Beautiful handmade ceramic cups and plates by Zena Verda Pesta.
“I’m interested in the importance of accumulated personal objects. For example, my mother had a spray-painted gold brick, which held open the door to the apartment I lived in as a child. This illusion of luxury served more than one function for her. As she would continue her daily tasks like laundry, the brick would twinkle some significance every time she entered or exited. I am investigating the transformational aspects of the gold brick. Pondering its peculiarity, many questions arise in my mind about the functions of this object” - from zenaverda.com

December 22, 2009

Some of New York City’s rooftop houses and gardens (photos from Apartment Therapy, Treehugger and Brooklyn Roof Garden)

December 19, 2009

Jason Miller (Jason Miller Studio) challenges the rules that surround modern day consumer items.

December 18, 2009

Yakkay (with a slogan: “brainwear for smart people”) develops and produces these fashionable bike helmets.

December 17, 2009

by Nithikul Nimculrat.

November 23, 2009

‘Seconds’ are items, which, in some way, are not quite right. They are imperfect and therefore of lesser value. But who made these rules that we use to judge perfection? Who says the decoration has to be in the center? Who says a whole bird is better than half a bird? Who says a flower can’t grow down? - Jason Miller

Ceramic Superordinate Antler Chandelier by Jason Miller (Miller Studio)

November 11, 2009

Chair made from recycled , reused fabric pieces /  discarded scraps. By Fernando and Humberto Campana from Brazil.

October 19, 2009

Red Chair Antiques.  Found on Wabi & Sabi blog.

October 12, 2009

Reusing old buttons as fridge magnets. By Skin and Tonic Too.



Rings made with old vintage buttons. Found in Red Chair Antiques shop.

Book’s Shelf. Bookshelf made from books by Bernardo Gaeiras, Rietveld Academie Sandberg Institute.

September 12, 2009

Biodegradable moss planter(organic carpet consisting of assortment of mosses) by Japan-based flower artist Makoto Azuma  

September 06, 2009

Nissan’s electric automobile (EV) is set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year. The blue hatchback had a sporty design and a recharging opening in the front. Nissan has promised that the Leaf, which goes into mass-production as a global model in 2012, will be about the same price as a gas-engine car such as the 1.5 million yen ($15,000) Tiida, which sells abroad as the Versa, starting at about $10,000.

August 03, 2009

An Earthship is a type of home made of natural and recycled materials.  Earthships designed by Earthship Biotecture  and are built from 45% recycled materials - tires, bottles, cans.  Earth-filled tires utilize thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. Earthships also usually incorporate their own special natural ventilation system.



Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources - energy from the sun, rain. For example, windows on the sunny side admit light and heat, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months. Likewise, the thick, dense outer walls provide effective insulation against summer heat.
Internal, non-load-bearing walls are often made of a honeycomb of recycled cans joined by concrete and are referred to as tin can walls. These walls are usually thickly plastered with stucco.

The Earthship costs next to nothing to operate annually and is independent of all municipal utilities.  Earthship Biotecture has a building prototype that harvests its own electricity and water; contains and treats its own sewage;  and heats and cools itself without fuel and produces a significant amount of food.

August 02, 2009

Glass house made from recycled glass windows in Freetown Christiania, neighborhood/commune in Copenhagen, Denmark created during the hippie movement. Christiania has its own flag and its own set of rules independent from the Danish government. Within Christiania itself no cars are allowed, stealing is forbidden as well as violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests, hard drugs and bikers’ colors.

July 19, 2009

Emergency Response Studio, by Paul Villinski, is a solar-powered, mobile artist’s studio, rebuilt from an old trailer. An artist needs to be mobile and free just in case of the ocean water rising because Greenland is melting, and other devastating natural disasters, such as Katrina in New Orleans. 

Ceramic rubber duckie by Futility l.t.d Really cool.



Ceramic milk carton bt Hanna Risgaard.

The Waterpod is a floating art project, community and living space on a barge. The structure is built from recycled wood, billboard sign material, metal and powered by a hybrid solar/wind system that also runs all on-board equipment.  The barge also incorporates a garden with vegetables (lettuce, sunflowers, corn, eggplant and e.t.c ) grown with purified water from the vertical agriculture. Four artists live on the barge and are very friendly to talk to you about their project.  There is also a chicken coop made from recycled shipping crate previously used to ship artworks. 

July 03, 2009

I love the idea of a virtual interactive fish aquarium mainly because you do not have to have a real fish aquarium and because by adding it to your desktop, website and google you can look at it every time you go on your computer.
P.S ( It is really fun to feed them!)
You can change the fish colors, fish food color and background.  This is how my fish aquarium looks like:

July 01, 2009

Above: Crocheted lampshade at Michele Varian, photo from Apartment Therapy.

The other day I was walking in Manhattan on the Lower East Side and discovered an amazing store full with all kinds of vintage, restored and designer objects.  One of my favorite is a crocheted lamp shade. The fabric is starched to maintain its form. 



Above: Michele Varian on Crosby Street, NY

June 11, 2009

I found this old vintage chair - $2, and two frames - $3 on garage sale.  They were falling apart and covered in dust.  I washed them and repainted them. 

June 04, 2009

Patrick Blanc is a contemporary garden designer from France who basically “invented” the concept of a vertical garden.  What Patrick did is invent a hydroponic structure on which plants can easily grow vertically without any soil.  Essentially plants need water and minerals dissolved in it.  Many plants in the wild grow on vertical surfaces - rocks and cliffs. Many plants have the root ability to grow without any soil as long as there is sunlight, minerals and water.  Being soil-less, vertical gardens are very light and thus easy to implement on any wall.  Metal frame is installed that supports two layers of polyamide felt . These layers mimic cliff-growing mosses and support the roots of many plants. A network of pipes provides a nutrient solution containing dissolved minerals.  The roots of the plants take up the nutrients they need, and excess water is collected at the bottom of the wall by a gutter before being re-injected into the network of pipes.
In towns there are a lot more vertical free spaces than horizontal ,  Blanc says.  I wish to see many of them turned into a garden. 

May 30, 2009

Osias Beert the Elder
Still-Life with Cherries and Strawberries in China Bowls
1608 Oil on panel
19 5/8” x 25 3/4”

One of my favorite Flemish vanitas paintings is “Still Life with wild Strawberries” by Osias Beert the Younger. Vanitas is a type of still life painting popular in Northern Europe in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th - 17th centuries. The word “vanitas” is Latin, meaning “emptiness” and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity. Paintings executed in the vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death.




Osias Beert the Younger
Still Life with Wild Raspberries
Oil on Panel
11.2” x 15.6”

STILL LIFES WITH FLOWERS

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Still Life with Flowers
1601-1678





Jan the Elder Brueghel
1607 Oil on wood
98 x 73 cm





Brueghel Jan the Elder
Still Life with flowers in a Glass

May 26, 2009

Casamento, located in Cape Town, South Africa individually hand crafts furniture using recycled frames and only natural fibers throughout: natural non-allergenic fibers: sisal, raw cotton wadding, horsehair jute webbing, hessian and flock natural fibers.

May 18, 2009

I love lighting made from old teacups and milk bottles! (as you already could have guessed from my previous blog postings)  I found this teacup chandelier by Domestic Construction and this milk bottle chandelier by Bonne Plat on the Conversation Pieces Blog - blog about finding neat, sweet and unusual items in junk and charity shops, online, and everywhere else in between.

May 17, 2009

Book shelves made from old books - http://www.littlefishfurniture.com/.

May 05, 2009

Nadia Nour is a fashion designer based in New York City.  Nadia keeps manufacturing and sourcing supplies for her garments local and uses organics as much as possible - naturally dyed silks,  fabrics that are healthy for people and the environment.  Her clothing designs are sophisticated, high-end and chic but at the same time organic and sustainable. 

May 03, 2009

*Above: Patchwork Harmony - http://www.patchworkharmony.co.uk

April 25, 2009

1. Chandeliers by Madeleine Boulsteix are made from old tea cups, jewelry, beads, marbles and kitchen utencils.

2. Droog Design Chandelier made from milk bottles.

April 24, 2009

Love the idea!!

April 21, 2009

Above:The Unicorn is Penned, the Unicorn Tapestries,
circa 1495–1505,
the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City



Above: Woodpecker
1885
by William Morris

April 01, 2009