The 99% Conference will be in full swing this spring in NYC. The list of speakers attending this year is impressive(Sagmeister, Maeda, and the like). The event is focused on bringing ideas to life—transforming a vision into a reality. For tickets go here.
Sadly, as of this month Ikea has discontinued the Fira, a handy little set of wooden box drawers that everyone loved customizing. I’ve got four of them myself, and while they were a pain to assemble–you’ll got to nail each individual box together with nails that appear to have been made by nanotechnology–it is an infinitely useful sorting device.
Perhaps because it was such a basic, plain piece of kit, craftspeople, artists and designers would mod these things like crazy, as the internet will attest. Here are a few of our favorite Fira mods:
Photobucket user ImAScrapbookNut
To see even more, check out ikeahacker and this Flickr group.
Japanese architects Suppose Design Office have completed a boutique made of cardboard tubes in a Hiroshima shopping centre. (more…)
by Tisha Leung
With techniques firmly rooted in American quilting, Denyse Schmidt‘s modern interpretations reference 19th century whole-cloth quilts and cold-weather petticoats for a collection of intriguing one-off quilts on display at Ralph Pucci International.
Exhibiting five designs, the inspiration for her series “Hope as the Anchor of the Soul, Mount Lebanon Series Quilts #1-5” comes from a 2007 visit to Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in upstate New York. Schmidt draws her lines by eye and collaborates on the stitching with women of an Amish community in Minnesota. Each quilt hand-stitched, the thread is placed closely together, binding the top and bottom fabric with the loose fill sandwiched in between, resulting in a delicate yet wobby striation resembling an enlarged fingerprint.
Schmidt finds inspiration in the raw beauty of empty, decaying interiors awaiting restoration. Knocked out doorjambs, random linear gashes in walls exposing ribbons of lath and cream-on-cream layers of patches in the plaster visually translate the minimal piecing design of her new collection.
Her palette for these quilts emphasizes a sense of faded beauty and things fallen out of use. A base of parchment predominates, trimmed with accents of somber colored fabrics with rich texture, such as lace with a metallic thread running through it or embroidered linen.
As a professional seamstress, Schmidt has worked on everything from tutus and bishop’s mitres to fine clothing. The quilts will be on exhibit for approximately six months, and can be ordered through Ralph Pucci for $10,000 each.
Voici le projet Noteput conçu par Jürgen Graef et Jonas Heuer : une table de musique interactive avec des notes tangibles. Un concept combinant les 3 sens (l’ouïe, la vue et le toucher) permettant l’apprentissage du solfège et de la musique classique de manière pédagogique.
 | Michael Angel has made a name for himself with his experimental use of fabrics and abstract digital prints. His Fall 2010 show at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week did not disappoint! Models paraded down the runway in ultra-feminine looks with peplum jackets, skin tight dresses and long knotted belts on top of long coats. There was a mix of fabrics and textures such as neoprene-like jackets, short hair fur coats and skirts, elbow length leather gloves, and a unique laminated lace which created a peekaboo effect. My favorite looks were the skin tight dresses with laser cut applique patterns applied on top with a contrasting color. Beauty looks to experiment with are swept updos (ala Tippi Hedren in Hitchcock’s “The Birds”) with untamed flyaway hair. (That means we can put away the gel and hairspray!) Soft smokey eyes and nude lips completed the look. Celebs: Kelly Osbourne, Kemp Muhl, Sean Lennon, Caridee English Photo Credit: Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week |
An interesting DIY copyright battle has been going on since late last week between the stationary firm Paperchase and an artist named Hidden Eloise. The latter claims the former blatantly copied one of her illustrations she’d been selling on Etsy. Paperchase responded by essentially saying, “Nope, we bought our design from a reputable source and we trust they didn’t steal it.” Not being able to spend the money on legal help, Eloise took to Twitter last week, which set off an incredible firestorm against the company, forcing it to scramble to respond. They’ve replied with both a statement, once again reaffirming that there was no theft involved, as well as a Twitter account to help control the damage. And so that’s where things are at for the moment. Personally speaking, we have to say that the two images are remarkably similar, and so we understand the outrage. If the story continues to get attention and fester, we think this will probably pan out with a Shepard Fairey-like confession, but there’s also always a very slight chance that this was all just a crazy coincidence. It’s a big internet after all and, mathematically, things like this are bound to happen. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out.
Update: Hidden Eloise wrote in to let us know that the designer Paperchase had originally gotten the work from has come forward and admitted the theft.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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