DriDri dream Gelato is with us at Designersblock this week

Puff & Flock is very pleased DriDri accepted the invitation to sell their taste bud gem gelato at the Designersblock venue this September, it is a first ! What is more comforting than finding treasures such as DriDri's exquisite ice cream in London? It is not just a good looking shop front, it is made in the pure Italian tradition, and with the best families of ingredients. You can come and taste it from the DriDri cart, which will be present at Designersblock venue this week.

See it for yourself it is a simple formula, with a strong spirit, it convinced us instantly. The fresh, inviting, minimal looking and colourful menu seems to pop out from the screen to you, with scent and texture. DriDri is like nowhere else, the ones who tried it will tell you, you may get addicted for good and wish DriDri was everywhere!

Adriano, you founded DriDri Gelato, where did the idea come from? was it always a dream you had?

When I was a child I grew up eating gelato everyday multiple times a day from a small shop next to my parent's house. After I left Italy and lived in NY, Paris and London I realised that most of the world was missing that amazing gelato experience I had as a child. So on one on my visits to my parents, I popped in the gelato shop from my childhood and told the owner: "Daniele, we need to bring this gelato to the rest of the world!" So after spending several months twicking the recipes to make them low in fat and uber natural we were ready to open the first shop in London. The name Dri Dri is a nick name from Adriano.

What makes your ice cream so unique, according to you?

The uniqueness of our gelato is in the care of the details. It's our love for this product that makes it so special. First of all we want to make a product that is healthier and more natural then any other product in the market, just like my grandma would make it at home. Second we specifically selected every ingredients after many many tastings (for example before choosing sicilian pistachios we tried 7 or 8 varieties), Third we try to hire staff that shares our passion and is able to communicate our love for gelato to each customer.

What do you think makes so many people like your ice cream? Is there a magic ingredient? Is it purely Italian?

Our gelato and sorbets are freshly made in-store, everyday. It is also made with the best ingredients: All Dri Dri gelato is made with organic milk from English farms. They travel across England, Italy, France and Spain to find the tastiest seasonal fresh fruits grown by trusted farmers and they explore as far as Madagascar and São Tomé to select the best quality cocoa, coffee and vanilla beans.

DriDri gelato is delicious. Is it healthy?

Dri Dri gelato is a healthy treat, very low in fat (on average 6%–8%) compared to other ice creams (on average 18%–24%). The sorbets have 0% fat. They do not use any artificial flavourings, colourings, emulsifiers, preservatives or non-natural thickeners, as a result this gelato products have a very clean a full flavour, are light and very easy to digest and do not leave any coating in your mouth.

Is conquering the world with DriDri in your plans? Are you only in London for now?

We definitely would like to open Dri Dri shops all over the world. This year will will continue to focus in London and will launch a home delivery service so people all over town will be able to enjoy our gelato and possibly ordering it from their Iphone through an app! Next year will probably open a couple of shops in a new country... we are deciding now which one it will be.

How do you feel about being connected to a design event?

Dri Dri is born as a crossway between product and design. Our shops, our packaging, our branding in general has a strong design. I strongly believe a good product experience has to be presented and delivered together with a unique identity.

Come and eat DriDri gelato this Friday 23rd, Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September at Designersblock design show in Farmiloe building, from 12 to 7pm (6pm on Sunday) You will find the DriDri cart in the courtyard near the auction room.

Designersblock at the Farmiloe Building :

Farmiloe Building
34 St John Street
Clerkenwell
EC1M 4AY London
United Kingdom

Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM -Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 6:00 PM

DriDri also have 2 shops in London :

Dri Dri Notting Hill
is located in
189 Portobello Road
W11 2ED

Dri Dri Chelsea
is located in
Chelsea Farmers Market
125 Sydney Street
SW3 6NR

www.dridrigelato.com

Dressed-Up Furniture by studio Kamkam

Here are my favourite pieces from the cosy Dressed-Up Furniture collection realized by the Korean Kamkam design studio, and relevant to the climate's extremes circumstances out here in London (yeh ok it's kind of cold we all get it)
It could make me feel like hugging my wardrobe, or hide inside it, you know like cats want to hide in the cupboards when snow is in the air. Or maybe take a nap on top. But sadly, I am not a cat...

Femke Agema

I have to say I am usually not so much into fashion, unless it really strikes me with a rare spark of simplicity and originality… Femke Agema (NL) is a designer whose work I discovered recently, and felt very excited about. As collection outcomes, colorful simple shapes, with the right hint of humor, inspired by observations of social behaviours, relationships and the "image" we want to give… Here are a couple of projects I especially like for their simplicity, effectivity and the very relevant choice of materials :

ODE (above) :

Is a mini collection made for the multidisciplinary art festival Skipper Boetlek.

The festival took place in Hoorn, the place where she was raised. "Memories of her childhood gave her ambivalent feelings: on one hand she felt very warm and safe, but on the other hand this same safety was sometimes oppressive and stifling."

HIDEOUT (2007) (below)

With the Hide Out collection Femke wanted to criticize the huge influence of advertising and television programs. In a playful way she came up with a 'solution' for the problem: Let's all hide out for the advertising-monster!

Femke started the concept with amazement by all those television programs that stimulate us to change: cars are being transformed, interiors are being redecorated, bodies are getting make-overs, etc. Products are being sold by the quote: 'It's gonna change your life!!' In a awful way this sells: it puts the consumer down, longing for the product,

By the cause of stress and the hectic daily life, we don't see the things anymore we have already achieved, but only the things we didn't achieve yet. By coming up with a playful solution for the problem of dissatisfaction among people, as a result of living in a consumer society, Femke tried to draw attention to this issue.

The collection is about feeling safe and hiding. The place where she feels safe, and comes at ease is her bed. She used characteristics of a sleeping bag, which is a mobile bed: light materials filled with fibrefill and stitched compartments.

Materials used are soft fleeces and light synthetic fabrics (filled or not with fibrefill or feathers). Big forms are chosen, and you can see often exaggerated and enlarged details. In this way, together with the use of colour, the collection draws the attention of the viewer. Some garments can be worn in different ways: hiding or not. Other garments are obviously very comfortable thanks to the soft materials and stuffed parts around the head.

Due to the big, clear forms, and the use of colours, it became a fresh, playful, theatrical collection.

Big Fan

Puff & Flocking New York (backstage)

NYC was also about :

memorable subway rides, feat. "the bag ladies" (and Plushion visiting the world)

moments of despair (arrrgh)

Melissa's favourite street philosophy moment

the pancakes that are bigger than a human stomach (see coin for scale)

a glass of wine

the shopping you can't afford

warning : this photo has endured some heavy photoshop treatment, apart from the already perfect body of our model.


Evil the cat... we just had to

A million thanks to our friends and families who supported Puff & Flock NY show :
Jam & Mak, Elisa, Alex, Evil, Leonie's family.
Special mention to the bagel place on the corner (Bedford avenue subway station, Brooklyn), for supporting our hungry bellies in the mornings

"Shuella", your umbrella shoe !

Hi !
Thinking there were not enough girlie talk out there, and in order to reassure you about a range of interests that are dear to us, I wanted to share with you this amazing wonder of design and object innovation I spotted...

"I have my high heels on inside the boots!" - Beckie


A must have in cloudy London? High heels and rain are not good friends, here is an in-style solution to a universal feminine problem...

Simply genius !
Now I have to say... I don't wear high heels so much, actually never.

Available online at www.shuella.com in the following shades :
Classic Black,
Hot Pink,
Buttercup Yellow,
Apple Green

Includes zippered pouch and drying cloth.
Please note: "SHUELLAS" were designed to be worn in the rain.
Do not wear in snow or on ice!

comfort in the office

"the ironing board" aka Amelie's office at CSM textiles studio, 2008

This is a serious matter at Puff & Flock.
Does comfort improve performances at work? I can definitely say so. For once a type of pragmatism was out of good sense. The ironing board allows you to chose the height of your work plan, and provides a soft layer for power naps. I miss my office badly now that I have a proper one, but I sort of started a research on similar design propositions.
So far, this is the best one I found :



Just close your office door open the EXECU-CHAIR

NEW EXECU-CHAIR IS DIFFERENT This is the first chair designed exclusively for the office. Closed… it looks like a regular office chair… blending perfectly with any decor. It is a comfortable chair to sit on. Yet it flips open in just a second… almost effortless into full-length 76″ long bed with a pillow rest for the head.

taken from Modern Mechanix Blog