J:V

The stunning Nabokov Collection (art directed by John Gall), a series of 21 new book covers from prominent designers.

Nabokov was a passionate butterfly collector, a theme that has cropped up on some of his past covers. The idea was also a play on this concept. Each cover consists of a photograph of a specimen box, the kind used by collectors like Nabokov to display insects. Each box would be filled with paper, ephemera, and insect pins, selected to somehow evoke the book’s content.

(via Design Observer)

Beautiful Drains by David Thompson. Emphasizing the natural beauty in the mundane.

(via The Strange Attractor)

A combination of beautiful furniture and photography from German designer Valentin Löllmann. These pieces created from bits of old “forgotten” furniture are absolutely gorgeous.



(via Design*Sponge)

By placing paint on photographs, with all their random and involuntary expressiveness, Gerhard Richter reinforces the unique aspect of each of these mediums and opens a field of tension rich in paradoxes, as old as the couple – painting / photography – which has largely defined modern art.

(via but does it float)
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Steie van Vugt made a mirror installation that played with the dimensions of a space: the mirrors pull the space apart like a kaleidoscope and display conflicting images. The installation emphasizes and blurs angles and holes, creating both calmness and complexity. Dimensies gives an empty concrete space a unique finishing touch and lets people reflect on how they experience a space.

Ghost Stories: New Designs from Nendo transforms the MADProjects Gallery in the new MAD museum in NY into a magical landscape of new designs that imbue chairs, vases, and lamps with whimsy and optical illusion. It runs until January 10, don’t miss out!

Photo embroidery by Maurizio Anzeri.

(via today and tomorrow)

So, there may be a few people out there who read this blog that may have noticed our absence lately, we can explain: we have both recently graduated from the London College of Communication and have since been very busy with several interesting things.

I have been wrapped up in setting up my own design studio with Elliot Hammer, we now operate under Birch Studio Ltd, this has been eventful and very exciting, we have worked on several projects over the last few months and these will be available to see on our website when it launches in late December. Other than that I have been printing on the Black Box Press, with Simon Hessler, pictures of that to come soon. I have also been involved with setting up a letterpress cooperative with Alex Cooper, Rose Gridneff and Elliot Hammer under the name Workshop, we are based in Hackney, East London.

Whilst all of this has been happening Varvara has been working hard on designing a beautiful identity and website for Russian school of stylists – Avanscena, im sure Varvara will post more about this when it is to launch in the new year. Whilst also working on finishing her own portfolio and website.

But alas, these are not excuses to stop feeding this blog with visual inspiration and this post is aimed to break the silence.

Swedish illustrator Klas Ernflo created these simple and beautiful compositions from the Color Pad series.


[via E-sushi]

This chair by Japanese design studio Kyouei Design was created by bending aluminium wire and crossing it one by one. No bolts or welding is used at all. The tools used for this design are only a jig and a pair of pliers.



[via Fubiz]