Reprinted in Sydney and delightfully affordable – a must have for all Sydney aficionados.
This first collection available at The Common Store is sourced from the City of Sydney Archives, who have diligently kept a thorough archive of Sydney’s short but vivid history. The collection comprises of lots of Sydney suburbs from circa 1896-1899.
Originally lithographed by the firm of Higinbotham & Robinson in the late nineteenth century, each map shows the boundaries of the municipality, with the main streets, railway lines, wharves, parks and reserves.
Some suburbs are already sold out but hopefully will be reprinted soon.
I saw the beautiful work of Amber Lucy, Melbourne based Architect and founder of Thread Architecture today at Decoration & Design in Sydney. Amber knits stunning vessels, lamps and other objects out of rope. Definitely made me stop.
I met up with a fellow German from Hamburg who is travelling through Australia with his wife for four months – lucky them.
Dieter is an illustrator and has had his work published in lots of German magazines. I am especially fond of his characters for the children book series “Nukka & Isi”. So far the books are only available in German but maybe the publisher will bring out posters for the wall too.
I just stumbled across the Cartography of Kitchenware by the Brooklyn based Pop Chart Lab and had to post it … for Kristin who is a food stylist and my fellow s’more blogger. It lists any kitchen utensil you think you may ever need….. and some more…
The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.
If you are like me, then despite all the tech gadgets you walk around with nowadays, you still do carry a notebook. I definitely do, for my daily doodles, notes about client projects etc. For me – these still have to be written down on paper.
To keep it short, the beautiful Panda Pad by the Sydney based The Beehive studio of Industrial Designers, Entrepreneurs and Engineers made me look.
It is a sustainably crafted, beautiful bamboo notebook, customized with your name, which is laser engraved. And the really wonderful thing is, you can replace the notebook with anything you like, your favourite book, diary or just another notebook.
Australia Day is just around the corner and with the wonderful temperatures and weather it is just about time for a picnic in the park. That’s at least what we are planning here at s’more.
So how about this inventive bicycle picnic basket / chair / table all in one. The designer behind this wonderful invention is Jeriël Bobbe from Bloon. Two thumbs up from us.
PS. We know we are quite bicycle obsessed at the moment (as you can see from all the recent posts)… we are very inspired by the beautiful weather here in Sydney :)
Push bikes have become quite en vogue so if you want your photo look cool just add a bike to it.
In Germany I had a Holland bike and I still miss it. Mind you I wouldn’t be able to conquer any hills here in Sydney with that. With only three gears it’s made for cruising on flat land as it is in Northern Germany.
But now I discovered Farraday Bikes &endash; beautiful design with a touch of Northern Europe plus the extra boost for those nasty hills if you happen to live in a city like Sydney, San Fran or Auckland.
I think this is the best looking electric bike I’ve ever seen cos you can’t see it’s electric!
I just posted about spring and we are all waiting for summer now but there is also the silly season coming up. If you want to find that extra special card check out upon a fold.
Upon a fold is an online paper shop with beautiful cards and paper you hardly find in shops.
I am not sure if I love these knives because of the beautiful styling using paper art and photography or for their own simplicity.
So beautiful!
The pocketknife got transplanted to the dinner table by Cédric Ragot for the Henri Mazelier collection. Inspired by the traditional Aveyron knife of southwestern France.
The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work.
If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to do an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.
Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction.
Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.
I have a soft spot for the use of concrete in building and design — if it is well used that is. So this Heavy Desk Lamp by industrial designer Benjamin Hubert definitely ticks all the boxes.
Ever wanted some beautiful tea towels that are not checkered or striped? Look no further! Maya Muse Textiles is a Sydney based textile designer who creates beautiful hand screen printed tea towels amongst many other products. Her range also includes cushions, wheat bags, eye pillows, napery and much more. All products are designed and handmade in Sydney by Maya. Here some of the products we love.
I am usually not very fond of things without a purpose — items in my house need to have a use other than just looking pretty — but I totally have a soft spot for paper. Have a look at the amazing Air Vase by Torafu Architects. I bought one couple of weeks ago just because I was curious. It is formed from a flat perforated paper and then stretched on each side into shape… just beautiful.
“The answer will only arrive after we stop looking for it….. But insight isn’t everything. Those who achieve great things in the long-term also have another important quality: Grit, a single-minded persistence that helps them keep their eye on the prize and pushing ever-forward even when the “aha!” moments aren’t around.” – by Jonah Lehrer – via The 99%
You can watch the whole talk by Jonah Lehrer here.
Each invention shows that the world is malleable, from the simplest stone tool to the screen you’re using to read this. We make what we want, break things in the process, collect what we like, and connect what we discover to get us closer to where we want to be.
– by Frank Chimero
If you want to add a little fun or retro chic to your wardrobe check out the Sydney designer-collaboration bRrainbow. All their products are created using laser-cut and pieced together by hand at their Sydney home studio.
You will find them at the next Young Blood: Designers Market at the Powerhouse Museum, Friday 27 – Sunday 29 July 2012, 10am – 5pm.
Being female and all I just cannot walk passed a beautiful bag — actually that is only true for camera bags in my case. I am obsessed with finding SLR camera bags that do not look like your typical “I am off to go on a hike” bags … not that there is anything wrong with going on a hike and taking your camera with you and have a practical bag to store everything.
So when I saw the beautiful Frame 1 Camera Bag from Hard Graft’s Heritage line… I just had to post it (that feels a bit like buying it). Very beautiful and simple it takes inspiration from the old camera box cases of times gone by. Hand made for Hard Graft by two Italian Leather Masters “The Brothers” …. definitely wish listed.
And I totally love their product photography (as you probably can tell).
The brainchild behind the wonderful, unique and colourful Plopp stools is Polish designer and engineer Oskar Zieta. Oskar started working with this technology whilst writing his doctor thesis at the ETH in Zurich (University of science and technology in Zurich). The stools (or any other Zieta products for that matter) are created by laser cutting two sheets of steel into a shape and welding them together, then inflating them with air. This process is called FiDU (“Freie Innen Druck Umformung – the Internal Pressure Forming”).
With this technology Zieta does not only create the funky Plopp stools but various other objects like mirrors, coat racks, benches and even custom designed artwork. And in future the plan is to ship the products flat packed to be then inflated at home. Currently this is only possible with the coat rack “Tatarak”.
Zieta is available in Australia through textura design.
The new F60 JOAN hand- and bicycle bag from Freitag went on promotour cycling through New York, Zurich, Davos, Koeln, Hamburg, Berlin, Wien, Rom, Tokyo, Paris and Amsterdam… shame it did not make it to Sydney… Love the video and the bag, multifunctional and smart.
For those who don’t know — Freitag makes very beautiful bags out of recycled tarpaulin, so totally two thumbs up for making something new and beautiful out of something old.
Cradle chair from INDN341 designed by Richard Clarkson, Grace Emmanual, Kalivia Russel, Eamon Moore, Brodie Cambell, Jeremy Brooker, Joya Boerrigter.
The chair references IKEA furniture ideology and is designed to be flat-packed, minimising packaging and transportation waste. The cradle chair is manufactured from reusable and environmentally friendly raw materials.
I am currently quite obsessed with finding the perfect breakfast/dessert/soup bowl for my kitchen. Yes, in my household things have to be simple, beautiful AND multifunctional… Today I came across Urban Cartel and their amazing handmade homewares. I love the simple shapes and beautiful colours …. they are definitely shortlisted.
Urban Cartel’s homewares are handmade in Melborune, Australia, by Craig Pearce. You can buy or find out more about the products on Mosey or at the Rose Street Artist Market in Fitzroy (Melbourne).
Crafted from the waste material created during skateboard manufacturing, Grove SkateBacks have a certain ‘Paul Smith’ whiff about them.
I am seriously considering their colourful stripes (they also come in a toned down colour way) for my current iPhone. But then again, the new iPhone 5 might be coming out soon and have a slightly different shape…
Anyone not ready to upgrade? I hear Samsung’s Android phones are getting better by the day. But if you caught fire, you can add some street-cred and shredding personality to the rear of your iPhone for about $50 (US). They are made from 100% post-industrial skate board material, and attach to your iPhone 4 or 4S via a peel-and-stick 3M adhesive that promises to allow for residue-free removal.
Last week the s’more team went to the VIVID Sydney ideas talk by etsy CEO Chad Dickerson. But what really caught our attention was Industrial Designer Henry Wilson. Henry was part of the discussion panel after the talk and briefly talked about his work.
We totally fell in love with Henry’s designs. Below some images of our favourites – the beautiful upcycled / reinvented Anglepoise desk lamp and the A-joint system.
This is what design should be – simple, clever and beautiful.
