graphic design, art, typography and architecture

Perhaps I should rename this weekly post to "Art of the Week", or something like that. Any suggestions? Well, here is my Illustration of the week, by Bulgarian-born Illustrator Christo Bakalov. Some of his illustrations are even available under the creative commons licence. I'm a big fan of his style and, the often, black/dark humour that inspires his illustration. An interesting chap: born 1969 in Bulgaria, he now works in Marseilles in the South of France (what a wonderful place that is); among other things, he works on the American monthly magazine, Foreign Policy, that has published pieces by the likes of ... [more]

The title of this video, "A Modern-Day DaVinci Genius" is perhaps hyperbole, but the wind-powered sculptures by the engineer/artist Theo Jansen are incredible. You can see several of them featured in the videos below: Kinetic art is sculpture that contains moving parts. The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer's hand. The term kinetic sculpture refers to a class of art made primarily from the late 1950s through 1960s. Kinetic art was first recorded by the sculptors Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner in their Realist Manifesto issued as part of a manifesto of constructivism in 1920 ... [more]

It has been a long time since I did this. I will make every effort to post a Painting of the Week every week from now on. Here are my favourites by the Japanese, New York resident artist Kenichi Hoshine. "Untitled" - Graphite, Charcoal, Acrylic Emulsion, Tea and Gesso on Paper (28"x23") What do you think? Thanks to Designer Daily for the link. [more]

Every now and then I come across a web site, that almost brings tears to my eyes. Tears of joy, that is. I was over at CSS Beauty and found a link to Jesus Rodriguez Velasco's web site, designed by Miguel Ripoll, and I wept. May not be to everyone's taste, but this site I love with a 72 point "L". Do you have a site that elicits the same emotions? [more]

During a brief respite in a busy day, I unlocked the shackles that tie me to my Mac and made myself a coffee. I could ogle that espresso machine all day long: beautiful proportions, great colour (my favourite), nice detailing, uncluttered design and oh so easy to use; and, to boot, it makes great coffee. And that got me thinking about the design within my own environment, the objects, gadgets et al that I see just about every day. The objects you feel comfortable with, those things which, no matter how often you see them, give you a little ... [more]

The inimitable graphic designer (aka type-god) Jonathan Barnbrook will hold his Friendly Fire UK exhibition at the Design Museum (June 15 to October 10), and will be a great opportunity to see the development of his work, especially in experimental typography. If you've been in a coma for the last decade (the only plausible excuse for not having seen his work), then take a trip, via a click, to his studio's website. It wouldn't surprise me to hear than Barnbrook is married to a font (now there's a thought), such is his love affair with type - and it really ... [more]

This new range of lead crystal glassware inspired by metal machine components is the result of a collaboration between Koncern Design and glassworks Rückl Crystal a. s. in the Czech Republic. Glassware was once a burgeoning industry in the former Czechoslovakia, but in the last two decades has faced a steady decline in output and demand (no political astuteness awards for guessing why). I'm a huge fan of design that takes its cue, it's inspiration from the industrial. The range includes: sets of beverage glassware for whiskey, champagne, wine (one design for both red and white) and absinthe. Each piece is ... [more]

I like the work of Georgia Russell, a Scottish artist who creates art from books. Armed with a scalpel and a bucket-load of imagination, she sculpts books, maps and other ephemera into wonderful pieces of art that are often-times displayed in acrylic cases, so that they appear as some kind of specimen. One piece titled, The Ruptures cultures resembles a sea creature or the fine fossilised remains of one. Many of the works have an "organic" feel to them, the finely cut strands of paper resembling windswept grass or aquatic filamental fibres. Though each piece is the product of a ... [more]

I love the cover of this month's Creative Review. Actually, it's not really the cover, because this month they've gone naked and ditched the cover, calling it the "It's about time we did something about sustainability and the environment" issue - more like "cost/marketing" reasons. [hold the cynicism, Ed.] Anyway, it's still my favourite magazine, and after all these years it continues to impress. You can find out more about this title by visiting their site. You can now subscribe to the on-line version, without having to subscribe to the print version (and, no, I don't work for their subscriptions department). Worth ... [more]

I really like the idea behind this site that tracks data visualisation and information aesthetics. We see data visualisation every day and I guess pretty much never give it a second glance. However, the Information Aesthetics site shows some wonderful and innovative examples of data visualisation that will grab your attention. After a few minutes browsing this site, you'll be looking high and low for that Power Point installation disc, then you'll find another use for it - coaster, Frisbee... This is one of my favourites. Imagine seeing the same data on a graph, or as a number or index ... [more]