Design studio Raw Edges has created Sense of Surface, a 3D-printed installation exploring the interplay between light and textured surfaces that was shown at trade show IMM Cologne.

Sense of Surface consisted of a semi-transparent printed curtain and four 3D-printed "volumetric spheres" that were design to appeared as if they were floating freely in the space.

"The installation is a captivating exploration of the interplay between light and textured surfaces, created specifically for IMM Cologne 2024," said Raw Edges.

The installation's 3D structures, which were hung from above, were constructed using a Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printer that fused together layers of polymer power.

Once printed, the pieces were joined into three-dimensional volumetric shapes on-site "almost like a tailor's work", according to Raw Edges co-founder Shay Alkalay.

The installation responded to IMM Cologne's 2024 theme The Sensuality of Surfaces and examined how a flat surface can be transformed into a "complex and three-dimensional body".

"For a long time we have been fascinated by the relationship between 2D graphic patterns and three-dimensional forms," Alkalay told Dezeen.

"It can be seen in our wood-dyed Endgrain collection, where we turn flat graphic surfaces into three-dimensional objects and enjoy the distortions and how they affect each other."

Lighting levels were manipulated throughout the space, altering the 3D structures' appearance.

"We started to play with the idea of see-through surfaces, patterned structures and transparency and to see how light can interact with it," Raw Edges told Dezeen.

"We were interested in exploring how three-dimensional structures can feel transparent in a space when there is no light, but become more diffused and opaque when illuminated. "

Alongside the sculptural forms, a curtain was made from Apollo – a semi-transparent textile created from German textile brand Rökona.

The pattern was 3D printed onto the fabric using pigment ink developed by printing brand Kornit.

"The result is a see-through printed surface that beckons visitors to step into the installation, creating an immersive and interactive experience," said Raw-Edges.

Raw Edges designed Sense of Surface in a bid to create an area of tranquillity for visitors to enjoy while experiencing the trade show.

"It is an immersive installation that was there to let visitors take a break from the busy fair and to step into a different environment that allows you quietly to focus on the way light can interact with the surfaces," said Raw Edges.

Raw Edges was launched in 2007 by Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay to transform everyday objects into playful and inventive furniture, product, interior and installation designs.

IMM Cologne took place from 14 to 18 January 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Promotion: Anders Byriel, CEO of Danish textile brand Kvadrat and designer Shay Alkalay of London-based studio Raw Edges were among the guest speakers at this year's edition of Festival of Design in Shanghai.

Organised by Design Republic and its founding partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, the Festival of Design opened on 10 November in Shanghai after a three-year hiatus following the pandemic.

The event encompassed a series of lectures and panel discussions as well as an exhibition and a film screening. This year, the event explored the theme of '再 RE-.' – the prefix that means "again" or "again and again" to indicate moving forward.

Lectures were given by esteemed architects, designers and creatives including Anders Byriel, CEO of Kvadrat, designer Shay Alkalay of London-based Raw Edges, Boonserm Premthada of Bangkok Project Studio, Mark Lee of LA architecture firm Johnston Marklee, Liu Yichun of Chinese architects Atelier Deshaus, Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka of Schemata Architects, architect Simon Frommenwiler of Basel practice HHF, and Spanish architects Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores of Barcelona-based Flores & Prats.

Each speaker delivered a 40-minute presentation offering insights into their design practices before joining a panel discussion that explored notions of renewal, redefinition, reconnection and "reseeing in the world of design".

Anders Byriel CEO of Kvadrat presented a lecture

For example, in his presentation, Byriel discussed Kvadrat's growing stable of subsidiary businesses such as its acoustic products arm – Kvadrat Acoustics – and its textile upcycling initiative, Kvadrat Really.

He introduced a separate heritage fabrics brand that the company recently acquired called Sahco, and talked about a new pavilion at the brand's headquarters in Denmark designed by German artist Thomas Demand in collaboration with Caruso St John Architects.

He also showcased a broad selection of the brand's collaborative projects with artists and designers such as Olafurr Eliasson, Larry King and Sissal Toollass.

Designer from London-based Raw Edges, Shay Alkalay also presented at the event

In the panel discussions that followed, Neri asked speakers about rejecting perfection and tolerating disharmony in their work.

"Sometimes when you think too much it can stop you from doing something," ventured Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges. "I always tell my students, 'do before you think'."

"If you consider too much the flow of what has been done before you, the responsibility almost feels too much – you wonder how can you add to it or change something," he continued. "It's too heavy. Sometimes you just have to react and do something."

"As a business, you need to stay relevant, you need to look in the mirror and keep reinventing yourself," Byriel added. "The day you think you are standing on top of the mountain is the day it is over. You need to keep moving and challenging yourself."

The Festival also includes the launch of a month-long exhibition of the same theme, '再 RE-.' Running at the Design Republic flagship store and organised across six distinct sections: 'RE-flect,' 'RE-edition,' 'RE-cycle,' 'RE-generate,' 'RE-imagine,' and 'RE-.', the exhibition's exhibitors include Agapecasa, Baum, Classicon, Kef, Kvadrat, La Manufacture, Mattiazzi, Moorgen, Nio, Tucson, Ugan Concept and Yehyehyeh.

As part of the festival, the UME International Cineplex in Shanghai's Huangpu District hosted the Chinese premiere of the documentary Alfabeto Mangiarotti, which was hosted in UME and presented by Agapecasa.

Also included was a series of talks exploring a diverse range of design topics such as the exportation of Chinese design and strategies for engaging in overseas project implementation in addition to 'Architecture and Ecology' and 'Co-Creating with Nature'.

Established in 2016, Festival of Design is an interdisciplinary design platform initiated by Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, architects and founding partners of design lifestyle brand Design Republic.

Festival of Design aims to embrace the communal aspect of design through a diverse programme of lectures, talks, exhibitions and workshops.

To learn more about Festival of Design visit its website.

Festival of Design 2023 takes place from 10 November to 10 December 2023 at various locations across Shanghai, China. See our Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks throughout the world.

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Dezeen Showroom: London studio Raw Edges has designed the Sui Desk Chair for Danish furniture brand +Halle, a dynamic armchair that doubles as a productive desk space.

The desk chair has an upholstered circular swivel seat encompassed by a semicircular lacquered solid oak table top.

The Sui Desk Chair was designed to encourage movement and productivity, preventing users from sitting at desks in the same position for long periods.

Sui can be used as a generous armchair with the tabletop forming the backrest and wide armrests.

Alternatively, users can swivel to face the opposite direction and use the semicircular tabletop as a desk, which provides ample workspace.

"The inviting desk chair is enlivened with a swivel and an embracing wooden surface, creating an intriguing niche with its hybrid, multi-purpose use," said +Halle.

"When seated, every aspect of the object evokes free movement, with refined yet generous angles, opening for a wide welcome yet private sphere."

"There comes a point in the public realm where private spaces become essential," +Halle continued. "Sui is that personal seat, but as opposed to a closed-off station, the desk chair is conversational, designed with independence and dignity in mind."

The Sui Desk Chair comes in a variety of colours and is available with an optional integrated power plug.

Product: Sui Desk Chair
Designer: Raw Edges
Brand: +Halle
Contact: info@plushalle.dk

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The haphazard stitching usually concealed on the back of embroidered rugs is integrated into the decorative surfaces of this collection created by London studio Raw Edges for Spanish brand GAN.

The studio led by designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay created the BackStitch collection for Valencia-based textile brand GAN, which is part of the Gandiablasco group.

The design focuses on the process used to embroider rugs and takes advantage of GAN's women's development project in India, where a team of female artisans produces hand-embroidered pieces using manual looms.

Raw Edges was interested in switching the focus from the intricate patterns associated with traditional embroidery to the messier, more random appearance on the reverse of the textiles.

"BackStitch focuses on that ambiguous and irregular universe of stitches, without which the front side, designed to be seen, could not exist," said the designers.

"What seems chaotic has its own language and adds a new value, a new intention to traditional craftsmanship."

The unique approach used to design and produce the rugs earned the collection a place on the longlist for the Dezeen Awards 2019.

It will compete in the homeware design category with products including a rug featuring fluffy wool loops that is intended to feel like pebbles underfoot.

To create the BackStitch collection, Mer and Alkalay examined the patterns created on the back of rugs and textiles during the traditional embroidery process.

Most embroidery techniques involve stitching patterns onto fabric using a needle and thread, which can result in knots and criss-crossing threads on the reverse.

Raw Edges created three designs based on how different embroidered patterns or images look on the back of the fabric. The collection represents a progression from a more ordered and familiar pattern to a fully abstract design.

The first rug in the series is called Thin, and features a classic linear pattern that is embellished with a band of haphazard stitching in contrasting colours along one edge.

The second rug called Thick has a denser pattern of randomly positioned lines that create a more tactile and layered composition.

The final rug is titled Composition and is the most complete expression of the concept. Its design combines linear elements to create blocks of colour and pattern that are overlaid with messier stitching.

"It produces an explosion that shows the intention, the complete work," the designers added. "It is almost a piece of art, and it can be used both as a rug or as a tapestry on the wall."

All three rugs are made of pure wool on manual looms and are available in two colourways.

Mer and Alakalay founded Raw Edges after graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2007. The studio is known for its exploratory approach to materials and form, which results in furniture, installations and products with a playful character.

Raw Edges previously created a carpet collection for Persian company Golran with a pattern that appears to change colour when viewed from different angles.

Its other projects include an installation of spinning lamps and a cluster of concrete armchairs that provide street furniture in east London.

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Designers including Front, Raw Edges, Claesson Koivisto Rune and Benjamin Hubert have unveiled new furniture pieces made using an unusual textile board.

Really's Solid Textile Board – a material created from upcycled end-of-life textiles from the fashion and textile industries – forms a range of items in the Circular by Design exhibition, on show for Milan design week in the Brera district.

The brand, whose parent company is leading Danish textile company Kvadrat invited Benjamin Hubert, Christien Meindertsma, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Front, Jo Nagasaka, Jonathan Olivares and Raw Edges to showcase the potential of the material.

Each took a different approach to the material: Hubert created a shelving system, Jo Nagasaka made chairs, while Jonathan Olivares made a zippable room divider.

Exhibition curator Jane Withers has arranged the pieces across two levels of an old building in Brera.

"The intention behind these Really projects is to show how beautiful things can be made out of the massive global problem of textile waste, and also to foreground the shift in perception, processes and logistics needed as we grapple with the issues of waste and begin the transition from a linear to a circular economy," said Withers.

"As well as providing compelling furnishing solutions, these pieces quietly resonate as emblems of the complexity of our times and changing understandings of waste and environmental impact," she added.

When visitors enter the room, they are met with Christien Meindertsma's installation. Meindertsma used Really's Acoustic Fur to create a tactile piece on the wall.

A piece by design studio Front is located in the same room, but takes a more functional form in the shape of a cupboard.

The studio's Textile Cupboard features a wavey silhouette, intended to represent the movement of flowing fabric.

"We were captivated by the board's stability as a completely new aspect of cloth," they said. "The cupboard should show that the Really Solid Textile Board still has all the inviting and charming aspects of fabric, just in a different state."

Across the rest of the upper level are designers by Claesson Koivisto Rune, Jo Nagasaka and Raw Edges.

Nagasaka wanted his project to focus on colour experimentation. He used the material to create blocky chairs, before using colouring, sanding, brushing and bleaching to create different effects on each surface.

Raw Edges created its small coffee table by laminating layers of the board together. The outsides of these pieces are blue, but the insides are white – so the studio chipped away at the edges to expose the sections of the material.

Claesson Koivisto Rune looked to architectural grids and mid-century skyscrapers when developing its bookcase, which features blue, off-white and white sheets of the material.

Jonathan Olivares and Benjamin Hubert are presenting their offerings downstairs.

Olivares combined curved pieces of the textile board with zips joining each panel of a room divider – citing his inspirations as spatial partitions by Alvar Aalto and Charles and Ray Eames.

Hubert's Shift shelving system is designed in response to the constantly changing needs of retail environments. When not being used as a shelf for display and storage purposes, it functions as an acoustic panel that is held closed by a series of magnets.

"Shift seamlessly adapts to different situations, from high- demand sales periods, during which storage and display areas needs to be prioritised, to launches and openings, when floor space and acoustics need to be maximised for entertaining," said Hubert.

This is the second presentation by Really during Milan design week. The brand launched at last year's event, where its upcycled solid textile board material was used by Max Lamb to produce 12 benches.

Circular by Design is on show at Via Palermo 1 until 22 April 2017.

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A traditional Israeli dance is transformed into 30 spinning glass lamps in this exhibition by London studio Raw Edges.

Called Horah, the Milan design week installation consists of sculptural glass lights in a variety of sizes and colours. Each one gently rotates, so the exhibition is constantly in motion.

The project takes its cues from a dance of the same name, which originated in the Balkans but was adopted in many countries. For Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges, who are both from Israel, it is a dance that they associate with home.

"In Israel in the 1950s, there was a very common Horah dance, I would say the traditional Israeli dance," Alkalay told Dezeen. "In those days it was very common for people to dance together in a circle."

"We liked the idea of lots of things moving together at the same speed, like in dancing or swimming, or if you think about the army marching in the street – there is something powerful about that," he said. "We thought, let's play with that."

On show at Spazio Krizia throughout Milan design week, the 30 lamps are dotted across a large platform that curves across the gallery.

Each one features curving glass "leaves", which are attached to a pivoting motor. The light is concealed at the centre, so is not directly visible, but creates a gradient of illumination across the glass leaves.

According to Alkalay, one of the challenges of the design was creating a shape that looked good from all directions.

"The shape is constantly changing," he said. "Usually, when you design something, you do the sketch and you try to find the best proportion. But here it's always moving. So what is the best silhouette?"

Mer and Alkalay founded their London-based studio in 2007, after graduating from the Royal College of Art. Past projects range from rainbow-patterned furniture to optical-illusion rugs.

The pair were invited to create this installation by Venetian glass brand WonderGlass. It was their choice to create lighting, in the knowledge that other designers had previously exhibited lighting in this gallery – Formfantasma last year, and Ingo Maurer before that.

At the moment the lights have only been made for the exhibition, but the designers hope to create a production version.

Horah is on show at Spazio Krizia, on Via Daniele Manin 21, from 17 to 22 April as part of Milan design week. WonderGlass is also showing another project in the city – a range of painterly glass objects designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

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Israeli design duo Raw Edges has revamped the interior of the VitraHaus Loft, combining their own rainbow-hued wooden furniture with classic Vitra pieces.

The loft is located on the fourth level of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed VitraHaus, which forms part of the larger Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany.

When invited by Vitra to redesign the interior, Raw Edges – headed by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay – said they wanted to create a space that they could imagine living in with their own two children.

"Our installation focuses on a busy, creative, young family," explained the designers. "We wanted to show how a space could function equally well for parents and kids alike – for work as well as play."

The duo carefully selected Vitra and Artek products that combine various natural materials such as wood, glass and light-hued textiles with bright accents.

Playful features include the bathroom space, where a large mobile-like installation with cushions dyed in diagonal stripes of colour hangs from the ceiling.

In the bedroom, a number of Vitra's Cork Stools are grouped to form the base of a bed, while in the living room a set of Alcove sofas join together to create an enclosed lounge space.

Around the loft, the designers have applied their trademark colour gradient patterns to various objects such as the cushions and wall hangings.

"The light-hearted approach taken by Raw Edges in their use of materials, colours and products is a defining feature of the presentation – and their work in general," said Vitra.

"Other key factors of their VitraHaus installation are movement, improvisation and surprise. For Raw Edges, it was vital to achieve a spontaneous, realistic and above all happy environment."

The Herzog & de Meuron-designed VitraHaus, which was opened in 2010, features regularly changing displays with new Vitra products continuously being added. Last year Jasper Morrison created a home for a fictional character on the building's first floor.

The space is intended to help visitors find inspiration for their own home and explore their taste in design. Here, they can also try out, order and purchase furniture and design objects. Along with four storeys of showroom space, the VitraHaus also contains a shop, the Lounge Chair Atelier and a café on the ground floor.

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London design studio Raw Edges has created a range of concrete street furniture for Greenwich Peninsula, which is designed to look like "scaled-up" armchairs.

Raw Edges created the concrete seating for the Greenwich Peninsula development scheme – one of the largest regeneration projects in London. They are located outside the O2 arena, and will remain in place for the next 10 years.

Each chair comes in three heights – small, medium and tall. When arranged together, they are designed to evoke the sitting patterns of people resting on makeshift seating, such as walls and steps.

"In the city we can find relaxing spots that were not meant to become seats – like stairs, pavements edges and low brick walls," said the studio, which was set up by Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay after they graduated from London's Royal College of Art in 2007.

"We looked into this behaviour; this hunter's eye that looks for the ideal resting position, like a student during a lunch break or a bunch of friends sitting on the pavement and came up with this small urban landscape that is made from a cluster of concrete units."

Different combinations of seating heights subsequently create a variety of sitting, or laying, options for passers-by.

"We have created scaled-up armchair-like seats that form an urban texture that invites people to step on, climb and relax," the designers said.

This is the studio's first pursuit into long-term outdoor fixtures. Previous designs include wooden furniture with rainbow-hued zigzag patterns and floral rugs that use lenticular patterns to change colour.

Greenwich Peninsula is a project masterplanned by British architecture firm Allies and Morrison, which is also designing two residential blocks for the site.

It is part of an £8.4 billion regeneration project on the riverside site, which is to include 15,720 homes, a film studio, as well as a new design district, schools, offices and healthcare services.

It's also the location of the Now Gallery, which recently hosted a colourful labyrinth-like installation by designer Camille Walala.

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London studio Raw Edges has partnered with Persian rug company Golran to update its Lake carpet collection with a floral design that appears different depending on the viewing angle.

The rug collection, which was launched at Milan design week, is an extension of an earlier range launched by the studio.

It references the work of Israeli artist Yaacov Agam, who often used colour and lenticular patterns to create optical art.

Raw Edges replicated this op-art lenticular technique so that the carpets seem to change in appearance depending on the viewing point – looking vivid when the owner leaves the house, for example, and presenting calmer hues when they return.

While the technique is more commonly used to produce printed images, the studio used different levels of knots throughout the rug to create a ridged texture.

"It is like having two approaches for one thing, two different ways to look at it, but then when standing at the right place, you see the whole picture," said the studio, which was set up by Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay after they graduated from London's Royal College of Art in 2007.

The pair often experiments with colour and pattern, creating zig-zag rainbow-hued furniture, and adding a pink and red gridded timber floor to an English stately home.

The updated Lake collection made its debut at Salone del Mobile last week. Spanish designer Jaime Hayón also unveiled a collection of rugs at the design fair, working with Nanimarquina to turn a set of surreal illustrations into elaborate designs.

Other highlights from Milan design week include triangular-patterned furniture by Olafur Eliasson, and an all-white Valextra pop-up created by Snarkitecture.

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Eli Feiglin of Caesarstone reflects on the quartz surface manufacturer's collaborations with designers including Raw Edges and Jaime Hayón in the latest movie Dezeen produced for the brand.

Founded in 1987, Caesarstone is an international manufacturer of quartz surfaces for countertops, which it produces by combining powdered quartz mineral with a polymer binder.

The company designs all its products in-house but regularly collaborates with external designers. This year, for example, Caesarstone worked with British designer Tom Dixon to create four different kitchens that were showcased in Milan during the Salone del Mobile furniture fair.

"It's important for Caesarstone to work with the world's leading designers, to push the boundaries of what can be done with a product," explains Feiglin, Caesarstone's vice president of marketing, in the movie.

In 2014, Caesarstone worked with German designer Sebastian Herkner to produce a bench and table, which were displayed at Wallpaper magazine's Handmade exhibition in Milan.

Called Skid, the designs were inspired by flat-pack furniture and were assembled by slotting together slabs of Caesarstone's quartz material.

"We wanted to use the flat panels of Caesarstone to create a 3D object," Herkner says. "They create abstract lines, very graphic and simple. And it was also very well handcrafted."

The same year, Caesarstone worked with London design studio Raw Edges to create a huge kitchen inside one of the halls of the Palazzo Clerici in Milan.

Built entirely from Caesarstone's quartz material, the kitchen surface had sections removed for slotting in storage units, appliances and accessories.

"What we wanted to do was to use the Caesarstone surface to bind all the units together," explains Yael Mer of Raw Edges.

"So you have the cabinets, you have the sink, you have places to put the dishes. And everything was united within the surface of Caesarstone."

The following year in Milan, Caesarstone collaborated with London designer Philippe Malouin to create two different installations, which were both displayed at the Palazzo Serbelloni.

The first installation consisted of 20 geometric planters carved in a range of shapes, textures and colours.

"We were lucky enough to have all the Caesarstone we wanted to use and work with," Malouin says.

"And we had every single tool imaginable to transform, cut and sculpt [the planters]."

In the palazzo's grand hall next door, Malouin installed eight sets of swings featuring seats made from Caesarstone, which visitors were invited to play on.

"Every single swing seat was a piece of the new Caesarstone collection in 2015, shown in a way that people could interact with," Malouin says.

This year, Caesarstone worked with Jaime Hayón to make an original artwork for a retrospective of the Spanish designer's work at Israel's Design Museum Holon.

Called Face Mirror, Hayón's artwork comprised panels of Caesarstone cut and assembled into an abstract representation of the face of a monkey, with mirrors in the place of eyes.

"I combined different methods of cutting the stone, and combined different colours," Hayón explains. "It's like making jewellery. The stone, even though it's industrial, becomes something precious."

Hayón says it was important for him to create something artistic from the material, which usually has an industrial use.

"It's not a kitchen, it's not a bathroom – it's art," he says. "So we give [the material] another context and another value."

This movie was filmed by Dezeen in Milan for Caesarstone. Photographs and additional footage are courtesy of Caesarstone.

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Milan 2016: London design studio Raw Edges has created a collection of zigzag-patterned furniture using pieces of wood that have been dipped into angled buckets of dye (+ slideshow).

The studio, led by designers Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer, created the Herringbone collection of tables, chairs and a screen by staining planks of untreated jelutong and pine wood in buckets of colourful dyes, each placed at a 45 degree angle.

The result is a multi-layered, multicoloured pattern – while the dye does soak through into the top layer of the wood, the grains and textures remain visible.

"We are more interested in creating patterns,  not just by sketching them, more by creating a system and a method of making them," Mer told Dezeen.

"In this case we came up with this method of dipping at 45 degrees," she continued. "So we start with very pale colours, then we dip the plank in one side and then flip it to the other side, and this is how we produce the herringbone pattern."

Raw Edges has worked on various projects that experiment with staining, and last year installed a dye-soaked wooden floor across the sculpture gallery at English stately home Chatsworth House.

At the press preview of their collection during this year's Milan design week, Mer told Dezeen that the duo are "devoted" to working with pattern and colours, and that this collection is a continuation of that previous dye-soaking project, called End Grain.

"For a very long time we were interested in colours and in patterns, but it took us time to declare it," said Mer. "But once we decided that we were going to devote ourselves to colours, it made it much easier."

"In a way, it is a continuation of a project called End Grain, but this is a much more lighter process. It's a few seconds of dipping, the previous one was like three days of soaking and cooking," she added.

Raw Edge's Herringbone collection is on show from 12 to 17 April at the Spazio Sanremo in Milan's 5vie design district.

Other projects on show throughout the duration of Milan design week include a collection of "intentionally boring" office furniture, a range of plastic furniture designed specifically for kids, and a table made from resin composite material Jesmonite.

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London Design Festival 2015: design studio Raw Edges has updated its Stack drawers for this year's London Design Festival, using leftover materials to create multicoloured side panels (+ slideshow).

Originally designed in 2008, the drawers were constructed from sheets of lacquered wood when they were put into production by UK furniture brand Established & Sons.

"When working on the production pieces for Established & Sons in 2008, we explored colourfulness and were delighted to find out that other people are drawn to its colour combinations," said Raw Edges co-founder Shay Alkalay.

Having been approached by the company to create a bespoke model for the 2015 London Design Festival, the design duo have created five sets of drawers that are randomly stacked off-centre in either eight-or 13-drawer formations.

Although the new model is based on the same structure and mechanisms, Raw Edges has swapped the existing side panels for a mismatch of materials found in their studio.

Pieces of cutting mat, pegboard and plaster-resin composite Jesmonite form multi-textured side panels, along with offcuts of dye-soaked wood from the studio's Endgrain furniture range.

"We wanted to make combinations that are related to everyday work in our studio," Alkalay told Dezeen.

"We always work with material swatches and often combine small samples to achieve interesting combinations," he continued. "Here, we have built up a collection of many panels so that we could play around with them like swatches, but here they are in fact final design."

The design duo also took the opportunity to use materials they hadn't previously worked with, including marble and solid-surface material Corian.

Each of the colourful compartments in both the eight-drawer and 13-drawer towers can be pushed open from both sides, producing a "random and irregular" formality.

The designs were unveiled at an exhibition at the Established & Sons showroom in Shoreditch as part of this year's London Design Festival, which runs until 27 September.

Raw Edges was established by Alkalay with partner Yael Mer. Earlier this year, the studio installed a dye-soaked wooden floor across the sculpture gallery at English stately home Chatsworth House.

The duo were also amongst four designers who installed their interpretations of "home" inside house-shaped pavilions in London's Trafalgar Square for the design festival in 2014.

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Curved wooden benches and stools "grow" from a gridded floor of dyed timber installed in the sculpture gallery at English stately home Chatsworth House.

London studio Raw Edges was commissioned to created an installation inside the 19th-century sculpture gallery, as part of an exhibition of seat furniture named Make Yourself Comfortable at Chatsworth.

Rather than designing a single piece of furniture, studio founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay chose to transform the space with an installation that extends across the full room.

The designers used pieces of dye-soaked timber to created a patterned floor for the 300-square-metre space, with benches and stools emerging from more densely coloured areas.

"Furniture is usually mobile, you can move it," said Alkalay. "Usually when you see a chair it has pointy legs – you don't often have an opportunity to just fix a piece of furniture to the ground. We played with the notion that it actually grows from the ground and looks almost like a tree trunk."

A coloured pathway winds through the space of the gallery, leading from one bench to another. Each seat is carefully positioned to allow the sitter to view particular marble sculptures.

The idea for the path evolved from an earlier plan to create a maze-like layout around the sculptures.

"The house is amazing, especially coming from the vast landscape," Alkalay told Dezeen. "So there was this discussion about turning it into a garden, almost like a French garden, you have the maze and then you see sculptures. There were a few sketches but it wasn't working very well, but there is something of a garden still – almost a path through it."

The installation is named after the Endgrain technique developed by the studio, which harnesses the grain of the wood to carry dye right the way through sections of timber. Blocks dyed in different pigments are then glued together with the grains facing vertically to create three-dimensional patterns, and then shaped with a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine.

"We do the blocks and then it goes to CNC cutting," said the designers. "So in the beginning it is very crafty and at the end it is quite industrial."

The technique was developed after Raw Edges' dyed timber floor for fashion designer Stella McCartney's Milan boutique kept losing its colour as it was worn by shoppers' feet.

"We always had problems with the high traffic areas of the stained floor, which would fade after some time," said Akalay. "In the studio we thought 'how can we find a way to soak the stain through the wood, so even if you sand it the colour would still be there'?"

Unlike the Endgrain furniture pieces produced previously by the duo – which are formed from jelutong timber – the seats in the Chatsworth installation are made up of blocks of birch ply, with strips of black veneer sandwiched between them to create the grid pattern. The cut edges reveal angled slices through this grid, showing the varying pigments.

These coloured seats were placed into holes in the patterned plywood boards across the floor, carefully ensuring the grid pattern lined up. The project took a fortnight to design but three weeks to install. "[The installation] was really complicated because you can't move any of the sculptures, so they had to work around them and plan everything," Akalay told Dezeen.

The green and red pigments were chosen to relate to the mosaics that can be seen on panels on the plinths in the gallery.

"I think what was so wonderful was that their ideas were so sympathetic to the environment but without being overawed by it, and they were influenced by some of the design details in Chatsworth too," said exhibition curator Hannah Obee.

"When this gallery was made by the sixth Duke of Devonshire in the 19th century, he actually wanted the floor to be Swedish porphyry but in the end it was too expensive even for him," said Obee. "One of the things that is wonderful is that we've come full circle. Raw Edges have introduced coloured flooring into the space which the man behind the gallery wanted originally."

The Endgrain technique has been nominated for the Design Museum's Designs of the Year 2015, which will be awarded later this year.

Make Yourself Comfortable at Chatsworth includes another specially commissioned piece by Tom Price: a pair of blocks – one made from coal and the other from transparent resin – that occupy the Elizabethan chapel.

A series of contemporary chairs by designers including Marc Newson, Amanda Levete, Thomas Heatherwick and Moritz Waldemeyer are also exhibited around the house.

Make Yourself Comfortable at Chatsworth is on show until 23 October 2015.

Images courtesy of Chatsworth House Trust, unless otherwise stated.

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News: London studio Raw Edges will install a new floor and seating using a grid of dyed timber inside the sculpture gallery at Chatsworth House in England's Peak District.

Raw Edges' colourful Endgrain installation will form part of the Make Yourself Comfortable exhibition, taking place at the Derbyshire estate of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire – part of which is open to the public.

Endgrain builds on the studio's collection of furniture patterned with dye-soaked sections of timber to create colourful three-dimensional patterns.

"Endgrain is a tactile installation that encourages visitors to engage with the space by following a colourful pathway and invites them to sit and enjoy different views of the sculptures," said Raw Edges.

The grain of the wood is used to transfer the dye right the way through the timber sections. Each piece is soaked in the pigment individually and then glued together to create the effect.

This technique will be best demonstrated in the curved shapes of the benches and stools, which will emerge from the densely coloured areas of flooring to reveal angled slices through the rectangular dyed elements.

The installation will occupy a gallery built in the 19th century to house the 6th Duke's contemporary sculpture collection at Chatsworth, which is one of the UK's best-known stately homes and has stood on the site in some form since the 11th century.

"When the gallery was first built, the 6th Duke wanted a floor of Swedish porphyry to offset his contemporary sculpture," said a statement from Chatsworth. "This had to be abandoned and he injected colour into the space by inserting mosaic panels into the pedestals."

These panels provided the impetus for Raw Edges to bring even more colour into the gallery using their wooden mosaic patterns.

"As soon as we saw the 19th-century Sculpture Gallery we were fascinated by the idea of introducing colour to the space, in order to create a backdrop to its monochrome sculptures and interior," said the studio.

An artwork called Counterpart by designer and sculptor Tom Price has also been specially commissioned for the exhibition. It consists of two cuboid blocks in contrasting materials that will sit together in the estate's chapel.

The first block is made of coal – a reference to the Devonshire's mineral rights – while the second is formed from transparent resin, alluding to the family collection of jewels.

The black block is designed to absorb light, while the see-through piece will be illuminated to highlight lumps of tar set inside.

"Throughout the house a fascinating interplay between nature and artifice is evident everywhere from a beautifully veined stone lintel to an intricately carved wooden frame bordering a trompe l'oeil depiction of nature," said Price.

"I wanted to celebrate this blurring of nature, craft and art by combining natural and synthetic materials to create objects that look almost mineral-like, but are in fact entirely fabricated by hand," he added.

Along with these two new commissions, a series of contemporary chairs by designers including Marc Newson, Amanda Levete, Thomas Heatherwick and Moritz Waldemeyer will be exhibited around the 17th-century house.

The chairs – some of which have been acquired by the Devonshire family – were selected to "reinterpret either the space they are displayed in or an object from the collection".

Make Yourself Comfortable opens on 28 March and will run until 23 October.

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Movie: in the last of our series of exclusive video interviews for Moroso, London design duo Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges explain what's special about working with the Italian furniture brand.

"[Moroso creative director] Patrizia is so busy," says Alkalay. "But's what's nice is that when you go there she really keeps the day for you. She spends time with you as a designer and you feel really part of this Moroso family."

"It's really nice when we are working on a project just to spend time in the prototyping workshop," adds Mer. "Everyone is involved. Patrizia is involved and the prototyping people are there. Just spending time there is very inspiring."

Alkalay says that one of the things that's special about Moroso is that they have retained their manufacturing expertise in-house.

"Now you have lots of companies that are more like editors, they just collect designers that they like and they farm out production elsewhere," he explains. "At Moroso they're really making stuff. I mean, you go there and see material and you can touch it. It's not just an office with computers. They have the know-how, they have the heritage in upholstery."

Mer and Alkalay's studio Raw Edges has designed two products for Moroso.

The studio's Kenny chair features a simple pocket-like textile seat, which is attached to an oak frame.

"It's Kvadrat fabric and it's only a very long rectangle that's folded into this curvaceous shape," explains Mer. "The idea was to celebrate the simplicity of the pattern of the fabric and to reach something that would be very comfortable."

Alkalay believes this design approach is representative of the studio's work in general.

"We like to create shapes that maybe look a bit odd or unfamiliar but they are still functioning," he explains. "So when you use this chair, although it might not look the most comfortable, it is [actually] very comfortable."

Raw Edges also designed a stool called Sugar for the Italian brand, which features a simple cushion that is clamped onto wooden legs to create a shape like a wrapped sweet.

"Sugar, the candy look-alike stools, are just cushions with legs sticking to them," Alkalay says. "It is just celebrating joy and happiness really."

This movie was filmed at the Moroso Loves London exhibition at Moroso's London showroom on Rosebery Avenue and is part of a six-part series of exclusive video interviews with designers featured in the show.

You can watch all the movies below.

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Dye-soaked sections of timber create colourful three-dimensional patterns across these furniture pieces by London design studio Raw Edges.

After many years of trying to fully soak pigment into pieces of timber, Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges finally found the right combination of dye and wood types to obtain colour all the way through the sections.

"We had to find a wood that would absorb the stain properly," Alkalay told Dezeen. "We tried over 20 different species until we realised which one would work best for us."

Finally settling on jelutong timber, the designers arranged the natural and coloured blocks of wood into patterns.

Pieces were then glued together with the grains facing vertically – similar to the make up of a butcher's block.

"Usually a butcher's block has the end grain facing up, because it's the stronger surface of the timber to withstand chopping meat with a big knife," said Alkalay.

These large blocks were then shaped in a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine to form table tops, shelves, stools and other smaller objects for a collection titled Endgrain.

The resulting forms have variation across their surfaces, with curving sides revealing different pattern effects to the flatter tops.

"The project is about how the three-dimensional shapes of the objects affect the pattern of the timber," Alkalay said.

The designers were keen to show that the patterns weren't created using marquetry or veneer, so the table top is slightly domed to demonstrate that the colours run all the way through the wood.

Raw Edges' idea for the collection came after failed attempts to permanently stain floors in the stores of British fashion designer Stella McCartney.

"We used to stain the oak parquet, but with high footfall especially at the entrance to the shops the colour would fade away after a year or so," said Alkalay. "We wanted to find a way to keep the colour permanent."

The collection was launched to coincide with Brussels Design September, an annual month-long event in the Belgian capital.

Endgrain was commissioned by a private collector, who will keep the pieces after the exhibition at his Senne gallery space.

Raw Edges plans to extend the collection with new designs over the coming years.

Photography is by Max Creasy.

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London Design Festival 2014: designers including Jasper Morrison and Ilse Crawford have installed their interpretations of "home" inside house-shaped pavilions in London's Trafalgar Square (+ slideshow).

Supported by home-rental website Airbnb, the installation is titled A Place Called Home and is one of the London Design Festival's landmark projects.

Identical four-metre by six-metre structures with four walls and gabled roofs contain the ideas of four British designers and studios: Jasper Morrison, Ilse Crawford's Studioilse, Raw Edges and Patternity.

Morrison's "home" is designed for a pigeon keeper, "because who else would choose to live in the middle of Trafalgar Square?" he said.

The blackened exterior features roosting boxes and perches, occupied by model birds.

Inside, Morrison's furniture designs are displayed against simple plywood surfaces. A small bed and a desk are positioned at the far end, while a seating area in front of large windows looks out onto the square.

The blue pavilion by Studioilse asks the question "Home?" with a neon sign on its roof. Ilse Crawford wanted to examine the personal aspects of home, and a live Twitter feed displays responses from the public to "What does home mean to you?", which is written on the floor.

"That's really what we wanted to interrogate," Crawford told Dezeen. "Home is in your head. It's rituals, it's things that make you feel comfortable and safe."

Videos showing everyday rituals including making tea and reading the newspaper are projected onto two walls inside, accompanied by common sounds like clattering pans and furniture being moved.

"It's a fluid thing, home, it's a response to the people that live there," said Crawford. "It wouldn't have made sense to represent it as a physical thing. Film seemed to be the only way to express that."

A scent developed by the studio and fragrance expert Azzi Glasser wafts around the space, because "every home has it's own distinctive smell", according to Crawford.

Raw Edges' design crams all the rooms typically found in a home into the small space using folding furniture and sliding partitions.

"This project is about the fact that if you're in one place at one given time, you can't be in another," Raw Edges cofounder Yael Mer told Dezeen. "When you're in the shower, you obviously can't be in the bedroom or the living room."

Three internal walls can be moved along rails to expand or shrink the bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.

"This is a house for one person, so when you're not in one space the other spaces shrink," Mer explained."You can have a very big shower, a very big living room and a very big bedroom."

Pieces of furniture attached to the partitions slot together when closed up against each other. The bed concertinas up and shelves fit over one another, while some elements like the sink are used by two rooms. "Everything is quite minimalistic," said Mer.

The front wall is missing so visitors can access and move between each of the spaces.

Finally, Patternity has installed a giant kaleidoscope into the side of their pavilion, which can be viewed from the inside and out.

Visitors turn a wheel to activate the optical effects created by refracted light. While spinning, a camera inside takes a digital photograph that is automatically uploaded to an online gallery.

The Patternity designers interpreted the theme of "home" as encompassing the world we live in, which is made up of simple shapes.

"We thought about home on a macro scale, so home being Earth which we all share," Patternity cofounder Anna Murray told Dezeen.

They covered the exterior of the wooden structure in black geometric patterns, which pair with the shapes created in the kaleidoscope.

"It's a celebration of the fundamental building blocks – the circle, lines, triangles, squares – that make up life," said Murray.

A Place Called Home was commissioned for the London Design Festival 2014, which runs until 21 September. Photography is by Ed Reeve.

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Persian rug company Golran has commissioned London studio Raw Edges to create carpets with patterns that appear to change when viewed from different angles (+ slideshow).

Titled The Lake, the op-art rug collection by Raw Edges was launched in Milan earlier this year.

"Imagine a rug that looks very vivid and colourful when you leave home, but the very same rug will appear more relaxing and calming when coming back from work," said Raw Edges founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay.

"It is like having two approaches for one thing, two different ways to look at it, but then when standing at the right place, you see the whole picture," they explained.

"This may sound like illusion confusion but it is all based on existing op-art lenticular technique that, thanks to Golran, and their craftsmen in Nepal, has been translated into marvellous rug making."

Varying pile height throughout the rug means that colours are perceived differently depending on the viewer's vantage point, appearing more intense from one end and more muted from the other. The full pattern only reveals itself from one specific position.

"The collection, conceived as second reading of the persian rug, takes its inspiration from the lenticular Israeli artist Yaacov Agam who, together with Victor Vasarely, revolutionised the world of optic perception in art," said the designers.

The rugs are hand-knotted from silk and wool in Nepal. The first collection is based on traditional kilim – flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs – and available in four colours: grey, red, blue and green.

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Milan 2014: Kitchen and bathroom equipment is lowered into islands made from engineered quartz material Caesarstone in this animated preview of an installation for the brand by London studio Raw Edges, to be unveiled in Milan next month (+ movie).

Raw Edges designed a series of islands using Caesarstone, which have sections removed for slotting in storage units, appliances and accessories.

The movie shows models of these items attached to clasps or tied onto strings and lowered into the holes incorporated into each design.

Sinks, shelves and plants pots are all dropped into their specific places in the units. The animation will be realised as an interactive installation in Milan.

"For the Milan presentation we want to further-explore the concept of the sliding of objects into Caesarstone Islands," said Raw Edges founders Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay.

"The focus will be on the kitchen, which will be set as a working station - a stage for performing cooking."

The full Islands range includes units for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as sideboards and a ping pong table.

All the designs comprise a thin surface supported on two slices of the material and feature rounded corners.

Different units in the collection are made in various colours from the Casearstone range.

Following a preview of the products at the Interior Design Show in Toronto earlier this year, the installation will be presented at the Palazzo Clerici in Milan's Brera district from 9 to 13 April during the city's annual design week.

Photography is by Vicky Lam.

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Product news: the seat of this chair by London design duo Raw Edges for Italian brand Moroso is made from a single loop of material.

The Kenny chair by Raw Edges for Moroso has a pocket-shaped seat fixed to a four-legged oak frame.

The seat is made from from a loop of metal mesh, a thin piece of upholstery foam and a "warp and weft" fabric from Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat, which has two colours of yarn woven in different directions.

The designers pulled out individual threads to reveal more of the weft, creating a striped pattern across the fabric.

"Turning flat material into three-dimensional volumetric shapes can be done in many ways, from pattern-making in fashion to complex origami folding," explained designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay. "This project is all about the effortlessness of its geometry."

Raw Edges recently created a bookcase shaped like a loom to display novels by young British writers and a display of hundreds of fabric ribbons for Kvadrat – see all design by Raw Edges.

We've published several Moroso products lately, including Patricia Urquiola's chairs that wrap around the sitter like a hood and Nendo's chair inspired by stiletto heels – see all furniture by Moroso.

Other chairs we've featured recently include a reissue of a classic design by Dieter Rams and a curved wooden chair with a cut-out backs – see all chairs.

Photographs are by Alessandro Paderni.

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Milan 2013: London design duo Raw Edges came up with a bookcase shaped like a weaving loom to display novels by young British writers.

The Bloom bookcase was commissioned by the British Council to hold works of fiction by literary magazine Granta's pick of young British novelists.

Raw Edges came up with a wooden frame resembling a loom – hence its name – that allows books to be slotted over the red threads and held at varying heights by sliding black stoppers.

The bookcase holds one novel by each of the writers chosen by Granta in its once-a-decade list, which was first published in 1983.

It was shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile during Milan's design week earlier this month – see our round-up of the best furniture and lighting from the Salone or see all products and exhibitions from Milan 2013.

Raw Edges, a duo comprising Tel Aviv-born designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay, previously created a display of hundreds of fabric ribbons for Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat and a shelf that slides apart to form a desk – see all design by Raw Edges.

Other bookcases we've featured lately include a zig-zagging wooden design by Japanese studio Nendo and an extendable bookcase with interlocking shelves – see all bookcases.

Here's some more information from the British Council:

The Best of Young British Novelists bookcase

British-based design studio Raw-Edges has been commissioned by the British Council to design a bespoke travelling bookcase to house one carefully selected work of fiction from each of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. The bookcase will also hold editions of Granta magazine.

The highly inventive design means the books themselves take centre stage in the installation. The interactive nature of the bookcase also allows visitors to change the display by repositioning the books. It invites visitors to delve into the stories and also consider the books’ physical qualities and design. The bookcase will be on show during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, where a series of talks will consider the book as a physical object. This commission represents an opportunity for audiences overseas to engage with British design and British contemporary literature.

Before they were household names, they were Granta Best of Young British Novelists. At a celebration to be held at the British Council, on the evening of 15 April 2013, Granta will announce its once-in-a-decade selection of the twenty best British novelists aged under forty. Granta's first generation-defining list of writers was published in 1983 and set the bar for the following decades.

The April announcement marks the publication of Granta 123: The Best of Young British Novelists 4, which includes a new story from each writer on the 2013 list. Granta 123 will be available to purchase from all good booksellers from 16 April in the UK and 23 April in the US.

Throughout 2013, the British Council and Granta are collaborating on an international showcase of contemporary British novelists, which features the twenty writers selected by Granta’s panel of judges. The first international events – including readings and conversation – will be announced on 15 April and will be taking place in more than ten countries including Russia, Qatar and India.

Books from each Granta Best Young Novelist on the 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013 lists will be presented around the world in a bookcase designed by Raw-Edges Design Studio.

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London-based design duo Raw Edges arranged hundreds of fabric ribbons around the edge of their display stand for Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat at this year's Stockholm Design Week.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Raw Edges used a selection of 20 Kvadrat textiles to make the 1500 ribbons that surround the display stand, which they called The Picnic, at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair.

The wooden structure, which was made with Douglas fir from Danish flooring company Dinesen, used angled panels to display fabric swatches.

The stand was intended to evoke "a wooden cabin, soft roof tiles, fish skin and a picnic under a weeping willow," according to the designers.

Raw Edges was founded by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay after they graduated from London's Royal College of Art in 2006.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Other projects by the duo we've featured on Dezeen include a shelf that splits in two to form a desk and a cork light fitting that lets you attach your own paper shade – see all design by Raw Edges.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

Photographs are by Joël Tettamanti, except where stated.

The Picnic by Raw Edges

Renowned design duo Raw Edges has designed the Kvadrat stand for the Stockholm Furniture 2013. The Picnic features a massive wooden construction of Dinesen Douglas Fir and a textile installation consisting of 1,500 straps made out of a selection of twenty different Kvadrat textiles.

Above: photograph by Raw Edges

The designers envisioned recreating a picnic in an enchanted forest atmosphere. Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay about the concept: “wooden cabin, soft roof tiles, fish skin and picnic under a weeping willow, all mixed in a massive pot with Kvadrat swatches. Served within a commercial fair with our aspiration to create a bit of relaxing surreal situation but very warm welcoming."

The stand is built out of two main elements: the wooden structure and the textile straps hanging from the ceiling. The wooden structure functions as display for the Kvadrat swatches and corresponds with the appearance of a wooden cabin. Made from Douglas Fir from the Danish floor company Dinesen, the horizontal wooden panels have been angled in such a way so it can hold the textile samples allowing the visitors a closer look. The impressive textile installation resembles vertical roof tiles and create a three dimensional volume. Functioning as a space divider it was inspired byweeping willow trees, creating an intimate space within the big exhibition hall.

About Raw Edges

Raw Edges is a London-based design studio founded by Israeli designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay. The duo, who attended the Royal College of Art together, collaborate on ideas and have complementary interests: whereas Yael Mer’s primary focus is on turning two-dimensional sheet materials into functional forms, Shay Alkalay is fascinated by how things move, function and react. Their output, which is the product of relentless experimentation, includes lamps, shelving, seating, flooring and museums installations.

For job opportunities at Kvadrat, visit their company profile on Dezeen Jobs.

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Milan 2012: Hackney designers were busy in Milan last week and we're bringing you some of the best new product launches, including this shelf by Stoke Newington duo Raw Edges where the front slides down to create a work surface.

Shown at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile for Dutch brand Arco, Deskbox can be fixed to a wall and acts as a shelf and container when closed.

A pencil can be left standing in a tiny round hole in the top surface to signal that there is more to the simple form than meets the eye.

A parallel mechanism, similar to that used in compartmentalised sewing boxes allows the front section to hinge down and provide a flat surface for working on.

Raw Edges previously designed another unfolding shelving product for Dutch furniture brand Arco, which was launched at last year's furniture fair in Milan.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile took place from 17 to 22 April. See all our stories about Milan 2012 here.

Here's some more information from Arco:

Deskbox designed by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay

Soon after graduating from the Royal College of Art, Shay Alkalay became very well known with Pivot, a special type of drawers for Arco and the Stack for Established&Sons. He is most fascinated by functional items that can move and change and, in cooperation with his partner Yael Mer, they founded the design studio Raw Edges. Their latest design for Arco is another mobile functional object.

The Deskbox is a practical small table/cabinet that is hung onto a wall and it is ideal for settings where there is little space available for furniture. It is an elegant small work place, which is excellent for working on a laptop for instance, and it can be retracted to form a closed box, half the size of the table top.

The Deskbox represents a new typology in Arco's focus on tables, which is an area of specialisation that sets the company apart from others. Continuous research often leads to new inventions and solutions.

This design from Raw Edges originated from the project Arco Okay 2011, where Arco challenged ten designers to develop new ideas, based on the production possibilities of the company. Desk Box is based on the parallel mechanism from earlier sewing boxes, which Arco used to produce a long time ago.

Raw Edges are based at Okay Studio off Stamford Hill, round the corner from Dezeen's own offices.

Designed in Hackney map:

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Key:

Blue = designers
Red = architects
Yellow = brands

See a larger version of this map

Raw Edges is included in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.

Designed in Hackney is a Dezeen initiative to showcase world-class architecture and design created in the borough, which is one of the five host boroughs for the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as being home to Dezeen’s offices. We’ll publish buildings, interiors and objects that have been designed in Hackney until the games this summer.

More information and details of how to get involved can be found at www.designedinhackney.com.

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Milan 2011: London design studio Raw Edges presented this dressing table and a desk with hinged drawers for Dutch brand Arco at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last week.

The piece is a development of the designers' Pivot project for the brand, originally launched with a cascading two-drawer unit in 2008 (see our earlier story).

Two drawers hinge, rather than slide, out of the body of the cabinet, which is made from lacquered oak.

The desk and dressing table versions have shorter legs and either a deeper table top or recess for a mirror along the back.

See all our stories about Milan 2011 »

More from Raw Edges on Dezeen »

The following is from the designers:

ARCO AND YOUNG TALENT / NEW PROJECTS

Arco is launching several new products this year, and it is striking to note that a new generation of designers is increasingly playing a role in the composition of the collection. In order to further intensify its contacts with this generation of design talent, Arco is currently organising an unusual design project: ARCO OKAY - London designers do furnishings.

This collaboration with the London designers of the Okay Studio is a follow-up to the Arco 12 project which was organised in 2005 on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary.

Arco wishes to actively remain open to new ideas and challenged ten designers to create something in wood, based on the available production possibilities, which was totally different from the products in the existing collection.

A few years ago Arco started collaborating with a new generation of talented young designers at home and abroad. This approach is now bearing fruit. And, partly as a result, the company’s image is evolving. The solid and highly regarded collection that Arco has created over the years serves as a foundation from which the company can move forward with new élan.

Jorre van Ast took over the management of the family company on 1 January 2011. While preserving the highly acclaimed Arco style, he is adding his own striking signature as he slowly but surely expands the furniture collection that includes many bestsellers from the past. In keeping with its guiding principles, the company seeks to embrace innovation and sustainability while maintaining the same exacting quality standards and the traditional craftsmanship of the furniture maker.

Pivot Desk and Pivot Vanity design: Shay Alkalay, Raw-Edges Design Studio

The highly successful Pivot, a wall cabinet with two drawers, launched by Arco in 2008, has since been publicised and exhibited worldwide and has won various awards. The designer, Shay Alkalay, created the prototype in just three days. “No preparation, no research. It came to me just like that.” He made it shortly after completing his finals at the RCA in London, where he had been engaged in an intensive exploration of phenomena such as movement and gravity. “I didn’t ever make a real product at the Academy. I was just playing around. Pivot was the first piece of furniture to emerge from my research. It was loosely based on the mechanism of traditional sewing boxes and toolboxes.” The fact that the drawers hinge rather than slide makes it possible to open both drawers at the same time, creating a new typology.

There are now two different versions of the Pivot. Alkalay: “The Pivot is ideal if you don’t have much space, and also for things that don’t require much space. My mother-in-law thought it was the perfect make-up table. So I immediately made one for my wife Yael. It was not something I would ever have thought of. It also makes a very handy little work table with drawers – a writing desk that is just the thing for a laptop.”

The original cabinet has been made slightly lower and has been given an integrated desk top to create the Pivot Desk. The Pivot Vanity is a make-up table with a recess for a mirror in the top.

Product information: cabinet : lacquer and solid oak
top: solid oak

Raw Edges is included in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.

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Milan 2011: users can pin their own paper shades onto this cork light fitting by London design studio Raw Edges for Portugese brand Materia.

The light fitting, called Pinha, features a three tiered cork base which paper shades can be pinned to.

The tiered system allows for control of the direction and range of light.

The piece remains on show at Spazio San Marco, Via San Marco 38, Brera, Milano until 17 April. See all our stories from Milan 2011 »

See all our stories on Raw Edges »

See all our stories on Materia »

The following is from the designers:

Pinha

Pinha proposes a playful approach to lighting through personalization.

This hanging lamp consists of a cork outer fixture to which a printed-paper shade is fastened. You have the last word on how Pinha looks, by choosing the shade from among different patterns and drawings. Function-wise, you can also decide on the direction and range of the light, according to where the shade is pinned.

Cork’s low thermal and electrical conductivity ensures that you can handle the lamps shell in perfect safety. Making things even more interesting is the fact that the shade and its placement can be changed at will, according to your mood, the task you are performing or the ambiance you want to set.

Materia Amorim

Cork is nature’s own high-tech achievement. Down to the cell structure, its unique composition and characteristics cannot be replicated by anything man-made. Extracted from the bark of the cork oak – a native specimen of the Western Mediterranean basin – cork is a state-of-the-art raw material, requiring minimum transformation or processing before use.

Reusable and completely biodegradable, it is one of the most versatile and sustainable materials in the world  - environmentally, socially and economically.

Impermeable to liquids and gases, elastic, compressible, highly resistant yet light and buoyant, cork’s potential as a leading material for the 21st is only now being realized, with cutting edge R&D pushing the boundaries of invention.

Spearheading this drive for innovation is the Portuguese company Amorim, world leader in the cork industry. In addition to high-performance applications for the aeronautical, construction and wine-producing industries Amorim is now looking to make cork center stage into the everyday. Fusing the material’s unique sensory qualities and personality with a designer’s flair, Materia is a collection of objects that work well and feel good in contemporary homes and lifestyles.

Lighthearted and lightweight, relevant yet unassuming, easy going and tactile, these objects will integrate seamlessly into your daily life and habitat, as natural, refreshingly uncomplicated and witty answers to simple, universal needs.

They fit neatly into a little vacant spot in your life, left there by an action waiting to happen, a purpose about to be fulfilled.  User and function-wise intuitive, they will find their way into your home and office, the predictable and the unexpected of everyday.

Base for a Lamp Shade
Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay, Raw Edges, for Materia 2011
Cork composite fixture, electrical components, paper lampshade,

Materia
13-17 April, 10.00am – 8.00pm
Spazio San Marco
Via San Marco 38
Brera – Milano

See also:

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Bote by Big-Game for Materia	Nomu by Lee West for Eno	Appo by Carlo Trevisani

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London designer Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges is next up in our series of movies from Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents filmed at imm cologne earlier this year.

Click on the symbol in the bottom right of the video player above to view the movie in full-screen HD.
Can’t see the movie? Click here.

In the movie Alkalay talks to Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about making furniture from felt, tiles from paper and a floor for Stella McCartney.

More about Raw Edges on Dezeen »

We'll be publishing all 13 movies from Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents over the coming days. More details about the talks here.

See also:

Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Harry Thaler
Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: AKKA
Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Hanna Emelie Ernsting

See all the stories about the event in our special category.

Watch all our movies from Dezeentalks at Cologne 2010 »
Watch all our movies »

See also:

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Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: H E Ernsting	Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: Harry Thaler	Dezeentalks at [D3] Design Talents: AKKA

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London designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges created an animated pond at the Bloomberg offices in London using equipment the company had thrown away.

Called The Pond, the installation featured an animation by Oscar Narud spanning 60 discarded computer monitors, showing fish, dragon flies and ducks darting between the screens.

40 wooden pallets were used to make seating around the pond, where workers can gather during breaks.

The installation was initiated by Arts Co as part of their Waste Not Want Not project commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropy.

More about Raw Edges on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from the designers:

The Pond
Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay

“The Pond’ is a seating environment constructed from 40 discarded wooden pallets encircling a recessed pond made from 60 redundant Bloomberg computer monitors. These are arranged to look as though they have been thrown into it landing untidily on top of each other. Across the linked screens runs an animation created especially by designer Norwegian designer Oscar Narud. Within the animation are several repeating cycles of activity – a duck paddles after a dragonfly, a small fish darts in and out among stones, a butterfly flits across the water and a frog leaps over lily pads and into the water.

The work is purposefully raw in construction, mimicking a natural outdoor landscape and drawing attention to the materiality of the waste used. The irony of this bucolic pond scene is that over 99 tonnes of domestic and industrial waste goes into landfill in the UK annually fundamentally impacting on the composition of this natural world.

About The Designers

Israeli-born Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay set up their London-based design studio Raw Edges after graduating from London’s Royal College of Art.

Their work is playful and imaginative yet functional and desirable and tries to continually challenge the basic premises of why a designed object has to be the way it is and how it functions.

Since their graduation show at the Royal College of Art in 2006, Raw Edges have received several highly respected awards including The British Council Talented Award, iF Gold Award, Dutch Design Award, Wallpaper* Design Award 2009 and the Elle Decoration International Design Award for best furniture of 2008_09 and just recently the Designer of the Future Award for 2009 from Design Miami/ Basel.

About Arts Co

Arts Co has been variously described as a ‘platform for talent’ and a ‘unique provider of solutions across the arts.’ Founded by Isabella Macpherson and Sigrid Wilkinson in 2007 Arts Co has its own curating programme, and connects individuals and companies with artists, designers and architects.

‘Waste Not Want Not’ is the latest in a series of specially commissioned art and design projects that bring the best of emerging international talent into the heart of Bloomberg’s London office.

Commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropy ‘Waste Not Want It’ provides a platform for some of the UK’s most dynamic artists and designers through the commission of unique furniture and art installations made almost entirely out of Bloomberg’s own waste. From cable flex to cardboard boxes, keyboards to computer mice, the waste materials traditionally stored in Bloomberg’s off site warehouses have been startlingly reinvented into technically innovative and environmentally responsible chairs, tables and interactive art works to excite and stimulate the employees and visitors who interact with them from the moment they enter the building.

DezeenTV: The Pond by Raw Edges

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Can’t see the movie? Click here

Watch all our movies »

See also:

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The Coiling Collection by Raw Edges	Bench by Raw Edges for Bench 10	Tailored Wood by Raw Edges for Cappellini

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London designers Raw Edges present furniture made from 326 metres of coiled felt at Fat Galerie in Paris.

Each object is made by wrapping strips of felt around wooden structures and coating one side in silicon, which soaks into the fibres to form a rigid object.

Prototypes of the project were first shown at Ten Small Atlases in Milan last April.

The exhibition opens today and continues until 15 January 2011.

The information that follows is from Raw Edges:

The Coiling Collection
Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay – Raw-Edges

A collection of interior objects made out of 100% Woollen felt and silicon –2010

Long strip of felt is coiled and formed into a three dimensional body. One side of the felt is being left in its natural softness, where the other side is saturated with silicon. The felt absorbs the silicon into its fibres and together they set into a hybrid material with structural build.

The principle has been inspired by composite materials, a combination between bonding and structural materials, similar to reinforce concrete or the ancient cob set from mud and straw.

The show in FAT Galerie Paris includes seven new prototypes made out of 326 meters of felt in total.

1. Standing Bowl
16 Meter of 9mm Grey Felt + Pink Silicon + Sapele wood

2. Coffee Table – 60cm Diameter
54 Meter of 5mm Terracotta Felt + Brown Silicon – Mixture of Wood

3. Dark Green Stool
46 Meter of 3mm Dark Green felt + Dark Green Silicon + Sapele wood

4. Orange Stool
30 Meter of 5mm Orange felt + Orange Silicon + Sapele wood

5. BFA Stool
64 Meter of 3mm Green/Yellow felt + Dark Green Silicon + Sapele wood

6. Grey Chair
22 Meter of 9mm Grey felt + Dark Grey Silicon + Beech wood

6. Rug

94 Meter of 2mm Light Blue Felt + Light Grey Silicon

See also:

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Coiled by BCXSY for Editions in Craft	Thermal Till Paper Vessels by Philippe Malouin	More work by Raw Edges

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This bench by London studio Raw Edges comprises three different benches that interlock to create a pattern of horizontal and vertical stripes.

Plaid Bench is made up of a plywood bench painted white, a pine bench painted in a mixture of blue and yellow stripes, and a hardwood bench.

The bench was one of ten exhibited by The Lollipop Shoppe during the London Design Festival this month.

Called Bench 10, the installation of ten benches by ten designers was exhibited around east London’s Old Spitalfields Market and included designs from VW+BS (see our earlier story), TAF (see our earlier story), Richard Shed (see our earlier story) and JDS Architects (see our earlier story).

See our earlier story about the interior design of The Lollipop Shoppe.

Here’s some more from the designers:

Stripes arrangement is a common element in iconic street benches, whether it is wood, metal or plastic; many of the archetype benches happen to be shaped in this way.

Stripes are also the fundamental element in fabric check pattern where they arranged together in a vertical and horizontal fashion. Making a graphical connection, Raw-Edges created large set up of benches that interlocked to each other perpendicularly in order to achieve a  Plaid/ Check patterns for the installation at the Old Spitalfield’s Market for the duration of  the London Design Festival 2010.

Three types of benches has been chosen: White painted plywood benches which were mostly common in public nurseries throughout our childhood years, urban stripy pine bench and solid rustic wooden bench. The benched have been painted to achieve the finished plaid pattern and were machined as well so they could be connected into each other in a cross lap joineries.

See also:

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		All our stories about the London Design Festival 2010
Tailored Wood by Raw Edges	More furniture stories	All our stories about the London Design Festival 2010

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Milan 2010: at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last month London designers Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer of Raw Edges launched a collection of seats for Cappellini made of wooden veneer filled with expanding foam.

Called Tailored Wood, the pieces are all unique as the expanding foam distorts the wood's surface with wrinkles when it expands.

More about Raw Edges on Dezeen:

Designers of the future at Design Miami/Basel (June 2009)
OKAY Studio at The Aram Gallery (September 2008)
Stack by Shay Alkalay (May 2008)
Cut Attachez by Shay Alkalay (February 2008)
Pivot by Shay Alkalay (January 2008)

See also: Alodia by Todd Bracher for Cappellini at Milan 2010

See all our stories about Milan 2010 in our special category.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Tailored Wood

Usually veneer is used to cover solid wood surfaces. In Tailored Wood Yael and Shay oppose this old traditional process by first creating an empty volume with the veneer that is later filled with constructive foam. The foam unexpectedly expands within the volume and creates a unique and surprising crinkled wooden surface.

This experimental process results in a collection of seats that are always different from one another other, even within an industrial production. The process is unconventional in terms of industrialised furniture as the pattern itself becomes both the defining surface and the mould. In a sense it is a reversal of upholstery in which normally a skin is applied over the stuffing.

The project first shown at Aram Gallery London curated by Daniel Charny and since then took place in many international exhibitions. Tailored Wood was seen in its early stages by Giulio Cappellini and now is proudly being presented as a production piece within the collection by the leading Italian manufacturer.

Manufacturer: Cappellini
Design Credit: Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay, Raw-Edges Design Studio

See also:

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Raw Edges at Design Miami/Basel)	Stack by Shay Alkalay	Alodia by Todd Bracher for Cappellini

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From Now to Eternity is an exhibition of plastic objects by designers including FAT, Tomoko Azumi, Stuart Haygarth and Committee, which opens in London this week.

The pieces on show have been commissioned by Arts Co. Top image: Musical Chair by Committee, 2008. Above: Fleece Chair by Tom Price, 2008.

“Plastic is a celebrative material as it has provided a vision of an exciting future since its discovery and we would not have same affluent life without it," says designer Hiroko Shiratori. Above and below: Plastic Nostalgia by Raw Edges, 2008.

"However, it has certainly created cultural and environmental issues. While respecting the material and the culture developed around it, I would like to create awareness of what the material is and what we might end up with playing around the idea of 'future fossil.'” Below: Future Fossil by Hiroko Shiratori, 2008.

The exhibition will be open 19 September - 19 October. Below: Classical-bust stool by FAT, 2008.

All images courtesy Arts Co and the artist.

The following information is from Arts Co:

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From Now To Eternity
Plastic in design

From Now To Eternity is a celebration of and debate around design, with a focus on one material: plastic. Below: Inflated Chair by Rolf Sachs, 2008.

Plastic is with us virtually from now to eternity: impervious to bacteria, acid, salt, rust, breakage and, in some cases, able to withstand heat, plastic is something of a miracle substance. One hundred years ago, when it was first invented, no one could have anticipated that plastic would present one of our biggest recycling challenges. Below: Millennium chandelier by, Stuart Haygarth, 2004.

Pioneering arts consultancy Arts Co is commissioning ten leading contemporary designers and design collectives to celebrate plastic through their work and look at ways to re-think our growing mountains of discarded plastic. Their ingenious creations will be on display at From Now To Eternity, an exhibition launching during the 2008 London Design Festival and continuing through Frieze Art Fair, at the Biscuit Building in London’s East End. Below: Fandangos by Committee, 2008.

The designers will show how plastic’s versatility - transparent or opaque, hard or pliant, able to take on a myriad of colours and forms – can serve their creativity. Below: Periscope by Committee, 2008.

Committee, Stuart Haygarth, Raw Edges and FAT take a witty, playful and imaginative approach: Committee will build on their improbable towers of household objects to create extraordinary designs, while Haygarth’s ebullient plastic chandelier is made from 1,000 exploded party poppers. Below: writing block by Committee, 2008.

Tomoko Azumi’s minimal, yet highly sensual work, Tom Price’s sculptural aesthetic and award-winning collective Troika, renowned for their pioneering use of technology, reveal the subtler possibilities of the medium. Below: Shaker Furniture by Tomoko Azumi, 2008.

Rolf Sachs’ original and provocative take on the possibilities for plastic establishes a new dialogue with a sometime reviled material. Shanghai-based WOKmedia are particularly keen to respond to this brief since China has become the recycling centre of the world, while Japanese designer Hiroko Shiratori will explore the indestructibility of plastic objects to create what she has called the ‘fossils of the future’, thus giving them a new value.

Hiroko Shiratori – “Plastic is a celebrative material as it has provided a vision of an exciting future since its discovery and we would not have same affluent life without it. However, it has certainly created cultural and environmental issues. While respecting the material and the culture developed around it, I would like to create awareness of what the material is and what we might end up with playing around the idea of 'future fossil.”

Committee – “In the 20th century, plastics have offered the consumer a most colourful dance indeed. Their adaptability has brought practical and aesthetic progress in every sphere of life but they have, through their affordability, occasioned a huge quantity of useless things and waste and their ensuing effects on the environment could be described, to say the least, as a foolish act. We are therefore aiming to produce a work that is both an homage to this extraordinary material and a critique of the way it has been employed.”

Talks Programme
The ‘From Now To Eternity’ talks programme will include:

• The Development of Design - ‘More than a substance, plastic is the very idea of its infinite transformation’ (Roland Barthes). Includes a look at the ten biggest steps forward in design
• The Environmental Question – in the footsteps of scientific researchers, designers, manufacturers, architects and big business are examining sustainability & recycling
• The Role of Creativity in Driving Discourse
• Mine for Eternity - five opinion formers choose the object they’d like to have ‘for eternity’.

19th September – 19th October 2008

Biscuit Building
10 Redchurch Street
London E2

Opening Hours: Wednesday to Friday 2-6, Saturday to Sunday 12-6 or by appointment

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