So for studio, rather than just a normal studio this semester, we are preparing for a HUGE deal. April 18 is the start of Salone Satellite, a several-day-long design exhibit. It is a design expo held in Milan, and (mostly) product designers from all over the world come and show their wares. Twenty schools, also from all over the world, are invited to participate as well, and show off their best studio projects. We have one of those twenty slots. So we are working on a product-centered housing project, and we've got to have really fancy digital renderings, since we don't have access to the laser cutter or 3d printer. It's exciting, and I'm not going to stress about it, merely do the best I can, go there, and goggle at all the lovelies. If I thought the interiors expo in Greenville was cool, I'm going to be absolutely beside myself at a worldwide one in Milan.

Tuesdays are travel-around-Italy days. Yesterday we took the train to Milan, 1.5-hour ride, which is truly not bad. We'd been told that it would be colder there, and MAN what an understatement. It was FREEZING. No sun, either. Apparently Milan is as such from September to April, then it turns to Sahara-like heat. Delightful. We looked at the modern architecture, which was stark and cold (and soon to be uploaded to my flickr account), and then took a running tour of the city (like a walking tour, but faster, and less enjoyable). WI went with a few kids to a cafe a few blocks away from Il Duomo (to avoid the touristy prices) for lunch, which was a pizza (everyone was eating pizza, to the exclusion of anything else on the menu) and a San Pelligrino -- I'm so Italian.
There was a huge crowd across from Il Duomo, screaming and waving signs and pompoms. I noticed a lot of 14-year-old girls dressed to the hilt, in all their faux Dolce & Gabbana (it's everywhere) finery. After asking around, I found out that it was the studio for Italy's TRL, and Take That (Robbie Williams's boy band) was there today. Hence the screaming.Screaming girls.
Camera crew filming screaming girls.

I'm considering going with a group of kids back to Milan this weekend, just for a day, to check out the shopping. I've gotta check and make sure it's doable, but Italy has sales only twice a year, January and August, and while I'm here, might as well check out the fashion capital of the world for some cheap fancies.
I love you all!

Pencil sculptures mentioned below made me remember these. Everyone saw them a million years ago, but that makes them no less cool. The low-res pictures do make them a little less cool, though.

And while I don't know where this is from (found it in the Fark forums), it is neat:

File this under "things that take too long for the end product to look like this." It's pencil-point art, and while I can entirely appreciate the fact that this took serious precision, skill, and patience, it looks like something you would find in that mountain house. Most fit into 3 categories:
Flowers:
Sea life:
Wallace and Gromit's runaway pants:

Here's to hippies who like good design, and for lovely substitutes for petroleum derivatives! Monacca has created a line of lovelies, including furniture and bags, that use well crafted wood instead of plastic. This aligns with what I've been thinking about a lot lately -- purchasing fewer, nicer, more durable things, as opposed to throwaways. You'd be surprised at how far you can take it if you just think a bit.

WOW, this is apparently one of the most blogged things to happen to the internet. Here goes one more.
Knitting by Quentin Tarantino. Or Patricia Waller. Whichever you find more apropos. (Note: some may be NSFW or NSF people with a soft spot for stuffed animals)

James Lileks is a veritable pioneer of internets snark, and applied to a design-related topic, it's enough to make a lady split at the seams. Interior Desecrations is a hilarious review of various and miserable design trends from around the 1970s. He has them in book form, too, but there are amazing ones on the site (ay, me, for want that I could ever write such captions) :

"The ever-popular 'explosion in the consignment store' look is achieved quite nicely here." (Note: everyone knows someone with a mountain house decorated like this)
"No unauthorized cameras allowed, says the Old-Timey sign. Oh, don’t worry. Not when this hue and this pattern is described in most technical handbooks as 'the lens-cracker.'"


"This is the Age of Aquarius. If it’s moving, offer it a bong hit. If it’s not, paint it. "

The only thing better than fancy artsy stuff is fancy science-y artsy stuff.

cluster of wildflowers:

staple through paper:
Velcro (pictures of Velcro never get old):
Broccoli!
Sweet stereomicroscopic shots from Trazy's Zoomified Flickr set, courtesy of Core77.

Souvenirs from around the world as juxtaposed with their formsakes:Michael Hughes' site has them, but if you get irritated with the ubiquitous designblog Flash, here's the Flickr gallery.