If architects can construct entire apartment buildings from used shipping containers and Thai monks can build a temple from discarded beer bottles then why can’t an artist create furniture from old shopping carts?
That perhaps is what self-described cross-media visual designer Ramón Coronado asked when he spent 12 weeks at his Los Angeles home creating his Mercado Negro collection.
You may have heard the term flashpacking, the act of traveling in the spirit of a backpacker but with the budget of one more monied. Well, from the Netherlands comes what might be the ultimate in flashcamping—a portable, wood-burning spa.
The Dutchtub is a personal hot-springs-to-go. If you have a tub-sized patch of flat ground, wood and 200 gallons (750 liters) worth of water or snow you can have your own spa virtually anywhere.
Sometimes exterior design calls for subtlety. Sometimes boldness is required. For those latter occasions there are the Coolaroo Shade Sails.
Hammocks have come a long way since pre-Columbian natives in South America wove together sheets from the bark of a Hamack tree and strung them up between two poles. Hammocks today are stylishly designed, scientifically engineered and, we have to imagine, a whole lot more comfortable than lying on bark was. Here are three especially cool selections:
When sitting closed on a table the Firebo-x from Schulte looks like an elegant, yet otherwise ordinary, wooden box. Only the box’s metal base hints at what lays within: a miniature fireplace.
We are surprised at how often a gorgeous (and expensive) home pool is cluttered by a plastic (and cheap) lounge chair. For an elegant lounger to have pool side — or in the garden or out on the lawn — there’s the Balu bed, part of Mazuvo’s woven furniture line. The Balu comes with weatherproof fabric, washable pillows and a natural looking plastic mesh construction that makes it durable enough to keep outdoors for prolonged periods of time.
The humble bench has become cool with this fabulous design. Artist Pablo Reinoso started with a regular bench and then extended the boards out to one side creating the illusion of wet paint dripping over the edge and then crawling up onto a wall. Reinoso regularly shows his work at galleries around Europe. Click here for the his exhibit details and see below for more photos.
Look cool both indoors and outdoors while napping on your Sushi Daybed from Vivavi. Made of hand-woven water hyacinth (a fiber from Asia) wrapped tightly around a durable rattan, this bed can live out on your patio or accent an interior room. Available with either a cotton or Polyurethane plastic cushion.
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