Destination Dubai - Armani Hotel is a Triumph

I learnt an important lesson recently in Dubai. In a place well known for it's debaucherous design and decoration, there is a property that is spectacularly significant. You know the building; the Burj Khalifa. It is the world's tallest building with 163 floors, and on par perhaps only with the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, when it comes to impressive architectural icons.

Both burjān [plural for burj, don't you know] mark an important maturing of the region's design vernacular from the ostentatious, sometimes post-modern, to the elegant and iconic. I remember visiting the Burj Al Arab when it first opened in 1999, and gawked at the ostentatious interiors that seemed so at odds with the sweeping minimalist exterior form.

When I heard that that the Burj Khalifa was to feature an Armani Hotel, my heart sank a little. 'Here we go again', I thought. It's going to be an exercise in radical over-the-topness appealing to little other than those with a penchant for coordinating gold plated Bugatti Veyron's with gold plated bathroom taps - another opportunity missed for design in Dubai.

Design Trawler checked-in to the Armani Hotel Duabi - and couldn't have been more wrong...

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Digital Damien is Picture Perfect

The argument typically goes like this. "It's a bunch of coloured spots on a canvas, I could do that!". "Yes, but you didn't". Argument over. A brief history of the art critique of the world's richest living artist, Damien Hirst then. His work is brilliant because it is simple, [usually] original, and provocative.

I was most pleased therefore when it struck me, in an equally simple and brilliant moment of inspiration, that Hirst's pickled shark, or rather, 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' is perfectly suited to feature as digital art spanning three monitors in the study.

Unlike a digital print, mounted on canvas, or even aluminium, the TFT's emit a vivid light that renders the life aquatic just as it would on exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery. At night, the cool illumination is spectacular, so much so, that I'm considering upscaling the concept using much larger LCD televisions...

Beosounds Like a Midlife Crisis

There aren't many objects that shout man cave Ultraloft as much as the Bang & Olufsen Beosound 9000 CD player. Designed almost 20 years ago in 1996 it's one of those iconic interior toys, alongside perhaps the Beocom 2 cordless telephone that's mandatory in Manhattan lofts, the penthouse apartments of television bad guys, and Hugh Grant types neck deep in a midlife crisis.

I'm not sure what that says about me. Perhaps, because the Beosound 9000 ceased production in 2011, that as a collector, I can claim that I've acquired a fully functioning design classic, and therefore eschew any mentions of crisis. Perhaps not. What is certain however, is that the machine is achingly beautiful.

From the motorised glass door, through to the illuminated CD clamp that zips up and down the brushed aluminium body; lifting CD's from their little mounts and returning them in the exact same orientation that they've been loaded. In this age of limitless music streaming, there is something overwhelmingly luxurious about physical movement; of only six disks; curated, and additive to the aesthetic of the machine, and the aesthetic of Ultraloft's flagship wall. Expect a red Porsche in the driveway very soon.

If Iron Man did Laundry

Ever the reliable and well informed consumer service, Design Trawler presents you with it's guide on the best laundry appliances on the market today. Should you opt for a stand-alone washing machine? or a washer-dryer combination? How about drum size? energy efficiency? or synthetic pre-wash soaking delay cycles with built-in cotton baby quick-wash rinse mode? All very valid and sound considerations.

Or... you could chose an appliance that is POWERED BY IRON MAN! That's right, Tony Starck's very own Arc Reactor sits at the core of Samsung's top of the range washer-dryer. Frankly, the fact that the machine features a near silent digital motor and can dry-clean your vicuña undies, are all added bonuses. That's another machine added to the list that my cleaner is banned from using then.

Bang & Olufsen - Design that Moves

This week, Design Trawler was invited to the launch of the new Beovision Avant television by Danish purveyor of desperately debonair technology Bang & Olufsen. I've previously discussed the intrinsic lack of design when it comes to televisions; after all, a flat [or even curved] panel of glass is designed to display digital design; content. Not since the Eames inspired Hannslounge have I seen a TV that's anything to write home about from a design perspective.

Until the Beovision Avant. The Bang & Olufsen designers realise that mechanical movement is a critical design factor that is set to define luxury in the digital age. The Avant features a mortised circular base and mortised mounting arm that independently turn through 180 degrees on command.

Switch it on via the remote [milled from a single price of aluminium] and the television will rotate forward to attention. Recline in your Wassily chair with a Glencairn tumbler of Blue, and the Avant will rotate to face you; adjusting the surround sound accordingly. Eat breakfast on the other side of the room and, again, the Avant will pirouette in an orbital dance to bring you Bloomberg with your benedicts...

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The Wine Room at Ultraloft

Ultraloft, LONDON [2015] - Design Trawler is today pleased to announce the successful completion of 'Phase B' of the Private Wine Room project at Robert's Bar.

Doubling existing capacity from 130, to 260 bottles of cellar storage; spanning six digitally temperature and humidity controlled zones. The Private Wine Room at Robert's Bar will be Ultraloft's premier wine storage tasting drinking facility. 'Phase C' of development will see custom cabinetry adjoin the North and South sections with glazed storage for excessive and extravagant fleets of Riedel crystal stemware. [Ends]

Steam and Sprezzatura - The Lelit PS21

Luigi Borelli strolls out of his flagship store on Napoli's Via Filangieri. An expertly cut shirt in his shopping bag. Returning home [via the Gran Caffè Cimmino], it's Sunday and Luigi's maid has the day off.

Where any other man would despair at the prospect of having to iron a shirt themselves, Luigi, like Design Trawler pulls off the task with a sprezzatura that's uniquely Italian. For the same commercial, high-performance, high-pressure boiler engineering used to deliver Luigi's espresso is also used to deliver his pristine cotton twill.

The Lelit PS21 steam generator is made entirely in Brescia by a firm that manufacturers only steam irons... and espresso machines. It features a polished steel steam chamber and solid cast iron that may well double as a free weight. Creases stand no chance under the titanic flattening plate; and that's before calling upon the mighty steam reserves. Like a performance roadster, this is a machine designed to be driven by owners, and not domestics. Maids need not apply.

Big Cheers for Quiet Design

Somebody once told me "if the Death Star had a tube station, it'd be Westminster"; and anyone who has passed through the terminus will know this holds true. It's a monolithic concrete bunker with cantilevered steel beams, industrial uplighters and scissored escalators. Subtle it is not.

In this respect, if the Death Star needed a vacuum cleaner, it'd be spoilt for choice. Almost every bagless cyclone machine on the market seems to have several dozen conical protrusions and articulated joints, with flashes of patronising neon colours around every gasket, bolt and wheel nut.

We're not designing Lloyds of London here. Vacuum cleaners should be more like the well turned out domestic staff that use them; unobtrusive, quiet and reliable. It's why I was drawn to the top of the range Mach Zen 2 by British firm Vax.

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Honey, I Froze Le Corbusier

It has to be the revelation of the year century. On a scale to be rivalled by Dan Brown novels set in St. Peter's Basilica. For around 100 years ago, a man called Peter Behrens was hired by a German engineering company to the position of 'Articstic Consultant'. Alongside the logotype and corporate identity, Behrens designed the firm's iconic turbine factory in Berlin, and also a significant number of it's products. Peter Behrens is considered to be the world's first industrial designer. The savvy German engineering company that hired him was AEG.

So that puts AEG at the very top of the design family tree. Neat. They make well engineered home appliances [Ultraloft's new shiny fridge freezer, pictured] and consumer electronics. Having something with the AEG moniker around the Ultraloft gives me a warm comfortable feeling of buying in to that design pedigree. That was until, I did a little more research and fell backwards out of my [EA105] chair.

You may want to anchor yourself to the floor... It wasn't just Behrens, father of industrial design that worked for AEG. Miles van der Rohe, creator of the iconic Barcelona chair worked for Behrens at AEG. Walter Gropius too, later to become the first director of the Bauhaus worked for AEG. And the revelation that sent me plummeting, sternforemost to the floor, is that, the being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, principal object of faith and worship at Design Trawler, Le Corbusier, worked alongside Behrens, Gropius, and Mies at AEG.

The three letters AEG aren't just a nod toward innovative German engineering. They represent a perfect storm; a fantasy dream team of everything design, and architecture, and efficiency should be. And is.

Lexon Flow - An Audio Carriage

The boys at Lexon continue to impress with their well turned out portable tuners. Brother to the previously featured Mini Dolemen, and still giving Uncle Bose a run for it's money in the design department, Lexon's Flow radio is brilliantly designed by Philip Wong. With it's glassy casing and clean, uncluttered narrative, the Flow would look superb on a mantle a'la carriage for the New Year.

Smart Toilets - Bottom of UK's List

Regular visitors to Japan will be familiar with the discretely positioned control panels in water closets across the country. While in the UK we're wirelessly streaming music around the house, operating heating from tablet and opening curtains with smartphones... we happily endure chilly loo seats.

But it's not for Japan's want of trying. Premier league toilet seat manufacturer Toto has had it's showroom in London's Clerkenwell for some years now, and even Samsung offer a remote control heating, washing and drying solution for under £200 (wireless streaming is of course, um, entirely optional).

Hotrod for High-Octane Sencha

Looking at this diamond bevelled detailing, you'd be forgiven for thinking Design Trawler has taken a trip to the workshop of Enzo Ferrari. Indeed the jewel-like finishing is illuminated in rosso red from within it's polished chrome body. It's not to be found in a high-spec garage, but rather, the kitted out kitchen.

Original 'boiling water tap' firm Quooker, has engineered a child-proof push and turn mechanism for it's Fusion and Nordic taps worthy of old man Enzo himself. The only tap with a patented vacuum system of storing water above 100°c, Quooker delivers on demand torque steam for high-octane sencha.

Fred Waring - Set Your Blender to 'Molecular'

Kitchen products with the 'professional' moniker attached to them tend to signify quality and performance. While Dualit and Gaggia make fine 'professional' products, this week I stumbled across a brand called Waring - Founded by musician Fred Waring with his famous 1938 blender (pictured).

The website lists three main product groups; 'professional', 'commercial' and... 'laboratory equipment'. That's right, if you want an explosion resistant blender or micronizer to make inhalable Sunday lunches, Waring's your man. With the popularity of Heston Blumenthal, it's only a matter of time before lab-quality appliances man toys like these start finding themselves in to our modern day mancaves.

Mini Dolmen Grows Up

One of the first items on Design Trawler, the Mini Dolmen by Lexon is a soap-sized utilitarian field radio [pictured, rear] that sits nearly in the bathroom broadcasting news every morning. Three years on, and it's been challenged by the Goliath that is the Bose Soundlink.

A bluetooth behemoth in the bathroom may sound like overkill, but the bassy true-audio stream from any device means a greater variety of morning music. In particular, the Monocle 24 digital radio stream replaces utilitarian breakfast news with rich, curated commentary and current affairs.

At five times the price of the Lexon radio, the Bose is in a different league all together - But from a design point of view the Mini Dolmen exudes charm with it's circular speaker and telescopic aerial. Bluetooth or not, it would have been nice to see more character behind the [otherwise excellent] Soundlink design.

Design as Metaphor - Under the Sea

I've mentioned the concept of design as metaphor before - when one object, in the right setting as another, takes on the qualities of the second object. Useful for turning sideboards in to metaphorical grand pianos and such.

Recently, I returned home to find the monitors on my desk glowing with the underwater hues of the aurora screen saver. Clearly it's not an aquarium, but in a setting where a Bond-villain shark tank wouldn't look out of place, the displays create a cool, and somewhat foreboding ambiance.

New Designers - His Remastered Voice

At the New Designers preview this week, rather embarrassingly I turned up on the wrong day. Greeted with an exhibition of the UK's most promising graduates in textiles, fashion and jewelry design, I recoiled at turning up at what was essentially the 'Ladies Day' of the London design scene.

Well it seems somebody else made the same mistake. Technically part of the glass and ceramic category, this contemporary gramophone style speaker blew me away. Paul Wearden's fully functioning 'invasion of sound' should have been exhibited alongside product, furniture and graphics, and I for one would love to see it put in to production.

Henry the Air Purifier

Another gem from Stadler Form's Matti Walker, the Henry Air Purifier is an ultra-modern machine for making sure that the air in the Mancave is nothing but perfect. Packed with manly sounding filtration methods like a titanium filter, plasma generator and ultra violet lamp, Henry sits quietly in the corner of the bedroom and does his thing.

The strangest thing about sleeping living with Henry is that the quiet, but audible, 'HVAC hum' places my mind in the environment of an aircraft cabin or hotel, effortlessly ready to drift off. As a frequent traveller, I can think of few other places that give me this sense of well-being, safety and reassurance.

Armchair Golf - Par 5.1 from Sony

In keeping with my belief that AV technology should be heard and not seen, these ultra compact format 5.1 surround sound speakers from Sony measure in at just 4cm tall; the same size as a [square] golf ball.

And like golf balls in the rough, they can practically disappear from sight, allowing the magnificence of a well designed championship course mancave to take centre stage, and the roar of a crowd of hundreds to fill the atmosphere. Hiding the clubhouse sized amplifier [not pictured] is however another matter.

From the Desk of DesignTrawler.com

It makes sense that the work environment of DesignTrawler.com (or any entrepreneurial caveman) should be flawlessly designed, relentlessly practical and powerful enough to send shuttles in to orbit.

Enter desk of DesignTrawler.com - Smoked glass with 25 plywood veneers; based on Carlo Mollino's £7,050 Cavour writing desk. Coupled with a desktop-grade HP HD workhorse and panoramic Xerox+Matrox displays for some 300% more screen real-estate. This trawler's now ready for takeoff...

Networked Digital Heating: Bluetooth. Green.

As cave-like as a traditional log fire may be, burning trees isn't the most convenient way of heating a room. The Mancave uses a wirelessly networked 'wet electric' system of energy efficient radiators. Linked via Bluetooth, each device can be pre-programmed to maintain a set room-temperature to within 0.1 degree for any given minute of the week.

Resembling a conventional steel design, the radiators are self contained and filled with a thermo-dynamic gel that retains heat in a more efficient way than clunky storage heaters. By only using the energy required and taking advantage of new wet electric tariffs, the system saves money and trees.