Rhinestone Cowboy

The work of Partizan director/animator and producer Chris Goulder is currently making fireworks with a playful stop-frame animation for jewellry brand Bex Rox

Picture Perfect

Painter Matte Stephen's lovely paintings below.

Capturing the bear in his natural habitat

Meow Wow

A piece of steel has been skilfully sculpted and bent into Misha - a cat-shaped lamp by French duo Kuntzel + Deygas, who brought us Paris Colette's dear mascots Caperino & Peperone, known as Cap & Pep. 

This light is screaming to be animated as it looks like Misha is about to pounce. Watch their delightful cartoons on vimeo on this link. Check out Kuntzel + Deygas' amazing title credits for Catch Me If You Can that were commissioned by Spielberg. Click here to watch

The whole purrr-fect family

Ready to pounce

Strike while the iron is hot

Love these cast iron salt and pepper and spice mills by Swedish Skeppshult - not to be confused with the bike company with the same name -  the only remaining foundry in Scandinavia which manufactures household products in cast iron. Amazing. As seen on the website of new Tokyo shop Doinel in Aoyama that sells grocery and furniture. Love the styling of this mill on their blog

Lovely styling

Fishy business

Photographer Corey Arnold who documents life at sea describes himself as a "picturetaker/fisherman". His new book with Nazraeli Press is called Fish Work: The Bering-Sea.

Old Sea-dog

No-logo

No fuss, logo-free Erik Schedin trainers available at cutting-edge Swedish retailer Mr Mudd and Mr Gold. Love the styling of this shot. Also stocked are Buzz Ricksons vintage flight jackets and utility boots by West Coast Shoe Company

Wet drip

 

This drip kettle by Japanese porcelain manufacturer Saikai Toki is made from stainless steel. Currently stocked in UK's SCP store, it is reminiscent of post-war Japanese household design.

Woodnotes

Lovely wooden furniture by Heinz Baumann at the Langenthal Design Fair Designer's Saturday



 

Snip Snip Snip Snip Snip Snip Snip Snip...........

A highlight of the UK Liverpool Biennial Art Fair is the A Foundation's Sachiko Abe. This Japanese artist obsessively and meticulously cuts A4 sheets of white paper into delicate paper 'strands'. The large "cone" you see in the picture below is hung from the ceiling and is 7 years worth of Sachiko's "Cut Papers" - she has been cutting for 9 years as a hobby but turned it into a profession.  She first arrived on the global art scene with an exhibition at New York's PS1 less than a decade ago and her work provokes strong reactions, perfect for Liverpool's "Touched" theme this year. Watch this space and to read more about her extraordinary life click here

The fine texture of the paper makes it look like delicate angel hair strands. 

A large "cone" made up of 7 years worth of "cut papers"

the sound of Sachiko's scissors are electronically amplified throughout the nine hours she cuts sheets of A4 throughout the day .

Wake Up and Smell the Bacon

Running with the porcine theme. Piggy alarm clock called "WAKE n' BACON" wakes you up with the smell of bacon. Designed by Matty Sallin, Daniel Bartolini, Hsiao-huh Hsu who make up design outfit  mathlete. 

Oink Oink

Piggy banks by Japanese design firm Nendo at Japan's Isetan department store as part of Tokyo Design Week's Designtide. Piggy banks date back to medieval Europe. People saved their pennies in clay jars called "pygg". The word-play unleashed the piggy bank we love today and Nendo's version of the porcine penny holder "pyggy bank" is made of unglazed clay in reference to its historical cousin.

Get lamped

Love this pendant lamp by Japanese Flame. Based in Osaka, their deko-boko range is a particular favourite of Miyo Wada's.

Lovely range of colours

Love the styling here

On the map

Love this map by Finnish designer Lotta Nieminen for the customer magazine for Kela (social insurance institution of Finland). The map shows the average of years spent at work in EU countries 2010 in a particular un-dry way.

Trippy

Trip suitcase by Travelteq took two years to develop and doubles as a chair when you're delayed in transit by Icelandic volcanoes or otherwise. It also has an in-built speaker for when you want to listen to music in your hotel room - simply plug in your iPod and party!

From suitcase to chair..

Animalia

Miyo Wada can't resist an animal and the same snapper for Ikea (see previous post) Carl Kleiner has come up with wonderfully weird inventive ways to create animals from healthy veggies.

Mr. Aubergine wants to be a zebra

Mr. Artichoke stands to attention

A flummoxed avocado with a fetching white shirt collar

A cracked-up Ms. Watermelon who is friends with the Shibuya ganguro girls

Let sleeping dogs (posing as butternut squashes) lie

Half-baked

Work for Ikea's new recipe book Hembakat är Bäst (Homemade is Best) is centred around baking by photographer Carl Kleiner. Love the graphic food styling by Evelina Bratell.

Recipe for Swedish crescent shaped cookie Vanilhjorn

Recipe for Monocle magazine office's favourite biscuit Pepparkakor. When Miyo visited, they had them at their reception desk!

 

Schackrutor before.......

Schackrutor after!

 

Desk job

Love this desk by Pierre Paulin just as much as Alastair Allen on Another Loves

Apple of my eye

As seen on fffound.  So true. From Recovering lazyholics' stream on Flickr

The White Stuff

All things Swedish on the appropriately name Swedishness website! Love this milk, or mjölk poster by OMM. That's one happy red cow.

Clowning Around

Series of palyful objects by Swiss designer Tomas Kral. Based on the clown's nose and fashioned from ceramics with coloured elastic and cork. Happy red nose pinging.

http://www.tomaskral.ch

Hung up on you....

Love this late 1930s coat hanger rack in pear wood. Designed by Paolo Buffa. With bronze fittings from a lovely London-based antiques dealer called De Parma

Maison Objet 2010 - Kettal

A new collection of outdoor furniture by Spanish Kettal was the highlight of the Outdoor furniture selection in Hall 7. New collections presented were designed by Rodolfo Dordoni and Hella Jongerius, who will publish a book with Phaidon later this year.

Hella Jongerius's sturdy "Bob" chair and stool had an architectural feel and was an upmarket interpretation of the cheap plastic garden club chair. Lovely woven detail on the arms.

Bob chair is named after the "B" letter that the sides express

A matching footstool

Italian Rodolfo Dordoni came up with a more extensive collection of furniture called "Bitta" named after the knots used when mooring boats. The woven details are inspired by these knots and the whole collection sported a "natural" feel both in palette and table textures of teak and marble.

Just a snippet of the Bitta collection

Authentics - Maison Objet 2010

At the German Authentics brand, they had decided to work with new designers as consumers are getting sick of "star designers". One such star were duo Volker Albus and Stefan Legner's "Munich" light. Based on a beer mug and a tongue in cheek ode to Munich's annual piss-up, Oktoberfest.

Publish Post

Also turning heads was an unusual interpretation of a wardrobe "Wardrope" a hanging cable by Susa Stofer and Vernonika Hartjen.

Previously shown at Ambiente, nevertheless Urban Garden by Patrick Nadeau, made from coated polyester, they are also modular. Can work well as office partitions too.

Normann Copenhagen - Maison Objet September 2010

The Normann Copenhagen stand present "Ballo", the dancing toilet brush by Jozeph Forakis. It reminds of the Japanese Yu'ento products

Rubber and stainless steel "chop" kitchen herb chopper by LucidiPevere Studio by Paolo Lucidi and Luca Pevere. 

 Icelandic textile designer Bryndis Bolladottir works with woollen balls. Miyo Wada liked her trivets and coathooks.

Another new Icelandic designer Helga Sigurbjarnadottir's local stone and contrasting oak coathooks caught our eye. Coathooks were arife at the fair last week!