Famille Summerbelle

Illustrator of the day

Tokyo based illustrator Ryo Takemasa
You can buy totes, prints, mugs and cushions with his designs on Society 6.

Amelie Mancini

I discovered the work of French artist and designer Amélie Mancini on Instagram. Amelie makes all her work by hand in her studio in Brooklyn, NY. She works with a variety of medium be it woodworking (oh I absolutely love her arrow wooden spoons!), lino cutting (check out her Tropical collection pattern!) or painting. She also makes letterpress cards, tee-shirts and prints inspired by her love of baseball.

All eyes on Hyères

Yesterday was a wonderful Sunday full of sunshine, creativity and surprises.

All my family met in the South of France, in Hyères to support my sister Coralie, one of the 10 young fashion designers shortlisted at the prestigious Festival of Fashion and Photography of Hyères, organized by the Villa Noailles.

We went last night to view the third and final incredible catwalk, after which the winners were announced. Coralie won the Prix du Public (winning the most votes from visitors across the week and from the visitors at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris). We are so incredibly proud of her!

Coralie's collection is inspired by the traditional sheep herders from 1950s Iran, moving from the mens wardrobe to an incredibly crafted and structured women's silhouette. The details on each of her 10 outfits were astonishing, all patiently cut, dyed and sewn by hand. It represented hours and hours of incredibly dedicated work.

For this 29th edition, members of the jury included Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, artistic directors of Kenzo, film director Spike Jonze, Jamie Perlman artistic director of English Vogue, artist Maurizio Cattelan or the actress Chloe Sevigny amongst others.

The first prize was awarded to Kenta Matsushige who designed a beautiful womens collection inspired by the architecture of Japanese museums. The Chloé prize was awarded jointly to two designers Liselore Rowjin (Netherlands) and Roshi Porkar (Austria).

The festival offers a great exposure for the 10 participants , giving them visibility and a chance to be spotted by the top of the fashion industry. I think it's fair to say that the standard was incredibly high; both in level of imagination and craftsmanship.

One of the outfit with Swarovski sequins


The dress Coralie designed for Chloé.

Lukas Peet

Canadian designer Lukas Peet graduated in 2009 from the Design Academy of Eindhoven and has since opened his own design studio in Vancouver. He is a multi talented designer working on everything from desks, lights, clocks and graphic design. I first discovered his Village table on my Pinterest. I love the reflection of mirrored shelf with the bright yellow of the underside table top.


Table Lantern is a table light inspired by oil lanterns.By turning the cork knob of the dimmer you can change the brightness of the bulb, from a subtle orange glow to bright white.

Button Series pendant lights. A LED pendant light that is suspended by nylon rope similar to a button. This suspension system allows the light to be tilted on an angle to change the direction of the light. Available at Andlight.

Slab Series pendant lights are a dimmable LED pendant light covered in 100% industrial grade wool felt which provides acoustic dampening to any space. Available at Andlight.

Eva Berendes

More geometric shapes with vivid colours! Here are some beautiful artworks from the Berlin based artist Eva Berendes.

The middelburg Curtain

Untitled, Monday and Tuesday 2013

Untitled, 2012

Also some nice geometric cushions and prints from Ferm Living.

ColoRing by Schemata Architects

Tokyo based Schemata Architects are renowned for the coloured resin tables that I have previously mention on the blog. Jo Nagasaka has also designed a unique furniture line called ColoRing using the lacquering technique of Udukuri.
Udukuri is a traditional Japanese wood craft technique that consist of polishing wood surface with a brush made of sew grass to scrape off soft tissue so that coarse grain pattern is revealed.
Nagasaka then uses leftover paint from other constructions to apply three layers of different colors on the surface. After this process, the object will be polished flat, leaving a unique pattern of wood and color in a functional vibrant design.
Photography by Takumi Ota.

As seen on Dezeen and No Rest for the Obsessed.

Studio Bertjan Pot

The last couple of weeks my youngest sister Charlotte came to work with me on some FS projects at my new studio in De Pijp area in Amsterdam. Charlotte is finishing her 4th year at the Design Academy in Eindhoven.
Our ritual was to meet every morning at 8h30 in our local coffee shop on Van Woustraat. We would slowly wake up with a latte chatting about design ideas and she'd introduced me to the work of several amazing dutch designers.

One of them is Bertjan Pot, most famous his Random Light edited by Moooi.
But what caught my eyes are his mask series. As always in his work he starts to experiment with materials. On this particular occasion he wanted to find out about stitching a rope together to make a large flat carpet. Instead of flat, the samples got curvy and this is how the idea of masks was born. The colours and facial expressions are so powerful yet some of them are rather disturbing.

Masks at the Tricks and Flicks exhibition at the Villa Noailles in Hyères.

Downstairs lighting series are a sort of Stairway to Heaven. 'This is certainly not your average chandelier and you might be very surprises to see an upside down safety ladder with carnival lights. This chandelier won the 1st Frame-Moooi Award in 2012 and the 8 step ladder has been taken into the permanent collection of the Dutch Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.'

Disco Dome uses half an outside-in mirror ball as a faceted reflector. It creates the perfect atmosphere for a private party over a dinner table or in a hallway.

I love the Triangles patterns Studio Bertjan Pot created for Golran a family business with a long history in persian carpets. 'When weaving a Kilim, horizontal and diagonal lines are easy to create but vertical ones are hard to make. So the easiest shape to make is a triangle. Starting off with a triangular grid we build a lot of patterns. Kilims go a long way back in the nomadic tradition, Triangles are of all ages.'

Studio Bertjan Pot consist of Bertjan Pot, Vladi Rapaport and Marjolein Fase.

Mobiles by Alex Palenski

I love mobiles. A couple of years ago I made a paper cut mobile with Ophelia's drawing.
Today I wanted to share with you images of exquisite mobiles designed by French sculptor Alex Palenski.
Alex only makes unique mobile pieces that are made with metal and hand painted. You can discover more of his work here.

Elisa Strozyk ceramic tables

Everything Elisa Strozyk touches turns into something truly unique and beautiful. Remember her Wooden Textiles that won few numerous awards.
On her latest project Ceramic Tables she experiments with the process of firing. Under the influence of rotation and blown air, the different colours of liquid glazes are mixed together to leave traces of fluid movement and smoke-like patterns which are solidified in the heat of the kin.

Bravo sister!

I am so proud of my younger sister Coralie Marabelle who has been one of the 10 shortlisted candidates for the final of the Festival de Mode d'Hyères at the Villa Noailles. It is a prestigious fashion (and also photography) event where 10 young fashion designers have been selected (out of 345 candidates) to present their fashion collection to a jury in April. Coralie graduated from Studio Bercot in Paris and has since worked with Hermès, Maison Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen.
During the festival in April 2014, each candidate will present a collection of 10 outfits and only 4 candidates will be selected for a prize.
Bravo Coco and we look forward to seeing your beautiful work in Hyères!

Flower constructions

The delicate paper cut flowers by Dutch artist Anne Ten Donkelaar caught my eyes when I first saw her work at Tent in London back in September. Flower constructions are 3d collages from pressed flowers and cut out flower pictures. Each element is meticulously placed on pins which creates the depth. Some of them are like a fantasy Herbaria, filled with dried flowers or branches, with irregular shapes and sophisticated twists and some refer to planets.

Happy Faces masks

Studio Inherent is a young Rotterdam based studio, founded by Dennis van Gaalen and Eline Wieriks.

An article in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant stated that today's city people are just as sensitive and irritable as a stressed out test-animal. Fortunately, research proved that nature and green, even a representation of it, is enough to calm down the stressed brain.

Happy Faces focuses on the interaction between man and nature in the city. Each Happy Face is a unique info graphic of one of the top 10 monumental trees located in Rotterdam.

Bundled as a booklet, they form a city-guide to locate and visit the trees. The trees are recognisable by a sign which is placed in front of each tree. This sign shows the visual of the corresponding Happy Face mask.

Translated into physical objects, the masks are the embodiment of the relation between man and tree and the effect they have on each other. These masks serve as interactive objects at home.

Lex Pott & David Derksen

Dutch designers Lex Pott and David Derksen were exhibiting their Transcience Mirrors at Tent a few weeks ago. They are truly beautiful and I was so pleased to see them for 'real'.
Transcience shows the beauty of the natural oxidizing process inherent in mirrors. This process can be regarded as degradation, however this project exhibits the beauty of this material transition of silver.
By accelerating and manipulating this process, the Transcience mirrors illustrate the various stages of oxidation through the repetition of fundamental geometric shapes. Depending on the time that the silver is reacting with sulphur, different colour tones can be achieved, ranging from gold to brown, to purple to blue.

David Derksen was also showing his Copper Light and Wooden Light (made from wood veneer and a brass colour film backing). The sheets of copper and wood are folded by hand and made in David's studio in Rotterdam.

Dewar Light and Wooden Light.

Flask Lights. The Flask objects are reappropriations of the familiar Thermos flask. Despite their complexity these containers can be found inside all common coffee flasks. Through the addition of specially designed rubber components, the beauty of this often concealed, everyday object is revealed and displayed in the Flask Light and Flask Vase.

Le Petit Atelier de Paris

A few days ago I met my friend Helena from Agence Violette for a coffee in the lovely café Loustic (decorated by the interior designer of the moment Dorothée Meilichzon: Café Pinson, Mojo, Fish Club...).

Café Loustic 40, rue Chapon Paris 3ème.
© crédit photos KRISTEN PELOU


We then walked to Le Petit Atelier de Paris which I have heard about but never had a chance to visit... Unfortunately it was closed when we got there (it is only open from Thursday to Saturday from 13h until 19h). The window display was so charming with the hanging ceramic house & the dog made of wire, the lighting star and delicate bowls. I will certainly go back but in the meantime you can have a look here to discover more designs.

Le Petit Atelier de Paris, 31 Rue de Montmorency, Paris 3ème.

Kosmos Project

Collective Unconscious is the latest project presented at Tent in London by Polish designers Ewa Bochen and Maciej Jelski from Kosmos Project Design Studio.

Ancestral spirit masks of a wolf, bear and bird.

Handmade in natural wool kilim.

Kilim and chandeliers made of metal and glass.

My new large scale Paris map

I am so excited to share with you some images of the project I have been working on since last January. I had a fantastic opportunity to work with Outsign architects in Paris to design a unique art piece for the newly refurbish Italie Deux shopping centre in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. The commissioned work was to design a permanent three meters diameter map of the South East of Paris to be featured on the floor of the shopping centre.

I started to do a lot of research, to draw landmarks and quirky details of the Parisian landscape. It was a real pleasure to design this map and to work on this scale.

The challenge was to excecute this large map as my papercut map series so we decided to laser cut the design onto a 3 meters diameter circle of polished metal.

The disk had to be sectioned in two parts as it was too big for the machine to cut in one piece. Cutting the design with a powerful laser cut machine took more than 4 weeks. It was filled by hand (with a seringe!) with a heated resin that would become hard when dried. This was the most difficult part of the job as the map had a lot of details!

The map can been seen at Italie Deux, Place d'Italie. It is located on the ground floor entrance near La Fnac.

Illustrations by Ryo Takemasa

Today I wanted to how you the beautiful illustrations by Japanese artist Ryo Takemasa.
We are going to visit Amsterdam for few days with Simon and the children so I'll be back with some photos of our trip later this week.
Have a lovely week!

Papier Tigre

I don't know why I waited so long to mention the beautiful stationary range from Papier Tigre? I discovered their first collection at Maison et Objet back in January and I have to say their paper collection (notebooks, cards and perpetual calendars) really blew me away.
By looking at the beautiful geometrical patterns and the hand made finish behind their products, you can really tell that the French designers based in the 10th arrondissement in Paris are truly loving what they do. Their paper products are designed and printed in France on 100% recycle paper, the long perpetual calendar is printed in the UK.

Le Papier Temps Moderne, a perpetual wall calendar.

Le Pose Temps, 12 heavy sheets to display as you wish for a perpetual calendar.

On the left: Les Tri-Angles, 8 ready to fold triangle shaped boxes to hang on your wall.
On the right: Les Modernes, A6 note book printed in France on 100% recycle paper.

Papier Tigre can personalized a range of cards, business cards and birth cards. You only have to type your text online and it will be shipped 10 days later to your doorstep.

Les 6 Architectes part of a set of 6 different cards.

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec

Over the weekend we went to Les Arts Decoratifs (Paris, 1er) to see the exhibition of French brothers'Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Conceived like a retrospective, the show Momentané focuses on 15 years of prolific creativity and features furniture, lighting, spacial design, partition walls, about 300 drawings and sketches, video and photographs of factory production.

The scenography designed for this 1000 square meters event is impressive. Walking up the stairs of the museum des Arts Decoratifs you enter a 12 meter-high textile nave showcasing their well known partition walls (Algues for Vitra, North Tiles for Kvadrat, Twigs for Vitra, Clouds for Kvadrat) which divide the space and guide visitors through the exhibition.

The polystyrene Nuages (Clouds Modules) opens the exhibition, followed by North Tiles produced by Kvadrat.

The beautiful pink/grey and black colours of Twigs (Vitra) modular systems are assembled to create openwork screens, and on the background, the white and blue Clouds (Kvadrat) partitions are designed for acoustic comfort.

Drawings and sketches exploring Erwan and Ronan creative process.

Self Shelve for Vitra and brown Facett sofa for Ligne Roset.

Osso wooden chair for Mattiazzi.

Product research window.

The exhibition continues until 1st September. I highly recommend visiting the show if you are in Paris.

Lotta Nieminen

Hello! Today I am presenting a selection of beautiful illustrations by Lotta Nieminen, the talented multidisciplinary Finnish designer, illustrator and art director based in NYC.
I discovered her map illustrations in the lastest Gestalten book A Map of the World. I love the hand made textures and collages feel to her work and the beautiful colour combinations. I was also very impressed by the identity work she's done for Maeven, a Brooklyn-based vintage clothing store.

Window display illustration for French fashion house Hermès.

Cityscape. Limited edition silkscreen posters produced for Lotta first solo show at Printa Gallery in Budapest, Hungary.

Cover and illustrated map of Paris for a supplement to the French newspaper Le Monde about things to do in Paris and its surroundings.

EST: Editorial illustration for Casamica, the design supplement to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The letters in Verso Est (Towards East) were illustrated for the opening spread, featuring elements from all the cultures presented in the issue dedicated to Eastern design.