Paperchair by Mario Stadelmann

Mario Stadelmann is indeed qualified to make and market products; after getting a degree in business administartion from the university of St. Gallen, he got one in design products from the Royal College of Arts in London. We came across this chair at the Blickfang Designmeile, thinking we had spotted some sleek looking concrete chairs. In actuality, the chairs are made from compressed discarded newspaper, which sort of makes this a green products in disguise. The chairs have a good, classic shape and should fit into a lot of households.

Also, we wish you all a happy new year and we hope that you'll stay on for the next year as well!

Technical & Masculine: Bathyscaphe Timepieces

Although using simplicity as a tool is oftentimes a fantastic way to create an effective watch design, sometimes raw mechanical finesse just overrules all. Here's a collection that was crafted for the Swiss watchmaker Mare Monti in Geneva, from concept to prototype.

Ingenious beer crate design

This is one of the more ingenious designs for a beer crate that I have come across. While it is not yet an actual product, the concept is intruiging and adds one rather useful feature - the ability of the crate to cool the beer bottles it holds.

The plastic bottom tray that holds the beer bottles can be seperated from the aluminium holder frame. This tray can then be filled up with water and placed in a freezer. Once the water is frozen, the tray can simply be placed back into the crate and then filled with beer bottles. The crate can now be conveniently carried to the beach or the neighbour's barbeque, and still allows you to enjoy a nice cold beer whenever you wish.

While you can achieve the same outcome (i.e. ensuring your beverages stay nice and cold) using a normal cooler, this crate approach is simpler and more elegant, as you no longer require a seperate cooler box. Plus, it looks significantly better.

Here's to hoping someone decides to produce this thing!