Thonet, the oldest furniture brand in the world and the German manufacturer of high-quality furnishings, is producing a simplified form of bentwood and tubular steel furniture for the Japanese retail chain Muji. The products are manufactured entirely at Thonet’s headquarters in Frankenberg, Germany to the company’s customary high quality standards.

The first models are reminiscent of those bentwood chairs that were the cornerstone on which the Thonet success story was established. The most famous bentwood chair, No. 14 is celebrating its 150th birthday and is probably the oldest industrial product still in production today. The chair is sold with range of tables that has a convincingly understated elegance, and it marries perfectly with the expressively styled chair. The English designer James Irvine, who is now working and living in Milan as creative director at Thonet, is responsible for the reinterpretation of the bentwood furniture.

In addition to the bentwood tradition, the “Muji manufactured by Thonet” collection also features the second revolutionary trend of the Thonet brand, the company’s tubular steel furniture tradition dating back to the 1920s. An iconographic tubular steel cantilever chair is sold alongside a desk and a range of side tables that have a convincingly effortless style and cool beauty like the original models. This collection was created by the German designer Konstantin Grcic.

The sight of teachers confiscating electronic games from their students is about to become old school. Nintendo has announced a classroom version of the popular Nintendo DS Lite hand held machine.

Starting February 2010, the company plans to supply schools with an assortment of Nintendo DS Lites, PC’s with Wi-Fi connectivity, and special educational software developed with Sharp. The idea behind this is to enable students to work on assignments in class, and send their work on the DS Lites to the teacher’s console. When ready, the completed work can be sent back the same way which neatly reduces paperwork. All information is transmitted wireless.

Considering the DS touchscreen and stylus features are ideal for writing Japanese, gaming extensions in the classroom could work well in the future. This is an indicative sign that Nintendo is moving beyond gaming as sales sag in Japan.

Bijin-tokei is a Japanese website that photographs girls on the street in real-time and with non-stop updates. Every minute of the hour, cute girls are featured holding up a blackboard with the time written in a white marker. Bijin-tokei call themselves “a 1 minute automatic update site” and refreshes a new photograph every minute. Details like the girl’s name, birthday, hometown, height, blood type, occupation, favorite website, and even body measurements are recorded for a heightened voyeur appeal.

The photos appear to be taken in shopping centers around Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo, featuring what seems to be real girls with a fashionable edge. Though bijin-tokei is an amusing concept and interesting to share with friends, the purpose of the project still remains a mystery. It’s also available to purchase as an iPhone app.

bijin-tokei (English)

Some cute tunics by Rabbit on the Run from Los Angeles. They remind me of cut-out shapes characteristic of Native Japan.