Saint Valentine's Day is celebrated in countries throughout the world. The myth of Saint Valentine starts with the common belief that he was imprisoned for marrying soldiers who were prohibited from marrying. While in prison, he supposedly healed his jailor's daughter, and wrote her a letter the day before his execution, signing it "from your Valentine." Whether the story is true or not, Saint Valentine has inspired a day of romantic love. While we can't exactly help with that scenario, we thought we'd give you a slideshow of some of our favorite products in red.
Mirrors don't need to be on the wall at all. Among its collections of sparkling glass tables and furnishings, Italian manufacturer Gallotti & Radice has created two gemlike options that will reflect well on whatever room they're in.
Italian company Gallotti&Radice is well-known for their avant-garde designs featuring a variety of materials and shapes and these coffee tables are no exception. All vastly different, making sure at least one of them could work for most any space, they are available through the US-based M2L.
Layer by Luca Nichetto (above) features stacked wooden rings to form the base of this glass-topped table. They appear to be unsteady and may topple over at any moment but not so. The rings come in a variety of colors for you to customize.
Concorde
Available through M2L, the armless metal-frame chair comes in a variety of punchy or deep-hued textiles by the manufacturer (Artifort).
For commercial or residential use, this chair was designed by Pierre Paulin in the 1960s for the Concorde aircraft waiting room.
M2L has unveiled its own line of fine cabinetry, M2L Brand, developed by Manfred Petri, the new line is ideal for executive applications that require architectural wood solutions. With no visible hardware - thanks to a soft-touch opening system - recessed bases and raised cabinet tops, M2L Brand stands as a purist architectural form. The line uses only high-grade American hardwood veneers; a specially developed urethane finishing system gives the cabinetry a beautiful natural patina. A variety of top material options including aluminum, leather, stone and glass add to the M2L Brand's flexibility.
Since its founding two decades ago, M2L has become a go-to source for a range of iconic European designers from every generation. So it is only natural that the company has taken the next step - celebrating twenty years in business by unveiling its own line of M2L Brand office cabinetry and casegoods.
Minimal Comfort-
Despite its no-frills appearance, Gebrüder's minimalist chair was made with comfort in mind: its flexible frame responds to the person sitting on it. M2L offers it in eleven colors.
Launch Pad- M2L Brand is launching a new collection of architectural cabinetry designed by Manfred Petri.
Concorde chair with polished aluminum legs and Tonus upholstery by Artifort.
Louis XV Goes to Sparta chair in soft polyurethane finished poplar plywood and photographically printed faux marble silk-viscose by Cerruti Baleri.
The Concorde, from Dutch furniture manufacturer Artifort, was originally created by French designer Pierre Paulin for the waiting room of the Concorde aircraft fleet (c.1960). Reintroduced by Artifort and available through the furniture showroom M2L, the armless metal frame chairs can be used in commercial or residential settings and come in a variety of punchy or deep-hued Artifort fabrics.
… But the Pivot desk by Shay Alkalay for Arco, which he found at M2L, in Midtown, was the
most interesting workstation “from a design point of view,” he said. “And a good urban
solution, because you can plug it in anywhere and it doesn’t take up too much space.”…
Bell side table, $2,550, by Sebastian Herkner for Classicon at M2L.
Curves Ahead
Leather and textured fabric pair up in Walter Knoll's sculptural Bao, a swiveling armchair by EOOS.
Ergonomic- Patrick Norguet's Apollo Chair for Artifort includes a cast-aluminum trumpet base with a swivel function. Various fabrics available. At M2L.
Nearly two centuries after Michael Thonet established his studio in Germany, the master has arrived stateside. The long-deferred debut comes courtesy of M2L, recently named a distributor for Gebrüder T 1819, the company now headed by Thonet's fifth-generation descendants. Of course, his reputation precedes him. Who doesn't recognize the Vienna coffeehouse chair?
Officially dubbed 214, it's still produced in solid beech, using Thonet's revolutionary bentwood process from 1859. The new version, though, offers an especially contemporary - and literal - twist on one of it's legs. The line also includes Dutch architect Mart Stam's S33. which introduced tubular steel into the mix when the cantilevered chair, the first, appeared in 1926. Three more cantilevers are likewise framed in tubular steel: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's S533 (1927) and Marcel Breuer's S32 (1929) incorporate wicker, while the molded beech-plywood seat of Stam's S43 (1931) can be stained or lacquered in 11 colors.
Classics to-be are available as well, such as Naoto Fukasawa's 130 in oak and beech and Stefan Diez's 405, which pays homage to Gebrüder's bentwood heritage with a molded beech-plywood backrest that gently flexs with the sitter. M2L, 800-319-8222; m2l.com.