Integrated and functional, antoniolupi’s Showdown system is designed to enhance the overall usability of the area surrounding the bathroom sink. The well-thought out plug-and-play design element can be inserted into a space to elegantly complement the room’s minimal aesthetic while simultaneously providing plenty of structured, hidden storage. Highly customizable, the variety of materials, surfaces, and colors available for Showdown allow for infinite configurations – there’s a perfect option for every space. The product is a fusion of previously introduced pieces from antoniolupi – Slot and Anima Liquida – and an ideal modular solution for minimalists.

The modularity of Anima Liquida and the innovation of the Strip sink are brought together to create the Showdown design system. The horizontality of Strip fits seamlessly into the vertical scansion of Anima Liquida’s cabinet, defining the architectural front that features dramatic overhangs, protrusions, and recesses. Showdown further ensures functionality by hiding everyday objects and accessories from view, further preserving a clean visual composition.

The foundation for Showdown is Anima Liquida, designed by Giorgio Rava. With a wooden or lacquered surface, the cabinet’s continuous front is interrupted only by the vertical lines that give away its modularity. Anima Liquida relies on a support surface that’s hidden by the height of the doors as they protrude and shield it from view. It’s then duplicated by the positioning of a wooden shelf/container that houses objects and integrates LED lighting. Available in various widths, heights, and depths, Anima Liquida’s modules come in multiple colors and finishes that are sure to create a virtuous dialogue with other textures and surfaces in the space.

Twenty years ago, designer Nevio Tellatin’s Slot washbasin introduced a fresh aesthetic element to the bath industry – antoniolupi’s revolutionary new drain design used only a single cut along the rear of the basin. Since then, the functionality has become an iconic component of the brand’s collection, one that all but negates the appearance of a drain to observers. The integrated siphon and technical parts are also invisible, allowing for the sink to remain clean, essential, and streamlined. Today, the essence of Slot’s innovation carries on through the Strip sink, enriched with striking new materials, surfaces, and color palettes.

Personalize the size, color, and finish of Showdown to create the focal point of your next bath space. To learn more about antoniolupi’s Showdown collection or to further explore the brand’s offerings, visit antoniolupi.it.

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.

Electronic Materials Office is a new London startup inspired by the tactile-detailed consumer electronic designs of the likes of Teenage Engineering, Frog Design’s Hartmut Esslinger, and industrial design icon, Richard Sapper. Think “timeless functional simplicity” with a few subtle eye-catching details. The sum of those inspirations are to coalesce in the form of the startup’s first release, the Altar I, a minimalist, ultra-low profile mechanical keyboard sharing many of the same holistic hallmarks of design engineered to engage the senses.

German-born industrial designer Richard Sapper’s black and boxy aesthetic so closely associated with the IBM Thinkpad is very apparent in the Altar I’s mildly Sith Lord impression, right down to the deliberate striking em-dash of orange-red. But a closer look reveals an additional layer of playfulness, including a large typographic treatment across the span of the keyboard’s numeric keys, concave chiclet keys, and a boldly-hued rotary encoder knob that seems to beckon the fingertips for a turn.

Flip over the keyboard and the Altar I’s commitment to subtle minimalism theme is revealed.

The aforementioned work Sapper created for IBM has often been described as the yin to Apple’s yang, dark and boxy, and the Altar I could similarly be compared to Apple’s own Apple Magic Keyboard in their differing approach to creating similarly sleek wireless peripherals. But imagining the colors inversed, and it’s equally easy to envision the keyboard as a descendent of Hartmut Esslinger’s work for Frog Design and their prognostications of portable computing for Apple decades ago.

A USB-C charging cable delivers power to a 200mAh cell battery for wireless use via Bluetooth.

Each of the Altar I’s plastic pieces are made from post-consumer waste, an extension of Electronic Materials Office’s “sustainability is luxury” ethos, and one more directly communicated by the brand’s boldly direct mission statement: “The world is fucked unless we, collectively, do something about it.”

Altar I is estimated to begin shipping in autumn 2023, with pre-orders for both 77-key US and 78-key UK English layouts arriving before E.U. and World iterations are made available.

Gregory Han is Tech 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.

Australian interior stylist and product designer Sarah Ellison continues to bring her work to North America via an exclusive retail partnership with Design With Reach (DWR). The modular Float Sofa channels 1970s conversation pits with a deep seat, angled arms, and puffy horizontal channeling – it’s also super comfortable. Float encourages social gatherings and conversation with Ellison’s signature of reimagining silhouettes from the decade while keeping its contemporary appeal in check .

“We are seeing more people embracing the style of furniture that enables an ease of storytelling. The trend is being driven by proximity with a sectional sofa facilitating conversation,” Ellison shared. “The embrace of a bulbous, low-slung, textural centerpiece such as the Float Sofa offers a level of comfort and simplifies the human connection that has been lacking in recent years. Float embraces its role to provide both comfort and a place for connection… I was inspired to design this piece as a means of encouraging conversation, and the colors we selected were going to be a key component to help communicate this idea.”

Choose between upholstery in bouclé or velvet, including Ellison’s signature “Piccolo.” The rich, chocolatey-brown hue was created specifically for this collection in partnership with the Pantone Color Institute.

Ellison continued: “This particular shade of brown came through much discussion and collaboration with the team at the Pantone to find a tone that signified in color, the essence of human connection. Together we felt the need to embrace a color that encouraged rejuvenation after a period of particular darkness and upheaval, and this shade of brown had a powerful unifying and grounding effect.”

Sarah Ellison

To learn more about the Float Sofa, visit dwr.com.

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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.

In 1985, UC Berkeley and Harvard University graduate Calvin Tsao founded New York-based firm TsAO & McKown with his partner, the equally talented Zack McKown. The duo’s backgrounds, interests, and idiosyncrasies come together in the studio where big and small projects across various locales are brought to fruition through their gaze.

Calvin approaches each project as a chance to put his own global experiences into play, focusing on a distinct way of thinking rather than a signature style of design. Recognized as a leading voice in contemporary architecture, his work draws from a variety of art forms, existential questions, and observations. Calvin envisions his role as a cultural mediator, striving to harness these global experiences and technology to express local cultures and contexts. The last project informs the next, creating a domino effect that leads to a larger pool of knowledge to draw from in the future.

Current projects include the reconfiguration of the National Palace Museum of Taiwan – plus additions. And in Atlanta the studio is working with a university and a private partner to develop a community of 3,000 residences, half of which are designated to be affordable.

Calvin has taught at the Harvard GSD, Cooper Union, Syracuse University and Parsons School of Design. He’s board Chair of The American Academy in Rome, former Vice President for Design Excellence at AIA New York | Center for Architecture, and President Emeritus and board member of The Architectural League of New York. The studio received the 2022 AIANY Medal of Honor and in 2012 was a recipient of the National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, as well as the Legacy Award from the Museum of the Chinese in America.

Today, Calvin Tsao joins us for Friday Five!

Photo: Calvin Tsao

1. Sunrise in the City

Waking up early in our home off Central Park, the sensation of seeing the city bask in that early morning glow gives me energy for a new day.

Photo: Calvin Tsao

2. Sunset in the Country

Watching the sun slowly set over our orchard upstate always fills me with gratitude and humility for the infinite beauty and power of nature.

Pidgin Photo: Victor Schrager

3. Great Shops With a Personal Vision

I love discovering how a person’s character gets expressed in the shops they create, such as Pidgin in upstate New York, Egg in London, and Quaner22 in Shanghai, revealing their world view through the environments they make and things they’ve chosen, offering up beauty in inimitable ways.

Photo: altrospazio, courtesy American Academy in Rome

4. American Academy of Rome

The American Academy in Rome is a center for advanced studies in the Arts and Humanities. My experiences there as a resident two decades ago opened up new perspectives, helping me to better know my purpose and mission.

Photo: Richard Bryant / arcaidimages.com

5. Meditation

Meditation stills the mind and soul, and helps to bring clarity.

Work by Calvin Tsao:

Pound Ridge Residence, Pound Ridge, New York Inspired by Japanese architecture, the house is drenched in light. Skylights in the form of lanterns facing north bring more light throughout the day, and as there are windows on all four sides, the building is transparent enough to blend into the landscape. The house also contains two freestanding fireplaces in the living room and the bedroom. Photo: Simon Upton

AtOne Hotel, Suzhou, China Suzhou, China was a center of learning and hometown to generations of scholars. The scholars had a tradition of harvesting stones that had been washed underwater for centuries. They were beautiful sculptural forms used to meditate about nature. We scaled up this meditative element to architectural proportions as a gesture of welcome for visitors of the hotel. Photo: Seth Powers

7 West 57th, New York City A slatted wooden volume contains the guest closet, powder room, and the kitchen. It also helps define a foyer before the apartment opens onto the living and dining spaces that both feel intimate, and at the same time, enjoy the sweeping city views. Photo: Sean Hemmerle

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.