From the designers at Innovo comes the most interesting umbrella stand I’ve ever seen. That’s because this stand does more than hold your umbrella, it utilizes the water running of the umbrellas to help grow seeds through this matt’s tiny system of holds. While there are a lot of questions that come to mind like – What would you even do with this small amount of grass? and What happens when you live in a dry climate? – it’s still a pretty creative design. See more from Innovo here.

Its the same kind of question as “What is art?”. It’s all how you look at it. Garbage Upcycling Design uses materials from personal and corporate donations and repurposes them into modern design pieces. Everything from street signs to binders is used, creating completely unique pieces while extending the life cycle of each product.

Garbage Upcycling Design does more than find new uses for “garbage” though, it actually helps people find new kinds of work. Garbage’s staff includes twenty people, some welfare recipients and others adolescents who have recently completed drug therapy. They benefit from the creative experience, while participating in an occupational training program developed specifically for Garbage Upcycling Design. See more here.

This unique table lamp, called Lior, was inspired by designer Jaim Telias’ childhood memories of playing with product packaging. Sometimes the packaging is more interesting than the product, and from that idea came Lior. Lior, which means “my light” in Hebrew, is a simple rectangular light. That is until you scratch it. Each mark personalizes it to make it different, while letting more and more light shine through.

Lior is made of polystyrene. See more here.

Too fun not to share, FabLab is no ordinary iPhone wallpaper. In fact it’s not even for your phone, it’s for your walls. So where does the iPhone app come in?

Images and text are actually embedded in the design of your wallpaper, and can only be revealed via the FabLab Wall iPhone application. Crazy yes but cool, this idea is already getting some positive attention and is currently on display at Musee des Arts Decoratifs de Paris.

So who would actually try this in their home?

Outdoor furniture like you’ve never seem before, Queen of Love takes an ornate, traditional look and makes it both modern and appropriate for outdoor use. In addition its bold design and colors, light passes through its prism like structure producing a rainbow of colors.

Queen of Love is the work of Graziano Moro and Renato Pigatti. Both originally worked in fashion, an experience which can be clearly seen in this highly stylized collection of chairs. Perhaps the best thing about these chairs is how unexpected they look outdoors. Still, I am a fan. See more here.

NETwork transforms two dimensional embroidery into pop-up furniture objects. The new design project by Studio Aisslinger combines high tech technologies and traditional stitching techniques into the captivating collection you see here. Perfectly put on its website,  “…design evolution is always a matter of empirical experiment, materials and technology – for this exhibition we worked with a hidden traditional stitching textile technology which we transformed into a 2D-to-3D-furniture pop-up concept..”

So how is it done? The volumes are translated with software into two dimensional projections of themselves that can be programmed into machines that stitch the pattern into a carrying surface. The surface is then dissolved and the embroidered 2d patterns becomes a 3d object. The shapes formed by the stitched honeycomb structures are fitted over fiberglass molds and injected combined with resin to make them rigid and stable. The result is the unique collection you see here.

Find out even more about how it’s done at Studio Aisslinger’s website.