Convertible Compact Desk

Now this is what I call great design. With living spaces getting smaller by the day, many people don't have the space for a cupboard and a desk in their room. This piece of furniture from Crate and Barrell looks like a sideboard, until you slide the top to the sideto convert it into a desk. Simple, elegant, brilliant.

Full specs: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1070&f=28540

RendezVous 1 and 2 by Vlaemsch ( )

Vlaemsch ( ) is a design collective from Belgium, brought together by a Belgian designer named Casimir (the man is worth checking out himself, makes great stuff!). They bring a mix of simplicity and complex, good quality products with a sense of humour and some surrealism poured into it.

Atlier Blink, one of the members of the collective, has now come up with this brilliant naughty wallpaper design. Naughty but subtle, just the way I like it. The pictures in this post are screenshots taken from the Vlaemsch website, well worth the visit. Even if you're not intending to buy anything, this site will juse make you smile. ( http://vlaemsch.be/vlaemsch.html#/whatwho/ )

Shin Tanaka

Shin Tanaka is a graphic artist who makes a crossover between traditional Japanese origami and contemporary street art. I probably should be posting this in the art section of my blog, but somehow it feels ok to put it down as design too.

What keeps amazing me about these urban toys is how completely different they look when decorated by different artists. The shape of the object remains the same, but the decoration seems to alter proportions and dimensions.

These are just a few samples I picked from his website. Do make the effort to look at his site, there's great stuff on there: http://shin.co.nr/