(Video link here.) We just heard the astonishing news that Lego, a company whose product we have featured numerous times as a symbol of possibility, has refused to fill a large order of its plastic bricks — an art material — for Chinese artist’s Ai Weiwei upcoming exhibition at in Australia. Their reason: They don’t provide bricks…
Read MoreDay after day of sitting and writing at my computer made my body crave standing. Knowing that standing is much healthier than chronic sitting, I’d rigged standing desks in the past but none of them ever seemed quite right. In desperation, I plunked the EverBlock library steps on a terrace table and perched my old 17″ MacBook on it.
Read MoreWe’ve written numerous posts wishing out loud for a life-size building block that would allow us to create with the ease of a Lego; over the years, we’ve featured some “close-but- not-quite-right iterations“. Our wish has come true, at last. Serial entrepreneur Arnon Rosen applied his knowledge of modular flooring to create the technology to produce 12-inch…
Read MoreChinese design studio KBme2 believes that there are simple ways to create housewares that could truly belong to the user. They tested their idea our using LEGO, the timeless building tool beloved by both children and adults.
Read More(Video link HERE.) In addition to plastic snap together grownup legos we could make real things out of, we’ve long dreamed of big concrete Lego-like bricks we could build serious structures out of. So we were thrilled to find this video of Kite Bricks, a patent-pending, production-imminent component brick that is very much like big…
Read Morevia 31media.tumblr Thanks Holton!
Read MoreHaving long been enamored of building blocks both miniature and life-sized for their cool modularity and open invitation to improvise, I find this jumbo building kit from LEGO is the perfect thing for adults to play/plan/build with. Whether to envision a real-life project in small scale or simply get out of your own head for a minute, these…
Read MoreIn our endless search for “adult” Legos with which we could actually make some home projects, we’ve checked out all sorts of possibilities. Here’s the closest we’ve come.
Read MoreSeven-year-old Charlotte Benjamin recently wrote the Lego Company calling them out on their gender-stereotyped toys: All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks. She calls on the Lego…
Read More(Video link here.) While we’re on the subject of stripes, from artist Holton Rower: The White Stripes fab lego animation. If you don’t dig the music, turn it off and watch what you can do with one of our favorite toys/tools/mind expanders. Thanks Holton! Related posts: translucent lego’s, for skyscrapers n’ things amazing lego prosthesis + boston’s…
Read MoreOccupational therapist Christina Stephens, who had her foot amputated after a crash injury, created a prosthetic entirely out of Legos. She rose to the challenge when a co-worker in her research lab jokingly suggested she make a prosthetic leg out of the toy construction blocks. Awesome creative spirit there! This video at DesignBoom shows the…
Read MoreSince our every early post Concrete Block Love, about a table base Marcel Breuer had designed of concrete blocks, we’ve posted quite a few posts about concrete blocks and what you can do with them. We LOVE them because they are so mundane with so much potential to be stylish. The other day we discovered…
Read Morephoto: sebastian bergne We are slightly obsessed with the idea of using Lego’s to make functional objects that we can really use; it’s kind of a mindgame we play with ourselves that we hope to put into action one day, since you can now buy as much of any color Lego as you want at…
Read MoreIn response to our post about the Lego store, Lydia Wills sent us an email about the translucent Lego skyscrapers made at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City a few years ago. It’s an illuminating (literally) P.S. to our post on the dream of making monochrome Lego furniture, now that we can…
Read MoreWhen we were in Santa Cruz recently, a friend dragged us to a giant shopping mall. In no time, our senses were overwhelmed by TOO MUCH: stuff for sale, Cinnabon and Starbuck’s smells, piped music, people. Stumbling on the new Lego store made it all worth while. We loved its giant wall of help-yourself bins…
Read MoreWe took out 15 minutes to watch the wonderful short animated film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and found oursevles charmed and refreshed.
Read MoreHere’s our list of things we think are worth giving for the way they expand minds/hearts/creativity, or are just downright useful…
Read MoreFrom an island farm in the Pacific Northwest, Susan Dworski relates her post election strategies and one small miracle, with poem.
Read MoreA personal Meaning Index is not only a fine barometer for useless gifts, but also for the activities and people we chose to fill our lives with.
Read MoreAs great admirers of the infinite possibilities of ordinary cardboard, we love British designer Torsten Sherwood‘s simplified single-component system that encourages instinctive building. Noook are colored, double-faced cardboard disks that slot together to create overlapping formations that can create unique structures. Inspired by Legos, Noook offer’s infinite possible combinations. Designed for children, we see it as a wonderful…
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