Michele Alfano Design LLC celebrates the DIFFA Picnic by Design Global Experience with BENTO. Michele’s design features stacked textural black and gold boxes with a perfectly imperfect silhouette. Its form uses an economic chipboard material and turns it into something beautiful with its simplicity, roughness and austerity. This calls to the Japanese aesthetic Wabi Sabi. There is an appreciation of the natural object whilst each Bento is specifically designed to accommodate its components.

The HYGGE Modern Basket, inspired by the Danish philosophy of Hygge, translates the elements of my DXV space. Hygge is a feeling of happiness and well-being. To achieve a sense of Nordic coziness, I balanced light colored materials with geometric pattern,  a pop of color and nature.  To depict the landscape of Copenhagen, the angled lines of the basket works in concert with a customized wood coastline Pangea of Copenhagen – which was customized specifically for the basket. Thank you Pangea Maps!

I designed a molecular basket design which embodied a fractal nature with patterns essentially repeating over and over again. Inspired by atoms, the design revealed how we are all made out of atoms – our bodies and the universe. The universe is made up of 5% atoms and the rest dark matter and energy. Astronomers as well as medical researchers are on the brink of discoveries whether it be the vast unknown or diseases like AIDS. The molecular basket stands as a beacon of hope. I worked with Tiago Fonseca of Five Star Millwork who brought my design to life.

The Solution

Michele’s design was “The Charred Bar” – an outdoor living experience that utilized Refridgeration from Perlick’s “Outdoor” line.