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      SFMOMA furniture exhibition features “conversation starters”

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      Designers including Bethan Laura Wood and Maarten Baas have contributed a range of “sometimes jarring” chairs and lighting to an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

      Called Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue, the exposition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) features 45 pieces of furniture and decor “that prioritise meaning and material choice over function and practicality”.
      Jay Sae Jung Oh presented an otherworldly chair”The works on view are sometimes jarring, often bold and always conversation starters,” said the museum.
      Drawn entirely from the SFMOMA collection, some of the pieces were chosen purely for their alternative appearance, such as an otherworldly leather and plastic armchair by South Korean designer Jay Sae Jung Oh.
      Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown was designed by Germane BarnesOther pieces of furniture were selected for their commentary on social issues. For example, a piece by American architect Germane Barnes is a porch chair topped with an oversized backrest shaped like a milled wood comb.

      Called Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown, the piece was described by Barnes as a representation of Black hair, meant to highlight how Black hair “is often policed and frowned upon instead of celebrated as it should [be]”.
      Maarten Baas’ contribution features a bright blue clay chairDutch designer Baas and Italian architect Gaetano Pesce were also included in the exhibition.
      Baas created a bright blue chair covered with clay while Pesce contributed an organic-looking fabric and resin chair called Seaweed, which resembles clumps of tangled algae.
      A series of lighting designs accompanied the furniture. British designer Bethan Laura Wood created a spindly glass and metal chandelier called Criss Cross Kite.
      Gaetano Pesce contributed a fabric and resin chair called Seaweed”A chandelier is normally a very fancy-pantsy centre light,” said Wood, reflecting on her work.
      “I definitely want to play with this idea of fantasy within the thing.”
      Unique Girl is a playful lamp by Katie StoutAmerican designer Katie Stout’s ceramic lamp Unique Girl was also on display. The lighting piece is characterised by an abstract figure that the designer said is meant as a commentary on domesticity and femininity.
      All of the furniture in the exhibition was arranged across a deep red carpet interspersed with amorphously shaped plots of floor space to form a meandering pathway.

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      “Sparking dialogue throughout the gallery, Conversation Pieces presents chairs and lamps that surprise and garner attention unapologetically,” said SFMOMA.
      Last year, the San Francisco museum showcased an exhibition of work by architect Neri Oxman, while it recently became the first museum to acquire a module from the Japanese Nakagin Capsule Tower.
      The exhibition was curated within a winding spaceConversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue was on display at the SFMOMA from 20 August 2022 to 25 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
      The images are courtesy of SFMOMA.

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      Collaborative Kinship exhibition showcases oak-and-terrazzo furniture

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      Designer Birgitte Due Madsen, architect Anne Dorthe Vester and curator Henriette Noermark have launched an exhibition of marble, resin and wood furniture designed to explore collaboration.

      Kinship, which opened at the Alice Folker gallery in Copenhagen during the 3 Days of Design festival, showcases 18 designs that utilise terrazzo, wood, metal, resin, marble and glass.
      The exhibition was informed by existing works by Madsen and Vester, including the Lucid resin chair by Madsen and the Vitrine ash-and-steel wall hanging artworks by Vester, which are also on display in the space.
      Kinship showcased 18 furniture and design objects”As a group of three individuals who thrive in collaborative environments, it was natural for us to come together for this collaboration,” the collective told Dezeen.
      “We wanted to explore collaboration while focusing on our individual strengths, existing work, and experiences. Each of us brings different skill sets, backgrounds and practices, which we wanted to showcase in this exhibition,” the trio added.

      “The exhibition delves into the exploration of collaboration by placing a spotlight on the individuals involved.”
      Three terrazzo chairs were made in collaboration by Madsen, Vester and NoermarkIn the spirit of collaboration, the exhibitors designed three terrazzo and oak chairs together especially for the Kinship exhibition.
      These were made using wood supplied by Danish flooring company Dinesen.

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      Located in the centre of the gallery’s second room, the terrazzo bases of the chairs mimic each other in shape, with the wooden slats placed on different angles of the base.
      The terrazzo used was made from glass waste, recycled bricks and concrete to reduce the CO2 emissions generated when creating the material, the gallery said.
      The exhibition is on display at the Alice Folker gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark”The design process for the terrazzo chairs stemmed from the idea of experimenting with direct collaboration. We used Birgitte and Anne Dorthe’s previous works as a foundation to create a new collective collection,” the trio explained.
      “The chairs were designed with a consistent aesthetic and visual language that is reflected in our shared terrazzo furniture,” it added.
      “The intertwining of practices creates a cohesive display that showcases direct references to the slats found in Anne Dorthe’s pieces and the semicircular strokes seen in Birgitte’s works.”
      The exhibition was on display during Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design festivalSurrounding the chairs, Madsen’s series of circular Neon Cast lights are displayed on her Breton marble cubes. The gypsum and glass lights come in shades of green, blue, pink, red and purple.
      Two additional neon lights hang on the walls of the gallery, each designed with a horizontal or vertical stripe of neon running through the similarly designed circular light.
      The exhibition uses materials such as terrazzo, resin, marble, wood, metal and glassThe four Breton cubes, named after sailors’ shirts originally designed to be functional, explore both form and function. The cubes feature uniform horizontal, vertical or diagonal stripes of marble, each with its own veiny pattern in green, pink and brown.
      Also at this year’s 3 Days of Design, Christian + Jade partnered with Dinesen to present the Weight of Wood exhibition and Tableau showed sculptural wooden furniture by Vaarnii.
      The photography is courtesy of Birgitte Due Madsen.
      Kinship is on show from 2 June to 29 July 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Markus Benesch designs Alpine home for fabled “tuntschi” doll

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      A vengeful doll from an Alpine folk tale was the imagined occupant of this colourful cabin-style home created by German designer Markus Benesch at Milan design week.

      The maximalist Alpine Rising installation featured decorative Alpine-style furniture and multi-coloured wall coverings, all filled with references to life in the mountains.
      Benesch developed the design after becoming fascinated by the fabled character of the “tuntschi” doll.
      The exhibition featured Alpine-style furniture and multi-coloured wall coveringsAccording to the story, the tuntschi is fashioned out of wood, straw and cloth by herdsmen who spend the summer tending cattle on the mountain and crave female company.
      The doll comes to life, yet the herdsmen continue to objectify her. So when the time comes for them to return home, she takes murderous revenge on one of them.

      This got Benesch thinking about what happens after the story finishes.
      Stui dining chairs and Hockerl stools both combine ash wood with colourful resin”I wondered, what is this doll doing when she is alone in the wintertime?” he told Dezeen. “I thought, maybe she has the time of her life.”
      One of the starting points for the design was to think about the types of pastimes that the doll might enjoy.
      The Tuntschis Chapel cabinet is based on traditional Alpine architectureOne idea was that she might ski. This resulted in swirling motifs – reminiscent of snow tracks – that appeared throughout, plus a pair of bespoke skis.
      Benesch also thought the doll might take up pottery, which led him to the work of Austrian ceramicist Florian Tanzer, founder of Vienna-based studio Luma Launisch.

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      Tanzer’s rough and enigmatic ceramics often depict unusual characters.
      For Alpine Rising, he created vases and vessels that integrate the face of the tuntschi. Some pieces had more than one face, in reference to her two-faced nature.
      The wallpaper combines images of wooden shingles with different colours and tonesBenesch and his small-production furniture, textile and wallpaper company Curious Boy created a completely custom interior for the tuntschi’s Alpine cabin.
      Divided into rooms, it was filled with farmhouse-style furniture pieces that combined traditional Alpine woodcraft with colourful motifs typical of Benesch’s designs.
      Benesch creates these patterns by inlaying wood with pigmented resin.
      The zigzag-patterned Hochzeitsschrank wardrobe was crafted from pineIn ash wood, designs on show included the cabin-style Tuntschis cabinet, the elaborate Himmibed and the playful Stui dining chairs.
      Walnut was used for the amorphous Splügen lamp, while the zigzag-patterned Hochzeitsschrank wardrobe was crafted from pine.
      Florian Tanzer created ceramics that refer to the two-faced nature of the dollFor the wallpaper and textiles, Benesch created repeating patterns using images of wooden shingles that typically clad Alpine chalets, then overlaid them with various colours and tones.
      Underlying the entire design was an idea about getting away from today’s digital world and the harmful effects it can have on mental health, and instead celebrating “an analogue lifestyle”.
      Benesch also produced hand-carved ash and walnut spoonsThis idea was emphasised by hand-carved ash and walnut spoons and a pack of custom-designed playing cards.
      “We want to disconnect from the crazy of our today’s world and reconnect more with ourselves in nature,” added Benesch.
      The exhibition formed part of the 5Vie district during Milan design week, where other exhibitions included Artemest’s L’Appartamento, a 1930s apartment redesigned by six different studios.
      Following Milan design week, we collected ten standout installations and projects on show during the week.
      Alpine Rising was on show from 15 to 21 April 2023 as part of Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
      Exhibition and furniture photography is courtesy of Markus Benesch Creates. Ceramic photography is by Gregor Hofbauer.

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      SSdH tucks Melbourne warehouse apartment into former chocolate factory

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      Local studio SSdH has designed a split-level, mezzanine-style apartment characterised by eclectic furniture, which is housed within an old chocolate factory in Melbourne.

      Kerr is a warehouse apartment in Melbourne’s Fitzroy suburb, located in a building that was once home to the historic MacRoberton’s Chocolate Factory before being converted into residential units in the late 1990s.
      Kerr is one of a number of apartments arranged around a central atriumAdapted into “apartment shells” arranged around a striking central atrium, the units were first designed with only basic amenities to allow occupants to determine their own interior designs.
      SSdH recently renovated Kerr, one of these units, as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling that intends to expose but also refresh the building’s original architecture.
      “The design pays homage to history while being decidedly contemporary,” studio director Jean-Marie Spencer told Dezeen.

      The home is divided by a white-painted staircaseThe mezzanine-style apartment is split across two levels by a staircase with a white-painted gridded steel mesh balustrade. Doubling as a lightwell, the staircase is illuminated by the apartment’s original single factory window.
      Upstairs, the open-plan living space includes a kitchen fitted with geometric cabinetry made from local spotted gum timber, as well as brushed stainless steel and nickel fixtures.
      Spotted gum timber and stainless steel define the kitchenThe similarly minimalist lounge area is delineated by smooth sliding doors made of the same spotted gum, which are offset by existing structural beams and columns painted in bright white.
      A sage-green two-seater armchair is positioned next to a chunky column floor lamp by emerging designer Annie Paxton and a distinctive coral-blue vase.
      A two-seater armchair features in the lounge area”Old wall and ceiling linings, trims and details are stripped back to expose original materials and structural framing,” explained Spencer.
      “An application of white unifies what was, subsequently giving the ‘new’ its own platform through contrast,” she added.
      SSdH also included timber accents downstairsTwo bedrooms and a bathroom are contained downstairs, while a bedroom and an en-suite feature on the upper level.
      All three bedrooms are defined by the same pared-back white and wooden elements as the communal areas. Inside one of them, a mushroom-like floor lamp made from lumps of blue sculpting plaster adds a playful touch.
      Among the eclectic furniture is a mushroom-like lampGleaming geometric tiles in shades of blue and yellow feature in each of the bathrooms, which also have bulbous sconce lights.
      Timber operable doors and translucent curtains leading to the sleeping areas were designed to balance the airy openness of the living spaces, according to Spencer.
      One bathroom is clad in bright blue tiles”Living areas, where privacy is less of a concern, invoke a spilling out to the street to make the most of the light and air,” said the studio director.
      Other sculptural accents inserted throughout the apartment include boxy aluminium corner stools under the stairs and a fluted side table crafted from a solid piece of timber.

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      SSdH added double glazing to Kerr’s existing large factory window to provide both thermal and acoustic benefits to the apartment, which is located in close proximity to a busy street.
      “This glazing, along with the thermal mass embodied within the heavy masonry building allowed the apartment to remain un-airconditioned, relying on passive cross ventilation from the shared building lobby to maintain temperatures and reduce energy consumption,” said Spencer.
      Boxy aluminium corner stools are tucked under the staircaseFormerly industrial spaces are popular locations for residential conversions.
      Local firm Studio McW transformed an east London warehouse into a live-work space for climate activists and filmmakers Jack Harries and Alice Aedy while Auba Studio designed an apartment in a 1980s bakery in Palma de Mallorca.
      The photography is by Pier Carthew.

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      Chatsworth House exhibition is a “collision of past and present”

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      An exhibition at Chatsworth House including designers including Michael Anastassiades, Faye Toogood and Formafantasma, features in this video produced by Dezeen for the stately home.

      Called Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, the exhibition brings together a collection of furniture and objects displayed throughout and responding to Chatsworth House and its gardens.
      In total, 16 international designers and artists created pieces that respond to the interiors of the building.
      The exhibition introduces new art pieces and objects into the house and gardenSome responded by sourcing materials from the property itself, while others focussed on themes and ideas taken from decorations within the interiors.
      “The designers of the exhibition have responded to Chatsworth in all sorts of fascinating ways,” said co-curator of the exhibition Glenn Adamson.

      “Throughout you really see this kind of conversation between the present and the past.”
      Jay Sae Jung Oh designed a throne using musical instrumentsThe exhibition continues Chatsworth House’s 500-year-long history of working with leading artists and designers and collecting an extensive collection of art and objects.
      “An artist’s new work can create a new way of looking at these spaces,” said Chatsworth House Trust director Jane Marriott.
      “It can capture their imaginations and hopefully inspire them to explore Chatsworth in a different light.”
      Toogood’s monolithic furniture creates a pensive space within the exhibitionBritish designer Toogood took over Chatsworth’s chapel and adjoining Oak Room. As a nod to the historical use of the space as a place of worship and gathering, she created an installation of monolithic furniture made from bronze and stone.
      The sculptural forms were designed to evoke ecclesiastical structures and to reflect the local landscape.
      “These objects give a sense of meditative calm, a sense of massiveness or monumentality that feels appropriate to the space,” Adamson said.
      Dutch designer Joris Laarman designed a series of benches for the exhibitionTwo stone benches by Dutch designer Joris Laarman made from locally sourced gritstone , which was the material used to build the house itself, were placed in Chatsworth House’s gardens.
      The surfaces of the benches were carved with undulating patterns in which moss and lichen have been planted and will continue to grow over time.
      Other objects in the exhibition include a throne-like seat wrapped in leather made from musical instruments by Jay Sae Jung Oh, a fibrous cabinet designed by Fernando Laposse, and sinuous steam-wood sculptures by Irish furniture maker Joseph Walsh.
      Laposse’s fluffy cabinet is made from agave plant fibresAnother section of the exhibition, which occupy Chatsworth’s Sculpture Gallery built in the early 19th century, features pieces by British designer Samuel Ross.
      Ross’s pieces were designed to echo the surrounding sculptures, mimicking their form to invite viewers to imagine the body that would recline on them. The designer has used a material palette of stone and marble to further reflect the sculptures within the gallery.
      Chatsworth’s collection contains art and design pieces spanning 4,000 years”It’s a kind of collision of past and present, of the artisanal with the technological, the classical with the industrial,” Adamson said.
      “It’s a great example of how the show in general tries to talk across generations, across centuries.”
      Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth is on display at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire until 1 October 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
      Photography is courtesy of the Chatsworth House Trust.
      Partnership content
      This video was produced by Dezeen for Chatsworth House as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen’s partnership content here.

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      Karimoku opens Kyoto showroom informed by traditional houses and temple gardens

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      Designer Keiji Ashizawa has created the interior of Japanese furniture brand Karimoku’s second showroom, which features a combination of its own wooden furniture and pieces by local artists and artisans.

      Set in a three-storey building, the brand describes Karimoku Commons Kyoto as a “hybrid space”, which will function as a showroom and also house office spaces for employees.
      The space is located inside a former machiya – a traditional Japanese wooden townhouse – in Kyoto, a city known for its temples, Shinto shrines and gardens.
      The showroom is located in a Kyoto townhouseAshizawa, who has worked with Karimoku for years and also designed its first showroom in Tokyo, looked to the history of both the city and the building when designing the interior.
      “I really wanted to use the language of the townhouse and also took inspiration from Kyoto gardens,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.

      For the showroom’s ground floor area, he drew on the doma areas in traditional Japanese homes, which had bare dirt floors and functioned as a bridge between the indoors and the outdoors.
      It features wood furniture and wood panelling by KarimokuHere, Ashizawa placed furniture in light-coloured wood, including chairs by British architect Norman Foster and pieces by Danish studio Norm Architects and Ashizawa himself.
      The floor is grey concrete, which was matched by pale-grey plaster walls and a ceiling in the same colour.
      Art and ceramics by Japanese artists decorate the spaceWooden slats, of a kind traditionally used in Kyoto homes and stores to let light into buildings while maintaining privacy, cover parts of the glazing at the front of the room.
      Light wooden panelling by Karimoku hides built-in storage spaces and functions as a shelf.
      The first floor has a darker colour paletteOn the first floor, Ashizawa chose to use a darker colour palette, with furniture pieces in smoked oak wood and flooring and wall panels in dark wood.
      “When you visit a tourism house or a temple in Kyoto, the old wood, like on the temple floors, is a very dark colour,” he said. “I thought such a colour had to be the key colour [for the project].”
      The layout of this area also drew on the walkways and paths of Kyoto’s temple gardens.
      “It’s more of a guide to how to articulate the space,” Ashizawa explained. “We can think of the furniture as an art piece or a stone – it’s a kind of installation.”
      A wall alcove functions as a tokonoma display spaceThe top floor of Karimoku Commons Kyoto will function as a “library space” and showcase the latest collections and collaborations from the contemporary Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory brands.
      Throughout the showroom, earthy ceramics and rough-hewn sculptures by Japanese artists were used as decoration, which add to the organic feel brought by the wood.

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      Pieces by ceramics brand Nota Shop in the nearby Shiga prefecture and vases by Kyoto artist Ai Ono were among the objects chosen for the space by stylist Yumi Nakata, who worked with Ashizawa on the project.
      These were placed on tables and shelves as well as in wall recesses informed by traditional Japanese tokonoma alcoves, where homeowners would display artistic objects.
      Keiji Ashizawa designed the interior of the showroom”There are so many places in which to show something,” Ashizawa said of Karimoku Commons Kyoto.
      “In a traditional Japanese house, there are many spaces like this, showing paintings, ceramics or flowers, which I think is one of the beauties of the culture of the Japanese house. In many ways, we tried to make such a space.”
      The top floor displays a variety of furniture piecesKarimoku, which is Japan’s largest wooden furniture brand, started out making traditional Japanese furniture.
      It now also works with a number of designers on the more contemporary sub-brands Case Study, Karimoku New Standard, MAS and Ishinomaki Laboratory, which are the four brands that will be sold in the Karimoku Commons Kyoto showroom.
      The Kyoto space is Karimoku’s second showroom after TokyoAshikawa hopes the space will help to promote a modern design aesthetic.
      “Karimoku is trying to promote modern furniture in modern life,” he said. “I need to explain about the Japanese living space situation – for example, in 1960, sixty years ago, we didn’t have much furniture in the living space.”
      “And then the modern living space came to Japan and people started buying their tables, chairs and even the sofa; it’s quite new, so people don’t necessarily understand how to use a sofa,” he added.
      “Japanese living spaces can be too messy, so it’s quite nice to show them like this.”
      Previous projects by Ashizawa include a curve-shaped tofu restaurant and a Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe. Karimoku recently collaborated with Foster on a collection of furniture used in the architect’s Foster Retreat in Martha’s Vineyard.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

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      Design Brut: Philia & Kids showcases sculptural furniture designed by “rather wise” children

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      Designers Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny have created sculptural olive wood furniture based solely on drawings by children for a Galerie Philia exhibition.

      Design Brut: Philia & Kids is the inaugural programme of a non-profit initiative conceived by international art gallery Galerie Philia that aims to engage children in design.
      Design Brut: Philia & Kids was an exhibition on display in ParisThe project’s first edition invited 19 kids from a primary school in the Breil-sur-Roya village in France to design sculptural furniture that was exhibited at Espace Meyer Zafra in Paris from November until last week.
      Informed by the late French painter Jean Dubuffet, the initiative is named after art brut – or “raw art” – Dubuffet’s name for art created outside of academic limitations, such as art made by children.
      The furniture was constructed using children’s drawingsParticipants aged six to seven took part in a workshop over five months, where they were asked to draw their own interpretations of sculptural design under the supervision of BehaghelFoiny Studio founders Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny and their teacher Virgile Ganne.

      The drawings range from a crocodile-like bench to colourful dining chairs and spikier, more abstract forms.
      “Several shepherds’ children drew hooves on the legs of the furniture, or horns on the backs of the chairs,” noticed Behaghel and Foiny.
      “Others, living near olive groves and the surrounding forest, drew leaves and branches on their furniture,” they told Dezeen.
      Nineteen children took part in the projectThe designers explained that they encouraged the kids to “assert their own creativity” as well as observe their classmates’ drawings and borrow forms from each other to make the design experience collaborative.
      “Against all odds, we realised that, when faced with furniture design, the children’s first intentions were rather wise, and copied the shapes of furniture they saw every day,” they said.
      Antoine Behaghel and Alexis Foiny constructed the furniture from olive woodAfter this, Behaghel and Foiny sorted the drawings into different furniture typologies including tables, chairs, stools, coat racks and pedestal tables, as well as categorising the creations by “spirits and styles”.
      The pair then worked with a cabinetmaker in Breil-sur-Roya to bring the drawings to life by making physical furniture out of local olive wood.
      “In some places, we shrank or enlarged the silhouettes drawn by the children, to better distribute the weight,” noted the designers.

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      During this process, the children were taken on a tour of a local sawmill and shown every stage of the production process in order to familiarise them with carpentry.
      Behaghel and Foiny explained that olive wood was chosen for its cultural significance to Breil-sur-Roya, which is known as the “pays des oliviers” (olive tree country).
      The designers painted the material in various colourful shades that aimed to subtly tint, rather than conceal, its veiny surface.
      “It seemed to us very relevant to associate the intervention of very young children wiht a thousand-year-old wood!” noted the designers.
      The pieces range from recognisable silhouettes to more abstract formsThe pair hopes that the workshop will have taught the children about the importance of furniture design while showcasing their personal creativity without limitations.
      “In the end, the children’s drawings showed a real spontaneity,” reflected Behaghel and Foiny.
      “They are both free from technical reflexes and therefore led us to take risks and at the same time detached from the aesthetic automatisms that we impose on ourselves more or less consciously as professional designers,” they added.
      “They led us to extract ourselves from standardisation of tastes and beauty, to play more with imbalances and proportions.”
      Subtle colour was used to brighten each wooden pieceThis is not the first time that children have tried their hand at chair design. Third and fourth graders at a school in New York have designed a number of seating collections under the supervision of art instructor Bruce Edelstein, including chairs with horns and other wooden seats.
      The photography is by Maison Mouton Noir. 
      Design Brut: Philia & Kids was on display at Espace Meyer Zafra from 10 November to 8 December 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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      Ten contemporary interiors with innovative stone furniture

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      Spinning top-shaped granite chairs, marble shelves and a candy-coloured onyx counter are among the stone furniture pieces used for the interiors in our latest lookbook.

      Stone, especially marble, has long been used for dining and coffee tables, as well as for countertops. But a number of contemporary designers are now experimenting with bolder and more unusual stone furnishings.
      The examples in this lookbook range from a stone seat in a rural home built for an older couple to a striking granite counter in a Finnish clothing store and multicoloured swivelling marble chairs.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring ten interiors that make use of the colour of the year, homes with sliding doors and lounge areas with suspended fireplaces.
      Photo is by Margarita NikitakiEsperinos, Greece, by Stamos Michael

      Greek designer Stamos Michael designed the Esperinos guesthouse in Athens with a mix of furniture classics and his own designs. These include a small stool the designer made from two blocks of stone found in a quarry in Tinos, a Greek island in the Aegean sea.
      The stool’s rough texture matches the house’s structural stone shell, which Michael has displayed by carving out small sections of the walls.
      Find out more about Esperinos ›
      Photo is by Rory GardinerArmadillo showroom, Australia, by Studio Goss
      This Sydney showroom has a sparse, simple material palette of concrete, plaster and tiled surfaces that designers Studio Goss created to function as a backdrop to the rugs on show.
      In front of a tiled wall, a chunky stone table is surrounded by graphic black chairs, while an oversized paper lantern adds another geometric touch to the interior design.
      Find out more about Armadillo showroom ›
      Photo is by Ed ReeveSwivel, UK, by Sabine Marcelis
      Rotating chairs made from natural stone including granite, quartzite, marble and travertine make up the Swivel furniture installation by designer Sabine Marcelis.
      The colourful chairs were installed in St Giles Square as part of this year’s London Design Festival. “The main concept was to inject some colour, fun, lightheartedness and liveliness into the square – in an adult playground way,” Marcelis said.
      Find out more about Swivel ›
      Photo is by Simone BossiMA House, France, by Timothee Mercier
      A ruined farmhouse in France was turned into an “intimate refuge” named MA House by architect Timothee Mercier for his parents.
      In the peaceful white living room, white cushions were inserted into a blocky stone plinth to form a minimalist sofa with an angular shape.
      Find out more about MA House ›
      Photo is by Thibault De Schepper&C office, the Netherlands, by Anne Claus Interiors
      Pastel-hued onyx slabs decorate the stripy bar counter in Dutch media company &C’s hybrid office, store and cafe in Amsterdam, which was created by designer Anne Claus Interiors.
      The studio also used the material for display plinths in the shop, round tabletops in the cafe and for the boardroom’s table. The colours of the joyful stone furniture were chosen as they suit the &C brand.
      Find out more about &C office ›

      The Audo, Denmark, by Menu and Norm Architects
      The interior of Danish boutique hotel The Audo, designed by local studio Norm Architects as the headquarters for design brand Menu, features multiple elegant coffee tables made from black and white marble slabs.
      These veiny marble tables complement tactile white boucle sofas and the terracotta plaster walls in the earth-coloured bedrooms.
      Find out more about The Audo ›
      Photography is by Mikko RyhänenNanso, Finland, by Studio Joanna Laajisto
      Studio Joanna Laajisto’s interior design for the Nanso womenswear store in Helsinki, Finland, features plenty of natural materials, including a chunky service counter made from red granite from the nearby town of Mäntsälä.
      The studio also used the same stone to create a display stand, placing a slab atop a small metal box to form a sculptural and practical furniture piece.
      Find out more about Nanso ›

      Casa Salvatori, Italy, by Elissa Ossino Studio
      This Milanese apartment, filled with marble artworks and furniture, is fittingly owned by the head of Italian stone brand Salvatori. Designer Elissa Ossino Studio transformed the white apartment by using the brand’s own marble collection in creative ways.
      A Colonnata oak bookshelf features veiny marble shelf dividers in different colours, creating a sculptural piece that is as eye-catching when it’s empty as when it’s filled with books.
      Find out more about Casa Salvatori ›

      Spun chair, Singapore, by Heatherwick Studio
      London-based Heatherwick Studio reproduced its spinning top-shaped Spun chairs in marble for the garden of the brand’s EDEN skyscraper in Singapore.
      “As gardens are places for rest and contemplation, a seat seemed like a natural solution that would encourage people to either sit for a moment of quiet contemplation or to perhaps engage in a conversation with a neighbour,” Tom Glover, project leader at Heatherwick Studio, told Dezeen.
      Find out more about Spun chair ›

      Glogauer apartment, Germany, by White Arrow
      A circular travertine table in a decorative beige hue is matched with cane dining chairs inside the Glogauer apartment in Berlin, which New York studio White Arrow renovated for a young family.
      The flat was gutted to create more living space, though the designers preserved its existing high ceilings, ornate doorframes and coving. Vintage furnishings were used to decorate the new interior.
      Find out more about Glogauer apartment ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring ten interiors that make use of the colour of the year, homes with sliding doors and lounge areas with suspended fireplaces.

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