January 2010
40 posts
3 tags
Test tube vase
For Christmas, my friend Beth sent me some glass test tubes (I may be guilty of influencing her to steal lab equipment), and last week I purchased an old test tube rack from Etsy.
In the slightly springy weather today, the pansies were just about to dance off their stems. So it was a matter of putting two and two together. Ta-da!
Test tubes as vases!
4 tags
WatchPee-Wee Gets an iPad!
I went to see the Pee-Wee show last week at Club Nokia, and I did think that the iPad is like a tricked out Magic Screen.
4 tags
2 tags
Interactive CD cover
PAPPELTALKS from vizage on Vimeo.
This is real, right? How the hell does it work?!
From MocoLoco:
Via @yatzer, an interactive music CD cover that displays graphic patterns when opened. The cover was designed by Jaroslav Juřica for music by Andrea Neumann and Ivan Palacky.
6 tags
Tartan
Sir James Macdonald 1741–1765 and Sir Alexander Macdonald 1744–1810 by William Mosman in about 1749, National Galleries of Scotland
Great post about Tartan on design*sponge today:
Difference between plaid and tartan? Here’s the million dollar question. And it seems like nothing gets historians arguing quite like tartan! Here’s the basics: historically — plaid referred to a material/garment,...
5 tags
3 tags
Mother's History of Birds
Mother’s History of Birds from Elliott Malkin on Vimeo.
A sentimental short documentary. I like the mom’s drawings (and I noticed they had a Gocco machine!).
(Via kottke)
5 tags
5 tags
Mold May Help Design Future Transportation Routes:
In order to see just how plausible the idea of a mold-designed roadway would be, researchers thought to first compare it with a preexisting example: Tokyo’s train network. On a map of Japan, bits of food (in this case, oat flakes) were placed in a pattern mimicking where major cities would be. Researchers then impregnated the P. Polycephalum...
3 tags
5 tags
6 tags
4 tags
Adhesif
Adhesif Clothing works with vintage fabrics to create often one-of-a-kind pieces. Their spring 2010 collection is inspired by Alice in Wonderland, and I really like the photography for this collection.
↑ Ballet Bubble Dress
↑ Whirl Bubble Blouse.
(Via Treehugger)
7 tags
Molecular origami
From the Wyss Institute:
Everyone knows the purpose of DNA, and that is to carry the genetic information for all life on earth—the function it has been performing for billions of years. But over the past three decades researchers have explored the use of DNA for a whole new purpose: as a building material. … Scientists at the Wyss Institute, led by Core Faculty members, William Shih and...
6 tags
Reknit
Each month, as part of Reknit, designer Haik Avanian’s mother will upcycle an old sweater into something new by reusing the yarn. The January project is scarves, but future projects are determined by votes. So far, it looks like cut-off gloves are ahead for February.
(Via Ecouterre)
5 tags
6 tags
8 tags
5 tags
2 tags
“Oscar showed the genius his grandmother insisted was part of the family...”
– The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. I’m absolutely enjoying this book right now.
4 tags
I do like raccoons
Comic Book Nerd by laurengregg on Etsy
For all of you nerds that buy one book to read and another to keep in the wrapper! Or for those who are fans of raccoons and their funny little fingers, here is a print you could buy!
7 tags
3 tags
Typographic playing cards
From The Strange Attractor:
Jim Sutherland, from Hat-trick Design, has designed a set of typographic playing cards. It was a personal project with the basic guidelines being: design a full set of playing cards (52 + jokers and a cover) using no repeated typefaces and no alteration of typefaces
(Via Fast Company)
3 tags
You've got to be kidding me
Scrabble’s new logo and packaging look pretty fucking terrible. (Yes, enough to warrant a F-bomb.)
5 tags
9 tags
6 tags
7 tags
Commercial Type
I like the way the homepage changes.
Commercial Type is a joint venture between Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz, who have collaborated since 2004 on various typeface projects, most notably the award winning Guardian Egyptian. The company publishes retail fonts developed by Schwartz and Barnes, their staff, and outside collaborators, and also represents the two when they work together on...
2 tags
Black toilet paper
A prefab home I visited two years ago was staged with black toilet paper. Among all the aluminum and kirei, I found it to be hilarious, in all its 100% virgin fiber glory. I’m not sure that irony was the intention, though.
I remember in China the toilet paper was pink, but that’s an entirely different story because it was rather, um, industrial-feeling. The pink color was probably...
3 tags
Speaking of Totoro...
A Totoro apron!
4 tags
3 tags
6 tags
Striped icebergs
Photo by Oyvind Tangen, a Norwegian sailor
Icebergs in the Antarctic area sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions. Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is...
4 tags
5 tags
6 tags
5 tags
3 tags
Miura stool
(Via Canadian Design Resource)
3 tags
Dalí baubles
From The Pop Couture:
[Dalí] once based his style upon “my love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes”… The surrealist painter designed these jewelry pieces himself in the 40s and 50s along with choosing each stone based on symbolic meaning.
They are available for purchase from the Dalí Museum.
By the way, happy New Year!
1 tag
