Nice to meet you, Mr. Willenz

The path of research often turns into a fractal pattern of tangents that lead you in ever growing circles somewhere not entirely different. In this case, I was researching lamps in the two bastions of indexed design, stylepark (Germany) and architonic (Switzerland), where you can bask in the reassuring glow of well organized information. I kept stumbling over the name Sylvain Willenz, and this is because I am, as it turns out, a fan of his work. Here is why:

1. print lamp for established&sons. made from 1 piece of blown glass which has a "built in" diffuser.
2. lock for tamawa. ashwood & bakelite. nuff said. (well, no: I like bakelite. it also comes in red.)
3. torch lamp for established&sons, 2008. soft plastic shell. floor, table, or suspension.
Sylvain Willenz hails form and works in Brussels.
4. homerun chair. also nice.
5. stuff bag. seamless flat rubber. also nice. want.

Mitsura Koga

„From Stones, serendipitous finds I picked up on the seashore I make work pieces. (...) Whenever I come across stones, I ask them what processes they went through. (...) I add special care to natural objects with the hope that the artificial process counterpoints the naturalness more. Vice versa the process seems to me to search for the position of human beings in nature.“

- Mitsuru Koga about these Sea Stone Works

want want want

You should probably write more postcards.

There was a brief story in the New Yorker about a man living in the city with his wife, who has regularly been receiving anonymous postcards since 2003. Hundreds of them. They are usually black and white photographs with some pun about the image, and his name is always misspelled - but in a different way each time. Creepy? Maybe. But especially since they appear to be utterly harmless, I can't help but applaud the writer of these postcards for his or her discipline and generosity.

Speaking of postcards, people used to put infrastructure on postcards, like the ones collected in this book Boring Postcards, which looks even more boring in German:
I think there is no such thing as a boring postcard. It's not like you have to look at it for a very long time. What would an exciting postcard be? One of bronzed butts lined up on the beach in matching day-glo thongs?

Obviously, they should have called the book Interesting Postcards, but tooting your own horn like that just doesn't fly. Look at the great things inside:
Highways are cool. It's too bad the author of this book didn't just come out and say he agrees. Another place where people appreciate highways is the Infrastructurist. An amateur's guide to exploring how homo sapiens make their habitats functional. And what they call these highway intersection-formations:

The Clover Leaf.

The Full Y.

The Spaghetti Bowl. (I'm a fan.)

Matthew Barney, I still have a crush on you.

Apparently. Every time I look at the wall of straws in the recent Tara Donovan post, I just think, "My, this is nice, but it just reminds me of Matthew Barney. He has a way with whale blubber." Unfortunately there are precious few images of gloopy lipids online.

Electricity is Magical

It certainly seems that way when you look at these lamps, and that is why I love them. They were designed by Jeremy Pyles for Niche Modern.Just for fun, take a moment to imagine if you would be able to sufficiently explain electricity to an alien if the life of the human race depended on it. (You can omit the part with the murdering alien if you like.)

This reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law of predicition, which is as sensible as it is beautiful and gives me great hope that marvelously mind-boggling things are in store:
"3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

And that reminds me of Nikola Tesla as portrayed by David Bowie in The Prestige which was very good right up to the very end. Unfortunately, from my experience, this is rare in the science fiction genre. Maybe this one is so good because it's barely science fiction. Anyway, this one is worth seeing if you like magic and electricity:

Tara Donovan (coffee cups cont., sort of)

Styrofoam cups, straws, and stickers! Who would have thunk it.
Images from Ace Gallery.

Puzzles for aliens.

Coffee lids are beautiful variations on a theme. They are intriguing on their own, but even better together. If aliens came on by and saw these objects, I wonder if they could figure out what these are for!the coffee lids from a flickr set by sarcoptiform. Bread bag ties from day 107 of the "A Collection a Day" blog. Both via Swiss Miss :)

Nudibranch

(Pronounced "noo-dee-brank", as I just learned, although I still prefer the "brantsh" version I'm used to.) Everybody should be aware of these mollusks.

On a different note, I will try to start linking all the images to their original contexts to be fair to the originators. Often I just save screenshots and use them way later, but I will do my best. Here goes:

One of the Ugliest Things in Every Apartment

Aside from this fitting well into my accidental motto of late ("Tubular"), these cords by NUD are fantastic. Simple, beautiful, and much needed. And so many colors! And why not? After all, it's just a cable.

Which reminds me of something I almost bought on eBay recently. It was a vintage electrical cord, covered in a black fabric tube, with a brown Bakelite plug and a round light switch. I didn't buy it in the end, because it had Euro-plugs (I found it on the Austrian eBay site), but it reminded me how beautiful these parts can be. Those bits are the shameful shortcomings of many a lamp. Being a fan of plastics and especially the old ones, a sweet ol' Bakelite switch is something I wish I could use more often. Or a new one in seafoam by NUB.

Oh, lovely old junk on eBay. Unfortunately I don't have that picture anymore but I've found a few other things on there that convey the vibe.

Baby Tapir, I want to squeeze you.

Yes, this is going into the "plant friends" category. We don't need Avatar for quality animals. Although I wouldn't mind braiding up to one of those horse creatures...

This and many other things you want to get really close to from cuteoverload, which I visit far too often. Speaking of which, someone once told me that this is the substance (a hormone) which makes you (me) squeal with joy when we encounter very, very cute things and want to squeeze them until their eyes pop out:

"Oxytocin is best known for its roles in female reproduction: 1) it is released in large amounts after distension of the cervix and vagina during labor, and 2) after stimulation of the nipples, facilitating birth and breastfeeding, respectively. Recent studies have begun to investigate oxytocin's role in various behaviors, including orgasm, social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, trust, love, and maternal behaviors.^[2]" (wikipedia)



I don't know if it's true, but it would make sense if there is powerful stuff involved.

Knitting and Noodling (Combination of the Previous Two Posts, In a Way)

Phat Knits by Bauke Knotternus from the Netherlands. I believe this was his final project at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Furniture for my imaginary Dream Palace.

Maine Lobster Mat

These doormats are just beautiful. All the different colors should probably be used simultaneously. Somehow. These are pretty definitive of recycling:

"Each innovative doormat is handwoven in Maine with authentic float-rope originally used by lobstermen to tether their lobster traps. Unfortunately, float-rope can entangle whales, so Maine lobstermen are now required to replace their float-rope with "sink-rope". The old float-rope is being turned in, and rather than being dumped into landfills, the rope is being recovered and recycled into these unique doormats."

$34.95 is within reason at greendepot.com

Bernhard Willhelm with Camper Toðer

I was excited when I saw this ad in the Paper Magazine newsletter because I had forgotten! I saw a great shoe from Bernhard Willhelm + Camper months ago in an ad but was unable to find it anywhere on the Camper website. Just not on it. Guess what will happen if you try to find that one?

Well it turns out that since the other day, when I clicked on this ad in vain, being lead nowhere, finding nothing, Camper has gotten their shit together and followed up with some pictures online. I wish I could give you a link, but it's all flash. You will have to search yourself....but it's worth it. Look at these!

How things will go...

...and where I hope to celebrate my brithday in the future. I apologize for not being able to trace where this photograph came from. I've been saving it for a long time, on the old hard drive. Do click and see it in big.

Hot on the Heels of the previous post.

It's been 407 days since my last post. Will it make my poor neglected blog feel better if I say, "But I've been thinking about you..."? No. Obviously I must change my life.

Henceforth, the following things shall be found here:

• LBRB: the left brain, right brain imaginary shopping experience
  
• moss/trees/plants/nature/flora-related items
• WOW! things: the kind I like
  
• results of experiments with the thinking cap

This is the extent to which I can limit myself or rather, decide upon anything. I still hope it will be a tasty mixture of varied but complimentary ingredients that will turn into a stew you like to eat.

Hello?
Is there anybody out there?