We love the posters and photographs afixed to her ceiling with a staple gun.
The question is: what view do you want to look at when you lie in bed?
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How to Navigate Improvised Life’s Redesign
Improvised Life’s new redesign is quite a SHIFT from the old vertically-scrolling one. If you’re a long-time reader and you find yourself looking for the old way of doing things, we certainly understand. We did the same thing when starting to think about a redesign. In the early mockup we did (bottom), you’ll see it’s STILL…
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What’s in Your Stuff? precious metals in your phone
(Video link here.) This cool little video will open your eyes to the treasures that lie hidden inside the mobile phone you hold in your hand daily, especially precious metals, which are a limited resource. What’s In My Stuff? is an interdisciplinary research project which brings together scientists and artists to explore public awareness of the rare and…
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A Tiny Nook Room Expands with a Wall Mural
For a while now, we’ve been researching companies that make custom and ready-made wall murals, because a wall-size image seems like a great way to expand an odd room. Case in point: Swedish stylist/designer Jimmy Schönning’s transformation of a tiny nook of a bedroom with a calm distant see. Perfect.
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harry roseman’s draped and folded plywood
Artist Harry Roseman’s makes draped and folded plywood sculptures. They turn art for its own sake, and shows us a whole other realm of possibility for this uniquitous material.
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Welcome to Improvised Life’s new redesign
Yes, you ARE at Improvised Life. We’ve changed our look but not our mission. The comfortable old site, lovingly-created only 4 years ago, had become too small a container for all our ideas, and too difficult to read on the many devices people use these days. That’s how fast things change! So we redesigned it…
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Welcome to Improvised Life’s Redesign
Yes, you ARE at Improvised Life. We’ve changed our look but not our mission. The comfortable old site, lovingly-created only 4 years ago, had become too small a container for all our ideas, and too difficult to read on the many devices people use these days. That’s how fast things change! So we redesigned it…
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chair frame transformed with ribbon, bungees, string
We posted an ad in Craigslist looking for an assistant and found the most amazing people doing very cool things —blogs, tumblrs, writing, artworks — just…because… At Vanessa’s A City That Endures tumblr, we stumbled on the work of photographer Michael Wolf. He documents the random detritus of the man-made world and the beauty and order that underlie the…
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linda ellerbee on change
A few days ago, we heard the great Linda Ellerbee speak about her long, ever-surprising career in journalism, and her life. We have her voice saying “And so it goes” in our heads STILL from the great news show, Weekend. For the past 21 years, so she’s been hosting Nick News, a news show for kids that is…
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random act of kindness: message written in the street
Photographer Ellen Silverman has been sending us images of perspective-shifting signs she’s found on the streets of Paris, where she’s taking a breather. We especially love that someone took the time to scribble ‘look at the sky’ on a random piece of plywood that appears to be hiding among construction work. It is a fine…
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dance in your head to jungle’s platoon
Sometimes seeing someone dancing gives you the feeling of dancing yourself: a fine way to start the day.
He, SHE really ramps up at 2:00.
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a simple curtain hides a murphy bed, divides a room…
Recently while browsing photographer Ellen Silverman’s website, we came across this picture of Sally’s old one-bedroom apartment, where Ellen photographed a lot, both to document the space and to do food and still-life photography. The room above was a minimal, mutable space Sally used as both office and photo studio, as its south light was…
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becoming comfortable with uncertainty is essential to creativity
After we posted Good Life Project’s Creed, Jeanne McMenemy of Calligraphica, wrote us this email: Great creed…. thanks for posting it. I’m tickled by how many times I come across thoughts on the value of uncertainty. Many years ago, one of my most influential teachers, Jenny Hunter Groat, who died in February of this year, led…
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exposed copper bath pipes = towel warmer + sculpture
We’ve long been fans of copper plumbing pipes being configured on the OUTSIDE of bathroom walls to make interesting sculptural fixtures (not to mention, using copper pipe in general for pot racks, books shelves, closet fittings). And even though we’re not crazy about the somewhat drear gray tiles in this bathroom, we LOVE the creative…
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Paris sidewalk mantra: I’m alive!
Our friend Ellen Silverman sent us this heartening flash of NOW from Paris, spotted on the sidewalk near the canal St. Martin. What a statement! We’re thinking it’s a good thing to say at random, loud, in our head. Related posts: banksy’s “no stopping” reimagined (twice) public signs that inspire creativity: why not?! gene davis’ fab…
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2 weeks in Sri Lanka in 2 minutes: many improvs + a leap!
(Video link here.) Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine made a fast, sweet video of their 2 weeks traveling through Sri Lanka by foot, moped, car and boat. Turning OFF the irritating music makes for an inspiring little journey of swell everyday improvs. We especially love the LEAP at 1:50. It’s one of many illuminating escapist videos at The Perennial Plate;…
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design + diet lessons in an oddly-cut apple
One of the central principles of improvisation we follow is to turn things on their side, or upside-down, a simple shift that often yields unexpected results. It’s a practice you can do in your imagination just about anywhere, and in practice with everyday things. Recently, instead of the usual way of cutting an apple (slicing…
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invitingly messy stacks of books
Among the things we find heartening and inspiring, are messy stacks of books just ready for exploring… (…a far cry from the ubiquitous, impossible-to-actually-get-into stacks of artbooks used as home decor elements.) via Covet Garden via SF Girl By the Bay Related posts: stacked-book display cases and other great ideas via scott newkirk sighting: shelves made…
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Dithyrambalina: Musical Architecture Project in New Orleans
(Video link here.) Dithyrambalina is sonic playground, performance venue and laboratory for musical architecture project on its way to being funded via Kickstarter. New Orleans native Clayton Cubitt describes it as “A place made from reclaimed materials, architecture you can play, a local imagination factory and nexus for community connections.” In this cool little video, we found two…
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frido kahlo’s bath: “what the water gave me”
We were stunned by this painting by Frida Kahlo, sometimes referred to as “What I saw in the Water“. It has EXPANDED our view of what a bath can be…or perhaps better put “What one might see” in an ordinary bath… via From Moon to Moon Related posts: frida kahlo’s body cast paintings (art transforms)…
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