Coffee tables don’t usually steal the show but then there’s nothing usual about Tesler-Mendelovitch’s geometric wooden coffee tables and stools. Part of the duo’s “Diamond-Woods” series designed for Tel-Aviv-based Talents Design Studio, these objets d’art are crafted from a new flexible wood surface material created by Tesler-Mendelovitch, which is structured into different diamond-like shapes to create an array of unique “stage products,” as the duo call them, just made to play the leading role in any living room or gallery space.

Combining natural fibers with a sleek finish and defined edges, they look as a product of both traditional craft and mathematical precision; and thanks to the integration of African walnut veneer surface, the coffee tables and stools are also lightweight, ready to seamlessly integrate into everyday life use. Especially when it comes to making your guests jealous. You can order them here.

Very aptly named, the new solo exhibition “CRUSH” from design avant-gardes Fredrikson Stallard during London Design Week 2012 certainly promises not to leave you indifferent. The Central St Martins graduates in, respectively, industrial design and ceramics, Patrik Fredrikson and Ian Stallard, who formed their studio in 2003, have become known for their innovative approach towards fusing work done by the hand and the computer, and this showcase perfectly illustrates this synthesis. Coming to David Gill's new gallery space in London's St James's, it will feature a series of low glass unit tables and metal chaises centered on recreating the sensuous form of a crumpled metal sheet.

Using a water polished stainless steel and aluminum sheet, which they have formed by hand, and enclosing it in a glass box, the designers fuse industrial with sensuous forms. Their glass unit tables produced with a variety of crumpled metal sheets in black, gold, and silver and the suede-upholstered metal chaise, also create a playful, deeper dimension by the metal’s tantalizing reflections of surrounding space. Also on show will be a teal version of their iconic piece, the Pyrenees sofa created from Polyurethane Foam, which was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2011.

Bringing innovative, mold-breaking design that reflects the new parameters of the digital age, Fredrikson and Stallard certainly make a must-see stop in this year’s design festival.

Maria Dimitrova

London-based design wonder Valentina González Wohlers has created another edition of her signature hand made seating objects, aptly called the "Wild Bodged Chairs." Created in collaboration with Oaxacan artisan Gabriel López, the chairs are made from the woods of San Jose del Pacifico, at the highest point of Oaxaca's Sierra in Mexico, and make a tropical re-contextualization of the classic Victorian porter's chair. Hauntingly captivating, Wohlers' creations embody the slow unfolding cycle of her live materials and of the craftsmanship process. As the raw wood and branches intersect, meet and divert, playing by the organic rules of nature, each piece is a one-off and made by request.

Maria Dimitrova