Previously known as Tendances Maison, Home Le Salon Habitat Design 2011 recent name change to reflect the shift of focus to home trends and everything evolve around the living habitat & to make the fair an equally important international event.

For 10 years, the salon offers the latest trends houses and new trends in housing, furnishings and decoration. This year the show grows and offers a large section devoted to design. Sets in 10,000 square meters space, four sectors dedicated to habitat inside and out (furniture, decoration, home and renovation, kitchens and baths, pool and garden) to give ideas to visitors wishing to build or decorate their homes but enriched also a large exhibition dedicated to design, "Living design". This unique event exhibition of 800 m² will feature the talents of regional designers.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is the world largest mountain craving in the Black Hills of South Dakota, US. The Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance was commissioned by Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to sculptor Korczak Ziólkowski. The work was started in 1948 and has been continued by Korczak family since his death in 1982.

When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. It may become the world's largest sculpture, as well as the first non-religious statue to hold this record since 1967.

Love these Paper Crafts animals created by Ayumu Saito for Canon Creative Park. While I can't dig more info about this artist from the internet, Ayumu Saito has created many interesting animal paper crafts for the Canon Creative Park. And all these designs are free to download and make your own. Nice!

+ Canon Creative Park

Practical & fun seldom mix so well like the Wagon Tote Bag designed by Welcome- a studio directed by Laurel Consuelo Broughton focused on meaningful design toward the explication of cultural ideas.

WAGON is a curated bricolage of style and function that merges playful aesthetics with the timeless need to carry and convey. Each WAGON is modeled after an icon of carriage— WAGON No.1 starts with the honest mason’s bag and adds wheels and a friendly demeanor for the perfect at-home companion. WAGON No.2 takes on the stalwart basket and is sturdy for neighborhood transport or at-home laundry duty., and WAGON No.3 is the tall flexible sibling of the pack. Based on the standard grocery bag, No.3 is perfect for easy toting, the canvas grocery bag is removable and becomes a backpack for those lighter loads.

+ Welcome

When two of the world renowned artists joined force, Manolo Blahnik- a shoe designer and Damien Hirst- an artist famed for his spot painting, a 'Dot' Boots was born. Exploiting the Pop and Op evocations of Hirst’s pattern of identically sized dots evenly spaced on a grid, Blahnik reprises the 1960s “go-go” boot. Coincidentally, this collaboration predated by a few months Louis Vuitton’s launch of its Takashi Murakami patterned bags.  

“I have always been an admirer of Damien Hirst, so I jumped at the opportunity to work with his prints. I made two boots—both very simple because I wanted Mr. Hirst’s work to be the main focus and not the shoes. One is this from the ‘Spots’ series, and the other a ‘Splash.’ Of the two, this is my favorite. Spots have always been a favorite theme with me, but I love the way that Hirst places them in this rigid, repetitive format. It looks very disciplined but at the same time is very playful—thanks to the fun colors that represent chemicals, giving the whole piece a dark undertone, which I find very clever.” —Manolo Blahnik

If you have a new product and want to create a brand and position your product among all competitors, don't hesitate to seek the service of the creatives. A group of Florida students with their own line of Saltwater Marsh Bar-B-Q sauces had ask creative firm Shepherd created a label that reflects the small company’s personality and the distinctive flavor of the sauce. Designer Kendrick Kidd’s design for the Yellow Jacket BBQ sauce makes an appearance along with graphic details and language that set the packaging apart. The packaging design has since won Gold at the AAF’s regional Addy competition.

UK leading contemporary design event, the 17th edition of 100% Design will be held this 23-26 September 2011 at Earls Court London. 100% Design is the recognised centre for excellence in interior innovation in the UK. Whether you are looking for the latest living inspiration, dreaming of a one-stop-shop for industry professionals and design lovers, the very best examples are all housed under one roof. 

As a trade show, 100% Design is a high-profile event with a global reach. In 2010 over 1,300 members of the press visited from the UK, Europe, and places as far-flung as US, China, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa. This year, some of the highlights of the show will be Elle Decoration; The Conran Shop; Lucy Martin, John Cullen Lighting; Post Work Architects; Blueprint with their Awards shortlist and design writer Barbara Chandler; discover the best of British design at the Director's Cut & check out the latest smart materials at Hello Future - The A-Z of Smart Materials.

Book your calendar now! 

100% Design London 2011 
Earls Court Exhibition Centre
Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th September 2011

Opening hours and type of visitors allowed 
Thursday 22 September 10.00 - 21.00 (Trade and Press only)
Friday 23 September 10.00 - 19.00 (Trade and Press only)
Saturday 24 September 10.00 - 18.00 (Trade, Press, Students)
Sunday 25 September 11.00 - 17.00 (Trade, Press, Students, General Public) 

Studio Dreimann creates and designs consumer goods, industrial goods and furniture. Jonas Ette, Simon Kux, Tim Prigge first met while studying product design at the University of Applied Sciences of Hannover. In spring of 2010 they founded their own design studio in Hannover (Germany). The intention of their design is to add emotional appeal to visually familiar things with a new, simple function and to provide them a timeless touch. The service includes a detailed research and analysis of the client and the respective market. It is important for Studio Dreimann to include the customers philosophy and history and to enrich his product range with new impulses. The resulting findings will be implemented in ideas and designs in close cooperation with the clients. Studio Dreimann visualizes in sketches, prototypes and CAD models.

Some of their recent projects are SL27 Link, a kitchen tool; LM108 Watch; floor lamp etc...

SL27 Link Kitchen Tong for Konstantin Slawinski 2011

30° Floor Lamp 2009

Table 2010

Simple & minimalist design by Hironao Tsuboi.

The VOL portable speaker- composed of aluminum, the speaker is switched on and off by turning the dial; volume adjust in the same manner, powered by lithium battery, includes audio jack, USB port, and 5V DC connection.

Ashiato is Japanese style sandals designed specially for kids by Kiko+. Designs based on traditional Japanese footwear, the sandals come in 5 different colors and 5 cool animal foot prints. Cat, gecko, owl, monkey and zaurus, the kids can choose which footprints to leave now!

The Takabisha ride at Japan's Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park has set a new record as the steepest roller-coaster of the world.

The recently-built, $37 million attraction-The Takabisha (or “dominant,” in English) have 0.6 miles of track, seven major twists and that stomach-churning plummet.

The rides will first treats to the beautiful views of Mount Fuji on the way up. But it was a different story after the ride reached its highest point and began its breathtaking 141ft vertical freefall at 121 degrees. Riders will be hurtled around the track at 62 miles per hour, meaning that the ride, and the views of the nearby Mount Fuji, will last just 112 seconds. They’ll also experience a split second of weightlessness as they nosedive down the mountainous drop.

Every year on September 11, two spotlights illuminate the sky in memoriam of those who died in the Twin Towers attack in 2001. The two towers of light are composed of two banks of high wattage spotlights that point straight up from a lot next to Ground Zero. 

Photo: Chris Hondros/Getty Images/Life.com

Crazy for small little things? The AMIGOS Animal Desk Organizer Series will definitely make you love it or hate it. AMIGOS are handcrafted leather desk organizer, with silly animal shapes that will turn your desktop into lively landscapes or should i say safari? You will love them because they are fun organizer for all your small things. They holds memos, pencils, coins and other small things found on your desk. But you will also hate them because the AMIGOS family have a total of eleven members, they are the Kangaroo, dog, bunny, piggy, cat, lizard, horse, hen & chicks, caterpillar, tortoise, stork and monkey. The real point behind these products is to add happiness and positive emotions to everyday activities such as working or studying, which can sometimes be stressful. 

Nowadays, everything handcrafted will get huge demand & popularity such as the Natural Speaker by Joon&Jung. The idea for the ‘the natural speaker’ derived from the desire to create an absolutely unique, handcrafted speaker that transmit mellow sound with natural resonance, resembling the distinct flair of an acoustic instrument right in front of you. 

While a lot of speakers are constructed to produce a rather fat bass and sharp high tones, the sound was kind of stuck inside the speakers, missing a natural vibe and ambiance. The Natural Speaker used of ceramic & wood properties as the speaker casing, the sound is amplified inside and gains a slight echo, creating a balanced mid-tone sound and natural feeling for music.