Wendy Legro's graduation project, a modern Hot Water Bottle, gets produced by Droog.

A hit at 2010 design shows in Milan and the Netherlands, Wendy Legro’s graduation project for the Design Academy Eindhoven, Hot Water Bottle, is being mass produced by Droog.



The flocked hot water bottle has been on show at Sotheby's London, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Nike's design conference in Beaverton, Orlando, Designersfair at IMCologne, Graduation Galleries 2009 at Dutch Design Week and has been picked up by Wallpaper* and Frame.


above image courtesy of Wallpaper magazine

above image courtesy of Core 77

Specifications
Year: 2011
Material: PVC, ABS with flock outer lining
Product Size: 16.6" x 9.4" x 2.5"

Droog's press release:
Generations of people know that a hot water bottle is a simple way to stay warm. With its soft skin and unique aesthetics, this one becomes too beautiful to hide. “The sensorial and visual qualities of this hot water bottle completely change the role it plays in a room. From something that is often hidden, it is now an object you don’t want to put away,” says co-founder and director of Droog Renny Ramakers.

Designer Wendy Legro states: “The hot water bottle tends to be an underappreciated product. It has a beautiful function but an outdated appearance. I wanted to reflect the feeling the bottle gives you in the aesthetics of the product.”



Too beautiful to hide - hot water bottle is available at Droog Amsterdam and in
Droog’s online store for € 59,-. Soon available at resellers worldwide.

Q&A with Wendy Legro, designer of Too beautiful to hide - hot water bottle

What do you think makes the use of a hot water bottle particularly relevant today?
The hot water bottle never really disappeared; it has always played a part in the background. With this new design I hope more people will get re-acquainted with a very simple way of keeping warm. After all, comfort is something we are always looking for.

What are the benefits above a regular hot water bottle or electric blanket?
I find the comfort and support you can offer a beloved with a hot water bottle really beautiful. But the touch of rubber to skin is not comfortable and the material can be a bit smelly. Hiding it in an extra layer brings down the beauty and warmth. As for other ways of local heating like the electric blanket, my mother used one at our home but for me there was a lack of charm. My goal was to give an aged product with a warm use the look and feel it deserves.

How does this hot water bottle relate to your other work?
When I design I let my senses guide me. By doing so I hope to add an emotional value to my products. Finding beauty in shape and details, to me, is the most important thing. The use of colour and material should complement this.

How does this sensorial value translate into Too beautiful to hide?
The shape with its curves and flat areas is formed to fit a human body. The round lines on the surface let the bottle stay warm longer, while they make you want to touch the soft ridges to sense what it feels like.

Wendy Legro (Enkhuizen, NL 1984) graduated with distinction from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2009. In 2010 she founded Studio WM. with Maarten Collignon, based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Based on affinity with the senses, the designer couple develops products that show a keen sense of atmosphere and detail. Work by Studio WM. can be characterized by a use of intuition and a sensitivity to material and aesthetics.

Droog

The Best Of The 2009 Milan Furniture Fair

You may be confused at to just what exactly is the name of the week long event in Milan, which is the world's largest trade show for furniture manufacturers and designers, where many new collections are debuted for the first time. Just to make it clear for those of you who do not follow furniture design as if it is your life's blood, the week long event in Milan took place from April 22-27th and it's often referred to by various names such as the following:

Salone Internazionale del Mobile
The Milan Furniture Fair
The Milan Show
Salone del Mobile
Guida Fuori Salone
the Milan report
iSaloni

So many bloggers, journalists and photographers have done an excellent job covering the 2009 Salone del Mobile in Milan this year, that rather than duplicate many of their efforts by covering the week long event, I just wanted to share with you some photos (from designws) from them as to what I feel are the stand out pieces and displays.

After the photos, there are links to the best sites, databases and online magazines with coverage of the show.

Gaetano Pesce for Casamia:

Dosh Levien for Moroso:

Tord Boontje for Moroso:

Front Design for Moroso:

Matali Crassalt for Established and Sons:

Peter Marigold, Design Miami /Craft punk:

Javier Mariscal for Magis:

Jaime Hayon for Baccarat:

Fernando and Humberto Campana for Edra:

Marcus Tremento:

BCXSY:

Frank Gehry for Emeco:

Stephen Burk's M'Afrique collection for Moroso:

Martin Baas:

Zaha Hadid for Artemide:

Ross Lovegrove for Artemide:

Chris Kabel for Droog:

Nacho Carbonell for Droog:

Karim Rashid for Meritalia:

Studio Mendini for Meritalia:

Byblos Cas, Mendini Atelier:

Scholten & Baijings:

Pieke Bergman's Lights:

Tom Dixon:

Arik Levy for Swarovski:

Studio Job's tableware and stained glass:


Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk for Skitsch:

Michael Kruijne for Zuiver:


And below are links to what I feel are the best and most comprehensive round ups of the week long furniture fair by various bloggers, magazines and companies.

Links to the best online reports and photo collections from Milan (in no particular order):

twentytwentone has a superb flickr set here

designws has daily reports from each day and hundreds (really!) of great photos here

Wallpaper magazine's highlights, videos and coverage here

At Casa's special Salon coverage is wonderful here

designboom's daily coverage featured some of the best picks here

design magazine Dezeen's coverage can be found here.

Inhabit's daily coverage here

Interni has a wonderful guide that includes daily video interviews, photos maps and more here

The New York Times coverage in The Moment here

The Los Angeles Times photo gallery (32 images) of the event here

Fast Company's coverage can be found here

So, you can stop googling stuff and just go to the above links, it will save you much time and grief while simultaneously enlightening and delighting you. Enjoy!

An Homage To Aalto And A Nod To Global Warming Wins Droog's Climate Competition

Above left: The original classic Aalto Savoy Vase and right, Jan Ctvrtnik's entry into the competition

I'm a big fan of Alvar Aalto's work and have blogged about him before, as well as complied a list of available items by him and inspired by him here. So when I saw that the winner of Droog's Climate Competition was a variation of Aalto's famous 1936 Savoy Vase (now available in multiple sizes and colors produced by iittala), I was captivated and simply had to share.

Winner Jan Ctvrtnik altered the famous shape by showing how it would appear if it, too, were to suffer the effects of global warming. The result is both brilliant and beautiful and doesn't 'ruin' Aalto's fluid classic vase, but instead enhances it.

See for yourself.






With 32% of all votes, visitors of the Droog website have chosen 'Droog Aalto' by Jan Ctvrtnik as the winning proposal for the Climate Competition. Droog initiated the competition for which anyone could submit any idea in any possible form, as long as it concerned the 'climate' theme.

Winner Jan Ctvrtnik: 'I realised that climate changes are visualised mostly by numbers and scientific measurements. In order to show changes, it is good to have a reference point.' And so the Aalto vase became that reference point with its shape originating from the shape of a Finnish lake. The 'Droog' part of the title can be translated as 'Dry', obviously relating to global warming.

Originally Czechoslovakian, Jan Ctvrtnik currently lives and works in Pordenone, Italy. After studying design in Prague and at IKDC in Lund (Sweden), he is now working as an industrial designer for Electrolux.

See other items inspired by Alvar Aalto's vase here.