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Author Archives: smiley

  1. russia’s QR code installation

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    this year at the Venice Art Biennale, 50 different countries were chosen to design a pavilion that represents their country.  many agreed that Russia‘s was the most striking of all, as it was completely covered from top to bottom in QR codes.  when you enter the space – called Skolkovo – guests are encouraged to use iPads to decode what is really happening in the space.

    it reveals the plans for a future city outside of Moscow – “a high-tech project, it’s all about innovation, about new level of living, about how science and modern technologies come into human’s life. That is why our exposition is exceptional one this year. We have created a space that is physical and virtual at the same time” – says Grigory Revzin, commissioner of the pavilion.

    Skolkovo will have universities, research centers, and over 500 tech companies will be relocated here to make a city entirely dedicated to science.  in fact, people are already drawing similarities to silicon valley of the US!

    downstairs in the pavilion, you can check out a glimpse into the past of the Soviet Union, where the government used to house secret science towns. Skolkovo’s agenda is completely the opposite – an open and collaborative city dedicated to innovation!

    the QR codes are a cool way to bring in technology we understand to the exhibition, and what you learn from the codes about the future city is even more interesting!

    images via World Architects

  2. crayon art by christian faur

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    Christian Faur is interested in the invisible layers of everyday objects and the complexity of nature.  crayons, are a medium he uses quite often.  for many of us growing up, crayons were the medium of choice – so many colors, so many options! Faur has gone back to his roots to reinvent the way he uses crayons in his art… another kind of crayon art! remember the popular melted crayon art here?

    based in Ohio, Christian makes the wax crayons himself – that way he can pick and choose the colors. “I can still remember the pleasure of opening a new box of crayons, the distinct smell of the wax, the beautifully coloured tips, everything still perfect and unused.” says Christian. he’s been using the crayons since 2005.

    this body of work uses hundreds of hand cast crayons – all of different colors and shades.  like pixels, the crayons make up a tiny portion of the greater art piece.  the portraits are three-dimensional and when looking at one up close, appears very different that if you view it from far away.

    there are so many things one can make with crayons — remember the melted crayon pumpkins?

    images via Christian Faur

    - smiley

  3. tape portraits by iri5

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    artist Erika Iris Simmons, who goes by the name Iri5, makes crazy incredible portraits out of cassette tape ribbon! this atlanta based artist often looks to discarded objects for inspiration in her work and her cassette portraits are nothing short of amazing.  the tape ribbons that once provided music are now thrown out left and right in favor of the mp3, but they were once filled with the voices of amazing musicians and that inspired her.    she never took any formal art classes, and just enjoyed messing around with materials to witness the outcome.

    Lenny Kravitz

    she specifically chooses musicians that were heavily influential to her and to others — John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix to name a few…  in the same way she makes musicians out of cassette tapes, she also re-makes movie stars out of VHS tapes.  her very first cassette art piece was of Jimi Hendrix.

    the series is titled “ghost in the machine,” because it was that idea that inspired her to work with cassette tapes.  she states, ” The idea comes from a phrase (ironically) coined by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a description of how your spirit lives in your body. I imagine we are all, like cassettes, thoughts wrapped up in awkward packaging.”

    you can view her entire series here on her flickr

    all images belong to iri5,

     

  4. i used to be a wine barrel

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    Floating serving platter by Geut Gonen

    hi, Smiley here! the making of wine is not the green-est process in the world, but winemakers around the world are attempting to do their part and change this.  one way people are ‘greening’ the wine industry is by producing organic and natural wines – this means the facilities may use recycled water and solar power, etc.

    Chaise lounge chair by Sagi Benshalom,

    in order to bring attention to this issue, people are also tackling the wine barrels.  when i visited Napa ealier this year (see my travel post here), we learned how much expertise it takes to actually make a wine barrel, and how much they effect the wine you’re drinking.  everything from the actual wood used to make the barrel, to the way it’s roasted effects the way the wine tastes.  the industrial design department at the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) is now challenging designers to find ways to upcycle these wine barrels…

    Chess board by Einav Ben Asher,

    the exhibition featured 11 students work and gave them a chance to explain their projects to the audience.  The “I Used to be a Wine Barrel” exhibit took place at the Tel Aviv Port.

    - smiley

    images via the artists, greenprophet

  5. OOTD smiley style: all gold everything

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    for this outfit, it stuck to three main colors: red, black and gold (with a little silver…)

    in LOVE this necklace.  kate was telling me how some pieces of this collection were designed to be worn by men and women, and i love that.  i always gravitate towards more masculine jewelry for some reason.  wearing the Mahjong necklace. 

    ALL GOLD EVERYTHING – a few pieces you can spot in here are the Sphinx claw ring, Loki cuff, Gimli cuff, and the Mahjong necklace. 

    then i found a rusted cheese grater! it’s a little hard to see cause it blends in, but it was awesome. i kept it.


    this ring feels great on, you don’t even know you’re wearing it.  it’s just the right amount of chunky so it’s still definitely noticeable but not in your face.  this is the Gaia ring. 

    i’m wearing a tank dress that i got from the LF sale, $10! with a thrifted dress thing that i normally wear open like this because the buttons don’t really work….

    - smiley

  6. life-sized monopoly

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    an anonymous artist (or group of artists?) by the name of Bored took their work to the streets last month in the form of a giant monopoly board game. all around Chicago, elements of the board were installed on the streets: dice, community chest cards, even the landing spaces like Park Place and the dreaded Income Tax.

    the cards are made of plywood and painted orange like the real ones! it reads “Carissa, will you marry me? If yes, advance one block south to nearest church.” apparently, a blogger named Nate actually went to the nearest church to ask if there was a wedding, but they knew nothing about it.

    Bored stated “the goal of this entire project has been to present something different than a stencil painted on the ground or a poster pasted to a wall. Something 3-dimensional that can be picked up, beaten down, kicked, yanked, grabbed, and broken. And if someone ever put forth the effort to remove it, like a weed it will always grow back. And if left alone it will evolve into something different.”

    it will be interesting to see how long the pieces can really last in the city, maybe that’s part of the social experiment or installation perhaps? the fact that the artist is anonymous makes it even more of a mystery. could it be a genius marketing plan by the Monopoly board game company? probably not – but it’s a genius marketing moment nonetheless!

    all images belong to Colossal

  7. performance artist makes herself a lab animal

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    when you think about makeup, do you think about animal torture? for most of us, the answer is no.  that is exactly what a 24-year-old performance artist, by the name of Jacqueline Traide, wants to change.  she recently underwent a series of shocking procedures in a London store window to protest the use of animal testing in cosmetics.  Jacqueline spent around ten hours in the make up store LUSH Cosmetics, subjecting herself to being force fed, covered in lotions, and shaving her hair – all in front of onlookers and all things that laboratory animals, like chimps, dogs, cats, monkeys, bunnies, etc. suffer during testing.

    a fellow performance  artist- Oliver Cronk – assumed the role of the technician, who administered the testing on Jacqueline.  LUSH is a cruelty-free company and their mission was very clearly meant to shock and unnerve passers-by, and hopefully get them to understand the horror of animal testing if they didn’t already know.  a lot of us as consumer,s are largely unaware of what really goes on behind the scenes of the products we buy – and the beauty industry takes advantage of this. the time we live in is incredible for technology and science, and thus, it is a ridiculous and unnecessary thing to continue testing on animals. read on here about alternatives to animal testing.

    Lush’s Fighting Animal Testing campaign released a statement saying: “When we are forced to recognise that this aspirational industry depends upon the needless suffering and death of millions of innocent animals – animals that could have been our dog, our children’s guinea pigs, our neighbours’ rabbits – animals that we humanely love – we are shocked and we recoil.”
    i applaud Jacqueline’s actions for her bravery and for her commitment to this cause.  the Fighting Animal Testing campaign that she is a part of is half a petition, half an awareness crusade.  with over 700 LUSH stores across the US, Europe, Australia, South Korea, Russia and so on, everyone is encouraged to sign the petition and join the force.  you can sign the petition online here to demand an end to this ridiculous practice. you can also sign the Human Society campaign against animal testing in the US here! and learn 10 ways to help animals in laboratories here!
    what’s your reaction to her performance and the awareness campaign in general? it is intense to watch the video – do you think it’s too much or necessary to alert people to this issue?

    images via Facebook / Lush Limited Cosmetics

  8. the cyclisk

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    two california based artists, Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector, constructed an incredible tower made entirely out of bicycles.  as an ode to bike culture, the artists used 340 bikes exactly, and one tricycle (for good luck?). the entire structure totals up to 65 ft in height, and over 10,000 pounds.  because it is an obelisk and meant to be an ode to bike culture, the structure is dubbed “cyclisk.”

    in Santa Rosa, where Cyclisk is built, there is a law requiring construction projects to donate money 1% of the cost of their work to public art projects.  because Nissan is building a base there, they contributed to Cyclisk!

    Grieve and Spector collected all the bicycles from people around the community and they’re placing the sculpture smack in the middle of a bunch of different car dealerships… take that!

    images via mark greieve and ilana spector

  9. decor inspiration: type life

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    hey, it’s Smiley! if you follow any of my posts on Mr. Kate, you know that i love anything typography related.  so i decided to walk around my house and show you the coolest type-related that live here too….

    these antique skateboards were some of the first skateboards ever made, they even have metal wheels!

    in my kitchen we’re got the bread box, which actually has bread in it, as well as the bacon press, which my dad actually uses for pressing bacon!

    homogenized milk!

    not quite sure what this was used for originally, my guess would be matches…

    old adorable toy truck by Structo Telephone.

    love the type on this one. the colors and the illustration.

    a snake bite kit and lucky strike tobacco!

    old Texaco truck.

    Anticarbo motor oil, also love the colors on this one.

    last but not least… the amazing antique Ouija board! sooooo cool

  10. a new way to paint: the chromatic typewriter

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    the Chromatic Typewriter was created by washington-based painter Tyree Callahan – he replaced all the keys of a 1937 Underwood Standard typewriter with ink color pads, creating a new way to paint!  this DIY tool turns “keystrokes into brushstrokes!”

    the idea was born when Callahan wanted to add type to one of his already in-progress paintings.  he saw his art in the carriage of the typewriter and thought how cool it would be to simply “type-up” a painting.  he conducted a search over the period of a few months to find the perfect typewriter.  these machines are difficult to work with because on many models, the keys cannot be replaced.

    his work is heavily influenced by the pacific-northwest air and light, which explains the gradients and light hues in pieces.  he and his friends are advocates of the typewriter, believing it’s relevance still stands today even though it has been replaced by computers.

    all images via Tyree Callahan

    - smiley

  11. the instaglasses

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    i knew it was a matter of time before someone came out publicly with this idea! a german designer by the name of Markus Gerke has conceptualized ‘the instaglasses‘ – sunglasses equipped with a camera as well as the various Instagram filters we all know so well..

    the Instaglasses will be embedded with a 5-megapixel camera.  one lens will show the world as you normally see it, while the other side will show you what the world looks like according to Instagram.  to add to the insanity, the glasses will also include WiFi, 2-GB of internal memory and up to seven hours of battery life.

    remember, this is only a design concept, so Gerke is planning on releasing a Kickstarter campaign to simply cover the development costs.  he states doesn’t want to make money off of the idea, but perhaps the crazy amount of press he’s receiving will give him a change of heart.

    maybe since the owners of Instagram we’re just bought out by facebook for $1 billion dollars, they could make these glasses come to life!

    images via Markus Gerke

  12. DIYable: cooking whisk lights

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    German-based design firm Findelkind repurposed cooking whisks into these awesome hanging lights.  they remind me of the edison light bulbs - my favorite kind of light bulb, but i like these more! titled ‘Chef de Cuisine,’ the lights were shown at the DMY Berlin art festival recently.

    the best part about these is that whisks come in many sizes and styles, so you can mix and match if that’s your thing.  the reason i am drawn to the whisk lights is because they have an industrial feel to them.  they look like they could be antiques, which i love.

    in order to make your own whisk light you will need:

    • a wire whisk – get the giant ones at restaurant supply stores or online
    • pre-wired pendant lamp with glass shade – Ikea has cheap ones or you could use a light cord kit.
    • crystal
    • light bulb
    • wire cutters
    • Needle nose pliers

    for in-depth instructions on how to construct one of these yourself, head over to JUNKMARKET style.

    image 1 via Apartment Therapy,  image 2 and 3 via Findelkind, image 4 via  Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat

    - smiley

  13. DIYable: ring pop art

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    Julia Chiang is a brooklyn-based artist who makes use of fantastically odd materials in her work.  her most notable work is her ring pop installations, as she creates words out of this colorful candy.

    but the best part is that under the hot gallery lights, the ring pops slowly start to melt, leaving colorful trails down the white gallery walls.  this is definitely a piece for a gallery, not for a home…. BUT you could make this DIYable if you wanted to mount ring pops in a shadow box style frame to ward off dust and bugs.

    i love typography on walls, and that ‘s why i am particularly drawn to this installation and it’s always cool to see what physical objects you can make words out of!

    Chiang displayed her work at the Oh Wow Gallery in miami during Art Basel with a collective of other artists rita ackermann, tim barber, neck face and aurel schmidt to name a few.

    - smiley

    images via DesignBoom

  14. the bookyard

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    earlier this year, italian artist massimo bartolini created bookyard – an amazing outdoor, public library for the belgian art festival TRACK: a contemporary city conversation.  located in st. peter’s abbey vineyard, which has been around since the middle ages, the green bookshelves beautifully complement the grass and vines.

    the shelves are filled with all kinds of books that are available for purchase to raise money for the public libraries of ghent.  if you’re visiting the installation, you’re encouraged to leave a small donation in a box in exchange for taking a book or a piece of art from bookyard…

    bartolini installs the bookshelves as extensions of the vines and according to bartolini, “books too can broaden the mind, just like good wine.”  agreed!

    the TRACK festival curated 41 international artists to create work that would exist in the public space of the city of ghent.  you can walk around the city and experience the exhibitions on your own time and at your own pace.

    - smiley

    photos via TRACK, designboom

  15. smiley style: souvenir jackets

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    hey, Smiley here! over the weekend, i went to the Fairfax flea market with my friend and we stumbled upon these incredible deadstock vintage jackets. there were two of them – and we didn’t have any other choice but to buy them.

    souvenir jackets, as they are formally called, were born in the 1940s and 1950s when American soldiers were enlisted to work in the far-east.  the jackets were picked up by the soldiers as souvenirs and brought back to america.  in asia, the cost of embroidery was very cheap so they could get virtually whatever they wanted embroidered on them.

    (the reverse side)

    the original jackets can run for a very high price – luckily we found some vintage ones from the 1980s, not from the 1950s.  ours are reversible as well. two jackets in one!

    - smiley

  16. soda (POP)culture

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    designer Garth Britzman made sure his plastic bottles weren’t going to end up in a landfill… these water and soda bottles were intended for a much greater purpose. Garth of Lincoln, Nebraska worked the empty soda pop bottles into a giant canopy, providing shade for cars and humans alike!

    entitled (POP)culture – he filled each bottle with a little bit of colored water.  the blues, greens and yellows really give it a fresh and summery feel…don’t ‘cha think?

    in total, the project utilizes over 1,500 discarded plastic bottles.  the bottles are arranged with strings hanging at different lengths – giving the installation a wavy feel.  it almost looks like it could be stained glass!

    via This is Colossal, Photos via Movements and Nonsense

  17. insect repelling fashion

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    hi, Smiley here! over at Cornell University, two students have taken apparel design to the next level – creating fashion that has a useful purpose as well a message.  Matilda Ceesay teamed up with fiber science major Frederick Ochanda to create a collection that is embedded with insect repellent at the molecular level.  both students are originally from Africa where Malaria is a major concern.

    the material they use is safer, more durable and more powerful than skin-based repellents.  the goal is to have the technology and the material market-ready within two years.  the collection includes hoods, jackets, dresses and shirts.

    this specific piece- a part of the Njehringe‘ collection – was designed to look like a conventional mosquito net – which is also an important way people protect themselves against disease.  however, the nets are easily damaged and can become ineffective after a few months of use. interestingly enough, Ceesay promises that other kinds of materials like collars and wristbands could be treated with the fabric, providing extra protection for children at night.

    the idea was inspired by Ceesay’s own African heritage.  for her, silhouettes were extremely important in the collection.  every textile used was produced and locally hand-dyed in the villages of Ceesay’s home country, Gambia.  it’s incredible to see technology being used in fashion to solve important global problems.

      she states, ‘I created this garment to remind people to not be complacent with the current treatments available for malaria.  the world has been fooled into thinking diseases can only be treated by doctors; I hope to revolutionize the thought process  behind finding medical solutions using this garment. this is a prototype garment but with enough research and interest, MOF technology could be readily available to everyone.‘ – Matilda Ceesay

    photos via belong to jason koski / cornell university photography, via DesignBoom

    -smiley

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