Artefact

This morning, I saw that a book I had been reading and left out was sitting on a table with perfect light on it. In that moment, I had the idea to make some photos of some of my favorite things in my apartment in that light. Unfortunately, as I didn't work quick enough and the light changed before I got a chance to take many photos. Still, I turned on a light and finished the job.

This is partially one of the favorite things in my apartment because of the story behind it. I was told to read it by a friend of Mariel's after visiting his apartment some time around 5 AM. The spontaneity of the event combined with the interesting content of the book makes me particularly interested in it.

Have I written about this before? Its possible, it seems a familiar subject. Either way, this Operation Doomsday re-release from Stones Throw was a gift for my birthday this past year. MF Doom being my favorite rapper, and Operation Doomsday my favorite of his solo albums, any copy of this album on vinyl would be prized to me. It is only made better by the alternate cuts included in this release, as well as the amazing packaging that it comes in.

I found this book of matches in the street one day and liked the design so much I decided to take them. I took a picture of them when I first found them and put it on my photo journal, Mindless Carbonation. I wanted to take a picture of the whole outer wrapping at once, but they've been folded for so long that making the package lie flat is impossible. There was once a name on the inside, but it is gone at this point, so I'll probably never know the source of the book. I like that though, my mysterious, strangely artful book of matches.

Every year I attend a Channukah party at which these glasses are distributed. Although they may not have been procured at one, they are generally referred to as my prize bar mitazvah glasses. This is probably the most fun item on this list. When wearing them, the lenses cause the light to diffract, forming a Star of David around any concentrated source of light. You can see an example of them in action below.

I don't know where this last item came from. It provokes a lot of questions that I'm completely unable to answer. It appears to be the smallest from a set of matryoshka dolls, with the word "Malevitch" hand painted on the outside. Where did it come from? What did the other dolls in this set look like? Who or what is Malevitch? Things I'll never know I guess...

Mark Holmes

To round out my posts on the designers I found in AD, I took a look at Minimalux, a line started by designer Mark Holmes. See more products from Minimalux on their site.

Artwork Look-alikes

As someone who is interested in the cross overs between art and design, I was greatly pleased to find Lauren Stern's blog Artworks that Look Like Interiors that Look Like Artworks. Stern puts together interesting examples of the different places that designers can go with some of the same visual ideas. I've seen a few examples of similar things done with fashion and fine art recently, but it's always interesting to see the idea applied to different forms of creation. Hrm... now I may have to put together something similar myself...

In The Seam

Lately I've been giving in to my inner photo nerd and lusting after some photography related products on the web. For instance, over the holidays this winter, I got my father a mug shaped like a camera lens. These pillows by Ronda Smith, or intheseam are my most recent fixation. I love their simple adaptation of the camera body for to the pillow. Click here to see more on intheseam's etsy store.

Tapestry Glasses

As part of past work, DM has taken on a few DIY projects. A lot of the time these projects come naturally, harkening back to days spent in dark rooms attempting to put the finishing touches on 3D projects before the sun comes up. There is something comforting about it, but it is hard to say wether that comforting is due to nostalgia, or due to the fact that I've always enjoyed working with my hands (although my internet presence would suggest otherwise).
These glasses fromChloe McCormic and Nicholas O'Donnell-Hoare certainly perked up a part of our DIY senses. They are 3-D printed designs created with little gaps so that the owner can weave designs into them.

Carl Kleiner and Cleaner Kitchens

I came across these photographs on Creative Review's blog and fell in love. The were taken by Carl Kleiner for Ikea's minimalist kitchenwear. Kleiner was previously hired by ikea to photograph ingredients for Ikea's Homebaked is Best recipe book.

Art directors: Christoffer Persson, Maria Fridman
Copywriter: David Lundgren
Photographer: Carl Kleiner / Mink MGMT
Stylist: Evelina Bratell

Yes, I Loved Star Wars

When you're working in the creative field, particularly fine art related areas, people will often ask you things along the lines of how did you do that? How did you think of that? Those questions are always kind of impossibly hard to answer, and seem to be somewhat of a joke among the artists I know, particularly those who draw. Still every once in a while, I am forced to look at a work and say, "how in the world is it possible for a human to do this?". This is the kind of thought that I had upon my first viewing of the work of Bellino Alain. The first thing I saw was his process in the creation of a mask styled after that of Darth Vader. The first image appeared in front of me, the bowls of two spoons stuck together. My first thought was "Yeah, ok. You're being super clever there man, distorting the utilitarian purposes of a spoon or something..." It was in looking at the next few photos that I realized that was a very simple beginning in a very complex process. Alain creates metal sculptures through the reappropration of old materials, sort of like a metal collage. Of course, it probably helps his sculpting that he restored antiques for 25 years. The result of his work is stunning, leaving the viewer hard pressed to imagine the process that led to that piece. That mystery, that magic is what causes people to ask how something was created and Bellino has helped me find that again. See his site here, and behance here. Also, I apologize for any errors in this writing, none of the information I found was in English.

My Post on Post Typography

These images are all from the package design work of Post Typography. For more information on each of the images, click each image to find its description. Here is the link to their site.

Bookscapes

I came across these images some time before the new year and filed them away to get posted at some later date. Well, the new year has come and I think has been long enough. These are books that have been carved and painted to represent landscapes. These projects are a way of looking at the erosion of our culture. Larmee transforms these former fountains of knowledge back into the land masses from which they sprung. All of this seems to me to be an interesting way of looking at the flux of the world. Larmee's work explores the cyclical nature of the world. It transforms the less accessible media of academic writings into something that, if not seen as beauty by all can be easily read. These images come from his series Biblios and The Great Wall.

This is what the artist had to say about his work:

"So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are."

See more of Larmee's work here