A couple days ago, I was walking down Ste-Catherine street in Montreal, and noticed this neat window display. I’ve always been interested in the design aesthetics of commercial windows and love to see creative displays.

This one, from La Vie en Rose, stopped me right in my tracks: a pile of gray cats wearing a purple tutu under mannequins. I wonder what was the inspiration behind this one and what’s the message (if there is one). Also why did they chose purple as opposed to pink in their color scheme? (La Vie en Rose loosely translates to Life in Pink in French) Why the ballerina shoes in the back? Why the cats?

In any case, window displays sound like a fun job, especially if you get “carte blanche”. If given the opportunity to design for La Vie en Rose, I think I would create various fantasy worlds and always use something pink as the starting point (It’s part of their name after all). Maybe a pink Cadillac or a pink pony?

A couple weeks ago (wow time flies!) I went to the SIDIM to check out the latest design products in Montreal. There was a lot of interesting things to see (as always). Here’s what caught my eye this year :

CONE FROM PORCELAINE BOUSQUET
I just love the Cone collection that looks like sushi cones. They are so cute and eco friendly. The wood stands are made of ebony, teak or wenge. They’re perfect for dinner, cocktail parties, and of course chic restaurants.

OUTDOOR FURNITURE BY QUI EST PAUL?
I like that they make outdoor furniture fun, by using interesting shapes and colors. Some can also be lighted. It looks like they don’t have retailers in Canada yet (they are from France), but hopefully soon.

ACRYLIC AND WOOD STOOLS BY BLEU NATURE
Bleu Nature, another French company, found an interesting way to incorporate nature in a space by suspending various wood pieces in acrylic, giving the impression that you are looking at them through water. They also have other pieces such as table lamps with suspended river rocks.

ORIGINAL RADIATORS FROM JAGA
I was happily surprised to see the Heatwave at the show. It’s such a beautiful hot water radiator. Jaga was also introducing their new and colorful “Play” radiator. It’s a highly efficient and eco-friendly radiator that’s safe for kids, because the surface stays cool to the touch. Another really neat feature of this new product is that you can customize it. There are five MDF boards that can be detached and painted to match any room. Imagine the possibilities.

CONCRETE OUTDOOR FURNITURE BY M3 BETON

m3 béton is an concrete workshop from Montreal who makes everything out of concrete. I really like what they do. This year they were introducing outdoor furniture and fireplace surrounds. The neat thing about concrete furniture is that they can stay out all year. If you have a small condo with a terrace, you don’t have to find space inside during the winter to store it and it won’t fly away if it gets windy up there.

VIAGGI TUBS FROM Maax
Stunning! That’s all I can say. Real pieces of art. I’m not too keen on the surroundings but the tub is really cool.

E IUENIMAKAN… by DOMINIQUE MALATERRE OF TILT
Galerie Cantin was presenting art pieces during the show from various artists. For some reason I was attracted to the one with the deer. I just love this picture. Don’t know why. Maybe because the deer looks pissed at the photographer or whoever threw the oil at him… BP perhaps? (LOL)

… if you’re using Idea Paint. This great product is the invention of three undergrads (John Goscha, Jeff Avallon and Morgen Newman) who back in 2002 couldn’t afford whiteboards for their brainstorming session in college. So they came up with the idea of creating paint that transforms virtually any surface into a dry ease surface.

The process is quite simple. The paint comes in a kit including everything you need to make your own dry erase surface. All you need to do is pour the bottle labeled “THIS” into the quart labeled “THAT”, stir it with the provided stick and paint any primed surface of your choice. The paint dries relatively quickly but you should wait for it to cure for a couple days before using it. What makes this product so attractive, beside the fact that it allows us creative types to unleash our creativity beyond a limiting piece of paper, is that it erases easily.

Idea Paint is a great alternative to blackboard paint and comes in a couple different color options. There’s so many great possibilities with a product like this : offices, kindergartens, common rooms, conference rooms, play rooma, teenager’s bedrooms, etc.

I’ll have to try it out at some point. Maybe I’ll start with the sample…

photos : Idea Paint

While searching for space saving solutions for a client, I came across this really neat product from Nils Wodzak of Konzept Design : the Mirror Ironing Board. This ironing board is perfect for small spaces and hotel rooms. It’s nice and compact, has storage for your ironing board and accessories, can be used as a lighting source in the room and as a mirror. Talk about multi-funtional! It’s too bad it’s not available in North America.

Check out the video showing Nils demonstrating how it works below.

photos: Mirror Ironing Board

Architect Gary Chang from Hong Kong did an amazing job retrofitting his tiny 334 square foot apartment. Check out this Pecha Kucha presentation he did explaining the evolution of this apartment over time.

… and a special presentation on his space here

We’ve come a long way since the first manufactured mirrors made out of pieces of polished stone such as Obsidian, over 8000 years ago! Still there wasn’t much difference between the mirrors made back then and the mirrors we’re used to nowadays… well at least until now. Sure, mirrors can now be equipped with television, and many high end hotels are now using this technology, but the real revolution comes from Philips who created the interactive mirror. This mirror takes things one step further by enabling users to check the weather, keep track of their weight, check the back of their head, play and more. All that without even having to actually touch the glass! Genius!

source: hdtalks