The White House tried crowdsourcing when Obama first came in. They asked the public what its main priorities should be. Legalising marijuana came up number one. Depending on your point of view it may, or may not, have worked for Obama but a version of crowd sourcing is delivering for furniture producer and retailer, Groopti. The website invites submissions from designers then people can vote to green light the production
It’s election day and here’s a great range of message laden products from Radical Tea Towel which manage to be assertively left wing and rather elegant at same time. Not since the impoverished Van Gogh used his as a canvas has the humble tea towel been pressed into so high a purpose. The tea towels start at £9 and aprons are £12. For the undomesticated political thinker, there are also greetings
Say cheese then strap that rocket to your back…Jason Lee, wedding photographer, took these unconventional family portraits in 2006. His mother had just been diagnosed with non-Hogkins lymphoma and these photos on his blog kept his mum up to date with her granddaughters when their childhood infections prevented them from seeing their grandmother. Most of the ideas came from his daughters – eight-year-old Kristin and five-year-old Kayla. Via Bored
Unlike MDF, cardboard furniture can’t kill you and, even better, if you’re moving house you can make your children carry the sideboard. Reinhard Dienes has designed a range of cardboard furniture for Fashion for Home that is light weight, eco friendly and – not always a given with eco ranges – it looks good. Below is the Georgia sideboard which costs £149. The furniture company, which has recently started selling online in
Food art is a funny and easy ingredient for many art and design blogs. Here Judith Klausner has done something different, creating very intricate and accomplished cameos with Oreo biscuits. Judith Klausner explains: ‘My latest series uses Victorian handicraft processes to transform modern packaged foods, exploring how the intertwined histories of gender and craft have shaped one another and our everyday lives. I hope to change the way people see
Until 27 May, The Freud Museum in London hosts a unique exhibition of the work of Louise Bourgeois which features, along with her sculptures and paintings, papers documenting her 30 years in psychoanalysis. Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911 and died in New York in 2012. She is seen as the founder of confessional art with her famous ‘maman’ spider sculptures hinting at the fragility and strength of the
The floral Cath Kidston tent, ubiquitous at festivals for a few years now, broke the mould of the navy or khaki tent and now Field Candy have taken things a step further with these fantastic designs. The large, two men tents are made from high performance cotton and come complete with hammer, peg puller, manual and carry bag. Designed in Italy and manufactured in the UK, the tents cost £495
When it comes to design, the same places seem to crop up over and over again so it’s refreshing to come across the work of South African label Skinny laMinx. From her little shop in Cape Town, Heather Moore produces crisp, summery fabrics and household linens in cocoas, grass greens and sparkling blues. International customers can purchase Skinny laMinx products from the label’s Etsy shop. Tea towels start at about £12,
Lucy Moose on STV’s The Hour from The Neon Hive on Vimeo. From her lovely but draughty converted pub in Auchtermuchty, Fife Lucy Turner, otherwise known as Lucy Moose, turns doodles into amazing 3D figures made from recycled fabric. As well as regular commissions for TV, Lucy’s creations have played a part in various family dramas. She’s replaced much loved toys which have gone missing, recreated a little girl’s dog
Artist and photographer, Janne Parviainen,from Helsinki, Finland specialises in light painting photography. All photos are straight from the camera with no post-editing of any kind, so whatever you do, don’t mention Photoshop. His favourite foods are lasagne and sushi. Prints start at $18.95 for the smallest size.