Category: Home & Kitchen

A three-tiered diving board stands next to a metallic palm tree inside this pop-up shop that designer Willo Perron has created for Kim Kardashian‘s lingerie brand SKIMS in London.

The brand’s first physical retail space in the UK, at the Selfridges department store in London, follows the same formula as its debut shop in Paris. Here, surfaces were coated in panels of glossy plastic with gentle thermoformed curves to suggest the shape of the human body.

But for this temporary summertime pop-up, Perron abandoned the brand’s typical fleshy colour palette in favour of a pale blue hue reminiscent of a heavily chlorinated swimming pool.

The resulting plastic panels are so glossy they look almost wet as they form everything from mirror frames and bench seats to wall panels and the shop’s monolithic till counter, which is embossed with the SKIMS logo.

A huge replica of a three-levelled diving board stands at the heart of the store, with a stepped base and springboards formed from lengths of the same baby-blue plastic.

Shiny chrome tubes act as handrails and are repeated throughout the store in the form of gridded partitions and clothing rails, curving around the columns of the Grade II-listed department store.

Rounding off the poolside atmosphere is a matching metal palm tree sculpture, integrated into the long bench set that runs along the shopfront.

To display stacks of rolled-up nude-coloured SKIMS towels, Perron also added two smaller freestanding platforms with the same steps and chrome handrails as the diving platform but minus the springboards.

Taking over Selfridges’ ground-floor pop-up space The Corner Shop until 8 July 2023, the shop will offer the brand’s core collection of swimsuits and bikinis alongside limited editions and seasonal colourways.

Customers will also be able to buy ice cream to match their swimwear, stored in baby-blue freezers courtesy of London gelato company Chin Chin Labs.

“I’m thrilled to bring SKIMS Swim to London for the first-time ever and take over The Corner Shop at Selfridges with our most conceptual pop-up experience to date,” said SKIMS co-founder and creative director Kim Kardashian.

“We have followers all over the world,” she added. “As we enter the next phase of SKIMS retail, I look forward to connecting with these customers through innovative shopping experiences on a global scale.”

Returning for its second year, SKIMS’s swimwear offering is pitched towards providing various levels of coverage for different body types and modesty requirements.

This is an extension of the brand’s drive to create inclusive underwear and shapewear that works for people of different sizes and abilities, following the launch of its Adaptive Collection last year.

Over the next three years, the brand is planning to open a roster of freestanding stores across the UK and EU.

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A steel bathtub in a grey carpeted bedroom and a marble bath positioned on a wooden plinth are included in Dezeen’s latest lookbook, highlighting luxurious bedrooms with bathtubs.

Typically confined to bathrooms with splash-safe surfaces, a bathtub in a bedroom has an air of grandiosity and indulgence.

It is often seen as an impractical design trend due to ventilation considerations, the need for a strengthened floor and the transition of moving from a soapy bath soak to fresh bed sheets, but this roundup showcases different ways baths in bedrooms have been achieved in homes and hotels.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring cherry red interiors, minimalist bedrooms and concrete kitchens.

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Nicolai Paris, France, by Network of Architecture

Architecture studio Network of Architecture added curved lines and custom oak furniture to this Parisian apartment, including a curved wooden plinth for a Botticino Fiorito marble bathtub in the main bedroom.

Located in the former Hotel Nicolai, the studio transformed the interior into a two-level family home that “reflects the elegance of the Parisian ambience in the flat”.

Find out more about Nicolai Paris ›

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Apartment A, Belgium, by Atelier Dialect

For the Apartment A residence in Antwerp, Belgian design studio Atelier Dialect placed a shiny steel rectangular bathtub in the carpeted open-plan bedroom, offsetting the surrounding green walls.

Behind the tub is a partition wall covered in white and black subway tiles, creating a graphic backdrop and concealing a walk-in shower.

Find out more about Apartment A ›

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Lundies House, UK, by Groves-Raines Architects

Scottish studio Groves-Raines Architects combined Scottish vernacular and contemporary Scandinavian design when converting a former clergy living quarters into the Lundies House guesthouse, complete with a slipper bath in the main bedroom.

With views out the nearby window of the Scottish highlands, the freestanding tub is a luxurious addition to the calming neutral-toned interior.

Find out more about Lundies House ›

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Concrete Cabin, Switzerland, Nickisch Sano Walder Architects

A deep polished concrete ledge with a sunken bath stretches the width of this holiday cabin bedroom, which is sunken into a rocky site in the Swiss Alps.

Architecture studio Nickisch Sano Walder Architects designed the Concrete Cabin as a stark hideaway for up to two people. Timber salvaged from a log cabin previously on the site was used as the formwork for the cast concrete walls.

Find out more about Concrete Cabin ›

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Primrose Hill townhouse, UK, by Studio Hagen Hall

The owners of this refurbished London townhouse can draw a pink curtain to separate the cork-tiled bathtub from the rest of the bedroom, designed by architecture office Studio Hagen Hall.

The pastel-toned bedroom has a paired-back appearance compared to the rest of the home, which features elm, velvet and fluted glass surfaces informed by 1970s Californian modernism.

Find out more about the Primrose Hill townhouse ›

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Amsterdam canal house, the Netherlands, by Standard Studio

Local firm Standard Studio converted a canal house in Amsterdam into an apartment with rooms arranged around a central courtyard, including a bedroom with an oval bath and freestanding bath tap.

Large glazed doors open the bedroom and bath area to the courtyard, and both interior and exterior spaces were finished with polished concrete floors.

Find out more about the Amsterdam canal house ›

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Open Hearts, Portugal, by AB+AC Architects

Open Hearts is a wellness centre in Lisbon that doubles as an artists’ residence, designed by Portuguese practice AB+AC Architects.

The studio added terracotta tiling to a corner of the white bedroom, visually separating the bath area from the rest of the space.

Find out more about Open Hearts ›

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Mona Athens, Greece, by House of Shila

Located in a former 1950s textile factory, design studio House of Shila created luxurious open-plan rooms with freestanding baths for the Mona Athens hotel.

A change in floor level and translucent drapes separate sleeping and bathing areas, creating a “certain balance of comfort and drama” according to the studio.

Find out more about Mona Athens ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring cherry red interiors, minimalist bedrooms and concrete kitchens.

As part of our work, we get to see everything from the simplest, most affordable kitchen renovations to the most lavish kitchen designs with no-holds-barred. Usually our favorites fall somewhere in between.

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Danish designer Helle Mardahl has unveiled The Sensory Society, a 3 Days of Design exhibition that takes cues from Wes Anderson‘s film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Mardahl filled an entire Copenhagen apartment with her colourful glass objects, creating installations that include a playful bar and a grand dressing table.

The exhibition showcases new additions to the designer’s glassware range, called the Candy Collection, including hand-blown pendant lamps, characterful wine glasses and Mardahl’s take on “the perfect bowl”.

The aim was to create an exhibition that appeals to all of the senses.

“We’ve transformed this old, amazing apartment into a world of imagination, mystique and humour,” Mardahl said.

“Inspired by the amazing Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, I implemented colours from our newest addition to the Candy Collection, such as grapefruit, blue jelly, champagne and spearmint. Absolutely yummy!”

Mardahl first launched her Copenhagen-based studio in 2017, after “falling in love” with glass. Her pieces typically have a candy-like aesthetic, with rich colours and round shapes.

The designs are all hand-made by artisans mostly based in Denmark.

“The process of creating the glass is magical,” said Mardahl.

“It’s hot, it’s sweaty, it’s absolutely perfect. It is truly a love story between the glass and the artisan.”

When you arrive at The Sensory Society, the first room you encounter is a lobby where almost every surface is red, creating a bold backdrop to glass pendants hanging down from the ceiling.

In the bar area, glass tableware objects – including the popular Bon Bon cake stand – are displayed at different heights, while wine glasses are hung around a cylindrical column.

A grand dressing table is finished in pale shades of lilac, pink and blue. It incorporates tiered shelving, supporting hundreds of glass vessels.

There is also a turquoise-coloured room where the new wine glasses take centre stage.

Small details throughout the apartment are also made from glass, including drawer handles and orbs fixed to the sides of the chairs.

“It’s a candy world of flavours and colours, a universe that simulates your senses and feelings,” added Mardahl.

The Sensory Society is on show from 7 to 10 June 2023 as part of 3 Days of Design. Follow live coverage on Dezeen live: 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, or see Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Pure convenience meets seamless style with Blum’s Touch-to-Open cabinet and drawer systems.

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Danish design studio Christian + Jade has created an exhibition in collaboration with wood flooring manufacturer Dinesen that explores the density of wood and its significance and history as a commodity.

The Weight of Wood exhibition, which takes place at the Dinesen showroom as part of Copenhagen festival 3 Days of Design, was the result of a year-long research project commissioned by the brand’s recently founded Dinesen Lab.

Dinesen Lab invited Christian Hammer Juhl and Jade Chan, founders of Christian + Jade, to take part in a residency in which local artists were asked to work with wood harvested by the company to produce a research project and explore the weight of wood.

The Weight of Wood installation is located within a large exhibition space at the brand’s showroom in Copenhagen. This was divided into a series of smaller rooms via sheets of textured paper hung vertically from a wooden pavilion.

Each of the smaller rooms separates the exhibition into three different parts titled Forest and Wood, Wood and Wood, and Human and Wood.

Throughout the exhibition space, wooden tables hold a number of experiments and interventions completed by Christian + Jade using different types of wood that were harvested by Dinesen.

“We were fascinated by the idea that no two pieces of wood weigh the same, not even if it comes from the same tree trunk,” the studio explained at a preview of the exhibition. “This was really what sparked our interest in this project.”

“Through this exhibition, we have tried to work with this idea in various scales,” the studio founders added. “It sort of presents a design methodology, combining different pieces of wood with different densities.”

“What we have created is not only a series of furniture but also a rocking horse, a rocking chair and lots of small experiments that visualise this intangible quality of wood, which is the weight of wood.”

A collection of different-sized cubic wooden volumes were presented in the exhibition, made from 11 different species of wood including beech, cherry, Douglas fir and elm. Each of the pieces of wood weighs 250 grams and conveys the different densities of wood through volume and size.

A seesaw placed at the rear of the exhibition space featured a base made from Douglas fir and topped by a seat constructed from equal parts Douglas fir and oak. As a result of oak having a higher density than Douglas fir, the seesaw will always lean towards its oak-constructed side.

“We chose three different furniture archetypes that require weight and balance in their function – the seesaw, the rocking chair and the rocking horse,” Chan said.

“So in designing or reimagining the furniture, we’ve worked with four of Dinesen’s main wood species; that is Douglas fir, oak, pine and ash.”

“The seesaw is an example of one of the simple principles that we apply – the pivot point is made using Douglas and the seat is made using oak and Douglas,” Chan added.

The rocking horse was constructed from 87 per cent Douglas fir and 13 per cent ash. Because of its Douglas fir-heavy construction, the horse always tilts towards one side, which provides it with a unique movement.

Chan concluded the preview of the Weight of Wood exhibition with a poem by H P Dinesen, a relative of the company founders:

“To those who love the tree, those who may be fighting the tree, the one who plants the tree, the one who fells the tree, the poet who praises the tree, and the one who simply settles with enjoying the tree.”

Also at this year’s 3 Days of Design, Nemo Lighting unveiled a light designed by architect Le Corbusier and a lamp by architect Charlotte Perriand and Takt launched a fully disassemblable sofa that can be replaced and recycled.

The photography is by Claus Troelsgaard.

Weight of Wood is on show as part of 3 Days of Design 2023, from 7 June to 9 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

London designer Camille Walala has worked with carpentry workshop Our Department to fit out her own studio with a no-holds-barred version of her colourful design style.

Electric blue floors, graphically patterned cabinetry and a kitchenette with cartoon-like proportions feature in the space, which is located in the Regent Studios building off Broadway Market in East London.

The seventh-floor space attracted Walala and her studio manager Julia Jomaa with its sweeping views.

Knowing they would be in no hurry to vacate, the duo took their time with the design, working side by side in the studio for over a year while adjusting the position of their space-dividing furniture until they arrived at a layout with the perfect functionality for them.

Once they decided to embark on the interior design, it was not a given that they would embrace Walala’s signature bold colour palette, as they worried about it potentially clashing with future work.

“We were like, how colourful should we go?” Walala told Dezeen. “Should we keep it quite simple or should we actually go for it?”

But ultimately, she says the desire to feel inspired by their workspace and “inhabit the aesthetic fully” won out.

The studio is divided into two rooms – one for “clean” computer-based work and the other for “messy” activities such as painting and model making.

Walala and Jomaa created a 3D model of the interior in SketchUp before bringing in their favourite carpenters” Our Department – a studio specialising in design and fabrication for the creative industries – to realise the design.

The duo of Simon Sawyer and Gustave Andre built all of the elements in the space with a focus on achieving clean lines and pure block colours along with maximum functionality.

For the cabinetry, they used doors made of melamine-faced medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and applied a decorative technique they had used on previous Walala projects.

This involved CNC-cutting shapes out of thin MDF, before spraypainting and precisely glueing them onto the doors to create a graphic pattern while avoiding the fuzzy lines that can sometimes come from painting directly onto surfaces.

In the kitchen, the group worked together to exaggerate proportions as much as possible, with Walala saying she dreamed of achieving a “Bart Simpson kitchen” through elements such as chunky handles and bold grout.

“We designed the Lego House a few years ago, this really colourful house,” she explained. “Especially the kitchen in that space was really quite bold and almost like a cartoon, and we thought we should do something similar in our studio.”

By contrast, a more subtle feature is the double sliding door between the studio’s two rooms, which consists of a transparent fluted screen set within a black frame.

While it may be less attention-grabbing, Jomaa says the mesmeric effect of the fluted panels sliding against each other is like a “little animation of colour”.

There are also a few natural wood elements throughout the interior such as tulipwood desk legs to balance the liberal use of colour.

As with all residents of Regent Studios, Walala will need to return the rented space to its original condition when her studio eventually leaves, so there are no permanent fixtures and everything is designed to be dismantled.

Even the central “wall”, which contains floor-to-ceiling storage on one side, is freestanding. But the team used kitchen-unit feet to wedge it against the ceiling for stability.

Walala and Jamaa have been working together for eight years and started off sharing a desk in a basement studio. Their recent projects have included murals, installations and a proposal for a car-free Oxford Street.

Walala is often seen as being part of the New London Fabulous wave of maximalist designers, alongside Yinka Ilori, Morag Myerscough and Adam Nathaniel Furman.

The photography is by Taran Wilkhu.

Period details are mixed with contemporary interventions inside these renovated apartments in Paris, built in the mid-19th century during Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s reconstruction of the French capital.

In his role as the prefect of the Seine département under Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann was responsible for creating the network of boulevards that still define the city’s urban landscape today.

The homogenous apartment buildings flanking these boulevards were designed to strict guidelines, all made from cream-coloured stone with a steep four-sided mansard roof and no more than six storeys.

Although Haussmann was less prescriptive about the building’s interiors, they generally feature high ceilings and parquet floors alongside elaborate mouldings and boiserie.

Read on for six examples of how architects and interior designers have brought these apartments into the 21st century, including a book lover’s loft and two flats combined to form a family home in the Marais.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with minimalist interiors, concrete kitchens and marble-lined bathrooms.

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Wood Ribbon apartment by Toledano + Architects

Original details such as parquet floors and ornate ceiling plasterwork were retained in the renovation of this apartment, which had been left largely untouched since the end of the 19th century.

But local studio Toledano + Architects tore down several partition walls to create a more open floorplan, traversed by a snaking plywood wall that roughly divides the apartment into three zones while providing tactical storage in the living room and kitchen.

“I really wanted to enhance this dichotomy between ancient and contemporary,” founder Gabrielle Toledano told Dezeen. “It’s very relevant in a city like Paris where both are in a constant dialogue.”

Find out more about Wood Ribbon apartment ›

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Apartment Canal Saint Martin by Rodolphe Parente

French interior designer Rodolphe Parente made only a few minor architectural interventions when overhauling this apartment in Canal Saint-Martin, exposing long sealed-off doorways and creating a hybrid dining room and kitchen.

Instead, he modernised the apartment by contrasting original details such as mouldings with unexpected contemporary details, colours and the “radical” art collection of the owner.

In the bedroom, a vivid purple rug clashes with caramel-coloured walls while in the living room, period wall panelling highlights the modernity of the sofa and the glossy coffee table.

Find out more about Apartment Canal Saint Martin ›

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Apartment XIV by Studio Razavi

With several partition walls removed, French office Studio Razavi created a new layout for this apartment by slotting a multi-faceted furniture block made from wood-fibre panels into the remaining gaps.

Its staggered profile creates sightlines between the different areas of the house while framing some of the building’s original Hausmann-style ceiling mouldings.

Painted in a muted slate grey, the furniture block performs a different function in every room – acting as a storage cabinet in the kitchen, a TV mount in the living room and a desk in the study.

Find out more about Apartment XIV ›

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Marais apartment by Sophie Dries

Two flats become one 100-square-metre residence in this renovation project that French architect Sophie Dries completed in trendy Marais for a family of four.

Period details were painted in simple white, providing a contrast with new additions such as the Hans J Wegner chairs and the dyed linen curtains in the living room

“The Haussmannian style was refined and pared down, in order to introduce minimal lines better suited to a modern family,” Dries explained.

Find out more about Marais apartment ›

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Enter the Diamond by Atelier 37.2

An additional bathroom is housed inside the three-metre-high birchwood volume at the centre of this residence in the French capital, designed by local studio Atelier 37.2.

The sharp lines of the diamond-shaped structure contrast with the apartment’s ornate ceiling mouldings and white-painted walls.

“This tension generates a fictional potential that plays with the imagination of the inhabitants,” said the studio.

Find out more about Enter the Diamond ›

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Arsenal loft by h2o Architectes

This three-room loft is set inside the mansard roof of a Haussmann-era building in the Arsenale district, which originally served as servant’s quarters for the apartments below.

Parisian firm h2o Architectes opened up its floor plan to make the most of the top-floor views while installing wooden bookshelves to define different areas and house the extensive library of the apartment’s book-loving owner.

Their timber construction creates a visual connection with the original parquet floors, while the white paint used to brighten walls and other structural elements continues onto some sections of the floor.

Find out more about Arsenal loft ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring bedrooms with minimalist interiors, concrete kitchens and marble-lined bathrooms.

London design studio Pirajean Lees referenced Mayfair’s pastoral past and created a series of spaces that nod to the idea of a Georgian manor house when designing restaurant 20 Berkeley.

Pirajean Lees aimed to build a story around the space and its sequence of many small rooms, while tapping into the restaurant’s British produce-led culinary approach.

“The restaurant is situated in the heart of Mayfair, a place once on the cusp of the city and countryside,” Pirajean Lees told Dezeen.

“The farming history of the area and its connection to the surrounding rural lands is prevalent throughout the project and paramount to the dining experience.”

Pirajean Lees wanted to put nature and craft at the heart of this design project to align it with the ethos of Creative Restaurant Group, the restaurant’s founders.

“This led us to build on the strong connection of an imagined Mayfair Georgian manor house and its rural lands, which would have been used to grow produce,” the studio said.

“A central staircase leads to rooms usually found in a traditional family home, such as the drawing room, music room, pantry, orangery and salon. Each room has its own character whilst belonging to the one property.”

On the upper-ground floor are the richly designed reception and main dining rooms.

The lower-ground level houses a 14-seat private room with its own exclusive lounge and dining area, alongside the kitchen, wine cellar and main bar, The Nipperkin.

The design of the interiors references the arts and crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“At 20 Berkeley, we have developed a layered story of handmade details and tactile finishes that exude elegance,” said Pirajean Lees.

“The project’s expression is rooted in the traditions of craftsmanship and how the process of making decorative objects and furniture should showcase the beauty of both its materials and construction.”

The resulting aesthetic is detailed, with a palette of rich, warm tones including ambers, ochres and dark reds, used across upholstery and textural wallcoverings. Floor tiles have been hand-crafted in Wales and feature clay embedded with fossils.

Bespoke joinery work was utilised throughout the space, including for the wall panelling, dowelled ceilings and an English oak staircase.

The project also features bespoke elements that were added to bring a sense of opulence to the various spaces.

These include a pantry, in painted timber, that provides a strong focal point of the upper floor. Here, chefs prepare dishes on the pantry island, “inviting guests to witness the chefs’ craft, as one would do in one’s home, whilst hosting guests for dinner,” said Pirajean Lees.

In the orangery, a bespoke pickling cupboard, made from sapele wood and marble, serves as “a pleasing curiosity”, used by the chefs to store jars of vegetables for their recipes.

The bespoke dining tables and chairs were made of oak, while the chairs have been traditionally upholstered for maximum comfort.

“The bespoke and craft elements bring depth to the project, anchoring it in its strong narrative and creating timeless interiors,” said Pirajean Lees.

Bespoke stained glass, handcrafted in a North London studio, is another of the restaurant’s features.

Used in the reception and drawing room, the stained glass has been strategically positioned, backing onto the busy central bar to give a sense of movement and energy.

In front of the windows, it warms the light coming into the rooms to create an immersive atmosphere.

“The stained glass introduces shadows and reflections, which change throughout the day and are different in each room,” said Pirajean Lees.

“As per each of our projects, the tailored finishes, joinery and surfaces here, have been carefully created to ensure optimum use of the space by the restaurateur and their guests.”

Other hospitality projects from the studio include an ornate sushi restaurant in Dubai with interiors informed by 1920s Japan and a members club in London, housed inside the iconic music venue Koko.

The photography is by Polly Tootal.