Takeshi Miyakawa is based is Brooklyn, and it is from there that he produces these thoughtful, substance-full and beautiful designs. 3x3 chair, infinity chair, rabbit chair, wedge table and fractal 23.

Box of Clouds by Kim Laughton. For use on days with uninteresting skies. A photo viewer keyring dismembered and put in a tin. The button in the middle turns it on and off. Hold it up to a light source to see the clouds.

Browsing around Behance.net this morning I found Cristina Grosan's amazing photography. Love the color compositions. 

Landscapes

Levi van Veluw's photo series are self-portraits, drawn and photographed by himself: a one-man-process. 

The last day at ICFF, Omarcito who had been working non stop at the URBANATICS booth, decided to take a stroll around the exhibit area, he started by playing a soccer game with the spanish designers at the RS booth, after he got tired he found the Vermelha chair by the Campana Brothers to be a cool place to relax, the PXL lamp by Zero caught his eye for a while only to finish playing at the flexible Potten by Nanimarquina an awesome discovery! 

URBANATICS independent designers at ICFF

Here are some pictures of our experience at ICFF, we had a BLAST!! A big thank you to all who were involved directly with the URBANATICS booth, Dan Golden and Ford Lininger from dan golden studio, Joey Roth and Munire Kirmaci. Lana and El Conejo thank you and we'll see you soon!!

Omarcito tried out the Placentero Chair today by Argentine designer Batti, for Brion design. He found it so comfortable and pleasurable, he almost fell asleep! 

Did I ever tell you about "Omarcito"?, he is a Czechoslovakian (born) Mexican rabbit that loves design, today he decided to try out Nani Marquina's beautiful collaboration with Tord Boontje, "Little Field of Flowers", and Jaime Hayon's red chair for BD Showtime Collection.   

Color contrasting illustrations by Finnish illustrator Hanna Konola.

We all need  superheroes from time to time. The Met in NY city has organized and exhibit called Superheroes Fashion and Fantasy. Great costumes, shiny and sleek and silvery, some in red and blue, masked or unmasked they are all meant to make the person inside feel powerful and confident. 

These are three of my favorite pictures form the American West series by Finnish born American photographer Aarno Minkkinen. Guess where he is in the third picture...

Design Week Party at Rubin Chapelle - Equilateral 08:01

URBANATICS Invite!

On May 18th, 2008, URBANATICS will be co-sponsoring a party for the IDSA.NYC during design week in the Meatpacking District called Equilateral 08:01, which is the first in a series of collaborative events with internationally renowned fashion label RUBIN CHAPELLE and lighting expert J.F. Ahlim. Rubin Chapelle will feature a one of a kind gallery environment where three creative forces - product design, fashion, and lighting - intersect, reflecting the Meatpacking District's multi-disciplinary allure.


What: Equilateral 08:01 Opening Cocktail

When: Sunday, May 18th: 7-9pm

Where: 410 West 14th Street between 9th and 10th Ave in the Meatpaking District

Please join us and we look forward to seeing all of you there!

Last week I visited the "Ciudadela Market" in Mexico City....I was looking for these masks...for a secret project. Anyway they remind me of my childhood, they made tons of them back then, now you have to search for them they are made out of paper mache and hand painted, apparently they are not as popular as the "wooden" ones. So here I present the bear, the parrot, the woolf and THE RABBIT!!

In 1931-32 Alvar Aalto designed this chair called "Hallway chair 403". I know it's a classic but doesn't the birch legs, the moulded plywood in the seat and back and those fantastic laquered colors just make you want to go back to the basics. Black, white, orange, and my favorite yellow and greenish grey!

Jacket Pillows

The "Jacket Pillows" are the newest pieces by Mexican designer Ximena "El conejo" Orozco for her own brand xacinto y antonia. Made from 100% wool felt, these hand made pillow covers are intended to be "unbottoned" or "unziped" to make cleaning easier and why not? sexier. They will be exhibited under the URBANATICS booth at the ICFF this May.  

Because it's "el conejo's" duty to inspire you all independent designers out there....here have some Sarah Illenberger for breakfast. You see for me, in love matters first comes the gut, then the heart kicks in, and finally after a while, the brain makes it's entrance!

The Sofa Mast installation by Berlin based design firm llot llov inspires me very much. The concept of improvisation, bringing the Thai aesthetic street language into the interior of a clothing boutique is brilliant! Reminds me a lot of Mexico City's cable landscape....

Also a few images of some other awesome pieces by these great designers, the knitted light object called Matt, made for being moved and played with, there is no heat emission through the use of an environmentally friendly energy saving bulb!, and the Ray, a lamp which has the capability to follow its owner on his/her activity. The cable on this lamp is prolonged by 12 meters, thus enabling the Ray to become a lying, hanging or atmospheric lamp. 

The Cantor Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY has become the stage for artist Jeff Koon's latest sculpture show. A toy ballon dog, a chocolate valentine's heart wrapped in foil and a silhouette of Piglet from the story "Winnie the Pooh" are part of this exhibit.Maan, Jeff....I don't know about these pieces, but I will always love you for the HUGE rabbit ballon at last year's Thanksgiving parade in NY. You know I have a tender spot for rabbits....

Wow, this is what I call good swedish team work! Camilla Engman's illustrations meet Karin Eriksson's ceramics to produce beautiful plates, platters, bowls and mugs in a series called Mr Black and Mme Ochre.

URBANATICS at ICFF

URBANATICS will be exhibiting some of our great designers at our ICFF booth from the 17 until the 20th of May at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City!! We are very excited about this and hope to meet some of you out there!!