Mr. & Mrs. Kahn

Ecooler, Mey and Boaz Kahn

Porcelain screen that uses passive, natural cooling methods. Running water flows through the channels of the hollow ceramic tiles, as air passes through the screen the room is cooled. The pattern was inspired by traditional Middle Eastern mashrabia.

Flaster

IVANKA recently launched its stunning Camelion floor and wall tiles at the London Design Festival. The tiles are Ivanka's concrete concoction FLASTER, a cast high performance concrete suitable for indoor and outdoor use. Available in thirteen stock colors, custom colors available upon request,  and in any configuration imagined.

Persian Pallet

Persian Pallet installation by Minneapolis based artists Chris Held and Andrew Vomhof. Executing this piece must have been a nail-biting experience, dry erase marker on whiteboard pallet - dry erase marker for mercy's sake. A medium is so tyrannously unforgivable. As common the motif and as pristine the work, simply looking at these photographs causes my chest tighten in apprehension.

Walnut Studiolo

Geoffrey Franklin, an architect by training, founded Walnut Studiolo with the goal of creating high-quality, beautiful, durable, and most of all functional bicycle components. The result, unobtrusively handsome and affordable leather goods that would give even Brooks a run for its money. All products are handmade and thoughtfully crafted in Portland, Oregon.

Kudos to you, Mr. Franklin.

Falconry

Absurdly opulent, but undeniably stunning bespoke hawk's hoods. Handmade by leather artisan Giancarlo Pirrotta and bejeweled by Tiroler Goldschmied, each one-of-a-kind piece takes a full month to create.

Slideshow Here

Ernst Haeckel

Plates from renowned (for better or worse at times) scientist and artist Ernst Haekel. One can't broach the subject of gentleman scientists without his mention. These illustrations are from Dr. Haekel's 1862 monograph, Die Radiolarien. The report covered new species of radiolarian, marine protozoa characterized by their elaborate mineral skeletons.

View all 35 plates >>>

Maurizio Cattelan

Mr. Cattelan unveils his latest work at the Milan stock exchange. Adolescently subversive... of course, but the sheer scale of it! 11m or 36ft including base.

On view for ten short days, during Milan fashion week.

via designboom

7ply project

Claymate, red eathernware & grip tape
2010

Over the past five years the 7 Ply project has sought to expose skating art and culture to the citizens of Greece, the center ring of which is a skateboard deck art show. Now, perhaps it's the lozenge shape of the decks, but shows such as this have proven to be a hard pill to swallow. Inevitably, this type of event leads to obnoxious design motifs.  Sailor Jerry, graffiti lettering, and various segments of human anatomy propagate for the sake of "old school".

The refined submissions of Greece Is for Lovers, however, beg the question...

"How old school can you get?"

Urban Picnic

Londoner's were treated this weekend to impromptu picnic sites around the city.  Urban Picnic,  organized by the Vauxhall Collective, set out to reclaim the neglected spaces of the East-End and bring some whimsy to jaded city dwellers. 

For the event, furniture designer Gareth Neal crafted playful objects including ping-pong bats, picnic tables, stump stools, and log benches. All intricately embellished using traditional marquetry techniques. 

"The East London area was once home to hundreds of traditional furniture manufacturers, so it's the perfect location for the project. The objects within their locations refer to this lost industry and claim back pieces of land for relaxation, fun and play." Gareth Neal

Handsome Geometry

click for full size image

Crystalline textures for the traditionalist.

Literal
Decanter Lights from Lee Broom, vintage crystal decanters repurposed as ambient pendant lighting. The lifestyle shoot of the collection really showcases the whiskey-lit effect they have. Very nicely done, and very easily mimicked with the use of a bottle cutter and a lamp kit.

Organic
Materialized Vase by Erich Ginder, to a degree... "the first in a series of objects that are created by scanning and decimating heavily adorned forms with high resolution scanners, resulting in jewel like abstractions free of the designer's hand." Though fully digital in its design and manifestation, the form is unobjectionably natural, as if porcelain ice has slowly consumed an estate sale.

Conceptual
Cabinet by Elisa Strozyk, antique burl wood cabinet with the addition of her signature wooden textiles. A malleable surface that affords wood, as a historically sturdy material, an entirely original tactual experience.