The Nature Planter is a multi-plant ceramic container that takes cues from "patterns and shapes found in nature," mostly resembling a cute, bulbous artichoke. The planter is designed to support a variety of herbs and flowers—the largest opening, at the top of the planter, is suitable for deep-rooting plants, while the shallower side-car volumes that hang off the side provide a variety of soil bed depths for smaller plants. The whole thing drains from three holes in the bottom, and can be used both indoors and outdoors.

Cast from a complex six-part mold and hand-finished and glazed in Portland, Oregon, the planter is available in three colors (white, grey, and yellow) directly from Design Night.

More shots after the jump.

Check out Yichun Liu's ingenious entry from last year's Taiwan International Design Competition. When the chairs are slid underneath the table with the front legs placed on the crossbar, they lock into position and handily provide wheels for the table. Space-saving and functional, this seems like it'd be a good fit for a space-tight school.

via industrial design served

Italian company Misterstep's neato, stagger-stepped Mini Plus staircase "employs a flight solution even when there is insufficient space for a normal open staircase." Arriving in a modular kit, the system is designed to be easily self-installed, DIY-style.

Bunk beds and loft beds make me think of dorm rooms and immediately-postcollegiate studio rentals, but Italian company Tumidei Spa's modern updates on stackable sleeping surfaces are a far cry from milk-crate living.

We'd love to give you more details about the stylish set-ups, but it's a bit difficult--Tumidei's amusingly "Engrish"-esque website was apparently written in Italian and run through an early version of Google Translator:

Through a structure of tubes and aluminum moulds, all your fantastic space mounts as a game, freeing the fantasy with the use of 33 colors, 6 melamines, 8 colors of metal and 6 colors of methacrylates, constructing closets under the beds, the beds over the closets, the bureaus under the beds or over the closets...

Still, the photos of the collections on the site are still browse-worthy for design inspiration.

via blueant studio

The Y-stand may not have impressed judges enough to win last year's New York CityRacks Design Competition but 50 units are currently in production in the UK for Woking, local authority in Surrey. The bike racks will be installed throughout the town as part of National Bike Week.

Designers Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs recently launched the Y-stand at Insite 09, at the Building Research Establishment where it was a point of focus for best practice in sustainability and the built environment.

Check out the original prototype here.

Having helped more than a few friends move in and out of non-elevator city buildings, I can tell you the worst part is always the bookcases. No staircase designer ever thought "I'll make the corners wide, so two guys can easily get a six-foot Ikea Billy down all four flights with no problem."

The Dror Benshetrit-designed bookcases for Target, for sale this month, are starting to look pretty good. They nest and stack to form a trapezoidal bookcase, and you can even invert the trapezoid, provided it has something to rest against (like another bookcase).

Check out the entire Dror for Target line here.

via notcot