happy new year’s eve.
go paint the town red with incredible shoes.

shoes a la alexander mcqueen.

Be it resolved that in 2010, I shall make progress on the following:

Tackle some of the baker’s dozen of unfinished objects waiting so patiently for attention, too many of which have been OTN for – ahem – some years.  In most cases, this involves time and attention to detail – two things absent in my 2009 New World Order.  I really do enjoy finishing, but have not had the mental capacity to execute it as it deserves.  As brain cells regenerate since the arrival of Darling Bebe, it’s time to move forward.  And reclaim an awful lot of needles.

Knit like crazy for the darlingest knitwear model. I should be positively embarrassed by the number of projects stashed for Darling Bebe in upcoming years/sizes.  They are all carefully packaged with appropriate project notes, ready for “shopping” in the stash at any hour of day or night.  No excuse to not get them OTN so I can make all of her online aunties happy with more pix.

Knit one sweater for myself. Doesn’t sound like much, but bear in mind that 2009 was my declared YotA (Year of the Accessory) for purely practical reasons.  I love knitting garments, but as noted above, just. could. not. do. them. justice.  I thoroughly enjoyed my foray into easily-completed and easily-finished projects, especially using fabulous fiber.  But by year’s end, there should be at least one new garment in my wardrobe, using the principles from Custom Knits to end up with something I’m proud to wear.  (Thanks to Hipparchia for the referral!  I wish all my garments fit like yours.)

Attend an extra day of the Knitter’s Review Retreat. (Provided, of course, I can actually get into the extension, that is.) I don’t care if the subject matter is spinning, or spit-splicing or steeking: I deserve to extend this one thing I do for myself an extra day.  Four days out of 365 is reasonable.  There is simply not enough time spent with all of you who keep me afloat from afar the rest of the year.

Ready my own design for publication. Yes, I have one.  It has been sitting waiting for its border to be applied, and then time for a severe tech edit.  And then distribution.  Maybe someone bites, maybe no one.  But it’s time I tried.  And I know enough smart people (who are reading this) to get super advice along the way.

That’s enough for one calendar year.  We’ll see how I do.

Happy New Year!

Digitally Fabricated Bookshelf by dbd Studio

Washington-based dbd Studio recently has completed an organic bookshelf specifically designed and built for a condo in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington DC, it stretched from floor to ceiling and overhead, and terminated at the existing bulkhead..

dbd Studio has recently completed a custom bookshelf specifically designed and built for a condo in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington DC. The owner had a severe lack of storage for household items, as well as no display options for objects collected from his worldwide travels.

The large bookshelf serves as both an art piece in itself and a functional storage/display system. An organic curving surface was created in Rhino that stretched from floor to ceiling and overhead, terminating at the existing bulkhead. 17 sheets of 3/4″ birch plywood were then CNC milled to notch together and form the undulating, gridded mass.

Special attention was paid to avoid interfering with the recessed lights, sprinkler heads, air vents and fire alarms along the hallway ceiling.

The vertical plywood components were spaced to avoid them or notched to allow them to function. dbd Studio (Design/Build/Develop) is located in the Washington, DC area specializing in restaurant/retail and custom furniture.

via

(via)

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Ah, the joy of a task completed without me making a mess of it.

Last year I was sent a copy of the delightful Birds & Words by Ammo Books, a book of prints by the late American artist Charley Harper. His images are doing the rounds at the moment, and perfect for the home because of his graphic, 1960s take on wildlife. He drew these birds from books, not life, seeing the beauty in abstracting the colours and shapes of the natural world.

Well last week I finally bought some frames, and set about agonising over which four of the pics were my favourites, or which made the best set – hence the post-its in the picture above. Choice finally made, I spent Sunday evening up a ladder with a plumb bob, pencil and hammer. 

Although shown here on my table, the four pictures now grace the wall of the vestibule outside the bathroom, turning a nothing space into a little feature. I can even see them in the mirror as I brush my teeth. An afternoon’s pottering that is going to make me happy for months. I’m already thinking of doing a second set – starting point this lovely drab-blue puffin page.

New Years Resolution Generator by Monina Velarde. She created a “Resolution Generator” – a collection of goals contributed by family and friends and from various sources on the world wide web. Clicking the “gimme more” button generates random goals from the overall collection. Awesome!

Being that I went to college to study fine arts and photography – I am an avid lover of all vintage styles of photography. I especially love photobooths and polaroids. I’ve successfully mimicked my own photobooth strips with the help of photoshop – I even was a finalist in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards in 2006 for my photobooth works. But I’ll post more about those later.

For Christmas I desperately wanted my husband to find some Polaroid film for a couple of vintage cameras I had. But alas…it was difficult to find and fairly expensive. So I decided to try to make my own. Enter down-loadable Photoshop Action – Polaroid Generator V1.1. I downloaded this action (don’t worry simple instructions are on the website on how to do everything), installed it in my computer and viola….instant fake polaroids. I then printed out my new polaroid at 3 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ (standard polaroid size) onto glossy photo paper…and I had my very own vintage looking polaroid.

I’m so excited to play around with this action, it even came with actions for other vintage style film emulsions (that I haven’t tried yet). I have big plans for these polaroid bad-boys – so look for a post in the future on how I plan to decorate with them!

Renouveler son mobile, quand on est passablement Geek, n’est pas une chose que l’on prend à la légère… surtout si on est pas très tenté par l’acquisition d’un iPhone qui s’est tellement banalisé qu’il n’est plus rare d’être encerclé d’oreillettes blanches dans la metro parisien. Après de nombreuses hesitations, la lecture fiévreuse de tests de tous les mobiles actuels et à venir, ainsi la déception liée à la non arrivée en France du Palm Pré, mon choix s’est porté sur le HTC HD2. Je ne regrette vraiment pas.

Un design sobre et élégant

Même si le design peut paraître un peu secondaire face à la question des fonctionnalités je crois que c’est un point très important, surtout quand on sait que notre mobile va nous suivre partout pendant au moins un an. Sur ce point le HTC HD2 a quelques atouts très convaincants. Tout d’abords ses dimensions compte tenu de la taille hors norme de son écran capacitif. Sur ce point, les ingénieurs de chez HTC ont fait un tour de force : s’il est un peu plus large et long que la plupart des mobiles du marché, sa finesse compense largement et le mobile ne fait pas “brique” dans la poche. De plus les matériaux choisis sont de qualité, et son look tout en noir  et en sobriété lui confère une style très élégant, loin de coté bling bling d’autres smartphones.

Une interface fluide, simple et intuitive

Premier Windows Phone à disposer d’un écran capacitif, le HTC HD2 se distingue des autres mobiles basés sur Windows Mobile par l’interface HTC Sense, qui en plus d’être assez réussie d’un point de vu esthetique, permet vraiment d’exploiter pleinement le mobile sans stylet, lesquels ne sont d’ailleurs pas compatibles avec le mobile. Un simple effleurement suffit pour accéder à ce que l’on souhaite. Inutile d’en dire plus, la vidéo disponible ci-dessous est très bien faite…

Fonctionnalités : tout et plus encore

De manière générale, les fonctionnalités offertes par les mobiles se sont largement harmonisées, je ne vais donc pas lister ce que le HTC HD2 sait faire. En revanche, je trouve que le mobile propose quelques originalités intéressantes qui méritent d’être signalées. Un premier point, lié à l’interface Sense est l’approche People Centric : quand on consulte son répertoire, on peut visualiser l’ensemble des échanges qu’on a pu avoir, quel que soit le moyen utilisé (Twitter, SMS, Mail, Facebook…). Un vrai plus quand on sait qu’on a reçu une info, mais qu’on ne sait plus par quel moyen. Le second point est lié aux capteur de proximité qui offre un véritable confort d’utilisation. Celui-ci permet de déactiver l’écran quand on approche le mobile de l’oreille ce qui évite de faire de fausses manipulations et surtout d’interrompre involontairement la communication. Autre détail qui fait vraiment la différence, l’écran se rallume dès que vous écartez le combiné de votre oreille ce qui est très pratique notamment avec les serveurs vocaux. De même, le capteur de proximité permet d’adapter le volume de la sonnerie quand le mobile est dans une poche, ou de passer en mode silencieux quand on le retourne, par exemple si on est en réunion. Un seul bémol, ayant acheté ce mobile en pack Orange, je me suis vu imposé l’installation par défaut des solutions maison de l’opérateur. J’aurai aimé pouvoir choisir, notamment pour FlickR ou le logiciel de localisation qui est obligatoirement Orange Maps… mais de là à flasher le mobile pour obtenir une version originale du mobile sans tous les services Orange…

La vidéo officielle

Photos

Pour plus d’infos : www.htc.com

I found this on NOTCOT.ORG, really simple and creative.
It doesn’t bring anything new to the table of things-you-can-do-with-recycled-or-reused-items, but I find it very beautiful and definitely something I’d put on my own room.

More pictures, info and other ideas here.

Happy New Year everyone! See you all on 2010 .

We are evolving with technology in design and have happily documented some of our events and will be bringing you more “how to” and “the making of” videos in 2010.

Well this year has been… different. I guess post is a chance for me to reflect upon what I have done this year. It’s somewhat scary, I know, but it has to be done.

what I’ve “accomplished” this year:

Had a boyfriend
Oh my, what an interesting experience

Attended my last high school camp ever
Not that you’d call a Study Skills Camp, a camp.

Expanded my presence on the interwebs with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and of course, this blog
I never intended to start any of these this year… it was and still is a love-hate relationship

Saw Irish comedian David O’Doherty live.
Front row tickets! Also, his drink bottle lid landed on my sister’s lap.

Dropped Japanese…
after studying it for at least 10 years

Befriended a year 11.
M-M-M-Mary.

Started to expand my music collection.
Now a healthy 30 GB of music inhabits my laptop.

Befriended someone from New York.
Rachel: ComDesign student.

Won a photographic competition.
Pancake Parlour freebies ftw.

Had one of the worst birthdays ever.
It coincided with Greek Easter AND was the day before term 2 started.

First theatre experience ever.
Malthouse Theatre’s production, Optimism, was simply the best: Philosophy and comedy rolled into one fantastic package.

Finally got an iMac.
Now to get a wacom Intuos4 and Nikon D5000 and…

Scared my mother.
Read between the lines.

Was awarded a gift voucher I was supposed to receive last year.
Two High Achiever’s Awards for Studio Arts and VisCom scored $100 at Dean’s Art.
Oh shit… now that I think about it, I think it’s expired.

Was a zombie for a day.
Year 12 Dress Up Day: Rivalries.

Distanced myself even more from my teachers.
Self explanatory.

Gave up… relentlessly.
More so unmotivated. I guess those two come hand in hand.

Scared my friends.
My family still doesn’t know about this one…

Was a mime for a day.
Year 12 Dress Up Day: Occupations.

Short-listed for another photographic competition.
Eh… my entry was crap and last minute.

Dined at a Nepalese restaurant.
The amalgamation of flavours is to die for.

Befriended another year 11.
The world better keep an eye out for Cheryl.

Applied for university courses.
Ah. Graphic Design, Fine art, Industrial Design or I.T.?

Attended life drawing classes for the first time.
But not the first time I’ve seen a lady strip. SNAP!

Used a DSLR for the first time.
I was practically drooling over Tian’s D90.

Was given way too many chances.
Ah, Studio and VisCom. Lovely.

Let down not one, not two, but all of my teachers.
Oh, and two tutors.

Went into our school’s dark room for the first and last time.
It was a moving experience. No really it was…

Experienced a year 12 assembly.
Tears.

Was scared shitless.
Kudos to my eldest sister.

Befriended someone from NSW.
Harrison: Journalism student.

Sat my last exams at high school.
Ever.

Was told a something that made my year.
Lurve.

Attended university interviews.
Was rejected by all but one institution. I wonder why…

Befriended yet another year 11. (I’m seeing a pattern here )
Nick, fantastic artist.

First double session at the Astor Theatre.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian followed by Monty Python and the Holy Grail INCLUDING a visit by Spamalot.
I loved the atmosphere. The seats were a pain though..

short-term memory loss

So here are my so-called New Year’s resolutions. We all really know it’s just a to-do list delayed time and time again…

Get my L’s.

Find a job.

Read more.

Maintain an exercise routine

Practise drawing

Complete at least one Computer Arts project each week.

Learn a new song every fortnight.

For a more extensive list of things to do visit my listless page. Oh joy!

so what about yourself?

A new year is waiting for you. Use it wisely.

If you’ve had a bad year (like myself):
Fuck the past. Why make the same mistakes? Do something about it. Do something different.

If you’ve had a great year:
What made you smile? Do it again. Make your life even better… I dare you.

,

2010? Let’s start again.

,

]]> http://rambunktion.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/pastebot/ Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:49:52 +0000 alex osman http://rambunktion.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/pastebot/

Neat little app. that allows you to store content from your clipboard and save for later.

some blueprints found on the eiffel tower website from monsieur eiffel for his famous (and widely unknown and unpopular) eiffel tower.

they are reproductions taken from his book ‘the 300 meter tower’
lemercier publications paris 1900.

blueprints.

By Dian Hasan | December 30, 2009

Great brands are made in the customer’s minds and NOT in the factory! A quote often heard in business circles and strong proponents of brand positioning strategy. There’s no secret in building strong brands, it’s an arduous process of constant innovation and change! The need for a company to fully understand how to manage the meaning customers attach to their products and services, and ensure that the brand experience customers have are parallel to the brand message.

In the realm of brand-building, with an increasing awareness across the Corporate World about the significance of branding, below-the-line activities that support the brands are ever important.

One excellent example is IKEA Germany. The Swedish furniture store took an innovative approach in promoting its in-house storage solutions.

Like all good activation, it dramatises the benefit to the consumer: in this case, big storage solutions for small city-living apartments. Like all good outdoor, choice of location was also key to the effectiveness of the activity – this idea outside the centre of town would still have been visually impactful, but would have been largely unseen by anyone other than the locals or the industry.

The Challenge
Germany’s flats and apartments are full of them: messy corners. That’s why home furnishing store Ikea offers boxes and drawers in all shapes and sizes to meet each and every storage need. Aiming specifically at the large number of Frankfurt citizens living in small apartments, the local Ikea store asked us to promote their storage solutions with a real big outdoor idea.

The Solution
In one of Frankfurt’s busiest streets we disguised the balconies of an entire apartment building as giant versions of Ikea’s drawers and baskets. The awareness created on the street paved the way for the Ikea promotions team to distribute brochures and response postcards.

The Results
Everyday, over 12,000 pedestrians, cyclists and drivers passed the apartment block every day. This accumulated to an impressive 168,000 contacts over the 2 weeks of the campaign. Local newspapers and ad press covered the promotion. Traffic and sales in the 2 Ikea Frankfurt outlets rose substantially.

Inspiration: Blog_Ogilvy & Mather Ireland

Posted via web from rozelle.co.uk

Posted via web from rozelle.co.uk

This lovely Toddlers bedroom is by Ella + Elliot Via their Flickr . Notes include that the “Loom”  crib is by Nurseryworks and I know the wallpaper is the covetable Graham & Browne interactive wallpaper

There are some great pics of how the wallpaper can be used – I think it’s perfect for a kids bedroom or indeed in the bathroom as per their example – just imagine the fun you would have reading little notes / checking out photos in the frames. For more info you should visit their website  graham & browne. Pics below courtesy of Graham & Browne.

Original Illustration, Pictures, Art, Clip art, Design
Free web material and illustration. picture. images
Free !! Spot the difference
「Cooking class ・ Cake ・ Woman」

Please click the thumbnail. The image download page opens.

Copyright（C）T-KONI . All Rights Reserved.

※ Attention when using it　・　Method of download

※A part of the image is a Japanese style.

————————————

Free of chage images and pictures
Illustration and character by T-KONI
Overseas version Free Illustration・Cutting
Material collectionA1・A2・A3・A4・A5
【T-KONI Original・Illustration・Character・PrintGoodsShop】
Wordpress No.1・2・3・4・5・6・7・8・9・10・9

 I love Etsy as all of the products are handmade (and can often be custom-made) and often they cost the same (or less) than a brand version PLUS you know the product has been made in a ethical way and not in a sweatshop. 

Our little boy has WAY outgrown his baby hat which we bought for leaving hospital and I need to get him something warm for when I’l be dragging him out in his buggy to accompany me powerwalking off the 10 million calories I’ve consumed over Christmas. 

These are just too cute! 

CitéFuzz Etsy shop has these lovely cotton Mini Monkey flap hats 

Mosey Handmade 

Tizzy Dees etsy shop has these adorable Sesame street inspired hats with Elmo and Cookie Monster – plus she’s open to special requests  

I might get this gas hat for the old man from here 

Fine! A party at my home. Some kind of carnival, I don’t know what I will wear and also I’m a host. Great. OK made this silly poster. Picture isn’t taken by me, but here the link to autor. I just put some text on it. God, I Love Helvetica.

it’s a partyparty!
gotta love confettisystem’s spot on festive color combinations. feeling giddy and excited for 2010!