Pikkpack is leather footwear that you assemble yourself. There are only 3 pieces of material – the sole, the upper, and the shoelaces. And because the wearer is involved in the making the shoes can be shipped in lighter, smaller packages using less material and conserving natural resources. Pikkpack just launched a rubber soled version and the ability to customize your pair with color.
I’ve been obsessing over every single piece of jewelry from The Good Machinery for the past week. Each piece in the asphalt collection is unique in color and pattern, which is the result of the free form mixing of resins, pigments, and additives. Everything is lightweight and basically unbreakable and my goodness, those colors. (Also, SALE ALERT! A bunch of pieces are on big time sale right.)
It’s pouring down rain as I type this, and it basically has been raining every day for the past few weeks. Not all day but for parts at least. Anyway, my desire to bask in the sun is at a high and these Weekend Sunbeds look like an ideal place to lounge with a book in one hand and a cocktail in the other. Choose from twelve colors.
Loving these abstract mixed media pieces by artist Joe Rudko. The cut up packaging and photographs are recognizable for what they originally were, but taken out of context and paired with colored pencil sketches everything works together to create something fresh and new.
01/ A husband giving his ex wife half of everything turned out to be a stunt ad campaign.
02/ Stephen McMennamy’s #ComboPhotos result in super funny juxtapositions.
03/ Battery-powered LED cloud lights are pure magic.
04/ Lovely reimagined paintbrushes from Rebecca Szeto.
05/ Universal Everything transformed the Sydney Opera House into a living mural.
06/ From afar Antony Gormley‘s sculptures look like real beach-goers.
07/ Eye-popping street art made entirely from masking tape by Buff Diss.
08/ The London Bridge was turned into a rainbow pathway this Monday.
09/ Jyo John Mullor‘s created a set of helmets that look like human heads.
10/ Sydney is currently hosing Masakazu Shirane’s Light Origami.
This week on Design Crush:
Luis Dilger’s digital City Layouts are also available as prints.
These V Necklaces from Jenna Rowe are the perfect minimal accessory.
Drop cloths and paint rags are absolutely transformed in the hands of Megan Nicolson.
Get organized with these painted beechwood magnets – Stick-Up Sticks.
Learn all about strawberryluna‘s rad screen prints in our latest PGH Maker Profile.
I’m ready to outfit my nest out with summer bed linens.
Loving these floral neon linoleum prints from Gabriela Ibarra.
Try granita 10 ways this season.
Beautiful painted bus stops in Belarus captured by Alexandra Soldatova.
Alexandra Soldatova‘s It Must Be Beautiful is a photo project in her native country of Belarus. Its people like everything to be clean, neat, and beautiful – even the most commonplace things. The paintings on bus stops that are captured through her lens are made through local authorities by unknown artists with the sole purpose of beautifying the empty landscape.
Every summer get together (and Monday) deserves a sweet ending. But who wants something rich and heavy when warm weather eating is about all things fresh and light? Enter the granita, a fancy slush if you will. This icy concoction couldn’t be easier to bring to life, and a splash of alcohol makes it very adult friendly. These ten version are on my radar for summer tasting.
Click on each image to go to the recipe.
All photos copyright of their respective sites unless otherwise noted.
You can file these pieces by Gabriela Ibarra in the She Made That How? file. The short answer is that they’re linoleum prints. The long(er) answer is that Ibarra begins the process by layering collaged tissue paper, then arranges each lino-print flower, and finally paints and draws on top of the botanical layers she’s created. The neon end result is utterly fantastic.
(via The Jealous Curator)
Posted In create, mixed media
French-Belgian Linen Shale Sheet Set // Duvet Cover & Pillow Case Set // Grey & White Stripe Sheet
Crisp, clean bed linens and summertime are ubiquitous in my mind. That gorgeous inevitably rumpled look and fabric that only gets softer with use pair so well with warm evenings and deep sleeps. The only things that might make the experience even more perfect is a soft breeze.
Washed Linen Collection // Bluish Grey Linen Pillow Case Set // Linen Blend Duvet Set
Hawkins Simple Linens Pillows // Linen Bedspread // Linen Sheets
Posted In house and home, living, round up, series
Sharing the stories behind the most talented creatives in my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.
I met Allison Glancey of strawberryluna years before I moved back to Pennsylvania. We’d connected online shortly after I started Design Crush and bonded over the city of Pittsburgh, where Allison was living with her husband and the other half of strawberryluna, Craig. You’ve likely seen their gig posters for everyone from Belle & Sebastian to Morrissey. We spent a sunny Friday afternoon drinking boxed white zinfandel and talking all about life paths, dogs, and other awesome things.
Allison’s printing ink collection.
Tell us a little bit about how you got your start with strawberryluna.
It’s a bit of an accidental story, to be honest. I had always been interested in printmaking. I’d never had the chance to learn before I heard about Artists Image Resource (AIR for short) on the North Side. In fall of 2004, I went to an Open Studio night and was lucky enough to have the talented Mike Budai as the person to show me around and how to print. After that I was hooked, 100%. I began attending the AIR Open Studio nights regularly, working on small art prints for my own amusement and slowly started to get a little better with a lot of help from the AIR braintrust. It is a very DIY, punk, make it work sort of artists’ culture and that really helped solidify the process of screenprinting for me and allowed for a lot of experimentation. I started showing work in a few places online (Gigposters.com, Flickr, etc) and got connected to promoters, bands, record labels, managers and so forth, then started doing rock posters as well as art prints. The challenge of having to create and hand print full editions for band clients was really intense and rewarding at the same time. We also designed a line of Alphabet Prints that were featured in Real Simple’s Holiday Gift Guide in 2007 a few months after I had quit a corporate HR job. That exposure and holiday season was the true beginning of me realizing that strawberryluna really could be a full-time endeavor.
Allison prepping her workspace.
What’s your favorite part of the process? Your least favorite?
I think that my favorite part(s) of the process are both in finalizing a design. Because we end up working on every design through trial and error, moving, changing, playing, trashing, starting over… until there is this magical moment where it all suddenly feels right. Many times we will just walk away from the piece at that point and come back tomorrow, just to make sure it’s still solid. And then if it is, my other favorite part of the process is almost always that very first pull of the last layer and color on a print or a poster. It’s a very unique, special feeling where all of the hours of work that I’ve already put into a piece come together. It’s a cool “Proof of concept” emotion that I think maybe only other printmakers might truly be able to appreciate. It’s one part relief to two parts thrill somehow. And I love it. No matter how tired I am, no matter how late at night it is when I get to that one moment? It’s the best. My least favorite is, hands down, reclaiming screens.
Prepping and pulling a color on a gig poster.
What other makers inspire you most?
The ones who bust ass like we do! I love to see my friends process photos of their work, both our maker friends here in Pittsburgh and the ones who live far away that we might only ever see in person once a year. Working for yourself in a creative, design and maker business is so rewarding but it is also very very hard work and can be so draining at times. So I find that I most adore like-minded doers who put their heads down and just get it done, son.
Allison at the drying rack.
Where do you see strawberryluna in 5 years?
I’ve never had a good head for 5-year plans. I am much more of an organic let’s open this door and see where it goes kind of person and thinker, and my business model shows that if you really look at it. I would love to ramp up our wholesale side more, and I would love to continue working on more and more illustration-heavy projects. Perhaps actually get a book published! We’ve worked on a few book projects for covers, illustrations, and the like, but they sadly died before publication. I would love to write and illustrate a children’s book. Or ten.
Just a few of Allison’s favorite strawberryluna prints framed in her studio. / Sprite!, her canine assistant.
What makes having a small business in Pittsburgh so great?
So many things. I don’t want to make it sound like paradise here, because it’s not. The winters are long, cold, grey, and hardcore. And it’s a smaller city than the places that people usually think of as great arts-centric communities. But! I think that Pittsburgh offers so much more than many larger cities. For instance, a place like AIR where I learned how to screenprint? That just doesn’t exist in many other places. Space and price are at such a premium in cities like NYC, Chicago, and LA that it’s virtually impossible to have so many rich, community accessible facilities and support systems like we do in Pittsburgh. The maker and small business community of people that I’ve nestled into and have formed super strong bonds with is filled with very strong, hardworking, and lovely talents who honestly subscribe to the idea that A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats as well. If I need advice or a resource I find that most people here are more than willing to share, help, and listen. What seems incredibly natural to me about Pittsburgh’s maker and creative side is often seen as an unusual thing when I talk with peers in other cities and when we do shows across the country. Also, for being such a nice, green, and tech-forward city it’s relatively inexpensive without being rough or run down. I have to say that I also dearly, dearly love that pretentiousness is something that Pittsburgh has never and seemingly (hopefully?) will never foster. It’s a completely “put your money where your mouth is” town where people get excited to make things, open shops, and actually have the opportunities to make because we aren’t working three jobs just to keep a small apartment. With the caveats of being cool with a lot of rain and sleet? It’s a pretty great city. Just don’t tell everyone! It’s kind of a secret how awesome it is to live and work for yourself here.
