Now here's a good idea for the exterior shell of my building: reclaimed wood. An article mentioning how teak wood is being salvaged from houses destroyed by earthquakes in Indonesia, then something incomprehensible at the end, but I think it's about green resorts.
(Found at Hugg)

Tee-shirts are, of course, pretty multipurpose:
Linked from Treehugger.
I think there should be a "Napkin" one. Ooh, or one with "Kleenex" written on the sleeve. The graphic would be pretty funny, anyway.

Arte Luise Kunsthotel can be called "a gallery where you can spend the night." A different artist designed each room, resulting in an amazing mishmash of design concepts and types. It's a big concept for me to wrap my head around, so instead, I'll just put up some pictures.
Comic, by Kehl:

Flight - the myth, by Silke Vollmers (reminiscent of Tim's project in which everything is suspended):
Boogiewoogie, by Tine Benz (possibly inspired by Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie):

Peter Callesen does amazing cut-and-fold paperwork. In his words, he does "white paper cuts/sculptures inspired by fairytales and romanticism exploring the relationship between two and three dimensionality, between image and reality. I find the materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form as an almost magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is as well an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts. " His reasoning behind his work makes it that much more beautiful and fascinating.

What can you create in 15 minutes?
I think about it and feel like I could do something spectacular, but think about it a little more carefully and realize I have no idea what I would do, but it's a pretty amazing contest; it's like Iron Chef for design. I'll be interested to see the results and hope they post them all.

Reset Design asked several designers to design tattoos, then printed them on people. This was the result. Some weird,
some fun,
some artsy,
some terrifying.

Dismantling expensive stuff in the name of science:I love this kind of thing. Take something well designed apart, and see how it got to where it is. Core77 featured a segment called "Dissection," in which you find something neato, research all of its little bits, take it apart, and look at all of its little bits. A Motorola V.70 looks pretty much exactly as you would expect: lots of circle-pieces.

Hella good (oh man I couldn't resist, I'm so sorry.):Hella Jongerius's pattern Repeat, commissioned by Maharam, are designed "to create a single textile which would permit a suite of chairs around a table to be cousins – each unique but all related". She takes four seemingly unrelated patterns (stripes, polka dots, florals, houndstooth, etc) and unifies them all through a color theme. I encountered some this summer while working in the sample library, and this stuff is neat in person; the texture is just as interesting as the color and pattern.

Grandma-style teacups made no-skid:
I'm surprised that they're actually made to be distributed (by Tassa, produced for Umbra), and not just part of an art exhibit. It recalls the modernized Victorian jewelry I posted. It also brings that whole idea of art down to an attainable level, even if they are hell of expensive (which I don't doubt). Michelle Ivankovic hand-dipped the teacups (and saucers, creamers, and sugars) in bright, food-safe silicone. The most fun part of doing this would be visiting various thrift stores and antique shops for the cups, so I really hope that's how she got them. Plus, it's reusing: taking something you wouldn't use anymore and making it into something you would. (from mocoloco)