Visiting Fritz Hansen HQ

On their way home from imm cologne this year, Niels and Nancy stopped by the Fritz Hansen headquarters in Allerød, Denmark – approximately 40 minutes north of Copenhagen. Receiving a warm welcome from Jacob Holm, CEO of Fritz Hansen, they toured the offices and museum taking in the vast amount of historical pieces. Fritz Hansen was one of the first brands that Niels distributed when he opened his first retail store nearly 50 years ago.

They ate lunch, connected with Hans Mannerhagen and left reassured as to why Fritz Hansen has achieved legendary status and will continue to develop as an industry leader.

Click here to view the rest of Nancy’s photos.

Holiday Staff Wishlist

As designophiles, working at Inform is always exciting. Constantly surrounded by beautiful objects of supreme quality. It’s tough to pick our favourites out of the lot but, below, we’ve done our best. Throughout December, we will be posting featured objects daily to our social feeds and weekly to the Inform blog. All of the items are in stock (when I write this) and are being displayed in the front window of our 50 Water Street showroom.

As always, please feel free to send us an email if you’d like more info on any particular piece(s).

PP Mobler – Flaghalyard Chair


‘FANTASTIC. Period. There really isn’t anything in modern design better than this. This is every design lovers dream come true.’

– Kyle

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Tal – Gudari Bedcover

‘I love these handmade quilts because they add warmth and they have a real homey feel. But most importantly, they remind me of my Iola, my grandmother, who taught me to sew.’

– Erica

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Edward Wohl – Maple Cutting Boards

‘Who would not want to cook with these? Solid maple and hand carved by artisans. Their smooth tactile quality and large size inspires me to get in the kitchen and slice, dice, chop, and create.’

– Michael Y

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‎Dyson – Bladeless Pedestal Fan

‘I love the innovation of this fan; that it keeps you cool in the heat and warm in the cold. You just have to choose the temperature.’

– Tim

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FLOS – Glo Ball Floor Lamp

‘This, designed by Jasper Morrison, has such a big presence in the interior space without being loud. The beauty of the glass shade creates the perfect ambiance, while producing no distracting glare, floats atop a simple stand. Simplicity.’

– Robyn

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La Palma – Lem Stool Black Chrome/Mud Leather

‘This is one of my favourite barstools not because of it’s classic look, but because of the sharp black chrome finish. It reminds me of car rims. The kind you would put on your Mercedes or BMW and the mud coloured seat pairs perfectly with it. Best of all, it spins!’

– Jon

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Wallace Sewell – Blankets

‘Wallace # Sewell is a UK based textile design studio with a unique signature style distinguished by the use of natural textiles, combined with confident but understated colour palettes. Their innovative design approach combines the use of traditional weaving techniques with a unique understanding yarn properties, manifested in a varied collection of must-have blankets, scarves and accessories.’

– Sherry

 

Venini – Bolle Vases

‘I have some of Tapio Wirkkala’s vintage Iittala pieces at home; I love his work. These Venini vases remind me of vessels that would be found at the bottom of the sea, sunken after a shipwreck. The colour combinations are beautiful and unexpected.’

– Thea

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Niels Bendtsen for Azure People’s Choice award

We’re excited to share with you that the Bensen Park chair has been selected as a finalist in the “Design: Furniture” category of this years Azure magazine AZ design award!

We encourage you to share this information with your friends and colleagues by posting this link to your social media:

www.bit.ly/AZawards

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Holiday Wish List

This year, we have decided to individually select our ideal gifts from our current stock and to share as to why we love these pieces.
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Flo
by Marcello Ziliani for Magis | Selected by Rupert

$532.00

I love it because it is the perfect domestic ladder. It folds perfectly flat and compact for storage.  When open it has a very handsome secure look and feeling about it. It also has a very unique handle to hold and steady yourself when you are reaching for a high cupboard. This is a great feature for older people or anyone who has a glass of wine while preparing dinner and needs that special serving dish from a top cupboard for instance…? I just can’t decide between which colour I like more either the orange or the anthracite.

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iPhone Pouch
by Isaac Reina | Selected by Thea

$189.00

Understated and elegant this Parisian based leather maker creates bags and small leather goods of impeccable quality. He has worked for acclaimed fashion houses such as Hermes, Antonio Miro and collaborated with Martin Margiella. All of the pieces are handcrafted in Paris.

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IDSwest Media Preview | Showing Great Form

On Tuesday evening, the IDSwest team gave a small taste of what we can expect this year, September 29th through October 2nd. The event was held at the site of architect Michael Katz’ L41 Ultra Compact Home, at BCIT on Great Northern Way.


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Salone del Mobile 2011

iSaloni in Milan, the worlds biggest exposition for furniture, lighting and accessory manufacturers from around the globe. Every year, some of the Inform staff makes the journey overseas to get a first look at all of the new and upcoming products. Below is the first batch of photos from the fair.

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Book Review | The Wirtz Private Garden

“This garden is made for my camera” says Marco Valdivia. Unlike the Wirtzes’ commissioned gardens, this former kitchen garden was never conceived as a formal composition: a complete work of art. Rather, it is a working nursery in active use, a laboratory for continuous experimentation, in which plants are moved, transferred to other plots or to gardens in progress elsewhere.

Few landscape designers are more admired than Belgium’s Jacques Wirtz, as seen with the huge success of The Wirtz Gardens, published in the fall of 2004. The Wirtz Gardens surveyed 57 private and public gardens designed by Wirtz, many in collaboration with his two sons, Martin and Peter, in locations spanning the globe. Like the veteran art dealer whose personal collection one imagines to be stupendous, the volume raised the question of what Wirtz’s own garden looked like.


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Designer Focus | Charles & Ray Eames

Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri and by the time he was 14 years old was working part time at the Laclede Steel Company where he learned about engineering, drawing and architecture and first entertained the idea of one day becoming an architect.

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Designer Focus | Niels Bendtsen

“Quality is a funny concept. We tend to think of it as being associated with handcraft. But quality is also about your attitude toward design. Craftsmanship is just as much about how you run the machines that are now necessary for economic viability.”

– Niels Bendtsen

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Owner of Inform Interiors and Bensen Manufacturing, Niels Bendtsen has been working with contemporary furniture all his life. In 1963, he opened his first retail store in West Vancouver, Danet Interiors, focusing on well-designed and well-crafted Danish modern furniture. He designed the Ribbon chair, which was accepted into the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York._

This past weekend, contemporary furniture took New York by storm with the help of  ICFF and Bensen was there to be apart of it all. Above, left to right, U Trek, About Face, Index, and Canyon sectional. Click here to visit Bensen’s website. Click here to see Bensen products on informshop.com.

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