Nature’s Gift

It doesn't get much better than this.

Toasted

It's a good thing I'm coming home in a few days because if I get anymore relaxed I might just want to stay. So lush, so beautiful and so peaceful!

Island Style

Staying in the little town of Hanalei on the north shore of Kauai. I love the laid-back style and pace of life here. Like how the little house uhas dried moss to decorate it's porch, but the best part is that mountain behind it. Those plastic chairs look pretty amusing in front of hut in a taro field. Very beautiful here, getting used to the daily monsoon rains in between the sunshine.

Seize the Day

I don’t know about everyone else, but there are places I've been fortunate enough to visit in my lifetime hat give me tummy butterflies without exception when landing at said destination. So far, those have been Paris, anywhere in Italy and Hawaii. There are places that just seize me in a way I cannot explain and Kauai is one of those. For the next eight days I will be in a remote location with nothing but sun, sand, crystal clear water, the scent of tropical flowers and green mountains. If I post nothing but photos from there for the next week, be assured that my blog will be full of new inspiration when I return. Aloha!

Dreaming of Sand

I’ve got the beach, sand, sun and the luxury of reading a stack of books with no interruptions on my mind. In 48 hours I will be on my way to a remote, tropical beach to seriously unwind and if it would fit in my luggage, this Penguin deck chair would accompany me. The Penguin classics collection of beach chairs, bags & towels certainly conjure up the lazy days of summer and reading great books like The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

Portraits in Wood

I am quite drawn to these woodcut portraits by Lisa Brawn who doesn't make prints from the woodcuts but paints them after carving. See many, many more portraits at her site Expeditionism and also on Flickr. In my imaginary gallery, I'd hang that Jack Kerouac woodcut in a heartbeat.

Miniature World

Wonderful photos from Vincent Bousserez. Have a sunny weekend.

Wrapped in Style

Another splendid example of colliding worlds; of architecture and shoe design. This July, Lacoste will release its new collaboration with London-based Zaha Hadid Architects and the pairing has produced some out-of-the-world footwear! They look light as air and so very modern.

Featuring a digitized version of Lacoste’s famous croc logo and a pliable, coiled strap system, the styles bring Hadid’s signature look to footwear for men (an ankle boot) and women (a calf boot). Only 850 pairs of the $525 styles will be available. Look for them at Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and 10 Corso Como in Milan. Luckily, a lower-price diffusion line will hit stores in September.

Charting Typography

A handy infographic, The Periodic Table of Typefaces. Thanks to Kellner Book Design for this one! (Click on photo to view at a larger size)

Edible Cards

This is somewhat revolting but too strange not to take notice of these beef jerky business cards. The folks over at Meat Cards say screw die-cutting, foil, popups or spot lamination, they just use meat and lasers. Bizarre in dark kind of way. This card was designed after the card from American Psycho by Jason Kincaid. Photo: Jason Kincaid

Green Ride

All I saw was a flash of green from the passenger seat last weekend on the 5 freeway in Los Angeles as I rushed to get my iPhone out and get a shot of this modified vintage car. This was one bad ass vintage ride in pristine condition and the tattooed arm holding the cell phone was an added bonus. Have a great weekend.

Cascading Type

I really love whole the idea of a chandelier made out of type. This Missoni Home chandelier made out of Corian showcased at Milan Design Week 2009. For more splendid Corian/Missoni Home collaborations click here. Photo: Design Boom

Summer Collection

Coca-Cola just unveiled a limited edition of their hot new summer look for their cans. My favorite is the logos as heat on the grill. Refreshing packaging design. 

Cuckoo Redux

Not your grandmother's cuckoo clocks, these over-size timepieces by artist Stefan Strumbler are a nod to pop culture painted in bright colors and adorned in bones, guns, and everyday objects such as air fresheners. Check out more on his blog which is only in German but has some good images of the clocks installed in galleries.

Garden Canopy

Just came across these stunning images of Falling Garden, a 2003 installation by Gerda Steiner & Jorg Lenzlinger in Venice, Italy. Explore much more of their inspired and wonderful work here.

Midnight Seeding

Tonight here in the Los Angeles area there will be nocturnal guerilla sunflower plantings happening all over the city. Today is International Sunflower Guerilla Gardening Day and that means the folks at Los Angeles Guerilla Gardening are going to be busy tonight. Anyone can participate in helping beautify neglected public spaces, check out their web site for guidelines. Tonight let the plant fairies do their magic!

Photo: Daisytrench at Flickr

African Magic

Admore Ceramics in South Africa produces some of the most magical and exotic ceramics I have ever seen. Started in 1985 by Fee Halsted and later with her assistant Bonnie Ntshalintshali, within five years Fèe and Bonnie had jointly won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award and their work was being shown in galleries internationally. It also drew many more artisans wanting to learn the techniques and earn a living being part of the studios. The two studios Ardmore Berg and Ardmore Caversham provide the infrastructure for a large and diverse group of self-employed artists. They are given training, direction, materials, equipment, a place in which to work and a guaranteed market for every piece of artwork completed. The artists from the Ardmore studio have over the years won numerous awards and exhibited widely both in South Africa and around the world.

Vertical Landscaping

Here in Los Angeles we are officially on water rationing when it comes to our gardens. I already have many water sparing plants and have always been a big fan of succulents for their beauty and low-maintenance. When I saw what Flora Grubb is doing with drought resistant landscaping I fell in love on sight with these insanely graphic vertical gardens! Her latest vision is an installation at the LEED Platinum certified hotel Bardessono (shown in first two photos above) of vertical tillandsia gardens that are stunningly graphic and a vital design detail to the space. Also loving the framed succulent gardens they sell at their charming shop Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. If you are lucky enough to live in the Bay area, check it out. I am very inspired to try some vertical gardening in my little yard this summer thanks to my new landscaping muse Flora. (Great interview with Flora Grubb at Design Sponge)

From the Earth

Creative Director Rhett Dashwood searched Google Maps in his spare time between projects and discovered this very green and beautiful alphabet in land formations within the state of Victoria, Australia. Just beautiful and a perfect way to remember how much the earth gives to us and how vital it is to protect it. (Click on photo to enlarge) Via: Swiss Miss

Ball and Chain

Loving this jack and carnelian ball necklace from Docent. Headed up by Creative Director Cora Thomas, her pieces are darkly humorous and playful. The jewelry is created from antique brass, enameling and custom-made materials.

Nothing to do With Design

If you want to play voyeur to nature, check out these live cams on Catalina island of two eagle nests with baby eaglets. It’s startling & such a privilege  to suddenly see an adult eagle fly in with fresh food for the babies and feed them. Part of the Channel Islands Bald Eagle Restoration Project conducted by the Institute for Wildlife Studies and made possible by generous donations. You can view the nests until dark every day and watch the eaglets grow up. The West End Nest has two very tiny chicks/eaglets and the Two Harbors nest has two bigger, very cute and clumsy eaglets. I saw the most action around dinnertime, PST. Way better than YouTube!

Bladerunner

Dark and skillful paper cutting by artist Hunter Stabler. Shown here: Baba Yoga Misquotes The Face To Steeleye Span, handcut paper 2005

When Worlds Collide

I love it when the worlds of architecture and graphic design collide and this stunning library in Alexandria is a great example of that kind of vision. Designed by Snøhetta, a Norwegian architectural firm that has been making quite a statement with their building projects. At the library in Alexandria, a huge cylinder with concrete plating is covered with typographical elements in non-western languages, mostly hieroglyphs. So beautiful.

Tapehead

I've always been a sucker for great looking, exotic office supplies, often finding great items in Little Tokyo here in Los Angeles. Awhile back I saw Japanese Washi Masking tape available at Design Within Reach but it was sold out and then later discontinued. Now it's available at Happy Tape and their stock of tapes are vast and wonderful. In addition they have a wonderful Happy Tape blog showing creative uses of these beautiful masking tapes.

Altered Landscapes

I am so heading to the POVevolving Gallery this week to see this wonderful installation of recent sculptures/urban dioramas by Jeremy Mora and a collaborative installation with Robert Reynolds.