(Video link here.) Over the years, we’ve published quite a few of artist/inventor/designer Domnic Wilcox‘s brilliant rethinking of ordinary objects, documented on his site Variations on Normal. We love that Wilcox constantly challenges “normal” because “normal” is often so terribly limiting. And as Wilcox shows, its FUN and illuminating to think outside the normal box.…
Read MoreArtist, designer, inventor and “thinkeruper”, Dominic Wilcox is one of the most inspired improvisers we know, constantly challenging himself to push limits as he asks himself “What would happen if”… We are especially smitten with the “multiple brush paint brush” he made after he bought 150 paint brushes cheap and wondered “IF I could join them…
Read MoreWhen we want to wake/shake up our thinking, we check in at Dominic Wilcox‘s blog Variations on Normal. You never know what that clever guy will come up with. We especially love his month-long project, Speed Creating. Every day for 30 consecutive days, HE practiced waking up his thinking by making something creative with whatever was at…
Read MoreWe are completely smitten with Variations on Normal, Dominic Wilcox’s blog about his inventions and simple,”out there” solutions to everyday needs and wants. Wilcox is a self-described “artist, designer, inventor and ‘thinkeruper’ who works within the territory of the ‘everyday’.” That’s our favorite territory. Each of Wilcox’s concepts and inventions is annotated. To make his room…
Read MoreYears ago, we clipped this image from a design blog thinking: How lovely that looks, in its minimalist setting. Then we imagined lying on a swinging bed hung in a nook so near to a wall and could feel how jarring it would be if/when the suspended bed actually hit the wall. Much better it be…
Read MoreDesigner/imagineer Dominic Wilcox applies a unique philosophy to encourage kid’s to invent things. Grownups can use it to spark their creativity.
Read MoreEric Timothy Carlson’s abstract tape painting reminds us a) how great ordinary tape is for making stuff, including a la minute artworks b) you don’t need to get crazy about it. It can be a fun, chill few moments of exploration that you rip off the wall when you’re tired of it. Perfect for the weekend.
Read MoreThis photo of hunks of clay by Gentl and Hyers, made us wonder: What are we going to make today? And then we found this in Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art:
Read MoreWe love artist/designer Dominic Wilcox‘s fix for red wine spilled on the carpet (below): Don’t bother trying to get it out…paint a pattern around it. It gives us ideas for fixing clothes and table linens that have impossible-to-remove stains or spots. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em: transform them by emphasising the transgressions,
Read MoreWhen we saw visitors to a Neoclassical palazzo in Milan playing on swings created by London designer Philippe Malouin, it reminded us of how lovely a swing can be, ESPECIALLY in an unexpected place, with a terrific view. It also revealed a simple way to have a swing indoors if you don’t have beams to securely hang them from:…
Read MoreWe’ve come to love the word YES, and post it often as a reminder to embrace the opportunities that come along, and go with them. But we realize that there is a very important other side to YES, and that is being able to say NO.
Read MoreAt The Chive, we came across a list of 16 simple solutions to some everyday dilemmas: a virtual, visual Hints from Heloise. We’ve found some incredibly useful, like using bread bag tags as cord labels (of course, with our obsessive minds, we’d go looking for stylish tag in a color we like: white! – and…
Read MoreWe worked with Jeffrey Miller many years ago when he was prop stylist and always marveled at his wonderful eye. We also marveled at the apartment he lived in, which at the time was a tiny studio with a giant window on the lower east side of Manhattan. We loved its extreme minimalism which combined function…
Read MoreFrom a teeny, illuminating interview with Neil Gaiman that we stumbled on in TimeOut New York: Q: You once said that your biggest influence, for your writing, was punk rock—the idea that you could do something just by doing it. It still is. You have to be willing to make mistakes, and you have to…
Read MoreThe strange brilliance of ordinary humans heartens us daily. High on the list is this remarkable invention by a woman traveler passing through a busy airport in the time of high virus threat.
Read MoreWe found this short video made for kids curiously clarifying. “Are You Normal?” explains the origin of idea that has become a source of so much modern anxiety, and deconstructs it. We are reminded of the great Betty White in this deeply wonderful Saturday Night Live sketch.
Read MoreWe love this clip of abstract expressionist artist Ed Clark describing how he came defy the limitations of the paint brush by painting canvasses laid out on the floor with a push broom, the old-fashioned super-wide broom janitor’s used to wash big swathes of floor. His improvisation reminds us of the way ideas can ignite or connect in an instant to yield solutions with mighty effect.
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