All self flagellation and other “oh woe are me’s” about not blogging and how I will strive to do better (even though I will, and dammit, this time I mean it!) aside, Hi! it has been a while. I’m leading off this push to be more active on here on this little outpost of art and culture I built, loved, then pushed aside for work, fun, winter and a new cat. But WE (I?) am back.

ITEM ONE
“Liquids & Bubbles” is a Flickr set by Janet Waters where she uses liquids as a kind of photographic paint. She creates a wide range of images from what I would consider to be “text book” (as in could be seen in a text book, not run of the mill) to truly wondrous and unique images that smack of space(s) both large and small.

ITEM TWO
Noferin
A husband and wife team (Candy and Nick) creating some excellent art and toys. For those either over or looking for an alternative to vinyl toys these two are working with wood. All the nostalgia of wooden toys mixed with a forward thinking design and unique design aesthetic. I love them.

They’re new line launches soon so keep an eye out if that kind of thing floats your boat.

ITEM THREE
DesignedMade is a new British design label from product designer Jonathan Krawczuk. Their first product are these lovely little tea lights with an arachnid sensibility. I really like them view the site for more details

That is what I’ve got for now. I’ll be back on a more regular schedule soon.
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/nate

so michel gondry was tapped by motorola to make an ad for their new razr2. most people would now of the phone from this terrible seemingly matrix inspired crap fest:

that is the video that ended up running in lieu of gondry’s much more interesting (read: creative) ad

why you might ask? well according to a very thorough piece over at adweek the problems went a little something like this:

It was during editing that the creative differences became evident. While the agency wanted to keep Gondry’s vision intact, the client wanted to streamline it and take out some of the more fanciful elements. After production had been completed in June, an agency meeting with Motorola CEO Ed Zander made it clear that in Asia—where Motorola is handled by Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing—focusing on the slimness of the phone was gaining favor. The client asked Cutwater to incorporate that strategy into the print executions, but the results were ads that one source called “Frankensteinish.”

In the end, a commercial emphasizing the phone’s slimness began running globally from Ogilvy. It features a couple dueling on a subway platform with their phones.

“It felt more and more obvious that [Gondry’s spot] was something that wouldn’t be most effectively applied in mass media, particularly for a TV audience,” explains Elena Panizza, worldwide cd at Motorola. “I don’t think it would fit nicely with an advertising block with a Burger King ad. It’s far more sophisticated.”

so it goes, gondry is relegated to the world of being a ‘viral video’ and we’re left with the dreck on tv. oops.
ps. here is the microsite motorola set up, theres some good stuff there.
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Reebok is coming out with a new shoe designed by John Maeda. John is some sort of super human artist/designer/scientist, perhaps even a modern day alchemist spinning hay into artistic gold.
At the core of Maeda’s design is his view on the “Laws of Simplicity”.

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We’re rebelling against technology that’s too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte read me manuals. The iPod’s clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that’s simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design; guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.

The shoe really is something special. There will only be 100 pairs made, so more than likely you won’t get one, instead wrap your eyes around this video and dare to dream.

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so the new wooden toy is out. australia has really got it going on in a lot of different areas and this is no exception. do yourself a favor and fly on over to their site to have a look and drop a little change.
here are the deets:

225MM X 225MM
420gsm COVERS, 120gsm UNCOATED INTERNALS.
FULL COLOUR CMYK THROUGHOUT
156 PAGES (IT’S FATTER)
2000 (INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED) COPIES ONLY

Get on it and make it happen, if that is your thing.

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