Happy 4th of July

Paul Octavious-Design Crush

Photo: Paul Octavious

As the United States celebrates her 238 birthday I’d say she still looks pretty damn good. So we’ll all celebrate here in the U.S. by firing up the grill and cooking everything in sight, hanging out in blazing temperatures while pretending not to sweat, and watching fireworks light up the night sky being extra thankful that the holiday falls on a Friday this year. Happy Birthday, America!

0

Happy Weekend

1-Design Crush

2-Design Crush

3-Design Crush

4-Design Crush

5-Design Crush

6-Design Crush

7-Design Crush

8-Design Crush

9-Design Crush

10-Design Crush

01/ Twenties is a tongue-in-cheek look at that magical decade of life.
02/ Sheer scarves printed with satellite imagery of cities by night.
03/ Pretty pressed glass knobs from Tom Dixon.
04/ The Pocket Art Director just made shopping for your designer friends that much easier.
05/ This abandoned Bangkok shopping mall hides a fishy secret!
06/ I’m 34 and I want one of these modern Miniio dollhouses.
07/ Painted typography created from manipulated paint splatters. WOW.
08/ Would you take on this dangerously fun cliffside Slip ‘n Slide?!
09/ Swing on your lawn with the Field Hammock!
10/ This dad created letters of food to teach his daughter the alphabet.

This week on Design Crush:
The mind-blowing paintings of Koen van den Broek.
The personal story behind the fresh ink of my latest two tattoos.
Screen prints layered over color washes from Vivian & Beverly Studio.
Eight canine collars for your partner in crime.
The beautiful, sometimes creepy art of Miss Take.
Another personal bit about how I (kind of) quite sugar (because I had to).
Pastel on vellum has never looked so good thanks to Cathy Daley.

0

Cathy Daley

Cathy Daley-1-Design Crush

 

Toronto-based artist Cathy Daley works almost exclusively with black pastel on translucent vellum for her drawings, making the women in black tights that she prefers as subject matter almost seem to float in space. I love the magical, messy end result.

Drawing on persistent cultural images inspired by ballerina tutus, the garb of fairy-tale princesses and Barbie doll couture, my work investigates childhood memories of what it means to be female in Western culture and explores cultural representation of the feminine and the body. The drawings mine contemporary vocabularies of glamour, fashion, popular culture, cartoons, street signage, Hollywood cinema, fairy tales, and mythology, to examine the iconography of the feminine as it exists in the cultural imaginary, personal memory, and fantasy.

 

Cathy Daley-2-Design Crush

 

Cathy Daley-3-Design Crush

2

I (Kind of) Quit Sugar (Because I Had To)

Sugar-Design Crush

 

Back in May a completely unexpected thing happened. I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. (I struggle not to go all Wilfred Brimley every time and say DIABEETUS.)

When I look back over the past few years, my decline is crystal clear. But I didn’t realize what my symptoms (or that I even had symptoms) were pointing to until my Mom casually suggested that maybe I should have a full blood panel run just to rule it out. So of course I looked up the disease on WebMD and suspected that’s exactly what was going on when I read the symptoms. Crap. That kicked a few things into gear, mainly doctor appointments and plenty of blood work. My numbers in the key areas were stupidly high. Awesome.

That was the first few weeks in May, and since then lots has happened. I’ve got my diet more or less under control thanks to a nutritionist and educating myself. Because I was mainly vegetarian already and didn’t eat tons of starches I was off to a good start. (It’s a misconception that diabetes is all about sugar control, it’s just as much if not more about your carbohydrate intake.) I bought the most incredible used treadmill from a friend (Built-in fans!) and use it for at least 30 minutes nearly every day. And I’m on medication. Luckily I’m not insulin dependent, but I do have a pill regimen that’s being built upon.

I started noticing the differences in myself nearly immediately. Gone was the need for daily afternoon naps, gone was the crash after most meals, gone was the near constant thirst, gone was the rapidly shedding weight I’d been experiencing… and gone were the sweets from my kitchen. I’m going to be completely honest, that last one was the toughest. (Though I’ll admit the weight loss was the only good thing going on.) This is the start of a complete lifestyle overhaul that will last a lifetime. Once my numbers get down to where they need to be I’ll be able to indulge here and there, but I’m stuck with the Big D forever.

There are definitely a lot of misconceptions about Type 2 Diabetes. One being that you get it only from being obese or a sugar hound. Though both of those things can lend a hand, in my case it was hereditary. But the thing is there’s no one way to get it, the medical community isn’t 100% sure what causes its onset. What they do know is that my pancreas has stopped producing the requisite amount of insulin necessary for my body to process glucose and get it out of my body. So without medication it just travels around in my blood and makes its way out eventually through urine, without ever being used as energy.

While it does suck, I’ve taken this thing on with a positive attitude. (I’m getting healthy! I’m getting skinny!) I mean, it’s not like I can give it back so I might as well do all that I can to treat it. So for now I’ll be living vicariously through my Food & Cocktails board on Pinterest and have a (no longer secret) board called Diabetes Food. Because that’s just the kind of girl that I am.

15

Miss Take

Miss Take-1-Design Crush

 

Beautiful, slightly creepy watercolors by Miss Take are just what the psychiatrist ordered. Ladies taking on the shape of colorful spiders, others with beehives full of disfigured bodies, and more. All looking morose in the face and making you wonder what lies beneath those layers of watercolor paint.

 

Miss Take-3-Design Crush

Miss Take-2-Design Crush

0

Vivian & Beverly Studio

Vivian and Beverly-1-Design Crush

 

Today I’m crushing on the hand pulled screen prints of Vivian and Beverly Studio, especially the pieces pulled on top of color wash paintings. I love the look of the controlled art over the abstract wash, all of which comes from either artist and shop owner Laura’s own photography or public vintage photographs. That woman riding a zebra is on my list!

 

Vivian and Beverly-2-Design Crush.

Vivian and Beverly-3-Design Crush.

0