Bonjour! It’s Si here again from the FrenchByDesign. Dana asked me to compile a selection of quotes I posted on my blog in the last few months. People often ask me why I post so many quotes…. For some reason, I have a thing for quotes – not the typical inspirational quotes that are supposed to uplift you spiritually, but plain logical, rational, common sense, generally uncensored and most of the time humorous quotes from famous or not-so-famous people… Because there is nothing better to me than starting a day of work with a good laugh… So here is a round up of some of my favorite quotes posted on the blog… Hope you like them!

- Si.

[Images via FrenchByDesign.]

Evie Group is a young Sydney based design studio founded in 2010 by industrial designers Alex Gilmour and Dominic Chong. The philosophy behind the brand is to create designs that are carefully considered, elegant and timeless in their aesthetic.

Featured Project // Spun series of lights.

Why it Rocks // Spun was one of the finalists at the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Awards in 2011. Nice one guys!

Below is a little Q&A with the designers.

Spun pendant light.

+ What was your design inspiration for Spun Lamps – i.e was it a result of a specific brief, a particular concept, your favourite song or a book etc?

The Spun lamps were inspired by the classic toy – the wooden spinning top. We wanted to create a playful yet sophisticated lighting piece that would reflect on childhood memories but also provide a decorative sculptural piece.

+What do you love about Spun Lamps?

We love the flexibility in the light. Here we created a floor/table lamp in various sizes that can be freely positioned as well as a pendant. When hung in multiples, the smooth curves paired with the reflective surfaces create an impact to any environment.

Spun floor light in gold finish.

+ Did you learn anything during the design/ production of Spun? Would you have done anything differently?

Yes, we learnt a lot! Creating a closed lamp required a great amount of stringent testing and certification. Designing and manufacturing the lamps ourselves, we were quite strict on the level of care and quality produced and overall happy with the end result.

Spun floor light in silver finish.

+ Any other interesting/ funny/ quirky facts you could share with us?

Initially inspired by the spinning top, the lamp was to be made from wood. Due to manufacturing capabilities and not being able to get the perfect fit of the shade to the body, we switched to metal. This also enabled the shade to be fitted to the metal body without any fasteners or screws.

+ Best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Be determined. Design doesn’t just happen with an idea. It takes a lot of hard work and many sleepless nights!

Spun floor light silver finish.

+ If you were not a designer, what would you be?

Alex: a musician // Dominic: a photographer.

+ Nothing inspires me like…

The simplicity in Japanese and Scandinavian designs.

+ I am really good at…

Alex: yoga // Dominic: video games.

+ Most people don’t know that I…

Alex: play violin and guitar // Dominic: am an expert marksman.

Designers – Dominic Chong & Alex Gilmour – surrounded by Spun lights!

[Images courtesy of Evie Group.]

Pleat Farm is an informational and inspirational online platform, and a design pasture for all things apparel, textiles, architecture, furniture, paper art and product design-related – with a twist and a fold. Pleat Farm is about more than origami. The site is focused entirely on innovations in material applications involving bending, knotting.

Thanks to Dana for the honor of guest-posting on her beautiful blog!

‘Retail villages’ have been an emerging occurrence in Tokyo as of recently, and Yoyogi Village is one such concept which integrates a green, slow space/ sanctuary with an exclusive retail experience for the sophisticated urban crowd. The urban oasis is the brainchild of two high-profile music creatives Takeshi Kobayashi and Shinichi Osawa, and the two visionaries branded themselves as “Kurkku’ for this venture. Helming the overall architecture is interior designer Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall in collaboration with ‘plant hunter’ and landscape designer Seijun Nishihata.

As you enter the compound through a gateway of steel and glass, you’ll be greeted with a “village” of specialty shops and cafes nestled in converted shipping containers. A landscaped pathway would take you to the main attraction – code kurkku – which comprises of a lounge area, a music bar, and an eatery with a focus on Kyoto-Italian organic cuisine. The choice of natural wood floors and ceilings harks back to the wood architecture of rural Japan, and it is further enhanced by Nishihata’s lush massive green living wall which is breathtaking when viewed on every angle.

So the next time you jet off to Tokyo and feel the need to slow down, hope on the JR line heading for Yoyogi and step into the Village!

- Pleat Farm.

[via spoon and tamago. Photography by Nacasa & Partners.]

I have a slight (borderline clinical condition) addiction to collages. Pattern, colour, texture – what’s not to like!

One of my favorite collage artists is Ashkan Honarvar. He’s a genius when it comes to communicating social issues through images. In his series Vanitas, Ashkan teams up with stylist Kathi Kauder and photographer Sabrina Theissen (two other artful aces!) to depict the equilibrium between life and death and “the instincts that guide people under extreme circumstances”.

Holy guacamole – I think Ashkan has created the perfect visual marriage between fashion, art and poetry, don’t you think?

-Gabriel.

[All images: Ashkan Honarvar]

Mary Katrantzou, Florals

Erik Madigan Heck is a New York–based photographer with a signature style for which I have nothing but extreme levels of admiration, love and affection. Oh ok, and slight envy dammit! His work contains multiple rich layers and crosses the genres of photography, fashion, fine-art and mixed media. In today’s world where digital post-production is routinely performed on the majority of photographs, Erik’s work is almost always jazzed up the good old-fashioned way—using his camera or in the darkroom. Amen to that!

Etro Homme

Felicity Brown and The End of Spring

Erik began photographing at the age of 14. By the time he was 23-year-old, he founded an exclusive semi-annual art journal Nomenus Quarterly (dubbed as the world’s most expensive magazine—ummm… wow!)  where he frequently collaborates with some of the world’s most influential artists, fashion designers and institutions including Dries Van Noten, Helmut Lang, Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaïa and Ann Demeulemeester. Each new issue of Nomenus comes both as a limited edition printed format for several thousand dollars (!!), and as an online publication with free bonus content.

Mary Katrantzou, Surreal Planes

Mary Katrantzou, The Surrealist Ideal

Last year, PDN selected Erik for its annual “30” list of photographers to watch. He has also been featured in Forbes‘ 30 under 30, WWD, The New York Times to name a few. In other words, he’s so hot right now. I shall certainly keep a close (eagle) eye on this ballsy and wildly talented young photographer. Extreme love!

Kenzo Spring Summer 2012

Valentino Couture

Selected Fashion 2007-2011 (left) Rodarte, (right) Lanvin.

Giambattista Valli

[All images © Erik Madigan Heck.]

Ahhh, these images brought me so much joy that I had to share them with you guys. Joel Robinson, a photographer based in Canada, is the creator of this series of surreal and conceptual photos. I love the way Joel’s vivid imagination shines through his work, and the way he manages to bring fantasy to life by combining child-like wonder, dreams and magic. And this is coming from someone who didn’t like reading/ watching/ having anything to do with “fantasy” while growing up. True story. And you?

You can see more of Joel’s work on Flickr, and you can also buy some of his prints on Etsy.

[Found via fuckyeahbookarts.]

Leah here again from The Minimalist with my second post. Susanna Vento is my style hero. This Finnish stylist has a signature pure and minimalist eye like no other. Through her work she aims to startle the viewer while offering inspiring tips for their own interior and helping them break free of a boring, uniform homes.

Her styling consists of many layers and always combines modern and classic pieces and her favourite element – DIY.  Susanna doesn’t take herself too seriously and has been quoted saying “Interior design is not a serious business”. She currently styles for Scandinavian Deko magazine. You can see her portfolio of work here.

-Leah.

[Images:  Susanna Vento.]

Hello everyone! Chloé from Plenty of Colour here again. I love when light and colour are combined in architecture, don’t you? Changing weather, seasons and settings mean light dances across buildings in ever-changing and dynamic ways. Spanish architect Alejandro Muñoz Miranda designed this kindergarten in Granada, Spain around a central courtyard or playground that serves as the heart of the centre. With a striking and modern white exterior, the school features frameless rainbow windows in communal spaces like hallways while leaving the glass in classrooms colourless. The result is corridors full of dazzling, multi-coloured light that is constantly changing as the sun moves during the school day.

Alejandro’s design really feels like an interpretation of a child’s paint palette that seamlessly marries modern architecture with childlike wonder. If I went to this kindergarten, I would be counting the minutes until break time so I could pick a patch of coloured light to explore for the day…

- Chloé.

[Photographs by Fernando Alda via Dezeen.]

Oh my! How craaaazy talented is Mark Powell? Talented with a capital T!

Mark is a London-based artist who draws amazing portraits of the elderly on the backs of vintage envelopes (some of which date back to 1800s) using nothing more than a standard Bic Biro pen. Extremely extreme love!

See more of his amazing work on Flickr. You can also buy a number of Mark’s art prints on Society6. They are all so, so good, I literally cannot pick a favourite.

[via Colossal.]

Amsterdam Home by Architecture i29. Images via i29.

Casa Talia in Modica, Italy by Vivian Haddad and Marco Giunta . Photography by Andrea Ferrari. Image via ArchDaily.

Corallo House in Guatemala City, Guatemala by Paz Arquitectura. Photography by Andres Asturias. Images via Contemporist.

Featherston House in Melbourne, Robin Boyd. Image via Boyd Homes Group.

Orcas Island house in Washington by Gary Gladwish Architecture. Photography by Will Austin. Images via mocoloco.

Hello yellowtracers! I’m Ella, an architect from Melbourne and blogger at pages from my moleskine. I’m so excited to be here while Dana spends some time with her newest little friend.

Blurring the line between indoors and outdoors has long been a recurring theme in architecture and interiors. It’s a rather fantastical notion to have the comfort and protection of the indoors whilst being immersed in the freshness and wonder of the great outdoors. Why not have our cake and eat it too, right?

This is a collection of projects that take the task of merging inside and outside rather seriously. They explore the possibilities; how the outdoors can creep in from beneath, press hard up against the walls and windows, be sliced through the middle, hang suspended from above, pierce through the structure or be woven into the building fabric. Some of these push the boundaries so hard you start to question what “being indoors” actually means.

So many clever architects out there thinking outside of the box.

Loft Marquee at Flemington Racecourse by Joyce + Made. Photography by Dianna Snape. Images courtesy of Joyce + Made. More images here.

Room #302 at Llove Hotel by Yuko Nagayama (temporary exhibition). Photography by Takumi Ota. See more images and read the post on yellowtrace here.

Loft 24-7 in Sãu Paulo, Brazil by Fernanda Marques Arquitetos Associados. Image via Plus Mood.

Musealization of the Archeological Site of Praça Nova of Sãu Jorge Castle by Joao Luís Carrilho da Graca. The structure hovers above the archeological site. Photography by Fernando Guerra and Sergio Guerra. Images via Minimalissimo.

House N in Oita, Japan by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Photography by Iwan Baan. Image via ArchDaily.

NA House in Tokyo by Sou Funimoto. Photography by Iwan Baan. Image via Domus.

Stacking Green in Saigon, Vietnam by Vo Trong Nghia + Daisuke Sanuki + Shunri Nishizawa. Photography by Hiroyuki Oki. See more images and the post on yellowtrace here.

House in Seya, Kanagawa by Suppose Design Office. Images via Trendir.

Tori Tori Restaurant in Polanco, Mexico City by Rojkind Arquitectos and Esrawe Studio. Photography by Paúl Rivera.

I hope you enjoyed this post because I’ll be back for one more. Til then!

- Ella | blog | twitter | facebook