CHEW ON THIS [stella mccartney sign*lite brite neon] it’s friday. i’m exhausted. too much sickness in one week. but, i do love these guys. a lot. they’re gonna be big. BIG. take my word for it. go check out the crew at lite brite. they’re the best. speaking of the best…i’m lucky enough to be able to celebrate a special anniversary with a special someone this weekend. hope all your weekends are filled with as much happiness as mine will be….see you monday! (i promise not to be so sick and slow to post, really…)

CUTE FEST [FUNkey*mixko design] i know this isn’t brand new, but who cares? this picture is soooo damn cute i have to post it. plus, it makes me think of my cat. cat’s are the greatest. and so are little stools like look like computer keys.

STRIPEY STRIPE STRIPE [strata*rushton brothers] as the cold medicine kicks in my writing becomes more and more incoherent. please hang in there with me…i have more stuff to show! this strata piece is by ed carpenter of rushton bros. i found it on the timeframe website. thanks mocoloco for pointing out their work…very cool

WHAT’S THAT? [curious boxes*ed carpenter and sam johnson of rushton bros.] also from timeframe. i like the pattern on the side. apparently takes inspiration from victorian interest in curioisity boxes. need more research on that….

PEEL BACK DESIGN [discovery*richard shed and alex taylor or hf noakes and sons] my original find from mocoloco. i love this. so simple and so cool

australian design team satelight caught my eye while i was browsing through modernwhite’s website. their felt bracelets were painfully cool and i thought i’d see what else they were up to. turns out they’re up to a TON of cool stuff…

from belt bracelets and lighting to sound proof panels and topographic dining ware, satelight has got some phenomenal products that are dying to be a hit in our half of the world. their jewelry happens to be my favorite (i fell in love with the felt bracelets first, remember?): their typo and tag bracelets are really, really cool. take a look for yourself…it’s definitely worth the trip to their site. enjoy!

FLY FELT [felt bracelets*satelight] what originally pulled me in. i looove these bracelets….wonder if they’re treated to protect against water because doesn’t felt smell bad when it’s wet?

SOUNDS GOOD [acouStick tiles*satelight] cool designs to keep cool places quiet…see additional picture above…

YOU’RE IT [tag jewelry*satelight] sex and the city style…

DONOR STYLE [type o bracelets*satelight] cool clear bracelets…

besides the fact that charlie lazor is a dreamy furniture god (and makes a mean flat pak house), blu dot has an endless amount of great things going for them (aside from now being repped by the tiny firm i work for…hooray!). based in minneapolis and founded in 1996 after charlie, john christakos and maurice blanks all met at williams college, blu dot had its humble beginnings as a way for the three friends to have cool furniture at an affordable price…that they they actually liked. the rest is history.

creativity, functionality and affordability are the key qualities of blu dot’s designs: each piece manages to make “design” more approachable and, not to mention, easier on your wallet. with pieces like the sturdy but elegant chicago shelving unit (love it) and the cleverly named felt up chair (see previous posting…), blu dot adds a bit of humor to the contemporary market while still holding their values of good design and quality construction dear.

their newest pieces include a fantastic set of tables called barbarella. one of their trademark “flat pak” designs (meaning the piece arrives as one sheet of perforated steel that can be folded and bent into place), barbarella’s form is its function. meaning that its hollow, folded form naturally creates extra storage space and hip little nooks for hiding clutter and all your favorite magazines. in the vein of creative storage, free play is a system designed by blu dot that is comprised of a do-it-yourself design kit inluding the shelves and units that can be folded into any number of shapes to create a unique one-of-a-kind shelf. so, much like my bouroullec boys, the lads at blu dot have shared some of the creative process with us, the humble consumer.

i can’t get enough of these guys, so if you’re like me, you’ll wanna check out their groovy website…and while you’re at it, cruise on by charlie’s flat pak house site and see what all the buzz is about.

DREAMY MR. LAZOR [free play shelving*blu dot] ahh…..mr. lazor. he could show me how to put together shelving any day…

WINDY CITY [chicago wall unit*blu dot] the boys from minnesota make shelving cool…

QUEEN OF TABLES [barbarella*blu dot] i am table, hear me roar….

SMART KID FURNITURE [furniture for MIT dorms*blu dot] even geniuses need a place to crash. but god those dorms look depressing…ugh

NO, NOT LEWINSKI [lighting*monacca] id magazine has a great little section of its site called “new and notable” that keeps track of designs and designers on the horizon. i caught wind of monacca there (via the fantastic ms. lasky)- it’s a line of cedar-laminated products from ecoasu umajimura, there and have been intrigued ever since. comprised of villagers from umajimura, japan, ecoasu was created to reinvigorate national interest in native cedar. i was unable to find much more information (and the email from the head designer was a bit broken bc of language issues), so if you can read japanese and can tell me more from the website, pleeease, let me know! the lighting (above)and the ridiculously cool briefcase are my favorites (such a natural, pleasing light yeah?). you can find more info at www.arenot.com.

MAD ABOUT MONACCA [cedar collection*monacca] the works…

ok well, not really, but lots of other things are and what better way to celebrate than mexico’s day of the dead! i’ve always been fascinated by this holiday and figured it would be high time to celebrate it, seeing as it’s almost halloween.

the new york times did a great piece on the food half of the celebration, which is a phenomenal celebration of life and those who are no longer with you. i, for one, feel that the colors and symbols that dominate the festival are both eery and wonderfully vibrant. these photographs i so shamelessly stole from the ny times give you a great idea of what i mean.

for more info (and postcards!) you can check out this site. happy day of the dead!

GRATEFUL DEAD [skull confections from mexico*nytimes] eery edibles…

SOUTH OF THE BORDER [day of the dead imagery*mexico] in a world full of streamlined bent ply and monochromatic neutrals..it’s nice to bring some color and vibrancy to the world…

spencer finch is cool. his work at the whitney biennial this year blew me away. i just wanted to put up a little something about his lighting pieces so people could check him out on their own, seeing as he’s a brooklyn-based artist…and you know my preoccupation with supporting local artists.

as i’ve started to pay more attention to lighting as art, i’ve become drawn to people who have explored the medium and pushed it in different directions. finch’s work at the biennial was a brilliant collection of bulbs and wires- reminiscent of maurer and calder’s earlier works (it also reminded me of the opening credits for “punch drunk love” designed by artist jeremy blake). his experimentation with neon deserves some attention too- the way he works with color and light to create moods and illicit emotions is phenomenal. this is seen most precisely in his piece “paris/texas”, in which he uses colored panels to filter light so that the light in texas (where the installation took place) resembles exactly the light in paris on a particular night in 2003.

i need to delve deeper into spencer fitch’s work and background, but i’ve been sidelined by a nasty cold this week, so i’ll have to leave the additional research up to you guys…you can check out spencer’s site here or read up on his reviews and exhibitions here. enjoy!

BULB HEAVEN [whitney biennial piece*spencer finch] what first drew me in…so gorgeous

MOOD LIGHTING [moonlight*spencer finch] beautiful. just beautiful.

PLANETARY GRACE [mars black*spencer finch] a world of beautiful lights…

LIGHT GARAGE [paris/texas*spencer finch]