Produced since 1950, the Wishbone chair by Danish designer Hans J. Wegner is one such great chair which I think looks just as fresh and modern today as it would have when it was first launched 60 years ago. I like this chair because it looks special and interesting but at the same time not too show-stopping – it’s neutral and a bit rugged. It goes very well in a modern Scandinavian design theme based around soft wood, natural materials and textures and a white/grey/beige colour palette.

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Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting!

I just have to share with you these peculiar next-generation teapots. At WebUrbanist you can find a collection of 19 exceptional teapots that clearly shows the future design direction. More examples and details here. They all come from Britain you think? I found out my favourite, below, can be bought at The Teapottery, and oooh, they surely have a full range of odd tea-design! Anyhow, the Toaster Teapot seem highly multifunctional. Design must be functional, right?

In 2008 Muungano designed a very special library bus, and in 2009 some awsome skull lollipops, now one really looks forward to their next design steps! Here’s a look into my Muungano favourites so far.
One Muungano project I particulary like is the library bus from 2008. When it was time for the old (boring) library bus in the northern town of Kiruna to retire, Muungano got the chance to design a new one. The old bus had functioned mostly as a distributor of books from the library out to the people is this geographically spread and sparsley populated area of Sweden. The function of the new bus is the same, but also to supply a larger service – the bus includes a library, a small cinema, computer games, a music listening couch, internet station and personal service. Because of the lack of sunlight during most of the year in the north the bus is designed to be “like a lantern” when dark, to attract people and light up the surroundings. It sure does, doesn’t it? :)

The bus, with graphics made by Fredrik Forsberg, won the prize ´Library bus of the year´ given by the Swedish librarian society. It was also nominated for a prize in the graphic design contest KOLLA and for an Golden Egg, the prestigious Swedish advertising award. The underlying ideas of the design was to awaken and highlight the incredible power contained in books, where only your imagination sets limits. By mixing their own illustrations with graphic elements inspired by people’s favourite books – a fantasy world was created that invites the viewer to their own subjective interpretations. The primary objective was to create an inviting and playful atmosphere for library visitors, and encourage and inspire reading. The design in close-up:

An interesting 2009 piece of design by Muungano is the Sweetshop 3D. Originally a sugar experiment for Urban matters and Sweetshop at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) Muungano continued later back home by combining a technique of so called rapid prototyping with small-scale mass-production. They made a 3D-model of a human skull in the computer and the data was then sent to a 3D-printer that made moulds of the skull in silicon. These were then used for making a collection of lollipops with a top of a sugar-skull.

The lollipops have been shown at the gallery Monde Radieux in Stockholm and shown and sold at the gallery Millard Sheet in Los Angeles. Now to the crucial (and nagging) question: What is Muungano up to next?!

This is the jury’s reasoning: “All of a sudden, those gathered round the table have good reason to burst into song. Raise a glass to Sweden’s musical traditions!” I.e. design with a jolly mission!