In honor of today being the birthday of quesited’s founder, Patti, I am featuring the design of one of her favorite things: beautiful perfume bottles! Consistently, some of my favorite designs have come from the fashion house of Issey Miyake. 
Le Feu D’Issey was the first perfume I purchase entirely for the packaging and fell in love with the scent second. Unfortunately, this bottle was discontinued because the unique design did not sell in mass quantities. The glass bottle is protected in a rubbery red sphere that appears designed to evoke a techno version of the poison apple from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. The atomizer travels along a channel to reveal or cover the opening. 
Shiro Kuramata’s perfume bottle for Issey Miyake is an innovative bottle in a limited edition, posthumously released almost 20 years after Kuramata’s death. When it was designed in 1990, the manufacturing techniques didn’t allow for a perfect sphere to be cut into a cube. The design collaboration between arguably two of Japan’s most creative minds created a vision of “an oversized drop of water and a condensed version of the earth with visions of flowers and dreams, light and wind, men and women dancing a rondo inside.” That is a tall order to pack into one tiny perfume bottle!
2,500 bottles have been made thanks to the development of laser technology, a perfect sphere has been cut into a cube of glass and polished, achieving the ‘absolute purity’ Kuramata intended with his original drawings.
The limited release of a design that could have been consigned to the history books without ever having been made is reason enough to raise its value. But given the technical precision of the design, Kuramata’s ‘ahead-of-his-time’ thinking and the timeless appeal of the object itself, we would recommend you keep the bottle long after the perfume’s finished.
Kuramata’s original drawings for the perfume bottle from 1990
http://www.isseymiyakeparfums.com
Spring is almost here and you know what that means…DESIGN EVENTS GALORE! Three of my perennial favorites are in NYC this year and are listed below. Hope to see you there!
The first to kick off is Lightfair International. There are illuminating classes available from May 3rd to 4th and a tradeshow from May 5th-7th displays everything the lighting market has to offer from the most efficient new technologies to imaginative decorative fixtures.
Next up is the 7th annual BKLYN DESIGNS. This year’s showcase will include a specially curated “green” exhibition at the BSH Showroom, a children’s furniture off-site located at Jane’s Carousel, as well as multiple design related evening festivities at hot spots across DUMBO. Sign up for the mailing list to receive updates and reminders about the 2009 show scheduled for May 8-10!
To finish off a fun-filled tour of design, visit ICFF International Contemporary Furniture Fair May 16th-19th at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. This is where the world displays the most current and exciting furniture designs. Plan on staying the whole day!
A friend and very talented designer, Ben Mickus has been designing furniture in his free time. His cleverly named, Relief Chair will be featured in an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. The exhibition is called “Fashioning Felt” and will be on display from March 6th through September 7th of this year.
I put an emphasis on free time as Ben is a full time architectural designer for Diller, Scofidio & Renfro. It is a busy month for my friend Ben, as a project he has invested a few years of his time in is coming to fruition. He has been a part of the design team working on the renovations to Lincoln Center. Alice Tully Hall opened mid February to rave reviews. The interior features stellar acoustics and sensuous interiors. The original proportions have not changed, but its smooth surfaces have been clad in a translucent veneer of moabi, a rich African hardwood with LED lights embedded behind the wood that can be subtly adjusted so patches of the wood’s surface begin to glow, shifting from pale orange to magma red.
http://www.mickusprojects.com/
http://www.cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/Fashioning-Felt/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/arts/design/20tull.html
http://www.dillerscofidio.com/