A good reminder for designers

This video excerpt is given by Allan Chochinov (of Core77 fame) at the PSFK Conference New York 08. While what he says is nothing revolutionary, I have to admit that I do allow myself to forget some of these fundamental values of a designer, take myself too seriously and doubt the neccessity of "process".

Quote from video

"You have to make a lot of shit if you want to create something of significance. The attempt is to “clever” your way to a solution without cranking out a lot of work. You need to give a shit about what you do. Need to make your work personal. In this time of focus groups and user testing, with the tyranny of the user going on, I think we’re starting to commoditize creativity and turning ourselves into problem solving machines and innovation specialists. Forgetting there’s a reason they called us in the first place. The students able to find a place that was personal not only were more successful but they had a lot more fun. Don’t work on shit jobs, only create artifacts and services of value…" (quote via Design Sojourn)

Mother's Day Giveaway - greeting cards featuring work of Julia Staite

I was recently browsing through pvuk when I came across the work of UK based freelance illustrator Julia Staite. Really love the colours in her whimsical and childlike mixed media collages.

I decided to order some of her work printed on some lovely greeting cards through Imagekind . The cards arrived in the mail today and I was so blown away by the quality of the paper and print. And Imagekind was lovely enough to send me 2 extra sets of prints as a giveaway on Laissezfaire and my baby's blog, Pupsik!

If you would like to receive a set of 5 greeting cards from Imagekind featuring the work of Julia Staite, please drop an email to ztansl@gmail.com with the subject title "Mother's Day giveaway" by 10 May. Please include your name and contact number in the email. I will pick 2 winners at random on May 11th, Mother's Day. Open to Singapore residents only. Thank you Imagekind!

(above) Mother's Day Giveaway

Simply put

(via Design Crush via ffffound)

Atypyk

This reminds me of the almost edible products by Lush and I just love it! Designed by French group Atypyk this cheese sponge is one of the many witty and unconventional ideas they have. And lovely packaged too!

Honey packs

Yup! Another honey post for honey and lovely packaging addicts out there! This lovely design is from littlefury. Love the colour and the "cassette tape like" packaging of this product that is so different from the conventional round honey jars/tubes we usually find. Not sure whether something as beautiful as this will be practical enough to store honey on the kitchen shelf though. One thing for sure, the ants will definitely love it!

Buy-1-get-1 free sale at Annechovie!

I am so excited to share this on Laissezfaire. The incredibly talented and lovely artist Anne Harwell of is doing a special buy-1-get-1-free sale on her etsy store. Yes, you got it! Buy 1 print, get one free. Buy 1 box of notecards, get one free. The only stipulation is that the free item claimed must be of the same type and of equal or lesser value.

Just go to her Etsy store, make a purchase and then, in the notes to seller section, type in the item desired as your free gift. Anne will include the item you have specified in the shipment. This is a great time to stock up on some great gifts for design lovers. The special offer is only good until April 30th, so go check out her Etsy store now!

image above: COURTNEY BARNES CHAIR featured in Domino Magazine's website.

Vera Wang's wedding stationary

Did you know that the wedding fashion diva Vera Wang has a stationary collection? And do I have to say how gorgeous it is? I just love these wonderful vintage and handmade-looking lasercut pattern notes. I can just see these details taken off one of her exquisite gowns.

Cherry blossom outdoor furniture

What a pretty way to welcome Spring! Klein Dytham architecture have created outdoor furniture resembling giant pink flowers for a cherry blossom party in Tokyo. The seats and tables are made from polystyrene and coated with a urethane surface which "spreads the pressure and stops people in kimonos from puncturing the polystyrene with their chop sticks!" Lovely! (via Dezeen)

Cigarette break?

Not sure whether this sends the right message about smoking but think this is a pretty cool idea anyway. Want some tea? Just take a "tea filled cigarette" and drop to hot water cup - and viola! You get tea! The filter even works like float. This idea reminds me of the bubble gum “cigarettes” I used to "smoke" as a kid.

Like this idea, or find it disgusting? Vote for it here!

Harmonie Interieure

I love these whimsical graphic stickers from French company Harmonie Interieure. Really like the vintage coloured stains on their walls and the polaroid pics too! Looks like it is coming out of the pages of an old fairy tale story book.

Alison Foshee

Alison Foshee is an artist that explores the artistic potential of everyday materials in her work. Lately, she has been working with assorted labels, seals and stickers to create new meaning through patterns.

If you dare

Order a G-string with a phone number or text of your choice from here! (via pan-dan)

Petroleum trailer tank rooms

I am not sure if this captures your imagination as much as it does for me. Think this will be as fun as this, as long as you don't roll off the edge of the pipe.

Designed by Lot-ek, the private areas within this apartment is contained by a petroleum trailer tank. The tank is cut in two sections. One of the two sections is suspended horizontally over the living room and contains two sleeping pods. The second section is placed vertically from floor to ceiling and contains two bathrooms stacked on top of each other.

Cloud

London-based architecture and design studio Voon Wong & Benson Saw have created a cloud-like installation using polystyrene cups for the opening of a design store in Malaysia. (Via Dezeen)

5.5. Designers

Here are some cool products I found designed by 5.5 designers.

(above) A vinyl plant!
(above) A vinyl wall clock

Take your pick from this tower of condiments!

Google Office (Zurich)

With an office space like this, how can you not be but creative? (via Swissmiss)

Chocolate-pencils

Chocolate-pencils is a collaboration between Design Studio Nendo with patissier Tsujiguchi Hironobu, the mastermind behind popular dessert shops like Mont St. Claire and Le Chocolat de H.

The "chocolate pencils" come in a number of cocoa blends that vary in intensity, and chocophiles can use the special "pencil sharpener" that comes with the plate to grate chocolate onto their dessert. Better not eat this in front of very small children so as not to confuse them!

Book-lined staircase

Have you seen anything like this before? This amazing book-lined staircase is part of Veronika and Sebastian's rental apartment.London-based Levitate Architects came up with this ingenious solution to a book storage problem. The books are even sorted by colour! With a stairs like this, it will probably take me forever to reach the top! I would love to see a bookstore or library designed along this concept of storage-cum display. (Via Apartment Therapy)

Book artist Rachel Hazell

I am just fascinated by the labour-intensive work by book artist Rachel Hazell. Rachel designs, writes, illustrates, prints, binds and exhibits book-related work using age-old labour-intensive methods. The tiny booklets she created above are handpainted and handsewn - using a medieval long stitch. Perfect for tiny sketches on the beach or poems with few words. (via Oh Joy)

American Honey Flight

I saw these test tubes of honey here and can't get over the beautiful packaging of this product. The tubes just brings out the wonderful natural colours of honey and makes it so deliciously appealing. Each set comes with nine distinct regional honeys that comes with a detailed description of each flavour and its origin. Think this would make an excellent gift for a food lover or beautiful packaging addict like me!

Santa Maria Novella

Can I just say how much I love the products from Santa Maria Novella? I am so drawn to their scented oils and pot-pourri made from the flowers cultivated on the Florentine hills . Someone gave me the pot-pourri as a gift from Italy a few years ago and at that time, I had not even heard about the cult-status Santa Maria Novella had. I just knew that this was the scent I would love to fill my bedroom with and hunted furiously for the shop when I went to Florence for my honeymoon. The pharmacy is definitely worth visiting if you do go to Florence. The packaging is so old-pharmarcy-like too. I just adore it!

For more info about the shop and see pics, click here. To buy Santa Maria Novella from the US, click here.

The Cabbage Chair

Isn't this chair simply gorgeous?? Designed by Nendo for the XXIst Century Man exhibition curated by Issey Miyake, the cabbage chair is made out of the pleated paper that is produced in mass amounts during the process of making pleated fabric. This paper is usually abandoned as an unwanted by-product.

The cabbage chair is created by peeling away the layers of a roll of pleated paper one layer at a time. Resins are added during the original paper production process to add strength. Since the production process is so simple, the chair could be shipped as one compact roll for the user to cut open and peel back at home.

Mini Contest by Sparkle Thots

This is for all handmade jewellery lovers out there! Sparkle Thots is organising a mini contest to find out what you love about them. Anyone can take part, regardless of which country you are in or whether you have bought anything before. All you need to do is to tell them what you love about them, which item you really like in particular and you might get it for FREE!

Contest closes on 14th April and the winner would be randomly selected. For more information, click here.

"Sagging cloth" office space

Would you like to work in an office like this? This office in Tokyo is designed by Japanese designers Nendo. You skillfully move between the different work areas by stepping over the lowest points of the partitions. Careful here...don't trip!

The designers came up with this "sagging cloth" design as they wanted the spaces to be separate but also to maintain a sense of connection between them. For more images, click here.