior design, her daily inspiration, and her new book titled “Vegan Interiors.”

What image comes to mind when you think of vegan design?

I imagine ultra luxury such as a beautifully made crisp white bed or a fabulous living room with beautiful sumptuous fabrics. The feeling of any vegan space should always emit good health, comfort, happiness and an overall “feel good” environment, a space you never want to leave. Vegan design focuses on optimal health and well being.

How did you come to be a designer, what led you to this career?

How I became a vegan designer was initially from the love of animals that my family and I share. Animals are a very important part of our lives. We also do our best to maintain a healthy, optimal lifestyle. We are very active and love nature. When I discovered the term “dog leather,” it was a pivotal moment for me personally and professionally. … It changed me, It had a deep effect on me. How could I continue to be such a hypocrite? … I did a 360 in my business and refused to continue designing spaces with products originating from animals.

 

 

Vegan design is not just about saving animals. It’s about putting an end to the inhumane treatment of desperate people forced to work in dangerous, deplorable conditions. It’s about saving the planet. It’s about healthy design and well-being. Animal based textiles and materials such as leather, wool, silk, fur, down and treated woods etc. are laden with poisons and toxins that penetrate our skin. Thankfully, today, consumers are demanding compassionate, healthier alternatives in a majority of industries.

What do you think are some key things to remember when outfitting a home with vegan design stylings?

Use as many natural materials as possible — cork, linens, bamboos and blends. Keep it clean and as low on toxicity as you can.

Where would you draw inspiration from when outfitting a home in this style?

Everywhere, everyone and everything. I travel a lot with my family and I soak up the architecture and materials I see in other countries. I get inspired by the color of the ocean on a gray day or the way a woman’s red lipstick looks against her skin, or even the blue spot on my dog’s eye.  Everyday life inspires me. But, most importantly, getting in tune with my clients is my true inspiration. … Starting new projects is like detective work. I have to uncover a client’s true needs and taste. It’s so much fun.

Tell us about your book and what readers can expect from reading it?

“Vegan Interiors — Home Edition” is a first of a series of books that focuses on the beauty of humane design. The book is filled with stunning images portraying compassionate design as luxurious and healthier for everyone from newborns to seniors and simple to embrace. It provides facts about how many animals, workers, trees, etc. are saved in each vegan room or piece of furniture. There are pages dedicated to the future of textiles. “Growing materials” are fabrics made out of fruits and trees that will be readily available to consumers soon enough. “Vegan Interiors — Home Edition” is a beautiful way to show others through demonstration and education that no living thing, including humans, animals and the planet need sacrificing for beautiful interiors.

All images courtesy VeganDesign.org

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Luxury Design Trends for 2019

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A journey of an entire year must begin with a single step, and there’s a whole new exclusive crop of design trends to consider for 2019. For design company Boca do Lobo, a key note to keeping up with the upcoming 2019 interior styles is to believe that a room should never allow the eye to settle into one place, and to stay true to one’s unique taste. Something that is charming is never out of style.  

 

For those with wanderlust and an earthy spirit, Boca do Lobo claims that 2019 is the year to express it. A pop of color has more personality than any neutral ever could, and there’s no limit to the number of routes that can be taken with vibrant tones and disarming styles. A sense of vitality and renewal, these are the several key aspects of the 2019’s upcoming trends.

MIXING METALS

Rich metallic over sleek lines bring somewhat of a daring attitude to design. From chic silver, opulent golds and warm bronzes, the anodized surfaces are having its moment now, adding a dramatic flair to surroundings. Chrome arrives with 2019’s standout colors that embody the warmer spectrum of the color wheel.

GOLD ACCENT

Glistening gold never goes out of style, and this year it is used on the most on-trend furnishings and accessories, giving a sense of opulence and refinement. Clever use of gold finishes draws attention to the beauty of material and its highly reflective qualities that sparkle in the light. Exquisite gold interiors are designed to show off such rich details.

ROUNDED SHAPES

Popular in the ’60s, curved soft furnishings have now taken on interiors with a playful character. From seating to lighting, combining organic forms gives a contemporary atmosphere to the most elegant rooms. Faithful to nature’s movements and the futurist appeal, rounded shapes are one of the most intriguing and covetable 2019 interior design trends.

ANTIQUE & VINTAGE FURNITURE

Antiques have always held a value of their own but now they have found a new design role. From fascinating ancient times, distinct design pieces have re-emerged in a creative way to add a timeless touch. Designers have started to combine vintage furniture pieces with modern products and the result is unique interiors.

BLACK INTERIORS

To meet design lovers’ sudden demand for sophisticated ambiances, entire collections with black finishes are appearing in the market. With the emerging refined techniques, a certain lack of pretension lies within the functional design and emphasizes solid feeling along with cutting-edge style. Expect to see to seem monochromatic interiors dominating in 2019.

All photos courtesy Boca do Lobo.

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Enlightening Outdoor Design

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AIKO Lounger. All photos by MAMAGREEN.

Gertrude Jekyll, a British horticulturalist, designer and artist from the late 19th century, once said “The garden should fit its owner or his or her tastes, just as one’s clothes do; it should be neither too large nor too small, but just comfortable.”

Good outdoor design should follow this philosophy in order to create a space that is a comfortable reflection of its owner, according to Michael Toutloff, showroom manager for MAMAGREEN, an outdoor furniture design studio that promises to make a difference in outdoor design.

 

Headed by designers Vincent Cantaert and Barbara Widiningtias, MAMAGREEN aims to create the best hand-crafted outdoor furniture that features exciting, distinctive designs in the “smartest manner we possibly can,” says Toutloff. Cantaert, CEO and founder of

 

MAMAGREEN, is a third-generation furniture and from Belgium, while Widiningtias was one of the first women to graduate in wood furniture studies in Semarang, Indonesia. Together their modern, minimalistic designs that are both comfortable and sustainable, as they utilize traditional materials, such as reclaimed teak, and primarily recycled or recyclable materials. “[It] isn’t disposable design,” Toutloff affirms, “it is furniture that is made to last.”

 

To achieve these distinct designs, Toutloff says the key is to correctly quantify how much space you have to work with. “The biggest mistake someone makes is by trying to force the space to become something it isn’t,” he notes. With this in mind any space can get the perfect revamp it needs, from transforming a small balcony to a quaint entertaining space to installing a cabana in a large backyard to create an intimate oasis getaway.

BAIA Extending Table.

Scale and functionality are priorities when it comes to MAMAGREEN furniture. Pieces like the BAIA extending table come standard with a self-storing filler that allows you to expand to a larger table for entertaining, then downsize for maximum movement and flow.

 

The versatility of these pieces is what is most attractive, as each product is capable of being customized for reasons corresponding with aging, ADA requirements, mobility and more.  The company’s passion for sustainability also contributes to its modern sensibilities, from leaving zero impact on rainforest to upcycling 95 percent of its production waste.

 

“MAMAGREEN furniture is made with love,” says Toutloff. “There are no conveyor belts in our factory. Instead, product is moved from station to station and built by hand by craftsmen.”

Recycled teak wood at MAMAGREEN workshop.

EKKA Lounger.

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Discovering Mystical India

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Traveling the world typically leads to atypical adventures, and the guides and experts behind the tours of Architectural Adventures are masters at giving adventure seekers unique experiences. One of its more “mystifying” adventures that showcases some of the most intriguing architectural wonders is the company’s “Discovering Mystical India” tour.

Photo courtesy AdobeStock 9468600

Tour travelers will get the chance to see what makes India mystical and spiritual while traveling through the classic Golden Triangle of cities: Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. The important sights of both Old and New Delhi are sprinkled throughout the journey, which can be enjoyed via a rickshaw ride through colorful Chandni Chowk market. One can explore Hawa Mahal, the elaborately carved “Palace of the Winds,” whose pink sandstone façade allowed the ladies of the court to view the streets of the city from behind its 953 small windows. Take in a drive through Ranthambore National Park, with its picturesque ruins of forts and palaces, in search of elusive Bengal tigers and other wildlife. Speaking of forts, historical adventure seekers can take in Shahpura Haveli, a 300-year-old Rajput fort and palace complex with extensive courtyards, staircases, and arches that typify Indo-Saracenic architecture. Similar to the nature of the region, however, there is more to this tour than meets the eye.

Bahai Lotus Temple, New Delhi. Photo courtesy @diegograndi

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds. Photo courtesy ©jura_taranik

“India is always known to be mysterious, charming and captivating,” notes tour leader Nitin Jain. “I think our guests are going to find India and their experience even more incredible than what they would have envisioned!” As the architectural expert on the tour, it is Jain’s hope to showcase both the rich historical and modern aspects of India that make it like almost no other place in the world. While he says no trip to India is complete without visiting Agra and Jaipu, Jain is especially intrigued to highlight the modern architectural marvels on the tour’s excursion to Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh.

 

Other architectural highlights include seeing India’s largest mosque, the red sandstone and marble Jama Masjid, exploring the Taj Mahal, and visiting Birla Mandir, the Hindu template made of pure white marble.

 

Being an architect who spent his formative years in India as well as someone who bridges the gap between an Indian as well as being an American, Jain affirms that he is perfectly, and uniquely, positioned to offer such a diverse perspective to guests. “My hope is to provide an enriching and fulfilling experience by showcasing India’s past, present and future as seen through its’ architecture and culture,” he says.

Photo courtesy ©Curioso Photography

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The Unexpected Office

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How people can become more productive and creative when working from the comfort of their bed.

For Geoffrey Pascal, furniture design was one aspect of design that came naturally with a sense of joy and fulfillment. It allowed him to delve into his creative side and construct playful pieces that served a purpose.

 

For his latest project, called Grafeiophobia, Pascal wanted to create new experiences within the office environment by improving the modularity and comfort of furniture.

 

Each of these pieces offer a different position to support different postures, removing the need for a desk. And though grafeiophobia technically means “a fear of desks,” these pieces are in fact inspired by Pascal’s own struggles with productivity and how typical office spaces aren’t as welcoming. “My inspiration came from my own problems with working, I was feeling as if I was forced to work, and I decided to change that,” he says. In turn, these pieces demonstrate how people can become more productive and creative when working from the comfort of their bed.

 

The project is composed of three pieces of furniture: Basic Besk, Triclinium Gum and the Flying Man. Their design, according to Pascal, was thought out to support what NASA researchers have found to be the “Neutral Body Posture,” as in the posture the human body naturally assume in microgravity.What helps make these pieces stand out, aside from the unique design, is the dynamism each piece evokes, as well as the colors that give a youthful, almost playful character.  

 

In contrast to a classic chair and desk, the design of the Grafeiophobia furniture is meant to distribute a worker’s body weight across multiple support points, making it less stressful on the lower back, arms and shoulders. The variety and modularity of the furniture also allows you to change postures in order to maintain focus and reduce boredom.

 

“There are different ways of working, and people have different needs,” Pascal says, further noting that Grafeiophobia breaks the norm of office furniture and “opens people’s minds to what it is to work.”

Basic Besk

Flying Man

All photos courtesy Geoffrey Pascal.

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Navigating Local Cuisine

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Consistently ranked among the top places to visit, Mexico City is a world capital welcoming more than 12.5 million visitors each year who come for its renowned cuisine, vibrant culture, rich history, unique neighborhoods and modern-day travel offerings. For an insider’s view of Mexico City’s food scene, Rocio Vazquez Landeta, founder of Eat Like a Local Mexico City, helps navigate travelers through the city’s neighborhoods to hidden culinary gems through her expert food tours, three of which will newly debut in 2019.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Landeta is a world traveler and food researcher, as well the owner of one of the first food blogs in Mexico, sin Mantel. After studying Mexican cuisine and culture at the Mexican Gastronomy School, she founded the company to take travelers through the streets of the vibrant Mexico City to taste, explore and connect with Mexico City’s food scene, markets, restaurants and people. “Food is an amazing tool because it is one of the few things that you can experience with all your senses. Through the food, we help travelers connect with the people behind the food. Through the food we create stories and we explain our roots and history.”

Discovering all the great places that only locals know, Eat Like a Local Mexico City’s food journeys showcase cutting-edge restaurants along with secret food stalls and street food that offer the most authentic Mexican cuisine.

The Mexico City Foodie Immersion tour covers all aspects of Mexican food. The 4.5-hour experience begins at a small coffee shop where travelers learn about the coffee culture in the city. With coffee in hand, the tour explores street food delicacies including Mixiotes, basket tacos, and rotisserie chicken. The journey continues to the subway to explore a traditional market with an array of carnitas, corn, tostadas, fruit and chorizo. Travelers then visit La Merced, the second biggest market in the city for candy tasting, pineapple juice, fish tacos and a visit to a local woman’s house for a homemade meal. The tour comes to an end at a hip, modern lounge for authentic cocktails.

For the adventurous eaters, the Street Food at Night and Hidden Neighborhoods tour explores three hidden neighborhoods in Mexico City, San Rafael, Guerrero, Santa María la Ribera, and introduces foodies to eyeball and brains tacos. For the conservative eaters, enjoy al pastor or brisket tacos. Mole is the highlight of this tour and the group will eat traditional homemade black and yellow moles; taste mezcal, tejate, tepache, and other traditional Mexican drinks; and eat birria, chiles rellenos and churros. Finish the evening tour walking around the historic center and learn about Aztec legends while visiting the famous tile house.

However authentic the experiences are, Landeta’s passion for these tours extends further than the plate. “The food in Mexico City is of course is amazing, but our tours are more about getting to know the people behind the food,” she says, from hanging out with the locals, being hugged by the kids at the market and more. “Everybody says that they absolutely love the food, but what makes Eat Like a Local special is the people working with us — the guides, the vendors, the kids and the chefs.”

Eat Like a Local Mexico City is also the only Mexican-founded food tour agency that actively promotes economic growth and creates opportunities for families within the traditional markets. All of Eat Like a Local’s food tours support the local community. For example, the Mexico City Foodie Immersion tour supports the 80 IQ program, a program where 12 children at the La Merced Market learn English, receive monthly mentorship, participate in recreational activities and also, work as guides during the weekends. The Mexican Wine and Pulque Journey supports single mothers from La Merced Market through lending business advice and exposure, participation in pop-up events and mentorship. The Street Food at Night and Hidden Neighborhoods tour donates food and meals to homeless people as well.

In the end, everything comes back to the heart and home for Landeta. “Every dish has a soul, each cook creates dishes with his hands but also with his heart. Eat Like a Local creates a love affair with the food, but also with the people,” she says.

The Mexican Wine and Pulque Journey is hosted by Sara Garza, a sociologist who grew up in the Roma neighborhood. Guests explore Garza’s favorite spots including the traditional places she grew up eating at, as well as new, trendy hotspots. Starting at Eno, Enrique Olvera´s famous deli, taste green pozole, pastor tacos, Mexican-Argentinian tacos and more. Travelers will learn about Pulque, the pre-Hispanic drink made from the agave plant. End the afternoon at a winemaker´s shop where the group tastes four different Mexican wines paired with Mexican craft cheese. The tour unveils the hidden history behind the wineries and guests will learn about the Mexican wine world with an expert.

All photos courtesy Eat Like a Local Mexico City.

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Recycling Sunlight for Modern Metropolises

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All photos courtesy haberdashery.

As cities grow ever taller, parts of the ground level below become starved of light just like a rainforest floor. Helio Ray, haberdashery’s latest concept, aims to bring the sunshine back in metropolitan areas. The conceptual idea from the London-based design studio is engineered to redirect sunlight from above the skyline and bring it back down the side of buildings.

 

“Sunlight has a huge effect on our physiology and wellbeing,” explains Ben Rigby, co-founder and creative director. “It influences our circadian rhythms, provides vitamin D and illuminates our environment, bringing the true colour out of the surfaces, architecture and the urban grain. Our ambition was to create a focal point using sunlight in order to reinvigorate areas that had become disenfranchised from the life-affirming effects of the sunshine from way above.”

 

Mounted on the top of a tall building, Helio Ray is fuelled by light collected from a Heliostat, a mechanized mirrored surface that automatically tracks the sun and gathers it into a concentrated beam. It then abstracts this beam of light when reflecting off a second custom-designed reflector that sends the resulting shafts of light down the side of a building, creating “god ray” effects.

 

This slow variation in surface provides a slowly evolving pattern of reflected light, whilst perfectly controlling the extremities of the overall light effect so as to only fall on specified building surfaces. The effect comes and goes just like the real sun above, so is a true extension of the actual sun’s reach. It is visible from all surrounding buildings, providing a stunning, calming intervention in juxtaposition to the static, man-made urban grain of most cities.

 

The studio believes Helio Ray can bring a “sense of wonder and pride back into areas that had evolved into transient spaces lost in shadow, reinventing them as landmark destinations.” Such installations can also help hasten city planning by providing a quicker, less complicated path of incorporating infrastructure projects.

 

Alternatively, this concept further lends a hand toward haberdashery itself that explores the uses of light and how it can invoke a positive emotional response with the public.

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Eye-Popping Furniture for Work

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A new line of pop art furniture will brighten your office space.

A result of the extravagant, colorful and recognizable signature of designer Karim Rashid, Hook is the newest collection of modular furnishings by Newform Ufficio designed to instill positivity in the workplace.

 

“The office space should be comfortable and give inspiration like home, only with less distraction,” says Rashid. “An office should give a sense of freedom, personalization and sharing at the same time.” To reflect these ideals, Rashid’s collection incorporates touches of color, pop art work and simple divisions that create a private environment in line with the parameters of the common work space, making small workrooms obsolete.

 

The desks are the nerve center of the collection around which all the elements are developed. Each desk can be customized in terms of finishes and colors, and can also include a second, entire or shelf-sized top to store files, small books and/or hide cables. Under the worktop it is possible to insert a second, entire or shelf-sized top, to place diaries, documents or files, but the space also useful for managing and hiding cables. There are also drawers, special modules to insert hard drives, shelf systems and small load bearing shelves to replace thin metal legs. To free the tables from any unnecessary clutter, Rashid and Newform Ufficio have created LED lamps that spread a pleasant ambient light of the entire length of the desk.

 

To create workstations made up of several desks, a series of translucent screens and side panels allow both privacy and collaboration, as well as open up the space between workspaces. “I believe that the fluid, clean and bright spaces promote an active working life and that an office of this kind will lead to a better and more gritty work in return. My collection for Newform Ufficio embodies this spirit,” Rashid adds.

“Design has been the cultural shaper of our world from the start,” he notes. “We have designed systems, cities and commodities…. Now design is not about solving problems, but about a rigorous beautification of our built environments. Design is about the betterment of our lives poetically, aesthetically, experientially, sensorially, and emotionally.”

All photos courtesy Newform Ufficio.

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Flavor Plates

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All photos courtesy NEFF.

 

 

Home appliance manufacturer NEFF, renowned for its passion for cooking and intuitive kitchen appliances, has partnered with UK-based ceramicist Reiko Kaneko to create a unique set of plates that enhance the flavor experience with a richer taste sensation.

 

The inspiration for this collection was taken from Professor Charles Spence’s groundbreaking research into the field of gastrophysics. Looking into various elements that contribute to a memorable eating experience, Spence has partnered with NEFF to uncover how the colour, shape, texture and even weight of crockery can intensify the flavour perception of food.

 

“Our brain plays tricks on us about what our taste buds are tasting,” says Spence. “There have been experiments showing that eating popcorn from a blue bowl tastes saltier than from a white bowl. Similarly, when it comes to shape, an asymmetric, angular plate can bring out the sourness and acidity of food much more than a round plate does.” Spence explains that working with NEFF to apply some of these principles to Reiko Kaneko’s plateware has been a really interesting challenge and opportunity to see the gastrophysics insights used as inspiration for plateware design.

 

The exclusive plate collection consists of three plates that have been specially designed to heighten the taste of each stage of a meal, for an ultimate dining experience. You can see the development and process behind each vessel below.

The Starter Plate

Influenced by the energy of the sea waves, the Starter Plate is a fine bone china plate designed to intensify the taste of seafood-based starters. Reminiscent of the world under the sea through the white and blue glazing and bearing a rough, fish scale-like texture, this plate heightens the perception of saltiness through its angular shape.

The Main Dish

The angular, black stoneware of the Main Dish bowl enhances the sensation of spiciness. The rough, sandpaper texture of the bowl heightens the taste of spicier ingredients like ginger, making it ideal for serving up dishes like Thai green curries.

The Dessert Bowl

Inspired by the shape of a raspberry, this Dessert Bowl is designed to bring out the fruity flavor of desserts. The pink color boosts the perception of sweetness, whilst the outer, rounded, raspberry-like texture triggers associations with the fruit.

Reiko Kaneko, the ceramicist behind the creation of this set of plates, has been fascinated with the dimensions of taste since she discovered Spence’s work. “Playing with colour, shape and texture with the goal of ultimately influencing how diners will taste food has opened up a lot of creative avenues, which are reflected in my design,” she states.

 

Maria Beltrán, Head of Communication NEFF, says “Gastrophysics has opened our eyes towards a different world of ‘ingredients’ that come into play well after the food has been cooked: the elements that impact how food tastes when it’s being served. We hope that our plate collection inspires passionate foodies out there to be even more adventurous with their flavor experiments.”

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Holiday Gifts to Delight Design-Lovers

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Horizon 2.0 light by Humanscale. Photo courtesy Humanscale.

 

Design-minded individuals can often be hard to shop for, as style plays a key role in completing the perfect aesthetic. For the design-lover in your life, below are some masterfully crafted pieces that are bound to make the perfect gift this holiday season.

For the Night Owl:

The Table Torch from the award-winning lighting brand Stickbulb makes a great gift for a minimally minded individual in need of a desk or bedside lamp.

 

Available in 2-foot- and 3-foot-tall options, these sleek, linear LED module lights are elegantly held in place by a simplistic yet high-quality steel base.

 

The wooden component is offered in sustainably sourced maple or walnut, reclaimed heart pine, ebonized oak, or reclaimed water tower redwood. The metal base is available in powder coated white, slate grey or matte black, hand-blackened steel, polished nickel or brass, or brushed nickel or brass.

Photo courtesy Stickbulb.

For the Scholar or Entrepreneur:

 

A champion of well-being in the workplace, Humanscale’s two new task lights, Nova and Horizon 2.0 utilize advanced LED technology for improved  comfort, optimal light output and cost-saving energy efficiency. Now ready to order, Nova and Horizon offer a smarter, healthier choice for offices and the environment.

 

“As the lines between office and home blur, products need to offer functionality paired with simple, clean aesthetics. Nova and Horizon 2.0 are highly versatile LED task lights that combine industry-leading technology with a contemporary yet timeless design,” says Mesve Vardar, director of industrial design at Humanscale. 

 

Perfect for anyone looking to dress up their desk and enhance their wellbeing at work, the Nova task light offers adaptability and comfort in a striking, sculptural form.

 

Energy Star 2.0 certified, the inventive, ergonomic design protects the eyes against strain, faithfully renders colors and produces a single shadow on a work surface, so the hard worker in your life need no longer complain about a headache after a long day at work.

 

Humanscale’s new Horizon 2.0 also checks all the boxes for the eco-conscious individual who loves iconic design and technology. Improving upon the prestigious Red-Dot award-winning Horizon task light from Michael McCoy and Peter Stasis (featured in the MoMA permanent collection), Horizon 2.0 implements the latest LED technology to produce its signature, ultra-thin plane of light with greater efficiency.

 

Energy Star 2.0 certified, Horizon 2.0 uses only healthy, sustainable materials and is available in five vibrant colors: Bronze Gold, Silver, Jet Black, Arctic White, Twilight Blue and Morning Pink.

Photo courtesy Humanscale.

For the Drink Enthusiast:

 

True’s Undercounter Beverage Dispenser is ideal for person who appreciates a perfect beer pour. Handcrafted to specifically dispense the perfect draft pour, the company’s advanced airflow technology ensures a consistently frosty, and refreshing flow. The unobtrusive 15-inch stainless-steel dispenser comes with either a single or dual tap and for indoors or out — a true gift that won’t go out of favor or flavor! Also, because of the brand’s TrueFlex® shelving system, the versatile cooler is completely convertible into a wine cabinet.

 

For the budding sommelier, while a wine cellar might be ideal, True’s Dual Zone Wine Cabinet and storage system is pretty fantastic for wine enthusiasts. Designed to preserve your bottles, independent climate zones allow for separate temperature ranges (from 40°F to 65°F), while glide-out, vibration-dampening racks hold up to 45 bottles and protect that special vintage. TruLumina LED lighting — with 14 different color options — allows for the ambiance to fit your mood.

Left & Bottom Right: True Residential’s Undercounter Beverage Dispenser. Top Right: True’s Dual Zone Wine Cabinet. Photos courtesy True Residential.

For the Wellness Guru:

 

A stocking stuffer that actually enhances wellness, Hansgrohe‘s newest design, aptly called PowderRain, recently hit the market as the perfect tool to enhance the shower experience while also fitting into any style. Characterized by a “powder-like” micro-fine mist, the eco-efficient spray is designed to completely envelop the body, with thousands of microscopic water droplets cloaking you in a protective oasis of relaxation.

Photos courtesy Hansgrohe.

For the Design Afficionado:

 

For the most discriminating buyer, Salone del Mobile.Milano is ready for the holidays with the launch of their 6th partnership between SaloneSatellite and the Rinascente Department Store. For 2018, 12 select products, created by 9 international designers, will be on sale through the holiday season at the famed department store.

 

The  selected  products place huge  importance on the quest for  new solutions, both tangible and  intangible, always intelligent and  sometimes poetic, inspired by traditional craftsmanship  and ancient materials that can inform a better future. A  plethora of chairs, tables, lamps, trays and vases, fitness  equipment and everyday and decorative objects will be on display,  all deriving from simple intuition and actions and marrying technology,  craftsmanship and emotion.

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