Art

Nendo partnered with Coca-Cola in a new collection of tableware made from recycled bottles. Bottleware makes use of the iconic 1916 "contour bottle", the ones that are continually collected, rinsed, and reused over and over again. Once these particular bottles couldn't be used again for their original purpose, Nendo got to work and created this set that was recently exhibited at DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2012.

Being that we are what we eat, trained architect and interior designer Valentina Raffaelli developed a project that aims to share the nutritional and health benefits of certain foods. The project, Herbarium taste, includes technical drawings with facts of these foods in hopes of educating people in a simplified, easy-to-understand way.

In this edition of The Tools That Make It Happen, I headed up to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) for two days of touring the campus, checking out student projects and learning what being an RIT student is all about. Since I've never been a design student myself, it was pretty eye-opening! My wonderful host, Josh Owen, who is a designer but also Associate Professor and Chair of the Industrial Design Program at the School of Design, took me around to all the different design departments and he, alongside design professor Alex Lobos, even gave me a tour of the brand new (not yet opened) Golisano Institute for Sustainability (I got to wear a hard hat, safety glasses, and reflective vest!).

The holiday season is upon us and while the art of letter writing has sadly diminished over the years in favor of all things digital, nothin

Two fantastic artists have teamed up with Ink Dish, the artsy dinnerware company, to create new patterns. Dana Oldfather, who we've featured a few times on Design Milk before, and Alyson Fox, who we probably don't feature enough but love her, have designed some beautiful plate sets.

Italian company Benetti Stone has decided to bring a bit of the outdoors in with their MOSSframe idea. They take natural stabilized lichen and contain it in a white lacquered frame that comes in seven different sizes for your walls. The collection requires zero maintenance due to the fact that it's treated. So you get a little bit of nature, without the cleanup or care that most plants and living things require.

Kate Tucker is an Australian artist based in Melbourne who works mostly with painting and mixed media installation. She is inspired by the kaleidoscopic wonder of flora and fauna, which immediately makes sense upon viewing her lush, vibrant abstract pieces. For this week's CMYLK, we mocked up Colourlovers palettes of three acrylic works she created this year.

I'm so excited that Society6 has just added pillows to their lineup of artist-designed products. So this week's The Design Milk Dairy is all about that fluffy, comfy home accessory that helps make your couch truly yours. You can order a pillow cover or a cover with an insert in 16"x16", 18"x18", or 20"x20".

Arguably the greatest painter alive, Chuck Close presents amazing new work at Pace Gallery in New York. His ability to calculate color is super-human and his perseverance in the face of dyslexia, prosopagnosia (face-blindness), and partial quadriplegia (!!!) is nothing short of incredible.

Feeling that the plastic parts that come as screw tops, buckets, and lids on everyday objects don't get the proper dues they deserve, artist Roos Gomperts decided to create a way to showcase their colorful lure by designing ceramics to display them in a series called Ceramics for Plastics. Partnering the vibrant machine-made plastics next to the subtle neutral tones of the handmade ceramics gives the once disposable objects a new lease on life for all to appreciate them.

This week's The Design Milk Dairy focuses on some really great and unique holiday cards. I bet you forgot that Society6 artists can make their artworks into stationery, too! Here are a few of our favorite holiday card picks to warm the cockles...

Artist Michelle Weinberg's paintings are pretty darn awesome, but it's her rug designs that made me do a double take.