one part truth, two parts mixer

Cardboard dreams

Just came across this amazing cardboard 'city' by Ana Serrano. Worth checking out her site to look at the detail pictures. Reminded me of some show from my youth with royalty and a presenter with the Queen's English (can't remember for the life of me what it was called).



Thanks Aromy for the link

Popeye

Finally made it to the Jeff Koons exhibition at the Serpentine today. As usual, it took me until the last day to see it. A lot is said about the artistic merit, or lack of, of Jeff Koons, but I find his work makes me really happy. That's pretty special. For anyone that missed it, I leave you with some monkeys:

Photo courtesy of everydaylife.style (blog here)

Snippets of magic

Just spent a couple of minutes looking through the FromKeetra site. I definitely recommend it. A couple of highlights:

Little public plaques designed to instil 'wonder in the daily routine'. I love stuff like this:

Invites of the type that I hope to receive or send some day in my life:
 

 

 

A message that I would paint on my fridge if it wasn't covered with magnets, photos and coupons:

via Sarah

Yawn-mobbing

Loving these photos by Peter Funch, thought I'd share.





Spotted by Aromy via FormFiftyFive

Tilty

Just begging to be used commercially. Copyc*nts, be alert.


By Romain Laurent
via today and tomorrow

Design notes

Went to a LS:N Global network evening last week, where they - ahem - considered 'how and why superlative design will be come the key way to target clients and customers in a post-recessionary market'. I'm not sure that this question was answered, but the evening was really stimulating nonetheless. A couple of bits that I'd never really thought about before:

Paul Austin from Made Thought spoke about treating light as a graphical tool when designing shop interiors. I thought that was really well articulated, and after spending a year under the strip lighting of the Adidas Originals store in Covent Garden, I realise how important it is that someone thinks like this.

I always think of design as something that should be functional, but Libby Sellers believed that 'the idea of functionality [had] changed in the 21st century to respond to emotional need'. It's quite mad to get your head around the idea that creating things that don't excel in a function, but a nice validation for the work coming out of design (and justification for the price tags?).

Lastly Sam Hecht , speaking about making things that last, used the term 'commitment-phobia' to describe the culture for disposable goods. He said something like, 'no form of ownership means no form of responsibility'. I like the idea of responsibility for items, which ties into the stuff about patina that Russell Davies wrote about quite eloquently.

Playing to win

Loving this typography by Simon Memel:

Pretty portals part deux

Those clever people at SET Japan are at it again with another lovely QR code, this time for Marc Jacobs. Who says function and style have to be exclusive?
 
via Trends in Japan

Through the cut looking glass

Wondering whether Gordon Magnin has ever been hired by a fashion house to do a campaign? A lot of his work uses fashion imagery, but I reckon his style would make for an amazing campaign.

via today and tomorrow

Club tropicana

Love these collages by Seiko Kato. Who knew collage could be so sexy? Also check out her macabre fabrics and 3D montage.

via It's Nice That