Design*Sponge: my heart belongs to minnesota: <em>an ode to the boys of blu dot</em>

besides the fact that charlie lazor is a dreamy furniture god (and makes a mean flat pak house), blu dot has an endless amount of great things going for them (aside from now being repped by the tiny firm i work for...hooray!). based in minneapolis and founded in 1996 after charlie, john christakos and maurice blanks all met at williams college, blu dot had its humble beginnings as a way for the three friends to have cool furniture at an affordable price...that they they actually liked. the rest is history.

creativity, functionality and affordability are the key qualities of blu dot's designs: each piece manages to make "design" more approachable and, not to mention, easier on your wallet. with pieces like the sturdy but elegant chicago shelving unit (love it) and the cleverly named felt up chair (see previous posting...), blu dot adds a bit of humor to the contemporary market while still holding their values of good design and quality construction dear.

their newest pieces include a fantastic set of tables called barbarella. one of their trademark "flat pak" designs (meaning the piece arrives as one sheet of perforated steel that can be folded and bent into place), barbarella's form is its function. meaning that its hollow, folded form naturally creates extra storage space and hip little nooks for hiding clutter and all your favorite magazines. in the vein of creative storage, free play is a system designed by blu dot that is comprised of a do-it-yourself design kit inluding the shelves and units that can be folded into any number of shapes to create a unique one-of-a-kind shelf. so, much like my bouroullec boys, the lads at blu dot have shared some of the creative process with us, the humble consumer.

i can't get enough of these guys, so if you're like me, you'll wanna check out their groovy website...and while you're at it, cruise on by charlie's flat pak house site and see what all the buzz is about.

DREAMY MR. LAZOR [free play shelving*blu dot] ahh.....mr. lazor. he could show me how to put together shelving any day...