Yoko Ono’s 1966 lovely “Mend Piece” is a participatory installation that, like many Ono works, comes with instructions designed to resonate personally, meaningfully, expansively…
Read MorePauline Caulfield’s Ingenious Textile Panels Become Wall Covering, Art, Window Shade
This tiny video of textile artist Pauline Caulfield’s brilliant 1968 diploma show while studying at the Royal College of Art shows an inspiring, ingenious alternative to obstructing window treatments.
Read MoreSleeping like Donald Judd in Low-to-the Floor Beds, with Details and Plans
At the Judd Foundation, we stumbled upon this wonderful bedroom with a very Judd-esque low bed. It reminded us of the austere low platforms he made for his Spring Street Loft. We took a closer look at how he made them.
Read MoreFloating Blossoms in a Tiny Indoor Pond (Su Tung Po)
Photographer Maria Robledo inspired us to copy the lovely pond she improvised for fallen blossoms culled from her garden. A perfect accompaniment to this Spring poem by Su Tung Po.
Read MoreBring a Little Piece of Nature Into the Home, Heart, Day (Yoko Ono, Max Lamb)
It usually takes just a shift of orientation, or your usual route to work or the store, to work some living trees into your day and heart. Here’s some inspiration from Yoko Ono and Max Lamb…
Read MoreWhite Sneakers are Your Blank Canvas for Graffiti and Dalmation Spots (DIY)
Like many white things, plain white sneakers are a blank canvas just waiting to be embellished with permanent fabric markers or paint. Here are two favorite iterations for summer.
Read MoreChandelier from 1980’s Berlin and Alexander Calder “On the Cutting Edge of Architectural Experimentation”
We found this divine, completely original and inspired chandelier buried in MondoBlogo’s riff on 1980’s interiors. It’s right up there with this ceiling light Alexander Calder fashioned for his friend Miro.
Read MoreClever Bookcases Made of Stacked Boxes
We love the idea of these NOT built-in bookshelves at a Swedish design store. They are composed of a series of volumes — rectangles and squares of various sizes — into which books are stacked. Then we figured out a way to make them.
Read MoreEnvelope Poems are Amazing to Receive (Rumi + Emily Dickinson)
Even if it had not come in a hot pink envelope on Valentine’s day, but in an ordinary envelope on an ordinary day, it would have been as powerful…
Read MoreEcumenical Money Valentine to Give to Lovers AND Friends
We’re thinking a dandy little heart made of folded money would make a nice valentine for just about anyone…more inclusive than the usual romantic stuff like flowers and chocolate…
Read MoreEphemeral Curtains and Room Dividers Strung on Wires Are Easy to Do
In these images of gauzy curtains hung on simple wires via Clothier Aurelie Lecuyer, the lack of an imposing curtain rod achieves a pleasingly minimalist and ephemeral quality that’s easy and inexpensive…
Read MoreLemon Amplified and Seen Anew (Pablo Neruda)
Stumbling on a picture we took a decade ago, we were reminded of the simple, elemental brilliance of friend’s impromptu invention, amplified by Neruda’s Lemon Poem.
Read MoreA Messy Scrap Ribbon Collection Inspires Delights and Inventions
By saving bits of ribbon and string, I’m not just recycling them to use on other gifts; I’m collecting a beautiful materials to use for all sorts of applications…
Read MoreCool, Graphical Masking Tape Decorations for Walls, Cards, Wrapping
“I haven’t done a thing to get ready for the holidays” is an echo I’ve heared from many people I know. No matter. There’s always ways to festive things up at the last minute, with whatever is on hand.
Read MoreBrian Eno’s Early Handwritten Oblique Strategies Cards Inspire Our Own
Brian Eno’s original set of handwritten oblique strategies cards designed to break creative impasses made us wonder about making our own…
Read MoreAnnals of Everyday Invention: Bra Knee Pads
An ever-inventive friend recently mentioned her solution to a difficult floor repair she was in the middle of when she realized she needed knee pads to protect her wonky knees.
Read MoreEndlessly Useful, Morphable, Stylish Photographer’s Apple Boxes
When I worked as a food stylist in photo studios, I came to appreciate the endless ways apple boxes could be used. They are just as useful at home. Witness Le Courbusier.
Read MoreYour Clothes Embellished with Simple Stitching
Over at Kleidersachen, we occasionally spot boldly stitched clothing that makes us wonder why we don’t take a need and thread to our clothes more often to jazz them up.
Read MoreThe Deep Internal Realizations to be Had from Fooling Around
In his wonderful TED talk, Gever Tully describes the “deep internal realizations” to be had from having the freedom to fool around, tinker, improvise…
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