Somehow it’s been three months since I last did an ‘On My Radar’ post! To make up for lost time, here’s a summer edition, rounding up a selection of new furniture launches and simple homeware finds that have caught my eye in the few months. There’s everything from new paint colours and handmade ceramics to rocking chairs and metal candleholders. Enjoy!
Atelier Ellis launches two new colours
Bath-based paint company Atelier Ellis has launched two new paint colours – Coming up Roses and Ice Cream. Founder Cassandra Ellis wanted to celebrate the optimistic colours of mid-summer by capturing a feeling of generosity, love and joy. Coming up Roses stems from a faded rose that she saved from a funeral twenty years ago, while Ice Cream captures the child-like pleasure of a simple ice cream on a summer’s day.
Says Ellis: ‘Making a colour is both instinctive and beautiful, intense research for me. Words, memories, a walk or a painting are always the start. All of these elements swirl into a visual tableau. Then it comes down to me at our mighty pigment machines, with pencil and paper. Perhaps six iterations, perhaps twenty, before the colour is right. But we all know when it is.’
All images courtesy Atelier Ellis
Audo Copenhagen releases the Kubus 4 candleholder in new colours
To celebrate the launch of Audo Copenhagen – which merges design brands Menu and by Lassen – they have released the Kubus 4 candleholder in three new colours. The design was first created in 1962 by Mogens Lassen for a small restaurant in northern Denmark. The inspiration for the geometric steel frame came from the Bauhaus. The candleholder was originally only conceived for friends and family, but Lassen soon realised the potential of the functionalist design and put it into widespread production, in the end expanding the series with new designs.
The new collection of colours has been curated by Audo’s brand director, Joachim Kornbek Engell-Hansen and includes zinc, ivory and olive green. I already have the white version and you might guess what’s next on my wishlist – no surprises that its the olive green!
Available from September 2023
All images courtesy Audo Copenhagen
Carl Hansen & Son adds Hans J. Wegner rocking chair to its collection
Danish furniture designer Hans J. Wegner designed nearly 500 chairs in his lifetime, 13 of which were created as a furniture series for Carl Hansen & Son in the mid-1960s. Some of those pieces are still in production, the latest addition to Carl Hansen’s collection being the CH45 Rocking Chair. The design was originally only manufactured for a short period of time, but today it has been re-released in black and oak.
The CH45 Rocking Chair is in many ways a typical Wegner design, with characteristic elements that can be seen across his other famous chair designs. This includes the familiar paper cord seat and the gently curved bars of the back rest. Wegner’s main focus when designing was always function, seeking to create ergonomic designs that could work in real homes. His rocking chair has been proportioned so that you can lean back against the tall, reclining backrest and rock easily, but at the same time you’re able to get out of the chair easily. You can also add a neck pillow to the chair for added comfort!
Available from October 2023
All images courtesy Carl Hansen & Son
FRAMA re-launches the Rivet Chair
Danish brand FRAMA has re-released the Rivet Chair designed by Jonas Trampedach. The Copenhagen-based designer first developed this riveting technique in 2011, enabling perpendicular joints to be made between separate, laser-cut raw aluminium sheets. Trampedach’s aim was to find an alternative to welding aluminium.
The Rivet chair is assembled by hand using a hammer in a ‘cold-forming’ assembly process, making each design one-of-a-kind. The aluminium naturally patinates over time, developing a unique texture that only adds to the character and story of the chair. As FRAMA suggests, it’s ‘a celebration of the purity of aluminium, left untreated with the material’s honesty in mind’.
The Rivet Series also includes an aluminium shelf, cart, bookcase and table.
All images courtesy FRAMA
Kate Sellers for Whistles
I stumbled across these green striped plates on the Whistles website and they immediately stopped me in my tracks! Inspired by Sicilian design, Kate Sellers makes handmade tableware in small batches from her home studio in Kent. Sellers has been travelling to Sicily for years and spends two weeks there each summer. Each of her designs is named after a Sicilian place name.
Her desire with her pottery was to create ‘something that lifts you day to day’. She says of her joyful work: ‘I wanted my ceramics to be tableware but pieces you could also use as art. They’re designed to be held onto for a lifetime.’
You can read an interview with Kate on Whistles’ blog and find her pottery collection for Whistles online here.
All images courtesy of Whistles. Middle two images: Kasia Bobula
deVOL Kitchens releases their first book
A deVOL kitchen is an aspiration for many of us. If you can’t quite afford the real thing, enjoy the next best thing: a wealth of kitchen inspiration in the form of their new book The deVOL Kitchen.
In their first published book, deVOL directors Paul, Helen and Robin describe how their childhoods have impacted their journey as designer makers and their unique approach to craftsmanship. The book is full of beautiful imagery, alongside thoughts on trends, the use of colour and the finishing touches that make a house a home.
Published by Ebury press, RRP £50, available here.
All images courtesy deVOL Kitchens
