The Bodrum EDITION is a boutique hotel located in Bodrum, Turkey, designed by Christophe Pillet in collaboration with Ian Schrager Company. Situated two miles from Yalikavak Marina, the property is an intimate refuge with 108 rooms, suites, and villas, each adorned with custom furnishings and luxuriously appointed marble bathrooms.

The spa, a wellness oasis, features an array of treatments that combine international healing practices with local techniques. Complete with traditional Turkish Hammams and baths, guests have the option to enjoy treatments in spacious indoor rooms or outdoor cabanas overlooking the Aegean Sea. The spa also houses two Himalayan salt treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms, and plunge pools.

The resort’s crown jewel is the three-story private villa, an exclusive haven featuring four bedrooms, expansive bathrooms, a private swimming pool, and garden. Morena is the property’s beachside restaurant, which offers an elegant Japanese-inspired menu curated in collaboration with Istanbul’s Inari Kujira. BRAVA, the resort’s signature outdoor restaurant led by the internationally recognized chef, Diego Munoz, serves Latin American-inspired dishes infused with traditional Turkish flavors.

Photography courtesy of The Bodrum EDITION.

Leo Lei translates his passion for minimalism into his daily-updated blog Leibal. In addition, you can find uniquely designed minimalist objects and furniture at the Leibal Store.

Gone are the days of the smoke-tinged green and wood billiard tables found in bars or in a friend’s basement. Nuevepies, a young and innovative company based in Barcelona, is redefining the world of billiards with their Monocolor billiards collection. Imagine a 9-foot pool table where every element, from the cloth to the pockets and legs, exudes a singular and refined hue, creating an awe-inspiring design that will elevate any space.

The monochrome trend continues to pop up in the interior design world, and Nuevepies has joined in with their contemporary modern pool tables. The Monocolor billiard table boasts a satin lacquered finish and Gorina cloth, resulting in a captivating design accentuated by the colorful balls. Each custom table is available in six colors – Pastel Pink, Fresh Green, Electric Blue, Black is Black, White Ibiza, and Silver Gray – and can be built to play either pool or carom billiards.

A drawer holds all the accessories one needs to play, including 4 two-piece cues, a set of Super Aramith Pro balls, a rack, and a box for chalk and cloth brush.

Nuevepies’ background is rooted in craftsmanship, combining the experience of manufacturer “Billares Córdoba” and creative direction of BD Barcelona. Fueled by their combined passion for contemporary design, Nuevepies has mastered the art of producing exclusive, high-end billiard tables that offer infinite possibilities for customization. The options for colors and finishes are endless, allowing you to find the perfect table that complements your style and interior decor.

Monocolor’s integrated electronics system powers LED lighting, game reset, and automatic shut-off.

To learn more about Monocolor billiards tables, visit nuevepies.com.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.

Convenience has a habit of inviting compromise, something certainly true when following the growing trend of watching movies and TV shows from the comfort of the bed, at the dining table, or anywhere you can bring a tablet or laptop. The biggest loss watching from a small screen is the generally poor audio sound emitted from a mobile device or even laptop. The Sony HT-AX7 is a clever and convenient response, a home theater audio system engineered to simulate 360-degree surround sound using just three battery powered speakers, nary a cord or cable in sight.

The HT-AX7 comprises three wireless speakers, one larger oblong main front firing unit about a foot long rated for 45 watts. Inside are two front firing speakers and two passive radiators on the side, with an emphasis on producing ample bass with a rectangular diaphragm design. The acoustic covered speakers are handsome and unassuming, and at this size and weight (3 lbs) the unit can be moved nearly anywhere around a room without becoming an intrusive eyesore.

Two additional large puck-shaped surround sound speakers are designed to charge wirelessly when placed on top of the main speaker, and can be placed anywhere within Bluetooth wireless range (approximately 30 feet) for watching content or just streaming audio.

If you’re wondering if these speakers are binge-session capable, no need to worry. At half the maximum volume, which should be sufficient if you’re seated or laying close to the speakers, the HT-AX7 will deliver 30 hours of audio playback with the simulated spatial sound effect on (Bluetooth doesn’t support real 360 Reality Audio or Dolby Atmos). Even if you do happen to drain the system down to zero, the speaker can be recharged in just 10 minutes to offer another 150 minutes of playback.

At $499.99, the Sony HT-AX7 is solid deal, noting even a comparable small sound bar with satellite speakers setup costs several hundreds of dollars more (albeit, delivering higher performance). For streamers and small space dwellers with a penchant for couch and bed surfing their queue, the Sony makes a compelling argument to compromise just a little less.

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Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of 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.

Designing a kitchen requires a practical approach, one emphasizing productivity and utility, considerations akin to a well designed home office or thoughtfully planned garage workshop. They also need to operate similarly to a well organized closet, offering ample and accessible storage. And increasingly, kitchens are also where friends and family just hangout all throughout the day, becoming the de facto “living room” of the home, so they need to look and feel good. That’s a lot to ask of a single space. These considerations are all addressed by SWNA’s Dancing Grid, a modular kitchen system incorporating six different functional tiles to grid out various forms and functions across vertical and horizontal planes. And attractively so.

Designed for Liberal Office, the Dancing Grid wall shelf’s various sized and shaped tiles are each shaped to fit into a wall panel organization system. Sectioned into customizable storage functions, 3D-printed kitchen accessory modules lock into place to offer a seemingly infinite amount of storage options, allowing its owner to move components as needed.

One example is the system’s Hoook tile, a rectilinear component made to overhang either facing upward or downward length-wise. This shallow lipped design only permits the option to hang utensils or secure add-on shelving, but also can be installed with strip LED lighting to illuminate the work surface underneath.

Instead of adding another color, the designers made a subtly angled Shaded tile, creating the semblance of another hue using an interplay of light and shadow across surfaces.

SWNA also designed a larger shape, the In-Out tile. Aesthetically complementary to its smaller tiled siblings, the In-Out tile is designed to curve along the edges of the Dancing Grid kitchen island, offering the option to completely forgo the traditional sink for an all-tile basin (no details how the grout is designed to withstand this sort of kitchen cleaning duty normally tasked to a metal sink).

Like the idea? Many of the functional attributes of the Dancing Grid kitchen can be found in a real life counterpart, IKEA’s SUNNERSTA series. It’s a good thing because SWNA’s modular kitchen tile system is only a TBA concept.

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of 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.

If an afternoon spent on a southern California beach took the form of furniture, the Mondos Outdoor Collection would be it. To make it come to life, two California-based brands – Laun and Chet Architecture – collaborated on the six-piece furniture family. Inspiration was found at the legendary Mondos Beach in Ventura, California, considered by many to be the capital of the state’s surfing culture. Inclusive, low-key, and welcoming, the collection transforms the beach’s energy into silhouettes of curved waves hitting the beach’s distinctive seawall. Mondos’ bold color and material palette also take their cues from surfing, using vibrant shades of ocean blues and neon greens in fiberglass, neoprene, aluminum, and vinyl.

“Mondos truly captures the feeling of this very special stretch of the California Coast, a place that carries so much personal meaning for me and my family,” says Chet Callahan. “I have long admired Laun’s work and the way they consistently push conceptual and material boundaries. They have brought incredible expertise in terms of craft and construction to the making of these pieces. Together, I think we have arrived at a unique take on outdoor furniture that has a timeless elegance, evokes a bit of nostalgia, and captures our shared sense of playfulness.”

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

The sofa, love seat, side chair, chaise, side table, and coffee table that comprise the collection are lightweight, durable, easy to reconfigure. Using 1980’s pool and garden furniture as a muse, the Mondos’ chaise, with its oversized wheel, reimagined proportions, and color, is an updated take on classic vinyl-strapped pool furniture. Meanwhile, the channel tufted seating, which can be assembled in a variety of ways, is made for entertaining.

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

“Laun’s work has always centered on the celebration of California’s design heritage, local craftsmanship, and manufacturing. We are so thrilled to be partnering with Chet on our first collaboration, which really embodies these values,” says Purnell. “Chet and his team have brought a complementary design approach and fresh perspective on color and form to this collection. It has been such a joyful process to create pieces that have a sense of place and add a contemporary take on the design classics from our youth.”

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

Photo: Ye Rin Mok

To learn more about the Mondos Outdoor Collection, visit launlosangeles.com.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she’s likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.

Interior and product designer Leah Ring of Another Human is back with another colorful, jaw-dropping project showcasing her vibrant design aesthetic. After years of admiring Yucca Valley’s beauty, Ring decided to embark on a design adventure in 2021, purchasing a property that would serve as both a second home and a canvas for her extreme creative ideas. Now, the once fixer-upper is a mesmerizing desert oasis that displays her remarkable design sensibilities and bold approach to color.

Nestled within the picturesque Yucca Valley, the property consists of four small buildings, each in various states of disrepair. Rather than starting from scratch, she decided to keep the structures’ envelopes intact, providing a blank canvas to let her imagination run wild.

Color is at the center of Leah Ring’s design philosophy, and each building on the property boasts its own bright hue. The main house stands out in a mesmerizing purple, while the guest house welcomes all with a warm peach exterior. These colors pop amidst the browns of the desert landscape and the greys of the hardscaping.

Inside the main house, you’ll find a myriad of captivating colors and custom designs. Each room is adorned with a different hue, complementing a curated mix of Ring’s own creations, California designers’ works, vintage pieces, and Moroccan rugs. The blue living room, for instance, boasts a unique sofa designed by Ring herself, featuring three shades of denim, paired with a coffee table she also created.

The kitchen and bathroom take the concept of bold colors to new places. Quartz countertops in deep blue are offset by lime green custom cabinets and aqua blue pulls, creating a refreshing and airy atmosphere.

In the bathroom, green and blue tiles blend harmoniously, with the green gradually transitioning to blue as it moves down the wall. Hot pink accents, in the form of a Peter Shire toilet seat, Vola faucet, and plumbing fixtures, add an unexpected touch.

Lime green walls are paired with tricolor custom curtains in the bedroom, and finished off with a commissioned Liliah Rose soft sculpture hanging above the vintage Paul Frankl headboard.

Located in another building, Ring’s office is a truly surreal space, wrapped in custom cloud mural wallpaper that she developed herself. The serene blue hue dominates the room, seen in her custom desk by Fire on the Masa and the Another Human magazine rack. The color continues in the custom quilted armchair and ottoman, which draws inspiration from winter coats, adding a touch of playfulness to this ethereal space.

The sunroom welcomes guests with a bespoke sofa that can double as a bed with plenty of storage built into the base. On the opposite side, a retrofitted vintage Malm fireplace rests beside an Another Human chair for added coziness.

Designed with hospitality in mind, the bunkhouse exudes warmth and comfort with its deep red custom linen native shaped headboard and matching bedspread with magenta trim. Vintage lamps and pink Componibili Bio Storage Units frame the bed, creating an inviting space for guests to unwind.

Photography by Lance Gerber.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.

Design studio Kapitza, founded by sisters Petra and Nicole, wants “to color the world with positive and uplifting works of art, as we believe that color has the power to make us feel better in ourselves and our communities.” We completely agree! Located in East London, the duo collaborates with brands and institutions to create everything from large murals to pop-up events to products and more – you can check out some of their projects below!

Our Designer Desktop for August features Kapitza’s abstract composition entitled NEW WAVES. It’s full of curved line segments that connect and cross each other to create “a flowing rhythm.” Petra and Nicole shared, “We were inspired by one of our favorite artists, Vera Molár, the first female artist to incorporate computers into her practice and her constant search for challenges, new materials, and surprises.”

Kapitza x Bearbrick Lollipop

Kapitza x IKEA Halved Rug

Art Cards DOTS

T-Shirt NEW WAVES

Diversity Painting

City Full of Colour

Kapitza Photo: Stefanie Freynschlag

DESKTOP: 1024×768  1280×1024  1680×1050  1900×1200  2560×1440

MOBILE: iPhone XS  iPhone XS Max  iPad Pro

Learn more about Kapitza here.

View and download past Designer Desktops here.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she’s likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.

How many wireless audio designs could you say evoke the works of sculptors Barbara Hepworth or Henry Moore? That was our first impression of Pantheone’s initial offering several years back, a minimalist and abstract wireless speaker designed as a captivating statement of sound. The Australian audio specialists’ smaller Obsidian turns down the volume on the abstract end, but still offers a discernibly distinct faceted jewel-like form delivering a similar proposition, now just at a smaller scale (and price).

The Obsidian’s handmade resin cabinet isn’t quite as uniquely sculpted as its larger predecessor, but the faceted form – drawing inspiration from semi-precious stones – does allow the speaker to influence the output in a variety of directions, conjuring a decently immersive 360-degree experience from a single source point. In our time demoing a unit, the speaker performed optimally when situated within a corner of a bedroom or office, versus a large living room where the Pantheone I powered by its two 130-watt Class-D amplifiers is better suited.

A single class D amplifier is tasked within to power 40 watts to the unit’s 5.25-inch woofer, and half that to a pair of 1-inch silk dome tweeters at 20 watts each, with a frequency response of 55Hz – 22kHz.

What’s interesting is Pantheone positioning the Obsidian as a portable speaker. While not prohibitively heavy at about 11 lbs, it’s more likely owners will stake out an optimal permanent spot to use and display the speaker. All for the best. However nice the resin matte finish, it doesn’t make for the most confident grip while carrying the speaker around compared to smaller wireless speakers, requiring a careful cradling.

Pantheone positions the Obsidian as a design that draws upon the lofty inspiration of the “architectural masterpiece of the Oculus within the Pantheon dome in Rome.”

The Obsidian is Amazon Alexa ready, allowing for voice command operation.

In wireless mode and unattached from a power source, the Obsidian is good for up to 15-hour playback, supporting connectivity via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AUX sources. Par for the course, the Obsidian is set to work with all of the major streaming services, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Tidal, and Apple Music via AirPlay. Whether tethered to power or in battery mode, the Obsidian sounds impressive.

Pantheone’s semi-precious jewel design is priced at $1,399 and available in black or white at pantheoneaudio.com.

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of 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.

This summer, fellow Belgians Ann Demeulemeester and Serax are debuting their first collaborative furniture collection, Ann Demeulemeester-Serax. The contemporary family is the first furniture designed by the fashion designer, who has worked with the brand on tableware, glassware, cutlery, and lighting collections since 2019. Equal parts sculpture and function, it marks a widening of the creative world she and her longtime partner, Patrick Robyn, have been expanding for decades.

“I make something because I miss it, I want it, and I can’t find it,” says Demeulemeester. The duo often develop pieces that answer their own needs or explore a personal interest, naturally distancing their work from trends. The pieces of luxury furniture within the Ann Demeulemeester-Serax collection looks to both proportion and simple geometries to create a natural dialogue.

There are plenty of distinct design elements to be found within. Long tapered legs in the Éloïs and Cora tables, and origami-like angles in the Malé and Stella tables. The Beth, Ono, and Taka families include day beds, ottomans, sofas, and chairs with low, elongated profiles, deep seats, and cross-braced oak. In contrast, the Elé chair lightly touches the ground with a slender silhouette. Robyn’s expertise with structure is put on display in the twist in the profile of Elé’s legs, transforming from circle to square, and the smart structure for the upholstered back of the Ono sofa. While many of the collection’s pieces feel elevated, simple integrated lighting and textural shifts help to add more depth.

Ann Demeulemeester-Serax collection’s materials include linen, oak, wool, velvet, and canvas, as well as a palette of exclusive textures and colors. Of course, black and white, but also pale pink, moss green, and more.

Now available online, the collection will follow with a retail launch this month. For more information about the Ann Demeulemeester-Serax, visit serax.com.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she’s likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.

In the heart of Bilbao, Spain, a modern slash industrial apartment by TENKA ARKITEKTURA has taken shape, transforming a 1960’s former office and residence into a unique living space. Named Burgatoi, this renovation project is inspired by the nautical world, where a curved piece of wood, also known as “burgatoi,” is used in ship construction. The project’s goal is to create a parallel with the curved construction of the living space, adding personality and breaking from conventional design.

The original layout presented challenges with its narrow and elongated L-shaped floor plan, interrupted by vertical structural elements and scattered ventilation “patiejos.” However, creative ideas emerged as the project expanded to include adjoining spaces, allowing for a street-facing facade and an outdoor terrace.

Triangular fluted panels in blue wrap the kitchen cabinets and island, standing out amidst the concrete details and grey epoxy resin floors. The paneling continues through the dining room and down the hallway following the new design’s new curves.

The incorporation of the curve served a dual purpose. Firstly, it allowed for continuous spaces, promoting flexibility in usage and eliminating the need for unnecessary corridors. Secondly, it cleverly concealed the scattered ventilation “patiejos,” making use of the hidden spaces for required services and storage. Also living behind the curved walls is the laundry and bathroom.

The defining element of Burgatoi is the introduction of a soft curve that shapes the interior spaces, forming a separation between public and private rooms. This continuous, fluted blue wall adds fluidity to the layout and replaces traditional compartmentalized forms, aligning with Le Corbusier’s architectural promenade concept.

Following the curved wall from the kitchen into the dining room nook, the color continues with two sunshine yellow dining chairs and a trio of Junit pendants by Schneid.

In the bathroom hiding behind the curved wall, dark graphite tiles with specks of confetti-like colors line the floor and shower walls with bright blue shower fixtures that pop.

The hallway, or architectural promenade, of Burgatoi culminates in the primary bedroom, emphasizing the transition from the expansive daytime area to the private nighttime zone. The bedroom seamlessly combines different elements, such as an open, step down bathtub/shower, table, dressing room, and bed, creating a visually cohesive space.

Glossy, ocean blue tiles make the open primary bathroom shine in the neutral bedroom surrounding it.

Photography by Erlantz Biderbost.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.