Repurpose, Redesign

Despite an entire Monday spent extolling the many virtues of cardboard furniture (although dingy brownness was not one of them), I am still in a recycling state of mind, possibly because all the trash floating down our street is making me sick. No more Church's Chicken cups, beer cans and gross dirty band aids in my yard, please! While I haven't found a use for old band aids yet (and I'm sure I never will), I have found a veritable cornucopia of cool items designed from repurposed materials.

Clockwise from top left: San Francisco Metro Map Bowl by Etsy seller picapicadesign, Recycled wool blanket purses by designer Tieneke Beunders at Ontwerpduo, Recycled aluminum pop top purse by Brazilian designers at Escama Studio, and Recycled packaging lights by Anke Weiss seen at Yanko Design.

I am obsessed with maps (look for a future post devoted solely to their geographical goodness), so I adore the bowls by Picapica, and all the purse are very cute, wearable, and environmentally friendly. Yay trashless yard! The lamp made from recycled packaging is also a nifty idea, and it just goes to show that with a simple light kit (sold at Hope Depot or Ikea), many objects can be reborn as lighted sculptures. Par example, regardez Francois Legault's amazing spoon chandeliers at Unik:

I'm relieved that he used spoons instead of forks. I am not sure how I would feel about a million pointed tines aiming at my eyes as I gazed up at their splendor.

Meanwhile, Tineke Beunders over at at Ontwerpduo is busy building more pieces out of materials that make you wonder why anyone ever discarded them in the first place.

The chair (which, in real life, I am quite sure is NOT as large as the cupboard), is strung like Danish rope cord but with old telephone wires. Being one of the landlineless legions, I had forgotten telephone wire even existed, but then I remembered waaay back to my awesome clear Swatch phone and its colorful guts. It's a very surprising use of materials, I think. And the cupboard made of old metal file boxes really belongs in my house. I want it and its filthy industrial patina so, so badly.

If you're looking for something a little more classic, something that screams less "Hey, I am recycled!" and more "Hey, I cost a sh*tload of money!" then look no further than the Phillipe Starck designed Kong chair, modeled after the ubiquitous Ghost chair, but this time cast and welded with 88% recycled aluminum:

I've got to say that those are some sexy chairs. Unlike the other pieces I featured today (all of which I am still in love with), the Starck chair bears no mark of its original incarnation as a thousand common cans. It must have cost a small fortune just to get the base materials into a finished state, so I'm sure the $2000 price tag is somewhat justified.

Maybe they'll get recycled one step further and show up on Craigslist. Knock a zero off and those babies are mine.

Double Dutch

Running a blog is funny business.  I've spent the last 30 20+ years practically peeing my pants over racy interiors and beautifully made furniture, I figured I would slap a bunch of pictures of well designed rooms up here and expect the whole world to swoon.  My taste is exceptional, right?  But whenever I go to put together a post I find something totally out of left field (thanks to this clunky interweb thing) and end up doing a post on the most unexpected thing ever.  I mean ever. I was all prepared to show you the latest in hot hot neon yellow home-goods (stay tuned for that tomorrow) until I saw Erin's post yesterday on the Gramercy Park Hotel. I just couldn't stop thinking about the Dutch inspired guest rooms and my very favorite Dutch artist, Jan Van Eyck.  Thankyouverymuch4yearsofarthistory.  Man that class could really bore me sometimes, but, like the guest rooms, I always remembered Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride.  The lush colors and insane detail blew my twentieth century pot smoking* college mind.  

*long since over the pot smoking

Let us quickly review a pic from her post yesterday compared with Van Eyck's painting before moving on to some (insert fantastically witty adjective here) dutch inspired goodness for the new millenium:

hi, hello, yes, i love you. Can you believe how much those Christmas colors are rocking your world and not looking Christmasy at all?  How insane is it that the room looks EXACTLY like the painting? It does not even appear as though the people are missing, the guest room IS the couple, it IS the background.  Can I ever ever aspire to create such a grande homage if left up to my own devices?  If someone would like to give me a room, a check, and a new piece of artwork I sure as hell would love to try.  Any takers?

Since I don't have a room to layout just yet (I'm counting on you people) I spent my time cruising the net finding other modern day reincarnations of the 15th century.  I know it was easy to start with a Dutch company, but there's no denying the sexiness in holland porcelain's latest ad campaign:

yep.  That pretty much says it.  So, I'm not always one for subtlety.  I also get all hot and bothered when a stodgy old company isn't scared to sex-up their image.  The nod to the dutch masters with this modern twist is such a perfect way for Holland's porcelain to rebrand their goods.  It also doesn't hurt that they invited designer at large Marcel Wanders to create a few gems for the collection.  

More images from the campaign:

a scuba diver?  perfection.

Then there's artist Desiree Dolron who uses her camera and some mad photoshop skills to echo the masters:

look, you could totally hang that on your wall, this is still an interior design blog.  Drink from those porcelain cups and stop your complaining.

anyway... no that is not a painting, yes it is photography perfection.  My husband likes to tell me that photography is not art, I like to show him images like this and laugh in his face.  Thoughts?

Here are some more:

Do we even need to discuss how girl with a pearl earring this is? (or how much Scarlet Johanson is annoying us these days)  How about instead we dream about how great this will all look over my fireplace.  Right next to the yellow door I'm going to tell you all about tomorrow.

Hold Me Closer Tiny Showcase

So for the last month +/- erin and I have been waxing poetic on all sorts of home goodness, but we have failed to mention a single thing to do with your walls.   If you've got a craigslist budget but are hoping to pass on the 1920s french restaurant posters you may want to check out Tiny Showcase.  Each 100 - 200 print run features work from up-and-coming artists and is priced to move.  I'm talking like $20 a print, people.  One new print is released each tuesday.  As the site becomes more popular the runs sell out quickly, which means old fans like myself just don't buy as many pieces anymore.  Sorry, after 3 years, I still forget to stay in on Tuesdays. Here are some of my favorites, and some of the ones I own:

clockwise from top left:

"Island" Nathan Abels

"Lucky" 1911 

"On the Lounge" Marci Washington (possibly my fave tiny showcase artist)

Untitled, Julie Morstad

more from Marci Washington:

"the coming of darkness" and "the cannibal in his chamber" marci washington

2 of the prints I own, both by Jacob Goble: "here it comes" and "we are in trouble"

"poolside" leah giberson

"freestyle friends" matthew furie

another print I own, I'm loving his cross sections.  "weaving" by Josh Keyes.  My other favorite showcase artist.

On a side note, i once sent the tiny showcase dudes an email with the title of this post as the subject and, believe it or not, they never wrote back!  Do you think they've heard it a hundred times, or do you think it's the funniest thing ever?  Discuss.