Can you Canoe? Well now you can! This store, located in Portland, Oregon has a beautiful website that features their world wide product collection. Their clean taste suggest the finest from an array of different categories. I think I see a trend here…
So many designers are taking the minimalistic road these days. You can see form the photos below that this is another “Scandinavian” inspired collection to the likes of “Ikea”, “Muji”, “MOMA” etc.
The constant theme that I see which is holding this line together is the ever popular “plywood’ used as a viable material in product design today. Plywood is pretty nasty in it’s raw form, but when it is taken to a higher level it becomes the cream de la cream. Remember the Eameschair? Ray and Charles Eames were pioneers in the plywood arena. Their first success story was this well known chair.
Click here for more on chairs from Tchochkes.
Plywood is particularly associated with mid 19th century Modernist design, and like you mentioned, many classic pieces were produced using plywood.
Pieces from, or influenced, by this period are often used to give an “edge” to the scheme, usually described as “minimalist”, although a far cry from true Minimalist.
In other words, I think designers like the type of style you mention because it is easy, gives instant “wow” results, and is pretty safe design to offer to clients. Or IMHO lazy design. 😉
Really nice site btw 🙂