TOP SEVEN: bunk beds

WITH FAMILIES LIVING in smaller and smaller urban homes, but not sticking with one child, there’s an obvious come-back in the midst: The bunk bed. Hitherto not at all pretty, things are changing. The only problem is how to choose who gets the top bunk? Here’s our selection of the best to fight over:

Best for serious investment: The Nurseryworks Duet (pictured left) isn’t cheap. But if you get your children into bunks early, you have a good few years of sleep-time for your money guaranteed. 38″ w x 4′ h x 73″ d. £3,400 from Mumsaid in the UK - for international stockists, see www.nurseryworks.net Read the rest of this article

Posted 14 February 2009 in Furniture

TOP FIVE (ACTUALLY SIX): High Chairs

THE HIGH CHAIR seems to have become a vehicle for manufacturers and retailers to charge hundreds of pounds for what is usually a joyless and necessary purchase. (Where’s the fun in buying something that will end up daubed in dried food deposits?) The following are neither joyless, nor completely outrageously priced high chairs that seem to offer solutions to the hard-to-clean, unattractive, non-décor enhancing feeding chairs littering high street stores and homes. In fact our top marks go to Lula Sapphire’s K2 by Kuster - for its foldability, its detachable tray (not everyone has a dining table or wants to feed in the dining room), and mostly its price-point. Click on the pictures below to enlarge. 

Best for Classicists and older kids: Stokke’s Tripp Trapp. Okay, so it’s a little ubiquitous now, but that’s because the Tripp Trapp goes with most decors, and lasts until your child, is ooh, an adult, if they’re so inclined. The down sides are having to buy separate accessories, which bumps up the price, and a lack of tray, which generally means more fallout on clothing and floors unless you have a table handy. Lovely new colours. From £115 - £165, Stokke, www.stokke.com; 0800 051 7036 (UK). 

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Posted 21 October 2008 in Eating / Drinking, Furniture

CULT ITEM: Casalino Jnr

THE PANTON Jnr chair has a new rival. Except that the less easily recognisable, but equally iconic, Casalino Jnr chair from German design company Casala isn’t really new.

First designed in 1970 by Alexander Begge (the Casalino was his only famed creation), the award-winning stacking chair died out in the 80s due to rising costs in oil. But now it’s back. With a brand new contemporary table to accompany it - designed by Hamburg-based regular Casala collaborators, Jonas Kressel and Ivo Schelle - and in five new colours, Charcoal, White, Red, Green and Macchiato (a rather lush light coffee shade).

The palette may not be original – the 21st-century colours were chosen by Casala with the help of Kressel + Schelle - so gone is the flashy, wild orange, but the scratchproof, impact-resistant chair itself has been cast from the original mould, so it’s less a replica and more a genuine reissue, say Casala.

Officially the relaunch of the Casalino (and yes, there are adult versions too!) is to coincide with Casala’s 90th birthday. But interest in the baby Casalino has been building for some time… Vintage versions have been on the online shop, Bianca & Family, for the last year or so, and, Little Fashion Gallery’s Marie Soudre Richard, who sells the vintage numbers has been a fan for a number of years. “Paul, my son, has been using it [a vintage one] since the age of one. He loved the round design and that it wasn’t angular, and he also really likes the bright colours.” Read the rest of this article

Posted 2 September 2008 in Design + Decoration, Furniture

TEN QUESTIONS, TEN ANSWERS: bookhou

BOOKHOU’S natural, graphic style of children’s products is as big on ethical thinking as it is on restrained Scandi-Nippon Modern looks. With a constantly changing online store featuring hand-made chairs, a rather lovely maple ply mobile in the shape of abstract birds, modern patchwork bed throws and graphic animal-print cushions (as well as adult prints and furniture), Bookhou’s Arounna Khounnoraj and John Booth - graduates in art and architecture and parents to Lliam, 2 - offer a charming and less commercialized take on stylish goods for children.

Plus their work is affordable - their wooden ply and recycled furniture chair - a kind of 21st-century eco-chic take on the Eames - is just 95 Canadian dollars, approximately £47, the animal cushion toys just C$45 (approx £22) and even better, they’re happy to ship their furniture to Europe and beyond… We spoke to Arounna for more on Bookhou’s work and home style. Read the rest of this article

Posted 6 July 2008 in Designer Profiles, Furniture