garment graffitti...

For the past few months Thomas Voorn has been travelling the world with a bag of clothes, his so called alphabet, creating garment graffiti in the most obvious and unexpected places; from brickwalls and alleys to fields - looking for a tension between clothes, surroundings and text to create colourful temporary landscape pollution....

Continuing his garment graffiti Thomas Voorn has created a 'designers - poem - installation' for b Store London using labels sold in the shop. Lifting the Christmas spirit, Voorn has created short slogans such as 'cosmic christian ceremony' layed out in clothes by designers including Cosmic Wonder Light Source, Hans Christian Madsen and Opening Ceremony.

Following his studies in fine art in the Netherlands and in London, Voorn based himself in Rotterdam working in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2006, he created ‘The Clothing Alphabet', resulting in several projects such as ' The Fashion Hit Next Season - series ' (2007) and 'Your Name Here - series' (2008).

vaughshannon...

Vaugh¦Shannon is a new Dublin based multidisciplinary studio, who i first came across at the chq building during design week in October, they bring to the market a range of original, quirky, high quality products for the international design market...

Set up by industrial designers Trevor Vaugh and Nicholas Shannon, the company's design approach is simple - all products must be completely orginal, offer a function, be of exceptional quality, have personality, and above all must delight their user...

a room with a view....NOT

'Zero Star Hotel; - the anti-thesis of Dubai's 7 star hotel is a concept by the artist-twins frank and Patrik Riklin of St.Gallen, Switzerland...

So for a credit-crunch friendly break, check into the low budget hotel come art installation inside a nuclear bunker....a military bunk-bed will cost you 7euro, while a luxury room, complete with antique beds from condemned hotels will set you back a mere 20euro...

Hot water bottles dangle inside the hotel which has no heating, the only decoration to speak of in sight....

something for free....thats right....free

While all around us every newspaper, magazine and news report is doom and gloom and aaarrrghhh....enough already....nows a good time to invest in some art, especially when its for free.

Readymade have asked 5 artists to reinvent the populist posters from the Great Depression, which you can download for free....again....free, free, free, free.....FREE

Follow this link...http://readymade.com/article/poster_children/P2/

cheese please...

O'Donnell & Tuomey have to be one of Irelands most high profile architecture studios, and one of they're latest pieces of architecture in Dublins East Wall, known locally as the 'Swiss Cheese' is the Sean O'Casey Community Centre.

Its certainly a big piece of architecture thats not afraid to be seen...

the alchemists...

Luxury design company Based Upon started by 32 year old twins Ian and Richard Abell in 2004, was started after they discovered a liquefied metal called Aloxolotl. This can be sprayed onto any surface and create different aesthetic effects, even speeding up the process of rusting for certain materials.

The “Alchemists” soon found with Aloxolotl and other materials like semi-precious resins and coloured lacquers, often experimented with layered textures for their designs. The look is organic patterns that resemble chasms in rock, or water ripples on wall spaces with the titan feel of metal.

They have built up an impressive client portfolio, producing installations for Donna Karen stores in the states and property developer Candy & Candy.

light emitting wallpapers...

The light emitting wallpaper is exactly what it says on the tin...

The cool thing about it too is that when it’s not turned on, it seems to be just a normal wallpaper...

Jonas Samson, an innovative interior designer from the Netherlands, has designed this new wallpaper that also serves as a light source.

50 years of style...

this year the egg chair celebrates its 50th birthday, and i have to say she looks as great today as she did 50 years ago...

I had the opportunity to visit the Fritz Hansen factory and museum last year in Copenhagan and what a set up. We had a confidential sneek preview at a few of the limited edition chairs and it was amazing to see them being hand made by such highly skilled craftsmen. 

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now and I dunno why it crept into my head today, maybe it was this picture I happened to find...

Fritz Hansen celebrated the 50th Anniversary with 999 limited edition designs of the egg chair. The limited edition collection included chocolate brown suede on the back and chocolate brown leather on the front. The base is in solid bronze and hand polished to create a unique finish to the chair. The bronze base will darken in appearance over time. Each of the 999 Eggs were individually engraved, under the seat cushion, with a unique number and a brief text about chairs history. And i got the chance to sit in one during my visit...

doom and gloom and the end of the design boom

"Ah it's strange times isn't it -hows the job hunting going?" is the conversation starter I'm getting these days from alot of my friends. And to be fair doom and gloom seems to all there is all these days. Just turned off the news there as I'm sick of listening to it, job losses at an all time high since 1996...

It's hard to keep the chin up and hard to keep positive and hard to keep the chin up, although I read a great discussion starter by my friends at daedal review today. Lorraine got to thinking about inspirational design in these times to lift the spirits,although she quickly reverted to say she couldnt ignore the current climate and whats happening around her.

Like her, my friends are on reduced hours, over-time hours cut, expenses at a minimum, christmas parties cancelled, even returning from time off to find staff laid off. Its been a constant furry of texts and emails for me from friends telling me who's been let go over this past few weeks, I don't know too many in my design fraternity who havent been affected in one way or another.

How quickly indeed it has all changed. Like my friends at daedal review I too am wondering where you will go for work? Dubai is in a steady stream of construction at the moment, anywhere in the Middle East seems like a goer to be fair. Australia was the place to be for a long time, but I've learnt from a friend out there looking for work that there's nothing in Sydney or Melbourne and that Brisbane is looking like a possibilty but not a definite.

Crazy world, changing times... What do you think?

urban gnomes...

i saw these in a magazine about a month ago and i love them...finally tracked them down...hope you think they are as cool as i do...

made from bone china these little dudes are about 20.5cm tall...the ultimate alternative to the traditional garden gnome, then again if your kitch and you like garden gnomes you likely wont like these...they are handmade and designed by the guys at Vitamin...and if you simply like cool graphics and funky shapes they'l look great in any part of your garden or home