PIRWI Mexican cool

PIRWI is a Mexico City based design and manufacturing company with a commitment to high quality and environmentally friendly production.

PIRWI is a platform to promote and distribute the great products coming out of young design firms in Mexico City, which previously had no way to reach international markets.

This fold able screen above is designed by Emiliano Godoy is part of PIRWI's 'knitted' furniture family. The scalloped wooden slats are 'knitted' together so they can freely rotate, allowing the screen to adopt many different configurations, making it perfect a flexible room divider.

Foldschool - the essence of good design

Foldschool is a collection of free cardboard furniture plans for kids which have been designed by Swiss-based architect Nicola Enrico Staubli. Simply download the plans for free from his website, collect yourself some good cardboard, grab the kids, and start manufacturing!

In Nicolas words "Mass culture is run by superficiality and ecological absurdity..........The mindset of foldschool is to restore design to one of its original missions: to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process."

The fun of sitting down and making this with the kids is bound to spell the death nell for plastic chairs and tables.

Vujj scandinavian shelving

Continuing with Scandinavia's great design history, Swedish designers Vujj has come up with the Alog shelving system.

Alog is a modular shelving system made from MDF and ash timber. A series of T shaped detachable shelves fit into grooves in the modular backing blocks, providing a multitude of shelving options and configurations.

Simple and supremely space effective, the perfect design for any apartment dweller.

Designex/Form and Function expo

This year the Form & Function and Designex expo will be held over 19-21 April at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

The expo is the pre-eminent exhibition for the Architectural, Interior Design and Construction Industry, showcasing the latest and greatest. Form & Function is aimed at the building, architecture, construction and design industries and includes the RAIA annual conference. Designex is aimed at the Interior architecture and interior design industries and includes the Interior Design Awards for 2007.

Placentero chair

Argentinian designer Batti has come up with the fantastically designed and named Placentero chair. The name Placentero is derived from the words “placenta” and “pleasure” and is meant to give psychological as well as physical comfort.

Made from a white glossy fiberglass shell with a leather seat available in multiple colors, the shape of the chair allows you to use it in any way you find comfortable.

Sit, read, sleep, the options are yours as the chair adjusts to suit how you want to use it. One thing is for certain. the chair will cocoon you up like no other.

Design within Reach - Champagne chair

The voting is complete for this years Design Within Reach champagne chair contest. For those of you who don't know, Design Within Reach is a US design store stocking high quality well designed products. The award is for the most well designed and original chair made from only a champagne cork and restraining wire.

Not entirely practical and functional design, but the most original fun to be had with a champagne cork.

Freestyle - New Australian Design for Living

A new exhibition touring nationally this year brings together the work and stories of 40 outstanding Australian designers from the fields of furniture, lighting, textiles, homewares, fashion, jewellery and accessories. Handmade one-off and limited edition design objects areto be showcased and considered alongside industrially manufactured items and prototypes – which reflects the breadth and nature of design excellence and innovation in Australia. Expect to see the likes of BernabeiFreeman, Caroline Casey, Akira Isogawa, Dinosaur Designs, Crumpler and korban/flaubert amongst many others. Check out the website to find out when it is coming to your city!