(Video link here.) We are smitten with Buenos Aires-based artist Raul Lemesoff’s brilliant ‘Weapons of Mass Instruction’, a 1979 Ford Falcon transformed into a military-style vehicle/traveling library with a serious function of peace. Lemesoff tours through Argentina’s cities, towns and rural communities, offering free books to anyone interested in his a varied collection of poetry, novels and biographies. But…
Read MoreTransforming Wall Bed-Bookshelf-Storage Unit
Last May I posted the life-size prototype I made out of FoamCore to help me design a complex combination of berth-style (sideways) wall bed, storage and bookshelves for my space in Harlem. I had been struggling with the design problem for some time: how to make the massive volume of the wall-bed blend into the structure, so you…
Read MoreFab Color-Tinted Plywood
As fans of plywood for its economical, elemental, very modern possibilities for stylish interiors, we are smitten with bright blue-stained plywood used in Vancouver’s Kin Kao Restaurant. Local Scott & Scott Architects choose plywood to use in tandem with readily available materials, including painted concrete, soaped beech, and galvanized metal. Their clever technique of using construction-grade…
Read MoreChris Burden’s Beam Drop: steel, concrete + CHANCE
Video link HERE. Artist Chris Burden used some of our favorite materials — concrete, steel beams, a construction crane…and…chance — for his Beam Drop. For us, the crazy power of the piece is in watching it: pure gravitational and other mysterious forces violently plunking the beams into wet concrete, fueled by Burden’s vision.
Read MoreEverBlock: Life Size Modular Lego-ish Building Blocks
We’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 MoreYogurt Sauce with Toasted Spices, Lime Peel and Basil
While I was putting together the recent post about mortars and pestles, I came across Maria Robledo’s beautiful image of one of my favorite mortar-made sauces. I learned the deceptively simple recipe from chef Grey Kunz years ago and it has been enduringly great: an example of the magic of a few well-chosen ingredients artfully combined by…
Read MoreAnnals of Invention: Poop Spray (to Buy or DIY)
(Video link here.) When a grieving friend came for dinner, the conversation eventually turned from sadness to LOL hilarity. He told us that he had recently heard that an entrepeneur was making a fortune selling “poop spray”, a scented liquid that you spray in the toilet “before to go” to literally prevent your shit from stinking. You’re kidding, we…
Read MoreDoes Your Apartment Vibrate? Fixes that Help Tame Vibration
Here’s a summary of all the fixes I’ve found to dampen irritating, sleep-depriving vibrations coming from machinery and other mechanicals.
Read MoreCalder-esque Improvised Olive Fork
Looking through our photo archive of the Laboratory renovation, we came across this image of an olive fork improvised by Roberto, a stunningly-outside-the-box-creative of a carpenter who was part the construction team. Being Portuguese, he loved olives and bought a jar for his lunch one day. Having no fork with which to spear them, he…made one…
Read MoreCuriously Beautiful: Sheetrock with Metal Stud Wall
We stumbled on this curiously beautiful sheetrock wall at the always illuminating Under the Sun. It appears to be a way an art gallery displayed a show. Sheets of uncut 4 x 8′ sheet rock were nailed to a carefully constructed wall of ordinary sheet rock studs with plenty of space between. Not great for sound…
Read MorePainted Canvas Headboard…(+ pillow + chairs)…
Though it’s not exactly a headBOARD, we love this painted canvas hung on the wall at the head of a low bed. And we are inspired by the canvas Cy Twombly tacked right onto the walls of his Rome villa, ready for painting. 63-inch by 6-yards rolls of primed artist’s canvas can be found on Amazon…
Read MoreCy Twombly’s Fab Deconstructed Villa in Rome (1966)
At the compellingly odd blog Under the Sun, we stumbled on an gorgious interior with messily painted, canvas like walls in what appeared to be an Italian Villa. We follwed the trail to discover it was from an article Vogue magazine ran in 1966, about artist Cy Twombly’s villa in Rome. The photographs were by…
Read MoreHoli: Throw Happiness Around Like Confetti!
The Hindu traditional day of festivity known as Holi, celebrated on March 5th, is a religious celebration that has come to signify a lighthearted goodbye to winter and joyous welcome to Spring. Celebrants throw vibrantly colored powders on each other, as though blessings, in a jubilant day of transformation. Spring is literally in the air!
Read MoreQuick, Easy Mortar-Made Sauces
To illustrate just how useful it is to have a mortar and pestle —and to accompany our essential post about this great, ancient tool — here are some favorite mortar-made preparations: simple, a-la-minute flavored oils for dipping bread, drizzling on grilled fish, or jazzing up soups and stews. I set the mortar on the table for guests to…
Read MoreMortar and Pestles to Buy or DIY (and Ones Not To)
Recently, Jim Dillon asked me to recommend a good mortar and pestle. It is a fine request as they are incredibly useful, yet misunderstood tools. I’ve been mentally panning most of the mortars and pestles I see for year because of their ineffective —yet often beautiful — design. So here are some mortar and pestle basics,…
Read MoreRepair Essential: Bondic Liquid Plastic Welder
(Video link HERE) Does your headphone phone jack have a loose connection? Did the stem of your eyeglasses snap? Tired of trying to repair them with weak glue or duct tape? We said YES to all those questions and were thrilled to find Bondic, a liquid plastic that “welds” broken items. It fits right in with our…
Read MoreTom Sachs’ Video Homage to Plywood Will Help You Create
(Video link here.) When we stumbled on the sleek, illuminated video, Love Letter to Plywood, on Kottke, we hadn’t realized it was by artist Tom Sachs. Of all the plywood “makers” we know, he is among the most inspiring. The guy seriously understands and works the stuff, from his plywood “concrete” block, to his black plywood…
Read MoreUse Heavy Italian Crepe Paper Like Fabric
When we saw these curiously chic oversized streamers, we thought: what a lovely design element, not realizing they were party decorations. They are so UNLIKE any crepe paper we’ve seen before. The secret is extra wide Italian crepe paper, a whole other order of magnitude than the vin ordinaire stuff. It looks more like fabric.
Read MoreLamp Shade from Single Sheet of Paper
Japanese design studio YOY’s beautifully minimal lamp shade made out of a single sheet of paper made us realize that we could make it or other PAPER shade iterations now that we we’ve found a bright, pleasing bright LED bulb. Since LEDs don’t get hot like incandescent bulbs, we can fashion shades out of paper without danger of fire.
Read MoreI-Beam Shelving and Side Tables
When a friend once suggested we use 12-inch lengths of industrial steel I-beams as “brackets” to hold shelves, we couldn’t quite imagine what he was thinking. UNTIL we spotted the fabulously rusted I-beam shelving at metal fabricator while wandering through East Harlem last fall. When we saw the makeshift shelving the owner had improvised to store…
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