I was writing a post for the greatest industrial design project posting site on the planet Yanko Design today and I happened upon an amazing quote. It’s the one you see above. It’s got LEGO in it. Sometimes things so simple as a recollection of someone else’s childhood ring such a true bell in you it brings a tear to your eye. That happened to me here. Not just about the building block toy, but about the knowing what’s fun and knowing what brings you joy as a kid remaining lit through to your adult life.

Thustly, I have made this LEGO post. It is full of LEGO.

The quote above comes from a multi-talented industrial designer by the name of James Howlett. He’s up in the UK and his online portfolio resides at http://jameshowlett.co.uk/ He’s got amazing ideas. Search for his name in quotes “James Howlett” on Yanko Design starting at midnight (that’s when the post I wrote will be posted) and check out how it all plays out. Hint: it’s rather do-it-yourself and oh Idunno… block inspired?

On a slightly side-note, I’ve heard people go nuts when other people say “LEGOS” because that’s technically not correct. This reminds me of the band The Prodigy aka Prodigy – called both things not because of mis-spoken terms, but because the guy in the band who was in charge of approving album designs saw that adding or subtracting the “THE” made for a clearer or more awesome message. That’s graphic design.

Now let’s look at some LEGOS.

Also BTW I was going to tabulate about how LEGO affected my life, but it’s incalculable. I would be a different person today if it weren’t for LEGO. Thank you LEGO for being there as a tool for me to teach ME how to build. Love and hearts forever.

The following photos come from the following photographers: DuneChaser, BatBoy2424, MSKogly, Eva The Weaver, Eddie Scholl, DZ Knight 2003, FATIMA, WunzTwice, Vintage LOVE, KendramCCracken, SavaTheAggie, AndTheMonkey, LetterB, Syclone16, Josh Ellingson, WarpDesign, GreenColander, Tim Ellis, PeriGirl, click0happy, jRittenHouse, JPob, Matt Downey, Sava The Aggie, Fraggle Rawker, CC Chapman, Kaptian Kobold, IAmAdam, splorp, UESC, bjmurphy234, Ben Spark, Dlofink, buttershug, LegoJunkie, and Jammarz. Thanks for LEGO lovelies!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category.

When you go into a graphic design project, especially when that project is something so simple as a poster, just a poster, you’ve got to go wild. By wild I don’t mean crazy, I mean wild. I mean you’ve got to throw a boomerang, see how far it can go, then catch it. Catch this. This is a poster as put together and made by designers at Aesthetically Loyal (Anthony Kolber). It’s a poster for a thing called “Yes Diggity!”

Here’s some official information from Aesthetically Loyal on the project:

This project formed the poster for Yes Diggity’s first birthday party at Miss Libertines. It was a literal progression of the brand into the physical realm. We formed a numeral one using the diamonds from the logo’s crown, constructed from folded pieces of cardboard, hand-folded, pasted onto our wall and photographed. The accompanying type treatment was an exercise in extending the concept of the monospaced font to a mono-hierarchical structure, forcing only colour and text decoration to highlight the degrees of importance within the information.

That’s heavy! It’s almost a “trick” constructing something amazing, taking a photo of it, turning it then into a poster. But it’s not. It’s a real thing. it’s not a trick at all, it’s just a really awesome method for making something fantabulous.

Head on over to the Aesthetically Loyal online portfolio to take a peek at their info and/or to see if they’ve got anything newer (or older!) out there to see: http://aestheticallyloyal.com/ – it’s hot. OR if you’d like to contact them directly, hang a left over to ae @ aestheticallyloyal.com for an email adventure.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies color category.

Those gray flyers you see walking around your feet, picking up the crumbs, landing on your face if your face looks like a reasonable place to land. Yeah, those pigeons. That’s what’s going on here. These are the artworks of one Laurel Roth as represented by Frey Norris, Packer Schopf, and Schroeder Romero Galleries. Each of these birds is part of set called “Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons.” That means Roth takes pigeons (hand carved mannequins), sets them on stands, and crochets yarn coats for them to look totally and wholly fancy in. Everyone loves a little fancification, right?

Even dirty birds like to feel loved and to look super sassy.

From the Biodiversity Reclamation Suits for Urban Pigeons, the bird you see above is the green-coated “Carolina Parakeet.” This is the newest bird, this set beginning in 2007 and continuing on to 2010 (and hopefully beyond.) The dimensions and ingredients of this bird (and basically the rest of the birds in the set are as thus:

crocheted yarn, hand carved pigeon mannequin, walnut stand
8 x 9 x 13 in.
20 x 23 x 33 cm.

Below you’ll see several other birds, each of them with a different name: Dodo, Passenger Pigeon, Ivory Billed Woodpecker, and of course that Carolina Parakeet. This is the sort of settling into the art that I’m loving seeing at this point in our sharing internet history. I speak occasionally on these internets of the art movement were in right now, the one that’s tied directly into the graphic design acceptance boom and internetting life we’re quickly becoming fully accustomed to. You can see the understanding of the people this project is going to reach, but you can feel the confidence and calmness in the project too.

What I mean is some projects I post here on WFDJ know their audience for sure, but take that understanding hardcore, not reeling back the project into the real world. Take the 365 Stormtroopers project. It’s wild, it’s wonderful, it’s now. In 10, 20 years, it’s still going to be cute, but the impact, its strongest point, isn’t going to be there anymore. Where Stormtrooper action figure photos take heart in their surprising comedy, these birds come correct in a very “this is excellent” manner.

Great craft, great execution, very aesthetically pleasing, and still it has the initial impact, but one that I don’t think is going to fade over time. It’s always going to be strange seeing human-crafted pseudo-clothing covered pigeon.

Especially if that clothing is a Dodo costume.

If you’d like to get in contact with Laurel Roth, head on over to the LR contact page or touch base with any of the following galleries which represent: Schroeder Romero Gallery in New York, Frey Norris Gallery in San Francisco, and Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies outer space category.

Today (I wrote this a few days ago) I hear the sad news that one of the ultimate original players in the Graffiti and Hip-hop world has kicked the bucket. “RAMM::ELL::ZEE” or Rammellzee as he was called died today [June 27, 2010] whilst, if the rumors are true, he was doing math equations in none other than his home town and city, Far Rockaway, Queens, New York. How unbelievably appropriate for one of the most mathematically sound wild-style artists of many generations. The first I ever heard of him, he was being described in the Graffiti documentary film “Style Wars,” his paintings of weapon-clad letters being shown by his pal Dondi, another king.

In humble celebration of the passing of Ram, I and we present to you a gallery of armored letters, operators that blow the lids off all that they encounter. Rest in peace, Zee.

“The letter is armed to stop all the phony formations, lies, and tricknowlegies placed upon its structure.” – RAM EL ZEE

Rammel is an enigma. An eternally complicated graffiti man who, according to wikipedia, revealed in an interview that his name meant heavy, heavy stuff – derived from “RAM” plus “‘M’ for ‘Magnitude’, ‘Sigma’ (Σ) the first summation operator, first ‘L’ – ‘longitude’, second ‘L’ – ‘latitude’, ‘Z’ – ‘z-bar’, Σ, Σ – ‘summation’.”

Dondi speaking about a work with Ram in a Style Wars “scene extra”:

And that’s just the tip of this metal, mental iceberg. Look for some videos of this crazy brilliant man if you dare. He’s wild. Above begins and below continues the gallery including a couple of works by Ram himself (above being a “B” by Ram owned by a private party), plus a bunch of paintings by adventurers that were inspired without a doubt by Ram’s life in one way or another. Have a feast on these giant masterpieces in his honor.

Where appropriate, the filenames of the letters in the gallery below will lead you to their sources. Due to the super-futuristic nature of Ramm Ell Zee, I expect you to know how to access that information. Internets, graffiti, letters with weapons. Activate!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies lettering category.

This project reminds me of one of the first things I ever posted under the World Famous Design Junkies name, another cross with cash in mind, the Ticker Cross. This one’s sort of the analog version of that one, a severely simple message in a piggy bank the shape of a cross. Put your coins in there and remind yourself of the bad parts of the Catholic faith! It even has a little piggy tail on the butt.

This lovely bank is made by Wyatt Little aka Heck yes Design. It goes by the name of one of my favorite Slayer songs: “Jesus Saves.” I bet he would have saved if he weren’t chosen to be the son of God. That’s a big responsibility and demands a life without coins. Sandals only. No plastic.

This cross isn’t in production yet, but when it is, you can bet I’ll be gripping it with my slimy claw fingers, filling it with my gold coins from the gray market.

Contact Little through his http://www.behance.net/WyattLittle Behance contact form or visit his excellent portfolio at http://wyattlittle.com/. Updates!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies kawaii category.

How does one flatten the world? Everybody whose working on artwork and designwork today is trying to make the world smaller for themselves. It’s making connections, taking confusion away from the world, figure things out for other people AND themsleves so that the environment they live in is simpler. The person we’re speaking about right here in this thread’s got the world pushed down and flattened – almost. Not that he didn’t make it the whole way, no! He stopped pushing right before the end to reach his means! This project is called “Foreshortened Space” and it’s done in wood by Ron van der Ende.

It’s brilliance.

Now this is wood construction, all put together, 3D, done so fabulous it’s an optical illusion. But it’s gotta be deeper than just that trick. This is gorgeous. Each of the works you see here are only the newest of a series of works that spans back a few excellent years now. Each of these works in the gallery are inside the last 12 months, most of them from 2010.

Then, double down! This guy mister Ron van der Ende has a very similar viewpoint of self-empowerment on the internets, take a read:

This website [http://ronvanderende.nl/] was built blogstyle in WordPress by Ron van der Ende with a homemade theme and some WP plugins (Fast and Secure Contact Form, Home Page Link, My Category Order, My Page Order and xili-tidy-tags). The theme was created with the help of this tutorial and a lot of playing around with the css style sheet). I think visual artists should consider taking charge of their own (web)representation as a natural part of their field.

And why not?

Its cheap, quite (but not too) easy and just plain fun!

As you may have guessed, http://ronvanderende.nl/ is where you can see more works by Ende. It’s a really simple, tops online portfolio. If you’d like to just mail him straight away, shoot an email to http://ronvanderende.nl/?page_id=148 – that’s his contact form.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies wood category.

Perhaps you know that Japan is a wild and crazy place. Perhaps you know that. Something you also maybe know is that generally their autos, because of the congestion in their small world, are also small. What you may NOT know is that sometimes they get big. Really big. I mean like semi-truck big. And when they do, (not always, but I WISH always,) they go wild. Mister Roger Snider has a camera. Mister Roger Snider went to take some photos. Mister Roger Snider got some bright lights.

Mister Roger Snider goes more often by the name Roger Snider, and works with his fantastical set of photos he calls “Ultra Rigs of the World” or UROTW. This set of photos spans back to the late 1990s, with these seriously fantastically amazing ones still popping up today. In fact, the set you see above and below is his latest set, taken on a journey to Japan in May 2010.

A few words from Snider:

My 1st trip out of the country this year led me back to Japan. Capitalizing on my shoots from back in 2008, I really dove deeper into the culture this time. I also brought my Profoto strobe with me to shoot portraits and interiors. I think you can see the upgrade in production value.

What these trucks are called, or what the act of making these trucks is called is Dekotora. According to this wiki article, it’s believed that the first “Truck Guys (トラック野郎 Torakku Shōnen)” (1976) movie was the source of this modern Dekotora lifestyle, or at least the first boom of it. This “Truck Guys” movie (and its 7 sequels) was put out by the Toei company, a favorite of mine because they’re responsible for the ultra-gory cult-classic “Battle Royale” (2000). Each of these trucks of course has their own individual aesthetic, the opportunity for customization super-high now compared to when this fabulous hobby / lifestyle began in the 70′s. Back then it was hardcore, find the pipes and lights from wherever you could find them. Now there’s manufacturers and custom shops that’ve got the skills to do the deals.

Below you’ll see Snider’s May 2010 Japan set. It’s hot. It’s amazing. It’s trucks with so many lights on them that you wont know what to do with yourself when you see them.

It takes a special kind of person in an amazing sort of financial situation to create one of these rigs. The style and grace you can very obviously see in every one of these trucks is, thought it’d seem the opposite here, not easy to come by. It takes not only vision and skill, but craftsmanship and a LOT of dedication as well. Any project that’s had this amount of time put into it deserves a big hard look, handshake, and even a hug. The same goes for Snider, whom without, I and you might never have seen such magnificence. Thank you Snider, and please PLEASE continue to do this.

You can contact Roger Snider at roger@ultrarigsoftheworld.com, find him at his WordPress blog and leave him a nice comment, or take a peek at his fabulous portfolio site at http://ultrarigsoftheworld.com/ for real.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies custom culture category.

Look through these images using our sassy new gallery mode!

So I’m sure you’re aware that once an appliance sort of… runs its course, and you’re not really using it much anymore because it doesn’t work so well, or it doesn’t keep the ice cream as cold as it used to, it swallows the energy. It swallows a BUNCH of energy, and you’re paying for it. And you don’t like that, right? Well check it out. There’s a place that can take care of that for you, and they’re affiliated with puppets. Puppets, you say? Yes. Big furry ones. Terrifying puppets from HELL.

They’re more insane than they are hellbound, but they’re definitely creepy. These are the creatures created by Furry Puppet Studio for commercials that’ll be made for PECO electric company. PECO is the group that I just spoke about, the ones who’ll take your electricity hungry giants away for you. You’ll wish they were real. You’re already wishing they were real. Perhaps they could grab a soda for you when you didn’t want to get up.

EDIT: The commercials themselves are filmed by Tierny ad agency.

You know what they remind me of? Chairy the Chair. Or any of the other hundred wild animate pieces of furniture that Pee Wee Herman keeps at his Playhouse. But these are heavy. By that I mean they’re totally amazingly well made, researched and executed.

Take a peek at the images in the gallery below and if you’re in a place where you can listen to sound, watch the making-of video they just uploaded too. Neat stuff! And what an odd subject, yes? When’s the last time you discussed puppet design and creation with your cohorts? Interesting subject.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies moving parts category.

For when you plan on fighting Fraggles, more than likely. This is what you need to get business done. This particular set of knuckles is made out of sterling silver and quartz crystals, it’s an art project by the wonderfully genius designer artist Debra Baxter. It’s just the sort of thing you think of a hundred times in a day, but you just never get out there to pick up those crystals from the crystal emporium. You know? Thumbs up for execution, for doing it, and doing it well. Harvest with your eyeballs this and a small load of extra projects by Baxter in the gallery below, whistling while you work.

I can’t imagine your wrist would be in any sort of good shape once you insert this into the mouth of your enemies. Maybe if you actually ARE fighting Fraggles.

They go down easy.

Crystal Brass Knuckles (I am going to realign your chakras motherf*****)
Quartz crystals, sterling silver
7 x 6 x 2.5 in

Debra Baxter is responsible for a huge sack of projects, each of them made with such methods as glass blowing, metalworking, and alabaster sculpting. What you’re about to devour is the Crystal Brass Knuckles as well as the earlier projects from over the past 12 months or so. She’s been rocking for several years now. Really heavy stuff.

Once you’re done here, contact Baxter by emailing debrabaxter@gmail.com and/or visit her portfolio page to explore all of her older works! It’s all very fabulous work of a very lovely sort: http://www.debrabaxter.com/ – get rocky!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category.

Hello everyone, it’s me, your humble narrator in this epic story called World Famous Design Junkies. In this post I present a project of my own. In addition to being a writer on the topic of design futures and pasts, I like to make my own things from time to time. Projects I do generally end up being flat, but today I’ve got a 3D item for you: some customized sneakers. This is the first pair I’ve ever worked on, painting them using leather paints and working off an iconic car model by the name “General Lee.”

They burn so much rubber.

These sneakers are size US MAN size 10 and use the original sneakers, sole pads, and are painted with Angelus brand leather paints. Angelus paints are the hot stuff. Super sexy.

Above and below you’ll see detail shots from every essential angle, plus a few inessential angles also.

Ideally, eventually, the tongues will play this tune upon pressing:

Enjoi.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies wearable category.

The most excellent sculpture I ever built in art school was one I made out of free wood glue and wood scraps from the scrap wood bin. All free, all A+. That’s sort of, in a way, what’s going on here with these newest works of wood and paint magic by Shawn Smith. Plywood, acrylic paint, and sometimes ink. That’s what these masterworks are made of. The heads of animals is what they replicate. The eyeballs of the elite are what they attract.

Your dollars is what they HOPE to attract. Buy them, gallery owners. I must see more! The only way for an artist to have the amount of time it takes to construct these things is if they’ve got the cash to eat dinner! So gallery owners, I say again, support Shawn Smith! This whole wood chippies glued together idea is fantastic!

The gallery below is in chronological order by year. Each year, starting in 2005, there are several works which were produced throughout the year. The gallery is ordered top to bottom, the newest ones at the bottom. Then after the gallery of individual projects, you’re going to see a set of images that all look alike, all of them with buzzards attacking an office. This is the bigger project of Smith’s dealing with these woodies. It’s called Vicious Venue and it’s a total bird attack!

Take a look at some words from Smith on the project:

Vicious Venue My recent work explores my interest in birds of prey as a source of conceptual inspiration and analogy. I am fascinated by vultures and the visceral way most people react to them. For my exhibition at Lawndale Art Center, I asked the question, “What would a digital vulture eat if it was somehow trapped inside this reality?” Vicious Venue is a sculptural installation consisting of a group of life-size pixelated vultures devouring an analog office full of obsolete technologies (like a typewriter, rolodex, and a rotary phone). The viewer becomes an intruder into the space, as if they are stumbling into the middle of the ongoing carnage as the vultures pick the office’s carcass clean. The title of the exhibition, Vicious Venue, refers to the double meaning of “venue” as both a place, and a group of vultures.

Scary. Again Vicious Venue is at the bottom of the gallery in it’s entirety.

To follow the further artworks and designworks of mister Shawn Smith, find him at his portfolio page, the gallery that represents him in Dallas: Craighead Green, or the gallery that represents him in Austin: DBerman Gallery.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bits category.

Over at one of the most wonderful places on Earth, the Happy Seamstress Pattern Company, they are having a fabulous little contest for whose best at crafting. The subject matter? Mario. Or everything in the Nintendo universe. And even that rule is broken sometimes. But it’s all in excellent fun, and in most cases, thread and needle bliss! So take a peek, all ye crafty peoples, for below we’ve got not just the future winners, but the entire contest entry bin! Everything, including the terrible ones!

JK there are no terrible ones. Just some that… just can’t win.

The Happy Seamstress holds contests every once in a while, and they’re not the crappy kind where the company basically rips you off by paying you squat for what you could get lots more cash for, no! The H.S. holds contests for fun fantastic items you’ve made for yourself, or in many cases, for your kids, and congratulates you on a job well done, no more, no less! That’s how design contests SHOULD be run.

Remember folks, work for full pay or work for free, NEVER work for cheap. Discounts are for the people who sell the items, not for the transaction between designer and corp. Happy Seamstress seems to understand this well, and I congratulate them!

Also they’re getting prepared to have a pattern store to run alongside their very excellent blog, and I bet it’s going to be just chock full of wonderful products so everyone go buy!

Also I should mention that not only is there cross-stitching and knitting going on in this contest, it’s limited only to the word “craft” basically so it’s everything. Clay to iron-together beads. There’s a Tri-Force earring and Space Invader magnets.

Love it all. All of it love.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies arcade category.

I might have to start a “moments in brilliance” category for this package cause there’s only one pic, but it’s magfantriffic! Made by the designer Daniel Costas over in Guarda-Pontevedra, Spain. It’s a package of chocolates! Employing the excellent concept of one whole being made up of a bunch of delicious parts, this box is smart AND pleasing in a bunch of ways. It’s made for the Visual Trans group, a company that focuses on… business… software… solutions? Idunno. Something like that. Chocolate!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies gridwork category.

This is a portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci by the fantastic painter Saimir Strati, based on the portrait done by Leonardo Da Vinci, done in hundreds and hundreds and thousands of nails. In fact, there’s so many nails in this picture, it holds the world, the WORLD record for Largest Nail Mosaic according to the Guinness book of World Records. Imagine the amount of pounding that had to be done. Imagine the amount of WEIGHT this thing has in it. Imagine how much money you could get at the recycling plant for all that lovely metal!

But nay, this is worth more than money, yes? Yes!

Nails: 400 kg, industrial weight
Size: 2 meter by 4 meter wooden surface

World Record for Largest Nail Mosaic

I’m not quite sure where it’s sitting right now, but gosh I’d sure like to see it up close. It’s fun enough to pound nails into wood to connect the two, it must be just a blast to create magnificent pictures such as this with them.

This is another example of a project that was completed several years ago (4 years before this post was posted, in this case,) but the photos were only released to the world very recently. These sorts of situations often end up being my very favorite projects because they were so fantabulous that their impact had to be delayed lest the internet collapse on itself! That’s just how the world is today.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies metal category.

The loveliness of crayon packaging is something many folks only experience and appreciate if they have a child born unto them. Or if they get a kid, have a kid, live near a kid, any of that fun stuff. But I say to you, this much is true: designing the packaging of a crayon box should be high on the list of dreams for any fun-loving graphic magician, especially if they don’t have to work for the god group Crayola. Everyone knows that if you wanna be cool as a kid, you need Crayola crayons. This is of course due to their ultra-godly power in branding mostly, then just a bit because of their product quality.

Take a peek at these other… what you might call… “losers.”

Here’s were worlds collide. One wants to create a strong brand as a designer, but then if you’ve got mercy on the world, you don’t want that brand to annihilate the entirety of the competition. Many of the brand crayons you’ll see in this gallery were wiped off the earth not BY Crayola but certainly BECAUSE of it.

Take a peekie at the cool colors and smart/cute boxes and tins they sit in.

This gallery is part of an ever-growing collection of boxes and tins collected by the fabulous documentarian photographer Christian Montone, whose name I thought at first was Monotone, and now think he should consider changing his name to better suit my wishes for a more AWESOME world. Check his galleries out for fabulous collections galore! All the photos below are done by him, and he more than likely owns all the crayons. Neat!

+there’s a couple paints in there. Sneak’d ya!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies color category.

All you hellbound cats, let me tell you what the fanciest amongst you brings to the party with the Mad Metal Hatter – this teapot. Pour from it your motor oil and glasses of greasy slick. Sticking feathers in your butt doesn’t make you a chicken, but incorporating mechanics into your body DOES make you a machine. “You’re a machine, baby” my high school art teacher used to tell students when they seemed to be doing hard work. Designer Richard Symons is a machine. Designer Richard Symons made this coffee pot.

This “Robo Tea Pot” is only the newest in a line of fabulously constructed, molded, and poured in resin set of mechanistic sculptures by Symons. Each of these represents an alternate reality, one that we imagine now to be the future of our culture. This is what the folks who worked on Star Wars and Blade Runner would call the “Used Future.” One that’s not clean, smooth, polished, but closer to a semi-truck stop. Not dirty, but certainly functional. Dings, cuts, and chips.

These metal amalgamations work like the Death Star, or an H.R.Giger painting – model kit after model kit of boxes, circles, pads, bits, all for texture, aesthetics, and since it’s so simple to understand as hyper-overly-machined, the look of these pieces is in place simply to move the idea as an understandable one.

So, each piece, as an understandably “machined” object, then must be interpreted as the object it is without the metal. The teapot you see above? There’d be no reason to have all that machinery on a pot for tea. Then there’s the skull. Devil if that doesn’t say something about our modern world. Putting anything on a skull says something intrinsic about the human condition.

Take a peek at the rest of these here, then keep your ear to the streets for the new ones coming out in the future by Symons. Excitement for the machined-look collector culture!

If you’d like to contact Richard Symons, mail him through his portfolio website. He’s got these on sale, and if I’m not mistaken, he takes commissions too. And since he’s not the most famous artist in the world, these pieces are extremely reasonably priced. Metal.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies metal category.

This is a project called “Paradise Now” by the magically delicious Krištof Kintera, an installation artist of some note. He rides and charges around in Berlin on these magical beasts, here caught several times unawares in their natural and unnatural habitats. Each of these beasts is made of zinc coated steel and could be coming your way soon!

Actually they’re probably staying in Berlin, as that is their natural habitat, and I don’t see any world-level plate shifts coming any time soon. Where have all the buffalo gone?

These metal monster represent a nature cum metal situation. When the humans of the world find the need to turn natural bits of the Earth into roadblocks, surely there will be consequences. If there’s such a thing as magic in the world, the magic of nature even turned up to 11, there will be metal turned animal like these. They will run rampant and unhinged, taking whatever their hive mind tells them! And they don’t even need to eat grass or anything! Unstoppable.

That said, these do look like a lovely installation piece that I’d love to have in my future museum that maybe I’ll someday have. Or we.

World Famous Design Junkies Museum of Oddities – what do you think?

TO get in contact with the artist behind these babies, shoot an email over to kristof@jednotka.cz, or one of the galleries that represents him, gallery@jirisvestka.com or info@schleicherlange.com, or of course go visit Kintera’s portfolio site which is lovely.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies metal category.

Renaissance people are amazing. Andrea Hayward is a person such as that. Designer, artist, maybe even architect! Hayward is a master at whatever project in need to creative interpretation that comes her way. And what’v we got here? Keys. Lots of keys. The project you see above is called “Pure Gold” and is the newest in what I hope is a long series of key-grid installations, the first of which was just done late 2009. Upcycling yay!

There’s three projects here, all by Andrea Hayward, all done in the past year, the newest one being “Pure Gold.” The middle project is an untitled one, one I’d call “USED / TNAW” – this one was exhibited at a show called “UpCycling: Recuperating Past Lives” that took place May 8th – May 23rd, 2009 at the Tartar Gallery in Toronto Canada. Then the last, the oldest project is “Come Up To My Room.”

This last project has the most interesting concept, if you ask me, as it’s installed along a staircase and invites the user to interact with this subtitle: “the trade a key/leave a key/spare a key” and “Come Inside / don’t call me again.” Being able to take home part of any sort of installation art is always going to get a thumbs up from me. Love to collect. Love to have.

And how about the use of a single object in duplicate? The collecting and arranging and sometimes even the displaying of objects that’ve got a common denominator is one of the most important activities a designer can do to keep their skills at a peak. It’s next to creation in it’s importance. Having collected a stack of posters, and having practiced making posters for some time, these are the tenants of the house of excellent design.

Poster design, anyway.

Peek at these keys, for they are the keys to a fabulous installation project with a heavily amazing project with lots of potential to spawn beyond itself.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies gridwork category.

Today there was a bit of a meeting, that one they call Keynote, Apple Keynote 2010: WWDC. In it, Steve Jobs announced of course some big newsy news, that being the new iPhone, called iPhone 4, named the new generation of technology in the world, said to be able to cure cancer and get me a perfect cup of Earl Gray, hot. But none of that matters. What DOES matter is the detail that was perhaps, probably, first pointed out by the fellow Arnold Kim, writer for several mac-hungry publications, he was there and had the eyeballs to spot it first. Can you see it yet? It’s pretty plain to see.

Hint! You can turn it. Or rather, you can turn THEM. There’s screws in that there iPhone! That’s amazing, that’s fabulous, that’s the most excellent thing I’ve seen come out of Apple in years.

UPDATE: Apparently I’m an idiot. Lulz. They had some screws on the 3G model. But you know what? I don’t take back anything I said besides that the 4 is the first. It’s not, but the fact that it’s got screws is still really neato. -APPLE IDIOT OUT

I read a MAKE list of rules for devices that every manufacturer should adhere to, the most important rule being “If I can’t open it, I don’t own it.”

The first iPhone(s) and iBook(s) were closed, hard, shut. Unopenable but by hard force.

I’ve got a MacBook that’s worked for several years now and I’ve got several Apple towers that I’d never toss, know why? They’ve got screws that turn quite easily. I can put new memory in there, I’ve been doing it for a long time, and until they break due to an accidental glass of honey spilled inside, they’re going to remain useful for a very VERY long time. I’ve got one working as a media center (read: movie player) right now.

I cannot wait to see what can be done with this bit of openable technology.

Hooray!

NOTE: You’d have seen no update here for this except for those screws. Believe it.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies deconstruction category.

All good things must fade away. Or rot. That’s why you’ve got to get out there and photograph them. So everyone can hoard them! In this case, it’s about food. How could a person possibly wear a helmet made of cauliflower? This is a question that everyone should be asking themselves, especially if they’re in the fashion industry, as true fruits, vegetables, and dead animals, are really pretty! And should, by all means, be worn as jewelry. That’s what designer / photographer Fulvio Bonavia thought, and thinks, and thusly made happen. This set of photos is called “A Matter of Taste.”

These sorts of fashionable bits have existed, often executed poorly by those with more imagination than craftsmanship. However, they HAVE been translated quite well into such things as dresses and shoes. An excellent, albeit strange example of this is the watermelon knitted sweater by Sirena con Jersey. Another really fabulous example is the popcorn bucket dress by Nicole Linder. Of course neither of these are made out of any REAL fruits or popped vegetables, but they’re cute, right?

The next step I think is absurdly designed sneakers. Maybe just painted up a bit.

But until then…

What you’re about to view in the gallery below is only a small sampling of the cornucopia of foods translated as clothing as photographed by Bonavia. When one thinks of it, one wonders why things such as this have not been executed with as much skill in the past. It must just take the right combination of brain power and availability of action. Also it’s gotta be the right season for the farmers to grow these things.

NOTE: These items are now part of a published book by the same name “A Matter of Taste.” Fulvio Bonavia was inundated with requests so often that he collected all the images together in a fabulous presentation book, available wherever in the world you might find it for sale, you lucky dog you.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies deconstruction category.

Wayyy too many commas in this post. Lulz.

So graphic design and poster printing team Aesthetic Apparatus is ten years old. …wait a second, weren’t they ten years old LAST YEAR? Yes, yes they were. That’s why there’s an exhibition at the MCAD gallery here in Minneapolis that’s going by the name “AAXI: A DECADE OF AESTHETIC APPARATUS, ONE YEAR LATE.” View MCAD-approved photos of the opening night below.

Words from AA/MCAD about what’s going on here:

The distinctive, hand-printed concert posters of Aesthetic Apparatus duo Dan Ibarra and Michael Byzewski have garnered international acclaim since 1998. In 2002, Aesthetic Apparatus became a full-fledged, award-winning studio, completing a spectrum of design projects in addition to the posters they loved to produce. “Aesthetic Apparatus: 10 Years, 1 Year Late” showcases their many treasured “artifacts” from the past 10 years as well as a collection of their acclaimed work.

Ibarra and Byzewsk have created for such clients as Blue Q, Stella Artois, Harper Collins, The Economist, and Criterion Collection and for such bands as Cake, Frank Black, Spoon, The Hold Steady, The New Pornographers, Dinosaur Jr., and Grizzly Bear. Their work has been featured in Print, Step Into Design, Communication Arts, Creative Review, HOW, Rolling Stone, Swindle, Jane, and ReadyMade Magazine, along with heavy handfuls of design book publications and the rock poster bible The Art of Modern Rock.

Start Time: Friday, May 28, 2010 at 6:00pm
End Time: Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 6:00pm
Location: Minneapolis College of Art And Design – Main Gallery
Street: 2501 Stevens Avenue
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN

Ohh and there’s an audio guide! I wish there were an audio guide for every big (and tiny) event I attend in my life. Think of the possibilities!

AAXI: Ten Years of Aesthetic Apparatus audio tour available for download here: www.aestheticapparatus.com/AAXI.zip

Slap it onto yer MP3 player and bring it to the event!

OR

Call 612.435.3316 to listen to the audio at the event!

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY MAY 28TH 2010 • 6PM • MCAD MAIN GALLERY

Below you’ll find a small collection of photos taken by MCAD photographer Amalia Nicholson on the night of the opening. Highlights: the big moosey, original hand-written business plan (not pictured), and the big huge GIANT wall of prints – one that goes up several stories into the school.

Go cheque it out!

BONUS: Also included below (first in the gallery) is the postcard used to call the city in to have a nice opening party. It uses a nice photo of the fellows also shown in the show.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebration category.

When I first remember the idea being thrown around that someday we’d have little to no print, that being a world where we’d be able to transmit all of our ideas digitally, I remember the word being “awesome!” there’ll be no waste! Right? Do you remember having this conversation with everyone? No need to waste ink, just use your computer to get all your info, save the world! But now we’re getting there. We’re maybe even within reaching space of eliminating paper and print in a major way, but wait! says we, wait a second! What about making posters and handbills, what about the neatness of having a piece of print in your hands? And what about all those hockey cards?

Artist Laren DiCioccio addresses this all in a big handful of teeny, tiny swoops with her extended “sewn” works.

Your brain will benefit from a read of DiCioccio’s artist statement:

My work investigates the physical/tangible beauty of commonplace mass-produced media-objects, most recently: the newspaper, magazines, office papers and writing pads, plastic bags, 35 mm slides. These media are becoming obsolete, replaced by the invisible efficiency of various technologies. In some cases, this transition is a good thing- faster transmission and distribution of information, streamlined systems, openness to user input, less waste. But a hole is left behind by the disappearance of these everyday objects. What will happen when we no longer touch information? When newsprint does not rub off onto our fingertips? When we no longer write longhand?

The tedious handiwork and obsessive care I employ to create my work aims to remind the viewer of these simple but intimate pieces of everyday life and to provoke a pang of nostalgia for the familiar physicality of these objects.

What you’re about to view are the contents of two projects by the one known as DiCioccio. The first in the gallery is the “sewnnews” project. This is a project done over daily news articles, the New York Times to be exact – this project has been going on for several years now, only put onto the internet very recently. The newest works are from 2010.

Then you’re going to see a bunch of slides. This second project is known as “35mm sewnslides” and is done in a very similar vein as the news. But while the paper is sewn into a casing of hand-embroidered cotton muslin, the slides are instead embroidered directly onto the fragile bridal organza. In both cases, the final product has threads left to hang out in the wind. Loving, lovely strands of color.

Fragility, nostalgia, ritualistic beauty.

Currently Laren DiCioccio is represented by:
Jack Fischer Gallery
49 Geary Suite 440
San Francisco, CA 94108
www.jackfischergallery.com

So be sure to get in contact with them if you’re gonna want to get in contact with her!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies 3D category.

Yays the fellow called Kaws, also known as Brian Donnelly is in this month’s edition (May 2010) of Interview Magazine. The cover has Madonna with a red painted cross on an image of her face. In celebration, it’s time for a master-blaster of Kaws-related pics. Blaster. Master. A collection right here and now, below, in no particular order, for the greater good of understanding the simplicity of his genius superstrokes. It’s all in the single line. The one that goes from fat to thin. Doubled up, placed on the face. Placed on the glove. Perfection.

You see the x x eyes? They are key. Elements to also look for are the teeth, the row of the teeth, and the sharp, black curved line. Outline. Below you’re going to find photos that span the whole art career of Kaws, from when he began spraying that name, “KAWS,” to now, when he’s doing very well for himself with his own brand and lots of artshows and toys and products. Everything a design-minded artist individual could want in this modern world.

If you love Kaws, and are unaware of how to find the continued works of him and his companies, take a look at this limited list. It’s super fabulous:
http://www.kawsone.com/blog/ Donnelly’s blog on Donnelly’s site.
http://blog.honeyee.com/kaws/ Donnelly’s blog on Honeyee’s site.
BBCIceCream Kaws tag archive at blog written by Pharrell Williams and crew.
http://fuckyeakaws.tumblr.com/ infinite updates of random KAWS images

Now take a hefty set of clickings through this vast* set. *Vast, yet limited, when compared to the true group of Kaws creations that are in the world. Variations on a theme, and hundreds and hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. At least hundreds of variations, thousands of items. Domination of the street art conscious world. This planet anyway.

Peeks!

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebritarianism category.

This is a print collaboration pre-drawing by two masters of weirdness. Designer / artist / illustrator the both of them. First there’s Stefan Super A, a sculptor and painter also who makes great big giant things that you’ll be seeing in the gallery below, too. Then there’s Emilski, whose got a knack for drawing, and whose drawings in the gallery below I’m sure you’ll be able to identify. Together these titans have creating this masterful work of fabulous bullets and bombs all aimed right at your face! This image (seen above) goes by the name “NO HOPE” and will be a print sometime in the near future (2010 I hope!)

It’s got so many bullets. So many bombs. Look at the mass amount of death heading toward the heavens. Peek and see them all out, see each of the little men and ladies in this purely black and white masterpiece here, and awe at it.

Guns and faces! They’re all aimed and ready. They’re also all maddened or joyous, all ready to die or kill for the fun of it! Hang loose!

Glance at this image and the magnifications, then browse the rest of the gallery below for more works done by both artists. There’s two paintings that show the stylistic approach of Emilski, then there’s a bunch of sculpturistic paintings and sculptures as designed by Super A colors, application, eyeballs, every bit of it fabulous. Love it.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies black and white category.

Although the title of this post suggests that you’d be crusing down the interstate in what’s about to be presented here, I wouldn’t recommend it. Right here we’ve got one frajabulous vehicle that’ been around for overy 60 years. In that time, this most excellent zoomer, the Piaggio “Ape”, has taken on only a few different shapes, and many many different colors. Popular to paint because of their small size and relative inexpensiveness compared to other smaller vehicles, these Apes don’t only come in black and white. Pronounced “ah-peh.” The name in Italian means the same and the flying insect bee. Fun. Lovely. Excellent.

These remind one very much of the Kei vans we did a post on a bunch of months ago. Both very small, very cute, and very versatile when it comes to the possibilities for their unique size and shape. The first thought that comes to mind when you see one of these Ape cars is that they must be delivering pizza.

If you agree OR don’t agree with that, just take a look at the pizza delivery pods that the folks from my home city drive to deliver their “Galactic Pizza.” Small, speedy, cute, and best of all electric powered. The Apes in this gallery could use a bit more electrics and a few fewer gasolines, but that’s not the point at the moment.

The point at the moment IS the color, the variety of shape and use, and the overall super neatness!

This set is made up of contributions from the following photographers: Alexie Ballyhoo (above), J Helland, Unique View, Homer, Blubrando, Maurizio Boi, Bayernernst, Classic Copenhagen, Joost ijmuiden, Jovike, JensKramer, Trigger Retro Road Test, Turtle 50, Stephan Schmatz, Schockwellenreiter, Ciccio Pizzettaro, Jörg Kantel, RayNYC, Nathalierokx, Brr1940, Jelltex, Loungerie, Filigiake, Gebiblu, ApeLover81, Spidey 1978, Lu81 (this is the same APE as the one pictured above, photographed by Lu81 instead, Dr LopTop, CamilleouZoé, Alberto DF, JHelland, Gerald Smythe, Mrs Moloko, LuisaLuisa, RayNYC, Stijn, ApeLover81, and DEFINITELY be sure to check out the flicker group Planet of the APEs, as it is an ever-expanding collection of these funky runners, and the folks in that group love love love it.

AND additionally, there’s been a tip-off to this fabulous APE flying around London serving fresh and fabulous hotness to unsuspecting, then satisfied customers: Brewed Boy! — check this blog and/or head down to the bottom of the gallery for a pic of BB’s custom-painted green APE.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies automotive category.

A little under a year ago was the last time I or we wrote anything about the artist / designer / wild animal known as AJ Fosik. Well I’m here to tell you: AJ Fosik rain in blood wasn’t over. It isn’t done. Last time you saw AJ Fosik there were mass amounts of beasts made in bright colors of painted wood over at White Walls. This time there are no walls. There are only bodies covered in what I can only describe as the most kitschtastic sweaters ever knitted. Each of them represents it’s own classic brand of beer. What a collection.

Fosik is slightly unclear on how these were attained, but each of them seems to have been a real in-production sweater knitted for the company by the company. For the beer drinker.

A word or two from the artist:

Promotional knit beer sweaters from the 70s and 80s. All of these sweaters were unearthed by me, rescued from moldy basements, plucked from dingy backwaters and ripped from the backs of greasy shitleopards. Unfortunately none of these trophies are for sale.

Please take a moment to inspect these massively appropriate for nowhere sweaters. They are fabulous, they are miraculous. To promote one’s favorite beer with their own clothing is one thing, wearing a bit of promotional material in which each stitch had to be well-layed-out in order for the logo and message to be clear, well, that’s a devoted fan of the genre.

I credit AJ Fosik at this moment to be one of the greatest design collectors I have ever seen. This collection of sweaters is fantastic, and shall go down in the record books as one of the most excellent design collections there ever was. Truly AJ Fosik is a design junkie if ever have I seen one.

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies bad taste category. Also this post can be found in the vintage, wearable, and Pizza Party categories. Go hang out at any of these and you will have a genuine time.