Amazing Lighting!

We came across the most beautiful lighting pieces by Hudson Lighting this morning - really stunning stuff! Below are images of the lights which really caught our eye (all images from Hudson Furniture's website).

Atlantis 100

Monastery

Atlantis Chandelier

It's amazing what can be made when combining organic design with industrial processes, really beuatiful pieces - nice work!

Campana Brothers - Antibodies

The Campana Brothers are one of the best known design duos of today, and their current retrospecive at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany is a testament to their creative talent. Below are some images from the retrospective, and there's an article on Antibodies on the Wallpaper website.

A view of the show featuring some of the brothers' 'sushi chair'.

Lighting created using recycled bottles.

Playful furniture pieces, aka: The gloopy Aster Papposus lounge systems!

Jim on light - mututal admiration

If you're looking for a really cool lighting blog check out http://www.jimonlight.com/. We stumbled accross it a couple of weeks ago, and Jim really does cover all aspects of lighting from Architectural lighting, LED's, Concert lighting, Light technology to Light Art and Lighting for enjoyment amongst others. (All the images below are from Jim's blog).

Kaleidoscopic Eye, a creation by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary out of Vienna

LA’s Conga Room (Club) designed by Belzberg Architects - we'd LOVE to walk through there!!

Kurage Lamp series from Schemata Architecture Office.

Light Art Performance Photography group, or LAPP.

Jim's also very kindly written a lovely article on us, check out at: http://www.jimonlight.com/2009/05/15/willow-lamps-south-african-design/

Ghost stories exhibition - NY

You can check out the article on this show on Wallpaper*'s website, it's a really interesting read and the pictures are amazing. Initiated by Issey Miyake, the XXIst Century Man design challenge asked designers to create pieces which exemplified how man lives today. Below is the Cabbage Chair by Nendo, and images of the installation at Friedman Benda.

Prototypes and experiments

I came across this amazing exhibition taking place at the Aram Gallery in London (http://www.thearamgallery.org/) where all the pieces shown were prototypes or experiments of pieces of furniture and lighting. See the images below taken from the exhibition:

Here's the link to the page on this year's show: http://www.thearamgallery.org/2009/02/03/prototypes-and-experiments-02/

It's a little like getting a peak at a designer's sketchbook!

And there's a link to the 2008 show www.aram.co.uk/acatalog/The_Aram_Gallery.html (looks really ineteresting, see example below).

Snippets from the Design Indaba 2009

As can be seen on many blogs, the Design Indaba this year was fantastic! Below are some images and links of some of our personal highlights:

5.5 Designers

This chair 'crutch' really brought a smile to our faces! This is part of their 'reanime' series:

"Reanimate, recuperate, reintroduce, rehabilitate, recycle, restore, rethink, dress, cure… the designer becomes the objects doctor and uses his knowledge to increease the life expectancy of rejected pieces of furniture." - Taken from the 5.5 designers website.

W+K Delhi

Sunil and Mohit from W+K Delhi really brought a smile to our faces. Their accounts of the Indian advertising industry were humorous while giving us an insight into how tough it can be. Very interesting stuff!

The Blackheart Gang's work was amazing, and really showed the calibre of South African design.

I almost wanted to jump straight into the world they had created. Beautiful.

There were lots of other highlights, below are images and links to some of them:

Barberosgerby: stunning tables. Like having a rainbow in your house!

Dai Fujiwara: Great insight into his work at Issey Miyake. Learning about the APOC ideology was really interesting (follow this link to watch the video, it's a really great anmation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYL4TyV1YDk) as well as seeing him and his team on a 'colour hunt' in the Amazon rainforest. See the image below for an idea of the colours and tones they came accross or go to their new website to see the show.

Dunne & Raby's talk really made us ask 'what if?'
Their 'robots' that palyed on human emotions were really endearing. The one featured below is a needy robot, who wimps and needs attention on a constant basis...

Patricia Urquiola was energetic, enthusiastic and very engaging when she spoke about her work. I thought her 'smock chair' (which she created when she was pregnant and looking at pregnancy wear) was brilliant!

Marcel Wanders was another highlight, and presented us with our prize for winning the 2009 EDIDA award, this beautiful 'Crochet Table'.

Elle Decoration Designer of the Year 2009

A belated Happy New Year from Willowlamp! We've already started 2009 on a high after being awarded the Designer of the Year award by Elle Decor.



The award was sponsored by Lexus, their promo featuring our LED Rose Chandelier.

The Deco shop page showcased our Downlighter Retro-fit lights in brass and silver...

...and the edition also featured our Scalloped Pendant Lamp which is currently hanging in Cape Town's newly refurbished Grand Daddy Hotel.

We'll be in Cape Town at the end of Feb for the Design Indaba conference which looks set to be a really interesting and inspiring event. Maybe see you there....