A few days ago Cecconi Simone sent us images about their latest project. Cecconi Simone has designed the model for a community of thirty-seven contemporary townhouses by Treasure Hill Developments in Little Italy / Little Portugal, Downtown Toronto. Here are a few words about this project according to Cecconi Simone : “The 662 s.f. show suite is a careful study in urban living, its manifest simplicity belying its essential complexity. It embodies the modern impulse for openness, unity, and fluidity, within which functional parts are accommodated effortlessly. The character of the different zones is easy to read though their interrelationship is dense and multi-faceted.

Three distinct yet continuous areas – dine-cook-live – are defined clearly within the spatial totality, linked by an interplay of surface planes in cadence; horizontal and vertical, matte and reflective, transparent and opaque, dark and light. Deep espresso, custom millwork contracts the space, creating intimacy and warmth, while the white lacquer, custom kitchen island provides visual expansion and release. The oak stair on a single stringer behind floor-to-ceiling plate glass is highlighted with LEDs, imbuing it with complexity and dimensional depth.

As part of the overall design discourse, there are few freestanding or decorative furnishings within the suite. The integrity of its interior architecture stands on its own, enlivened with carefully-calibrated artificial and natural light. Sliding veneer panels – for concealed storage, media, and food preparation – maintain the model’s architectonic focus, ensuring clear and extended sight lines. The eye is led through the space where its discrete elements are introduced then fused into a seamless whole. - Photography: [ Joy von Tiedemann ]

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We first spotted Rail Yard Studios at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York. Founded by Robert Hendrick and his father Jim, the company creates one-of-a-kind custom furniture from historical, century-old railroad steel and hardwood timbers. Handmade in America from 100% American materials, every piece is a uniquely created work of art – individually numbered and cataloged. We caught up with Robert to find out more about him and his fascinating creations.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself & your background?

RH. Nashville is where I grew up, but after living and travelling in Australia and Europe, it is the last place I thought I would ultimately wind up.  Still it’s a nice place to live, work and raise a family and I’m proud to be from here. I have degrees in Industrial Design from Auburn University and The Ohio State University. After college, an interest in technology led me into several hi-tech and health care-related businesses before I ultimately wound up purchasing a railroad construction company. I still work in healthcare technology in addition to the railroad businesses. I’m also an avid cyclist.  We lead a busy life, but my wife Sally and my three daughters, Zoe, Kate and Annie are very supportive.

How did you first become interested in design?

RH. Design was a natural outlet. I went to college as a backup for the poorly laid plans of becoming a professional musician. Fine art was not my strength, and I had to have a major in college after deciding engineering was not the thing for me. Industrial Design afforded me the opportunity to scratch the itch for both the technical and artistic. I have always had a passion for the creative side of things. My kids love to flip through the comic books I wrote and illustrated when I was their age. Beyond that, I learned to build things out of reclaimed materials at the foot of the ladder helping my father on projects. I blame him for instilling in me that desire to design and build things. As payback, he helps me out today in the studio.

What was it that inspired you to purchase a railroad contracting company?

RH. After spending a few years in Europe, I developed an appreciation for the efficiency and convenience of rail. That fuelled my interest when I was presented with an opportunity to purchase the company in 2001. After several stints with technology companies, it was a welcome change to have the opportunity to work with my hands on something more tangible.

How did this lead to you producing a range of furniture made from rails?

RH. Preserving the history behind the rails that carried names like CARNEGIE, BETHLEHEM and TENNESSEE, and dates from 1899 and the early 1900s, sparked the initial idea. The idea of creating something using sustainable materials drove it a bit further. But the final catalyst was the recession. It slowed everything down including our railroad contracting work. The crews needed something to do in between jobs, and so we started in on this project as a way to keep them busy, fulfill an appreciation for sustainability and appease my creative ideas that I had been suppressing for five years.

Where do you source all the materials that you use in the fabrication of your furniture?

RH. Our materials are generally sourced in the southeastern U.S. We own a railroad construction and maintenance business and it is through that business that we have access to century-old steel rail from across the country. The wood ties are sourced through our suppliers as rejects. As imperfect timbers, they are never treated with the various chemicals, such as creosote, and they also possess incredible natural features like knots and barkseams that we integrate into our designs.

Can you please describe the process you go through to make your furniture?

RH. We scream, we cry, we strain under the weight of the materials and then we take out all of our frustrations by pounding the spikes into them. Oh wait – you’re serious.

First, we sketch out our ideas, and we may build a scale model of the piece we plan to fabricate. We plan the build process on white boards and scratch on scrap paper as we go along, sometimes making design changes in the middle of a build. Once we have a plan we’re satisfied with, we select timbers. Some features like knots and barkseams work better in some designs, while other designs are more forgiving and will allow us to use bowed or heavily checked (split) timbers. And that’s when the screaming and lifting really starts.

Which of your products would you say are the most popular and why?

RH. Our wine racks have been some of the most popular. We’ve had requests for those from around the globe. Of the furniture, the pieces that have ballast (granite gravel) in them like the Sleepers Coffee Table and the Ballast Deck Desk have been most popular. Those pieces look as if the entire rail bed was just plucked up and placed in someone’s office or living room. They are the most literal translations of our materials and have been the most popular – enough so that we’ve gone to the trouble to patent them.

What is it that people like most about your products?

RH. When someone stops and stares at one of our pieces, we have to ask “What made you stop and look?” because we get so many different answers. The tie to the railroad and the history behind the rails is the most common, but many people simply love the industrial chic style or the sustainable aspect of what we do. Others like the composition of steel and wood and sometimes stone.  The most humbling for me is when someone stops just because they like the simplicity of the design and only later do they realize that the pieces are made from railroad materials.

What kind of interiors are your products most suited to?

RH. They are very versatile. We have them in modern lofts and 1920’s bungalows sitting atop oriental rugs, as well as in offices and log cabins. They can be modern and industrial or casual and folksy – it’s all in the eye of the beholder. For instance, we just shipped a coffee table and two conference tables to a company in San Francisco for their corporate office and recently delivered a coffee table to one of the founders of Tumblr for his New York home.

Do you have any plans to introduce any new product lines to your range?

RH. We constantly are looking at new products and adding new things. We started with big pieces like desks and coffee tables and have worked our way down to wine racks and end tables. We’d like to make some even smaller pieces and have developed designs for them, but producing smaller pieces presents challenges… like how to be cost-effective and how to accommodate the variability in our materials. Since the timbers are rejects, they vary dramatically by 1-2” in some cases in size and they can even be twisted or uneven. The rails are worn from 100 years or more of use, so they are not uniform either. That becomes increasingly challenging for us as we move into smaller and smaller product, but we’re learning to overcome those issues and embrace the uniqueness of our product.

Thank you Robert for giving Freshome readers an insight into your company and the unique products that you create. We think these products are absolutely charming and we love the sustainability element to them. Do you agree? We would love to hear your thoughts so please leave your comments below.

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Set in a spectacular surrounding, in Queenstown’s elite golf club Jacks Point, the Coburn Residence is defined by views of the nearby lake and mountains. The client brief included the need for large entertaining spaces that would be strongly connected to the outdoors and separate master and guest bedrooms. Connecting with the surrounding landscape, the residence designed by Harris Butt Architecture stretches over a total surface of ​​712 square meters. Built with locally resourced materials, the house displays an honest, uncomplicated architecture that could easily be transformed into a boutique hotel if necessary. Concrete structural walls were dressed with schist from the site, creating a powerful connection to the property in both material choice and layout overlooking beautiful vistas. Three volumes shelter the main spaces – a rectangular living zone, a square bedroom zone and a linear gallery connecting the two. The garage was hidden under the building, acting as the base of the structure. Focusing on different views surrounding the property, architects designed a modern retreat in a memorable environment.

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People get inspired by lots of things but have you ever heard of someone being inspired by the financial crisis ? Have you ever come across a product, or a piece of furniture inspired by prevailing economic condition? Spread 10 y by Antonio Maria Privitera is a handcrafted wooden magazine rack designed to combine the “news” with the now “(in)famous” graph. It also maps the transition between the Silvio Berlusconi government and that of Mario Monti. The Spread 10 y magazine rack is handmade by Zana Lab and designed by Antonio Maria Privitera @ Studio Inesistente. Finally we think that the Spread 10 y magazine rack  is not just a magazine rack it’s a statement !

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Created for the Brera Design District Fuorisalone 2012, which took place at the end of April, this stunning kitchen creation is the result of a collaboration between two Italian brands that share a mutual respect for innovation, research, design and attention to detail, without forgetting the values of tradition and heritage.

Finding an exciting way to present the products and trends of their 2012 collections Kitchen company GD Cucine and tile company Cotto Veneto worked together to create a unique fusion of industrial capabilities, creative design and handicraft traditions. The award-winning Argento kitchen, designed by Roberto Pezzetta for GD Cucine, was dressed in the micro mosaic “Fosfeni”, from Cotto Veneto’s Gold Collection.

What do you think about this kitchen? Do you like the combination of sleek and modern with traditional and creative?

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The need for a place dedicated to bicycle enthusiasts was answered with an inspirational project in Hainan, China. Bicycle Club was designed by NL Architects and is an impressive cycling pavilion, meant to bring people together and encourage one of the greatest sports. Here is more on the project’s structure from the architects: “A rooftop cycling arena is supported by a glass-enclosed cafe at ground level. The oval-footprint structure’s protruding canopy is essential due to the tropical climate, shading the perimeter seating. The elegant upward curvature of the eaves evokes the form of the traditional and functional pagoda. Visitors set their bicycles within a recessed trough and easily walk up two staircases to the open-air velodrome. The area beneath by the stairs contains and conceals public restrooms“. Bicycles can also be rented from the pavilion, making cycling in Hainan the more accessible. Would you encourage this type of construction in your own city?

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The architecture team of PPA worked on the reconstruction of an old barn in the highlands of Hautes-Pyrénées, France. The result is a welcoming rustic retreat, with appreciation for the local tradition: “Our purpose was to add an extension to the existing barn conversion, creating new living spaces (a guest room and multi-purpose room), along with a utility area and garage. The specificity of the extension project is rooted both in the character of its natural setting and that of the existing building, and creates a double bind in terms of both typology and design. The extension was positioned in the southern portion of the site, on equal footings with the barn, and slips effortlessly into the naturally excavated lay of the land“. With a highly original facade defined by glass and logs, the addition originally combines raw materials like stone and wood, with a minimalist, modern design approach. How would you comment on the appearance of this holiday home?

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Tusculum Residence is the result of a contemporary renovation and addition to an early 20th-century terrace house in Sydney, Australia. The project was envisioned by Smart Design Studio and combines a classic style with a modern approach. According to the architects, an important element of the renovation project is a “grand and gracefully spiralling stair that forms the pivotal junction of the old and new parts of the house. The staircase, spanning the width of the building, features delicate fan-like steel treads cantilevered from the central steel post and winding their way past six split levels, offset between the old and new sides of the house. The stair was conceived as the element that grafts the contemporary and new minimal structure to the refined, trimmed and formal older portion of the dwelling“. How do you find this association between two building sections that are completely different in style?

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As part of Milan Design Week 2012, DuPont Corian collaborated with Russian company Artishock to present the “Corian Springs Russian Design” exhibition, which celebrated Russian creativity in architecture and design. The exhibition featured the work of five teams of emerging architects and designers from Russia, who had been asked to come up with a creative interpretation of furnishings using DuPont Corian.

Ukrainian designer Yaroslav Galant was one of the designers whose work was featured in the exhibition. His table and bench designs combine ancient traditions and modern technologies to create a truly breath taking result. It was while traveling in the Ukraine in search of inspiration, that Galant realized how rich and beautiful Ukrainian culture is and how important it is to preserve that heritage in the present.

Combining  influences of cultural heritage with modern fabricating technology Galant created a range of furniture that is literally embroidered with Ukrainian patterns. Small holes on the surface of the high-tech material allow colourful threads to be woven into it.

Speaking about his designs, Galant says: “The preservation of Ukrainian national traditions is a tremendously important task, not only as a rich heritage from our ancestors, but also as a primary source of fashion and beauty. Besides, they are the most valuable national rebus that we have the honour to both decode and enrich.”

Galant’s furniture collection includes: poufs, a couch, several varieties of coffee-tables, a round dinner table, a bed, night-tables, a folding-screen, a wardrobe, a hanger, a chandelier and a bracket, TV-stand or equipment, as well as two kinds of wall panels, a bath, a wash-basin, four mirrors and benches. What do you think about the way Galant has fused old with new? Is this to your liking? We certainly appreciate it here at Freshome.

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With a set of bright interior spaces that seem to mirror the surrounding landscape, the residence located at 416 Calle Cabo on Costa Rica’s Papagayo Peninsula, pampers its inhabitants with a selection of modern entertainment zones and private relaxing spaces. Occupying 5,600 square feet of the 1.25-acre property, the contemporary display of powerful architecture was separated into 4,300 square feet of interior spaces and additional 1,300 square feet of outdoor zones. Framing views of Costa Rica’s inspiring landscape, large windows in the living space compose a dialogue between natural forces and man-made architecture. Four bedrooms, five bathrooms and two half baths welcome owners in a retreat-like home overlooking green expanses of the nearby golf course, while the living and entertaining zones complete with an infinity pool, create a delightful seamless space to enjoy with family and friends. Part of the heavenly Peninsula Papagayo, this luxury residence offers the best of both worlds – an elegant design set in a picturesque landscape.

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