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Gift Ideas. I've returned at last.

2008-12-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

Oh, its been so long. Christmas is already this week, and New Year will soon follow. I've missed posting over the last few weeks, mostly due to the preparation for the holidays. But it also means that I haven't been getting my healthy helping of design either, and I feel starved. So here are a few things that will remedy the situation.
I want to start with woodsy things. I love great accessories for the home, and they are that much more fun when made of a warm and appealing material. This JigSaw table from Smartistart Design was spotted on the british shopping websites. It is made from solid beech, actually the pieces are. So the owner gets to play with those puzzle pieces and assemble them into side tables (twelve large puzzle pieces each), or a coffee table (twenty pieces big).And what are wood tables without proper coasters for your coffee mugs. And those Bamboo Type coasters are definitely proper. Any lover of typography would be quite happy to get those as a present.

Gift Ideas, 2nd installment

2008-12-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Rill is a sweet toy designed by Donna Wilson for the little people. It is lively, it is orange, and it is so cute. Can be purchased here.

Gift Ideas, 1st installment

2008-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

So for the first entry we have adorable containers for pencils or smallish plants. I think they will look absolutely darling in the kid's room, or on the desk of a cubicle prisoner awaiting vacation. Containers come in several shapes and available for purchase here.

Christmas is coming

2008-12-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

Yes it is. And this Christmas lets not forget that we need to stimulate world economy :) So starting today I will post gift ideas for dear friends and family with great design in mind. Happy shopping!

Illustrating childhood?

2008-12-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

One of my all time favorite illustrators is Ray Caesar, and even though his illustrations almost always feature children, I wouldn't necessarily call them child friendly. I would really have liked to know what life was like for him growing up. Regardless of year's past he is a brilliant illustrator with an amazing style and great attention to detail. If you want to learn more, read about him an see more of his work here.

How I found Fred

2008-11-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

You know how sometimes you see something, and it stays with you, even though you never really think about it. So it was with this exceptional piece of jewelry I saw. The concept was absolutely perfect, and execution ... stellar comes to mind. So I decided to look around and find out who the "guilty" maker is. And it turns out its Fred. Fred Samuel is a jewelry creator, who founded label FRED in Paris in 1936, and since then had opened a number of boutiques around the world. Excluding a small hiatus during the WWII, when Fred joined the French Foreign Legion and fought with the Resistance, he spent his life designing, casting, and giving word perfect pieces of pleasure. And even though the company was sold to LVMH group 12 years ago, traditions of the FRED label continue to flourish. LVNH was picked exactly for the proximity of its values and sensibilities to that of Fred himself. Have you seen his work.... oh sure-- Fred is the designer of the "Pretty Woman" necklace that was so prominently featured in that movie, and more recently Bond girls of "Casino Royale" got to wear his work. I do hope that the good work they do in memory of Fred now will continue for many years to come.

P.S. Last year the company reached into the orient, and new boutiques in Beijing and Dubai were opened. I can only hope the next one will be close to me :)

Eye candy for the urban creature

2008-11-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

Village Mayor over at Village of Joy had an awesome post about the most weird pieces of architecture that adorn our world. Beautiful, unconventional, and yet stunning and memorable. I like buildings like this, because they make every place a special place. You won't remember yet another piece of suburbia that looks just like many others in a different city or even a different state. Large gray apartment buildings of big cities are so much the same, that it makes me sad just thinking about them. Here are a few buildings that didn't want to be part of the faceless habitat, instead they entertain, and pluck that creative string in every one of us.

My baby is here!!!

2008-11-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

Today, at LA Auto Show Lotus unveiled their US version of the Evora. In general it is the same vehicle as the one that was seen in Europe a few months back, but this time it is here, on the American soil, and so close, I can't sit in my chair. I loved that car from the time I saw the first concept sketches that were leaked into the internet a while back. It is an absolute beauty. But to top it off, looks like it got the backing too. This is a larger creation, as compared to Lotus Elise, and supposedly comfortably accommodates 2 American males up front with room in the back left for kids or gear (wait, did they just call us fat?!) But really-- this is a huge deal, when Elise is not an option for many people just due to its size. 0-60 in 5 seconds, top speed of over 160 at 30 mpg, plush interior with a touch screen multimedia system and full navigation and overall sweet design. Does it get better than that?! It is set to be available for purchase this time next year. So keep those piggy banks stuffed till then!
source

Dream of Doll

2008-11-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

Not even moments after I posted about Small magazine I got an email from a friend about a doll company - Dream of Doll - that produces pretty exceptional dolls. Located in Seoul, Korea the company manufactures exclusive dolls, who are members of anime-type cast for a fantasy story. Dolls have a large number of movable joints, which allows them to acquire very complex poses. With custom eyes, hair, hands and even make-up they are made to please. Here are a few beauties from their website.

Small Magazine

2008-11-20T16:14:00.000-08:00

A winter issue of Small Magazine was released today, and as always it is filled with super cute all things baby. I've been with Small since the very beginning, and I have to say that I really look forward to every issue. They always have cute clothes, awesome toys and clever book reviews. Check them out-- absolutely worth it.... even if you don't have kids, good design ought to make you smile.

Stair Porn

2008-11-12T15:10:00.001-08:00

Today I found stair porn, and I feel that it will become a new addiction for me. Maybe even big enough to push back love for fashion and cool shoes. Yep, you heard right, I did say Stair Porn. It is a super cool web/blog project that collects and shares nothing but stairs. Old, new, modern, antique... Stairs from all over the world get their share of spotlight on Stair Porn. Here are a few excellent shots from there:

Green shoes

2008-11-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, you betcha! Shoes that are stylish and made completely of recycled materials. Industrial design student Camila Labra came up with this project after being assigned to create a daily object from unusual materials. She named it Dacca, after the city of Dacca in Bangladesh, where recycling is uncommon, and plastic bags create quite a problem for the environment. Some boots feature vivid prints still bearing the resemblance of what they were in their previous life to encourage a conscious effort at recycling, and yet offer jolly prints to complement stylish outfits. They are up for sale from Camile's blog. Go Chile!

Weaponry is an art

2008-11-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

Museums in all countries around the world boast with extremely elaborate and beautiful pieces of weaponry from different ages, and so far 2000's have little to show. But there are a few artists, whose work is in museums and private collections, and quite rightfully so. Here is a collections of pieces by Russian masters of metal. They are extremely utilitarian, and yet artistic. A cornerstone of every piece is history, poetry and philosophy. I am very impressed.

Happy Haunting

2008-10-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

Have a great Halloween! I hope you get visited by lots of creative kiddos, or maybe go out a get to be one! See you next week!

BIG is cool

2008-10-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Lately I've really been into math. No, not solving problems, or giving headaches to those allergic to it. I am talking about the perfect things in math... like impossible shapes and perfect proportions. So just as my fascination with things like mobius strip started dieing down, I found a late project by a dutch studio called BIG. Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG - is a Copenhagen based group that creates very awesome conceptual architecture projects. So they took my dreams of doing something cool with a mobius strip and did it-- it is a concept for the Danish pavilion in Shanghai EXPO 2010. It is not just an exhibit space, it is an introduction to the lifestyle. It presents Copenhagen's best attractions--the city bike, the harbor bath, the ecological picnic...The structure will present a linear exhibition following a continuous curve, when the second loop will offer a roof terrace, bike parking and a velodrome. Loops of the structure are designed to be interconnected t create continuity between inside and outside--pedestrians and bicyclists. During the expo there will be 1500 city bikes available for the visitor's use, and they will be able to ride, to smell the seawater from the Copenhagen harbor that will fill the harbor bath, and view the original Little Mermaid sculpture that will be placed at the heart of it. I wish I could be there for that Expo, because I really want to experience what that pavilion feels like. Hopefully a little breath of sustainability will go a long way. Good work BIG!

SPAcer is a space saver

2008-10-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

SPAcer is a spa bath designed by Dominik Chojnacki. According to Dominik it was inspired by 2 raindrops, but the shape also can be seen as resembling a bean, or a nut. In other words something totally natural and organic. I find shapes like that very soothing and great for a home. And aside from great design this one is ergonomically well engineered and a space saver. It can be folded up when you are not using it. Awesome! Here via Yanko Design.

Fabulous Linguine...

2008-10-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

One of really neat italian designers Fabio Novembre has designed a space for a retail location selling shoes. So shoes and awesome interior design.... its design lover's heaven :)
The result is amazing visually, very unusual, and yet successful, because increase in sales doesn't lie. Fabio says its shoelaces that inspired him. Sorry Fabio, I see macaroni, but I love your work.

Great Design from South Africa

2008-10-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Foxp2 agency in South African Republic developed "Tough Enough" campaign for MasterLock. And it is good. 2 Thumbs up to clever designers at Foxp2. Here are a couple pieces of their work.

Harry Potter's past, Vogue is present

2008-10-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Emma Watson is this issue's feature of Vogue Italia. And she looks everything but Harry Potter-esc. Generally I like what Vogue photographers, stylists and finishers do, but this time I think they were on a mission to make a woman out of a teenager and no amount of makeup was too great. In spite of her looking a bit old for her own good, Mark Seliger's work might have just increased her market value in the casting pool. She seems versatile and capable of being lots of different things. I look forward to what casting offers she will get from movie studios as a result of this photoshoot. Good work!

Geeks of the world rejoice

2008-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

So today I stumbled upon these wonderfully designed coffee cups that have a very peculiar look-- the look of forums, blogs, and other social chatty entities of 21 century-- they are modeled after smileys. Very smart! So now you can express yourself in the real world just like you do online. Done by the creative team Psyho over in Ukraine.

Beauty kills...

2008-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

And in this case, quite literally.
I got an e mail from my awesome husband with a link to a post about a very special handgun that was engraved in 1975 by Colt master engraver Leonard Francolini. This particular exemplar is themed very fittingly for this month - its named "Vampire Exterminator Gun". It has one of the most elaborate engravings I've seen on weaponry. It sports images of dragons, bats and flora of Transylvania itself. What a beauty! Read the full post about it here.

Pretty pretty phone

2008-10-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

I use my cell every day, million times a day, and my little Sanyo has served me well. But unfortunately I am starting to think I'd like a blue-tooth compatible one, so I've been keeping my eyes open for new phones on the market. And today I spotted this beauty-- new exclusive phone from Motorola. Inspired by luxury jewelry brands, Aura has a lot to be proud of. It has beautifully etched stainless steel body, world's first 16 million color circular display that is covered with a sapphire crystal lens. And thats of course in addition to all the now-common features, like stereo bluetooth, camera, USB port, multimedia player.... To top it off, it has swiss-made main bearing and over 700 individual components. Pretty impressive, and it has an impressive price of $2000. Motorola is mighty proud of this product. And they should be-- luxury watches, luxury cars, luxury anything... and now they've opened the door to the new luxury market-- phones. Smart! And very beautiful!

Who knew bike helmets could be that pretty

2008-10-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Fabulous Gabrielle Blair at Design Mom had a really neat posting today. It is about bike helmets. And for all of us who get excited over good design-- really cute helmets. I mean Gyro and Bell make great ones, assuming you are sporting a jersey and a pair of biking shorts, but what about riding around town?! The solution is Yakkay. What a smart product! Yay for creative designers at Yakkay.

Dishlamp

2008-10-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

When I stumbled upon this lamp collection first thing that came to mind was good old college days with joys of roommates and dirty plates. But kidding aside, those lamps are really something! Great form, even greater concept. Designed by the Bureau Belenko those lamps are really good addition to their portfolio. They work in architecture field, and ventures in product design are far and few in between, but boy I wish they did it more often.

Lamborghini ESTOQUE

2008-10-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

FLYLIF is very impressed with this new Italian baby, and gives in a pretty flatulent review. All I have to say is that I like it. Simply like it-- clean lines, very harmonious forms. Its a full blooded sports car, but at the same time has an advantage of being a 4 door sedan. So its well designed and practical... not a combination you see around very often. Yay for good designers at Lamnorghini

Money well spent

2008-10-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through a few pieces of advertising design recently brought to the world by the Polish offices of LOWE. Most are very quirky, very bright pieces of advertising, but some of them were rather plain, which made me wonder if hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on those campaigns were really worth it. But immediately after I saw a collection of ads put together by An jay at Smashing Gaps. So the final word on the money spent is that is totally worth every penny! Here are some of my favorites...
Healthier Scotland
Monster.Com - Stuck in the wrong job
Nintendo - GameBoy Advance
Nissan

Braun - Why work when you can create?
Career Junction - Put your skills to better use
Against Abuse Inc - More than 300,000 children are sexually abused in Germany every year.
Fiat - Uncover life. Fiat stilo with sky window
Dove - Unstick your style

Sinful

2008-10-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Young brit Kacper Hamilton of Hamilton Design Studio is in love with all things theatrical, and it shows. One of two projects completed for 2008 so far is his set of seven wine glasses inspired by the seven deadly sins. Very clever! I wouldn’t consider this to be part of the product design, but a piece of art for sure!

Simple... its Japanese

2008-10-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

There are several things Japanese that are in most people lives. TV, stereo, car… whatever, but if I had to guess what Japanese designed product you have, I’d be 99% right on if I said it was an electronic device. Right? Well, that’s not all Japanese designers can do. Creative minds at N.O.L. sat down one day and decided to give the world some fun office products. The USB key is nice, but I wouldn't mind having those cool whiteboard flower pots on my desk either.

And lets not to forget to feed the local wildlife-- mouse to the computer, as cheese to the mouse right?!

And for the really challenging days:

Fancy... I fancy it for sure!!

2008-10-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

There are lots of cars on the road, but very few can be praised for their outstanding design. Too many manufacturers take safe routs and fill the streets with more faceless brandless cars. But not Bugatti. Never mind the fact that it is pricey, which it is… but they are looking to make fancy even fancier. Back in March designers from Bugatti got together with Hermes and decided to create a product that would be eye candy for both men and women. How could they fail… the name of the first makes men dream of burning Nurburgring records, the latter fancies women’s imaginations with Birkins and fine leather. And so they created. The new Bugatti Veyron Fbg par Hermes is a beauty of engineering and impeccable leatherworking. But they are not stopping there. Rumor has it (via TopSpeed), they are now brewing a new project alongside Bentley to put a well priced competitor to Rolls-Royce’s Phantom. The promise of a more powerful, and yet so sexy, is a sweet promise indeed. I love the lines of those cars, they put Super into Supercar.

And so my long lost love returns

2008-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

An old time friend shared some pictures with me today from a get together of our dear friends, and there was more to the pictures than sweet happy faces. It is fall in Asia… which means that fall fashion overhauled their looks already, and summer has been carefully pressed, packed and moved to the back of the closet. And this fall is not going to disappoint. At least not me. I spotted the most darling trench in the picture, and it had something so familiar about it, so candid. It had some lines shared by shoes I used to sneak out of my moms closet, it had some seams alike to my favorite suit. But all that belonged to an old love of mine—Escada. I haven’t looked at Escada for years, but today I had to take a peak. I don’t know if it was the beauty of burnt orange (seen in lines of quite few designers this winter), or the poetic ruffles, and Mongolian ornamentation on the details… but its so wearable and fabulous. Here is what I found that made me fall in love all over again with Escada’s prêt à porter collection for the upcoming season.