Sharp as a scalpel, smooth, sleek, slick, precise and compact … these sets have a deadly puzzle-piece efficiency about them that would be perfect for a chef, or perhaps a serial killer.

Nested one inside the next, the solid steel set from TableDirect contains a carving knife, chef’s knife, paring knife and filleting knife – each slotted within the others, and set inside of a likewise stainless steel rectangle that contains them all.

Aside from being cool and clever, they are also a space-saving alternative to a traditional wall-hanging set of kitchen knives – but for sale at nearly a thousand dollars, the cost of to cooks (amateur or professional) is not cheap in this case. Also, one unfortunate side-effect of the current design is that you have to house your classy new cutlery flat in a drawer or on a countertop (and had best be careful to pull them out one at a time).

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Double-Edged Duty: 3-Piece, 2-in-1 Steel Kitchen Knife Set

Modern kitchens have so much technology, one has to wonder sometimes how people lived without all this cookware - yet they did. These sleek and sharp-looking stainless-steel knives are an attempt to go back to a simpler, less-cluttered kitchen without compromising contemporary conveniences to which we have become accustomed. Using the flat of the blade and/or the handle, each part of th... Click Here to Read More »»

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Like using plastic to join two pieces of carved wood furniture, there is no doubt that this design stands out from its neighbors – all the more so for physically bumping up against both. The only question is: does the contrast of this new house by Amenity Space make for a creative new condition or does it conflict too much with the historic properties on either side?

Black surfaces and orange paneling look as different as can be from the decorative white molding and faded red brick of both of the adjacent townhouses – the only nod to their existence (though a strong one) is the matching of facade heights and depths along the front of the new residence.

Straight lines, flat white walls and bursts of contemporary color ensure that the interior is as modern as the exterior suggests it would be.

The query, however, remains: does this new unit make for a dynamic contrast with the old traditional townhomes … or is the statement so bold that it washes out the classic elegance of what came before it?

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Secret Rooms: Cool New Condo Hidden in Old Townhouse

Classic collides with contemporary and historic meets modern under the roof of one unbelievably cool townhouse property - part infill project, part retrofit, part adaptive reuse, this is a dream space with secret rooms for people who love cozy remodeled lofts and private luxury interiors all at the same time. Beneath pealing paint and crumbling red bricks on the front of his history... Click Here to Read More »»

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Like a portal to another world, imagine your home hallway doors opening to stone staircases, cathedral corridors, modern commercial elevators and escalators or ancient underground crypts and caverns.

Mirrors are a great way to double the apparent space in a room, but some these door stickers can add depth well beyond a doubling effect and also bring an aspect of the outdoors inside.

Others can trick the eye into assuming the opposite – a small empty white closet or one stuff floor to ceiling with piles of books, wherein reality a whole other room exists.

You might not want these in a plush pad, but for a less luxurious condo or temporary apartment these door stickers from Couture Deco might at least make engaging conversation pieces – so long as your guests do not walk right into them.

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Vinyl Wall Stickers: (Info)Graphic Art & Decor Room Decals

Information graphics have never been more popular, and removable vinyl wall stickers likewise never seem to go out of style. Hu2 designers clearly had a similar revelation when they designed to produce decorative adhesives with more meaning and purpose than your typical kids car or princess. While a few are just plain while and only meant to be entertaining, most of these wall stickers ... Click Here to Read More »»

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From the see-through plastic canoe to real-life transparent aluminum (not to mention light-transmitting concrete and translucent wood paneling), there seems to be no end to exploring the potential of partial invisibility for everyday materials … but why stop with vehicles and walls? These (un)domestic(ated) designs illustrate strange possibilities for home appliances, fixtures and furnishings that may make you see (through) them in a new light.

See-Through Refrigerator: It sounds like a good idea at first – after all, you can just look and see from outside what is available like in the frozen food section at the grocery store. But you may not want to give up on the good old pull-handle method for viewing your food just yet. Consider, for example, just how much even the slightest dirt, mess or spill would show through … let alone a few rotten eggs or fruits.

See-Through Washing Machine: Another neat invention at a glance, but the most important part you want to see when doing the laundry is in the middle where your clothes are spinning themselves clean … so why add the extra transparency for parts that serve no function? Nifty, maybe, but still somewhat useless.

See-Through Bread Toaster: Now we seem to be getting somewhere! Instead of wondering just how dark and crispy your toast is getting ,you could actually watch it warm up and take it out before it overheats and blackens.

See-Through Bath Tub: Particularly with the lines on the sides to show your water use, you can actually use the transparent nature of this tub to select a preferred depth for bathing (and remember it for next time more easily as well). But that is not the main intention: it is a reminder of just how much water we really do use each time. (Flore de Crombrugghe)

See-Through Clothing Iron: Almost certainly the best (questions of melting plastic or custom-cut glass aside) and saved for last, a see-through iron would be  a wonderful gadget to own – no more worrying about whether you left it too long in one spot. (Dong-Seok Lee & Ji-Hyung Jung)

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Transparent Aluminum: Real, Glass-Like, See-Through Metal

Stronger than glass, various military and commercial applications for this remarkable material are already being tested. What was once used in the science-fiction Star Trek movies, see-through aluminum is now something that - through test mixing with rubies, sapphires and more - is now being tried out in all kinds of ways to create transparency where strength is also required. For now, ... Click Here to Read More »»

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Steampunk has become a stylized trend in many ways, making this kind of work is perfect for those of us who are fans of design that celebrates industrial machinery … but also that matches those elements with modern forms and contemporary function.

Tim Byrne not only reuses old factory machines to build these unique works, but makes them work within the new objects as well – antique wheels turning to raise or lower surface heights in a stable, sturdy and physically engaging way.

He lets the look of rough steel, cast iron, brushed aluminum and other half-raw (or semi-finished) materials speak for itself – with legs, frames, spokes and girders that are largely original – and adds only beautiful hardwoods, clean-cut sheets of glass and other accents as needed to transform them into desks or tables. You can be that, in the end, these are as robust (and heavy) as can be – after all, the components survived for decades in intensive factory settings under regular industrial usage.

The best of so many worlds are combined here: craftsmanship, material quality, adaptive reuse, clean and simple aesthetics and modular multi-functionality. And each piece is, of course, custom – naturally unique thanks to his vintage explorations and retro finds. You can bet these will be as beautiful to the next generation as they would have been in the times during which their oldest components were originally created – truly, these are timeless furniture designs (though one may still wish the bench were adjustable-height like the other pieces!).

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Scrap Metal Furniture: Incredible Industrial Art & Design

Bob Campbell, also known as Stig, as is much a metal sculptor as he is an industrial artist or furniture designer. Using scrap metal parts from cogs and wheels to chains and treads, he crafts recycled one-of pieces and furniture sets that use a creative combination of manufactured pieces and built-from-scratch shapes. He incorporates leather, wood and other industrial materials as neede... Click Here to Read More »»

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Prefabrication and portability keep cropping up as themes in contemporary architecture, from emergency post-disaster housing to modular shed homes and cargo container offices. BldgBlog (and Dornob and others) now raise the question: are portable camps (military, corporate and otherwise) a precursor to a world consisting of ever-more-completely mobile cities, disposable settlements that are strategically erected overnight but might disappear the very next day?

Weatherhaven, for example, is a curious company co-founded by an odd couple: an expedition organizing team and a construction company that, together, provide ” temporary shelter in remote places … a complete service including design, manufacture, packaging, transportation, and erection of buildings, all of which [are] created specifically to respond to the logistical problems of remote deployment in harsh environments.”

What we are talking here goes beyond a simple camp-out, festival or ordinary tent city – forethought, planning organization on the scale of the fully-gridded Burning Man (a there-then-gone temporary annual city that rises for a week in the Nevada desert, starting again very shortly), but more even than that, which is tied to just one place each year. This is a fly-in-and-drop-off operation in which residents can move in immediately and have a fully-functioning town (water, houses, hospitals) up and running in days.

And then, in the end, they can be packed up, moved or removed from the face of the planet entirely, leaving no real trace behind – no physical signs of their history or even existence. This is the ultimate commodification of the the cosmopolitan experience – whole urban centers that are easily created and as disposable as any other manufactured product of modern times.

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Tent Cities in America: Unin(Tented) (Sub)Urban Centers

Tent cities are an uncanny and urban design phenomena - in most cases their creation is neither officially planned nor sanctioned by a city from the outset, but in many instances cities quickly realize they have no alternative but to let them be. With recent economic troubles around the USA existing ones have grown and entirely new tent cities have been created. But what does it mean to be for... Click Here to Read More »»

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It is one thing to let a single cool concept drive an entire design, but another to create the best of all worlds within a single work. This classy-looking little future fridge has a slew of good ideas, all tied into one compact and elegant design with just enough width and depth to do what it needs to and no wasted or awkward space.

Instead of going to a extremes – invisible or entirely opaque – selected sections are left transparent (and optionally lit) so you can see certain relevant contents, without running the risk of having too many must-clean surfaces.

Ever get sick of those few things that are just too tall for the shelf you want them on? No worries, there is an adjustable-height shelving system built in that flips up or down easily – clearance for that slightly-too-tall milk.

Wish you did not always have to reach to the back to find your favorite leftover dish? This design has you covered, with a rotating circular shelf  that spins your food right into a front position as needed.

Annoyed at how your drinks roll around in the main fridge section? There is a custom angled space for beer, wine, soda or whatever other beverages you may have in bottles or cans but want to keep somewhat out of the way withing the refrigerator. Still, the freezer is not built in – but perhaps that is for the best, since you can keep things cool but frost-free and have a separate side-by-side unit (hopefully designed with the same careful forethought as this fridge!).

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Portable Fridge + Mini-Cooler = Mobile Refrigerators-to-Go

Somewhere between a camping cooler and a mobile mini-fridge, the idea is simple: break your standard refrigeration unit down into small modules that can be turned on or off as needed - and work as more efficient coolers-to-go as well. How much of the time do you truly need to refrigerate and entire full-sized refrigerator filled with food? Space usage inside a typical fridge fluctuates ... Click Here to Read More »»

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At one extreme, and on the lower level, stacked wine rack modules make up the walls of a fortress-like home – the gaps filled in with colorful glass, a modern twist on traditionally colorful Spanish architecture and the red clay of classic Spanish roof tiles. At the other extreme, hovering above, hangs a looming concrete box with punched-out openings and glass infill – it  seems to float on air.

Aside from having the same architect (Javier Peña of Xpiral), these two seemingly opposite structures share certain rhythms and box-like shapes, but are clearly distinct – far more so than your typical split-level house or side-divided home.

The strategies for separating each piece are not just artistic choices, but responses to the surrounding environment and opportunities presented on the first and second levels of the sloped plot.

The higher side faces the mountains and sky, while the lower looks down on the land below – overlapping plans make the entire design look like part of one building, but these views set the levels well apart.

There are clever places where the materials overlap – the wine-rack walls forming a fence for the upper level, for example – but one gets the overwhelming sense that each resident owns their own unique territory and custom set of spaces even though they share the same site.

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Strange Red Wine Glasses Set or Bloody Brilliant Design?

It is hard not to notice the visual similarity between red wine and blood, but this one-of-a-kind set of wine glasses and decanters plays up this colorful relationship in a creative (if disturbing) way. Though the shape is playful and humorous the craft reflects training in the creation of fine crystal. The heart-shaped drinking glass is perhaps the most amusing as well as dynamic piece... Click Here to Read More »»

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Building an above-ground pool is not the most intuitive choice when designing a home – after all, you can save space rather than displace it by burying the pool underground. In this case, though, the exception turns out to be much cooler than the rule.

This backyard pool-plus-patio combination manages to define the space next to it, while also creating an elevated deck platform aside from the sunken green garden to which it is adjacent. Moreover, for a family with small children it provides multiple views down to the pool level and into the deep end for the sake of safety.

A set of wooden benches in the lower garden area reprise the dark-stained wood decking of the pool area, while an overhung part of the house hovers over and connects the main structure with the pool (while also providing shade).

All in all, this house by Andres Remy Architects is conventionally modern, but the creative swimming pool does a lot to set it apart from its stylistic peers. Now, if only you could also see into it from inside like in the Slice House (indoor view of the outdoor pool) shown above.

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Natural Home Patio Pools & Outdoor Wood Deck Designs

Sure we all wanted to a swimming pool as kids, but did we ever think about the cost and space it would take up or work it would involve? Once the hallmark of a luxury home, many people view high-end modernist back-yard swimming pools as either a play-place for the ultra-rich or a hard-to-maintain space-displacing burden of suburbia. A combined pool-and-deck design can be a great green way to m... Click Here to Read More »»

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Crazy and curved both inside and out, the home was made of a combination of concrete and found materials, both inorganic but also natural (and relevant) ones including local seashells and regional coral.

Instead of corners, each curve flows fluidly into the next to make for a series of experiential spaces that mimic the infinitude of the fractals that form them. Best of all, it is perfectly sited on the beach of a remote southern island – surrounded by similar shapes. The one thing that is not surprising about this house may be the person who inhabits it: yes, it was designed by and for an artist (Octavio Ocampo).

The tension between ‘art’ and ‘design’ is palpable – some aspects (like the spiked roof) are purely ornamental and artistic, while others (including a second-story deck in the ‘opening’ of the ‘shell’) seem to be functional as structures and spaces.

Swirling stacks of mixed stone form curved fences that reflect the organic nature of the main ‘shell house’ buildings and curvalinear window openings. Perhaps the only unfortunate parts of the design are the doors and windows, which are forced to conform to the curves around them but ultimately contain straightened elements that clash with the overall fluid forms.

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Creative, Colorful & Curved Spiral Shell House Design

Like something found 20,000 leagues under the sea or set in the center of the planet, this dazzling house design by Senosiain Arquitectos was patterned after a shell - as if you could not tell. Imagine for a moment being one of the two children being raised in this structure, a fairy tale wonderland of architectural and interior design delights. Constructed from a durable combination of... Click Here to Read More »»

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