Apparently the shop behind the meme-ified “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters have a few other posters…including this simple brown poster. Not bad, if you’ve got an empty space above your desk.
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“design”
Junk…: Despite her vast wealth, Gisele still does not have a car that will fit six people. [Hypebeast]
The Shape of Things to Come: A few dispatches from the National Design Awards. [The Moment]
Ugly Mug: A critical consideration of mug shots, in reference to the besuited gentleman from this morning. [Reason]
Coloring Book: Try your hand at designing Hermès’ next tie. [DesignBoom]
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Models and Bottles: The Met takes a look at the photographer model relation…and comes away with a significantly more chaste take than we were expecting. [The Cut]
Sign of the Times: A peek into the arduous design clash behind the interstate’s new typeface. [NYTimes]
A Verdant Glenn: Our favorite guy of style checks in with a new blues compilation. [Men.Style]
Free Throws, Free Trade: The first trick to inspiring economic confidence is sinking every single free throw. [Gawker]
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The Swedes are Different From You and I: The Swedish press continues to supply us with artful cheesecake. [Refinery29
The Grand Design: The National Design Awards are upon us once more, bearing overwrought chess sets and a warehouse full of weird looking cars. [Material Interest]
The Magic Number: A rundown on three piece suits, specifically whether or not vests should have lapels. High level stuff. [Esquire]
Please Pleat Me: Like disco, pleats are back with a semi-ironic vengeance. [WWD]
Maison Martin Margiela has specialized in snow-white minimalism for a couple decades now, but they just now applied the idea to home décor. As you might guess, the result is every bit as weirdly playful as what we’re used to seeing on the runway.
The first collection of home goods just debuted at the Salon del Mobile in Milan (via My Fashion Life) with items like wine bottle lamps, wallpaper, carpeting and bookshelves, all in MMM’s trademark white. Our personal favorites were the paneled doors, mostly for the sheer cheek involved in applying high fashion principles to one of the least glamorous items in the house.
The collection should hit stores and showrooms in 2010.
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Another day, another mustache.
We’ve come across a lot of mustache-related design accoutrements, but this one doesn’t seem to have much connection to actual facial hair.
After all, if it were a real soup-catcher, you wouldn’t want it hanging on your napkin all day. And you certainly wouldn’t be writing on it in chalk. It’s a troubling development, and we’re more than a little concerned for the future. At this rate, a decade from now everything we own will have a Selleck attached to it.
It’s a brave new world out there.
Digitally swamped as we are, it’s easy to forget that all those images have to come from somewhere.
We’re a little unclear on the specifics, but ink is probably involved…
Mark Weaver specializes in a kind of light collage that’s overtaking the design world lately—with a little help from street art. Most of his print haven’t made it much farther than his flickr page, but they’re ripe for the picking in our opinion.
Anybody need a logo out there? Maybe something in a pirate tiger?
| ALL Art Threat |
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The moleskine trend is dying down a bit lately—especially since the engraving gives off toxic fumes—but there’s still a little life left in it…provided there’s a good design handy.
Engrave Your Book is designing leather covers that slip over Moleskines, with the usual art submitted by doodlers from Vermont to Stuttgart. It’s a good idea, and one of many, but how long before this breaks out of notebooks and into cellphones, kindles and laptops?
How long before we can get a little art on everything we own?
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As Pepsi recently discovered, the world of soda bottle design can get pretty contentious, so it’s worth remembering what it looks like when it’s done right.
Afri Cola was a German, Jolt-style caffeine bomb popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s—and briefly, Seattle in the ‘90s—and while the taste didn’t catch on quite the way you’d expect, the design may be the best we’ve ever seen. As far as vintage colas go, this one seems ripe for a revival—and the more caffeine the better.
Now that we’ve got digital displays everywhere we look, the old mantle of clock is going to have to go a few steps beyond analog if it’s going to stay relevant. In other words, the pendulum is ripe for a resurgence.
Yasuki Takamori’s 269 Clock is a pretty good example of what it looks like when it’s done right. The walnut plywood keeps things minimal and organic, but the real highlight is the pendulum swinging behind the bottom window. It’s amazing what a little movement does to put you in tune with the daily passage of time—especially when it’s not on a digital display.
The brewery tour is a long-standing highlight of masculine tourism, but the days of wooden kegs and sketchy tour guides may be coming to a close.
This pic is from is an experimental marketing plan for Heineken that would put visitors through a veritable Haunted Mansion of Heineken, including a psychedelic screening room, interactive tasting desks, and a star-shaped bar area that looks like it came straight from the notebook of an interior design class.
Sadly, none of it’s real yet, but we’re more than a little bit jealous. How long do we have to wait before ridiculous things like this start actually happening again?
| ALL Ad Rock |
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The latest F/W line from Craig Robinson confirms what we’ve long suspected: a good tailor always wins out.
Robinson comes out of the bespoke world, so he’s got an appreciation for clean lines and the occasional pair of suspenders, but it doesn’t stop him from throwing in some intricate paneling when the mood strikes him. Shuffling between through British sophistication and military precision, this line isn’t exactly on-trend, but it’s so well done that it doesn’t matter.
Good design is still good design, and good timing is no substitute.
Rabbit, Run: Surreal photography continues to scare the crap out of us. [NotCot]
Winter Sports: A friendly face introduces us to the terrifying world of snow polo. [Luxist]
Going Minimal: Does good design flourish during a depression? It depends how you feel about the barrel-top. [Unbeige]
Going Gray: The enduring appeal of the gray flannel suit.
[A Suitable Wardrobe]
Precision has always been a popular look among the design crowd, so it was only a matter of time before scientific glassware caught on…
This beaker-style tumbler is from the ruckl’s Engineering Collection (via acquire), and the numbers etched on the side aren’t just for show. Those are the exact measurements and specs of the item itself, which should come in handy when you get around to making that bespoke coaster.
At the very least, your mixology will get a lot more precise.
There are a lot of reasons to troll used-book stores, but whether you find the title you’re after or not, there’s always a few interesting covers.
This gallery of old Pelican covers should be a reminder: they don’t design them like they used to. (Although Chip Kidd might have something to say about that.) And judging a book by its cover isn’t as bad as it’s cracked up to be.
In the worst case, it sits prettily on your end table while you turn to more interesting pursuits. After all, it’s an object too.
Classic novels have had a rough shake lately, but the problem may be with the shabby covers you’re used to seeing at Barnes & Noble. After all, a hardcover is still a hardcover.
This series from Penguin Classics may help things out a bit. Designer Coralie Bickford-Smith came up with these, and they’re just about perfect, from the aristocratic chandeliers of Great Expectations to the vulgar geometry of Crime & Punishment.
Sadly, it’s only available in the UK through Waterstones…but we’re sure there’s a trick or two that can get it to your door.
The forces of design have been slow in coming to water bottles, but apparently they’re getting around to it. This bottle from Kors takes its cues from Jonathan Ive circa 1998, but they make up for it with a clever cap design and an all around . If you’re going jogging through Palo Alto, it’s probably the best there is.
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At Uniqlo, the T-Shirt Chooses You: The Japanese retailer finally goes completely off the rails. Mimes are involved. [The Shophound]
A Wing and a Prayer: A Continuous Lean visits the Red Wing factory and gets to smell the leather up close. [Vimeo]
The Rise of the Machines: Rudimentary computer art peacefully invades a Swedish gallery. [Cool Hunting]
Democracy in Action: Voting is open on the top five designers of all time. Our money’s on the Finns. [MakeFive]
The Threadless culture has inspired a lot of innovation, but there’s also been a wash of half-baked and out-and-out lazy designs letting a square inch of embroidery substitute for an actual idea. The most recent offender? Attus Prep.
We Are the Market big-upped these polos, but they’re just standard issue catalog-wear with an “edgy” symbol—a mohawked punk, a 40 oz bottle, a stripper on a pole—stitched where the usual polo player or seagull would go.
There’s a press packet, a few choice anti-establishment quotes, and logos to spare. If they just had some clothes, they might have something.
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If you’re still flirting with tobacco, a pipe can add a Hefner-esque touch to your homecoming routine. And while you probably weren’t hurting for a place to stash them, it’s always nice to have a bit of niche furniture.
This pipe cabinet from Palo Samko has two distinct advantages over setting aside a spot in your desk. First, the whole thing looks like a barely-finished log, meaning it’ll add a touch of mountain-man style to even the most urbane space. And second, those circular drawers won’t get old any time soon.
Well played, Palo. Well played.
The Bond movies have been overstuffed with product placement from the very beginning, even when they were shilling for products that didn’t exist like the ejecto-seat or the razor hat. It makes sense, since the Bond market tends to be interested in fast cars, sharp suits, shiny phones and the like. But we didn’t expect them to expand into the world of matching drapes.
Apparently we were mistaken. The interior design gurus at Wallpaper have an extended Q&A with Quantum of Solace’s set decorator detailing Bond’s Bolivian bed in *Quantum of Solace*. It’s a custom job from B&B Italia, made larger so it would be easier to shoot.
We always heard he favored bespoke.
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The saying goes, “If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” But there should probably be something in there about lightbulbs too.
This one comes from global design firm Frog Design, and after five minutes we’re already converts. It’s light-bulb shaped (always a plus), more energy efficient than the average fluorescent unpleasantness, and its lifespan is measured in decades. They even drop a scattered leaf pattern on top to spread the light around. (These are dyed-in-the-wool design kids, after all.)
Of course, these days beating a path is as easy as putting up a blog post.
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Our inexplicable love of credenzas is well documented, but apparently we’re not the only ones.
Red Hook modernists Standard41 whipped up six different models—including this one, aptly named “Big Boy”—to assuage their own 60s nostalgia. One of the other types includes a wine rack, but we’re happy just to have a few drawers, some sliding panels, and an alternative to buying something that was actually made in 1961.
Ladies and gentleman, your arduous credenza search is over.
People tend not to talk about it outside of design school, but there’s a symmetry between the way things look and the way we use them. Some chairs want you to relax, but others want you to pay attention. Some tables look like they want coffee cups but others want laptops.
This one, on the other hand, looks like it’s ready to design a skyscraper for you. We haven’t been much impressed by Muji, but after this, we’re coming around.
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