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

Café Germain by India Mahdavi

Surreal mood continues... I came across one more inspiring interior design: Café Germain in Paris. The most recognizable feature of the interior is an enormous yellow sculpture named "Sophie", created by renowned French artist Xavier Veilhan. The architect India Mahdavi placed it in a vertical opening between restaurants two floors, achieving surreal "oversizing" illusion. Splendid effect!

www.india-mahdavi.com
www.veilhan.net

via: Yatzer

Styled by Faye Toogood

Writing recently in surreal atmosphere, I can not avoid mentioning Faye Toogood, a stylist excelling at creating dream-like spaces for exhibitions and set designs for photoshoots. In her superb works we can find a lot of absurd sense of humour and surrealistic play with the scale.

Faye Toogood cooperates regularly with many magazines (Vogue, Wallpaper*, Elle Decoration), designers (Tom Dixon), fashion labels (Burberry, Topshop, Comme des Garçons) and creates advertising campaigns for numerous world-known brands.

www.studiotoogood.com

seen at: 50 danska kvadrat

'La Suite Elle Decoration' by Jean Paul Gaultier

Optical illusion inspiration led my thoughts towards interiors designed with a touch of surrealistic sense of humour, like this one, by Jean Paul Gaultier. His signature nautical stripes wrap around the walls and cover the furniture like a veil. Chic but also very atmospheric. Does it make you feel like in a dream?

The apartment is located in the heart of Paris, opposite the Eiffel Tower. You can see the video showcase at French Elle Decoration 

via: trend land

ANNA by Swiss designers ZMIK

Following optical illusion inspiration from the previous post, I found great project by ZMIK designers from Switzerland. It was commissioned by interactive media company iart interactive, for their new office located building from the seventies. The narrow corridors were optically enlarged by the linear graphics on the walls. Drawings were designed as a play with perspective (anamorphosis).

"Looking from 5 fixed positions the wireframe-drawings show real and imaginary rooms behind thewalls. Besides this points of view the graphic merges into abstract lines. For iart the intervention is also an allegory for the quest of new perspectives."

Photos: Eik Frenzel

via: Yatzer

Surrealistic graphic wallpapers from Surrealien

Splendid optical illusion design, a very interesting warping wallpaper technology.
www.surrealien.de 

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Ruby Lounge, Kings Cross, London.

Good design is...

"Intuitive design is self-explanatory and thus often negates the need for a user manual. It is obvious how the design should be used, perceived and undrestood. The design explains the function."

photo by design traveller, taken at Danish Design Centre