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Issue 59 - The Life Outside Issue

Issue 59

The Life Outside Issue

Introducing the Life Outside issue of Habitus magazine. With life increasingly being absorbed into a digital space, there is never a more important moment to hold something tangible. In this context, the power of nature to have a physiological impact on our sense of wellbeing has never been more important. So how can we cultivate the benefits of the our natural environment in the most intimate of places – our homes? This was the question that helped to bring this issue of Habitus to life.

A Product of

Blu Dot Is Recognised For Design Excellence
ProductsAndrew McDonald

Blu Dot Is Recognised For Design Excellence

The time is now and the price is right. Having just been awarded the 2018 National Design Award for Product Design by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, for their excellence in modern design, Blu Dot runs their annual sale with 20 per cent of the entire range.


At a time where product design is at its most accessible, and interior design and architecture has made its way to a widespread, global appreciation, it’s ironic to notice good design, genuine design, and innovative design is increasingly difficult to come across. Cheap materials, impractical design, and ever-controversial replica furniture flood the market blind-siding even the most well meaning consumer.

Perhaps this is why, now more than ever, it’s important to recognise industry players furthering the cause.

Established in 1997, Blu Dot was the brainchild of two architects (Maurice Blanks and John Christakos) and a sculptor (Charlie Lazor), after Maurice and John, fresh out of college and looking to fill their homes with furniture that reflected their passion for art, architecture and design, didn’t like the pieces they could afford and couldn’t afford those that they did. So they sought to bring modern American design to an affordable market.

And every day in the two decades since, that’s exactly what they’ve done.

So it stands to reason they be recognised not only for their contribution to the industry and those who consume it, but for the designs they produce as they stand on their own.

Blu Dot has proudly received the 2018 National Design Award for Product Design as awarded by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

“Many people in the U.S. did not have a reference for good design. These guys helped to define what modern design was to popular culture.” So says Rob Forbes, Founder of Design Within Reach and member of the 2018, interdisciplinary jury.

The awards series as a whole were conceived as a way to honour lasting achievement in American design and awarded to those in recognition of excellence and innovation achieved. In Cooper Hewitt’s own words, the awards “celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives.”

The award, according to Cooper Hewitt, “celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives.”

 

If industry recognition doesn’t get your accountant over the line on some Blu Dot pieces for your own residence, perhaps some more traditional tactics will: from now until 30th June, all Blu Dot designs are 20 per cent off – no exclusions. So whether it’s the addition of a set of the iconic Real Good Chairs around your dining table, a Toro Lounge Chair in the corner of your bedroom, or a selection of pieces from the Modu-licious series that’s been missing, the time is certainly now and the price is most definitely right.

Neat Chairs, Strut Table, and Perimeter Pendants

 

Bloke Armless Sofa

 

Toro Lounge Chair

 

Real Good Chair

 

Hot Mesh chairs

 

Field chair

Blu Dot
bludot.com.au


About the Author

Andrew McDonald

Tags

american modernArchitecturebluBlu DotCharlie LazorCooper HewittDesign Within ReachJohn ChristakosMaurice Blanksmodern design


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Issue 59 - The Life Outside Issue

Issue 59

The Life Outside Issue

Introducing the Life Outside issue of Habitus magazine. With life increasingly being absorbed into a digital space, there is never a more important moment to hold something tangible. In this context, the power of nature to have a physiological impact on our sense of wellbeing has never been more important. So how can we cultivate the benefits of the our natural environment in the most intimate of places – our homes? This was the question that helped to bring this issue of Habitus to life.

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