This one can't go without sharing before I head out on holiday. Came across another awesome and innovative concept coming out of Oz. A design firm in Melbourne, Australia, have designed a Perforated House!
"The use of operable walls, doors, curtains and glass walls enables the occupants to change the experience and environment. This architectural manipulation of space blurred the boundaries between inside and outside, the public and private realm. The manipulated spaces overlapped and borrowed the amenity and context of it’s surrounding environment." -- KUD
I'm aways looking around to discover talented work being done inside my favorite mediums because it's the best way to inspire my mind and motivate me to work. I found some new silkscreen styles that looked good to share due of their use of contrasting color. Also found a couple of interesting ways to use script which, by the way, look almost exactly like something I did way back in design school years ago. I'll see if I still have that around so I can scan it and show it to you. Hoping I do.
Now the script. I keep looking at this and wonder if nothing is really that new when it comes to conceptualization -- that it's just been recreated, recycled, reconstructed, redesigned by someone else's different perspectival mind. So many decades of creative thinking going around the world and back. Our unconscious mind sees many things, who's to know how it collects it all? Just uncanny that this first and second poster below are not only doing that, but they also came out of Australia. Kind of interesting to me.
To letterpress -- let me tell you, it is every designer's dream. Nothing stands out more than the gorgeous texture and delicate look of letterpress printing. This is a new coffee that opted for this treatment on their new packaging. How classy was that?! Nicely designed... I just want to pick it up and hug those beans!
I thought this would be fun to share because--for those not in the know--it's exactly how it's done. It's a little movie about brand and design development for a chocolate company called TCHO.
What I like about it is how they put the steps together as if it were as easy as saying the alphabet. Well done (!) for it takes MONTHS to do what they visually share in this quick 3-minute vid. WISH it was so fast and simple!
These clever canucks came up with a good idea which I thought I'd share--unfortunately they are only prototypes at the moment. Actually, they do have one which was produced and is now selling on MoMA, but it's not as grand as these two down below (why they didn't get chosen just baffles me). Anyway, how ingenious to take advantage of the light switch space, no?! Simply up my alley.
Etsy is really an extraordinary online marketplace. There are so many thousands upon thousands of talented people out there sharing art. You can spend weeks on that site always discovering something new by the hour.
I came across this interesting photographer who experiments with different styles -- thus creating very whimsical, ethereal and kind of gritty photos. They are remarkable. You sort of get lost in them making up your own fairytale to the story she's showing you. Check out her shop irenesuchocki next time you visit Etsy! She also has a blog which showcases her gorgeous work if you click here.
You've got to love it. Evian selecting high-end fashion designers to bring fun design to life with their famously clear bottles. It's a great age to live in with everyone being so design-forward these days.
From top down are: Christian Lacroix, Paul Smith and Jean Paul Gaultier.
I found this to be an interesting idea! Taking chalk paint and painting just the panel on a door. How clever and quaint! Of course, I believe this works best if you have a pantry door (which I don't have), but I want to attempt it anyway. I love the idea of this instead of having those 'dry erase' or 'cork' boards hanging on the wall.
Now this type of newspaper I have no problem taking the time to read. Great execution for a conceptual label (wonderfully thought up by an Australian firm over in Surry Hills, NSW called The Creative Method). This fun packaging has already won an award and I can't wait to find it and try it.
August 31, 2009
Some great wine labels I ran across. Designed for the Michael Austin Winery from a design firm over in San Fran called Hatch. They have that silkscreened look I so cherish. I love them! I think they're fun... but, I must confess, I probably would have passed this by in the wine section for myself and summed it up to be 'run-of-the-mill' (because I tend to warm up to the more traditional feel when I purchase wine as opposed to the 'much-too-trendy'), however after discovering it's *story online ~ I do admire them pushing the envelope a little and might try it.
*Story meaning that it was started by two longtime friends, whose names are ‘Michael’ and ‘Austin.’
Was drooling over some silkscreen art over at flickr for inspiration and discovered this couple over in France that does some serious gorgeous work. I felt compelled to share it along with you. Went to check out their website and -- Wow! It's definitely a distinct style, but if you're into this kind of dreamy look -- which I love -- then you'll really drown in some serious poetry that they make (look at the posters and stickers if you can = lush, lush, lush). Anyway, I am more motivated than ever to get my Gocco and start playing myself! Who can blame me, right?
I'm hardly a cook (because if you knew of my rinky-dink Boston apartment kitchen, then you would know why), however I am making the BEST zucchini pasta with my brand new toy: the World Cuisine Vegetable Slicer (formally known as the Spirooli). For under 200 calories, you get a very filling dish!
Before: 65 cals worth of zucchini...
After: with sauce and parmesan cheese = 170 calories!
So many talented designers turning out brilliant work. Came across these posters via Finch (the same paper I selected for my CSF materials). I would LOVE to design poster-size projects with this organic, silkscreen look and feel... one day I'll get a turn. Meanwhile, I'm definitely applying this technique to my shirts.
If you're wondering, berty is just a byname and this place is where I share what's buzzing with me.
I'm a creative American-Australian zealot originally from Newport Beach, moved to Boston for 14 years but now am starting fresh again in Austin. You can see some of my past projects at bertydesign (shamefully, it needs a heavy haul of recent work and I'm getting to it!).
I hope you'll discover something new here... that's the mission anyway. Cheers!
