See-Through

Fantastic design for this wall screen of hand drawn fonts & icons done in 1/4" aluminum and powder coated. Screen at UCSD Loft designed by Bells & Whistles, a design studio specializing in custom furniture and space planning. 

Get Active!

Everything is Okay is a site/design group that distributes “Activist Kits” as tools for people to create commentary in their environment. The central element is a roll of of police-style tape with the repeated phrase “everything is okay”, a sort of giant interactive caption. The kit also contains postcards, buttons, labels and stickers. “We set out to assemble a list of resources that would point people to positive action. Today, Everything is Okay exists as a kind of social design experiment in subversive positivism and provides everyday citizens with tools for social commentary. Up for a People’s Design Award, vote for this project at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards site. Truly love the whole concept and design behind this. (Thanks Christopher!)

Stash It

As I've watched my 401K lose a lot of weight these past weeks, now is a time we are pulling back and watching our spending. To help ease the pain, why not put those spare coins away in style with this metallic balloon dog bank, an obvious nod to Jeff Koons.

Message Fixture

Really love this lamp, a functional piece with a message & barbed wire! Designer Janne Kyttänen of FOC (Freedom of Creation) focused on the issue of global warming with this lamp design named the “Riot”. The Riot was made by taking the whole life-cycle of a product into consideration, therefore using less storage, transportation, material, labor, etc. Parts of the lamp are made of recycled items and it works only with Megaman energy-saving bulbs. A very cool design with a very important message, the idea behind the lamp concept is to inspire people to think about the waste around us, and about saving energy. 

Chandelier Madness

Hong Kong born jewelry designer Winnie Lui has put her unusual and intriguing style to a new chandelier from Innermost. From small shoes and chains to kitchen utensils and children’s toys, Lui has scoured junk shops and flea markets to find these everyday objects and turn them into something more akin to an art installation than a light fixture. Just love the whole idea, especially the black one, so dark, rock and roll & gothic. Such a statement piece, this is a very inspiring idea to try DYI, don’t you think?

Mood Elevator

This just makes me smile, see more at Florentijnhofman.

Organic Obsession

I am getting impatient for fall here in southern California with summer lingering on forever. My boots are waiting for cool weather and I am itching for some new accessories. When I saw these necklaces from Mctega last week, it was instant love. Organic, edgy, slightly surreal and pretty affordable for such a statement piece. “Mctega is a collaboration between scientists. Using mass production techniques of industrial chemistry on a much smaller scale, they are creating one of a kind pieces out of materials known for their ubiquity. Changing the nature of materials and applications.”

Text au Chocolate

This letterpress chocolate is a dream come true with my love of typography and chocolate. So cool, get it from Typolade.

Home is Where the Heath Is

I grew up in a very hip mid-century environment, my Dad was a struggling architect student when I was young and everything we had in the house was pretty minimal but great design. Over their lifetime my parents slowly collected furniture and home accessories that many years later are still so hip and so collectible. Heath Ceramics played a large part in our daily lives, as serving dishes, platters, covered casseroles, vases, bowls and ashtrays. From a very young age, I remember yearly road trips to Sausalito to the factory to pick up new items. I counted 29 pieces that I have from my family (not including what I gave to my niece), an embarrassment of riches I admit. This December, Heath Ceramics is opening a retail studio here in Los Angeles and I couldn’t be more excited, although I have no business buying any more pieces. The new outpost will be located at 7525 Beverly Boulevard. Along with a retail store, they will also offer a gallery and studio that will focus on ceramic research and small run, custom work. 

Outside In

Door mats can be pretty boring or worse, just plain ugly. This water-proof felt non-skid door mat is unexpected & refreshing, bringing the outdoors in—if it’s used inside or as a colorful outside mat. From Grain de Couler, 24 euros.

Window Dressing

The Obama campaign has inspired a whole new wave of political poster design as we’ve seen with the work of Shepard Fairey and Scott Hansen. Today I found this wonderful site called Hand-Painted Obama ‘08 signs that are hand-painted with flourescent and black tempura paint on durable white paper, custom made for your windows, “made to fade, baby”. They are only charging $25 (and anything you pay over that goes directly to the Obama for America ‘08 campaign, a good place to donate a few more dollars to the effort). Especially clever is that for $200 they will provide custom window posters for McCain & Paulin, donating $150 of it to the Obama campaign. Brilliant, and some great art for election season. (Via Draplin)

Reading & Climbing

Great photos of found typography from Meanest Indian’s flickr set, Indian Street Graphics. I am a sucker for bright color, having a red kitchen and now a bright orange wall in my living room. Really digging the words on the step risers from a music shop entrance, why not read while climbing? Gives me some ideas, mmmmmn…

Call on Me

Being a graphic designer and fickle as to one design, I am prone to change up my business cards from time to time. This summer I’ve been using my Moo mini-cards and while I dig their size and versatility, I kind of miss something more traditional. So, like having many pairs of shoes, I like having many styles of business/callings cards. The Mandate Press now offers beautiful personalized letterpress calling cards that you can choose from 7 designs, or best yet, your own design. You get 250 cards for $95, which is a great deal. I’d better get busy and design a new card now!

A Clear Message

I think I just found the perfect accent for my Christmas presents this year from Decoclico.fr, with bondage-inspired “Attache-Moi” (tie me up) printed in red on clear packing tape. They also have tamer messages such as “La Vie en Rose” and “La Vie est Belle”. Now if I could just figure out how to order this on their French website…

(Via Apartment Therapy)

Bendito Machine

Do yourself a favor and take a few minutes to watch this delightful, strange and wonderfully illustrated animated short, Bendito Machine, winner of the 2006 Aniboom Award. Bendito Machine is a series of beautifully strange flash animation by Jossie Malis of Zumbakamera. So far he has released two episodes Bendito Machine 1 & Bendito Machine 2 of a ten episode series. Check out the website for shadows and machines you can download.

TCHO Me

TCHO, a newly launched fair-trade bean-to-chocolate bar company is located on historic Pier 17 in San Francisco.  The company was founded by former space shuttle technologist, Timothy Childs, who launched it with Louis Rossetto, co-founder of Wired magazine. TCHO (the name is a combo of “technology” and a nickname for chocolate), has launched "beta" versions of their product and then invites the community to provide feedback to help them perfect it. Three different bars with different notes, (not actual nuts or fruit) Nutty, Fruity & Chocolately are available online here. Love the whole idea behind this and the simple packaging . 

Bangled Up in Words

Digging these edgy and sassy bracelets, especially loving the “Quosque tandem abutere patienta nostra?” bangle (How much longer will you abuse our patience?). Jessica Kagan designs these scrimshaw bangles from a choice of either resin or fossilized wooly mammoth tusks. They are engraved with quotes and phrases from movies, literature and in some cases, New York graffiti. So my style.

Toasted

I admit I still have a weakness for skulls, a leftover of my rock and roll years, perhaps. A toaster that brands a skull on your bread is more than alright with me. Available at TomWet.

Coasting on Type

Coasters for the typophile, done in Baskerville Semibold. Available from Supermarket, a great site that connects you directly with designers and the products they make.

Anatomie Gummi Bär

Just so strange and wonderful, I had to order a print. Fantastic illustration by New York based artist Jason Freeny. 

Pool Hall Junkie

Eleanor Salazar makes these fun & colorful rings from used pool balls. You pick the number & color, she makes them to order. Find them here.

A Message of Peace, Freedom & Love

Love how the numeral 2 looks as if it's scratched (look carefully, it’s subtle) on the surface overlaying the copy on Comme des Garcons limited edition CdG#2 "Silver Words" … available for pre-order at Blackbird. "Words contain meanings like a bottle holds a perfume. Both convey messages that can be interpreted and experienced in an immense variety of different ways, each of them communicates an essence, a thought, a shared experience. Messages in bottles have always signified belief and a hope for the future. Using advanced serigraphic techniques, evolved from traditional printing methods, the original Comme des Garcons 2 pebble-shaped bottle has been lacquered in black to contain silver words of peace, freedom and love in several languages. The result is a deep, matt-black colour surface holding an infinate message of hope, stamped in silver words."