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New work from Swedish illustrator Karin Söderquist

I’m a Swedish illustrator based in London. At first glance my work looks sweet and innocent; it’s filled with pastel colours and cute animals. But some of the pieces also have darker themes in them. To the North Pole, for example, tells the story of two sisters’ journey to the Arctic where they meet a grim end in the belly of a polar bear. Read more

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared animation

I’ve been a fan of This Is It Collective’s work since I saw their first video, Bad Things That Could Happen. This Is It is a collective of illustrators, animators, artists and designers based in London and they produce colourful, well-designed animations and videos. This one in particular made me snigger with joy.

Oddities abound at the Wellcome Collection London

Napoleon Bonaparte’s toothbrush, Charles Darwin’s walking stick, Lord Nelson’s razor, pieces of tattoed human skin from 1850, male anti-masturbation devices from 1880 … all those pieces are in the Wellcome Collection permanent exhibition in London. Half morbid and half historic, they have excellent temporary exhibitions, but their permanent one is worth the visit to this not very famous museum.

Floating House

This house has many facets that make it an intriguing example. First of all, it is a very aesthetically pleasing project with the use of light horizontal timbers and a clean pitched roof. Designed by MOS, an interesting design collective based in America, the secret to the Floating House is that it floats on a structure of steel pontoons. The house rises and falls with the changing waters and is frozen in place depending on the season. The steel pontoons were constructed first and towed to the lake outside the contractor’s factory and then the house was built atop of it. When finished it was towed to its position, anchored and enjoyed in its unique position. Finally, it forms a bridge between the land and an island. Wonderful!

Torre Bicentenario

Dutch uber-firm OMA, headed by Rem Koolhaas, has created this concept in Mexico City to symbolize the coming two hundred years of Mexico’s independence. There are many layers of symbolism in this building, from Mayan pyramids to which part of the building controls the park and which part controls the city, to the fact that the bulge of the building is below the centre height, and that it all happens on a relatively small footprint. Most of all, in this building there is a barely contained energy that seems near to release and it may be that this is what Torre Bicentenario represents.

Danish Building Bridge

The Danes are renowned for their considered and subtle design. However, in these times of change, they must feel they need something with this selection of a bridge building as the winner of a recent architectural competition in Denmark. The American architect Steven Holl designed this building with a pedestrian bridge that links two sides of the harbour in the distinctly low-rise Copenhagen. Read more