Ahead of the curve

WHEN his Internet firm when down in flames five years ago, San Francisco engineer Derek Chen had, he recalls, “a garage full of tools and a lot of time on my hands.” His first idea -- making Ultralite, a featherweight table of foam wrapped in a wood veneer skin -- taught him how to bend and shape wood. Soon, he was molding poplar plywood into sleek trays with serving surfaces coated in resin over woven rayon and brightly colored digital wood grain prints. Bending quality wood veneers -- including, from top, zebrawood, macassar ebony and Douglas fir -- around pipes produced teardrop-shaped wood vases with waterproof interiors of high-gloss colored resin. “A lot of design is just square or blob technology,” says Chen, who handcrafts the pieces under the name Urbana Design. “I wanted to make something beautiful and functional that was identifiably modern and still looks natural.” Vases, from $90, and trays, $142, are available at Homework, (323) 936-6139. To see Chen’s other designs, visit www.urbanadesign.com.

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FINDS

Focus on fab fabrics

Designed for million-dollar mountain lodges and creek-side McCabins, the latest collection of textiles from Ferreira offers rad plaid for even the most minimal city residence. C. Mercedes Ferreira, a reformed fashion designer, retains a sharp eye for color, texture and decorative trimming in her home collection. Her luxury yarn European woven plaids include the Sunset pyramid pillow, top, $79, a cocktail of fuchsia, red and orange mohair in a sculptural shape. Even the simple forms -- such as Sky Lights 14-inch square, $106, Macintosh round mohair pillows, $90, and Sky Lights throw, $235 -- have the benefits of fringe. The Summer Squash lamb’s wool neck roll, $121, will bolster the looks of sofas and beds. To order, call (415) 563-3343 or visit www.ferreirahome.com.

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INNOVATIONS

Partly artful, wholly functional

Cue the theme to “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Obelisk, Frank Ligthart’s monolithic sculpture, may resemble an Easter Island Easter egg, but it is in fact a rather clever suite of stacking outdoor furniture. Obelisk stands 8 feet tall and comprises four barrel-backed club chairs and a 22-inch coffee table woven in Hularo, an all-weather wicker, on a tubular aluminum frame. A metal base holds the stacked units upright when not in use and serves as the base for the coffee table when Obelisk is disassembled for use. Such ingenuity does not come at bargain prices. Complete with cushions, Obelisk costs just under $10,000 at Janus et Cie in the Pacific Design Center. (310) 601-2929, www.janusetcie.com.

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OUTDOORS

Planters, tiles rooted in artistry

If you’ve ever fancied planters that resemble the work of French sculptor Jean Arp or wall tiles and pavers by M.C. Escher, Daniel Ogassian has got you covered. The Santa Monica designer’s polished concrete Pod planters, such as the one shown here, are a hefty $3,000, but he also makes $100 tabletop versions in porcelain, for sale at Scentiments, (310) 399-4110, in Venice. In addition to large field tiles with stripe and bull’s-eye patterns (from $18 per square foot) and custom geometric wall reliefs,

Ogassian offers six animal and geometric mosaic modules that can be laid to create the faux 3-D effect common in Escher’s work. The newest, Pentaflora, is a cast-concrete crazy daisy pentagonal tile, also shown here, and sells for $35 per square foot. For the full range of

Ogassian’s tiles, ceramics and furniture, visit www.ogassian.com.