Incredible Recycled Houses

A self-taught builder, plumber and electrician, artist Dan Phillips makes low-income housing out of recycled materials. Here, the corners of picture frames adorn the ceiling. "A frame shop was getting rid of old samples and I was there waiting," said Phillips.














Above, a cork floor is made from actual wine corks. According to Phillips, the corks are easy to come by: "We have some heavy drinkers in town."

via TimesPeople, an offering of NYTimes.com. Courtesy of Elizabeth Van Jacob.

tags:
recycled
low income housing
building materials

From the Category "People are Weird"

Bullet-shaped ice cubes from a bullet-shaped tray. Raises once again the epistemological question, "Where do ideas come from?



















From Find Me A Gift, via StoreCrowd.

tags:
bullet ice cube tray
ice cubes

Artist Sarah Spitler

It is not often that an ad on a website will entice me to click through to see what more there might be. But an image of a painting by Sarah Spitler--well, entice me it did, and disappoint me it did not.

The artist talks about her work on Gawker:

Chaos manifests itself alongside form in my work. Chaos is powerful in that it is beyond human control; specifically, it interests me in depiction as catastrophe - as the uncontrollable and random force of natural cataclysms. I enjoy the emergence of fragments of imagery in relation to a destructive force - they become reduced and ephemeral, they are representative of the momentary and transient. However, according to the scientific study of chaos, it is the minute and transient that manifest as larger factors, further down in the equation, in the study of matter.

I've always been intrigued by visual chaos, and Spitler's representation of it delights my mind and my eyes. For more of Spitler's work, go to her page on Gawker.

tags:
Sarah Spitler
art
chaos
Gawker

My stuff: Linen Cabinet

We seem to have embarked upon a change of scale. The last "my stuff" post depicted a bookmark. Here we find me covering over the doors of the linen cabinet with collage.

I'm pleased with my efforts, but not sure I like the two of them together. No matter. There are four more panels to do, affording plenty of opportunity to mix and match.

tags:
Lisa Jewell Michael
collage
decoupage

Objet du Jour: Mathias Koehler Rocking Wheel Chair

In addition to having sleek lines and an elegant simplicity, this chair just looks like a blast to me. Not just a chair, but a total sitting experience. Did I mention the light at the top? So you can read? It just gets better and better, doesn't it.

Rocking Wheel Chair by Mathias Koehler.
via Gizmodo.

tags:
Mathias Koehler
Rocking Wheel Chair
Gizmodo

Trend Alert? Puh-leeeease

This coral fabric pillow ("Trieste," by Manuel Canovas for Cowtan & Tout) is one of the examples used in a recent spread in Elle Decor magazine, labeled "Trend Alert: Coral!"

Trend alert? Coral? REALLY? Hasn't coral been a trend for at least the last five years? I know that I posted my "Coral Corral" list on ThisNext in February, 2007, and let's face it, I'm not exactly the first person to know things in the design world.

Please don't get me wrong. I like coral. I love it as a color, and I like its use in design. The Manuel Canovas fabric is woven and wonderful.

But I think it might be time to graduate coral from a trend to a classic design motif. Induct it into the Fashion Hall of Fame, as it were. Coral is just not current enough to be a trend, in my humble opinion, but it does have demonstrable staying power. Coral is one of nature's fractals and, as such, is bound to be pleasing to the eye in a way that does not get stale.

Elle Decor, nice spread. Silly title. Love your mag.

tags:
Coral
Manuel Canovas
Cowtan & Tout

Beadwork: Teri Greeves

OMG, are these sneakers not amazing? They are the handiwork of Teri Greeves, a Native American bead artist who combines traditional beadwork techniques with modern objects and images. What caught my eye at first was the vibrant red together with the iconic Converse All-Stars image. According to an article in Cowboys and Indians Magazine by Amanda Montgomery,

Greeves always intends for her sneakers to be worn, not to collect dust on a shelf. "Beadwork is a way of decorating objects we use every day. The art form I chose is functional, and the wearer becomes part of the work."

I love beadwork. Beading is the craft I do best in the sense that the finished product is of the highest quality of all the things I make. I can't say I bead well because the process of getting to the finished product is fraught with peril. I drop beads, I drop trays full of beads, my thread gets hopelessly tangled, and if I'm following a pattern I have to rip out two stitches for every one I put in. It is a process that I suffer through, and ever more so with each passing year.

But I love beaded work of all kinds. I relate to it. I feel a kinship with other beaders, even bead artists who are so far out of my league that we're barely doing the same craft.



















For more on Terri Greeves, see Jane Sauer Gallery.


tags:
Terri Greeves
Cowboys and Indians Magazine
Jane Sauer Gallery