The Illustrator Project

Well, here is a HUGE collection of excellent artwork form a great site, the Illustrator Project. A hub for excellent illustrators/artists. You definately have to have a cruise through, loving # 1 & # 14, amongst most of them! Check it out here.

Eyeball Kicks

Sweet gallery that we stumbled across while in Wellington. We nearly bought a bunch of prints from them, but I had to restrain myself after our Popup Gallery Dunny & Mega Munny purchases.

I really liked the stuff from John Murphy, Matt Rodgers, James Jean, Jeff Soto and Jacob Rolfe. V nice. Check them out here.

Black Maria Gallery

You have got to check out this fantastic web based gallery, an amazing collection of works by loads of recognised artists. Some nice stuff by London Police, Dok A, Andrew Bell, Candy, Luke Chueh ooo the list goes on, nice. Have a squiz here.

Pop-Up Calender

Great calender concept here. Amazing use of structure and fluidity. There is even a nifty little video of the whole calender in action. Excellent. I bet this took so damn long to make though... patience. Check it out here.

Te Papa Collections Online

Sarah & I went on down to Wellington a while ago, went to Te Papa & had a great time checking everything out. Was super cool to see the giant squid too.

I did spy this marvelous little piece by Don Binney. 'Fatbird' I love it heaps. I contacted Te Papa about it to find out more about the artist, they sent me a great link to there online colections where you can buy lots of the prints from their galleries. They even do different sizes onto Archival paper, or download as a file to print yourself. Rad. Good on you Te Papa.

Check out the archives here.

Holy Shit Balls!

It's been just over 3 weeks since my last post... Shame on me, but I have been compiling a bunch of stuff to post though. My 'To Blog' bookmark is nearly going the full height of my screen. So obviously it's time to thin it out a little.

Christian Faur

Amazing works of art created out of hand cast wax crayons. Super high level of attention to detail and obviously extreme patience. Very nice, just don't hang up in a sunny room. Check out much more work here.

Abstract Lights

Check out this great set of manually photographed abstract light, so much movement & some incredible effects have been used/captured here. I wish I could produce things like this! Check it out here, there are loads.

Great house in SF

Man I wish I had a big stack of money, I would make a house very similar to this, maybe a bit bigger, but definitely taking alot of it's inspiration from this. I reckon the mix of light walls, open spaces & smatterings of exposed/painted/rough brick is excellent. Also really loving the industrial like concrete. Has a good look through here.

Design For Life

Ok, I've been feeling pretty weirded out about this the past couple of days. Philippe Starck has done a reality TV show called Design For Life. I read about this about a year ago & got all excited thinking how great it would be. BUT, now that I have seen it I am disappointed for the following reasons: It was only open to entries from British people. Contestants were selected from 1 random design submission. It is 'uber' reality TV like. The host (TV voice over) is a muppet, I think that they don't really know what they are talking about. The contestants are complete idiots and really suck at what they do. Aside from that, Starck is great, he is frustrated at the contestants in his show, wants to send them all home as they are so bad. He states at the start of the show that he is trying to find out if there is any design talent in the UK. He clearly states that nothing worth mentioning has be produced in years. I think that I know what his outcome is going to be. I am truly appalled that the people on his show can spend 2 weeks working on a brief with unlimited resources, and come up with an A2 sheet of paper with a cringe-worthy concept on it. Seriously - you are presenting to Starck! Don't be so F'n lazy!!! People even argue with him, thinking that he doesn't really know what he is talking about when it comes to product design & their stupid concept should change the world. Hahaha!

Anyway - I have watched 4 out of the 6 episodes, have been left cringing and with an even greater passion for Philippe Starck's contribution.

As you can tell, I am pissed about this show. I hope it is never screened outside of the UK. Very slight shame at Starck for even letting this be aired, though I guess it does make him look pretty good compared to the British. Arrogant French!

If you really feel the need to watch these episodes, let me know & I can upload them for you somewhere.

Mirko Reisser

Mirko Reisser, better know as DAIM has got to be one of the most impressive, legendary graffiti artists out there. His futuristic and colourful lettering style captures alot of movement and depth. You would think that pieces like this had been created within 3D software or a computer environment, think again. All hand-drawn from pencil & markers. Be sure to check out more of his amazing work here. I think that one of the most striking aspects of his work if that nothing has a border, all colour against each other. Very talented!

Isaac Cordal

Great work here from Isaac Cordal, Though it is very similar to Slinkachu's work, it does take different slightly political inspiration. Have a good look through his portfolio, some really cool stuff! Check it here.

Paul Babera

Amazing photos by Paul Babera here, this is a set of his showcasing areas where people create. Some amazing photos portraying different creative outlets, stark spaces and loads of great lighting. V nice & def worth a good look through here.

Baboo!!!

Really digging Baboo by Touma. He is super cool & has a super cool mate with sleepy eyes. I've already to a square purple & teal one. I don't like that much of Touma's art, but these are rad. A nice use of his trademark zigzag grinning teeth. Check him out here.

George

We have a cat in our apartment now. He has come from the Cats In Need Trust. View here. This is a place for stray, lost, homeless or abused cats. George is taking a while to adjust, but he will be great once he is feeling safe & sound. It's nice having a cat in the house to talk to. Especially when your at home sick. He loves to sit on our windowsill & stare at the cars & rain.

Wax Tailor

Super excited about this one, Good Ol' frenchies Wax Tailor have just released there third album 'In The Mood For Life' I'm loving it just as much as there other albums. I missed out on seeing them play in London by a matter of weeks, such a shame.

Frank Gonzales

Well, I thought I had also spoken about Frank Gonzales before, but I can't see him in the post history. Anyway - he has got a great new range of artwork out now, I don't know much about Frank, other than his work is truly beautiful. I love the way he deconstructs his paintings. I also really love most paintings of birds. Check out his work here.

Insa

I think that I have mentioned Insa on here before, but I think that it is time to bring him up again. He has taken his trademark heel design and turned it into actual heels. Sounds like a logical progression, but most of the time when street art is brought across other mediums it falls a bit flat. Insa has managed to capture the playfulness and fluidity of his work into an element just as playful and fluid and sexy to match. So yeah, check it out here & buy them. They will look HOT.

Melbourne

The architecture in Melbourne is a great mix of old & new. These pics are just some of my favourites, except Luna park, just felt I should put it in there though.

Melbourne

Ok, this was probably the most exciting part of our trip to Melbourne. All the amazing 2nd hand, industrial stores on offer. The first 3 photos are from a great store on Chapel street. Loads of old Eastern European items.

This was just up the road from the amazing Tarlo & Graham. We then wandered across the road to the Chapel St Bazaar. The last 3 photos are from there. We very nearly bought these 2 loungers by Tessa. V comfy & V cool. Though would have been V expensive to get them back to Auckland. Pity. I also found a great store called Industria. Excellent range of industrial lighting, tables and furniture. Have a look through there website, it's super cool.

Melbourne

We found loads of great places to eat & drink. The first is an only dessert place we came across off Lygon St. Amazing array of fancy little desserts on offer. Nice. The second is a Chinese restaurant that we sadly didn't venture into, but we thought the name was great. Maybe we needed more drinks to get ourselves inside. Third pic is a place called the Container Bar. It caught my eye with the art on the walls by Sam Flores and Mephisto Jones / Otis Chamberlain. I also loved the great use of old pallets as seating & tables. The fourth & final photo is a place we went to on Chapel Street called Borsch Vodka and Tears. Excellent, excellent cocktail menu with amazing Polish food, I had a very, very dirty martini, Sarah has some chilli vodka infused cocktail & we shared a plate of Polish dumplings. Great.

Melbourne

Sarah & I went over to Melbourne a while ago. I thought that I would take the time to put up some photos of what we saw over there.

Melbourne has got several designated graffiti areas, we saw a few within the laneways, and they play host to a huge aray of different styles & would be a huge source of inspiration. The laneways are very gloomy, but you are presented with loads of great shops. bars & restaurants. I think we spent hours walking through.

Time To Share

I took a photo the other day & I've currently got it as my desktop image, so I thought that I would share it with the world as I'm enjoying it so much. Lovely moody darks & contrasting brights. Enjoy. Grab the High Res by clicking on the image above.

Household Irony?

I decided to turn our makeshift cardboard box coffee-table into something else. With the help of a little black vinyl it is now not a table anymore. Just thought I'd share.

Brooks Salzwedel

Here is a bunch of amazing work by Brooks Salzwedel from LA, great concept to be painting inside old tins. Lovely use of a limited colour pallette and such a soft, smoky style. Great. Check out some more of his work here.

Sebago Docksides

I never thought that I would like to get myself a pair of these. They were always being rocked by my Dad, always. So needless to say, they were never on my wish list. BUT now that the Sabago Dockside has collaborated with Cool Cats I am tempted, mighty tempted to get myself a pair. Just got to try to decipher the French website & it may just happen. Get them here along with so more super rad pics.

POW!

Pictures On Walls. Rad shop. Wish I was still in London at the moment, would most definitely be going to check out this. Loads of great looking prints and painting. One thing I REALLY dig is the little logs with faces. Super cool! Check out some pics here.

Tea Towel anybody?

Remember when you were at that birthday party awhile ago & you handed over your well thought out, special gift. They loved it.

Someone else gave them a floppy gift. Something with no substance. Torn open, said flop exposed a tea towel, probably gingham or something. No smile, no gush of thanks. Just 'oh, a tea towel'. Next.

Well, now you can give a tea towel with confidence. It can be that well thought out & special gift too, the humble tea towel has transformed itself into an amazing item of useable art thanks to www.ToDryFor.com (!) Go on, stock up. Your dishes (& wife) will thank you!

Elana Kalis

Woah, amazing photography here by Elana Kalis. Great underwater theme, beautiful colours and the models are all so relaxed while underwater giving the photos a feel that they are normal, that these people actually belong underwater. Lovely. Check them out here.

New Book style

Ok, this is rad, I think... Would really have to try it out. But it looks as if you could just hold this with only 1 hand & it would actually work, which would be nice. Anyway - if I saw one of these in a book shop, I'd probably buy it just to test it out.

Bas van der Veer Design

Here is a fantastic concept by a Dutch guy called Bas van der Veer. He has made a rain water collection barrel. When it rains, this rain drop looking object fills up. There is a watering can inside that will automatically fill & at the bottom of the 'drop' is a tap that you can then fill the watering can up further with collected water. This is such a great idea for water conservation,& it looks great, if I had a garden then I would def put one of these in it! Check out some construction pictures & some more images here.

I made chocolate!!!

Mucking around in Cinema 4D this arvo, I made a small chocolate block. This will hopefully be used within something that will be sent to someone at sometime for some reason... maybe.

Still got a lot of lighting & material work to do, but it is making me want chocolate, I can actually taste it just by looking at this!

Liam Moore

Sarah & I went along to a rad art sale put on by the Cut Collective down the back of St Kevins Arcarde on K'Rd. I really loved heaps of the art, but Sarah was really taken by this piece by Liam Moore called The Lovers. It's super cool, nice & big & it looks excellent in our place. Kinda wish I had bought more, but I would have needed more money for that - funny how that works. There is some more of Liam's work on his blog. Check it here.

Noferin

Here is a bunch of rad art for you. Really loving the mix of classical(ish) and pop toys. Lots of great colours & there are some nicely sized artworks for sale here too. Sweet. Check them out here.

Eyeball Kicks

Ooooo yeah, great little shop this, if you are ever down in Wellington you will have to check it out. Right on Cuba St, so fairly handy. Check out their website too, they sell loads of limited edition prints from international artists of good rapport. They also offer a framing service, very nice. I am really digging the Jeff Soto print they have & we VERY nearly bought Reduce Production by Jacob Rolfe. Oh & def love the Tara McPherson's! Check the site out here.

Superstars

Ok, I really dig Adidas Superstars. I've had several pairs & currently own 3. But I am nothing. Nothing compared to this guy. Nein from Indonesia has a serious collection of some fantastic sneakers. V jealous & I did manage to note that he has got all of my ones too, so I can't offer him anything. Stink. Check out a Sneaker Freaker interview & loads of pics here.

Fly with Ecuador Airlines

Sometimes airlines do really bad and useless campaigns, then you get great ones like this from Ecuador Airlines. Looking at these images makes me want to pack my bag, fly (some obviously lesser airline) to somewhere on the flight path of Ecuador Airlines & grab one of there planes. I must. View more of the images here.

Erik Inkala

Amazing graffiti by Eirk Inkala. Such perfect lines and amazing bold use of colours. Have a look at some of his latest work here. And view his complete (amazing) FlickR set here.