Malaysia’s Interior Design Blog

Talking about cool tables – the Float Table would definitely be way up there. This amazing table is made up of 64 blocks which are magnetized and held together by tensile steel cables. With each block levitating around other blocks, this table is an amazing sight to behold. This really is taking design to the next level.

The retailers, RockPaperRobot state in their site: materials – PVC, magnets, steel, secrets, wood and aluminium. I really like that!

The downside with a side table like this is how are you going to put your electronic gadgets on it? What is you accidentally do? Will the magnetic forces scramble the device?

Still, it sure is a sight to behold. Pricing is available upon request. RockPaperRobot takes in customized orders too

The Tea Pod is a fun organic multifunction system which is meant to grow together with your child. Shifting and flipping it into different positions allows it to be turned from a stool to a bench, ottoman, table or even a play item. The playful Tea Pods can be upholstered in Crypton or Ultra suede. Colour choices are aplenty to complement or completely contrast your living area.

The Tea Pod is sold separately in two separate sizes – small and medium. It is extremely light and durable, being made from compressed foam. According to Iglooplay, the Tea Pod was designed to engage children by combining organic forms with ergonomics and modernist sensibility. The form provides a safe place for children and enhances creativity through play and integrates gracefully into contemporary, everyday family life. Iglooplay also states that the furniture uses resource-efficient molded ply construction with hardwood veneers which have been obtained from sustained yield forestry practice. Having fewer pieces in your home that can serve a variety of ages means less stuff and less waste. Each product is tested at an independent safety lab to ensure juvenile product compliance.

Imagesource: 2modern

Many of us have studies in which we work/game/chat/surf with our PCs or laptops. Often times, a cup of coffee or some other beverage is close by to accompany you. Sometimes, spill disasters occur…

Here’s a simple HowTo on recovering from a spill disaster:

1. You don’t have to read this if you already own a spill free keyboard – just bookmark Howshouse.com and wait for my next post (and if the next post tells you do to the same thing, wait for the next one)

2.  Liquids are conductors and what do conductors capable of? Why, shorting the circuits of course! So the first thing you absolutely need to do is to kill the switch i.e. unplug. If it’s a laptop, take out the battery; if it’s a keyboard, unplug it from the CPU or yank the plug off the wall socket.

3. If the spill was minor, you probably could get away with wiping the keyboard down. It’d be a good idea to pry the keys around the spill area to give it a proper wipe down and ensure the keys don’t stick after the liquid dries. A clean and sterile method to cleaning your keyboard is to use alcohol swabs which are easily obtainable at your local pharmacy. Sometimes a little spillage could be a blessing in disguise as it allows you to clean out all that junk that’s gotten in between the cracks of your keys

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For those of you who missed the Property Show where I was interviewed by Tiffany Chew, along with another guest, Vanessa, a full time Interior Design professional from Desigva Design, FEAR NOT for BFM podcasts all its shows.

Listen to it below or download the podcast (16min, 2.8mb) directly

Key items covered in the interview

• current trends
• is going green in?
• issues homeowners face with interior design
• cost, practicality, aesthetics?
• practical home design tips

Now that I’ve heard the recording, it feels somewhat surreal to know that I’ve been presented with the honour of being a guest on BFM! In my opinion, the show went pretty well and I now finally know how I sound like on the radio. Tiffany was great at getting us to feel comfortable especially since both guests were first timers on air. What stood out was her incredible hospitality which I really appreciate and her really cool name card which read ‘Bungalows For Me (BFM)’ on the reverse.

I’ve had the good fortune of being invited to be a guest on The Property Show with Tiffany Chew on BFM (Business FM). It’s going to be my first time on the radio and I’ve got to say that I’m pretty excited.

I hope you guys will tune in this Saturday at 11am – FM frequency 89.9 and listen in on the show as the topic for the week is Interior Design. Joining Tiffany and I would be Vanessa from Desigva Design – a professional Interior Designer who plies her trade in Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai. Yikes, how will I fare against a full time professional?

For months now this has been the only radio station I tune in to daily because their concept of business talk shows coupled with ever improving music (Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, The Verve etc) is a great departure from the likes of Hitz, Fly and other more mainstream stations.

Do make sure you tune in to The Property Show this coming weekend!

Gone are the days I work from my crappy, wobbly, too-small-for-my-liking desk! I now write to you from my new Werndl Emerge workdesk! Well, it’s not exactly new – I’d term it pre-loved. You see, the company I work for is moving office and the designers they hired to dress up the new office has probably told them that apart from the office workchairs, everything else does not align with the concept they’ve got going for the new place.

So what’s a multi-billion dollar company to do with all these unwanted furniture? Why, host a furniture sale of course and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on this Werndl Emerge workdesk which still looks brand spanking new (not a mark, not a scratch) for a steal. For a simple looking workdesk, it’s the heaviest of its kind I’ve come across. Solidly built and made in Germany, a brand new Werndl Emerge would set me back RM3,912.00.

Here’s what the Emerge looks like

What’s really cool is that the desk is part of an office system which supports a multitude of accessories

What I really appreciate is the cable holders that run the length of the underside of the table, allowing me to neatly tuck in the cables for my lamp, computer power cords and phone charger. The table is on the large side at 63″ at its widest and 40″ depthwise for ample working space. I still can’t quite get over how immaculate its condition is despite being around a couple of years in the office. I really appreciate how much care the previous user, a Partner at the firm, has put into the table and the fact that I didn’t have to wipe down nasty spit gum or boogers on the underside.

If only they decided to sell off the office workchairs. The Herman Millers are to die for!

Designers at Elium Studio were inspired by phone icons found in computer desktops and transpired to manifest the icon into a real life working cordless phone as depicted in the image below.

The icon phone isn’t just about looks alone – it features VoIP support, stereo speakers, capability to stream internet radio (yes, it has a built in Wi-Fi capability), hands-free function, SMS text-messaging, an integrated radio and a colour LCD display! For a minimalist phone, it sure packs a load of features! I’m certain many would jump at the opportunity to have this phone even if it didn’t come with all the uber cool features.

Imagesource: eliumstudio

Ah, the joys of summer! The heat is here, the surf is on, and of course, I am thoroughly researching my favorite aspect of summer: an awesome vacation! Among other destinations, I looked at Hawaii, which is tried and true stuff. Been there, done that. But something about Hawaii is always appealing.

"Something" about Hawaii is always appealing.

This time, however, instead of checking in to my trusted Oahu Hilton hotels (thank you, reward points!) or my “budget conscious” Best Western, I played around a bit looking at some of the – shall we say – “out of my league” resorts. Hawaii, a place of enchanting beauty, is also home to some of the finest and most celebrated hotels in the world. And, like all upper echelon resorts, these vacation hotspots feature rooms and interiors of exquisite design and startling visual stimuli.

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My friend, Dean Heckler – famed for his elegant creation, the OneLessDesk (as well as the OneLessStand and OneLessFile) – is totally in tune with the times and demonstrates his genius in product design yet again with his latest product, @rest for iPad. You’ve guessed it, it’s stand for your iPad! If you’re thinking ‘oh no! not another stand’, you’re not wrong because this really isn’t just another stand, it’s THE only iPad stand you’ll ever want!

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The egg carton lamp is a recycled materials lamp created by Victor Vetterlein, an American designer with expertise in sculpting, interior design and architecture. To create the lamp, he takes four eggs cartons and mashes them up in water. The pulp is then poured into the mould he designed. After several days, the article dries and both halves are put together with aluminium scres and the lamp elements are installed.

It’s a pretty interesting concept to say the least and displays Vetterlein’s genius in using recycled materials to create contemporary pieces