2010 January « my design fix

A is for Aalto

January 31, 2010 at 10:40 pm | Posted in architecture, objects | Leave a Comment
Tags: aalto, glass, savoy, vase

aalto vase red

This will be the first in a series of 26 posts on modern design icons – one for each letter of the alphabet (inspired by the Alphabet of Design Classics Poster by Blue Ant Studios.)

Aalto Vase (1936)

The Aalto Vase (also known as the Savoy Vase) is a world aalto portrait famous piece of glassware created by the renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976).

The vase was designed as an entry in a design competition for the Karhula-Iittala glassworks factory in 1936. As a result Aalto never made money with the vase, as the design belonged to the factory.

It also became known as the Savoy vase because it was one of a range of custom furnishings and fixtures that were created by Aalto for the luxury Savoy restaurant in Helsinki that opened in 1937. aalto vase sketch

Aalto’s design for the vase was inspired by the clothes of a Sami woman with his first sketches for the vase playfully titled "Eskimo woman’s leather trousers".

Initial prototypes were created by Aalto by blowing glass in the middle of a composition of wooden sticks stuck into the ground, letting the molten glass swell on only some sides and creating a wavy outline.

To this day the vase is still manufactured in a large range of colours and sizes at the iittala glass factory in Iittala, Finland.

For more information on the Aalto Vase check out the iittala website here.

dual colour white blue closeup Photo via Flickr: Joel Pirela

Related Post:

Alphabet of Design Classics Poster – Blue Ant Studios

Camera Tattoo Filmed in Stop-Motion (Part 2)

January 19, 2010 at 8:09 pm | Posted in art, film, photography | Leave a Comment
Tags: camera, sleeve, stop-motion, tattoo

If you haven’t seen Part 1 check it out here.

Part 2 – The Sleeve Continues… the follow up to the extremely popular stop-motion film by Dabe Alan, which he filmed while getting his camera tattoo sleeve by Tony Touch.

For more info on the tattoo check out Dabe Alan’s flickr page here

For more great work by Tony Touch check out his flickr page here

Check out Part 3 of Dabe Alan’s tattoo in stop-motion here

Skyline Residence – Belzberg Architects

January 12, 2010 at 10:52 pm | Posted in architecture, houses | Leave a Comment
Tags: architecture, california, hollywood hills, houses

12g The Skyline Residence by Belzberg Architects is located in the Hollywood hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley and was designed and built by all 13 staff members of Belzberg Architects for director Hagy Belzberg.

To combat a narrow and difficult site with cliffs on two sides, the house is arranged in a long pavilion containing the bedrooms, kitchen and bathrooms with the living area protruding to the north east. There is also a guest house that has been strategically separated from the main building to create a terrace space and car parking court between the two buildings. This space also doubles as an outdoor theatre. Movies can be projected onto the southern wall of the guest house and viewed from the terrace above the garage. 10g The form of each of the two buildings is derived from a single, solid, folded plane with glazing infill on the remaining sides. These folded forms act to shelter the interiors from the sun while still allowing views to be maximised. 18g Timber slat screens on the western facades of both buildings also protect them from the afternoon sun while the corridor in the main building is situated to the west to act as a heat buffer. Large opening doors take advantage of cross ventilation and openings at either end of hallway encourage breezes to flow through the house and through the bedrooms.Other aspects of the house that aid in reducing its carbon footprint include sourcing recycled and local materials as much as possible, keeping granite excavated from the site for gravel paving and using products like reconstituted timber instead of hardwood for the slats on the western facade.

Aside from this house having the most awesome home theatre ever, I particularly like the suspended fireplace in the living area and the wet edge infinity pool overlooking the amazing view. But something like this doesn’t come cheap – According to la.curbed.com it was sold for $5.6 million US just last December!

To view more photos of the Skyline Residence along with other work from Belzberg Architects visit their website here.

20g Photos: Benny Chan of Fotoworks