Marc Newsom's Limited Edition Hourglasses For Ikepod.

Designer Marc Newsom first unveiled his stunning modern hourglass for Ikepod at last year's Baselworld. The hourglass was created in 2 models, the HGS20 and HGS80. Both are made of Borosilicate glass and measure 300 x 250 mm. Weighing 9.6 kg. the sand is made of stainless steel nickel nanoballs while in the HGS80, it is made of actual gold-plated nanoballs.



You'd be hard-pressed to find a more elegant way to keep track of time.

The HGS20 -the stainless steel nanonball version- will soon be available for purchase at Colette

Unusual Blown Glass Fish Bowls By Roger Arquer.

This project presents fifteen different pieces that explore variations of the iconic image of a fishbowl. Each piece examines a topic or suggests a solution to a different issue, as human qualities are being attributed to a fish.





Thoughtful and yet playful, the hand blown glass FishBowls relate with Birdland and MouseTraps, two previous projects by Roger Arquer that also explore variations.

Under Candlelight tells us about candlelight floating on water for a romantic evening:


XS or XL tells us about relationships between big and small fish living together:



Dear Neighbor tells us about the delicate relationships we have with our close neighbors:


Pure Life tells us about purifying the water directly when refilling the bowl:



Chill Out / Warm Up tells us about how we can control water temperature adding hot water or ice in the small receptacle:


Russian Dolls tell us about how big the fish wants to grow. If it stays in the small bowl, the fish will keep small. If it goes to the big, it will grow:



Bottle Vase tells us about how we use objects for another purposes other than their original function:


Private Matters tells us about privacy for the fish:



Hanging From a String tells us about playfulness in an apparently threatening situation:


Do Not Piss Me Off tells us about the power to decide between the life and death of the fish:


Above Water tells us about sharing the water between the fish bowl and the plant:


Wishing Well tells us about cultural traditions related to throwing coins on wells or fountains:



About The Artist:

Roger Arquer was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1975. Graduated in Design at ESDI, Barcelona (1994-1998). A year after his graduation, he moved to New York City (1999-2003) to work as industrial designer. After New York, he moved to London to attend an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (2003-2005). During the summer break in RCA he worked as designer in Zurich (Switzerland). He set up his own design practice in London after RCA.

Since he was student he has received design awards, such as Opus Design Award (Japan), Coram Design (Netherlands), Adi-Fad (Barcelona), RCA Society/Thames Hudson Book Prize (London), among others.

He also has been exhibiting his work: Design Mart Design Museum (2005-6), British Council Design Exhibition (Milan 2005), aRChAeology at Royal College of Art (London 2005), or Park and Products at Serpentine Gallery (London 2004), On/Off Design Experience (Seoul 2005), among others.

all text and images courtesy of the artist.
Roger Arquer



In a funny little coinkidink, today's Google Doodle also takes place underwater where the fishies live, be sure to check out the post on the interactive Jules Verne homage here.

The Three AIR Aquariums By Design Studio Usin-e.

above: Air1 aquarium (top), Air2 (lower right) Air3 (lower left)


The newest AIR 3 Aquarium design (shown above) by Rémi Bouhaniche and Amaury Poudray of Lyon, France design studio Usin-e is the third in their series of modern laboratory glassware fish tanks.

AIR 1 Aquarium:



AIR2 Aquarium:





Each of the AIR series consists of a glass vessel perched atop metal legs. The first two AIR aquariums have horizontally elongated zeppelin-shaped blown glass (blown by Peter Pignat of Pignat glass) bowls perched atop metal legs.


above: Peter Pignat of Pignat scientific glass-blowing creating the AIR1 Aquarium.

The third is a test-tube like shape with a flat bottom and sheared off top, supported on an angle by white metal rods.

AIR3 Aquarium:





The AIR1 and AIR3 aquariums from a 2010 exhibit at La Bergerie, Marseille:


and the AIR2 aquarium at VIVID Gallery, Rotterdam, NL, 2010:



While it's true that these are impossible to clean, have no filter and are not the most fish friendly environments, they are beautiful as studies of material, space and balance.

Materials: Glass, metal
Size: diameter 15cm, 80cm X 25cm
Date: March 2010
Production: AD , Christophe Bailleux
Photos: Laure Mélone

According to the designers:
USIN-e is showing a new generation of Airs aquariums. It was on show for the first time at USIN-e’s exhibition, March 2010, in La Bergerie, Marseille. This aquarium is a glass bubble caught mid-fall by a metal structure. As other Airs models, Air3 was created using the techniques of scientific glassware. Hanging up in the air, Air3 tells us about weight and elevation.

About Usin-e (from their site):

Rémi Bouhaniche and Amaury Poudray are two designers based in Lyon, France. They received their degrees from Saint Etienne Art School , and went on to receive degrees in Industrial Design (BTS Design de produit) - Rémi in Marseille, France, and Amaury in Les Herbiers, France. Both studied abroad for 6 months - Amaury at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States, and Rémi at the School of Art, Design and Technology in India, Bangalore Srishti. They experiment with materials, welding, cutting, folding, covering, stretching, molding. They are always looking for craftsmen and industies with whom to develop trusting relationships to create new projects.
**French** Nous recherchons les liens qui unissent la matière, la forme et les compétences, L'objet devient un pretexte pour rassembler. La recherche de simplicité nous pousse à travailler en cohérence avec les techniques artisanales et industrielles. Conscients du détail, nous préférons l’action simple, le geste précis et juste. Ce qui avant tout nous intéresse c'est de créer du lien entre des choses qui apparement s'opposent; personnes, techniques, matières. Créer des paradoxes, de la tension et de la légereté, du vide et de la fragilité, à l'image du monde qui nous entoure.


Village des créateurs,
Passage Thiaffait,
19 rue René Leynaud,
69001 Lyon
contact@usin-e.fr

all images courtesy of Usin-e and Amaury Poudray.
Special thanks to DsgnWrld for bringing this to my attention

More Modern Aquariums and Fish Tanks
I have a thing for modern aquariums and fish tanks. I've compiled a shopping list with links to purchase some of the coolest modern fish tanks and aquariums available right here.

The Campana Brothers Esperança Collection For Venini

Fernando and Humberto Campana (the Campana brothers) created a special limited edition collection for Italian glassmakers, Venini.

The Esperança collection 2010 includes a hand blown glass chandelier, two wall sconces and a series of objects/vases.

The Chandelier
A whimsical multi-colored pendant lamp suspends from the ceiling and has blown-glass male and female figurines protruding from it.



Wattage: 3 x max 40W G9
Dimensions:
870.10 ø cm 60 h cm 100 ( 23,62" - 39,37")
870.11 ø cm 72 h cm 110 ( 28,34" - 43,30")
• Edition limited to 5 art pieces

Vases
In addition to the chandelier, the talented brothers from Portugal also created a collection of limited edition Vases for Venini with the same little blown glass figurines:






Esperança vases/objects
length. cm 35 depth 15 height cm 40
length cm 37 depth. 20 height cm 45
length cm 40 depth 8 height cm 28
•Limited Edition

And lastly two blow glass wall sconces, the Espotadio and the Samambaia.

Wall Sconces

Espatodia length cm 27 depth 20 height cm 85
Samambaia length cm 21 depth 14 height cm 90
•Numbered Edition

for purchasing and pricing information contact:

Head Quarters:
Fondamenta Vetrai,50
Tel +39 041 2737211
Fax +39 041 2737223
e-mail: venini@venini.it