TIME TO START THINKING BIG
Published in Metro, Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Fancy something way-out for your space? Invest in a surreally large accessory, says Helen Jennings
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As fashion goes size-zero and gadgets continue to shrink, directional interior designers are reacting by creating a new craze for supersizing. Dutch duo Studio Job recently created a giant cake stand, teapot, tray and bowl for the mosaic company Bisazza that looked like a scene straight out of the pages of Gulliver’s Travels. Studio Job declared they were inspired by fine artists such as Giancarlo Neri (his table and chair sculptures are the size of a house). As fantastical as they are unapologetically impractical, one-offs such as these are unlikely to find their way into your local furniture store but they do reflect a current consumer lust for outsized visual statements that cross the line between object and art. Add a touch of neo-surrealism to your own home with one of these XXL design pieces.
Bags of fun
The Finnish company Marimekko specialises in large, bean-filled seating solutions for everyone, from the children to the cats and dogs. Grown-ups should try the original Fatboy beanbag for size. Unlike normal beanbags which sooner or later send you edging on to the floor in an uncomfortable heap, the Fatboy is made from sturdy nylon and can be arranged in a multitude of ways so you can sit up in it like a chair or lie on it like a mattress. You can even take it outdoors and it is available in solid colours or one of Marimekko’s signature bold prints. Gigantism with aplomb.
£135 to £195. Dutch by Design. Tel: 0870 8921 903
Mammoth black beauty
Designed by Swedish collective Front for Danish designers Moooi, this black beauty is the right size for a stallion but rather on the big side for a light. Standing at a massive 2.1m tall, the Horse Floor Lamp is a Statement piece for the closet equestrian. Giddy up.
£2,340 Utility Retail. Tel: 0151 708 4192
Plant Cup
Designer Gitta Gschwendtner originally made this oversized earthenware teacup and saucer as a prop for an installation at London’s Geffrye Museum in 2004. It’s at this exhibition that interior design junkie Thorsten van Elten saw her creation and put it into production. At half a metre high, the Plant Cup is big enough to pot plants in. Heck, it’s almost big enough to sit in. And if you’re really thirsty, it would still accommodate one large brew.
£175. Thorsten van Elten. Tel: 020 7388 8008
A colossal classic
The anglepoise lamp was first designed in 1933 by the British designer George Carwardine to mimic the joints of the human arm. Now a certified design classic, it has been much copied but never bettered – until now. The Max Lamp takes the original tabletop design and scales it up to 2.8m tall. A bright idea.
From £1,650 to £1,980. Twentytwentyone. Tel: 020 7288 1996
Larger than light
This Baroque Floor Lamp is a modern take on an antique Italian candlestick. And, at 1.68m high, you can stand next to it and pretend you’re a character out of the pages of Alice In Wonderland. Drink Me potion not included.
£425. Eccotrading. Tel: 020 7498 5005
Olympian lucky charms
Ceramicist Nicola Malkin uses traditional techniques to produce kitsch, feminine one-off pieces. Her latest collection of Charm Characters for the home turns the delicate into the humongous. Hang one of her doll-face, cross and lock chains from a chair or attach her ball necklace to a wall and let it tumble down on to the ground. Bold is most definitely beautiful.
From £175 to £4,950