The F(loat) barstool from designer Chuang Chi-Hong appears to do just that from certain angles; the gap being designed to hold magazines, books and other objects. The F barstool is made from steel and comes in grey, black, pink, dark blue, and mint green.

If you like your tea with a twist, you'll love this artistic take on High Tea that is being offered by Rosewood London. Their Art Afternoon Tea is inspired by London's vibrant and energetic art scene. Served in the elegant Mirror Room, it includes a selection of mouth-watering finger sandwiches, freshly baked scones and loose leaf teas accompanied by an art-inspired pastries created by Executive Pastry Chef, Mark Perkins and inspired by five of the most iconic modern artists currently represented in London: Yayoi Kusama, Damien Hirst, Alexander Calder, Banksy and Mark Rothko. The interpretations are clever. Banksy’s Girl With a Balloon cake consists of a white chocolate cube filled with vanilla cream choux, cherry jelly, hazelnut caramel and chocolate crémeux while a tiny replica of the artwork marks the finishing touch. The Kusama cake has a sablé biscuit base topped with milk chocolate mousse, passion fruit crémeux and chocolate feuillantine on a bright yellow glaze.

A number of London-based designers and celebrities have come together to support the charity Women for Women International ("Women for Women"). A host of well-known names including designers Nicholas Kirkwood, Charlotte Olympia, Manolo Blahnik, Mary Katrantzou and Simone Rocha, models Naomi Campbell and Arizona Muse and milliner Stephen Jones have teamed with Havaianas and Women for Women to customise pairs of flip flops from the Brazilian brand.

The one-off pieces of art were displayed at Somerset House and auctioned on July 1 to raise funds for the charity. Having been given carte blanche, the creatives went all out with their interpretations of the Havaianas they were given and created bespoke one-off art pieces for the cause. Rocha added her signature pearl details all over a classic black pair, Jones used a Swarovski-embellished pair to create a headpiece, Charlotte Dellal elevated her pair with a gold platform and gold spiderwebs on the straps and Blahnik channeled the rose of Sicily and the colours and smells of the island. Other highlights included Swarovski’s series of glitter-finished pairs with the soles spelling out the word “sisters” to capture the spirit of female empowerment that Women for Women is known for. Katrantzou embraced as much colour as possible in her design, stacking three bright yellow, pink and blue pairs of flip-flops and layering them with Swarovski crystals.

It is hoped that the awareness of the cause and money raised through this collaboration will help the organisation to continue its support of women survivors of war as they rebuild their lives in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. 

Image  |  Chanel

Talk about diversification. Chanel is now selling boomerangs and while they are as elegant as you might expect, they're still an unusual choice for the design house. Crafted from wood covered in a black resin coating and with the brand logo prominently displayed, the boomerang is a thing of beauty but not practicality. Anyone seeking to add this to their collection will more likely be inclined to display it on a shelf than play with it.

This beautiful wooden circle swing appears to be in motion even when standing still. It is designed by Polish designer Iwona Kosicka, who eschews the idea of leg-supported seating and instead created SWING as an alternative to the conventional chair. The simplicity of its form means that the SWING easily adapts to a variety of contemporary decors while appealing to both children and adults alike. Made of Oak plywood finished with linseed oil, SWING comes in a number of finishes: natural, white and black.

Image  |  Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art

In celebration of its 30th anniversary today July 14, the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art is staging The NY Centenary exhibit: an examination of the impact the island has played on several modernist and cubist artists.  American Modernists Charles Demuth and Marsden Hartley and French cubist artist Albert Gleizes, considered to be one of the founding members of Cubism, all visited the island 100 years ago and were inspired by the characteristic geometric shapes of the island's architecture, as well as its people and landscape. The excursion proved to be a fruitful one and resulted in the creation of several important pieces of art including Hartley’s 'Movement' (pictured above) and Gleizes’ 'La Maison du Gouverneur'.

Designed for the 10th anniversary of the 100% Norway exhibition, the Archipelago set by Permafrost is a minimal birch toy that represents the elements of Norway. The original set now comes with the accompanying Shipping and Offshore play sets which include fishing boats, a lighthouse, island houses, a helicopter and more.

Chinese furniture brand KUKA recently curated an exhibition of which Japanese design house Nendo was asked to be a part. KUKA is known for their upholstered sofas and lounge chairs and the designers at Nendo decided to approach the theme “Intelligence” in an unexpected way for their line of furniture called Bouncy Layers. By rejecting the use of typical padded upholstery for softness and comfort, they instead used sheets of 1.5 mm thick polycarbonate which were laminated and bent to create the requisite cushioning. The polycarbonate sheets were layered to increase or decrease the softness in various ways and positioned over frames to ensure maximum comfort where human contact is made. The result is a sculptural line of furniture that, rather than hiding the structure, exposes it for all to see.

Our interest was piqued when earlier this year it was announced that Givenchy would join the clutch of design houses that have been expanding their offering to the offspring of its customers with the creation of a line of clothes for children. The 130-piece largely black-and-white streetwear-inspired collection includes items that look stylish but are not overly delicate including oversized slogan knitwear, hoodies and leggings, denim jeans and bomber jackets as well as selection of couture looks for special occasions. Envisioned as a natural and organic progression for the house, Givenchy views its children's line as an extrapolation of its main line and a way to dress the next generation of its customers. As a way of reinforcing this ethos, the models were styled in oversized, adult pieces as well as clothes from the new line.

The collection arrives in stores this month.