Industrial Designer Jessica Signell Knutsson

Please check out my friend and great Swedish industrial designer Jessica Knutsson Signell.

See her work at http://www.signellknutsson.com/

And read her blog about design at http://jessicasignellknutsson.tumblr.com/

Pieke Bergmans - Industrial designer

Watch the work of Pieke Bergman. Dutch designer working very much like and artist, I would say. I love her latest work funny lamps thought out from funny ideas, Like a pipe's smoke, pasta water boiling over, a flash light and more!
See the whole exhibition at www.dilmos.com
And then go and look at Pieke Bergmans own website for more adventure.

Mediastorm

MediaStorm is an award-winning multimedia production studio, working with top visual storytellers, interactive designers and global organizations to create cinematic narratives that speak to the heart of the human condition.

This is how Mediastorm describes themselves. Good. I could not describe them, I can only say go there and watch amazing stories being told in beautiful and humane way.

MediaStorm
Worth watching!

Jackson Pollock

Just for the great fun of it!

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

Enjoy!

And look out it is very addictive.

Russian Tattoo book

I went in to a museum of art and came out with a book on Russian Criminal Tattoos...
Anyway, what interested me were not the tattoos, though they are art pieces, interesting, scary and intriguing. What caught my eye was the photos of the people wearing them.
The photos are taken inside Russian jails and they tell so much of the state of the society they live in.
They show us the criminals of the street, many of them looks insane and they remind me strongly of photos from the beginning of last century made of patients. Those pictures were made for doctors case studies. These photos of Russian criminals show people on the edge of life, society and sanity. The photographer is conscious of his power to shine just a little spotlight on the people and the temptation to receive just those minutes, puts them in a vulnerable position. They are showing off their tattoos, but the voyeuristic camera lens undresses them and shows instead of cool tattoos the fragile person. To put these people into the context of the news we get from Russia lately, broadens at least my view of the country and the state it is in.
If you want to see more of this book it is made by Steidl in three volumes. I happened to buy the second one.

Awagami - Fine art paper

Another thing I found in Brussels was a Creative Art paper pack from Awagami Factory. A bag full of fun and beautiful paper. On the Awagami site you can read about how the Japanese paper is made in a different way then western made paper, but I'm more in to just looking at the nice papers with flowers and all. On the site though there is for everyone who admire paper a lot to look at. Walls made by paper, paper in every form for decoration, buy your own paper making set, go to a paper making workshop, etc.
I got the small "Creative Washi Pack", a very small taste of what they are able to produce, for me it is inspiring enough. On the outside of the pack there is a illustration of how you can use these papers into wrappings for different things. I like the illustration and would rather find more of those, giving me more ideas about that to do with my stack.
And for those of you wanting to get your hands on these here are the shops were to find it.
Enjoy.

Broleskine - hand made notebooks from recycled paper

Brussels is a wonderful city and in it I found wonderful things amongst others two notebooks which took my breath away. From old books, papers envelopes etc Broleskine makes new notebooks.
As they write about their work: 'From all sorts of books, papers, packaging, envelopes heather, Broleskine creates unique books. In a current design of the binding, Broleskine think in colors and textures, questions on paper and always in a spirit of recovery. Ruled, squared, colorful, screenprinted, collages, hand-stitched, these precious objects are never developed in the same way. Book tailor made, ready to read book dismembered, calendar reusable.'
It is a form of poetry in notebooks. The love for paperwork you see all through their book, which are also usable. Go to their site and brows and if you like me find it in a store, be amazed.
Here is their link to the stores and other places were you can find their books.
I found mine at bozarshop. Which is really cool and well worth visiting!

All images are from the broleskine.be site.

Siba Sahabi- Ceramics in paper

You have to watch a friend of mine's work. Her name in Siba Sahabi and the latest works of her are all made in paper. She made ceramic in paper. Impressive work, the material and the work which has been put into the making of it, a fragile feeling like the one you get from very thin ceramic.

http://www.sibasahabi.com/

Mark Jenkins - Street Art

Mark Jenkins is making extremely cool and sometimes even scary street art. I came across his art as my friend intends to exhibit his work in Örebro konsthall in September. Otherwise on the street his work is difficult to see if you are not notified. I missed an art-piece just next to my house...I now conclude when I see his collective work at his website. Go through his website so that you don't miss it! I wish he could tell me were the next thing will be.



All images are from website of Mark Jenkins.

Pictures of Walls

Enjoy toilet scribbles? Wise or strange notes on walls? This is the website for you. At Pictures of Walls you are asked to take a picture of the wall art you see and admire, then contribute it to their collection. But as they say, they won't put up all crap you send. They will only show a collection of imaginative wall drawings and thought-provoking scribbles. No real graffiti. It all worth spending time looking through.
If you like it, there is a best of collection book. You can find it at amazon (and many other places). I love it!

All images are from the website picturesofwalls.com

A single man -A Tom Ford Film

- "What a beautiful film!" -"It is so beautifully shot!" -"Everything is so well done!" My friend kept whispering to me during the movie 'A single man' by Tom Ford. I think everyone in the cinema heard and probably agreed. It is a very beautiful film. With a strong story which captures you from the very start and keeps you in this tight story. It is plays out during just one day, though memories keeps moving us back and forth in time. It is a beautiful portray of a man who begins with telling us about himself "It takes time in the morning for me to become George, time to adjust to what is expected of George and how he is to behave. By the time I have dressed and put the final layer of polish on the now slightly stiff but quite perfect George I know fully what part I'm suppose to play." It paints a portray of a heartbroken man, wrapped in sorrow unable to see the world around him and the people trying to reach in to him. It is capturing and recognizable in its feelings. We might not all have lost a lover to death, but we can all feel with the terror of losing someone loved and we can recognize the feeling of depression when we see it in Colin Firth's George. The only thing bringing me slightly out of the story is a part played against Julianne Moore. She is perfect in her role, but did we really need this part of the story? It is the only time when Colin Firth's George takes a step out of his character's cloud of depression and to me it doesn't fit. It is something to do with the connections between the two actors which doesn't feel 'right'. What is is? Well maybe they are just both too good and they cancel each other out. I just don't believe in their dinner scene.
One very interesting feature Ford makes is a very nice work with the colors of the film. It goes from light grayish polish over everything in George's life including himself, to Kodak chrome colors in the vividness of the world around. Not doing the old trick with different colors of memories and the now, but playing with it to fit the mood of George. It is a strong part in the telling of the story.

The film is so well made and tight, with so many memorable quotes in it, together with great actors performances and beautiful sets which makes it a joy to watch.

To leave you with another great quote which captures the essence of the movie "For the first time in my life I can't see my future. Everyday goes by in a haze, but today I have decided will be different."


If you want to read the plot or more about the film here is the IMdb link.

Björn Terring photography

www.terringphoto.com - Nice photography. Not pretentious our conceptual, just straight up good, interesting photos.

Photo belongs to Björn Terring and is from his blog.

Disaster design - Paper plane

Woo woo woo, super cute! What to say about a purse in the form of a old school letter? It feels like leather and have everything not printed but sown on to it, as the 'Air Mail' sign and the 'address' (save your pennies 4a rainy day). It is produced by disaster design and you can find more super cute and many 'too much cute' on their sales site temptationgifts.com. I fell for the letter of course as I'm weak for all things referring to old school things in a new form - especially in the form of purses, letters, books or pens...



temptationgifts.com

Jim Harris

If you are interested in painting, you should keep an eye on Jim Harris. His work is outstanding when it comes both to technique as well as the virtuosity of his use of the medium. He is a painter and he is good. Please look at his work at: http://www.jimharris.nl/

Oh, and know that his last paintings are painted in the 'Oude Kerk', the oldest church in Amsterdam. Were amongst others the wife of Rembrandt, Saskia, is buried. One of his paintings is now made into poster which can be bought at the church, at the Amsterdam History Museum or I guess you can contact Jim him self for a copy. His address you can find on his site together with all his work.

Walls Notebook

Yes, it is walls which you can draw on. OK, not for real real, but on photos of New York backdrops. It is a super nice idea to be able to draw or make notes on something ells than a blank page. It expands the mind and brings another dimension into you thoughts.
You can of course use the book for what it is made for, to make your own graffiti drawings on clean NY walls with the bonus not to get caught by the police. But you can also use it as a notebook were the world opens op to you right there on your table.
Make you want to think of what ells you could be drawing on.
If you want to start right away you can also visit Walls notebook own website, were you can draw something online. There you can also look at more backdrops, see other peoples drawings and order the book.



All photos comes from the book Walls Notebook.

Vincent Van Gogh's letters

The letters of Vincent van Gogh have been published on the site www.vangoghletters.org . Amazing to read and amazing that all the letters are put up at this site.This will take many of my free hours to read. I was going to buy the letters in book form, which is a beautiful crafted series of books, but to have it on the web with hyperlinks, translation, footnotes and illustrations is, again, amazing. The letters are a part of our cultural heritage and I'm glad that they are viewed that way, so that anyone can access them. They contains Vincents thoughts about life and most of all his and other artists work. I personally enjoy the references to the places I know, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Brussels, Winschoten(!) and many more. I love the thought that Vincent once walked the same streets which I walk today. And I love to find out his views on art. The site is very well designed. It makes perfect use of the medium with an easy to use interactive design. This is for anyone who is interested in history, Vincent as a person and the mind of a great artist.
Enjoy all the hours of reading!
www.vangoghletters.org

Found magazine

A favorite magazine of mine, for many years now, is Found Magazine. It satisfies my every need of imagery. I can spend many hours browsing through their archive of found notes and pictures. It amuses me tremendously to read and imagine were these notes comes from and who or were the photos were taken. It is a view in to other peoples life's, far away or maybe very close to mine. Could it be my neighbor who lost some of those notes or who's photo were found lying on the street? The notes often contains so strange and contradicting messages which makes my mind buzz from all the stories it makes up of who the writer is or who the receiver might have been. Then were it's been left and if the intended receiver really got the note or the content of the message. So if you have some hours to spend or just want a laugh quick-fix go to Found Magazine and see 'the find of the day'!



Both images in this post comes from Found Magazine.

Somethimes words come from letters

Falling snow

Muji

How much can you love just one brand? It is hard to admit that I love most things Muji makes. OK, far from all, but a too big % for me to feel comfy with myself as a consumer. I don't, generally speaking, want to buy to many things. Not to clog my life with or my apartment, or give an inch to the growing mountain of garbage. I say no to all bags at department stores, try to buy products without wrappings and not buying products which I know takes a big toe on the environment; are some things I try to think of, but the world will have to live with all the notes I've made on numerous of pages in far to many notebooks...
And as I get in to Muji, the temptation for a new notebook or just a small little pencil is too big.
This time I notices the very nice notebook with a zipper bag as a cover. I want to use it immediately to organize myself. To write up my thoughts and save extremely 'important' pieces of paper, which I can tuck in to that little zipper. It feels like my life will finely be in order. ( I have not started using this yet, but when I do, this will definitely happen).

The second thing I want to tell you about is their beautiful pen. They have several, but this one is a new variety on the old bic-pen. (which is a beautiful thing in it self as well). This pen has 5 colors to change in between, with a click. The colors are well composed, all of them are in light pastel colors instead of the four classic (blue, red, green, black) the colors are black, blue, light blue, red, pink and orange. The color mix is very attractive as well as the design of the pen. Made in see-through plastic where you can see the colors and the functionality, makes it both fresh and childhood-remembrance-attractive.
I have located the Muji stores in Berlin, Barcelona, United states and in Stockholm you can find them inside the store of Åhlens. For more places and the online shop.