Ripple Chair by Ron Arad

It seems that all the interesting things I find lately happen to be ...chairs. I guess my living room will be nothing but a collection of random chairs (when I have enough money to start buying the ones I love, that is). Ron Arad currently presents his work at MoMA (you should definitely check out the mini site about the show here) and I regret it wasn't on when I was in New York this summer. Ripple chairs are part of the exhibition, my favourite part is the one version "dressed" by Issey Miyake!

This concave figure-eight seat (resembling a butterfly, mask, pretzel, or Zen tracing in the sand) is made of injection-molded thermoplastic, a malleable material ideally suited to highlighting Ripple’s soft waves in relief. Manufactured and distributed by Moroso, this chair is stackable and suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. In 2006 Arad collaborated with fashion designer Issey Miyake to design an “outfit” for Ripple that could also be worn by its owner—a marriage of fashion and design. The project was part of a concept developed by Miyake and textile engineer Dai Fujiwara, called A Piece Of Cloth (A-POC), in which a continuous length of fabric (wool, cotton, or down) is produced by a computer and extruded by a machine. Ripple’s version is meant to be worn as a jacket, with the seat-aperture openings also functioning as armholes.

Cucoon - When You Most Need It...

Yes, there are certain moments in life when you need to act quickly!
By that I mean not having to think about where you put the item, you are desperately looking for. I suggest using the same place every time to avoid the the unneeded drama in your love life. Not that it is the best piece advise you came upon, but hey, some things seem so obvious we don't really think about them. So anyways, here is a cuckoo, holding your condom for you, always ready to act!

Clutch Chair

I love this amazing chair I just found at Packaging UQAM. It's made entirely of coctail straws, which gives it the unique texture and colours, it uses the idea of sustainability of materials, it looks comfortable... Every time I order a beer mixed with lemonade (a strange idea that some people follow, believe me), I get two straws. I guess I will have to start collecting them now and get busy on the weekends, with my scissors and glue.

Made from 10,000 drinking straws, the Clutch Chair is an exploratory research piece that passes comment on our disposable culture. The development process of this piece also informed that of the Clutch Light, both of which were developed from an observation of the structural characteristics of trees.This piece was selected by Zaha Hadid as her Curators Choice at Noise Festeval 2008.

Racing Pasta

Just look at the pasta making races to the saucepan!

By Jovana Jelic from Serbia, found at Design And Design.

The Beatles Stamps

After deacades from the sixties, some pepole still ask: Are you a fan of Beatles or Stones? To me there's no dilemma in anserwing this questions. The Beatles were my favourite ever since I can remember. I got their first album when I was 10 I think, from my brother, and couldn't stop listening to them... well, till now basically. I'm sure my letters would look ten times better with thes Beatles Stamps by Karolina Koch on them.

Book Sensitive Lamp

Something for those who fall asleep the old style - with a book in their hand! These days you might need a "TV remote sensitive lamp..."

From Colt + Rane

Cyclops Watch

You can never have enough of some accessories. Watches being one of them. Especially if they look like this one from Mr Jones Watches...

Hipopotam Studio

Hipopoptam Studio - a creative duo that graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw - has a pretty impresive portfoilo of book illustrations. Pictures above come from one called "D.O.M.E.K", telling tales of the most creative and crazy houses in the world. Awarded Book Of The Year at IBBY (International Board on Books for Young Pople).

How much can one house differ from another? This book shows what fascinating art architecture is. In witty and vivid drawings, concise and catchy descriptions 35 extraordinary creations of the most eminent architects in the world are explored.

Growing Jewelry

Growing Jewelry
Growing Jewelry is a redefinition of modern values. It is a clash of jewelry an gardening; couture and organism. The collection of this hand jewelry is designed for people in metropolitan cities and is an experiment in drawing nature toward man, as nature being the presupposition of life.

Design Management Application

I ♥ that litle cartoon made by lunchbreath. Doesn't it reflect the (sometimes overwhelmingly sad) reality behind design...?

T-Shirt Sketchbook

Clever idea by Burak Kaynak :
Everyone has a great idea for a t-shirt, and sketching is an excellent way to quickly explore concepts. T-Shirt Shape Sketchbook invites you to start with sketching by hand. Putting ideas quickly on Tee Shape paper!

Ron Arad at MOMA

Having some time to spare on a weekend, I checked MoMA's store in search for their latest arrival. I fell in love with Ron Aradąs curvz shapes and couldnąt help but explore his whole collection. Above is a few of mz favourites, together with a brief description of his work from the bio page. Among the most influential designers of our time, Ron Arad stands out for his daredevil curiosity about technology and materials and for the versatile nature of his work. (...) Idiosyncratic and surprising, and also very beautiful, Arad's designs communicate the joy of invention, pleasure and humor, and pride in the display of their technical and constructive skills.

Storage For The Animal Lovers!

Let say that Martin The Mule - life size mule which is also a writing desk that can be used with a flat screen computer - is worth a bit (...) more than my monthly salary. Should things change after the crisis disappear behind the horizon, I will definitely sign up for my own storing mule at lifestylebazaar. Or perhaps Owen The Sheep, since I've always been enamoured with sheep? Or Bambi, with a chest of drawers...?

Mmmmm ...Marshmallows!

These cute marshmallow mascotes come from Yael Miller's website. Yael associates to me mostly with her excellent package design portfolio and her expertise on the subject, often presented at The Dieline. But hey, we don't all always do the serious stuff, there's time in everybody's life to simply draw marshmallows! For those of you interested in Yael's packaging please visit her website or check out The Dieline on a regular basis to come across her posts.

Upside Down - The Sky Planter

Upside down

Who's to say

What's impossible
And can't be found

Well they forgot

This world keeps spinning

And with each new day

I can feel a change in everything

These words from a song by Jack Johnson came to my mind when I saw these upside down planters at Thorsten Van Elten's website. I have to say I never thought there was a need to plant anything this way. I mean, what's wrong with planting things the way gravity intended it to. Even their own newsletter was in doubt: Cute idea, but WHY was my initial reaction. Indeed.

I'll have to think about it for a couple of days, in the meantime here's a short description from the website: We’ve turned indoor gardening quite literally on its head. The SKY PLANTER allows you for the first time to grow plants upside down inside your home or office. Using a ground breaking internal reservoir system to feed water directly to the roots, means no water evaporates or drips. We also lock in the soil so there’s no mess.

Photo Memories From Iran

Hello again! Having rested a whole month this summer, I am now back to hard work. No more holidays this year, unfortunately... Trying to save the holiday spirit though, as well as the dreams of my future travels, I am watching photos by my friend - Adam Musiał - from his recent trip to Iran. You should check out his flickr profile to see the full set of beautiful photographs from Iran, but also Iraqi Kurdistan and Morocco. I love the way they capture the everyday life in parts of the world that seem so exotic to us.

I Feed The Pigeons...

My friend went to Blur concert in Hyde Park recently and got me going back in time and listening to their music again. I feed the pigeons, I feed the sparrows too, it gives me a sense of enourmous well being. And then I'm happy, for the rest of the day, safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it....

Don't worry, I'm sane, this line comes from Parklife, one of Blur's biggest hits. As I was humming along to the song, I found this piece designed by Azul Amuchastegui Bari, at Packaging UQAM. It's a blog by Sylvain Allard, professor at École De Design in Montreal, Canada. I like the site because it features student work that I often find challenging and more interesting than the products you actually find in stores. When you work for real, demanding and fussy clients you have to choose the compromise more often than not. Students get to follow their own ideas, they get challenged by professors, they cross the design borders... Stay tuned, I'm sure the best of student work will appear on this website.

Go Bananas

Everybody says you should eat your fruit five times a day. I say, why don't we consume one of our portions visually as well? Here's what you can do with your banana to provide vitamins for your eyes and soul. You can use its funku plastic cousin as a doorstopper, that's one idea. You can protect it, if it's dear to your heart, by using the plastic banana bunker. You can customise it, just like Sarah King did.

Why am I even thinking of bananas? It reminds me of a friend who used to work with us. The other day told me (poker face on): "Maja, you're the only person who can solve that problem". "Why?" I asked. "Because we're all just bananas. And you're the Chiquita".