Genius Loci. Tamina thermal baths and Les Bains des Docks

Genius Loci - the spirit of a place, it's unique, distinctive atmosphere. The term originates from classical Roman cult, where genius loci was the guardian spirit of a place.

"in architecture and gardening,… all must be adapted to the genius of the place, and… beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it’"

Alexander Pope

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Tamina thermal baths was designed by Smolenicky and partner architecture in 2009. It is located in Bad Ragaz, an area in Switzerland known for its famous natural springs. The building seems to be both modern and corresponding with the traditional architecture of the resort.

photos by roland bernath and walter mair, via: designboom

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Les Bains des Docks is an aquatic complex in Le Havre (France). The centre was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. As the architect said himself: “One enters a universe of whiteness and depths.”

photos by Cl.Guillaume, via: designws

‘Blah, Blah, Blah’ by Louise Campbell

‘Blah, Blah, Blah’ meeting room interior concept, like all the designs by Louise Campbell, is characterized by poetic, subtle, feminine attention to detail and seems to play with graphic outlines. The meeting room was created for Gl. Strand, Danish fine-art exhibition hall in the heart of Copenhagen in 2008. 

"Focus is on the enormous amount of words used during meetings, of which only a fraction are truly useful." 

Louise Campbell established her own studio in 1996, and works mainly with furniture and lightning design for companies such as Louis Poulsen, Zanotta, HAY, Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard, Stelton, Muuto and Interstop.

At Copenhagen studio three guidelines rule: 

always start from scratch - find the core of the issue - dare to be different.

www.louisecampbell.com

A Pile of Briefcases by Maarten De Ceulaer

Superb designs by Maarten De Ceulaer made me think of surrealistic paintings and Salvador Dali's absurd sense of humour. What are your associations?

Maarten De Ceulaer Design Studio

Good design is... aesthetic

"An aesthetic product has an inherent power of fascination an immediately accessible sensuous quality." It reminds me of another quote, by my favourite designer Arne Jacobsen: "Aesthetics make me sick." Hah, you know what I mean... ;)

photo by design traveller, taken at Danish Design Centre

Bloody designs

You never know where black humour may lead you...



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Salome Coffee Set by Antonio Murado




...................................................................................................................................................................... Liquid lamps by Kyouei Design




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Blood Bath Shower Curtain from Sppining Hat




...................................................................................................................................................................... Forensic pillows from Lost City

Surreal from Studio Job

The lead designers of Antwerp-based Studio Job are Job Smeets and Nynke Tynage, who met as the students at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Their creative work is known for historical inspirations, crossing the borders between art and design, and concern with moral issues.

The furniture designed by the duo was featured at 'Telling tales' exhibition London Victoria & Albert Museum last year. Following the success of the exhibition the series was presented at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London.

'Industry' series, which use images from traditional and contemporary iconography, creates a meaningful parallel between medieval and modern symbolism. The work contrasts the natural, creating forces, and the manmade, destructive ideas. 

via: designboom

Cafeteria by Tobias Rehberger at La Biennale di Venezia

Still exploring the subject of surrealistic interiors... The black and white design of cafeteria by Tobias Rehberger overwhelms with contrasting graphical patterns and vivid colours. Retro and cartoon inspirations seem to be obvious. But there is something more. By oversizing the stripes and dots, interesting effect had been achieved: the space grew and we might experience surreal feeling, like if we had entered a fairytale word of giants.

The cafeteria at the Palazzo delle Exposizioni della Biennale was the winning project at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia last year. The designer, Tobias Rehberger was awarded the Golden Lion as best artist. The interior had been created in close collaboration with Finnish furniture Artek, the sponsor of La Biennale di Venezia.

photos: Katja Hagelstam and Wolfgang Guenzel 

Surreal interiors by Anne Hardy

The photographs taken by Anne Hardy are strangely captivating... I felt entirely drawn into the images that seem to invite us into mysterious, intimate worlds. Each of them enclose a different, personal story. The artist says:

"I want you to encounter the spaces directly and not through someone else physical presence in the image. However I also don't see it that there is nobody in the images, the protagonists are embedded into the spaces by the way in which they have used, marked, adapted or built them. So even though they are not physically present they still possess the space."

The interiors are not real, but created by the artist herself. Photography, as a documentary medium, helps to evoke the viewers imagination and transfers us into the child-like state of mind, into the time that reality was magical and everything was possible.

"The relationship between the real and the fictional is important to the work, not literaly (is it real or not?) but in relation to what we consider or imagine our actual 'real' world to be."

via: Trendland, Zoum Zoum