Yoskay Yamamoto

I spent quite a bit of time browsing through Yoskay Yamamoto's portfolio yesterday, and am quite taken with his artwork, particularly his sculptures, many of which he creates from a combination of hand carved bass wood and mixed media components. I especially like that all of his many figures - regardless of whether they're meant to evoke people, animals, cartoon characters, or even moons and planets - all seem so expressive. They're objects with narratives, regardless of whether they've been placed in a specific environment or not, as with his equally fantastic installation work, or even his paintings; it's no surprise to me that he began his career as an illustrator. As Yamamoto's bio explains:

Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at the age of 15. A self-trained illustrator, Yamamoto's artistic tastes expanded as he fell in love with the urban culture of the West coast. Yamamoto discovered a way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work. Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his new Western home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage with urban pop art.

See more on his website.


(Via The Fox Is Black)

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{the up in the clouds edition}

A silver cloud necklace, from The Angry Weather.

One of Gosh and Golly's hot air balloon and cloud mobiles.

A wooden cloud brooch, from Joanna Rutter.

One of Stepanka's porcelain wall clouds.

And a cloud with chubby cheeks ceramic tile, by Clay Opera.

TRONKS&Co.

There was a period there when I was seriously searching for a jewelry box, and nothing was quite fitting the bill. I ended up finding the lovely one that I call my own today in Costa Rica about a year ago, but were I still looking today, the incredible handcrafted beauties coming out of Barcelona-based TRONKS&Co. would be at the top of my list.

Created from either solid walnut or maple, with some pieces finished in riveted leather and a perfect little mirror, TRONKS&Co.'s pieces are clearly made to last, and to be as special as the jewelry that goes into them. See more, and purchase, on their website.


(Via Design Milk)

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{the baby edition: rainbows}

 

Grimm's Rainbow Boat Grasping Toy, available at Caribou Baby.

Wooden Baby Maracas, from Brimful.

An Arnold Circus Stool, from More & Co.

 A xylophone, from the Cooper-Hewitt Shop.

And a rainbow blanket, from Shak-Shuka.

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{the tabletop edition: wooden cutting boards}

 A Culver Stovetop Cutting Board, from Gowanus Furniture. 

Fine Little Day's Birch Pot Mat.

A Black Walnut Trencher Board, from Kaufmann Mercantile. 

One of Herriott Grace's breakfast boards.

And an engraved wood cutting board, from AHeirloom.

Clive Roddy

Aren't these just fantastic? Clive Roddy creates clever, adorable stacking rings of miniature houses, mountains and trees.

Each set is laser-cut out of birth plywood and hand-painted, and the different sizes and positions give the illusion of depth. Find them all in Clive's shop.


(Via Patrick)

nendo - interlocking chopsticks

Chopsticks are one of those utensils that have pretty much been figured out. There are some truly beautiful designs out there, but most focus on quality of materials rather than any sort of true innovation. That is, until Nendo created not one, but two unique options.

Both designs are interlocking in nature, but come at the problem from two very different angles. The first is called Rassen (above) and is a round chopstick created from a single piece of milled wood. This twisty utensil comes as a single unit that can be separated into two for eating, and then rejoined when not in use. The second is called Kamiai (below) and it's also interlocking, but in quite a different way that takes advantage of its square shape. Each piece has a magnet embedded into the wide end, which allows the two pieces to snap together into one form, but they're placed toward the outside of each chopstick, so that they don't accidentally do so when they're actually being used to eat.

Both designs are so different, yet incredibly elegant in their on way. Check out more fabulous design work on Nendo's website.


(Via The Fox Is Black)

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{the toy edition: cars}

 A car made from a recycled skateboard, from Board Games.

A Summer Afternoon's wooden toy car.

Fidoodle's DIY car kit.

A large racing car, from Noli Noli.

And Seven Acre Toys' wee racers.

Mirim Seo - chomp

Chomp is a brilliant project by Korean designer Mirim Seo that's designed to teach kids about different food chains.

Chomp puzzle books introduce five different ecosystems and their food chains: forest, ocean, arctic, jungle, and desert. Each food chain includes producers, consumers and decomposers, with the completed puzzle showing the role of each of its members through a visual representation of the eating process. While it's currently only a prototype, Chomp is one of those great products that I really hope ends up in production. You can read more about it on Seo's website.


(Via Cool Hunting)

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{the bicycle edition: bike hooks/racks}

The bike rack bird house from DIMINI.

DoeflerDesigns' wall mounted tube bike rack.

The Iceberg bike hanger, from woodstick.

Fluoshop's minimal wooden bike hook.

And the SLÎT foldaway bike hanger, from Mikili.