Dezeen promotion: design brand Luminaire has selected products from its online store that would make ideal Christmas gifts for design enthusiasts.
Luminaire's Holiday Gift Guide contains ten products, including Rizoma's lightweight Metropolitan Bike that has no upright in its diamond-shaped frame (main image).
For wine enthusiasts there's a hand-blown glass carafe with a wine glass inside and for whiskey drinkers, a set of tumblers and a decanter cut with spiral patterns.
More glassware on the list includes a curvaceous serving plate that looks like a tongue and a vase with a tiny tree growing from an bulbous chamber in the side rather than out of the top.
A wooden shoehorn by Japanese designers by Nendo and a minimal wooden wall clock are also featured.
Browse all the items in Luminaire's online store for more gift inspiration.
Keep reading for more information about the products from Luminaire:
Luminaire's Holiday Gift Guide
Good design is the best gift. With holidays almost upon us, Luminaire's specially curated list serves as a guide to help you find the ideal gift for the design enthusiast with discerning taste. Each item selected is thoughtful and unique, as well as serving a wide range of functions with design versatility. Whether you are taking a ride through the city with Rizoma's Metropolitan Bike or organising your workspace with the Mag Container Desk Set, every item is a statement piece.
All of these pieces, and more, can be found on our online store at luminaire.com/store. We invite you to experience Luminaire wherever you are.
From all of us at Luminaire to you, we wish you very Happy Holidays.
Below are the links and full item description to all the items as they are in our online store.
Unparalleled style melds with cutting-edge technology in Rizoma's Metropolitan Bike, a stunning work of industrial design that commands attention. Eschewing traditional design cues, this bicycle removes the common seat tube and sweeps the down-tube seamlessly into the chain-stays, which gives way to a frame that is sleek and sinuous. In line with the maintenance-free concept for urban bikes, the Rizoma bicycle uses a belt-driven transmission, which eliminates the use of any grease and chain replacement while allowing the rider to switch between a single-speed or fixed gear setting. The frame, made of monobloc carbon fiber, is complimented by the pedals, handlebar and saddle made from billet aluminum giving the bike an impressive weight of only 17.5 pounds. Truly a work of inspired art, Metropolitan Bike bridges the gap between design and performance.
Playful and engaging, Claudio Colucci's Carafe Un Verre offers a unique take on the classic wine jug. As if placed by magic inside the container, a wine glass rises from the base to create an interesting sight. Depending on how you fill it, the carafe's inner glass may look as if it is full, or, make it fuller and watch the glass become submerged. A unique gift for the wine enthusiast, the carafe is meticulously hand crafted and mouth blown from a single piece of glass, making no two identical. Originally released in 2001, the striking design has been re-released. Made in France.
Inspired by the abstracted form of trees, Finnish designer Mikko Laakkonen's Latva Wall Mounted Coat Rack is an innovative and functional accessory. The Finnish word for treetop, Latva's modern design resembles the shrubbery and forests of Finland and adds texture and function to wall surfaces from the entryway to the bedroom. Made from steel rods that have been welded together, the coat rack is an expressive approach to clothes storage. It is a contemporary product with an unique appearance yet remains a simple and intuitive way to hang coats, bags, or other objects. Functional as a clothes rack, the Latva coat rack also remains a beautiful sculpture when empty.
Beautifully crafted by artisans from Tokushima, Japan, Nosigner's Mag Container Desk Set is comprised of wooden stationary boxes that magnetically connect. Veneered in either Walnut, Tamo or Japanese Quince wood and designed in shapes of 30-degree increments - an equilateral triangle, a square and rhombus - the seven boxes freely come together in harmony. With attention paid to all details of construction and form, the boxes feature mitered edges and mitered lids which give the sense of a monolithic object. The variety of shapes and volumes create useful storage for the desk whether holding pens and pencils or paperclips and paper. With a rich cultural background, the Mag Container Desk Set is the result of a collaboration effort between traditional craftsman, natural material native to Japan and contemporary design. The set is packaged in a balsa wood box that perfectly fits the containers.
Inspired by the glass cutting techniques both artisanal and mechanical, Thomas Jenk's Module Two Whiskey Glassware have a look and feel which compliment the tradition of single malt whiskey distillers. Comprised of a set two tumblers and a decanting carafe, the design features opposing spiral profiles cut into the crystal allowing them to mesh together and rotate, resembling interlocking gears. Following the centuries-old tradition of Bohemian handmade cut crystal and 20 years of glass machinery and manufacturing, Bohemia Machine's products blur the boundaries between classic handcrafted techniques and sophisticated glass cutting. Sold separately, the tumblers and decanter compliment each other not only in design and motif but in function as well, adding depth and sophistication to the ritual of drinking.
Creatively using material as the driving force of its design, Ding 3000's Pieces of Time Wall Clock features 12 pie-shaped wood inlays as a means to tell time. By creating 12 sections, the natural graining of the rich ash wood creates an interesting overall texture and is accented by the metal hands, which are painted in a choice of three colours. The 12 sections coordinate to the standard clock but require no graphics to tell time and instead the difference in graining from each piece distinguishes the hour and minute. The Pieces of Time Wall Clock is produced by Discipline, a new Italian design brand, whose identity is strongly marked by the exclusive use of natural materials combining them with emotion, originality and sustainability.
A simple yet sophisticated twist on the Polly Glass necklace, the Polly necklace is further graced with a large, translucent ball of glass that rests on three strands of Polly Glass. Individual glass rings are strung together to make the solid, cylindrical form that defines the strands. Handmade and assembled in the Murano studio of Marina and Susanna Sent, the Polly necklace challenges the traditional bounds of glassmaking with a unique application of glass in one or two colours. Interesting proportions appear throughout the piece as slim slices of glass merge into larger blocks of colour. With grace, intrigue, and a dash of whimsy, the Polly necklace is an attention-grabbing piece for any chosen setting.
Mysterious and sculptural in form, Nendo's expertly-crafted solid wood shoehorn for Japanese artesian wood-manufacturer Maruni does not reveal it's true function until you interact with the object. As the name suggests, shoehorns were first made by carving animal horns; the shearing motion of this shoehorn pays homage to its origins. The piece consists of two parts, held together by an embedded neodymium magnet. The functional part of the shoehorn can be easily separated from the weighted base with one hand. The item is carved from a single block of maple to preserve continuity of the wood grain.
A minimal and straightforward piece, the Tongue Glass Serving Dish manifests rhythm and volume uncommon in serving items. This original serving tray, subtle in appearance, is ideal for tasting grand gourmet during galas, soirées or even informal rendezvous. Italian designer Eraldo Marini experiments using sinuous shapes, clean and linear in concept, to announce a dual use for complementing any meal with this handmade object. The smaller side in the Tongue Glass Serving Dish ensembles the ideal shape for garnishes of herbs or seafood like shrimp. The wider surface, instead, is perfect for the main course and can be served with an array of diced foods.
Through a dedicated exploration of nature realised in subtle form, Vanessa Mirtrani's Tree Vase offers balance and transparency while hosting a tree like a pearl in its shell. An organically blown-glass form is indented with a bulbous chamber that allows for a small tree to be planted within. The end result is an enchanting mix of nature and design that is based on clean lines and organic forms. Standing over 12 inches tall, the vase adds interest and life to interiors. The mouth-blown production of the vase creates a unique and one of a kind object.
