White Studio
The young architect Junya Ishigami is pushing the boundaries of the weightless aesthetic stream of architecture. Here, for the Kanagawa Institute of Technology, he has designed a glass and steel pavilion with a roof that floats on a sparse forest of thin steel columns or ‘flats’. The simple single storey volume is a studio for the general activity of ‘making things’, and contains no partitions whatsoever. Instead it has a series of furniture and plants scattered amongst the thin white columns. The lightness of this building is paramount and must engender such a feeling in all its users.
Tagged: Japan, Japanese design
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Artists like Japanese-born Yuken Teruya who can see beautiful shapes, patterns, and forms hiding within toilet paper rolls, discarded pizza boxes, and junk food bring contemporary artistic practice back into the realm of innocence and life affirming beauty. Anyone who can look at Teruya’s work and still scoff at the value of art lives a sad existence.
We used to depend on sundials back in the day, but now there are multiple ways to tell the time. And Tokyo Flash has just invented another one. Based on LED technology, these watches are not only stylish but futuristic and wildly innovative. They even have a watch from minimalist designer Naoto Fukasawa that is more than just your basic timepiece. The Tokyo Flash site says that their watches are supposed to ‘resemble the various moods of a human’, and they’re definitely an attention grabber. These are watches to take us right through to the 22nd century.
Man, going green is so hip these days, even Hello Kitty is getting in on the action. Read more
Also by SNELL
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!
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.
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
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Knoxville-based artist Sara Marie Miller makes multi-media pieces, often involving collage and printmaking, that seem like homages to fleeting moments. She also makes little recordings that serve the same function, little spontaneous songs/poems/sound collages about commemoration and memory. Read more
Unfortunately, it’s illegal to actually feed a tree when you die in a lot of places due to health codes requiring coffins or other such “sanitary.” measures. Poetree provides the next best thing, an urn into which you can plant a tree. Personally, I want a Tibetan sky burial while My Bloody Valentine’s To Here Knows When blasts from speakers all around.
Artist David Shrigley’s animated music video for Blur is so simple, so sweet, so perfect. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it, yet it still makes me cry every time.
Forget about the giant Nazca lines that can only be seen from space (ooohhh, spooky), this effort from Argentine farmer Pedro Martin Ureta to create a guitar from 7,000 cypress and eucalyptus trees is even more mind-bending. Read more
Good Magazine is all about ideas, connecting people and claiming back the media airwaves that have evaporated our creativity and momentum to see change made on our own terms. Read more
There’s some nice, doom-tinged psych rock coming out of Holtzclaw, Virginia in the form of Pontiak, a lumbering, feverish, blues-heavy trio that sounds like a hungover morning after a drunken party around a bonfire in the woods.
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Joy Kampia is the creator of the Hamburger dress, made from assorted fibers and nylon, and crocheted and sewn. The American artist is also the creative force behind the Sundae dress, and the Donuts necklace, among other foodie crochet projects. Read more
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Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
The return of the Brionvega rr226
Italian brand Brionvega has resurrected the classy Radiofonografio piece first created in 1965. The updated version is just like the original turntable/radio unit, but also has a CD/DVD player.
Here are a couple awesome pieces by Matt Leines that were recently on display in the Doubting Thomases exhibit at Nudashank gallery in Baltimore. Gives me ideas for Halloween. Read more
How ’bout this Jose Manuel Hortelano-Pi guy, huh? Quite the illustrator, yessiree Bob. From Spain, too. Spain is great! Read more
Cookie Boy’s creative cookie designs
I don’t eat cookies, so good thing Cookie Boy’s cookies are little pieces of art too pretty and cute to eat. Read more
Inside this sea urchin shell is an organic perfume made from grapefruit and basil essential oils. This bottle, designed by Stephanie Simek, is refillable and is packaged in a wooden box decorated with a satin photograph and padded with slices of exfoliating loofah sea sponges. The Honeymoon-themed fragrance is all natural: made from plant-based oils and contains no alcohol or chemicals. We like. Read more
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