(fos)

It's hard not to love this cheery installation for the vegan restaurant Rayen, in Madrid, by the multidisciplinary design team (fos).

(fos) - that's them, above - means light in Greek and melted in Catalan, both ideas of which were perfectly utilized in this project:

The protected facade of the vegan restaurant Rayen at Lope de Vega street in Madrid has been illuminated for 4 days and nights by more than 250ml of yellow tape, painted décor items, pineapples and... a lamp. A visual game between perspective and colored volumes that gained the looks. 

(Via Miss Moss)

hands on search

What would it be like if you could add an extra sense to the way that you interact with the internet? What if that that sense was touch?

While Yahoo! Japan's "Hands On Search," which combines a search function with 3D printing technology, seems like a pretty cool idea, it's the way that they decided to introduce it that's really remarkable. Below, see magic happen when this machine shows up at a school for the visually impaired in Tokyo.


(Via Spoon & Tamago)

kono designs - urban farm

The Japanese recruitment firm Pasona has a very beautiful and quite unusual Tokyo headquarters. Urban Farm, by Kono Designs is a 9-story-high, 215,000 sq. ft. corporate office building with over 43,000 sq. ft. of green space, representing the largest and most direct farm-to-table building of its kind; 200 species of fruits, vegetables and rice are harvested, prepared and served in the building's cafeteria.

According to the designers:

Using both hydroponic and soil based farming, crops and office workers share a common space. For example, tomato vines are suspended above conference tables, lemon and passion fruit trees are used as partitions for meeting spaces, salad leaves are grown inside seminar rooms and bean sprouts are grown under benches. The main lobby also features a rice paddy and a broccoli field. These crops are equipped with HEFL, fluorescent and LED lamps and an automatic irrigation system. An intelligent climate control monitors humidity, temperature and breeze to balance human comfort during office hours and optimize crop growth during after hours. This maximizes crop yield and annual harvests. Seasonal flowers and orange trees are planted on the balconies between the double skinned facade, partially relying on natural exterior climate to showcase changing of leaves and colors to the exterior facade. All plants are maintained and harvested by Pasona employees with the help of an agricultural specialist.

Pasona Urban Farm is beyond aesthetic and visual improvement. It creates a unique workplace environment that promotes worker's productivity, mental health, and social interaction and engages the wider community of Tokyo by showcasing the benefits and technology of urban agriculture.

Don't you wish you worked here?

( Via Spoon & Tamago)

bicycle-powered tree house elevator

Ethan Schlussler built a tree house nearly 30 ft. up. Rather than climb a ladder all day long, he took the novel approach of designing a bicycle-powered elevator. It's not only clever, but it looks like a lot of fun as well.


(Via Colossal)

half cut tea - Nick Olson & Lilah Horwitz

You can't help but admire people who have the tenacity to dream up and then actually follow through on big projects. Case in point, when photographer Nick Olson & designer Lilah Horwitz had a discussion during their first date about how incredible it would be to live in a house where the facade was made entirely of windows, it wasn't long before the couple both quit their jobs and set out to make it happen. A few dozen windows and some series DIY construction work later, Nick and Lilah found themselves the proud owners of their dream cabin in West Virgina. Filmmakers Matt Glass and Jordan Wayne Long of Half Cut Tea met up with the couple to learn more about this project and the incredible makers behind it in the video below.


(Via Colossal)

yoy design studio

Although the Tokyo-based design studio YOY has only been around since 2011, founders Naoki Ono and Yuki Yamamoto clearly have something good going on. The above works are some examples of their fun takes on lighting, both of which illustrate what YOY is best at: combining the clever with the practical to create some really wonderful design solutions. The first, Peel, is a light that looks as if a corner of a wall were peeling to reveal light behind it, while Swing is a pendant light that give the illusion of motion. Then, there's Canvas, below, which really blew my mind.

That's right, Canvas is an actual usable piece of furniture with the appearance of a two-dimensional drawing. It can be used by leaning the piece against a wall, but can just as easily be hung as an artwork/storage solution. Brilliant, no? See more of YOY's fantastic designs on their website.

(Photos by Yasuko Furukawa)

woodstick - iceberg

Bicycles are great for city living, but pint-sized apartments can make storage a bit difficult. While there are plenty of good looking methods of hanging your bike on the wall, few are as easy on the eyes as Woodstick's Iceberg Wood Bike Hanger. Beauty may not come cheap, but with it's clean lines and quality construction, Iceberg is a truly functional design solution.

(Via The Design Ark)

Martha McQuade - prepositions

I've long been a fan of Minneapolis-based architect and designer Martha McQuade. Her Scarf Shop collection of hand-dyed scarves are favorites of mine (I own 3!), so I was pretty thrilled to see that she not only has a beautiful new website to showcase her work, but that she's just debuted a stunning new collection of made-to-order clothes as well.

The collection, called Prepositions, examines what happens when two or more different materials, colors, or textures are placed next to, on top of, above or below each other. Featuring Martha's incredible digitally printed textiles and hand knit and dyed fabrics, they're thoughtfully designed and produced statement pieces that I'd love to have as part of my wardrobe.

(Via sfgirlbybay)

more & co - go play

When creative people venture into retail, the results tend to be pretty great. Case in point is Portland, Maine-based More & Co.'s latest venture. Their rotating shop is currently set up around the theme GO PLAY, and is filled with bright colors and fun shapes for kids both young and old. If you're in the Portland area, you can check out their brick-and-mortar set-up. For the rest of us, the entire collection is available here.


(Via Unruly Things)

fredericks & mae

Fredericks & Mae has the most incredible range of art and design objects. They're things that I never knew I needed but which now seem a shame to live without, such as multicolored cat lures, stunning horse hair tassels, ceremonial floralia, and what is possibly the most beautiful bocce set ever made. Check them all out on Fredericks & Mae's website.

like knows like

I came across the Like Knows Like project through their latest short documentary about letterer Jessica Hische, someone whose work, and passion for it, I greatly admire. It wasn't long after checking out their website, however, that I found myself watching each and every one of their videos and wishing for more.




A project by documentary photographer Marije Kuiper and filmmaker Bas Berkhout, Like Knows Like is a showcase both the featured artist, all of whom are talented and inspiring in their own way, as well as the filmmakers themselves, who have done a beautiful job creating each short documentary.

The work the artists share on social media inspires us and makes us happy. But the digital world is often criticized as volatile and shallow. Sometimes, we miss the human touch. That’s why the idea was born to make documentaries about the people we admire. With our films and photos, we celebrate the bond between follower and artist. We meet our online loves offline. Through the documentary form, we gain deeper insight into the artist and satisfy our own curiosity.

See all of the Like Knows Like films and read more about the project on their website.

(Via BOOOOOOOM)

makoko floating school

Makoko Floating School is an incredibly ambitious, brilliant project from architecture, design and urbanism practice NLÉ. 

Based in water community of Makoko, in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, Makoko Floating School aims  to address the social and physical needs of a community facing the challenges of both climate change and an urbanising Africa. The resulting floating, model classroom - a three-story wooden structure built with locally sourced wood, electricity from solar panels, and a base made of 256 plastic drums - is designed to house approximately 100 students. Now nearing completion, NLÉ hopes to use the project as a starting point to generate a viable, ecological and alternative building system and urban culture for the teeming population of Africa’s coastal regions. Check out NLÉ's website for more information.

(Via The Design Ark)

a million times

A Million Times, a kinetic installation by Humans Since 1982, presented by Victor Hunt Designart Dealer for Design Days Dubai, is remarkably mesmerizing. Comprised of 288 single clocks designed to revolve together, the result is an incredible choreographed installation with the ability to display customizable texts, patterns, graphics, and of course, the time. And if I can watch the above video multiple times and still be fascinated, I can only imagine what standing in front of the work would actually be like.

(Via swissmiss)

Meg Callahan

Meg Callahan's portfolio is filled with the wonderful range of decorative art and design objects that you'd expect to see from a RISD graduate, but it's her quilts that really stand out in my mind.

Callahan's textiles strike the perfect balance between the modern and traditional, drawing not only on historic designs, geometric patterning and hand-stitching, but also embracing the contemporary with abstracted patterns and shapes, as well as newer methods of production such as digital printing and industrial machine quilting. You can see more of Callahan's work on her website, and purchase some of these beauties at Matter.

(Via Tomboy Style)