60th Anniversary of Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair

Arne Jacobsen’s SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen represents one of the designer’s most defining career moments. Jacobsen designed every aspect of the project, from the building and furniture down to the bathroom taps.

It was for this project in 1958 that the ‘Grandfather of modern Danish design’ created the iconic Egg Chair. The roaming contours that make up the classic silhouette were achieved using a hard foam shell covered in upholstery - a technical innovation at the time.

Since the 1950s, the chair has been produced by Danish design brand Republic of Fritz Hansen. Crafted by specialists at their Denmark factory, each leather Egg Chair is stitched by hand, with an impressive 1100 stitches required to add the two large leather hides needed to cover the chair.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of this design classic, Fritz Hansen have released a limited number (1,958 to mark the year of design) of extra special Egg Chairs featuring exclusive materials that enhance the personality of each one from head to toe.

Upholstered in a pure, natural leather and finished with a luxurious 24k gold base, the Limited Edition Fritz Hansen Egg Chair will put you back a cool £9,280. It’s a hefty price but given the history involved and the timeless nature of the Egg Chair design, it’s a price many Arne Jacobsen fans will be only too willing to pay.

If you have that sort of cash laying around you can pre-order the Fritz Hansen Egg Chair here.

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Musical Chairs by Lernert & Sander x COS

Six furniture designers + one game of musical chairs. A simple idea, created by Dutch design studio Lernert & Sander for COS' AW16 party collection. Sometimes brands struggle to bring a real sense personality into their campaigns, or go the total opposite direction by creating something too in-your-face – COS has found a suitable middle-ground which fits their understated, yet playful characteristics perfectly.

Explore the Musical Chairs project + see more of the COS collection here.

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We Bought a House + Visiting the DFS Design Studio in Derbyshire

We bought a house! That's right, me + Hollie finally did it. Over the next few months expect to see a lot more home-related stuff on Buckets & Spades! It's mad actually, everything happened so quickly. I have loads to share about the whole buying-a-house process; being accepted for a mortgage as a freelancer, all that legal business, obstacles we've came up against, and a bunch more positive stuff too!

We'll be moving any day now and I plan to document the whole move, so make sure to follow along with my Stories on Instagram at @mat_buckets!

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In a happy coincidence, British furniture company DFS invited me down to their Derbyshire factory + design studio to learn more about their history, design processes and see first-hand how their products are made.

Did you know that DFS produce over 50% of their furniture products here in the UK, made-to-order? My preconceptions of the brand definitely led me to assume everything was made "on the cheap" in Asia, cutting corners on quality to offer constant "sales" prices. Over the course of two days my opinions of the brand were flipped on their head.

On day one we were treated to a guided tour of their main factory, just outside Nottingham (see our guide to independent Nottingham here). Along with a small group of lifestyle blogger I was given a look into the fast-paced DFS production line; taking in elements from pattern cutting, upholstery, woodwork, metalwork, hand-stitching and even had a peak into where the young apprentices practice honing their craft.

As we wandered around the factory floor I could see there was a genuine sense of pride and an all-in-it-together mentality. Day one done.

Travel | The People of Japan

Fellas hanging outside Green Angle in Harajuku

Since flying home from Japan around three weeks ago things got a little manic. You take 10 days away from work and some crazy backlog situation starts going down! Anyway, I'm still playing catch-up but I've just been going through the first set of images from mine and Dan Marc's travels across Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

Japan was like no other place I'd been, and the People of Japan quickly became fascinating to us. The street kids in Harajuku, business-types of downtown Toyko,  endless stream of faces on the crossings, street buskers, service workers, business owners, toddlers holding tightly on to their mums, the calm natured attitude of Kyoto, colour festival goers in Asakusa and everything in between.

Here's some of our favourite characters and groups that we came across, in what was one of the most memorable trips I've ever taken. We'll be sure to share some more from our travels very soon.

As cool as you like, just near Shibuya Crossing

 We were visited some cool spots in Shibuya with Tetsuya of Buddy

The evening light in Toyko was perfect

Wearing - Brooks Brothers T-Shirt | Barbour Chinos | Backpack c/o Eastpak | Universal Works Tote | Nike Tennis Flyknit c/o size?

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Best of Airbnb | Concrete Maisonette + We're Going to Japan

We're booked! In what has been a pretty last minute decision I'm heading over to Japan in May with my furniture designer buddy Dan Marc! The opportunity came up for me to tag along on a business trip he's been planning, and I found it stupidly hard to turn down.

So for 10 days we'll be travelling around Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, heading to meetings (should we rent bikes in each city?), visiting homeware + design stores, getting into those insanely tall ice creams, and soaking up the culture. Too excited!

We're currently looking for a place to stay in Toyko, and my search on Airbnb has thrown up some pretty cool results so far. Look at the inventive use of space in this maisonette apartment, just near Tokyo Bay! Have you been to Japan? If anyone has any advice, recommendations or suggestions of places to go / people to meet, please do share!

Best of Airbnb is a series featuring some of the most exciting, desirable and unique places to rest your head, from around the world.

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Made Emerging Talent | Shark Chair + Hook Bookshelf

 The Shark Fin Chair as seen in Philip's home

Made is a store that surely everyone knows by now. Their ads make a fairly frequent showing on the tube (sorry if I’m being very London-centric here); but, even if you don’t visit our capital often, you’ll likely know them from some of their TV + online ads. My favourite piece has to be the Rodnik Shark Fin Chair. Check those teeth!

Less well known, perhaps, will be their Emerging Talent Award: a competition that gives aspiring designs a chance to have their product built and sold by Made.com.

We went along to their London showroom recently to see some of the entries and took a shine to the Hook Bookshelf. Designed by Valeria Milan and Stefano Tolomio, the bookcase is colourful and minimal - just what we expect from Made.com - but it’s also hugely versatile and requires no tools to change around once built.

The Hook Bookshelf didn’t win - the prize went to this Overlap Storage system; well deserved winners, for sure. I doubt it’s the last we’ll hear of the Hook Bookshelf though or, indeed, from the designers behind it.

Looking forward to the 2016 Emerging Talent Award already. I’m sure it’ll reveal some more design gems.

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Giveaway | Out There Interiors

This here blog celebrates its seventh birthday next month, so from March you have official permission to call us "Old Man Buckets". Before you know it we'll be pushing 10 years old; keyboard hair will be turning grey, we'll be drinking room temperature stout and enjoying nothing more than a warm pair of slippers of a Sunday evening.

Seriously though, I feel honoured that you guys have stuck around here for so long, constantly checking in with new posts, share content and interact the way you do. And for new visitors, hopefully we have something worth sticking around for. The fact that there's some many people out there who share our enthusiasm for the things we love - it's had a hugely positive affect on my life, one which certainly couldn't have been predicted.

For February we've partnered with Out There Interiors to bring you this month's giveaway. Out There Interiors is a family-run interior design store based in Buckinghamshire. You'll find furniture, homeware and accessories to suit a number of styles; minimal, retro, French-style, colourful, industrial (as seen at East London Liquor Co.). There's plenty of new + up-and-coming designers is store.

We're giving one Buckets & Spades reader the chance to win £100 to spend online at Out There Interiors! Personally I'd put the money towards of of Miles Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Chair, but there's plenty of ideas for under under £100. Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter, best of luck folks.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to UK residents only. More for our international readers very soon.
 

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