Touring Melbourne, Mixing Patterns and Japan by Way of Portland

“design”

05/21/13

Touring Melbourne, Mixing Patterns and Japan by Way of Portland

Scarves

Art House: Before the era of CGI and green screens, artists were hired to paint spectacular life-size scenes to simulate distant galaxies or off-location cities. Here are the 50 best.

Oy, Oy, Oy: Footwear designer Christian Kimber takes Details on a tour of Melbourne.

Socks and Pants: A Suitable Wardrobe explains the time and place for mixing stripes with checks.

Port of Call: Cool Hunting discovers a Portland outfit using ancient Japanese textiles to make majestic pocket squares, ties and scarves.

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09/14/12

Art Threat

The Reverse La-Z-Boy

The ominous-looking creature you’re staring at in mild disbelief is the “Love Me Tender” chair by French-Portuguese artist and architect Didier Faustino, and yes, it really is a chair.

Don’t be fooled by the dagger-sharp points on the legs or those steel bars that seem poised to split you open in very uncomfortable ways should you decide to sit on it. Design collective Superette, which will be selling Faustino’s creation, explains it thusly: “In one go Faustino summarizes his putting of bodies under tension with architecture and design through this chair that is so dangerous that it requires tenderness and gentleness to be handled.”

And how.»

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08/16/12

Good Idea

The Porch Perch

The perch. An underestimated sitting position—relaxed, but alert. Clear sight lines. Nimble. And never more so than upon the Curt deck chair from Swiss designers Bernhard-Burkard, who assure us that:

Even though it looks dangerous it provides comfort seating and relaxing in every occasion.

The ends of the uprights are coated with a nonslip rubber, and the physics makes sense. (Note: the latter half of the previous sentence could not be verified.) More good news about the uprights: they are hand-built by people with mental and physical disabilities at the Altra workshop in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, using local ash and beech wood.

Ideal perching wood.

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03/19/12

Object

The Other Pennant Race

In case your morning coffee wasn’t quite triumphant enough, the People’s Pennant has put together a limited-edition pennant specifically for the occasion. Other options read “Rise & Shine” or “Read Much”—although, somehow, neither one seems quite as urgent.

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·design
·pennants

01/16/12

Conversation

The Style of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Easily one of the most stylish movies of 2011, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has been in our sights for a while. It’s got nearly all of our favorite things—British tweeds, outlandish glasses, a few well-placed Steve McQueen references, just for starters. So we sat down with costume designer Jacqueline Durran to find out where she dug it all up. If you’ve ever wanted to dress like a 1970s intelligence man, start here.

Orange desert boots and Steve McQueen jackets, explained»

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07/21/11

Good Idea

Split Decision

In case you didn’t make it out to Old & New, here’s one of our favorite items: the decision coin. It comes courtesy of Fun Junk Online, who just flattened out an English penny and carved in the inscription. The result is useful for marriage proposals and suspicious foods alike. If you’re having trouble choosing whether or not to buy one, we can lend you ours for a few decisive flips.

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·Accessories
·design

04/06/11

Object

The Minimalist

Bloggy watch tastes tend towards the rugged, but it’s not the only style in the world. And if you don’t plan on taking your next watch on a sailboat or a freeclimb any time soon, you may want to consider a more minimal option.

For instance, this one.

Braun just rereleased their 70s-era wristwatches, boasting the same pared-down design philosophy they’d bring to a toaster or a safety razor. We wouldn’t let it near a rumpled oxford—but if your wardrobe’s already full of clean lines, it’s a good way to add more.

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03/03/11

Labeled

Hand Drawn

File this one under: handsome things to write on. Doane Paper notebooks just got a new design, courtesy of Brooklyn artist Jon Contino. Contino’s limited run swaps out Helvetica minimalism for something a bit more homespun, right down to the fraction-to-decimal table on the back page—useful for those few minutes each year when you don’t have access to a phone.

Take a peek inside»

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10/12/10

Good Idea

The Rules of the Game

Dieter Rams’ legendary ten rules for good design are getting a lot of love lately, and it got us thinking…they’re not such a bad guide to building a gentleman’s wardrobe.

Allow us to explain…»

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09/23/10

Art Threat

Temptation is Strong

Count on a graphic designer to make things hard on himself. Christopher Doyle just layed out a list of five graphic design clichés he’s promising not to indulge in for the remainder of the year, including putting logos on tote bags, photographing the contents of his satchel and (perhaps most painfully), partaking in images of impeccably curated apartments. We give it six weeks.

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·design
·photography

07/28/10

LinkOut

Olga Estupinan is Multifaceted

via Fashion Gone Rogue

Woodgrains of the World Unite!: Giz drops an apt manifesto on the problem with gadget design today, and how to make the world handsomer. [Gizmodo]

Magazine of the Day: Letter to Jane sounds like the coolest new magazine in quite some time…if only we had an iPad. [PSFK]

Buyer Beware: Here’s a cautionary tale: If you buy an idyllic Honduran beach house, you may discover too late that it comes with an unlimited supply of free cocaine. So, you know, watch out for that. [World Hum]

Wise Up: Tommy Wiseau, auteur of The Room and modern day Ed Wood, blesses AskMen with 10 tips on shooting a sex scene. It doubles as ten ways to make your interviewer uncomfortable. [AskMen]

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06/29/10

Good Idea

Our Favorite Symbol

The ampersand is getting a grassroots marketing push from Scott Marc Berry—complete with tote bags, buttons and typeface charts—and we’re ready to sign on in full. &’s time has come.

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·ampersand
·design

11/30/09

Object

Action!

When weighing gift ideas, it’s hard to go wrong with a handsome, marginally useful trinket—which is why we find ourselves inexplicably drawn to this card holder.

No one actually needs a card holder—a rubber band in your pocket and a desk drawer in your office will do the job every bit as well—but they’re nice to have, and all the more memorably for being unnecessary. Throw in a clever film-slate design and you’ve got a placeholder for just about anyone on your list. That is, as long as you can’t think of anything better…

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11/03/09

Object

Tip Top

The design crowd prides itself on being able to turn just about anything into an art object, so it was only a matter of time before they got around to toys.

These tops come from Herman Miller’s workshop, supposedly inspired by Charles Eames preoccupation with childhood playthings. Of course, because it’s a serious design house, the tops are all lathed and lacquered like the leg of a dinner table.

Watch your back, Hasbro.

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10/08/09

The Past

Think of England

The British Design Council has been responsible for a surprising amount of the Really Cool Stuff in the world so far, so we’re glad to finally get a peek at some of it. As of today, they’re opening up their slide archive to give design-minded net-dwellers everywhere a chance to see what they’ve got in there. It includes a wealth of early 60s gems—somebody should really make a show set back then…—but also a few accomplishments we never would have guessed at. Who would have guessed that the same folks that were polishing up tea kettles in the 50s ended up designing power lathes and furnaces?

See a few gems from the archive»

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·Britain
·design

09/16/09

Bad Idea/Good Idea

Time Out

Now that we’re all carrying clocks in our pockets, the future of the watch is uncertain. Vintage models are still unimpeachably cool, but anything designed closer to the present is playing to a pretty tough crowd.

If you’re Nooka, apparently the answer is to ditch the old “knowing what time it is” paradigm entirely. There’s a number, there’s a gauge, and for some reason, there are even dots, but anyone glancing at their wrist on the way to a breakfast date is going to be in for some confusion. Hopefully they’ve got a cell phone handy…

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09/14/09

Good Idea

The Antiseptic Stings like a Bee

Usually, we’re against novelty in anything you might actually need to work—a list that includes first aid kits, condoms and coffee-makers—but it’s also true that just about everything is better with a picture of Muhammad Ali on it. Call it a reminder: There’s no shame in taking a few hits in the line of duty.

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·design
·Muhammad Ali

09/11/09

Gadgetry

The Black Box

We’ve gotten lucky with the latest batch of smart phones, but don’t be fooled: Good-looking tech is in extremely short supply. And while external hard drives are finding their way onto more and more desks, this is the only one we’ve seen that won’t throw off your modernist feng shui.

LaCie has named it the Little Disk, but the design comes courtesy of British industrial designer Sam Hecht, moonlighting from his day job at Muji—which might explain the Japanese simplicity at work. Somewhere, Steve Jobs is drooling.

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09/11/09

Good Idea

Just In Case

Apparently oddball design stunts aren’t just for internet folk. Literary quirk merchant Miranda July is trying her hand at pillowcases. She’s currently working through a limited edition of a 1000 cases, available through the New Museum.

Of course, she’s a writer not an artist, so her contribution comes in quote form. The pillows are inscribed with two corresponding inscriptions, “Here you will dream of endless kissing” and “Here you will dream of people you admire exposing your fraudulence,” either of which should provide for an eventful night’s sleep. Naturally, we recommend a healthy rotation…

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08/31/09

LinkOut

Lara Stone Joins the Academy

Academy Fight Song: W Mag finds Lara Stone a headmistress gig. [Fashion Copious]

Don’t Get Shirty: Esquire drops a few work-appropriate shirts, including the increasingly beloved rounded club collar. Just don’t call it “Peter Pan.” [Esquire]

It’s Always Design Week Somewhere: Copenhagen Design Week sees the world’s first human car wash. [The Moment]

Just a Minute: A new site lets you spend a minute in almost any city in the world. [PSFK]

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08/25/09

Good Idea

Land Ho

The nautical trend has been around for a while, but this is the first time we’ve seen it branch into the world of home décor.

This Royal Master Sealight is an exact replica of an old marine lamp, which means you’ll be able to adjust the shutters if you want things a little dimmer. It might be a bit too industrial for some places, but if you don’t mind a chrome stand in the corner, it could be just the kind of rough, functional gear that’s in vogue around now. If you’re feeling particularly handy, you could even use it to send Morse Code to the apartment across the street.

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07/27/09

Gadgetry

Time for a Cocktail

You can usually count on Apple to be at least one gadget ahead of everyone else. So now that iPhones are rendering the average iPod obsolete, it’s a pretty safe bet they’ve got a third item up their sleeve ready to change the game yet again.

It’s all still guesses, but the smart money is on a tablet computer dropping just in time for Christmas, codenamed Cocktail and resembling either an enormous iPod touch or a hyper-intelligent dinner tray. (The above pic is an unofficial rendering, naturally.) It’s a gadget type that’s been seen at press events for years now, most notably from Microsoft, but they’ve never quite made it into stores. More importantly, it’s the ideal tool for the artsy endeavors Apple specializes in—graphic design, software editing, digital collage, and so on—provided they can convince their users to get rid of that keyboard.

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07/16/09

Blithe Spirits

Miraculous

We’re not usually much for packaging, but this tequila bottle looks too good to leave unblogged. It’s from the newcomers at Milagro Tequila, and the main feature is a spiky agave-shaped bubble in the middle of the bottle—instead of the worm, we suppose.

Of course, what really matters is what’s inside the bottle…but our curiosity is definitely piqued.

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·design
·Tequila

06/30/09

Good Idea

Squaresville

The coffee cup is as close to a design standard as you’ll find, but there’s always room for improvement.

A group of Tel Aviv design students took a crack at it, and the results are intriguing. This model, called the cubis, is designed for easy stacking—the corners fit together, naturally—and a thick layer of ceramic insulation to provide a cool place to grip. We don’t expect to see it in diners any time soon…but maybe there are a few boutique hotels in need of a restock?

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06/22/09

Object

Raising the Bar

Clocks have been stuck in the same design rut for a while now, so we’re glad to see someone try out the “towel bar” look. This acrylic creation may not give you the instant recognition of a two-handed version, but it should be worth it for the oddball factor alone.

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