Describing her work, Dutch designer Rianne Koens says, “My products are simple and clear with a poetic touch.” Her Oturakast cabinet embodies this notion completely, playfully elevating our expectations for a simple cabinet into an opportunity for joy. Its multi-sized and colored drawers can be stacked in a variety of configurations, according to the user’s needs (or whims).

Koens, who graduated cum laude in 2011 from the Design Academy Eindhoven, says Oturakast was “inspired by the warm hospitality of my Turkish in-laws. . .The Turkish word for ‘sit’ is otur, and the word for ‘stool’ is oturak. This chest of drawers is intended for a Western interior that may not be furnished for receiving guests at short notice. It consists of a stack of separate storage components with legs that fold out, turning drawers into stools. When visitors leave, you fold up the legs, stack the stools-cum-drawers and have a complete cabinet again.”

She goes on: “Products have an impact on their environment. Therefore I continue to design products that through their use result in a positive effect. I think that I am, as a product designer, responsible for what I bring into the world.”

*All images courtesy of the designer.

Brooklyn-based We-Flashy makes design-driven, reflective streetwear for cyclists and pedestrians who want to be safe without compromising style (think houndstooth, classic textile patterns, and nautical stripes, as opposed to a crossing guard look). The reflective designs are barely visible in the daytime, but light up at night if a car’s headlights catch them.

We-Flashy co-founders Alex Vessels & Mindy Tchieu launched the brand while they were both grad students–and casual cyclists–at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. As Vessels explains, “We-Flashy was our final project in a wearable technology course. . . Mindy and I are casual cyclists, and we, especially Mindy, were getting frustrated with not being seeing as we were biking through the city and to class.” Tchieu concurs: “I had just started biking around Manhattan more and found the experience very stressful, especially at night, because even with bike lights, it was as if I was invisible!”

After a series of brainstorming sessions and prototypes (which included everything from “an
inflatable, glowing, bike-powered suit” to an blow-up “brain helmet”), the pair landed on the ultra-visible, very wearable reflective line, and We-Flashy was born. A successful Kickstarter campaign encouraged the designers to turn their student project into a full-time business. They now hand-make every piece to order out of their Brooklyn studio, an old storage silo on the Gowanus Canal. “It’s been the site of many parties,” the pair notes. And “it’s an amazingly unique space, circular with interesting acoustics.”

So what’s next for We-Flashy? “We’re very excited about 2012!” Vessels and Tchieu say. “We hope to expand our lineup with new designs, bright summer/neon colors, new retroreflective materials, and maybe even kids sizes (a big request from parents) at some point.”

For more info and to buy, check out We-Flashy.com.

And check out the gallery and video below.

We-Flashy.com – Reflective Clothing for Modern Times from Alex Vessels on Vimeo.

*All images courtesy of We-Flashy

Now open: Yigal Azrouël‘s latest venture, the new Cut25 Soho flagship, designed by Dror Benshetrit. The 1,400-square-foot freestanding building hosts Azrouël’s Cut25 signature collection–a combination of high-end and day-to-day fashion–as well as various fashion and design collaborations, all falling under the Cut25 concept: Contemporary, Modern, and Progressive.

Developed under the creative direction of Dror Benshetrit, whose work runs the gamut from artistic installations to product designs and architecture, the shop’s interior embraces Cut25′s clean, modern aesthetic. Notably, Dror incorporated elements of his innovative QuaDror system – a new space truss geometry the designer spent half his career developing – to complement the fluid draping of the Cut25 collection.

Cut25
129 Grand Street
New York, NY

Photos: © Nathan Kraxberger