Milan update: here is a selection of pieces shown at the Design Academy Eindhoven show in Milan last month (see previous post).

Top image: Heavy Duty Table Ware by Mark van der Gronden (graduated 2002). "The beauty of heavy tools is assembled from bits and pieces of metal plumbing, which makes a coffeepot or teapot indestructible and eternal."

Above: Trigger for Imagination by Chen Chun-Hao (graduated 2006). “Chen Chun-Hao's work creates a bridge between Asian and Western culture through a method he calls Zen. He worked with handcrafted paper moulds on everyday home products and combined familiar and unfamiliar elements. It resulted in products that show a combination of formal Western surrealism and the traces of labor consuming Eastern crafts and materials."

Above: Benches by Sylvia siu fung Lai (graduated 2006). “These five benches are inspired by the designer's childhood memories in China. Carried out in five different heights and proportions, the benches prove to be surprisingly multifunctional pieces of furniture."

Above: O"bject by Sylvia siu fung Lai. “Playing with the interaction between proportion and function, the designer has translated the perfectly circular top views of differently sized everyday objects into a series of white ceramic fusions."

Above: Childhood Nostalgia by Margo Slingerland (graduated 2004). “Narration is held hostage by papier maché to illustrate the English cosy character of a tea-drinking ceremony between us and our cuddly toys."