The title, One Room Mansion, is a Japanese term: ワンルームマンション. At 100sqf, often they don’t have bathrooms attached and residents have to visit a public bathhouse. One of my favourite books,Tokyo: A Certain Style, is a study of these tiny apartments.
With dozens and dozens of domiciles in the book, it is hard to describe them all. One of my favorites is the apartment of a music reviewer: CDs and vinyls are stacked floor to ceiling. There’s barely any room for the reviewer, though the two cats that share the apartment seem to find it manageable. Another remarkable spread is the house of a newly married young woman who loved cartoon characters so much that she works for a character goods company. Nearly everything in the house, including the husband’s lunch box, has some character on it. Huge Kerropi dolls share space with a veritable pack of Snoopys. A young interior designer had extra shelves put into her room so she could show off the covers of her manga volumes. A Shinjuku DJ, living with his Dutch girlfriend, uses his bathroom as a darkroom and spends weekends practicing on his windowsill turntable.
Accessories budget: Now this is where I am falling down! I have had to buy heaps of things because I ‘forgot’ or at some stage gave my old one away. Oh can opener, where did you go?
scorpio mug: 1.00
vanilla candle: 3.99
chopping board: 14.99
fan heater: 19.95
bath mat: 14.99
TOTAL: $54.92
REMAINING: $45.08
Still need to buy: that dang can opener, a coffee plunger, hooks to hang up my art collection. Boiling water in a pot is working out well so far. Meanwhile when it comes to the big stuff, I still want to buy: a manrobe or a clothes rack or perhaps even a ladder to hack up. I’ve been living out of my suitcase for 8+ weeks now. Hanging my dresses up seems like a distant novelty. Failing that? Nails + hangers on the wall…
Still on a thrift-shop-score high thanks to my Scorpio mug. That’s $1 of the new apartment ‘homewares’ budget spent, $99 to go. I move in on Friday, can’t wait to show y’all pics.
Katie Turner is an illustrator living in Brooklyn, New York. She draws loads of fun, brightly hued pictures of people telling ghost stories and cute boys.
There’s also a lot of great hand crafted type in her portfolio, viz:
This however, is my favourite piece:
YES. Right? How did she know that’s what floats my boat? (Although if we’re going to get a little more specific, I like 80’s horror movies.)
If these made you giggle, check out Katies’s website and her blog for more delightful illustrations.
Being the design nerd I am, I always seem to find half the fun is in the packaging. These Leona Edminston stockings were recently given to me with that in mind. I like the peek-a-boo window, slide out tray, and the custom printed tissue paper. While I’m not entirely convinced by the graphics (less retro, more contemporary – more like Mor?), nevertheless it feels like a luxurious encasement for some nice hosiery. And as long as it feels expensive, that’s all that matters.
Other examples of slick packaging for little things include H&M’s tights, Peter Alexander’s Days of The Week knickers which come in a pretty, frilly gift box (I was given these, they’re awesome), and Loulou Loves You (when I opened the package it was as joyful as peeling foil off an Easter egg).
Now to find something to wear all these pretties with!
I’ve been reading a lot about “Haul Videos” of late; obnoxious consumers make YouTube videos of all the crap they bought at the mall. It’s a close relation of the “Unboxing” phenomena, where tech nerds salubriously peel the plastic off their shiny new Macbooks etc. I find it repulsive and fascinating all at once! Here’s the closest you’ll ever get to seeing me do one: the second-hand book haul.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 – edited by Dave Eggers. So, the angle of my photograph disguises it, but the Nana on the cover is actually reading the child a gun catalogue. Boom. I can already tell this is my sort of book. It’s a pretty fresh edition too, hurrah. $12.00
Not Her Real Name and Other Stories – Emily Perkins. Perkins spoke at a recent Pecha Kucha night here in Auckland – I loved her clear tone and thoughtful manner. Later on I realised I hadn’t yet picked up any of her books… I’m excited for this one! $7.00
Design Writing Research – Ellen Lupton. I have a new job writing on design and this discourse is one of the best examples of design writing in the field. A surprising find and bargain at $35.00
I also bought Laza some Kafka (he chose The Trial, I believe) and This Is Rome – a fantastic picture book from the 60’s by M. Sasek. And that’s my book haul!
At the recent First Thursday I came across Ferrit’s pretty and precious handmade pieces. I did not buy anything at the time (mini dilemma – spend my pennies on cute or on cider?) but I picked up a business card. I’m so happy I did… look at how awesome her creations are!
From the cardboard frame brooches:
To the bouquets of flowers:
To Be Fri and St Ends declarations of love:
Everything is just really lovely:
“Once upon a time in a beautiful island called New Zealand lived a Ferrit. She loved to scavenge, search and fossick for interesting old things like fabrics, ornaments, books and clothing from around this island. Miss Ferrit loved collecting so much that her small home was filled with many piles of things she had collected over her years of fossicking. She had always dreamed of one day becoming a real crafty Ferrit and using all the interesting things she had gathered to create new things to share with others from around the island.”
You can often see the Ferrit scurrying around at Auckland’s regularcraftmarkets; or for those of you a bit further away, perhaps you could get your paws on something directly from her.
Once upon a time in a beautiful island called New Zealand lived a Ferrit. She loved to scavenge, search and fossick for interesting old things like fabrics, ornaments, books and clothing from around this island. Miss Ferrit loved collecting so much that her small home was filled with many piles of things she had collected over her years of fossicking. She had always dreamed of one day becoming a real crafty Ferrit and using all the interesting things she had gathered to create new things to share with others from around the island.
Aimee Carruthers is a New Zealand designer, illustrator and all round creative type. I first met her through her involvement with Cross Street Studios, an art collective in Auckland; but it turns out I was already a fan of her work, with a postcard of Waaanda pinned to my noticeboard. Papercut Design is the banner under which she produces her simultaneously polished and quirky work. She kindly agreed to answer a few questions on inspiration, process and bears…
What do you enjoy the most about what you do? Working with other creative people. Collaboration seems to be what I get my kicks out of the most, especially at the ideas stage of a project. I always find when you work together, the result is greater and more original than what you could achieve separately.
What are your essential daily rituals? I feel like my whole day is out of whack if I haven’t scoured ffffound.com and the 20 or so blogs I’ve subscribed to on RSS. It’s about 30 minutes of my day and I consider it my morning creative warm up.
What dream do you still want to fulfill? I’d like to write a script for a short film and produce it.
What do you do if you’re not inspired? How do you shake a creative block off? I’ve had a few blocks in my time. For the big oh-my-god-I’m-not-an-artist-anymore kind of blocks I change mediums. I started out as a painter, then became a photographer, graphic designer, screen printer, illustrator and for my latest block, back to photography. Changing mediums breaks you out of the rut of trying the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result. If it’s a block on a particular project, I chew my writer-flatmate’s ear off about the problem and we usually find a solution together. It’s good to hear how someone in another creative field might tackle the problem.
How is your 99 Strangers photography project going? I love this project and I think it has done some marvellous things for me personally, it’s an amazing feeling to get over your fears and approach people you don’t know. BUT, I’ve let it slip these last 2 months. It was easy to do when I was on holiday and feeling relaxed, the people around town seemed relaxed too, but know stress has caught up with me! Despite my recent slackness I found that people are a lot more open than I imagined and everyone has a story. I’ve been reading a little about developing narrative in artistic works and want to start concentrating on bringing out the stories in the photographs.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learnt (professional or personal)? Good friends are everything. I have a whole bunch of talented, creative friends. We collaborate and share projects and I can’t help but think that all the successful people I admire seem to be friends – Miranda July, Spike Jonze, Dave Eggers – maybe we’ll turn out like them.
You do a lot of design for band/musicians – can you describe your dream music-related project? I’d die happy if I could do a gig poster for Grizzly Bear. Within 10 minutes of meeting an Auckland music promoter I offered to make the poster for free if he brought them down.
Favourite animal to draw? I seem to have developed a bear obsession: pandas, grizzlys… I’m worried about my work being too cute so bears seem a good way to balance that.
Current inspirations or obsessions? I’m a late adopter when it comes to being a fan of Stefan Sagmeister, but I am at the point where I am tired just doing things because they look nice and want to concentrate on communicating a message. I think Sagmeister is the champion of that. Watching him talk on the TED website was my most inspiring moment to date.
What are you reading? I’m geeking out and have books on writing, copywriting, art direction and design philosophy next to my bed. For a break, I’m flicking through Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
Daniel Johnston’s recent outing at the fantastic Laneway festival reminded me of a little something I saw at the end of last year.
It’s hard to believe at first, but in our iPhone obsessed world there is even an app dedicated to the music and art of Johnston. It’s entitled, ‘Hi, How Are You‘; and suprisingly is not just a vanity project, but a well thought out puzzle game that is pretty fun to play!
Hi, How Are You the game features classic Johnston characters like Joe Boxer and Jeremiah the Innocent; the stalk-eyed-froggy-creature who is famously depicted on a mural in Austin, Texas, Johnston’s adopted home. The game focuses on a couple of motifs common to Johnston’s work – fighting the evils of the outside world, and searching for the girl of his dreams through that quagmire.
The game itself was created by two Austin based developers and costs around US$0.99 (or a more splashy NZ$4.50) – it’s an affordable, fun experience for any technologically endowed Daniel Johnston fan.
Weary legs. Who hasn’t wished for somewhere better to perch while wasting away the hours at a the airport, bus stop or train station? Well Dutch designers Nieuwe Heren (the New Gents) took 4 suitcases, added a dash of ingenuity and some sweet styling to create the Suited Case.
A comfortable solution for the times when you’re tempted to sit on your suitcase (I broke my dear travel bag last year by doing just that). If I wasn’t always in transit by myself I’d snap the set up! Perhaps their next move can be the solo traveller’s armchair.
Would you use something similar? Do you have any ingenious temporary seating solution that you use on the road?
TeuxDeux is a simple, designy, browser-based to-do app and the first collaboration between studio-mates swissmiss and Fictive Kin. The idea was to build a bare-bones, but visually compelling and highly usable to-do app based on Tina’s personal ideal work-flow.
Aesthete Tina Roth Eisenberg has teamed up with her neighbours Fictive Kin to release a pared back, red-white-and-black day planner. It only takes a couple of seconds to sign up to Teux Deux; from there you can easily add tasks, move and delete them, make notes in the ’someday’ bucket, as well as look at the weekly overview. An iPhone app is currently in development, if you’re that way inclined.
I’ve been using it for about a week now and it’s been really grand – saving my desk from being swamped in a tsunami of scrappy to-do lists. The name is adorable too. My only complaint? I just wish my laptop screen was bigger so I could see everything in one go. Better add that upgrade to my list.
I’ve had various drafts on the work of Roger Dean sitting in my to edit folder on my computer for years. He has been one of my favourite artists since my Dad first introduced me to his work as a kid. Not only is Dean a prolific fantasy style painter/illustrator, he is a champion of eco-architecture. This guy has imagination A+ when it comes to creating new worlds!
Here in an assortment of Dean works I really like, starting with his 1989 cover design for the Amiga game Shadow Of The Beast:
An illustrated logo for Virgin Records:
If you like any of these pieces, be sure to check out Dean’s 1975 book Views. It’s heavy, the size of an LP and a intriguing mix of design concepts and finished artwork. I treasure my copy and think it’s worth tracking one down for a look.
Finally, look at these Dean illustrations – his ‘Floating Islands’ and dragons:
If you’ve seen Avatar, these might look familiar. People the world over are speculating that James Cameron took more than a little inspiration from Roger Dean’s fantastic work. I for one enjoyed seeing them come to life!
Only 1 joke? The whole thing is a joke. I can’t tell if they’re for your cat crazy great-aunt who smells faintly of onions and moustache wax; or for the socially inept internet nerd who has to stop playing Bejewelled on their iPhones for 2 minutes to pull some crackers. Merry Christmas, kitties! Oh well. I love them and feel they represent a very good deal for the princely sum of $3.99. That said, the proof is always in the pull.
My love affair with tea packaging continues. First we had Tea: Beautiful Packaging, to the art of boxing and bagging. Of course, there were many more fine examples than would fit in one post, hence part two. Voila!
By the way, if you’re interested in keeping a tea-log or finding new flavours/brands on which to sup, Steepster is a wonderful community site to check out!
Kaffe 1668 is a New York coffee house with its own line of teas. Designer Megan Cummins brought the 20+ teas to life in a prescriptive style.
Dr. Stuart’s (extraordinarily good tea) was designed by one of my favourite design studios, Pearlfisher, who seem to turn every piece of packaging into gold.
Teahugger’s clean and simple boxed were designed by Brian Peters. The name is adorable too!
New Zealand is the new home for a 4,000-year-old Chinese Oolong tea. For the first time ever Oolong tea has been grown outside Asia. Brand agency Designworks (my old crew) developed the name, brand and packaging for ‘Zealong’ – positioning it as a tea of the very highest quality.
T2 is a gorgeous Australian tea and tisane brand. The packaging is bright, bold and dripping with personality. On the T2 site you can even find a tea to match your zodiac sign (I’m going to presume Scorpio is not nettle tea).
I’m lucky to admire a few of the boxes every day in our kitchen. I’m enamoured with their ’single serve’ hand woven plum blossom green teas, and sheer muslin tea bags. When combined with one of their glass teapots, you’ve got the perfect gift for any connoisseur or design nerd. Oh, hint hint!
– edited by Dave Eggers. So, the angle of my photograph disguises it, but the Nana on the cover is actually reading the child a gun catalogue. Boom. I can already tell this is my sort of book. It’s a pretty fresh edition too, hurrah. $12.00
– Emily Perkins. Perkins spoke at a recent 
– Ellen Lupton. I have a new job writing on design and this discourse is one of the best examples of design writing in the field. A surprising find and bargain at $35.00
Weary legs. Who hasn’t wished for somewhere better to perch while wasting away the hours at a the airport, bus stop or train station? Well Dutch designers 
Aesthete Tina Roth Eisenberg has teamed up with her neighbours Fictive Kin to release a pared back, red-white-and-black day planner. It only takes a couple of seconds to sign up to Teux Deux; from there you can easily add tasks, move and delete them, make notes in the ’someday’ bucket, as well as look at the weekly overview. An iPhone app is currently in development, if you’re that way inclined.
