CITYist

Taking a cue from Gilt Group with clothes, and Jetsetter for travel, Fab.com is the newest in online flash sale sites that offers modern design for the home, office, jewelry and gifts, selling brands like Public Bikes, Silva Bradshaw, Kid Robot, and Emeco. With daily design deals at up to 70 percent off, it’s the perfect site to browse if you are looking for something unique and creative.

Over time, mankind has found new ways to produce energy and create new objects designed to provide heat. Keeping with this thought, The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès is now challenging designers to “heat, me-heat, re-heat’’ by creating a design that fits with the luxurious appeal of the brand for what is now the second Prix Émile Hermès.

They’re among the most recognizable in the world, so it only makes sense they’d get their own book. Manhattan Skyscrapers by Eric P. Nash (coming out in October by Princeton Architectural Press), is the ultimate guide for architecture nerds and lovers of the city in general. From the Empire State Building to the Standard Hotel, the book examines the stories behind these multi-storied behemoths. Take a look at some of our favorites after the jump.

Bemoan the fact that Ikea has conducted an international takeover of home furnishings all you want, but there’s no denying the brand’s influence. And in the scheme of things, the Swedish monolith is pretty damn innovative. Take, for example, this sculpture erected in London’s Barbican Centre. Donned “Surrealistika,” the work consists of an enormous white birch tree flanked by Ikea appliances. Of course, there’s a green message here—that we should apply sustainability to hearth and home, or dishwasher, to be exact. But we just think it’s pretty, especially when lit up by purple or green lights. Check out more photos and a video of its construction after the jump.

With spa amenities, roof decks, and juice bars—gyms can be as elaborate (and expensive) as you want them to be. But if your idea of a daily work out is to get in, get your heart rate up, and get out, Blink Fitness could be the high-design, low-frills gym you’ve been waiting for.

To some, the work of the grand dame of fashion, Diane von Furstenberg, is so amazing they’d just like to live inside it. Well, living inside her clothes is one matter, but now it’s possible to be totally enveloped in DVF style within the 20 guest rooms and suites she’s designed for London hotel Claridge’s, which will begin unveiling on June 23rd. The designer has been a loyal patron of the art deco space for the past 30 years, and considers her work nothing short of the preservation of old-style, luxurious hotel life.

Tim Byrne looks in the mud for inspiration. Out of the mud behind shuttered factories, he’ll pull his material: discarded machinery. Cast iron gear cranks and supports will be married to wood or glass to create tables and benches. In the ultimate act of post-industrial repurposing, Byrne creates contemporary furniture from yesterday’s debris.

This decorating guru has designed some sleek interiors in New York establishments, making him a perfect source for information on the city scene. Check out the Venezuela-native’s picks, including Latin American restaurants and French cafés, all in the city that never sleeps.

To learn more about Angel Sanchez and his partner Christopher Coleman’s work, click here.

You know how kids inevitably, at one point or another, take a crayon to a white wall? Eventually we learn to suppress that urge—but we never lose it altogether. That’s where Walltat comes in. The Chicago-based company churns out hundreds of wall decales to add a splash to your otherwise dull interior. Ranging from pure pop art (VW bugs, Michael Jackson, the word “pop”) to modern (geometric shapes) to Victorian (chandeliers, clocks) to an overall wall takeover (city street scenes, beach façades), Walltats can be affixed to plaster walls, wood floors, metal fixtures, windows or pretty much anything the heart desires. They’re essentially stickers for adults. We collect our favorites after the jump.

Fans of Anthropologie know that although their quirky fairy tale clothes possess a certain romance, its the French country chic home wares that often steal the show. The whimsical mega-store’s Rockefeller Plaza outpost is playing host to a Kunst, gallery exhibition of Dutch design, featuring furniture from up-and-coming designers Jetske de Groot, Tania Grace Knuckey, Valentin Loellmann and Charity Musoma van der Meer. Score an Alice and Wonderland side table, a mid-century styled chair or a distorted daybed bench (ranging from $298 to $4,800) at the limited-time gallery through July 12th.

Need get a gift for a smoker? Rock of Ages Press (not the play) is the proud purveyor of these cheeky over-sized matchboxes, which pair pop culture philosophy with old school imagery. Example: one matchbox features a picture of Joan of Arc with the words “Burn Baby Burn” printed down the spine. Or, if you’re simply a candle fetishist with a taste for anachronism, the clever matches would go well with the brand’s LOVERS candles, which make a nod to the greats: Napoleon and Josephine, Dante and Beatrice. They may not be Katy and Russell or Posh and Becks, but they’ll do.

Now you can buy a luxury bedroom in a box. Well—it would probably arrive in several boxes. Thanks to the glories of the Internet and the talents of interior designer Monique Breaux, you can enjoy all the benefits of custom-made furniture from a style professional without ever having to look at a human face. With 13 living rooms starting around $6,700 and seven bedrooms starting around $4,300, BuyPoshRooms.com comes complete with couches, beds, rugs and even art work and accent pieces. We think this bedroom looks fit for a cougar—leaving no doubt the rooms are all designed to ooze money and sophistication. And no one will know you got it from a delivery man.

Have You Heard? is our weekly roundup of items we may have previously missed (or would like to remind you of again). So as you plan the week ahead, take a look at our cherry-picked selections of what’s hot in art, music, film and fashion right now.

A while back, we mentioned Bottega Veneta’s design competition, a contest for Japanese architectural students that would culminate at this year’s Salone del Mobile. Well, that time is here, and the winners have now been revealed—three students who produced stark, modern structures with rather avant garde ideology behind them. So, world-class innovation, or something you can pick up at your neighborhood Ikea? Take a look and be the judge.

Gone are the days when the only person you might even think of giving a pen to as a gift was a co-worker, one that you probably didn’t know well enough to buy a better gift for, anyway. The Seven Year Pen, by New York design company Seltzer, is the perfect small trinket gift: each pen comes in colorful designs with clever graphics, and the best part is that they’re made to last for seven years—probably 20 times longer than you’ve ever owned a pen in your life.

Biking in the city can be a terrifying prospect—especially when spandex and performance fleece is involved. That’s why Brooklyn resident Julie Hirschfeld opened a store with a different kind of bike—the kind that brings to mind yellow ribbons, baskets of flowers and the South of France. Well, we’re still in New York. But these old-fashioned, downright romantic bicycles will bring you straight to Paris or Copenhagen.

Just in case you’ve always wondered what it would feel like to sit in a crumpled ball of alumnium foil, Tokujin Yoshioka has got you covered. His avant garde chair sequence, dubbed “Memory,” will be featured in April’s upcoming Milan Design Week.

Has fashion’s reigning punk queen gone soft on us? Many would assume so upon hearing news of her recent collaboration designing, of all things, wallpaper. But rest easy: these aren’t merely floral prints for tea time.

Teaming up with wallpaper manufacturers Cole & Son, a British company dating back to 1875, Westwood fashioned eleven patterns with many available in multiple color schemes.

Planning a good party (and a visually stunning one, at that) is an art. Just ask David Stark, founder and creative director of his own event-planning firm. Similar to Tara Donovan, Stark uses every day objects to create decorative installations—say, using coffee cups to create a castle. Now, he’s not only funneled that creative energy into major events, but into a new book: David Stark Design.

Canadian footwear designer John Fluevog places a priority on quality—but isn’t afraid to let his freak flag fly. Similarly, Vancouver and Montreal-based OPUS Hotels make it their job to sit on the precipice between sophistication and quirk. Now the two have teamed up to create the exclusive Porter Shoe—a classic oxford with, naturally, a splash of flamingo pink.

For those wary that Japan is surpassing the U.S. in technological rigor (or did long ago), here’s a new frontier to worry about: design. Furniture design, that is. Renowned Italian house Bottega Veneta is hosting a competition amongst the architecture students at the University of Tokyo to create a piece of furniture, and creating a pop up store housing their own signature products while they’re at it.