Trolling for good design pays off

 
 
 
  
 
Some may call it goofing around, but for me trolling online for interesting design and useful products for the home is research. And it’s darn hard work, too At least that’s how I justify letting hours dribble away while I amble around the net! But it really does pay off sometimes. It was during such a fishing expedition that I discovered a young Chinese design company called Innovo, which is run by a trio with a decidedly international flavor — with principals Zhang Lei,Jovana Bogdanovic and Christoph John coming respectively from China, Serbia and Germany. They met — where else — in Milan. I found work from these youngster’s firm on Inhabitat, which is my favourite green/sustainable design weblog. Great design, global reach and good writing. The boilerplate description is that it’s “devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.” Well worth following. The coverage of the Xuan light, made with bamboo grass, and the Paper Chair, which riffs on ancient Chinese paper-making arts (both shown above) were part of Inhabitat’s coverage of the Milan Furniture Fair.  Are they not the most beautiful things you’ve seen today (at least so far)?