design – Page 3 – everydaysparks

Slipper-y slope

Posted on July 31, 2012July 30, 2012 by Cate

It’s winter here in the southern hemisphere and, although the Sydney sunshine can sometimes lull you into a false sense of security, the colder nights definitely call for blankets and candles and Snuggies and slippers. Or just central heating, I guess, if you’re a bit more sensible. Anyways, slippers can often be a bit boring or make you look old before your time. So, I have searched high and low for some slippers that will keep your feet warm and your street cred intact. You’re welcome.

These “Men with Mustache” wool/felt slippers are hand made in Lithuania by the clever Egle at Felting By Eglut. And they don’t just look cool, they are built to last: “the soles of these felted slippers are coated with ecologic natural latex (liquid rubber)”. Which apparently means the Men with Mustaches won’t go slipping and sliding all over your floors. You can check out these Men and other great designs at Egle’s etsy shop here.

Or perhaps you prefer your slippers with a pun. In which case, it’s difficult to go past these Freudian Slippers (get it?!) at Find Me A Gift. And there’s a creepy surprise as you “slip your feet in and wiggle your toes to move the bright red tongue.” Uh huh. You can find them here.

And from the fantastic range at Monster Slippers in the UK (“for the animal in you”), these Brightfeet Slippers are pure genius. Gone are the sore toes from walking into walls when you’re roaming around the house in the middle of the night – these clever slippers feature lights in their soles, activated when your foot is in the slipper and the room is dark. These cool slippers and many more are available here.

If you or a lady friend are into hand made goodness, crochet, or just swept up in the current owl craze, you might prefer like these custom made Owl Mary Janes from Erin in Florida. They’re for sale at her Sweet Cheeks Gift Store on etsy. They’re bright and colourful and those beady eyes will no doubt see well in the dark (though they probably won’t be quite as helpful as the light-up slippers mentioned above). You can check out Erin’s fabulous wares here.

And now I’ve convinced myself that I need to upgrade my stripey slipper boots – though I never realised there were so many options…

Way to play, crochet

Posted on July 25, 2012July 24, 2012 by Cate

Frame magazine recently featured some amazing playground designs by Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi-McAdam. What’s so special about them? Oh, just that they’re made of crocheted yarn. Uh huh. Like giant brightly coloured spider webs that you can climb on and swing from.

Apparently Toshiko first came up with the crocheted playground idea back in the 1990s: ‘she was installing a piece made of crocheted yarn, when children asked if they could use it as a hammock’. Nothing like a live experiment to test the strength of the yarn – and it seems that the piece was actually stronger than expected.

Since then, Toshiko has turned her focus to creating public playgrounds and founded a company with her husband, ‘aimed at developing the concept of the play structure’.

The whole point of their work is ‘public art for kids’ – to design an artful experience that responds to the joyful engagement of children. Love it. For more info and pics of this fantastic idea, you can check out the Frame mag feature here.

Home sparks, Sparks at work

Pipe dreams

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Cate

I saw some of Kozo Lamp‘s amazing products on Fab.com and thought they were so cool that I went digging to find out more. Turns out that the company is based in Israel and is the brainchild of David & Anati Shefa – a genuine upcycled lighting brand, made by hand since 2008. The lamps are made from galvanized iron (‘old pipes’ to you and me), which apparently will only rust around the edges over time. They say that the bit of rust gives the lamp “an old era charm”. Here are some of my favourites…

Meet KozoMan. He is a desk lamp and he’s thoughtful – with magnetic hands to hold your keys and little padded feet so he doesn’t scratch your desk. And if you’re meant to be working or studying, I think he looks a little threatening, almost like he’s saying, “you think you’ve earned a break already, do you? DO YOU?” But you retain control, and can dim KozoMan’s light by turning the tap light switch.

And here’s Kozo 2, or KozoPup, as I prefer to call it. Granted, it’s a pup with only three legs, but it would make a cute little companion on your desk. And it won’t run away with your favourite pens. At least, I don’t think it will…

Perhaps you don’t have a very big desk space and you need something even smaller. If so, you might want to consider the Mono desk lamp. I can’t get past the fact that it looks sort of like a lamp being tortured or cramping over in pain. Though maybe that’s just me reading too much into an angled pipe attached to a low base. Maybe.

These are just three of the amazing Kozo Lamps (photos from Fab.com) and you can check out more of the range on the Kozo Lamps website here.

Home sparks, Sparks in the wild

A Tale of Two Kitties

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Cate

Helena is the talent behind Tokyo Inspired – selling ‘lovingly handcrafted’ cases for your iphone, camera or pencils. They are very cute and more than a little bit quirky. And they remind me of Zippy from Rainbow. I discovered Tokyo Inspired on etsy and although I can’t claim to be down with the mysteries of the animal kingdom, I am really not sure about the photos that Helena has used to sell her wares…

Take this lovely image of a cute snoozing kitty. The cat looks so happy snuggled up against her soul mate there on the rug. Except – it’s not her soul mate, IT’S A PENCIL CASE. And it has a fairly maniacal-looking zippered smile on its face. And eyes that never sleep. But then, I think there’s probably no harm as long as the (real) cat is happy, right?

Then there’s this pic of a grey cat laughing with his arm tucked around his equally delighted companion. Oh, he’s so chuffed that his partner mirrors his wide smile when he tells his favourite joke about that time with the saucer of milk. They are so happy and in sync and meant to be together. Except – hang on, that’s not a smile, that’s AN OPENING TO STUFF PENCILS OR A SMART PHONE THROUGH. And I start to feel like this is getting a bit out of hand.

And these two grey cousins, caught in a never-ending battle to see who can ‘freeze’ the longest. It’s just not right.

I love your work, Tokyo Inspired – the cases are very cute and I can think of lots of people (myself included) who would like them. But I’m just not sure that it’s fair to the real cats to keep up this charade. Because one day, maybe a zipper will break, or a sequinned eye will drop off, or an ear will unthread, and there will be heartache in the litterbox.

You can check out these very cool cases (and cats) at the Tokyo Inspired shop here.

Arty sparks

Pull the pin

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Cate

Tara Donovan makes art from pins (well, not always, but the pieces that I’m sharing here are all made with common drawing pins). I can hardly even imagine the patience required to stick so many little pins into boards to create art. But, that’s what Tara did for her series Drawings (Pins), which has been shown in her native New York and in other galleries around the world. I first saw Tara’s work on the designboom site – whether the images are from close up or far away, her work is pretty incredible!

According to designboom, the pieces are made up of tens of thousands of nickel-headed thumbtacks embedded in Gatorboard® in varying degrees, generating detailed texture and movement. the collection is an archetypal example of donovan’s signature style, where she is known for using a multitude of a single item to create often large-scale installations.

As you can see from this picture, hundreds and thousands of pins were used to create shading and texture. And I know a photo isn’t as good as seeing the real thing, but I am in awe of Tara Donovan’s work – using a common thing like a pin (granted, many many boxes of pins) to create beautiful works of art. As with the art made from 100s and 1000s that I included in an earlier post here, I am truly blown away by their patience and talent!

If you’d like to read more about Tara Donovan and her pins, the designboom post is here. But remember, pins are not toys. And EverydaySparks takes no responsibility for holes in fingers or missing office supplies as a result of this post.