Monthly Archives: February 2012

I’m almost ready to run full speed to the month of April so I can see a little bit of sun; aren’t you? This mod patio furniture by Thai design studio Deesawat makes me think of the brighter warmer days to come. Rightfully named the Bottle line patio furniture for its bottle shaped silhouette, the unusual furniture is crafted from wood and tapers at the top. Decorated with vibrant throw pillows, this furniture is sure to liven up any backyard Spring party!

Take a peek at other furniture by Deesawat here!

Kumi Yamashita is an incredibly talented artist most known for her ability to create figurative shadows through the meticulous placement of common objects, often in an array of shapes, and a strong source of light. Having received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Glasgow School of Art, a highly recognized art school located in Scotland, Yamashita has developed a passion for taking ordinary objects, ranging from alphabets to building blocks and transforming them into these arresting yet elusive images that are completely unexpected.  Also featured below are a few of her large scale portraits that were created and given depth and dimension by intermingling strands of thread. Pretty amazing you must agree!

The country of Sweden offers plenty of heavily wooded vacation spots for the outdoors-y tourists, but no place compares to the Treehotel. Located in the sparsely populated village of Harads, Sweden, five uniquely designed “tree rooms”, or tree houses, offer guests a chance to lodge in luxury amongst the trees.

Leading Scandinavian architects including  Martin Videgard, Bolle Tham and Mårten & Gustav Cyrén, each designed a tree room within the hotel which opened in July 2010. Owners Britta and Kent Lindvall aim to greatly reduce any ecological footprints and expect to build a total of 24 tree-rooms by the end of this year.  Boasting an amazing view of the surrounding environment, each room is located four to six meters in the trees.

“The Mirrorcube includes a queen size bed designed by Martin Vinegard and Bolle Tham and blends into the forest surroundings due to the mirrored walls, which reflect the surroundings. Guests can enter the room through the 12-meter long bridge. The Cabin designed by Marten and Gustav Cyren features a double bed that accommodates up to two people with a terrace that overlooks the Lule river valley. The Bird’s nest room is a four-bed room with the look of a real bird nest. Designed by Inredningsgruppen, the room offers the opportunity for guests to experience life as bird surrounded by the trees. Once the Bird’s nest was completed, the idea to create a room that is “out of place”, was born. Thus Inredningsgruppen designed the UFO, a room casted in durable composite materials which is also the biggest room that the Treehotel has. Finally, The Blue Cone has the distinct character of a traditional wooden house painted in red and accommodates up to four people.”

via Yatzer.com

I love the idea of these stylized creative kids balloon lamps designed by Spanish decorative lighting manufacturer Estiluz. With an air of playfulness and whimsy, the lights give off the illusion of drifting in space making a home on your wall and ceiling. Used not only as a balloon tie, the long red cable attached to their base also serves as a lighting switch. How fun! I would love a set in my own room.

As a collector of lamps, I found this two dimensional, functioning light fixture very intriguing! West African product and light designer Giles Godwin-Brown successfully crafted the Nepa Lamp, which seems to be a simple silhouette of a 6 foot tall lamp. Upon closer inspection, though, the birch plywood light fixture is a fully functional, LED powered work of genius capable of pivoting away from the wall.

Paired with organic material and LED technology, Godwin-Brown’s second lamp design is called Candor. When mounted on a wall, the light produces a halo-effect. Candor would emit the perfect soft glow to light a hallway at night.

(via design-milk)

What can you create with a pile of boxes? Stepping outside of the ordinary, this isn’t your typical box fort. Take a look at this cleverly constructed temporary bar made out of, you guessed it, storage boxes! As participants in the Universidade do Porto  in Portugal’s design competition working on a minimal budget, two designers  Diogo Aguiar and Teresa Otto came up with this rather innovative idea of using IKEA storage boxes to build a modular cube that could be manipulated to house a bar. Using 420 boxes framed in the interior with LED lights that change depending on the tempo of the music being played, they managed to completely transform the pieces, blending them so well into the design that they come off as a newfangled modern facade. It’s an ever changing visually intriguing display of light by night and a simple soft cloud of white by day. So what do you think? From the looks of it could you be persuaded to buy a drink?

On February 5, Target® brought yet another amazing designer pop up shop to stores and online. This time, the shop features fun, flirty apparel and accessories by world renowned designer Jason Wu. The Taiwan-born designer’s collections are always youthful, sophisticated and extremely detailed. He has dressed the cream of the crop including Michelle Obama and Natalie Portman. As an up and coming icon, Jason Wu combines classic styles with an extremely feminine flare that will leave you wanting to run through a field of tulips. Check out more of Wu’s collections on his website. I’m sure all of these cute designs are flying off the shelves!

Okay, the images below aren’t in the Target collection, but I had to give you all a sneak peek of Jason Wu’s Spring 2012 collection. I’m in love.

I have fallen in love with the works of Agnes Cecile, a painter who has created an array of portraits that are filled with energy and life and yet seemingly carry with them somewhat of a serious undertone. Her creative use of color and her method of dripping are fused together to create these beautifully chaotic blends of paint that somehow merge to form the visually stunning works of art you now see.