| designblog | A topia of inspiring art and design for the modern-retro aesthete |
Scott G Cain is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Perth, Western Australia. Subscribe to Posts [Atom] Stumble it Technorati
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Sunday, 29 June 2008Fabric thug from a black & white movie Mimi Kirchner is a talented doll-maker who as a knack for the unique. I love this black and white tattooed man that seems to be from a black and white movie. Beautifully stitched and with a steely gaze here peers at the world with disdain. What a character!Mimi has also created a set of men-dolls in vintage bathing suits and a sepia pirate. Check them out! Labels: black and white, craft, doll, Mimi Kirchner, toy, vintage Saturday, 28 June 2008Mid-century modernism at it's best Elsa & Darren have picked out some of the best mid-century pieces and put them together in a stunning way. I am envious of the space and light in their house, always helps to start with such a great setting.Apartment Therapy have included an interview and inventory, as well as a tour through the house. Thanks again AT! Check it out. Labels: Apartment Therapy, chair, decor, eames, furniture, interior, retro Friday, 27 June 2008Laser-cut walnut to hang a coat on I am such a sucker for a great hat/coat stand and The Complete Coat Stand, by UTE, gets full points.UTE are an Australian company making 'products that work' and this is a perfect example. It is made from six laser-cut components from walnut, elegantly fitted together. Check out more carefully crafted furniture perfection at UTE's website. Labels: Australia, furniture, hat stand, UTE Thursday, 26 June 2008Polymer musings by Merredith Dittman: Fimo has come a long way! Like with Nina Braun's knitted art, Merredith Dittman has taken a familiar craft that anyone can attempt and with skill, vision and inspiration, turned the medium into art. She creates strange simple little characters and complex mixed-media friezes, all based around the use of polymer clay, which I always knew growing up as Fimo. So clever!Check out her work at her site corporatepig or check out her Etsy page. Labels: art, clay, craft, Etsy, Merredith Dittman, monster, sculpture Bubbles of whimsy in the New Majestic I decided to be out of the country for my 30th birthday so on the final night after a tour through Indochina my best friend treated me to a stay in Singapore's New Majestic Hotel.One (of many) of the decor delights there were these hand-blown, sculptural, glass bubbles in the foyer of the hotel. The way the sun picked up the colours and dispersed them throughout was magical. It would be great to do this in a home too, adding a spark of vibrancy to a room. Now I just need to look out for a hundred glass bubbles... Labels: decor, Glass, Hotel, interior, sculpture, Singapore Wednesday, 25 June 2008Quirky robots to warm your heart... or eat your brains? Looking for something a little different, maybe with autonomous movement and a grin that suggests crushing flesh? Check out General Robots.There I found this wonderful sheet metal reproduction of Robot Liliput, first made in Japan in 1939. The packaging is also faithfully reproduced, complete with doe-eyed innocent children staring in wonder at the wind-up device. I'll be adding Robot Liliput to my Christmas list! Labels: orange, retro, robot, toy, yellow Tuesday, 24 June 2008A glossy red kitchen to fall in love in... *cough* with I've been looking at a lot of apartments with the intention of buying my first one in the past few months. I have mainly been looking at places built in the 60s and 70s in 'original condition'. Of course this usually means terrible kitchens that have suffered from neglect or been replaced in the early 90s with cheap peach and floral tiles. No thanks.So, consequentially, even though I have not found the prefect original condition apartment to make my mark on, I have been looking for kitchen inspiration where ever I can find it. And I think I have found the hottest dream kitchen ever. I stumbled onto it through Contemporist, it's a kitchen by an Austrian (sadly not Australian) company called Ewe who are a little too far away to be useful... But it's a start and certainly inspirational. It's the deep, rich, glossy red with clean white and dark wood floors, what a great combination. Check out more kitchen Ewe. Labels: decor, interior, kitchen, modern, red Monday, 23 June 2008Calebrated in stamps: Charles and Ray Eames A set of stamps have been created to celebrate the work of Charles and Ray Eames. DIY Maven of curbly says:The 16 stamp sheet was designed by Derry Noyes and depicts all aspects of the Eames’s creative vision including architecture, furniture, film and exhibits.My favourite Eames chair is the moulded plywood lounge chair (bottom right) and I would love to see this stamp as a large format poster. People outside of the US, you can buy the stamps from The Postal Store. Labels: chair, eames, furniture, retro, stamps Saturday, 21 June 2008Flickr find: Abandoned vision of the a retro future Cypherone has shared the most amazing images of an abandoned holiday resort in Sanjhih on the north coast of Taiwan. She says:"I don't know why it was abandoned.I like the ghost version of the story and if you look carefully at Cypherone's flickr set, you can see them in the reflections. Labels: architecture, flickr, ghost, photography, red, retro, taiwan Thursday, 19 June 2008Etsy find: Introducing thebrokenmagpie Thebrokenmagpie is a local (Perth, Western Australia) talent who has made her crafty work available to the world through Etsy.I love this crazy, original little monster, Reinhold, with his antler and odd eyes. I work with thebrokenmagpie's partner at The West and he has the coolest zombie made by her on his desk. I'm going to be checking back to see if she makes more and has them available on her Etsy page. Thanks thebrokenmagpie. Labels: Etsy, monster, perth, plushy, retro, thebokenmagpie, toy Wednesday, 18 June 2008Ed! cover illustation: Jacobsen chair in the library In the Tuesday edition of Ed!, The West Australian Newspaper's education liftout, my cover illustration was published.I had a lot of fun researching the Jacobsen egg chair. I would love to get a small one like this for my little nephews to snuggle into while they read. If you're a West Australian and have Tuesday's edition of the paper floating around, check it out. Labels: books, boy, chair, child, Ed, illustration, library, Scott Cain, The West Australian Newspaper Monday, 16 June 2008Ikea hack: TV shelf with door stoppers Inspired by Ikea Hacker, I have a hack of my own to share.I made this so my DVD recorder and sound system could sit neatly under my plasma, which sits on top of an expedit 2x4 bookcase. I bought four modern, aluminium rubber-tipped door stoppers and fixed them to the bottom of a lack wall shelf using the screws provided. The door stoppers just happen to be the perfect height for the DVD recorder and sound system and the width and finish of the lack shelf matches the expedit bookcase. Perfect! Labels: expedit, ikea, interior, lack wall shelf Sunday, 15 June 2008Designer tea: Good enough to hang on your wall... It's early Sunday afternoon, I recently got up and I was thinking about trying something different instead of my usual strong cup of (bad) instant coffee. I stumbled across Mighty Leaf and thought the photography of the various tea combinations looked so great, it was deserving of a design//blog entry.Whether you want to try something with a hippy peace-love bent like Verbena Mint Chrysanthemum or stick to the more traditional, wholesome blends like Organic English Breakfast the images of them are wonderful. In square, white frames (such as Ikea's Nyttja), or maybe even the real thing in little square, glass topped containers, they would look great in any kitchen. Go check out Mighty Leaf for more, and if you live in Perth, Western Australia (like me) the stores are located here. Labels: kitchen, Mighty Leaf, photography, tea Saturday, 14 June 2008Website hotness: Caxton Street Festival On my daily review of Screenfluent I noticed this new entry that is definitely worth checking out. It's a website for the Caxton Street Festival and uses image, texture and colours to the maximum effect. Mmm, crayfish... Pity I live on the other side of the country, otherwise I would check out the festival for sure.The only thing missing is a little favicon. Maybe they could use a little round lemon slice or red fish? Nevermind, still worth checking out! Labels: festival, screenfluent, seafood, website Wednesday, 11 June 2008Etsy find: Bridget Farmer's fancy birds I stumbled on these wonderful gocco printed 'fancy birds' while checking out new prints on Etsy. This print has been made by Bridget Farmer, an Irish born Melbourne artist who loves birds.I really like the decorative line work in this curious duo, also the way they interact with each other with their different positions. Great stuff Bridget, thanks for making your work available to the world! Check out her work on Etsy where she calls herself bridbird. Labels: art, birds, Bridget Farmer, Etsy, illustration, print, screen printing Monday, 9 June 2008Tea towels can be art too Form is an amazing space on Murray St in Perth (near the very swish King street) and has some amazing arts and crafts in it from Australia and around the world.One thing I saw and loved were these tea towels! They are made by Third Drawer Down and artist have contributed their work. The only thing is, I don't think I could bring myself to wipe my dishes on them, they would look great stretched and framed. Check out Third Drawer Down for their tea towels and other domestic art works.  Labels: art, craft, decor, form, kitchen, perth, tea towel Saturday, 7 June 2008Flickr find: Red #FF0000 I stumbled across this flickr set put together by Splorp when looking for retro red phones.There are some great images in here but as a collection, they look fantastic. A colour theme is a great way to collect seemingly random images. I would love to see these images printed and filling a wall. Thanks for sharing it Splorp! Check it out. Labels: flickr, photography, red, retro Friday, 6 June 2008Eames style hat stand Inspired by Apartment Therapy's coat rack story I thought I would share my hat stand, which is one of my favourite pieces. I had wanted one for ages but just couldn't find something suitably mid-century. I found plenty of antique ones and many contemporary ones but I just didn't think they would work.Eventually I stumbled on this Eames style hat stand for only $30 at an antique stall at the Scarborough markets. It holds all my favourite hats, coat, umbrella and satchel perfectly positioned and ready to go on the way out the door. Labels: Apartment Therapy, decor, eames, hat stand, interior, perth, retro Wednesday, 4 June 2008Flickr find: Trippy kids book illustrations from the 60's, 70's The flickr photo pool called Eye Candy - trippy hippy kid's books from the 60's and 70's is definitely worth checking out. Some of the images submitted would seriously make you wonder if it were for kids or for spaced out 60's teenagers, ger-roovy!This example is probably one of the less strange but I love the overprint look, strong limited use of colour and you just know that it would feel a bit scratchy and smell like an old library. At first it made me think about the cold war and Russia v USA at this period and perhaps this happy little penguin was a slim disguise for some pro-communist propaganda, but on closer inspection (and to show my naivety) it's Greek writing, not Russian, so perhaps even Greek penguins think about reaching the moon one day? It would certainly be a welcome addition on my bookshelf! Check out the Eye Candy. Labels: art, books, flickr, illustration, penguin, space Photography by Ashley Pederick on his world tour I was checking my old website links this evening while making the new version of my design portfolio and I found that Ash, a very talented skater guy I studied with has updated his site and has been touring America, playing base with the punk band, Miles Away.Still on the road, he is documenting his travels with the most amazing, dynamic phototography on his blog. Go check out thedesignthreat/blog. Labels: art, Ashley Pederick, photography, skate, thedesignthreat Tuesday, 3 June 2008Jeff Canham's hand painted sign art Yesterday I was lucky enough to have ffffound Jeff Canham's amazing hand painted signs and the artwork derived from them. I love the way he uses the traditional methods of hand painted signs and brings them into a modern context. How great would this piece look on the wall behind my couch?Check out more of what Jeff Canham does at his website. Labels: art, craft, ffffound, Jeff Canham, print, retro, sculpture |