Sneeze into Summer

In honor of all my friends who are currently feeling a little "under the weather," I bring you Kleenex's "Perfect Slice of Summer" - a limited edition series of tissue boxes for Target Stores nationwide. I love the angular symmetry, vibrant color schemes and the boxes ability to create beautifully detailed hexagonal appeal for both the eyes and nose. I just have to say it's about time somebody stepped up to the plate with Kleenex box design and created something that can accent the room as opposed to grandma-fy it. Fingers crossed for a late-summer seedless watermelon edition!

[via TheDieline]

Wes Anderson Film Festival

Leave it to AAU grad student Alex Cornell to design a brilliant set of promotional material for a hypothetical Wes Anderson Film Festival that, to be quite honest, we all wished for annually. Cornell's vast collection of materials has a gorgeous simplicity that blends witty text with heartbreaking imagery and composition. Even more amazing is the sheer vastness of Cornell's materials - he's designed everything from festival posters ("I Thought I Loved You...") to vinyl covers ("I Should Probably Try Harder...") to the actual festival tickets. He even went so far as to create a very Anderson-esque trailer. Hopefully, Mr. Anderson himself will bite on this concept and start such a festival for all our sakes. And, even more hopefully (and rather personally), there will be a poster with the following: "You never gave me the time of day til I started getting good reviews." [via BOOOOOOOM!]

Ferris Bueller Home Now For Sale

While a select few may know this as A. James Speyer's treasured Ben Rose home, most of us only know this as Cameron Frye's homestead in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. For the low, low price of $2.3 million you too can fake sickness in bed and participate in endless hours of George Peterson impressions. If you look closely you'll notice an infamous red car (which I think should come with the house, of course). Now, this cantilevered treasure is indeed a sight to behold (and potentially live in), but I'm thinking that unless you're the sausage king of Chicago, Sotheby's will have this on the market for quite some time. 

[via grain edit]

Julius Schulman and his suspenders

 

Dwell's design leader series features some of world's most creative minds discussing their crafts, inspirations and sometimes sickening genius (yes, I sometimes get jealous). I stumbed across this interview with infamous architectural photographer Julius Schulman and was blown away not only by his candid honesty on his work and "wham!" how he became a photographer (thank you, Richard Neutra). Have a look, soak in the inspiration and realize just how cool a messy office really is.

[via Dwell]

Clock Clock

Sometimes cold and cloudy Sundays in Southern California lead to great finds. I'm currently in a state of wonderment over "The Clock Clock" (above) designed by Sweden's very own Humans Since 1982. Is it a manual clock? Is it digital? While it may seem like a clock with an identity complex, this timepiece brings together both worlds with 24 manual alarm clocks working together to show the time digitally. They've even gone so far as to develop a font based on the letter forms. Unfortunately, this little gem has yet to hit shelves; however, it has me reeling on the limitless inspirations that surround Scandanavian creativity and what can be done with the two hands of both humans and the clock itself.

[via Deezeen]

The Black Parade

As much as I love to splash color into my wardrobe (and general lifestyle), I always find myself intrinsically attached to the dueling contrast between black and white. Maybe it's my love of black-and-white cinema...maybe it's because I appreciate subtle attraction in a wardrobe...or maybe it's just the devil and all his little, dark helpers. And just when I think I'm finding more colorways sneaking into my closet, I stumble across such brilliance as H&M's new bondage-inspired Divided Line and Craig McCabe's death-friendly shoot that is as much beautiful and dreamy as it is ghostly and altogether creepy. Either way, the shots and pieces are a sight to behold - whether in print or your closet.




















Then there's new album from the Dead Weather, which features a gorgeously dark image of Allison Mosshart (whom we all know from the Kills). Yes, I'm ecstatic about the album, but more importantly I love the cover design with Allison drenched in eerie contrast, surreal nature and a lavish darkness.

And what have I done in response to all this? One look at all of today's rather dark Topman purchases will help answer that question.

Thanks, Mom

Like it or not, it's time to step away from the design world and pay homage to all the women who instilled and supported our creative genius/studpidity through our formative (and not so formative) years. If only we could all step back and compose the same wise words as my brother once did as an 8 year-old (he's 33 now). Have a look, take a deep breath and try to get a bit more original than the "roses are red" and last-minute bouquets.

(Written by my brother 25 years ago...)

"What My Mother Means to Me" by Ryan Sherrett

My mother means everything to me - I mean everything! I think my mom is very, very special. She is also very, very nice. She helps me when I don't understand things and she helps me alot of other times too. What are moms for? I love my mom. I'm glad God gave me a mom. My mom is the best mom in the whole wide world. I mean it too. I think my mom is great, just great. I'll say it again! My mom is very special.

Happy Mother's Day! Love you, Mom!

The Incredible, Photogenic Egg

There's just something so unexplainably cool about smashing an egg - whether accidentally while haplessly trying to poach...or purposely in the face or hand. Both the Amateur Theater Festival Utrecht and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have created eye-catching imagery that is both sloppy and altogether stylish. I'm cringing as I say this, but maybe eggs are the new black.

[via ffffound]

April77's Wild Wild West

April77 has officially launched their new high-end line (due this July), and their old west inspirations have me considering gloves and a scarf in late summer. Don't believe me? Check out the full collection here.























[via Hypebeast]

Mother's Day isn't Just for Mom

You have to love a Mother's Day inspired pop-up shop dropped in the middle of Williamsburg - especially with "mom" heart tattoos. 303 Grand's newest creation (titled "Thanks, Mom") will feature such mom-centered gifts as vintage hand-crafted bags, letter-press cards, gardening accessories and all sorts of vintage-y gifts that comes with much thought and (thanks to 303) little effort. Look for 303 Grand's Pop-Up Wedding Chapel in June...and I'm predicting a Pop-Up maternity clinic March/April 2010.

I'm also considerably excited about the newest Pop-Up collaboration between Loomstate and Apartment 9 in not-so-organic Beverly Hills (opens May 14). With Target already locked up, and a Rogan-Apartment 9 collaboration set for next month, I'm predicting this to be one hell of an organic summer out here on the West coast.

Get on the bus

With Cinco de Mayo in full effect (as well as your margarita consumption), I've dedicated today's blog to the creative geniuses at Stockholm-based Acne Advertising and their collaboration with Swedish airport bus company Flygbussarna. The bus-shaped sculpture below is built out of 50 crushed cars - which represents the number a bus would replace (approximately). Take a look, leave the keys at home, and make this 5th of May that much safer and stylish.

[via PSFK]

Jongerius goes Camper

As of late, the Spanish wunderkinds at Camper have been turning heads with brilliant collaborations. For Winter 2010 and Sumer 2010, they have teamed up with Dutch designer Hella Jongerius and her immisakable creative genius. The four collections - Pelotas, Peu, Imar and Brothers - are truly wearable art that might actually look better on display than on your feet. Either way, I think I'm still partial to last year's Hayon creations.