“Bel & Bel is a creative studio-workshop opened in 2006. It is located in Viladecans (Barcelona). It is a seventeenth century country estate house which, after a thorough process of rehabilitation, became our creative space where developing our creations.”

Bel & Bel’s artists write: “We admire the brilliant design of classical vehicles as the legendary Vespa Scooter or our beloved SEAT 600. From that admiration we began to work with these old pieces in order to give validity to its great style.”

“We are young, creative and contemporary artists. We appreciate the Art surrounding us, we live it and we adapt it.
For us, there are other ways of approaching Art to the public apart from Museums and galleries. From this intention we decided to create an open art space.
From the opening of our space, we have tried to open our as a meeting point for other artists, film makers, musicians, etc with the aim of finding a common ground to set up and share projects.”
Have a look at Bel & Bel’s porfolio and enjoy their creative-eco minds!

Her name is Tiziana Tomè and she started years ago to re-use unique textile to create new eveyday style for people and house! At the end she opened an online shop “Officina Tessile” where you can have a look and buy all her creations!

I’m addicted to her orignal bags: bright colours, unique style, big and elegant and the same time!
From “Crazy Spring” above to “Crazy Dreams” below.

From “Crazy ‘70″ …

…to “Crazy Indian Style”!

Feel free to contact Tiziana Tomè at any time! Enjoy your Unique Green life!

What is that? A beach ball? Or a lamp? We met Toby Sanders at his show at Tent London and The Dock, during Londons Design Fare. Toby  is Design Director of TOBYhouse, a creative interiors studio founded by himself and based in London. It develops its own range of Home Accessories, as well as offering interiors consultancies in retail, domestic, exhibitions and environmental design. We was very surprised. ‘Cause that was both a ball and a lamp. BEACH BALL LAMPSHADE is a 40cm diameter ball lamp created by Toby. It’s a real PVC Beach Ball that has been transformed, by hand, using a process he has pioneered.

The outside has the surface of an actual inflated beach ball, even the ‘blowhole’ is visible. Yet It has a ‘rock hard’ inner shell that holds it inflated, and allows us to turn it into a really playful lampshade. Each piece is hand made to order with a dispatch time of 3-4 weeks.

The outer skin is made of a real PVC beach ball. Toby had developed a process to spread a thin polyurethane shell on the inner surface of beach balls. The inner surface has a ‘blackout’ white spray finish so it is totally opaque. He applies the edge trim, and applies a made to measure lamp shade holder.

This lamp shade is made with the guidance of the British Lighting Association and adheres to their best practice guidelines. It’s easy to fit, you will not require an electrician, or particular expertise. It is fitted in the same way as any normal paper lamp shade.

Before founding TOBYhouse, Toby has directed major international retail interiors projects for global brands such as Giorgio Armani, Habitat and Mandarina Duck as well as private domestic commissions and environmental design projects. He loves the way creativity can connect different areas of design, and provide serious responses to real problems.

Discover all the fantastic design ideas of Toby in his website. You can also buy his products online!

Designersblock is more than a design show, it’s a culture that has grown over 12 years. It has students and graduates together with long established design companies and everyone in between. This year, Designersblock has been an exhibition inside an exhibition. It took place in Earl’s Court, in a pavilion apart, during 100% Design. Among its stands, there was a very strange installation, that looks like a room: the place in which two artistic projects met each other. The two projects are “Invading memories” by Chu YinHua and “Strange•R” by LimWeiLing. Now, they converged in a unique project, then in a unique website too.

It’s not simple to explain the two projects. It’s better to use the words of their founders. “The term Strange•R comes from the word stranger. A Strange•R is an everyday object which once was familiar but now seems strange, having random words deriving from the dreams and experiences of the people in the city applied on them. R is Re-live, Re-born, Re-use, Re-visit, Re-learn, Re-think, Re-create, Rejoice, Relationship… These diverse interpretations will see the transformations of everyday objects into something that can be reapplied into our daily life in a renewed way. At the same time they assume characters that tell of the stories of our city”. We can say the essence of a Strange•R is an “Invading memory”.

People had an active role in the project: they could be “Object Translators”. Their task was to give life to an abandon object. Re-think it. Re-invent it. In a way that allow to see the strangely familiar and the familiarly strange. Results are surprising. And if we do catch hold of the surprising and wonderful in the everyday, let’s think about the limits of what is possible and peraphs you may come face to face with a moment of revelation.

We met Sarah Baulch in Sunday, in a fascinating instant suck in Brick Lane under the Old Truman Brewery. Who is Sarah? She is the stylist and the creative mind of ReVampt.

ReVampt is a small company intent on designing and producing fabulous products which are well made, quirky and unique. The unused off cuts of the fashion and textile industry inspire Sarah to create gorgeous retro pieces for home and people.

She takes vintage & modern materials, samples, extras, inspirational purchases and other unused accessories directly from the fabrics and makes it into something new: handbags, cushions, home wares, quilts with several techniques, patchwork very often.

ReVampt receive vintage fabric and accessories from retired dress-makers and former makers who no longer have the time or inclination to produce work themselves. Everything is handmade in the UK by individuals or small businesses. ReVampt combines a 21st century eco friendly approach with traditional skills and crafts. The surprising result is beautiful well crafted pieces from a sustainable and eco friendly source.

ReVampt is based in London, 52 Grafton road. In 2008 the company was finalist in Start-up Stars, a competition sponsored by HBC .

Its name is The Pallet Project. It has been projected by Nina Tolstrup of StudioMama, defined by herself as “sustainable, accessible and an agent of social change”. The furniture collection is made from disused pallets – a source of cheap, often wasted, wood. The raw material is easy to find and the instructions are available to download from www.studiomama.com. Enjoy to try yourself to made your personal pallet-chair.

The Pallet Project has been introduced at 100% Design and exposed at Gallery Jacqueline Rabun in London until the half of October. An art gallery for a project like this? Yes, because three British artists have customized Pallet Lo Chairs which has been auctioned for charity. They are Gavin Turk, Cornelia Parker and Rachel Whiteread.

The proceeds of the auction will go to found a workshop in Lugano, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Here, using Nina’s instructions, gallery owner and charity worker Cecilia Gilk has taught unemployed people to make the Pallet Chair in their co-operative. So, in this way, discarded pallets will be turned into saleable furniture, with the hope to help people in poverty to improve their lives.

A collection of newly designed pallet furniture and accessoried made by Nina Tolstrup will be view and on sale at Jacqueline Rabun’s shop in Belgravia.

As explained in her website “[re]design is a social enterprise that propagates sustainable actions through design”. She seeks out products and projects that are friendly to people and planet. [re]design is partner with a wide range of organisations to pioneer sustainable innovation, promoting their ideas and acitvities,

[re]design has just token place at 100% Design in Earl’s Court with an imaginative exhibition called “Doing it for the kids”. As you can just imagine, it was a show of a lot of fantastic products about sustainable play design. The project explored play types, the importance of play in child development, how toys help mould our kids’ values and how they impact on the environment. All the play resources shown in this surprising exhibition can inspire designers, educators and parents to be more critical and creative.

Almost fifty designers have given their interpretation about what it is re-design philosophy in childhood world, in a great stand made in paperboard, that looked like an enormous box of toys just opened on the floor. In “Doing it for the kids” album in Flickr you can see a few of images.

Now “Doing it for the kids” will move to other cities, with a tour that we hope long and successful. From 16 to 25 October it will be in Newcastle, from 19 to 21 November in Birmingham.

What is your source of inspiration? Last week we piddled in London, during the London Design Festival, seeing & seeking a lot of  interesting things. You know, London is creative in every single corner and in every period of the year. But this event has something special.

Re-use, re-cycle, re-design have been ones of the most popular keywords. We want to share with you a few images, thoughts and feelings we gathered in that days. A rough colletion of short sources of insipiration for your creative minds.

So, let’s start from the first image we shot in Earl’s Court at “100% Design” expo fair. This image can be considered the thread of the next episodes you’ll read at Refashinoso.com. See you soon with other inspirational posts from London Design Festival.