January 31, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

More Highlights from the NYIGF

There is SO much to see at the NY International Gift Fair that just mentioning a few items doesn’t seem right, but that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Below are some things that caught my eye in a variety of areas, from toys to home.

Hoptimists were originally created by furniture designer Hans Gustav Ehrenreich in 1968 and are now designed in new materials and with new expressions, still in Denmark. Super cute and bouncy.

Uno Magnetic is an interactive, magnetic jewelry, designed by architect Luis Pons, that can take the form of a necklace, bracelet, or ring, depending on how you choose to wrap the individual colored chains and where you place the magnetic ball that keeps it all together. It comes in cute packaging, too, though I couldn’t find an image.

Cavern is a boutique wallpaper design firm with a fun take on wallcoverings. Their hand silkscreened designs take inspirations from natural as well as urban landscapes. The I See You paper, full of googly eyes was set up in their booth with pens for all to draw faces. Especially fun for a kid’s room. Other fun ones include Watertowers and Thesis.

Time Rings Puzzle from Argentina, is made from the wood of cypress trees that died naturally in Patagonia. There are two designs, one super difficult with the wood grain on both sides, and a slightly easier version that’s painted black on the back. Available through Looksur.

Amac and House Industries have teamed up and put type on these colorful acrylic boxes of varying sizes. Hard to go wrong when numbers and ampersands are involved.

And, of course, this list would not be complete if we didn’t include our exciting collaboration with Fred on a variation of our EARonic iPhone 4 cases: All Ears, due out in stores in the next month or two. For those who want more variety, All Ears offers slip in sheets with different his or hers sets of ears. The long-awaited Vulcan ear is now a reality as are other options. But don’t worry, for those who prefer the original EARonics, those are still available at our shop.

January 30, 2012 by collabcubed - 7 Comments

New Pantone Home and Office Products

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Just when you think there is nothing left to Pantone-ify, ROOM Copenhagen comes out with a new tableware/kitchenware and desk accessories line. I spotted these lovely pieces—the silky matte feel of the polypropylene is hard to resist touching—at the NYIGF yesterday. Sure, the Pantone products are always fun and appealing, but these objects would even be appealing sans the Pantone aspect, that’s how nicely designed they are. The Pantone colors and style are just an added perk!

From the placemats and coasters, to the triangular water jug and stackable boxes, all these pieces are just great. And how is it that no one came out with the business card holders before?!

The new line of products should be online soon, once ROOM Copenhagen gets their site up.

Gift show photos by Collabcubed: catalog images courtesy of ROOM Copenhagen.

January 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Nils Völker: Seventy Five

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Here is the latest from German artist Nils Völker (previously here and here.) One of his largest pieces to date, Seventy Five measures eight meters in height and traverses three floors at the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts as part of their Transjourney exhibition going on in Taipei through February 19, 2012. This time the inflatable “cushions” are made of Tyvek, inflated by cooling fans via custom made electronics. You can watch it in action below.

January 27, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Marios: Summer 2012 Collection Nowhere

These are fun! Marios, a fashion brand founded by Mayo Loizou and Leszek Chmielewski initially in Japan, now based in Milan, focus on contemporary, unisex, convertible garments. Their Summer 2012 collection Nowhere, a collaboration with photographer Kuba Dabrowski, features landscape photography in its designs.

via prosthetic knowledge

January 26, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Meg Hitchcock: Typographic Collages

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Brooklyn artist Meg Hitchcock creates elaborate type collages using texts from holy books of all religions. Through an incredibly labor-intensive process, Hitchcock painstakingly cuts out individual letters from one text and assembles them to form a different text in a variety of patterns and shapes.

From the artist’s statement:
I select passages from holy books and cut the letters from one passage to form the text of another. For example, I may cut up a passage from the Old Testament of the Bible and reassemble it as a passage from the Bhagavad Gita, or I may use type from the Torah to recreate an ancient Tantric text. A continuous line of text forms the words and sentences in a run-on manner, without spaces or punctuation, creating a visual mantra of devotion. By conceptually weaving together the sacred writings of diverse traditions, I create a multi-layered tapestry of inspired writings, all pointing beyond specifics to the human need for connection with the sacred.

You can click on the images to see more detail. At a distance they almost look like chains. You can see more of Hitchcock’s works here, here, and here. You can see her in action, complete with neck pillow, in the video below, putting up her first installation. It’s a pretty insane process!

via Projective City

January 24, 2012 by collabcubed - 12 Comments

Doug Wheeler: SA MI 75 DZ NY 12

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After making a special trip with Em on Saturday, in the snowy cold, to see Doug Wheeler’s light installation titled SA MI 75 DZ NY 12 at the David Zwirner Gallery, we left promptly due to the crowded waiting area we descended upon and the one-hour wait ahead of us — I’m often deluded into thinking that I’m the only one who has these great ideas in NYC…but really, who goes to Chelsea on a frigid, snowy weekend? Apparently: a lot of people. — So, today, a Tuesday afternoon, I thought I’d quickly pop in but, alas, there would be no popping in. There was still a half-hour wait but, seating was available and the musical-chairs-style line kept me active.

Now, back to the exhibit: Amazing. The bright white light installation is the closest thing to what, I imagine, standing in a cloud might feel like. The first impression is that of a flat wall created by light. As one reluctantly steps forward—wearing the white booties provided by the gallery to keep things pristine—it feels as though you’re stepping into the void. The minute the light box is entered, all depth perception disappears. There’s a dense fog-like effect that’s created with light and white paint. The walls have been curved and the lack of hard lines or horizon intensifies the confusing sensation. The result is at first a little unsettling, but the incredible coolness instantly follows. The light in the box fluctuates emulating the light of day, from dawn to dusk, in a 32-minute loop.

If you’re in New York, you might want to check it out. Doug Wheeler’s installation is on view at David Zwirner through February 25, 2012. I recommend a weekday, if possible, for a shorter wait.

Photos courtesy of David Zwirner; Carolina A. Miranda; and soulellis’ flickr.

January 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 1 Comment

Foster School of Business Art Installations

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Two interesting permanent typographic art installations were recently created for the Foster School of Business, part of the University of Washington in Seattle. The two installations are collaborations between designers Kristine Matthews and Karen Cheng, both on the faculty at the University’s School of Art.

Change reflects on the dynamic relationship between business and change. The word “change” appears on the floor of each elevator, along with 18 synonyms (adapt, innovate, transform, etc.). The synonyms are each highlighted with actual loose change, international coins that hint at the diversity of the UW Foster Business School as well as the global nature of business.

As the elevator moves from floor to floor, the interior word “change” is modified by another word just outside the elevator, to both the front and back:
Floor 5: I Change/You Change
Floor 4: Lead Change/Manage Change
Floor 3: Expect Change/Embrace Change
Floor 2: Local Change/Global Change
Floor 1: Change Ideas/Change Lives
Floor 0: Change?/Change!

The second installation, Business Is..., asks how do you define ‘business’?

Viewers are asked to respond to the open-ended question “Business is…” on a companion website, www.FosterExchange.com. User responses appear on a series of LEDs that wrap around a four-story-high column. The monitors also display real-time stock market openings and closings, predictions, and even advice for students who meet and study in the atrium below.

Both installations are innovative, interactive, beautifully integrated, totally engaging and fun! I’d say complete successes through and through.

Here’s a video about the projects:

via sedg

January 20, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Rise & Sigh Sheets: Martina Carpelan

These made me chuckle. Finnish designer Martina Carpelan put a new spin on embroidered bedding. Her Rise and Sigh sheets have suggestive flirty sayings embroidered in reverse to leave a temporary tattoo-like impression on the occupier’s skin.

Wonder what these would do to Ariana Page Russell?

via design milk

January 19, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

The RedBall Project: Kurt Perschke

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This is such a fun project! Though it’s been traveling the world for a few years, this is the first I’ve heard of it. The RedBall Project by New York based artist Kurt Perschke, consists of a series of temporary installations within a city over a span of a couple of weeks. Perschke finds interesting, and somewhat humorous, locations (though, a giant red ball in any location automatically evokes a certain amount of humor) that are often taken for granted. The previously neglected spaces come to the foreground highlighting the nooks and crannies of urban life.

For Perschke, the core of the project’s goal is the invitation to the public to engage and unleash their imagination. “Every time a passerby says – ‘You know, I know the perfect place to put it!’ – RedBall has succeeded in creating a moment of imagination.”

The project has taken place in many cities including Barcelona, Taipei, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney, Portland and most recently Abu Dhabi. Up next: Perth, from February 10 – March 3rd. Hey Kurt! How about bringing the project home to NYC?! I know the perfect place…

Here’s a short video by Tony Gaddis of the project in Chicago:

Photos are all from RedBall’s Facebook and Flickr Pool (PJ Mixer, PersonnelPeople, Swanky, Leo Reynolds, Duncan Kerridge)

via Huffington Post and MyModernMet

January 18, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Michael Scott: Optical Paintings Plus

Em and I stopped by the opening of Michael Scott’s Black and White Line Paintings show last week. Upon entering the gallery, we were greeted by the collection of large enamel-on-aluminum paintings whose lines initially created visual effects such as moiré patterns and the illusion of multiple plains, until our eyes quickly adjusted and could take in these mesmerizing works. Surprisingly, they have a hypnotic and peaceful quality. Some have a sharp precision to them, while others are distressed and bleed. In the back office of the gallery there is even one that looks like the lines were done freehand and offer yet another take on the black and white line theme.

Michael Scott, a New York based artist originally from Pennsylvania, has worked in many mediums over the past twenty-five years, periodically returning to his line paintings. Other works include his multicolor line paintings and his smaller encaustic-on-wood works, one of which was purchased by Sofia Coppola, clearly a fan, who nominated Scott as her contribution to the 100-People-Places-and-Things-You-Need-To-Know in V Magazine’s Spring Preview issue. (You can see the article here.)

Michael Scott’s Black and White Line Paintings 1989-2011 is on view at Gering & López Gallery in NYC through February 18, 2012.

Photos courtesy of the artist, Gering & Lopez, and Triple V Gallery

January 17, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Roskilde Festival Plywood Dome

Inside and out this wooden dome, designed by Danish architect Kristoffer Tejlgaard and engineer Henrik Almegaard, looks great. Made up of 240 plywood hexagons, this geodesic dome was created for the 2011 Roskilde Festival in Denmark and disassembles into sections.

The futuristic shape, as well as those skylights that jut out and add texture, give the structure a very cool look.

You can watch a video of its construction here.

via intoform

January 17, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Architypeture III

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From top to bottom and left to right:
Museo Ibere Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Condominio P in Cagliari, Italy by C+CO4 Studio; Objekt 10, Zavrtinica Business Center in Croatia interiors by Typotecture, exteriors by Brigada / Damjan Geber (architect), Srđana Alač (designer)(x4 photos); Rocklea Road Warehouses, Jackson Clement Burrows Architects; Cafés Salzillo, Coffee & Literature Week, Mucia, Spain, Clavel Arquitectos (x3 photos); Vigaceros Headquarters, Murcia, Spain, Clavel Arquitectos.

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The Number House in Osaka, Japan, Mitsutomo Matsunami Architects; Education Executive Agency Tax Office in Groningen, UNstudio photo by Ron Tilleman; Museum of Modern Art, Santos, Brazil, Metro Arquitetos Associados + Paulo Mendes da Rocha; Pokobar, Zagreb, Croatia, Typotecture (x3 photos); Restaurante LAH!, Madrid, Spain, Ilmio Design; QV Car Park, Melbourne, Australia, Latitude Group; Chips Residential Development, New Islington, Manchester, Alsop Architects.

Here we bring you our third installment of Architypeture: the beautiful combination of architecture and typography. These projects come from Brazil, Spain, Croatia, and the Netherlands, as well as representation from Japan, Australia, and the UK. Click on the credits to link to more images or information, usually on the architect’s site.

If you missed our previous Architypeture posts, Architypeture I is here, and Architypeture II is here.

January 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Chaos at Zellig: Philip Watts Sculpture

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This really caught my eye. In the center atrium of Zellig — a building designed to provide space for young creative enterprises and galleries as part of the Custard Factory redevelopment in Birmingham, England — is a unique five-story-high sculpture designed by Philip Watts Design titled Chaos. Though at first glance the piece does give the appearance of a chaotic mass, in actuality it is a functional art installation designed to connect the courtyard at three levels. Made with 2000 meters of steel tubing and containing three glass bridges, it must be quite spectacular to find oneself intertwined in the sculpture.

via knstrct via notcot

January 13, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Túlio Pinto: Balancing Acts

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Looking at his work, a person might not want to get too close to one of Brazilian artist Túlio Pinto’s sculptures or installations. Concrete slabs precariously balanced and held in position by a piece of fabric or balloon doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, yet they definitely impress.

Pinto lives and works in Porto Alegre where, in addition to his installations, he paints. He co-founded the artist studio Subterrânea and is a curator of Brazilian contemporary art.

Photos courtesy of the artist and Andersonastor.

January 12, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Social Climber: Theresa Bruno

English conceptual artist Theresa Bruno is interested in western consumerism and asks her audience, through her art, to re-examine what and how they consume. She uses found objects and appropriates them for her artwork.

In her piece Social Climber, Bruno placed fifteen toilet roll holders and fifteen assorted toilet paper rolls on a wall. The progression from left to right demonstrates the ascending quality in toilet paper. The installation deals with class consciousness and questions luxury, globalization, and consumption.

via flickr

January 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 3 Comments

Martha Friedman: Rubbers

Martha Friedman, a Brooklyn-based artist originally from Detroit, is interested in locating the point at which common objects slip into abstraction and, in some instances, eroticism. In her series of cast rubber sculptures titled Rubbers—in her double-entendre style—she explores the nature of sculptural and bodily materiality through food as well as the rubber band. Here I’ve included only the rubber bands which are my favorites. From the colorful chromogenic prints of the oversized stationery supply, to her full room installations, these are just a lot of fun. Wouldn’t it be great to have a pair of those interconnected rubber bands extended from floor to ceiling in your home?

You can see Martha Friedman’s rubber tongues here, and some of here waffle sculptures here.

Photos: James Ewing; Andy Pixel; Purple Kiaris and Wallspace Gallery.

via artslant

January 10, 2012 by collabcubed - 2 Comments

Seth Wulsin: Animas

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I saw one of Seth Wulsin’s Animas installations a few years ago in his studio as part of the Dumbo Arts Festival in Brooklyn. I was very impressed at seeing these large-scale screens hanging from the ceiling that individually just looked like plain screens, but when seen all together from the front, an almost holographic, three-dimensional, ghost-like head would appear floating on the screens.

Wulsin works primarily with space and light through these large-scale, site-specific, ephemeral sculptural installations. His Animas (soul in Latin) series explores the interior dimensions of mind and soul in the physicality of space. Here is how Wulsin describes his Animas sculptures:

Each sculpture has three kinds of inter-dimensional space that all occupy the same spatial coordinates: the concrete, volumetric space of the screens; the pictorial/volumetric space of the images produced by the paint on the screens; and the optical interference generated between the screen grids when two or more planes overlap (without coinciding) , an optically real, but tactically non-existent space.

Also very interesting are his works on the streets of Buenos Aires. The photo second from bottom, are two small Animas embedded in a building front, and the bottom photo is from his work 16 Tons, using the prison window grids of a Buenos Aires prison as a pixelated screen. By breaking out certain windows, images of faces appeared reflected in the remaining panes. Very cool and creepy.

January 9, 2012 by collabcubed - 0 comments

Julius Popp: Bit.fall, Bit.flow, Bit.code

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German artist Julius Popp uses technology to create work that reaches across the boundaries of art and science. Three of his works, Bit.fall, Bit.flow, and Bit.code are pictured above. Bit.fall is an installation that in some cases displays images and, in others, words selected from the internet via drops of falling water spurting out from 320 nozzles controlled by computer software and electromagnetic valves.

In Bit.flow Popp pumps liquid into a 45-meter long tube on a wall. A software program sets out a pattern which only at certain points forms readable forms or letters which then disintegrate into chaos again.

Lastly, Bit.code is made up of plastic chains with black and white pieces which act as pixels. Controlled by computer software, the pixels move next to each other displaying frequently used key words, at certain points, taken from recent web feeds.

All three appeal to me, yet are definitely appreciated more in person. The videos of each below are the next best thing, unless you are in Jerusalem, in which case you can see Bit.fall in the current exhibit Curious Minds at the Israel Museum until April, 2012.

Elements of these installations bring to mind Daniel Rozin’s work (see post) and Christopher Baker’s Murmur Study (see post).