Peled by Antoni Arola is a modular lighting system for interiors, to be recessed or fitted to the ceiling. The modules consist of a steel plate and a series of aluminum rods, connected to each other with a moveable ball joint. It is available in modules with 4, 8 and 16 roads, in the lengths of 600mm and 1200mm. It is supplied with power supply kit included. The plate is available in polished and gloss black painted steel; the rods are in coffee black oxidized aluminum. Different compositions are possible if more modules are combined together with the relative joints.

This week I had the opportunity to walk up these steps and into this amazing home at 1610 Carla Ridge in Beverly Hills, which was designed and built by Steve Hermann Design. As you walk into this masterpiece you are instantly greeted by the city lights, sparkling brightly, just beyond the edge of the infinity pool.

The view from this dining room has got to be one of the best in Los Angeles.

When you have a dining room with these views, I can bet there will be lots of dinner parties. This Poliform kitchen is sure to be put to good use!

This stunning 16-foot long fireplace mimics the flickering of the lights beyond and invites you to gather around and enjoy. I love how the seating in this room allows you just take in the exquisiteness from whatever vantage point you choose.

In the bedroom, the soft gray and white palette mixed with the floral wallpaper make it feel soothing and inviting. It is modern and elegant without being too stark or stuffy. I think I could pretty much spend my entire day relaxing in the bedroom.

…and this bathroom. The Antonio Lupi “Baia” bathtub is calling my name as the Jesse Faucet is just standing there looking gorgeous. The master bathroom is filled with all the luxuries you could want; steam shower with glass tile, faucets that look like fine jewelry, gorgeous Poliform vanities and storage cabinets, and a built-in plasma TV. I dream of this bathroom…

…when I’m not dreaming about this closet! I’m going to let you in on a little trick. The Poliform closet looks even bigger than it actually is by the use of a floor to ceiling mirror on the back wall.

The guest bathrooms are also filled with glass tile from Ann Sacks and Antoni Lupi bathroom compositions. The concealed drains on the shower floors and the vanity are such gorgeous details. The mixture of materials is done with such perfection that these sleek modern bathrooms take my breath away.

As designer and builder Steve Hermann says “…this home moves you emotionally. Absolutely perfect in every way.” I could not agree more. I honestly did not want to leave! This home is currently on the market and could actually be yours!

The combination of two apartments by Belmont Freeman Architects, located at the top of a landmark art deco tower, creates a flowing loft-like living space. A new kitchen is screened from the living room by a partial-height wall, while oversized glass doors open out onto large terraces. A blue-gray terrazzo floor is used throughout to unify the apartment.

During my mother's childhood in her country of origin, a neighbor might swing by your house and deliver a plate full of chow, delicacies or baked goods. Local custom was that when you returned the plate to them a few days later, you never gave it back empty, but loaded it with the fruits of your own kitchen labors.

When I was a waiter my boss used to dress me down if he caught me traveling empty-handed between the ground floor and the storeroom in the basement. He had grown up in a four-storey Brooklyn brownstone, he explained, and his mother would admonish him if he traveled between floors without carrying anything. "There's always something that needs to be brought up or down," she'd say.

These lessons are universal, and no one knows them better than logistics coordinators for shipping companies. If a container crosses the Pacific loaded with Toyotas and goes back empty, that's a huge waste of fuel. But despite their best efforts, it happens all the time. And even if they weigh different amounts, 1,000 empty containers take up the same amount of space as 1,000 full containers, meaning the ships are forced to make the same amount of trips each way.

That will change if Dutch entrepreneur René Giesbers' Cargoshell folding shipping container concept makes it into production. When empty, the Cargoshell can be folded flat, taking up only 25% of its original volume. Ships can carry four times as many empty containers as full. And the Cargoshell is made from composites rather than steel, which give off far less CO2 during the production process.

A video of the prototype is below. Non-Dutch-speakers will not be able to follow what they're talking about, but you can fast forward to 1:20 to see the ten seconds where they unfold the thing.

Vauni’s Cupola fireplace is an innovative design in the rising market of wall-mounted fireplaces.

The Boisbuchet summer 2010 workshop schedule has just been released. From everything we've heard, the experience comes highly recommended—after all, what could be better than spending six to ten days on a country estate in the Southwest of France with Maarten Baas, the Campana Brothers, Tomoko Azumi or Dan Formosa?

Above, a shot of the castle and a scene from the a 2009 workshop on toys and games: participants navigated a 2d maze by looking into a mirror mounted inside their helmet. (photo by Caroline Linder).

These always fill up fast, so take your pick and register!

Anyone who's ever moved house knows you've got to put everything in boxes, which is why U-Haul sells them.

Shipping companies figured this out as early as the 1700s; prior to that you had the "break bulk" cargo system, which meant scores of dockworkers going up and down gangplanks with bolts of fabric and sacks and whatnot across their shoulders. But the boxes and crates loaded onto ships (and later trains) differed in size, shape and composition depending on where they came from. Through the 1800s, some were made of wood, others of iron.

In the 20th century, organizations ranging from British railroad consortiums to the U.S. Army all made efforts to standardize their own shipping boxes, but it wasn't until 1956 that an innovation appeared which has taken root around the globe and is still with us today: The invention of the shipping container.

American trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean came up with what's called "intermodal" shipping containers, that is to say, a box that could be loaded on a ship, train or truck. The cost savings was staggering and sounded the death knell for longshoremen: What once cost $5.86 per ton to load now cost only 16 cents.

Coming up with a standard-sized box might not sound like a big deal, but the intermodal concept was an early success in systems design, something like what Apple does with iPods, iTunes and iMacs. Much of the things in our homes, including the computer I'm typing this on, the monitor you're reading it from, and the chairs we're both sitting in, spent time in McLean's boxes.

(Side note: Entrepreneur McLean, who only had a high school education and starting off pumping gas but later amassed a fortune of $400 million, has a fascinating life story loaded with business lessons too convoluted to encapsulate here--take a look. Said the then-U.S.-Secretary-of-Transportation Norman Mineta upon Mclean's death, "A true giant, Malcom revolutionized the maritime industry in the 20th century. His idea for modernizing the loading and unloading of ships, which was previously conducted in much the same way the ancient Phoenicians did 3,000 years ago, has resulted in much safer and less-expensive transport of goods, faster delivery, and better service. We owe so much to a man of vision, 'the father of containerization,' Malcom P. McLean.")

The Economist's Robin Bew, who opened the conference yesterday by reminding us of exactly how deep the s*** is we're in, posed what are perceived to be the four trends (or challenges for business) that will shape tomorrow's world.

Sir George Cox (former Design Council Chairman), in his calming, measured, reassuring way, offered some reasons why we shouldn't all start panicking and freak out. This was a nice reflective antidote to the information overload of the last two days, and perhaps the most genuinely insightful session for those business leaders who had attended to learn what they should be planning for.

So, the 4 Trends:
1. the shift to emerging markets
2. rich world ageing
3. carbon pricing
4. a lack of capital