Category: Design

Despite my longtime role here amongst my esteemed Design Milk colleagues as our site’s resident technology lover, my personal wants have increasingly leaned toward the utilitarian. In the past year my wife and I bought our first home, and we wrote out first book together, and in turn, it always seems like my wishlist looks more like a shopping list for a contractor or the supplies list of a hiking enthusiast rather than a design lover. Even so, there are more than a few gift items my design-loving heart longs to welcome into my life, a few of them shared below…

I still love the Dixon-designed Jack that I purchased a lifetime ago in celebration of a move and promotion, and I’ve continued to admire his current efforts, like this chemist-inspired borosilicate vessel that lands within the nexus of my interests in science, design, and display. It ain’t easy being green, but displaying any plant or floral cutting with this vase will easily add a dimension of the graphic to complement the natural.

Architecturally-inspired lighting can veer into the realm of kitsch, but Hangzhou-based designer Mario Tsai’s multi-tiered, die-cast aluminum lamps and lights inspired by the pagoda are a study in understated elegance. The light it glows with is more atmospheric than room illuminating, but as someone with a low-grade obsession with lighting, I’d welcome this modular height design in any of its 5-20 layer iterations to light the way.

In another lifetime, I worked as a toy and products designer, and decorated our tiny studio apartment at that time in appropriate colorful, playful fashion. I might have grown up just a little bit since then, but a part of me will always harbor a lasting love for objects that tap into our inner child, free from that horribly boring thing we call “taste.” If someone calls this cheesy, I’ll just throw out the, “It’s inspired by Claes Oldenburg!” card, then offer them a scoop of my favorite ice cream to placate their misplaced judgment.

Los Angeles designer/artist Sebastian Curi seems to subscribe to the belief you either “go big or go home!” Many of his silkscreen prints capture the captivating gestures of the hand in various poses, but I’ve recently fallen for his dual Daytime/Nighttime oversized 40″ x 55″ prints. At this scale they’d add some colorful graphical oomph that will never wilt like their IRL counterparts.

Willy Hu first appeared on my radar via his work for LA-based Sugar Lab, “the world’s first true digital bakery,” soon followed by my drooling attention toward the delectable efforts he and his partner Lexie Park create under the food + design moniker, Eat Nünchi. Hu’s latest endeavor in partnership with Jimmy Chung takes a more organic-modern approach, a series of stools launched and sold via Instagram evoking what my eyes perceive as traditional lacquered Korean Joseon dynasty spirit through the prism of Southern California modernism. I’ve already placed a down payment for one of UJU Studio’s ebonized stool designs with a sculpted knob, an early gift to myself.

I doubt I’m alone when I say the passing of time feels hazy at best. And what better way to represent the nebulous presence of time’s passing than this translucent glass wall clock designed by Makoto Koizumi for Japanese clock band, Lemnos. Or in the words of the designer: “We sometimes find the presence of a clock unpleasant. And sometimes the existence of time is also unpleasant. So a slightly ambiguous sign of time is just fine.” Amen.

Artist Jeffrey Sincich’s embroidery art captures that comforting human element associated with the hand-painted signage that I still remember dotting the streets of San Francisco. Seeing them elicits a bittersweet realization the artistry and craft of hand-painted signage is fading from our collective memory. Maybe that’s why I want this welcome mat-sized rug featuring one half of this site’s namesake. I wouldn’t dare step on this rug, believing it deserves a place on my wall to admire like the sign that inspired it.

As an iPhone never-nude, I’ve always encased my devices, just in case. Typically it’s been leather, more recently with Apple’s new FineWoven material (despite some reports saying otherwise, I’ve found the micro-twill durable and easy to clean). The new iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max might be sheathed in sections of titanium along the edges, but that doesn’t mean I want to expose those areas to scratches and dents, nor my oily paws. Thus, I’m tempted to try one of these ventilated aluminum alloy cases sporting the cheese grater design that any Apple Mac Pro desktop enthusiast would recognize. If you’re wondering what’s up with the “Aromatherapy” part of the case’s name, apparently there’s a perforated section designed for a drop of perfume or an essential oil. How scentual.

This is one of those gifts primarily practical in nature, but so well designed, it emphasizes how the best gifts are ones you’ll use and love on a daily basis. As someone who likes to keep his kitchen knives sharp, but doesn’t necessarily love the amount of time required to do so, this magnetic sharpener is a clever means to keep blades at their best without all of the multi-step care required of a whetstone. It’s just expensive enough to be a really nice gift, one that would be extra nice paired with a Damascus gyuto.

For many years we lived in a modest apartment overlooking the back corner of Richard Neutra’s VDL House, aka the Van der Leeuw House. The iconic residence is still imprinted as the epitome of the mid-century ethos, offering what I consider an elegant and modern way to live. With bedrooms as intimately private as the home’s shared living spaces are voluminous in possibilities, I’ll always remember the sensation of compression and expansion thoughtfully laid out at a modest residential scale, alongside the romantic spill of sunlight that would angle into the corners of the home with the sunset. I wouldn’t mind any of Studio Sander Patelski’s series of architectural inspired prints, but this one would be appreciated with all those special memories.

Follow along so you don’t miss any of our 2023 Gift Guides this year!

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Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.

Though it’s a practical way to re-prioritize what’s important in our homes, the joy-sparking method has one major flaw: It’s downright EXHAUSTING. Though it probably shouldn’t be, a minimalist lifestyle takes more than a minimal amount of effort. That’s where wabi sabi, the traditional Japanese aesthetic and world view focused on the acceptance of imperfection, comes in.

“What firmly disconnects wabi sabi from minimalism is appreciation and not perfecting, “Etsy’s Trend Expert Dayna Isom Johnson told HuffPost. “In minimalism, the goal is eliminating unnecessary objects and clutter with perfect execution. Wabi sabi is about the care and appreciation for items that may have blemishes or slight irregularity in the raw materials.”

Both trends embrace a lack of clutter while promoting the accumulation of mindful objects, though the end aesthetic of minimalism and wabi sabi is completely different.

“When trying to achieve wabi sabi zen, yes, eliminate clutter, but also celebrate those special pieces that have imperfections and embrace that beauty,” Johnson says.

For folks who want to embrace the imperfect side of life, here are 11 wabi sabi design and decor ideas to get started:

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Meet elettra, lambretta’s new electric scooter

During the International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition (EICMA) 2023 in Milan, the Italian vehicle company Lambretta returned to the spotlight with Elettra, an electric scooter whose hydraulic rear end lifts up automatically like a kinetic sculpture. As it goes up, the motor and storage spring to the scene. Between November 9th and 12th, visitors to the exhibition could see the cyber-city-looking motorcycle, which the company says is now in production.

From concept to reality, Lambretta’s Elettra modernizes the 77 years of history of the Italian company, borrowing design cues from its preceding scooters while upgrading them to tailor to contemporary urban commuters. Take the LED lighting as an example. The strip of semi-blue light lets the electric scooter glow in the dark. Its design accent highlights the futuristic visuals of the scooter, making the rider feel like they are cruising around a cyber city.

images by Lambretta (unless stated)

Futuristic and sleek design for the modern scooter

Lambretta’s silver electric scooter will soon go into production, so fans of the Italian vehicle company can get their hands on the T-shaped handlebars of Elettra. Gone are the typical circular forms of the bars as the electric scooter goes for a rubberless and geometric handle design.

In front of the handlebars, a hexagonal white beam spills bright light for safe riding at night. It blasts LED-grade lighting to offer visibility to the rider, coupled with two other front lights found at the lower part of the scooter. These other two lights help the rider see the path clearer, especially for road bumps.

Lambretta introduces Elettra, a futuristic electric scooter whose entire rear lifts up on its own

Lambretta’s elettra will soon go into production

Spurts of blue-green shades emerge around Lambretta’s Elettra, complementing the obvious silver and sleek contours of the electric scooter’s body. The cushioned seats and the rims of the wheels share the blue-green hues, adding a playful character to the scooter. Sharp and decisive lines delineate the sides and front of Elettra, and as they go behind, they soften up to make way for the rear end whose casing resembles gently bent steel.

Lambretta says that Elettra comes powered by an 11 kW, or 15 horsepower, electric motor. The battery’s charging time – lithium with 4.6 kWh – can last up to five hours and 30 minutes with a 220-volt home system, but thanks to its fast-charging capabilities, it can be charged up to 80 percent in around 35 minutes when the rider plugs it into public charging stations. The maximum cruising speed is offered at 110 km/h. As of publishing the story, Lambretta is yet to unveil the release date of the electric scooter Elettra.

the LED lighting stands out as it surrounds the body of the electric scooter

blue-green accents complement the silver, steel-like body of Lambretta’s Elettra

Anybody who likes going to the cinema has dreamed of stepping inside a movie one time or another, and finally a new exhibition at the Fondazione Prada in Milan makes this possible. Running until January 7, 2024, the “Wes Anderson – Asteroid City: Exhibition” immerses visitors into the creative universe of Award-winning American director Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, which is set in a fictional rural town in the American southwest in the 1950s. Organized in collaboration with Universal Pictures International Italy, the exhibition brings together a selection of original sets, props, miniatures, costumes and artworks arranged in independent installations that reference key scenes. Accompanied with relevant audio tracks from the film, the installations allow visitors to follow its plot almost faithfully offering a deeper reading into loneliness and emotional repression, two recurring themes in Anderson’s oeuvre which in effect take on an existential bent.

Anderson is known for his highly stylized, visually resplendent films. His penchant for symmetry, bright pastel colours and planimetric compositions that make shots seem nearly two-dimensional imbue his work with a painterly sensibility, while his keen sense of detail, expressed through elaborate stagecraft, from costumes, props and set designs to lighting and make-up, adds to his “tableau vivant” effect. Such characteristics have made Anderson synonymous with a distinctive, instantly recognizable twee aesthetic, enabling his cinematic universe to enter the physical realm to work so well in reality.

The Design Academy Eindhoven graduate show is always a highlight of Dutch Design Week – and is in some ways the beating heart of the city’s creative scene, as many graduates choose to base their studios here after they have completed their studies.

The installation above is a typically thought-provoking piece called Gaia, How Are You Today? by Yufel Gao. He 3D-printed 92 terracotta pots, each designed using a day’s worth of weather data – the further from average the temperature, humidity, and wind speed, the more distorted the form to remind us that nature is not submissive or static, but chaotic and unyielding.

The Popping Sound of Bubble Wrap by Ilaria Cavaglia is made using discarded bubblewrap, styrofoam, and newspapers, drawing inspiration from the grotto aesthetic, to blur the line between the organic and the synthetic.

Ben van Kemenade designed Regenerated to house the timber collection of 86-year-old carpenter Riky van Dullerman. A freshly cut tree trunk provides the necessary humidity to prevent the older pieces from warping or cracking. The project reflects on caretaking, preserving the old while the young matures, and the transfer of knowledge between generations.

Michelle Akki Jonker’s The Mutuba Spirit is a mask made from traditional Ugandan bark cloth, a popular material before British colonialists demonized it in favor of cotton, creating a stigma that exists to this day. Michelle plays with iconography from the two cultures, using horns that, in European countries often symbolize the devil, but within her Ugandan heritage represent protection.

The Trunk Bunk by Henry K Wein is a portable tree house that can be towed along behind a bicycle enabling city folk to escape into nature and get some respite from the “always-on” world that so many of us now inhabit.

Paul Schaffer explored the symbiotic relationships between different organisms in The Warp of Symbiogenesis – in each piece, the warp represents one species and the weft another. There are five sections each representing the different types of symbiotic relationships in nature. Competition is defined as “harm-harm,” amensalism as “no effect-harm,” parasitism as “benefit–harm,” commensalism as “benefit-no effect,” and mutualism as “benefit-benefit.” The intention of the piece is to remind us of the interconnectedness of nature – and to include ourselves in that.

“Trash for you is treasure for me,” says Dario Erkelens. Abandoned Treasures is his collection of sculptural furniture made of abandoned material to explore the creative potential of what we throw away. Having grown up in rural Switzerland, where resources were carefully conserved and reused, he was shocked by what city dwellers routinely discard, and created this work to raise awareness of the wastefulness of our contemporary throwaway culture.

In Unsettling by Tanay Kandpal is a series of sculptures designed to celebrate the material culture of Jugaad – a Hindi term that refers to quick and improvised solutions – and explore the practice as a critique of Western industrial design’s failure to accommodate the unexpected.

The Swarm Shepherd was created by Pablo Bolumar Plata as the outcome of a collaborative design research methodology exploring an experimental approach to beekeeping. The hybrid device above incorporates wax canvas with substances that attract swarming bees to guide them to apiaries. Once a colony nests inside, the cork outer layer provides protection for their honeycomb.

Sien Entius’ Couture Objects explores her conflicted sense of identity as she transitioned from her background as a furniture maker into a design degree at Design Academy Eindhoven. She compared the craftsmanship in furniture making with tailoring by making outfits for cabinetry. They were displayed in front of posters advocating for the role of craft in design.

The Beauty of Time Passing by Toshihito Endo uses smart technology to mimic the way Japanese architecture plays with natural light, inviting a sense of nature into spaces without direct access to it – you can even match the light patterns to the weather outside.

Fedora Boonaert created a speculative archeological site that draws attention to the forgotten and knowingly marginalized oral knowledge of 16th-century midwives and “wise women” – particularly regarding female health and wellbeing – in the Low Countries. As male physicians replaced them, traditional women’s remedies were condemned as “witch-crafts” and wise women as witches, resulting in persecution and even death. Fedora hopes to address this historical injustice, the ramifications of which pervade modern-day medicine, through lectures and archeological expeditions of her site, as part of her project An Archeology of Women’s Wisdom.

In/Outside included a set of ephemeral domestic objects by Lison Guéguen made in accordance with the natural life cycles of the materials from which they are made. The installation explores the notion of mutually beneficial relationships with the more-than-human world and Lison talks about “borrowing” resources from the Earth, which immediately suggests a different approach than if we “take” them.

Photography by Katie Treggiden.

Katie Treggiden is a purpose-driven journalist, author and, podcaster championing a circular approach to design – because Planet Earth needs better stories. She is also the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a program and membership community for designer-makers who want to join the circular economy. With 20 years' experience in the creative industries, she regularly contributes to publications such as The Guardian, Crafts Magazine and Monocle24 – as well as being Editor at Large for Design Milk. She is currently exploring the question ‘can craft save the world?’ through an emerging body of work that includes her fifth book, Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020), and a podcast, Circular with Katie Treggiden.

1. The Stale Office Air You Breathe

2. The Poor Lighting You Endure

3. The Colleagues You Sit With

4. The Temperatures Your Colleagues Can’t Agree On

10'000 Hours via Getty Images

5. An Office With No Plants Nearby

steel frame supports prefabricated red brick wall structure

The Guangzhou North Island Creative Park Management Center, a project by Mutual Architecture, stands within the North Island Creative Park in Guangzhou’s Haizhu District, China, once the site of the Guangzhou Thirteen Factories. The park, featuring spaces for design, advertising, and creative arts, transforms the historic wharf and warehouse into a contemporary leisure and art exhibition space. The design navigates the challenge of integrating the area’s industrial past with current functional requirements and aesthetic values. Retaining the characteristics of the original square factory floor plan, large-scale structures, and brick facades, the project utilizes a steel frame supporting prefabricated red brick walls, enhancing the industrial atmosphere. The facade, characterized by rhythmically ‘folded walls’ and an array of windows, achieves cohesiveness.

all images by Huang Miangui

‘folded wall’ facade fuses with district’s industrial aesthetic

The ‘folded walls’ add depth to the building but also reduce direct sun exposure, enhancing interior comfort. The property’s southern side features a grove of tall trees, contributing to a play of light and shade during the day. The design incorporates the changing shadows cast by the trees adding to the dynamic facade. The building’s lantern-like interior lighting engages in a visual dialogue with the surrounding trees and streets. Functionally, the compact footprint accommodates various purposes, including reception, office, dining, meeting rooms, art studios, and lounges. A prefabricated steel staircase connects the floors, optimizing space efficiency. The third-floor art studio stands out with adaptable sliding walls, catering to diverse spatial needs. The center by Mutual Architecture encourages interaction within the park, fostering a dynamic environment.

the project employs a steel frame supporting prefabricated red brick walls

the facade is characterized by rhythmically ‘folded walls’ and large windows

the project merges the site’s industrial legacy with present-day aesthetic values

the design complies with the typical square factory floor plan and brick facades of the area

the ‘folded walls’ not only add depth to the building but strategically reduce direct sun exposure