In Hong Kong, because of the space, apartments are small and expensive. Gary Chang, an architect, decided to design a 344 square foot apartment to be able to change into 24 different designs, all by just sliding panels and walls. He calls his new living design the “Domestic Transformer.” There’s really now better way to explain this then to watch the video…it’s pretty incredible. I wish more people and cultures (I’m looking at you America) were this efficient.
For the most part, I don’t think graffiti is beautiful. It seems like the kind of thing people create when their inner artist has been kidnapped and terrorized by their inner hoodlum. When it covers a whole wall, the effect reminds me of an overstuffed closet and makes me want to close the door. Like this …
New York graffiti
But then there’s the occasional work that transcends into public work of art. I stumbled across these amazing images in Flickr that made me say, “Wow.”
From a street Duesseldorf/Germany famous for its graffiti.
On a Wall in New York's West Village (near the Meatpacking District)
A work from the world-famous Blu Graffiti artist, on a wall in Berlin
I’ll say it again. Wow.
If you had to guess which bike part you could live without, would the fork even make it on the list? The fork connects the handlebars to the front tire and that’s how, since the invention of the bike, you steer the thing.
But here’s an amazing forkless bike design by Olli Erkkila that comes by way of Toxel.com. It was created as a graduation project for the Institute of Design in Lahti, Finland.
Forkless bike
Though I’m not eager to take a bike like this on the mountain biking trails of my home base, Colorado (that’s an instant injury for sure), I love the way it reminds me to rethink how I look at the world. Whatever I think can’t be changed, altered, or redesigned simply needs to be looked at in a new way.
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What’s more enviro-friendly than a recycle bin made from recycled paper that you can recycle? Not much. Designers Riccardo Nannini, Domenico Orefice and Emanuele Pizzolorusso have created this one-time use waste paper basket that looks an awful lot like a muffin cup. Either way, it’s thoughtful and unique and, I want one.
Business cards can be about as boring as a long distance drive with no music, or, they can be creative and reinforce the brand in ways that make you remember exactly who handed you the card, and call on them when you need their services. Here’s one for a massage therapist that does just that.
I think we’ve all tried sinking a balled-up piece of notebook paper into a trashcan at some point in our lives. It just would have been cooler if you did it with the paper from this notebook. A finalist at the European Design Awards, this awesome pad was done by Trapped in Suburbia to encourage clients to have fun at work.
Ever offer to plate some food for a friend and ask them how hungry they are only to get a mixed response or not know exactly how much “very hungry” translates to in hamburger helper? Me neither. But if I did, I can see how this bowl would be uber-helpful.
American designer Andrew Reeves, with Shane Blomberg and John Healy have developed a clip that, when attached to a soda bottle, gives the drinker the appearance of a mustachioed genius. Kind of like this pencil, these napkins, and the mustache stamp. Let’s just say that if you have one of these, you’ll probably get laid… a lot!
