If you ever used a spirograph as a kid, running a pen through its gears to create the most satisfying circles, you might recognize the predominant pattern in the GIRO series. Designed by Venetian studio MUT Design for GAN, the colors, geometry, and textures are pure joy for the artist in all of us. In the words of MUT Design’s founders, “GIRO it’s a bit like the Möbius strip; it’s a simple shape that, when twisted, creates a sense of energy, as well as rich and powerful visual effects. We really like to play with textures and varying levels of depth, as well as with perspective and basic geometric patterns because they result in designs with a lot of movement and bring a playful touch to concepts that are in theory quite simple.”

GIRO’s design is based on a succession of mathematical curves that create an optical illusion. Varied textured layers increase the sensation of depth and volume within the structure, which is provided by the graphic grid. The GIRO series is available in two versions: a long, curved rug and a larger rug with a twisting silhouette. Available in three colors: lilac, peach, and black and white, the shades contrast nicely with the white base.

These rugs allow artisan tradition and contemporary design to live side-by-side, using hand-tufting to create a graphic appearance with incredible precision. The hand-tufted technique provides the ability to bring this design to life in pure wool. The minimum time required to create a GIRO rug is three days for the hand-tufting process and another three days to complete the carving work line-by-line with scissors. When finished, GIRO can add fun to more serious spaces and an elegant element to more casual ones.

To learn more about GIRO, visit mutdesign.com.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

We’re only weeks away from the 54th edition of NeoCon, the leading platform and event for the commercial interior design industry. Have you registered? Beginning June 12th and running through the 14th, the community will gather at THE MART in Chicago to experience new product launches, programming, networking, and more. Under this year’s theme of “Together We Design,” attendees will have the opportunity to learn from educational programming, see ground-breaking innovations, and interact with creative installations.

NeoCon 2023 will showcase the latest from 400+ leading and emerging companies, and feature new initiatives to add a fresh spin to the experience. In addition to an impressive roster of keynote and CEU programming, this year features a new NeoCon Talks program. A series of “Live from NeoCon” podcasts, a special design-oriented ART on THE MART projection, and the official launch of THE MART’s WorkLife Conference Center and expanded River Park will be shared, among other highlights.

This year, NeoCon’s keynotes look to hip hop, community, and technology to help build the future with a brilliant group of thought leaders. Speakers will include world-renowned futurist Amy Webb (Founder & CEO of the Future Today Institute) and celebrated designer, writer, and teacher, Michael Murphy (Co-Founder of MASS Design Group). “The Hip Hop Architect” Michael Ford, AIA, NOMA, alongside Chicago hip hop legend and visiting MIT professor, Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, a.k.a Lupe Fiasco, will also take part. Their diverse backgrounds and experiences that draw from music, poetry, and tech will come together to explore how we can build a more sustainable, equitable, and brighter future.

Now in its 33rd iteration, the Best of NeoCon will recognize superlative new products in 56 categories, spanning a range of verticals that include workplace, healthcare, hospitality, and education. New for 2023, entries will be considered for a Business Impact Award, in addition to honors for Gold, Silver, Innovation, Sustainability, and the honor of Best of Competition. The program is an evolution of last year’s inaugural Business Innovation Awards, which were a great success.

The jury will be able to nominate products for consideration for a Business Impact Award, which will recognize exceptional solutions through a business-oriented lens. Each of the nominated products will be reviewed based on the degree to which they contribute to a more successful business and better enterprise-oriented, built environment across verticals – from workplace to healthcare.

The roster of jurors who will decide this year’s Best of NeoCon awards is made up of forward-thinking industry professionals representing a broad cross-section of the NeoCon community, including members of leading design associations such as ASID, IIDA, AIA, and the premier facility manager organization, IFMA. Influential designers, architects, specifiers, facility managers, and decision-makers who have a deep understanding of the evolving needs and emerging trends in the commercial design industry have been selected. The jury features representatives from reputable firms in design, technology, and enterprise, including Gensler, Studio O+A, NELSON, CannonDesign, Oracle, NBBJ, HOK, SSM Health, and Studio GC, among others. For the full list of jurors, please visit the Best of NeoCon.

As always, NeoCon has created a robust lineup of featured presentations, virtual and on-site CEU programs, workshops, and tours. Adding great dynamic to the daily keynote presentations, these sessions allow attendees to dive deeper into topics to gain insightful perspectives and strategies for professional advancement. Registration for all can be found on neocon.com.

Seven afternoon featured presentations will explore topics from rethinking the concept of occupancy in an evolved work landscape to the power of design to be a force for good in social justice. More than 50 virtual and on-site CEU-accredited programs and hands-on workshops will be led by speakers from leading design associations, universities, architecture firms, manufacturers, and top media outlets, as well as experts in emerging technology, sustainable building, and inclusive workplace culture. These
presentations and panels will offer discussions and insight into evolving industry topics, including Workplace, Sustainability, Healthcare, Technology, Wellness, Hospitality, DEI, Public Space, and Facilities Management.

The NeoCon Programming Hub, the show’s digital portal, will host virtual streaming of these featured presentations and the full lineup of CEU-accredited programs, as well the daily keynote presentations. For the
full NeoCon 2023 programming listing, head to neocon.com.

Registration is free for all attendees, and we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in store. Hope to see you in Chicago!

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

Just north of the Swedish city of Gävle, in the middle of the Västerbottnian forest, lies Norsjö and the Drömtrappor factory. It’s been there since 1922, the forest for much longer. Designer Alexander Lervik claims that his first visit to the factory is the only time in his 25 years in the furniture industry that the sight of production has given him goosebumps. What was most impressive to Lervik was the craftsmanship was being done using materials that had mainly come right from the forest outside – a sustainable dream!

Lervik’s work for Drömtrappor began with the idea of quality furniture that’s been maintained over generations, which led to the design of a piece that would come to be named the Hemvist staircase. Afterward, Lervik took the leftover bits and pieces of wood created during manufacturing and brought to life a limited-edition collection of furniture – HEMVIST. Made up of an armchair, a small table, and a bench, Lervik uses the same eye-catching peg and wedge technique used to make the staircase.

HEMVIST’s furniture pieces feature simplified shapes with strong silhouettes and big personalities. Armchair Hemvist is generously proportioned with clean forms, the joint highlights the wedge mounted on the armrest. Choose between nature, a yellow stain, and a red stain finish to add even more character. Bench Hemvist is a classic bench with a clean form, made exceptional with the addition of a joint where a wedge sits recessed into the wood.

Lervik’s HEMVIST furniture is currently on exhibit at Unikat Gallery.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

You’ve likely noticed an uptick in all things mushroom lately, with mushrooms imparting their fungi energy across fashion, health, food, and pop culture. The mycological motif has always been popular within design, most notably and recently as an extension of the the “cottagecore” aesthetic. But fungus has only sporadically been found within the realm of high design, which makes Belgian rug company JOV’s M-SHWY rug collection designed by the Berlin based Studio Mary Lennox an especially captivating addition to announcements made at Milan Design Week 2023.

Comprising three different mycologically themed rugs, M-SHWY (pronounced MS Highway) stands for “Mycorrhizal Super Highway,” a nod to the scientific discovery attributing the shuttling of nutrients and perhaps even information between trees underground via masses of thin threads known as a mycelium – a fungal network popularly compared to our own digital internet.

To give the rug extra depth and texture, JOV used a color gradient from the inside out to the edges, combined with 3D-height effects on the edges to give the rug an extra bit of hand-tufted fluff.

MSHWY01, the first design recreates a top view of an oyster mushroom. Made out of New Zealand wool with glossy Tencel Lyocell, its sheen simulates the subtle shine that one might spy glistening from the pristine and newly fruited mushroom cap of an oyster mushroom.

For MSHWY02, Studio Mary Lennox uses a macro detail view of the gills found branching out from the underside of an oyster mushroom cap. An additional bit of dimensions and depth have been added in the form of white lines simulating these mushroom gills, with a fluffy thick border.

The third MSHWY03 rug is the most colorful, a cluster of pink oyster mushrooms expressed in an earthen-pastel pink and tufted in soft Merino wool with mercerized Egyptian cotton. Rest assured, for most feet the soften woolen footfall these rugs offer will be much more agreeable underfoot than stepping upon even the softest of fungus.

The collection was presented for the first time at Milan Design Week 2023, displayed alongside vertical displays of genuine living oyster mushrooms grown from substrate, an installation conceived by Studio Mary Lennox to complement and highlight the intricate beauty of mushrooms in all their wonders.

Photography by Francesco Stelitano.

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.

Jeff Staple, born Jeffrey Ng, is a creative visionary who has created work that encompasses graphics, fashion, and footwear design, as well as brand marketing. He’s the founder of REED ART DEPARTMENT (or RAD, formerly known as Staple Design), where he’s worked on countless projects for clients that range from startup brands to Fortune 100 companies. 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of Jeff founding STAPLE, the New York-based pioneering streetwear brand, with the now infamous “Pigeon” logo, and later experiential lifestyle boutique, REED SPACE in 2002.

Today, Jeff continues to explore and traverse new territory as creator and host of the Coinbase_NFT podcast “Do Process,” the heir to his renowned “Business of Hype” podcast on HYPEBEAST. He shares professional advice as one of the top teachers on SKILLSHARE, and is a pioneer in the web3 space as founder of the STAPLEVERSE, a new digital world that’s based on everything he’s learned during his time as a cultural leader.

In addition to his work as a creative, Jeff is a trusted voice in the business world, where he’s a frequent moderator, lecturer, and keynote speaker at industry panels and conferences. He continues to expand his “Positive Social Contagion” worldwide, going on more than two decades and counting.

Today, Jeff Staple joins us for Friday Five!

My favorite kitchen flatware. Crafted in Portugal, Cutipol is a world-class brand renowned for its quality and design. José Ribeiro founded Cutipol in 1963, taking the strong heritage of Portuguese handmade cutlery across the world. Together with his children, he traveled the world to find the most advanced machines and processes. I love that his wife and cofounder, Alice Marques, is the true lifeblood of the business – responsible for all production and development.

Merrell exists to share the simple power of being outside – the trail is for everyone. The Hydro Moc all-terrain system is an evolution of the instant classic – and divisive – Hydro Moc, taking it out of the water and into varied environments. It features their signature EVA foam cage upper, which is super-resilient and water friendly. The Puffy system uses a 200g Primaloft® Eco Series Synthetic insulated upper, a midsole made from BLOOM® performance foam made from 10% algae biomass, and an external rear sling that locks in the heel, with a toggle lace closure giving the wearer easy-on easy-off functionality. Looks pretty darn cool, too. A must have to add to the collection.

The Ceragem V6 is the latest addition to my home. A beautiful piece of furniture from Korea that is also an FDA cleared Class II medical device which helps provide temporary relief of muscle and joint pain, blood circulation, and relaxation of muscles. It can be tailored to each user’s unique spinal length and curvature. Heated massage rollers scan and analyze the user’s spinal length and curvature to provide a customized massage for all kinds of body shapes. It also features Intensive Thermal Therapy at 149°F, plus Air Cell Massager Booties to promote blood circulation to your legs! A must after a long flight or intense workout.

Starting in Singapore in 2009, these strange salted egg chips became my true addiction the moment I discovered them. It’s been super hard to find Irvins in the States, but now they’re becoming a bit more available! (Bad for my waistline!) Irvins’ hand-select ingredients like curry leaves, chili peppers, and upcycled salmon skin, then salt-brine real duck egg yolks for 30 days, steaming them into a savory crumble (no powders!). Truly unique, truly addictive.

My agency, Reed Art Dept, collaborated with Parc to create this incredible rendition of the classic 1970s Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. Parc is a furniture design and fabrication firm that manages high-level projects, from conceptual design phase through to final production, from large scale commercial projects to one-off residential projects. This piece has sold out, but is available for pre-order with a three month delivery window.

Work by Jeff Staple:

Allbirds, 2022 STAPLE Dasher For our collaboration with Allbirds, we had a conversation around carbon emissions and sustainability in the sneaker community. The 2022 STAPLE Dasher updated the “inside out” style of the first collaboration in 2020, but with a new twist: it displayed a carbon footprint of 12.5 kg CO2 – printed proudly on the outside of the shoe – to account for the factors of its carbon footprint.

Champion Craft Series One of my favorite projects the agency has worked on is the Champion Craft Series. We helped Champion spotlight six “Crafters” we selected from around the country who used the Reverse Weave sweatshirt as a blank canvas to create their own capsule collections. The inaugural group included Advisory Board Crystals, Arrrtaddict, Bandulu, Benjamin Edgar, Gabriela Noelle, and Regina Yazdi. The collection debuted on NTWRK and was followed by a multi-city tour in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles. To me, this project really embodied the spirit of creativity and the power of collaboration.

Cole Haan x Keith Haring. RAD We worked with Cole Haan to design a special-edition collection of shoes inspired by the iconic artist Keith Haring. The collection included two styles, the ØriginalGrand and GrandPrø Rally, each of which featured the artist’s signature bold outlines and some of his most memorable characters, including the snake and the radiant baby.

STAPLE x Crocs – Sidewalk Luxe Crocs went from being the shoes you would only wear inside your house to one of the hottest – and most comfortable – footwear items in the streetwear industry. Last year, we released our own collaboration with Crocs called the STAPLE x Crocs – Sidewalk Luxe. The design details paid homage to the NYC streets, from the sidewalks to the city trash, while the giant talon Jibbitz™ were a nod to the pigeon mascot of STAPLE. They’re also the largest Jibbitz™ ever created!

Reed Magazine Reed Magazine’s mission is to create a platform where we can share authentic stories about the people and things that inspire us, and truly give our readers a better sense for what makes them tick. Reed Magazine is our return to the timeless art of print journalism, tapping into Reed Art Department’s unique insight on modern streetwear, sneaker, and fashion culture. For our latest issue, we featured the iconic king of footwear – Salehe Bembury.

This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

The Wooden Cabin might resemble a traditional cottage form, but Markéta Cajthamlová designed this cabin with a modern aesthetic. Located on sloped land in the Jizera Mountains, the modern cabin with its unexpected blue exterior is surrounded by meadows and forests making for a perfect retreat all year long.

The rectangular structure is clad in dark blue clapboard and finished with a gabled roof and corner windows. The house is built with natural materials found locally, including wood, stone, and glass.

The horizontal corner windows pop against the blue cladding with their white finish.

A small outbuilding pops on the front of the house acting as the entryway and a place for storage.

Wood panels cover the walls and ceilings inside for an immediately cozy look. The expanses of wood are broken up by the windows which keep sight lines focused on the nature outside.

The interior layout is separated into thirds. The public living space includes the kitchen, dining room, and living room; the opposite side houses the bedroom which can accommodate up to four people; and the central space features the sauna and bathroom. The center part of the house allowed for a multipurpose attic space accessed via a staircase in the living room.

Photography by Petr Polák.

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.

Charles and Ray Eames lived by the belief a designer’s most vital function was identifying then solving the needs of others. This ethos was evident throughout their creative lives, most notable in the creation of affordable, yet high-quality designs for the average consumer that live on today as the pinnacle of “good design.” While fashion was not a category of design the Eames were typically associated with, their own choice in relaxed and comfortable clothing should be considered a carefully considered aesthetic. Taking this aspect of their lives into consideration, it may explain why the Eames Office, a foundation charged with the legacy of the legendary design partnership, has permitted Japanese label Gelato Pique to unveil a limited-edition collection of sumptuously soft loungewear adorned with its namesake.

Composed of a colorful and patterned 19-piece collection directly pulled from the Eames’ treasure trove of design, the Japanese fashion brand’s approach was to realize the Eames’ ethos that the best design “should take their pleasure seriously.” And Gelato Pique has done so with an almost unbelievably airy and downy collection of graphical loungewear tops and bottoms made from a fluffy-knit recycled polyester fabric known as Airy Moco.

The 2023 collection is actually the third in a series of collaborations between the Eames legacy and Japanese brand, this latest drawing heavily upon the iconic pair’s House of Cards toy and the mid-century defining Dot Pattern graphic.

Ray Eames once noted, “What works is better than what looks good. The looks good can change, but what works, works.” Fortunately for the Eames x Pique Gelato collection, looks and comfort do indeed work.

The Eames Meets Gelato Pique collection ranges from $62-$183, available at gelatopique.us.

This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

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.

The latest collaboration to slide across our screens is this bright and bold 61-piece kitchen collection from chef and cookbook author Molly Baz and Crate & Barrel. The Molly Baz for Crate & Barrel collection features lots of curves, color (“Molly Baz blue!”), and considerate touches that only a cook like her might dream up. And dreamed she did. The overarching concept is that these pieces can live as easily on kitchen countertops during dinner prep as they can on your dining table during a meal. There are pieces for cooking, storing, and serving – all of Molly’s most-used kitchen tools – designed to her specifications using FSC®-certified materials.

“This collection was created and designed with the home cook in mind. I felt very strongly about that – it can and should serve any and all types of home cooks,” Molly shared with us. “The line features a whole range that makes stepping into the kitchen a joy rather than a chore. I wanted to bring good design, and a bit of playfulness and color, to all elements of the cooking, wine-ing, and dining processes, with the ultimate goal of making every bit of it just a little less stressful, and a lot more fun.”

The Molly Baz for Crate & Barrel collection features sleek and bright designs, including bowls, glassware, serving trays, cutting boards, and kitchen tools – and even Molly’s signature crossback apron. All of the pieces follow her relaxed approach to entertaining, highlighting pieces that are modern, versatile, and meant to be used every day.

“Molly brought her fresh and bold perspective to the design process, creating an inspired kitchen and entertaining collection for our brand,” Sebastian Brauer, Senior Vice President of Product Design, Crate & Barrel commented. “Her passion to help people love their time in the kitchen drove us to look at kitchen tools and entertaining items through a different lens, which made for an open collaboration process. We also both love Italian and American design, and referenced different iconic periods like the 50s and 70s for inspiration.”

To begin, Molly worked closely with her designer husband, Ben, to create the initial voice and vision for the collection. “We started by sitting around a table with a couple of friends, scribbling down all of our hopes and dreams for the line. There were no limitations in our first round of ideating – I’m a big proponent of both “dream big” and “no bad ideas” philosophies. We then took that list to Crate & Barrel to see what was feasible.”

“They were super open to our ideas, and very supportive of the direction we chose to go in,” she said. “Once we had established a color palette and materials (warm woods, primary colors, colored glass, silicone) we got to work, iterating over and over and over again, reviewing samples, tweaking and changing, until the collection felt unified, polished, and complete.”

The brand was open to some of the more outlandish pieces as well. “I mean, let’s be honest, nobody needs an ice bucket or a seafood tower,” Molly quipped. “But the team saw the value in including some more eccentric pieces to make sure the collection really captured my spirit and personality with an eye towards keeping things fun and whimsical and unexpected.”

While the collection as a whole is show-stopping, it’s the thoughtful touches in each piece that standout. The measuring spoon set includes an uncommon ¾ teaspoon measure, and the glassware was designed for the drinks Molly and Ben make most – wine, martinis, and spritzes.

Molly Baz

Then there’s the infamous seafood tower, which is the chef’s go-to order at restaurants. It was the first product Molly designed for the collection, a design that’s versatile with a removable top tier for easy storage. “I knew I wanted to include a seafood tower (as ridiculous as it sounds), so it was one of the first things we tackled. It was one of the many items on my “dream big” list, and surprisingly the team at Crate & Barrel was super gung-ho about designing one,” she surprisingly shared. “There’s something so fun and celebratory to me about the idea of bringing the culture of raw bars and seafood towers – something you really only expect to partake in at a restaurant – into the home. Of course, the tower can actually be used for so much more than just seafood – at the end of the day, it’s just three really freaking cute stacked shallow bowls.”

Molly and the team at Crate & Barrel created an entire design language and made it through creating 59 more pieces before coming to the last one: the snack tray. “We were deep in a martini phase at the time, and had just been to Bemelmans Bar in NYC for one of the city’s most iconic martinis. With any cocktail you order at Bemelmans, a trifecta of snacks is always served,” she shared about its inception.

“We love that ritual and decided that we should find a way to bring intentional snacking into the home kitchen. We made two of them. Both take the form of concentric circles, one with two cavities and the other with three.” One of her favorite ways to use the piece? “I love to put a big dollop of aioli in the Big Snack Tray and then fill all the remaining moats with little dippers to create a grand aioli of sorts. The smaller one is great for popcorn, chips, and nuts, and can just as easily sit on your lap while watching a movie as it can be the centerpiece to your coffee table.”

Brauer called out his favorite piece as the Cae Salad Bowl for its versatility and oversized nature. “It’s perfect for composed salads, grains, and even linguine vongole to go from kitchen to table. I also love the earthy, neutral glaze and modern sculptural shape – perfect for indoor/outdoor dining and super California cool. It’s simple and elegant for entertaining, but also a functional piece that can stay out on the table to hold everyday items like fruit. This piece was inspired by Molly’s iconic Cae Sal recipe, which our customers love.”

“My eyes are dazzled every time I see the collection all together as a whole,” Molly said of her work with the brand. When pressed she added, “I think one of my favorite pieces are the salt and pepper grinders. They’re nesting, and they look like little people to me. They’re so stunning on a beautifully set table, and also look phenomenal next to your condiment caddy in your kitchen. Also, I love salt. I think most people know that but…”

Be sure to check out the entire Molly Baz for Crate & Barrel collection. You can also pick up the chef’s cookbook Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat: A Cookbook and pre-order the latest one, More Is More: Get Loose in the Kitchen: A Cookbook.

This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

The Ana Chair is a minimal chair created by Brooklyn-based designer Arielle Assouline-Lichten of Slash Objects presented at Milan Design Week 2023. Each Ana Chair is unique, as Assouline-Lichten sources remnant marble and is inspired by the natural veining of the stone. She cuts the marble slab into squares that, when rearranged, appear as a cohesive whole. This latest version comes with a new contour and softer curves.

A hallmark of Assouline-Lichten’s designs is the innovative recycling of materials. The Ana Chair incorporates post-consumer recycled rubber for the seat and repurposed marble cutoffs, typically destined for waste, sourced from a Brooklyn yard. Multiple chairs can be created from a single slab, forming sets or pairs that are related in design.

Suitable for both indoor and outdoor environments, the Ana Chair features variations for each setting. The outdoor version employs marble and recycled rubber from Slash Objects’ tabletop collection, while the indoor version marks Assouline-Lichten’s debut in using Mohair fabric, specifically in a bold Cognac shade. The marble for the Ana Chair comes in Statuary White, Nero Marquina, and Pistache, with further customization options available using a range of stones. The rubber seat is available in Sand, Gris, and Pure Black.

Arielle Assouline-Lichten explains: “Simplicity that reveals the materials from which our world is constructed. This chair is a play on the art of simplicity and the beauty of clean lines. I wanted to create a statement piece that envelopes you into a moment of pause, where you are nestled inside the smooth stone arms. The purity of parts allows for the materials to be highlighted and the connections between parts is as minimal as possible to allow each element to exist in unison.”

To learn more about the Ana Chair, visit slashobjects.com.

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.

The Live Oak Ridge Residence is a new project from Devin Keyes of Keyes Office of Architecture located amongst the rolling hills of West Lake Hills, Texas. The modern home rests above the treetops offering views of the surrounding hills while maintaining privacy from the street. To help with the Texas heat, there’s plenty of outdoor space that’s covered, as well as a swimming pool just steps from the house.

The home’s exterior features two juxtaposing materials – pale limestone and black metal panels – that work together for a visually intriguing presence. The stone-clad volume acts as the entryway from the street and hub to the more private areas of the house. The kitchen also lives inside the stone structure with one side facing the hills and the other with views to the front yard.

The soffits are clad in cedar wood, complementing the decking that surrounds the pool.

The lower level opens up to the outdoor entertaining spaces from a series of bedrooms and a living room with two glass walls.

The upper floor operates as the main living space with the kitchen, dining room, living room, seating area, primary bedroom suite, guest quarters, and a large outdoor balcony.

Clerestory windows from the front of the house and massive windows that wrap the open living room keep the interior filled with natural light while providing scenic views.

The main bedroom has its own balcony at the opposite end of the one in the living room.

Photography by Leonid Furmansky.

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.