Fish On The Edge. The Bubble Tank by Richard Bell for Psalt Design.

Created for Psalt Design, a Sheffield based Furniture & Product Design company, the ‘Bubble Tank Project’ by Richard Bell is a series of hand-blown glass bowls which have been counterbalanced to create the illusion that they are hanging precariously over the edge of a surface.





Every tank is completely unique therefore is available in many different shapes and sizes. Simply pick the one that you like best here.

spotted on designrulz via materialicious

The Nautilus Peepbox Aquarium Melds Steampunk Design With Modern Materials.

Designed by George Maridakis for Spell, the Nautilus peepbox aquarium is constructed of Perspex and aluminum. The illuminated cylindrical fish tank has a Jules Verne-meets-the-new-millenium look and style.






The tabletop aquarium or fishtank measures 400mm tall, 270mm wide and 390mm deep and weighs 15kg and is available for order from Spell.

World's Most Expensive Aquarium Made with 24k Gold, Mammoth Tusk & T-Rex Bone.

The Aquavista Dinosaur Gold - The only Aquarium with a 65 million year old history.

This is the world's rarest, most exclusive, most expensive - and undoubtedly the most bizarre- fish tank ever made. 
No surprise that it's a product of Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, maker of all things elite (with the world's most annoying and poorly designed website) who was commissioned by Aquavista UK of London to design something luxurious and unique.




The result is a wall mounted panoramic aquarium whose frame is made with a massive amount of pure solid 24ct gold in the form of 68 kilograms. Embedded in the frame are two side veneers made from real mammoth tusk with a unique piece of dinosaur bone from an actual T-REX diagonally shaved into the tusk.



The specifications:
• Low maintenance – designed to simplify your life, the Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquarium requires less 
than 15 minutes per month


• No daily care – complete with embedded Automatic Feeder, caring for your fish has never been easier. 
Just refill the feeder periodically and enjoy!


• Complete advanced aquarium system – the Aquavista Panoramic is pre-assembled with dual filtration 
system, heater, air pump, lighting, CO2 generator, and automatic feeder that is controlled by an easy to 
use programmable touch-screen control that simplifies all functions. Essential aquarium 
care accessories are included at no charge.




• Create an underwater garden – each unit comes with a Carbon Dioxide Generator that allows live plants to photosynthesize and 
flourish. Aquascaping is a new and growing hobby, and it has never been simpler.


• Space-saving design – Aquavista Panoramic Wall Aquariums’ sleek wall-mounted design brighten up any wall to create a 
clutter-free environment.


The project took 4 months to complete in London where Aquavista UK is based. Installation by Aquavista UK
.

Available as a limited edition of only 3
Priced at $4.8 million or £3 million

Buy it here

The New Batumi Aquarium From Henning Larsen Is Inspired By Beach Pebbles.

Henning Larsen Architects has won first prize for its significant design concept for a new aquarium in the Georgian seaport of Batumi. The invited competition took place in spring 2010 with the German architecture company Drei Architekten and the two American companies PJA Architects and Pryor & Morrow Architects among the participants.



The 2,000 m2 aquarium will replace the previous aquarium of the port and will be situated on the beach side of Rustaveli Str. adjacent to Batumi 6 May Park featuring a Dolphinarium and Zoo.



Inspired by the characteristic pebbles of the Batumi beach (above), continually shaped by the wash of the waves through millennia, the building (below) stands out as an iconic rock formation visible from both land and sea.



The formation constitutes four self-supporting exhibition areas where each of the four stones represents a unique marine biotype – the Aegean Sea & the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Black Sea & the Red Sea and finally the more interactive exhibition space for teaching and “edutainment”.







The four dispersed aquarium exhibitions are connected by a central, multipurpose space including café, auditorium and retail functions with views of the black sea and Batumi beach as scenic backdrop. Visitors gather in the central space to convene, play, eat, shop and relax before continuing their adventures through the exhibitions.



Batumi Aquarium will become a modern, cultural aquarium offering visitors an educational, entertaining and visually stimulating journey through the different seas.



The central, multipurpose space in connection with the aquarium features a café and retail functions and its flexible layout makes it well-suited for presentations and workshops.

“It has been important for us to create a design that relates explicitly to local characteristics of Batumi while at the same time reaching out to the world”, says Anders Park, who is project manager for a number of Henning Larsen Architects’ projects in Georgia. “The aquarium interacts with its surroundings and becomes a manifestation of nature itself”.

Unfolding around the aquarium, a landscape of different sea archipelagos provides attractive opportunities for innovative outdoor research and learning, public space and meeting places along the beach.




The building's significant expression inspired by nature will not only make Batumi Aquarium a spectacular new landmark in Georgia but also a state-of-the-art contribution to exploring life underneath the sea surface.

Please click on the cross sections and plans below to enlarge (note: you will be taken away from the blog):








Project facts
Location: Batumi in the Republic of Georgia
Client: Association A.T.U.
Gross floor area: 2,000 m2
Year of design: 2010 - 2010
Type of assignment: First prize in invited competition
Project team: Louis Becker (design director, partner) Anders Park (project manager), Viggo Haremst (design responsible), Michael Sørensen and Jaewoo Chun.

press release and images courtesy of Henning Larsen Architects

The City of Batumi

Batumi is the capital of the south-western province Adjara in Georgia. The city has approx. 120,000 citizens and is situated by the Black Sea, approx. 20 km from the border of Turkey. Batumi is a very active tourist city and commercial port. Unlike other cities in Georgia, the houses of Batumi are richly coloured and the city bears the mark of being a sailor city with a number of restaurants and cafés. Batumi also has wonderful beaches and many small hotels.

Modern Glass Vessels / Fish Tanks By Vanessa Mitrani

above: The No Limits Bowl, glass and porcelain.

Amongst her large repertoire of work, French artist Vanessa Mitrani creates beautiful and functional hand-blown glass decorative vessels that can also function as fish tanks or fishbowls.

The latest of these objets d'art/aquariums is her No Limits Collection which features porcelain or aluminum cast fish half in and half out of their glass surroundings. As if escaping from their habitats, the fish create a sort of optical illusion, floating between their world of captivity and ours.

Dish (glass and porcelain):

Round bowl and Giant Cylinder (glass and porcelain):

In addition to the larger pieces (shown above) that can actually be used as aquariums, the collection includes a vase, water glasses, mugs and cups:


Her Aquarius Collection has been featured in various magazines and on design blogs touting their modern shape and convergence of nature and design.

Simple and Double:

Panoramic and Bottles:

Building and a recent piece from Salone del Mobil (name unknown):


And finally, her Oxygen Collection consists of two pieces; a large and small version of fused round bowls that appear as connected bubbles, weightless and suspended in air.



Glasssware is only a small part of Vanessa Mitrani's work. She also designs textiles, display products for merchandisers and works in porcelain. She has an impressive client list, having created pieces for Salviati, Ligne Roset and Roche Bobois, to name a few. Many of her pieces are carried by exclusive galleries or high end boutiques.

About the artist:

Vanessa Mitrani trained in furniture design at ENSAD, under the tutelage of Jean Claude Maugirard, spent a year at ADAC studios and worked with with the glass artist Pedro Veloso.

After graduating from ENSAD in 1999 she embarked on a professional career, the following year obtaining the VIA Label and created her first edition of vases for Ligne Roset.

In 2002, she started Vanessa Mitrani Creations which developed original objects, products, furniture design, and produced pieces for Roche Bobois, Salviati, Neiman Marcus, l’Occitane en Provence and the Conran shop. Mitrani also collaborates directly with factories in France, Portugal and India several times a year.


Vanessa Mitrani

Places where you can purchase some of her pieces:
Les Site Des Createurs
The Conran Shop
Roseland Gallery