Arjun Rathi is an architect and lighting designer with a self-named multi-disciplinary studio, Arjun Rathi Design, that was established in 2012 in Mumbai, India. Since then, his studio’s work has gained a lot of recognition for their exploratory, imaginative approach towards materials and design processes in lighting design and luxury interiors. Arjun works to create single pieces made together with craftsmen as well as mass produced objects developed with manufacturers – the full spectrum. That said, the studio has no particular style but follows their instincts and their ethos of “light, form(s), emotion”. With a belief that lighting can have a strong emotional and transformational impact on spaces, Arjun’s studio has executed intricate and extensive lighting installations at The Lodha World Towers, India’s tallest residential building, and The Lodhi Hotel in Delhi. The studio is currently working on India’s largest lighting installation for a commercial banquet space … Read the rest

We know, we know – you’re probably keenly aware that the past year has been, well, different. While we could start counting off the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has changed society, potentially forever, we’re going to cut to the chase. Over the past 12 months, the general population has spent more time at home than ever before in our lifetimes. In the interior design world, that single pandemic-induced behavioral change is dramatically impacting the industry. More specifically, it’s created a laser focus on wellness and sustainability.

In March 2020, before we had any idea just how long we’d be in lockdown, everything froze. People froze their assets, their social lives, their office lives – really, just anything and everything stopped. And that included design businesses.

“At the beginning of the pandemic with the stay-at-home orders, we saw a dramatic decrease in business,” says Tisha Leung, editor at … Read the rest

Every other week we’re inviting one of the Design Milk team to share five personal favorites – an opportunity for each of us to reveal the sort of designs we use and appreciate in our own lives from a more personal perspective. Founder + Chief Creative Officer Jaime Derringer returns this week for our Take 5 series…



1. I discovered Arushi Jain through a newsletter, and I’m so glad I did because her music is incredible. She brings together modular synthesis and traditional Indian ragas resulting in otherworldly ambient soundscapes. Take a listen to her Boiler Room set above.

2. I’m really loving these pieces from førs studio, new in the Design Milk Shop, especially in this creamy peach tone. I’ve started drinking (decaf) tea every evening so I can see myself using this on the daily.

From The Shop

Shop

Large Tea Set

$172.00

Shop

… Read the rest

With the one year anniversary of lockdown behind us, we wanted to highlight two projects with culinary rooted creativity that emerged during incubation. One is a look back at how we ate in 2020, and the other a look into the future of how we can eat again together in the future.

First, is the observational photo series conceived by hej studios’ Creative Director, Brini Fetz and brand strategist Lisa Langmantel, captured by Austrian-based photographer Angela Lamprecht. The group took a closer look at last year’s meal plan, and how our collective eating habits evolved from a social and cultural perspective. Their concept of reflecting on the culinary monotony and receptive routines of lockdown was visualized in 8 monochromatic images.

… Read the rest

Compared to traditional instruments, the learning curve associated with learning how to use a synthesizer can seem intimidating. There’s a degree of technical proficiency with synths absent while learning how to strike a key or strum a string. Electronic musical equipment brand Moog Music wants to help demystify their equipment by offering beginners comprehensively outfitted kits that include two of the brand’s most versatile synths – the Moog Mother-32 & DFAM and DFAM & Subharmonicon.

Designed as a starter pack, each kit includes all necessary cables, accessories and educational tools required to set forth exploring the realms of synthesized analog soundscapes. And they’ve done so with collaborative work with two illustrators, emphasizing these kits’ friendly entry point spirit.

Moog invited illustrator Jim Stoten to embellish the Mother-32 & DFAM kit alongside Philip Lindeman to complement the Subharmonicon & DFAM pairing with their distinct, yet complementary colorful custom artwork in … Read the rest

Byron Bay-based designer, Sarah Ellison, launches her fourth collection, a series of decorative wood pieces called La Banda. La Banda, Italian for “the stripe”, is a small capsule of an idea. It wasn’t intended to be part of a broader concept, but rather, an idea of its own centered around craftsmanship and technique. “We felt that these pieces said so much on their own, we didn’t want them to get lost within a larger offering. It was my chance to experiment with a bold concept without thinking too much about the commercial side of a design,” says Ellison. Each design is made of ash and walnut 5mm wood veneer, constructed to create a banded design. Pieces in this collection include: a side table, console and screen.

The starting point for La Banda was, as the name suggests, the banding technique. “I knew that the ‘stripey’ effect would create quite … Read the rest

Design Milk favorites Calico Wallpaper unveiled a new collection of one-of-a-kind wallcoverings called Dawn designed in collaboration with top designers. Nick and Rachel Cope, co-founders of Calico Wallpaper, enlisted Ini Archibong, Sabine Marcelis, Dimorestudio and Neri&Hu to expand their signature collection, Aurora, with a series of gradient designs that aim to inspire hope and optimism during these challenging times. Each design was created during the summer and fall of 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, requiring the designers to work remotely. Recognizing the impact of the global pandemic on individuals, communities and businesses, Calico Wallpaper is donating a portion of the proceeds to charities that were picked by the designers, like the Environmental Defense Fund and UN Refugee Agency, among others.

We laid the foundation for Calico Wallpaper during Hurricane Sandy in 2013. Though different from the present moment in so many ways, that time of uncertainty

… Read the rest

Virginia Shore is a Washington, DC–based curator and advisor with a specialty in contemporary art in all media. Her career has been dedicated to expanding the role of visual arts as a means of cultural diplomacy. Virginia has curated more than 200 international collections and exhibitions for public and private collections, and overseen several off site-specific commissions. Throughout the years, she has established relationships with hundreds of artists, architects, curators, foundations, dealers, collectors and institutions around the world. Her current projects and partnerships include the Barack Obama Foundation/Obama Presidential Center, the Emerson Collective, the Fredriksen Family Collection in partnership with the New National Museum of Norway, and the HALL Group for the recent opening of HALL Arts Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

Today Virginia is joining us for Friday Five!

1. Elson & Company
Lola, our sweet girl posing on my favorite carpet by DC-based Elson & Company. Diane Elson … Read the rest

Has your gym reopened? Have you been back yet? Or did you invest in weights and bands, yoga mats, treadmill or bike, and find that you’ve been really enjoying the benefits of working out at home?

Millions of Americans turned their spare rooms or spare corners of rooms (or garages or yards) into home fitness spaces when COVID-19 locked down their regular workout spots. Now many are planning to continue exercising at home post-pandemic. There are pros and cons to working out where you live. Let’s take a look at each.

Here are seven advantages of exercising where you live:

• You don’t have to fight anyone else for a pair of dumbbells or a machine
• You don’t have to hunt for parking at busy times
• You

… Read the rest

Continuing with our celebration of Women’s History Month alongside the Female Design Council (FDC), today we’re highlighting Brooklyn-based lighting designer Erin Lorek. With a degree in theatrical lighting design from West Chester University and experiences as a designer, gaffer and rigger in the NYC live entertainment industry, Erin founded her studio LOREKFORM where she explores and experiments with the nature of light through materiality and form. Erin collaborates with artists and makers across the country to bring her lighting designs to life. She views light almost like an animate object, one that can “come to life to dance, or even play.” Using various organic yet reflective textures and surfaces, she creates fixtures that look like art sculptures or installations. Each design and collection goes beyond the basic function of illuminating a space; they highlight the different ways light can affect the space it’s in.

… Read the rest