Gift Ideas. I've returned at last.

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.

Eye candy for the urban creature

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.

Stair Porn

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

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

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.

BIG is cool

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

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...

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

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.

Money well spent

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