
Hello Kitty Solar Charger
Man, going green is so hip these days, even Hello Kitty is getting in on the action. This is among the first character-branded solar chargers, which suggests that marketers are expecting sales of these sorts of devices to take off in the next few years.
Tagged: Japan, Japanese design
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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.
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’. Read more
Sitting on a grass lawn may be pleasant, but it isn’t always elegant when you’re wearing nice clothes or you have back problems. The people at Japanese design firm Mindscape have taken the Chia Pet model and applied it to some pretty rad lawn furniture. Now you can have the best of both worlds — the soothing, chlorophyll-filled softness of grass and the ergonomic comfort of well-designed seats.
Also by GERRY MAK

Luke Butler’s Enterprise series
My roommate is on a big Star Trek kick, re-watching the entire original series. I forgot how amazing and progressive and ahead-of-its-time it was. Actually, Star Trek: the Next Generation is also just as good. Hopefully Luke Butler will paint images from that series next or superimpose Captain Picard’s head on a nude body of Adonis. Read more
Tom Fun Orchestra’s Bottom of the River
This video for Nova Scotian gypsy folk-punk ensemble Tom Fun Orchestra is so effectively simple, matching the imagery to the song perfectly.

Cheeming Boey’s coffee cup art
California-based artist Cheeming Boey makes super-wowza drawings on styrofoam coffee cups. He also keeps a web comic documenting his daily life that is at times hilarious at others rather touching. He reminds me of my friend Jon from high school. Read more
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Infinite Comic takes random Flickr images and pairs them with random Twitter tweets to create a comic. Users can type in search terms to look for related images and tweets for a more custom comic, but the results are still absurd and amusingly non-sensical.
Dubbed as a ‘lifestyle project’ drawing influences from Californian street culture, the store recently opened by LA-based The Hundreds in San Francisco has, hands down, the coolest fit-out I’ve ever seen. Read more
These vegan designer bags from Matt & Nat are made out of anywhere between 15 and 55 recycled plastic bottles. It also uses no leather, which is a big plus given that according to the UN, raising cattle generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.
So my protegee is in full training for the annual International Whistling Championships which take place in North Carolina each year and I’m reasonably happy with his progress, though he did struggle a little the other day when I had him doing pushups whilst belting out the distinctive chorus hook to Norwegian Wood. Read more
Typography for a good cause? Designers can help make the world a better place by just purchasing one of these strictly limited posters. Animalphabet is a typographic project and a collaboration between an impressive list of 26 artists, including the mighty Geoff Mcfetridge. Read more
The philosophy of a beginning is to me, a wonderful concept. I really enjoy flicking through the back catalogues of a musician and discovering their origin, then tracing their musical journey to the present. So for American-born, Paris-based sister duo CocoRosie, who released their third album The Adventure of Ghosthouse and Stillborn to much acclaim, making the trip to their beginnings is more than worth the journey: their debut album, Le Maison de Mon Reve (released back in 2004) was a gentle stroll through their pop and classical influences, which melt together seamlessly into a backdrop for their unique and enchanting voices.
I’m kinda obsessed with this track by Kansas City hipsters, Republic Tigers. Maybe it’s the Phil Spector-ish wall of sound harmonies or perhaps it’s the thumping bass riff, which drives the ear worm melody. Whatever. In these times of throwaway pop, it’s the well crafted and subtely produced songs that are truly memorable, and these guys have it in spades, as reflected right across their brilliant debut album, Keep Color.
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Scanners’ new single Salvation
I love this track by London based rock group, Scanners, which is off their latest album, Submarine. Having toured with acts such as The Horrors, The Wedding Present, The Charlatans, Electric Six, and Juliette & The Licks, Scanners could well blow up in 2010. Figuratively speaking, not literally. No, that wouldn’t be fun.

T-post: the world’s first wearable magazine
So here’s the scoop. Every six weeks, T-post subscribers get a new t shirt issue in the mail, with a news story on the inside and an artist interpretation of that story on the front. Yes, we agree. It’s clever, clever. Read more

Alex Passapera’s dizzying pen and ink drawings are cascades of images melting into one another, often looking like contorting, mutating creatures spewing blood-like ink splatters. Read more

Karen Caldicott’s clay head models
British born, New York-based model maker Karen Caldicott has been making clay heads for all major US publications over the last decade. Read more

Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Made from 100 percent organic cotton, pesticide free, and eco-friendly, this super soft tee featuring a unique, bold design celebrates a sinister world of kaleidoscopic colours and ripples of psychedelia, of serenading Queens, of dancing flamingos, of unimaginable euphoria. It’s all the work of Sydney label, Das Monk and it’s available through the Lost At E Minor online store for just US$40. Now, there’s one hell of a Christmas present, even if we do say so ourselves Read more
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