"Kamelyon Design is a design and manufacturing studio that specializes in custom handmade fixtures and shades. Brett Grinkmeyer formed Kamelyon Design in early 2000 to pursue his interest in furniture and lighting design. Kamelyon Design combines his skill as a designer and his passion for fine craftsmanship. The light sculptures have received acclaim not only for their unique designs, but also for their innovative construction. Mr. Grinkmeyer makes each one of the lamps by hand insuring the highest level of quality possible. The goal of Kamelyon Design is to break new ground and to create truly unique designs that stir the soul – designs that transcend fad or fashion."

Link: Kamelyon Design [Thanks, Brett!]

Winning projects represent the cutting edge in contemporary architecture, interior design and historic restoration, selected by a distinguished jury of local and internationally known architects."

Some of the winning firms include:

FUN - designed by Alessandra Maiolino - is a pioneering and exquisite elastic shelving system. Modular stainless steel elements innovatively combine with beautifully fashioned shelves, made from plywood with sensuous linoleum faces in various colours. Because FUN does not rely on uprights of fixed lengths, it enables you to shape it into a number of highly versatile combinations, with different numbers, heights, and widths of shelves. FUN is easy to transport, assemble, and mould to your changing needs and aspirations. It is available for both the home and commercial application.

Bark Deco makes modern doggy beds in three styles availble in a multitude of fabrics and wood veneers.

bark deco beds are designed to provide the ultimate in modern style and luxury for the special members of your family. every bark deco bed is handmade from start to finish. the platforms are constructed from birch hardwood with the care and attention to detail given to fine furniture.

exotic wood veneers are applied and finished by hand over the course of several days. veneers offered in the debut collection are wenge, zebrawood and teak. all bark deco beds measure seven inches tall (regardless of size). each model features a ventilated platform and is elevated for style and comfort (no drafty floors). rubber feet are added to help keep the bed in place.

The M7 prototype is the result of a slow process of research and development, begun in 2001 by the Chilean architects’ cooperative URO1.ORG. Its aim was to find modular construction solutions that would allow users to freely configure and construct their own small-scale architecture. The weekend home, located at Tunquén on a green plateau facing the Pacific Ocean, was used as an experiment to study a variety of possible materials and to perfect assembly methods based on extreme simplicity and practical economy.

Firm: URO1.org
Via: Domus (Registration Req'd)

"Menos is the answer to the challenges of modern life. Living areas are not sectioned off, but rather they merge into each other. The multifunctional concept provides you with the freedom to use living areas more effectively and more creatively too. With innumerable combinations, use Menos to create new designs over and over again: closed and open elements, drawers, shelves and containers always adapted to your respective requirements. Whether in living, sleeping, or dining areas, meonos creates rooms and defines the harmonious unity of living in general. A feeling of feeling at home."

Located on a lake front site in the Cascade Mountain Range, the house navigates an extreme topography drops 54 feet over 126 feet in distance from the road to the lake shore. The house negotiates the slope and the "occupyable spaces high in the tree branches" with minimal site clearing or grading.

Firm: E. Cobb Architects Inc.

In this case, Lekker Projects, a small environmental design firm with offices in Shanghai and Singapore, was faced with the problem of correcting bad Feng Shui while creating a distinct signage element for the 88 Xintiandi Hotel in Shanghai. The solution was to use Chinese roof tiles (the symbol of the hotel) in an inventive way to create a simple but striking result. The form of the tiles are instantly recongnizable, but their application is inspired.

Firm: Lekker Projects
Link: 88 Xintiandi

Made of eco-friendly bamboo, ekobo is a line of contemporary tableware designed in France and hand-crafted in Vietnam in respect of the rules of equitable commerce.

Designer: ekobo
Link: illico design [Thanks, Thomas!]

This is really what used to be a corridor bell, as it was originally used for flats in apartment blocks. But the neat bell mechanism, made completely without the use of plastic components, can also be heard in the average-sized family house. The key twist mechanism is designed to fit doors of 6 cm thickness, but can be shortened for thinner doors by cutting the square shaft with a hacksaw. The quality nickel-coated steel plate bell can also be mounted outside.

Link: Manufactum
Via: The Red Ferret Journal