Concrete like you've never seen it, a beautiful village of lean-tos, and a chair inspired by twigs.
Once abandoned, Matavenero village in the mountains of Norhwest Spain is now inhabited by a community who lives in hand-built, ramshackle structures that seem to sprout up from the natural environment like an undiscovered eco-paradise. Lucky for us, photographer Kevin Faingnaert captured this faraway wonderland in living color. (Sho and Tell)
Sand + cement + water = concrete, the world's most frequently used man-made material. We tend to think of it as an industrial material, brutalist at best, but these images from writer Philip Jodidio's new book, 100 Contemporary Concrete Buildings, prove just how powerful of a design element it can be. (Slate)
Layered with shag rugs, happy plants, and a use of color that has few boundaries, the very chic loft home of Cécile Figuette (the French designer behind Bien Fait wallpaper) has a serene sort of boldness that invites you right in. (Miss Moss)
Designed by Nendo, a prolific Tokyo-based studio, for the Italian design firm Alias, this wooden "twig" chair features a variety of backs that slip into a white base. (Dezeen)
Like puzzles of landscapes, Nashville-based artist Drew Tyndell's collages use color palettes that have us dreaming of weekend getaways and all the magic hours. (Design Crush)
A graphic designer and the co-creator of Field Notes (those tiny booklets that slip right in your pocket for thought-jotting), Aaron James Draplin let the New York Times into his design firm—and the pictures feel more like the quirkiest, most fascinating junk shop than a place of business. "I go out and grab stuff from the dead world and hoard it," he shares, shamelessly. (The New York Times)
What home and design links did you love this week? Let us know in the comments!
Mataveno houses photo by Kevin Faingnaert; concrete building photo by Shigeo Ogawa/courtesy of Taschen; colorful home photos by Julie Ansiau for Elle France; chair photo by Akihiro Yoshida; collages by Seth Smith; and Aaron James Draplin portrait by Leah Nash for the New York Times.
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