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  1. A Note on Our Expert

    A Note on Our Expert, Eric Ryan

    Eric Ryan is the cofounder and chief brand architect of Method.

    01.01.09

  2. Industrial Evolution
    House Tours

    Industrial Evolution

    A Norman Foster master plan has transformed a decaying German industrial port into a vibrant neighborhood. It’s not about a single dramatic image, but what Foster calls “incremental...

    written by: Jane Szita
    photos by: Hertha Hurnaus
    04.21.09

  3. Chair Up
    Product Reviews

    Chair Up

    This dinner guest is always invited, but doesn’t eat or drink, and never joins the conversation. But long after the party’s over, it will still be at the table. Our favorite dining...

    written by: Amber Bravo
    photos by: RJ Muna
    01.21.09

  4. Terra Ephemera
    Profiles

    Terra Ephemera

    Whether spanning acres or encased in amorphous glass ecospheres, Paula Hayes's singular landscapes blur the boundary between art and nature—and redefine the relationship between art and...

    written by: Amber Bravo
    photos by: Raimund Koch
    01.23.09

  5. Plain and Sempé
    Profiles

    Plain and Sempé

    A maker of unfussy, elegant design objects, Inga Sempé delights in things both great and small—even if she doesn’t own any.

    written by: Michelle Hoffman
    photos by: Jessica Antola
    02.26.09

  6. The 9090
    How they make it

    The 9090

    Alessi—In the 1970s, Alessi invested $300,000 to develop its first cooking appliance: a stovetop espresso maker by Richard Sapper. The northern Italian family business had made stainless...

    written by: Virginia Gardiner
    photos by: Alex Subrizi
    02.26.09

  7. Cold Press
    How they make it

    Cold Press

    The factory floor is a city of tall hydraulic presses. Humming and chinking sounds bellow down aisle after aisle. Workers wearing light-blue gloves spray grease onto sheet-metal pieces, place them...

    01.01.09

  8. Weld
    How they make it

    Weld

    Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welds and spot-welds join the molded parts. In TIG welding, the inert gas argon is blown out of a nozzle to surround a white-hot tungsten electrode at the tip of the...

    01.01.09

  9. Polish
    How they make it

    Polish

    Alessi uses two types of 18/10 stainless steel (the number refers to the chromium-to-nickel ratio): 2B, with a carbon content of 0.2 percent, is more malleable and less shiny than BA, which has 0.4...

    01.01.09

  10. How they make it

    Package

    After more than 100 steps, the completed parts are ready for packaging. Workers assemble the upper container, filter funnel, gasket, and boiler in much the same way that the eventual user will put...

    01.01.09

  11. Steelwood Chair
    How they make it

    Steelwood Chair

    Magis—The Steelwood chair from Magis is a product of experience—the suppliers who punch the sheet metal for the back, which adroitly supports four legs and a beech wood seat, are among...

    written by: Virginia Gardiner
    photos by: Erwan Bouroullec
    01.25.09

  12. Molten Dust
    How they make it

    Molten Dust

    Piombino Dese, a drab industrial town between Venice and Verona, has many small glass companies, including Vetrerie New Glass, founded by Franco Pellizzon in 1991 and one of several Glo-Ball...

    01.01.09

  13. Blow Mold
    How they make it

    Blow Mold

    When the blob has reached a diameter of about six inches, it has already been handled by two or three blowers, who multitask like chefs.

    01.01.09

  14. How they make it

    Cool and Cut

    Vetrerie New Glass can make 18 Glo-Balls per hour—Pellizzon keeps the operation tight in order to guarantee exceptional quality. The balls sit in a slow-cooling kiln for two hours; otherwise, they...

    01.01.09

  15. Put Together
    How they make it

    Put Together

    West of Piombino Dese, in Bovezzo, the well-tended Glo-Balls meet the other parts of the lamp: laminated tubular steel stands, bases, and electronic components sourced in Milan. At first glance the...

    01.01.09

  16. Little Field of Flowers
    How they make it

    Little Field of Flowers

    Nanimarquina—In 1987, Barcelona-based designer Nani Marquina established a textile and rug design studio. Since 1993, the company’s designs have been manufactured in northern India....

    written by: Virginia Gardiner
    01.25.09

  17. How they make it

    Die Cutting

    As Boontje’s signature style is often associated with cutouts, Marquina’s solution was a good fit. Sheets of felt from Rajasthan go into a die cutter, which is essentially a combination of a waffle...

    01.01.09

  18. Weaving
    How they make it

    Weaving

    Depending on the size of the rug—they come in three sizes—one or two technicians at SPN operate the loom, which involves painstaking manual labor. “Every two or three lines,” Marquina explains, “we...

    01.01.09

  19. How they make it

    Prep

    Zippers, buttons, and other add-ons are rendered unnecessary by Looolo’s pillowcase closure system, which uses a tried-and-true technique: overlapping flaps on the back. “Zippers and...

    01.01.09

  20. How they make it

    Pattern

    Notkin, who started her career making costume jewelry, has a knack for romantically contrasting hues and textures. In fact, her favorite part of the creative process comes before anything is made...

    01.01.09

  21. How they make it

    Stuff

    The fronts and backs are sewn to each other inside out and then turned right side out—“we just make sure the corners are nice,” says Notkin. Each pillowcase is hand-stuffed with a...

    01.01.09

  22. The Pi Table
    How they make it

    The Pi Table

    Scrapile—Pull up a chair to one of Scrapile’s impossibly elegant dining tables and you’d never guess that the materials used to create it had once been destined for a landfill....

    written by: Mark Lamster
    photos by: Eirik Johnson
    01.25.09

  23. How they make it

    Building a Block

    With raw material in hand, they painstakingly assemble their scraps into a solid, ten-foot-long block that is eight inches square. To achieve the striated pattern of cascading bands that is...

    01.01.09

  24. A Design Emerges
    How they make it

    A Design Emerges

    All of Scrapile’s sharp modern forms come from the solid block of wood. The pieces have evolved from basic, boxy shapes to more complex lines as Salgado, who does most of the design, has...

    01.01.09

  25. The Trabecula Bench
    How they make it

    The Trabecula Bench

    Freedom of Creation—In recent decades, computer-aided design (CAD) has transcended the screen, thanks to the advent of automatic fabrication, a process wherein three-dimensional objects take...

    written by: Virginia Gardiner
    photos by: Jens Passoth
    03.31.09

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