THE CHAIR: the Parupu

AMIDST ALL THE excitement, hype, paninis, bellinis and footsoreness that are guaranteed at the Milan Furniture Fair this week, there’s a chair to look out for that’s already of note. Chairs are two a penny at each year’s fair, but this one is a little special - and it’s for kids.

The Parupu stands out not just because it has been designed by Scandinavia’s design royalty, Claesson Koivisto Rune, and not just because it’s made from eco wood pulp provided by manufacturer Södra. It’s super cute too, and is already up there with Enzo Mari’s Seggiolina Pop for Magis as a kids’ chair that ticks all the right boxes: great colour palette, so light the kids can move it themselves (or create houses and play structures), super sturdy and user-friendly. Plus it’s stackable and biodegradable. Read the rest of this article

Posted 21 April 2009 in Furniture

TOP SIX: rugs

EVER SINCE EDGE TO EDGE carpets fell out of fashion in the mid 90s in favour of modern floorboards, rugs have come into their own. The choices for kids, however, haven’t been too exciting until recently - something ege, the super-cool Danish carpet manufacturers, who have worked with the likes of Conran & Partners and Christian Lacroix, is addressing with the help of Katvig, the eco-conscious Danish fashion and home textiles company. Together they’ve launched a new range of rugs (pictured left)  with Katvig’s signature bold, graphic motifs, that have, in the words of Svend Aage Færch Nielsen, Managing Director of ege carpets, “a clear attitude to design and the environment.” 

*95 cm diameter - £130.00, 127cm diameter, £170.00. Order in the UK from Sparkle & Spin. Find an international stockist at www.katvig.com

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Posted 9 March 2009 in Textiles

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

HANNO THE GORILLA: by David Weeks

“I FELT LIKE a modern day Geppetto,” admits American designer David Weeks - perhaps best known in the UK as the designer of the Semana leather chair for Habitat - of the process behind creating his new weighty wooden gorilla toy character for New York design outfit Areaware. “When I was making the initial prototype I was bringing home a new version every few nights. My son loves them. He still plays with them to this day.”

Originally Weeks - whose graphic, modern furniture lines are sold by Ralph Pucci - had intended to create a robot figure for Areaware that was somewhere between the Danish wooden toy figures so well loved by design critics and the Kid Robot figures, but, says Weeks, “as I sanded the articulated parts, it began to evolve into a gorilla.” Read the rest of this article

Posted 5 February 2009 in Toys

OH BOY: Molly ‘n’ Jack Spring/Summer 2009

DON’T GET US WRONG. There are great young boys’ clothes out there. But they tend not to be on the highstreet or super-affordable. Which is why we wished we’d discovered Molly ‘n’ Jack earlier. The girls’ clothes from this relatively obscure brand that is sold at large Boots stores here in the UK (although we have yet to find one), and online at the Boots-linked mini mode webshop, are lovely, but it’s the boys’ clothes that really shine (and sell out quickly). 

Take a little bit of French bon-chic-bon-genre, add a touch of vintage-look styling, a smattering of Marc Jacobs-influenced preppy detailing (large buttons, etc), great quality, and you have a capsule collection that is just a little bit different. And which, this season at least, never costs more than £24. The only problem? For now it’s sold only in the UK, so international readers need to start making British friends now…

*Pictured here are the new fine knit blue top (£10) and roll-up twill trousers (£12), above, and the stripe waterproof coat (£20), right, all available from February. 

**Molly & Jack at www.minimode.co.uk

Posted 26 January 2009 in Textiles