Environmental multimedia artist Nicole Dextras uses elements of nature to create works that are often also sited in nature or the urban landscape. She’s constructed life size clothing out of flowers and leaves, and fashioned cultural messages from grass and ice. We love the crazy big text creations from her two series Ice Typography and Green Words.
The Clap Your Hands Digital USB Camera might be one of the easiest cameras you will ever operate. From the looks of it, it appears to be just another fancy flash drive but it is actually a 2-megapixel camera that takes photos and videos.
The Japan Collection rugs designed by Enrique Eguino for Alfombras Veo Veo are inspired by Japanese locations, culture, and tradition. They pixelate an image and create these fun rugs that at first glance look like they are designed with random colors.
Above: Nikko Cascada (Nikko Waterfall)
ixxi is a modular hanging system that joins cards together in a pattern to create wall art. The Dutch company lets you enlarge a single image, create a collage, or create an abstract pixelated piece of your choice. You can upload your own image or choose from their catalog of images. The image is then enlarged and divided onto the high quality matte ixxi paper. Each printed card is 20 x 20 cm (close to 8 inches square) and joins together with their x’s and i’s to produce a wall piece or room divider.
Here are several examples but the options are truly endless:
Osaka, Japan-based Nobuhiro Nakanishi’s mesmerizing body of work entitled Layered Drawings is truly breathtaking. He photographs a scene or object repeatedly over time, then laser prints each shot and mounts them onto acrylic. Change is captured in each frame, and once layered, they become sculpture installations. The overall effect shows movement and the subtle passage of time.
Sivan Askayo is a travel photographer located in New York whose long-term project, “Intimacy under the Wires,” features images of hanging laundry from different parts of the world. The idea is to use the laundry to gain a better understanding of each location’s culture. Photographing skivvies and socks from Florence to Buenos Aires, Askayo captures anonymous intimate moments that seem revealing and cultural, but would otherwise be somewhat mundane. There’s something so satisfyingly voyeuristic about this project.
Okay gadget guys and gals. We’ve curated the best of Design Milk’s technology offerings this year, and they encompass the cute (a kiddie iPad) to the crucial (great workspaces) to innovative (grocery shopping via billboard) to the just plain useful (a soundless alarm clock). While some are simply for play, others allow you to take existing gizmos to a whole new level.
anaPad
anaPad is a children’s magnetic white board made in the exact dimensions of an iPad that comes with an erasable marker and app-style magnets. Almost as good, though twice as cute, as the real thing.
Every now and then, products, rooms and installations catch our eye, and we find ourselves thinking, “WTF?” We’ve rounded up eleven of our favorite “What were they thinking?” items for an end-of-year WTF extravaganza.
Ghost Urns
Yes, these are what they seem: ghoulish ghost-shaped urns for ashes — actual ashes. Designed by Anna Marinenko, they’re fitted with a glass test tube compartment for the ashes, and the interior walls are done in pretty pastel hues. Definitely for those with a morbid (healthy?) sense of humor.
The Lytro company has recently produced a super easy-to-use compact camera that uses light field technology. Unlike conventional cameras that have a limited ability with the amount of light it can record, the Lytro is able to capture the entire light field in every direction. The camera features an 8x optical zoom lens with a fixed f/2 aperture, which basically means you are capturing the maximum amount of light possible in the zoom range.
