twist & slide sink

Ever since I grew into an addiction of looking up interior design and home decoration, I've been wanting a bathroom that is waterproof, and the water would just flow into the floor. I like the idea of an open concept bathroom where you needn't shower walls, and the bottom of the shower is made of wooden planks. Little did I know, there are also designs coming out with sinks that also flow into the ground! I'm not sure how I like that idea, but I guess it's all one and the same. Check out this awesome twisted sink by Eumar called the Abisko Washbasin.


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pyramid for a bookcase

After my previous post about the Thought Bubble bookshelf, (apparently a similar one can be found by Fusca Design,) my boyfriend sent me another bookshelf beauty and its pentagonal friend.

The Pyramid Modular Bookcase by Fitting is a work of art. Made in Italy and with aluminum, this would be quite the art piece in anyone's home. Not all have the coloured backing, but I think that nicely accentuates the shelves! (Source)


And here's another pyramid bookshelf made of wood, quite stunning as well!

The second item is the Pentagon Seating, designed by Thomas Tritsch and manufactured by Quinze & Milan. It looks fantastically futuristic. I am never too sure about these type of harsh seating. I would think that our behinds would be sore from sitting on such flat surfaces without cushioning or support. In any case, I think it would look great in any home that can afford so room contributed to seating. Go to their website, click or "Original" and discover other colourful, vibrant and unique pieces that would spice up any home or office! (Source)

thought bubble bookshelf

Sometimes the simplest designs are the smartest. Kian Lau from China made a post about a bookshelf. It's not just any ordinary bookshelf. It's one in the shape of a thought bubble! Seems like a really simple idea, doesn't it? How come no one has thought of it yet? Maybe someone has but never implemented it? Anyhow, I cannot decipher simplified Chinese, only traditional Chinese, so I am not sure who designed it or where the image is from. I initially thought he had designed it and thought, "Oh cool, how brilliant! And designed by a fellow Chinese!" I'm quite sure, though, that his blog is just a design collective, just like mine. Okay, enough speech, onto the product!

Here are several other posts that I found really inspiring: coffin-shaped cigarette holder (how ironic!), a clock made of a dish, fork and spoon (I want one in my kitchen), a light bulb-shaped candle (talk about return to the old), a clothespin hanger, and so many more. I will end up linking over half of his blog, so why don't you check it out for yourself?

Edit: I translated the simplified Chinese to traditional Chinese. A source isn't provided. Oh well!

ligne roset

Need some colourful modern furniture to spice up your living area? Want to invite friends over and have a heart-to-heart? Ligne Roset's designs are perfect for mending lost connections amongst friends and families. These sectional pieces fit perfectly as a puzzle would. Rearrange them however you want, and these pieces will still look magnificent and pop in any home. The citrus colour range is fab!

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£56 in exchange for pictures of space

If someone told you, while you were in college, that in exchange for a £56 camera, you can get pictures of space, would you believe them? Mind you, it's not easy what they did; the students spent endless extra-curricular hours on the project, even during their vacation in the summer. With the assistance of their teacher, four students in Spanish Catalonia were able to take magnificent photos 20 miles above Earth with a Nikon camera that cost £56. Strapped to a weather balloon, the camera was able photograph its journey while taking readings with its radio receiver of its progress into the stratosphere. Read the Daily Mail news article for more information and pictures of the students and their camera-operated weather balloon.

"Meteotek was our experiment to see if we could accurately measure the Earth's atmospheric conditions at 30,000 metres, take pictures to prove the experiment and then recover the instruments attached to the balloon after its deflation," said team leader Paretas, 18.

"We were overwhelmed at our results, especially the photographs. To send our handmade craft to the edge of space is incredible."

Here is another article with more photos: link
Visit the Meteotek website for more information.

for your home

It's the last month of the school term. Everyone is swamped with assignments, labs, essays...I've got two essay deadlines and three exams coming up, so bookmarks have been collecting and I have too many things I want to blog about! Here are two fabulous items I'd love for my home:

1) A gorgeous modern shower by KOS
KOS is a company from Italy that specializes in bath tubs, shower cabins, and basins. Their modern designs must be rare; I can't really imagine seeing one of these in a typical house, especially in North America. One can dream! My favourite are the shower cabins. I absolutely kosmic z2 and floor. The tubs are quite magnificent as well, especially the grande quadra and grande angolo. They aren't kidding when they say grande; they are massive!

via Pure Contemporary

2) Want to wash your hands in a waterfall?
Designed by Octopus Design and Bruno Sacco of Hansa is this beautiful faucet, which Jenny Rector from 3rings has granted the title of a water sculpture. The elegant sculpture uses an on/off button and LED temperature meters, far off from the knobs and handles we are used to. Bathrooms and washrooms have far too many cool gadgets for those who can afford them...but let's be honest. How much time do you spend washing your hands?


via 3rings

And as a little extra, my boyfriend saw this Down Low seating by Upwell Design, based in San Francisco, and immediately said he's getting them. I am not sure I understand the appeal! The only thing I could think about when I saw this was: where would my legs go? The concept is great and I know our male gaming companions would love them, but they're just not for me.

bruce branit's world builder

I posted this in my other blog, 4x6 & Words, and felt the need to re-post on this blog. It is not only inspirational in its visual effects production, but the story itself is quite touching. I would not be able to place myself in that position (or watch this film again) without tears building in my eyes!

Maybe it's far too late at night—or early in the morning—or maybe I just can't bear the thought of losing a loved one. Whatever the reason may be, the 9 minutes and 15 seconds World Builder brought tears to my eyes. This brilliant work of art was created by filmmaker Bruce Branit. Does his name ring a bell? It might, because you've probably seen his work before on your television set or the big screen. The visual effects section of his resume includes hit television shows Pushing Daisies and Lost, the 21st century King Kong film (2005), the film rendition of Sin City (2005), and so many more. In Branit's words, the touching short film is a story where "a strange man uses holographic tools to build a world for the woman he loves." The video is also available in high quality.



Additional link: World Builder on Facebook

pretzel ring with salt diamonds

There are a lot of things I love. Jewelry is one of them. I adore necklaces, rings, bracelets, anklets, headbands; the list goes on. Another thing I love? Food. To combine the two, Roni Baram has designed and put together a Pretzel Ring. It's not just any ring; it's a ring embedded with salt diamonds. How quaint! What's there not to love about edible jewelry? This is one handy snack! (Source)

escalator marketing

There is an unbelievable number of escalator marketing out there and I'm only finding out about this now. Why is that? Like I said in my last post, making use of public, everyday objects to advertise your product is probably the cleverest thing to do. What better way to brand yourself than a method that jumps out at consumers and have them really think, "Wow"? Surround them in their everyday elements! I chose two of my favourite ones to show you; there are so many more that can be found here!


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scotch brite's "sponge"

I absolutely love outdoor, public advertisements. The ability to make use of public space and incorporate and transform commercialism into public use should be praised. I love guerrilla advertisements! And with that, I believe Scotch Brite should win a prize of some sort for this brilliant "Sponge" drinking fountain. What better way to demonstrate the absorbency of their sponges? More pictures can be found in the source link below.


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slide + stairs

Leesha is nicknamed xsparkage on the World Wide Web. She is best known for her YouTube videos that act as makeup tutorials for cosmetic lovers worldwide. The girl has beautiful skin, great judgment for ravishing looks and fantastic hair! Anyway, the other day on her Twitter, she tweeted with a link and said she really wanted the item in the link. What was in that link? This stunning staircase is both a slide and stairs! How cool would that be to have in your house? I'd walk up those stairs just to slide down again and again!

Does anyone know where this is from? Seriously, I need to know!

camera lens calender

For all you camera lovers out there who needs a way to keep track of dates, like me, you're in luck. Photographer Sharad Haksar has created something that's going to blow your mind. This isn't a regular camera lens but a Camera Lens Calendar! Each ring represents an aspect of the calendar—the year, month, day, and date! This little baby will last you from last year (2008) to 2032. I want myself one of these! (Source)

eyeclock

Mike Mak Design created a brilliant clock that really makes you think at first glance. Can you guess how it's read?

His design has the "eyes" acting as the hands of the clock. The position of the eyes replace the position of the hands on a clock. The left tells the hour and the right, the minute. Isn't it cool?

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dutch tulip field

There is a wonderful blog called Abbey Does Design Scouting in which she has a little feature called Daily Dose of Green. In it are some brilliant gardens and absolutely beautiful parks and lands! One of my favourite is this colourful Dutch tulip field.


Stunning, isn't this?

More can be found here!

love is most inspiring

A few stories that are utterly intriguing and unbelievably whimsical...

ONE. A story about an elaborate and fantastically romantic proposal on the Brooklyn Bridge. Guys, take note!



TWO. How did you meet your significant other? I met mine through his best friend. This couple met on the set of Sopranos as extras!



THREE. The perfect Valentine's Day presents for children are no longer store-bought cards with cartoon characters on them with speech bubbles. Try emptied matchboxes stuffed with m&m candies or candy corns. Wrap the boxes with construction paper, tags, etc, and tah dah!

After Two Months of Sitting as a Draft...

I originally made this post on December 19th, 2008. I never got a chance to add everything I wanted to add and thought I'd have a chance during my Christmas break to revise the post. Little did I know, I'd be one busy, popular bee scheduled to the max with dates and gatherings! Here this post is, finally. Some of my favourite finds are in here, especially the little French girl's videos! Enjoy!

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I think I found the cutest little girl in France who should become the next J.K. Rowling. Or, she could be an actress and win an Oscar. Too cute!

The light-hearted pastel colours in Shimoda Hikari's illustrations are actually disguises for her underlying dark themes.

MTV in Canada is nowhere as creative as MTV Europe, which commissioned a short with the song "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited.

Learn the brief history of communication in one minute with a brilliant stop-motion film.

Some hilarious drawings by Wilhelm Staehle for Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre—clever, witty and somewhat cynical. More here.

Ever heard of a Singing Highway? There's one in Lancaster, CA created for a Honda commercial.

Another highway, this time in South Korea, can sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb"! (Also check out the behind the scene footages starting here.)

3191, b&w,150

Now that I am back home in Toronto, I have been out a lot more often, and, thus, have a lot less time to explore the World Wide Web. Hopefully I will be able to find time to myself and do what I love most soon—finding other great stuff to inspire me and sharing it with the world. Here are three things that have been sitting on my browser for the last three days:

1) 3191 A Year of Evenings is a visual blog by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes. Living 3191 miles apart, these two women have only met once in their lives and communicate with each other through photography. Almost every evening, they take a photograph every Monday to Friday and combine them to make beautiful diptychs on their website. A year ago, they took photographs every morning and have since turned those into a book which I just purchased yesterday at Indigo. What a beautiful concept, one I would love to try with a distant someone!


2) Found on the streets of Moscow by The Satorialist is a lady dressed in black and white. Her perfectly matched assembly reminded me of my love for form-fitting leather jackets, black boots, cowl-neck sweaters, and of course, tulle dresses. She makes looking good look so easy! (Source)


3) Last but not least, Christiaan Postma entitled Clock. Consider this a follow up to a post I made two weeks ago where I featured a project by Nadine Grenie. She had formed a French message with the hands of 500 clocks. And now, a different, and perhaps even more fascinating, project of a clock that spells the time out for you.

The starting point with this project was a personal study about form & time. I put together more than 150 individual clockworks and made them work together to become one clock. I show the progress of time by letting the numbers be written in words by the clockworks. Reading clockwise, the time being is visible through a word and readable by the completeness of the word, 12 words from “one” to “twelve”. The size of the clock is 1,4 by 1,4 meter.

There is also an animated sample on her website that you must see!

lover of

I am a lover of photographs. Visuals move me. Visuals that move are not as appealing to me as ones that require my concentration, my own interpretation of each of their preceding and following. I adore still life, found objects and scenery. I love distance (and hate it when it takes part in my romantic relationship) but absolutely crave intimacy. Everyone has their own perspective of art, whether it is what art means to them or what they make into art. Photographs frame one's view, capture one's environment or give birth to one's vision.

1) A photograph I cannot seem to let go of...
(Found in the LiveJournal community the_polaroids by user thelittlestbear)


2) The Cat Cam by Michael Benjamin...

Cooper has been taking his own pictures for over a year now! Once a week he wears this light weight digital camera fastened to his collar, which snaps a new photo every 2 minutes. Thanks for your help assembling the camera, Pierson!

3) Roland Bello's photography that hits me with nostalgia... (Source)

colours that pop

Sometimes you just gotta relax, take a second and remember that it's okay to have fun. If you need a reminder, take a visit to the new Las Vegas bounce house designed by the duo from FriendsWithYou. Find your inner child in this playground filled with giant inflated balls and spread with colour. With characters like Shoebaca and Bumble Grump, how can you not have a good time? My favourite is Penelope the sleeping elephant. Each character has their own video on the fun and interactive website. They have many other fun projects too. Very kawaii!
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Vinheta Ó Paí, ó is a mesmerizing 50-second video in which every frame is a painting. I believe this is a opening of a Brazilian TV show. Unfortunately, I cannot read or understand any Portugese (I believe?), so this is as much information as I can give you!

Vinheta Ó Paí, ó from BRABO on Vimeo.

julien vallée

I have only briefly scanned through Julien Vallée's website this morning and my head is already spinning from the multitude of colours and the depth of the elements. I'm in too much of a hurry to share these two videos I watched before I went to bed. Julien hails from Montréal and is a motion and design graphic artist. His work is colourful, sharp (some literally), vibrant, and will jump out at you through your screen. His three-dimensional work has an unexpected effect on the interaction between elements in his art and even interaction between human and graphics. Take a few minutes to watch these videos because they will blow your mind.


Globo Logos from Julien Vallée on Vimeo.


MTV-One from Julien Vallée on Vimeo.