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Design

10 Delicious Edible Designs

By Claire Cottrell on

With the hedonistic holiday season suddenly in full swing we’re suddenly plagued by virtual visions of sugar plums dancing across every screen. Why is everything related to food right now? When we spotted American designer Victor Vetterlein’s playful edible task lamp — aptly named Bite Me — over on Dezeen, we got to wondering what other clever delectable designs exist in the world. Click through to check out the very best of the modern, mouth-watering designs that we found. … Read More

Architecture

A Photo Tour of Eerie Abandoned Cities and Villages Around the World

By Claire Cottrell on

If, like us, you’re battling a post-Turkey Day stupor that descended some time after your last (third?) slice of pumpkin pie by basking in the lux languid pleasure of aimlessly surfing the world wide web, then let us add some fuel to your flagging fun. Helen Keller once said that “what we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” It’s a divine sentiment that we like to remember when we’re looking through photos of one our favorite — albeit devastating — photographic obsessions: ruin porn. As haunting as they are beautiful, abandoned cities and villages tell a story of loss on a grand scale. Be it natural disaster, human devastation, or that inevitable thing called progress rendering a way of life obsolete, these deserted towns are fascinating snapshots of urban memories fading fast. From a nuclear city to a real deal Wild West town that was abandoned after the Gold Rush ended, click through to join us on a virtual romp around the world to visit some of the most fascinating ghost towns on the planet. … Read More

Food

A Last-Minute Guide to Hosting Your First Thanksgiving

By Claire Cottrell on

Our great nation’s annual pious pilgrimage to dining room tables laden with baked birds, cranberry concoctions, and seasonal squash done ten ways is fast approaching, and the big question the day before the big event is: are you ready?

If you’re like us and inevitably millions of other Americans giving thanks for — among other things — a dependable day job, then you know how challenging balancing said dependable day job with fastidious feast preparation can be, especially when we’re all contending with the infinite number of special dietary needs that abound in the modern world. Well, fret no more because we’re taking the stress out of the final countdown to your first Turkey Day by offering you our handy guide to making it fun, making it fast, and making it fabulous. You can thank us later. … Read More

Architecture

10 Gorgeous Functioning Factories

By Claire Cottrell on

As W.H. Auden, one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, once said, “One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.” These days you’re more likely to find the cavernous concrete foundries of a bygone industrial era chock full of Eames chairs and ironic art. As more and more factories are converted into lofts or carefully-curated creative office spaces, we got to wondering if functioning factories are actually still being built. Or, have we evolved entirely beyond our messy manufacturing heyday? Well dear readers, we’re here to report that the modern factory is alive and well, and thanks to some incredibly innovative designers, it’s seeing a renaissance all its own. From Mexico’s playful Nestlé laboratories that are Wonka’s chocolate factory come to life to an imaginative masking tape factory in Japan, click through to check out some of the most beautiful factories in operation today. … Read More

Architecture

The Very Best of Strange Soviet Architecture

By Claire Cottrell on

Inspired by the arrival of Anna Karenina in theaters, we decided to take a look at the strange, experimental architecture that was born out of the collapse of the old Russian… Read More

Architecture

15 Essential Films About Famous Architects

By Claire Cottrell on

There’s been a flurry of activity in the world of film and architecture this week. Notable LA filmmaker and film critic Thom Andersen released his unconventional documentary Reconversão about last year’s Pritzker Prize-winning architect Eduardo Souto de Moura and their mutual fascination — one you know we share — with abandoned spaces, contemporary ruins and the societal conflicts that create them. Add to that an intriguing Kickstarter for Great Spaces, a web series by four young design enthusiasts exploring the world one space at a time, showed up in our inbox and persuaded us to champion their worthy cause.

To celebrate the very best of multidisciplinary mash-ups, we thought we’d take a look at some of the fantastic films about architects that have been made over the years. From one of the most inspiring films you will ever see about husband-wife creative powerhouse Charles and Ray Eames (notably narrated by our favorite art house badboy James Franco) to Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack’s look at America’s design darling, Frank Gehry, click through to check out our picks for must-see films focused on one of the most enigmatic and conflicted characters in the world: the architect. … Read More

Art

10 Famous Artists’ Stunning Studios

By Claire Cottrell on

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.” An interesting concept, but does it necessarily hold true centuries later? With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at some of the most inspiring ateliers of some of the world’s most famous artists. From Picasso’s spacious studio on the French Riviera that was both his home and the hub of his social life to Georgia O’Keeffe’s beloved Ghost Ranch in New Mexico where she could work both inside and out, click through to check out some of the most spectacular creative spaces in the world. Let us know in the comments which you’d most love to work in! … Read More

Design

What Comes After the Hipster Apartment

By Claire Cottrell on

This week Refinery29 posted a fun feature illustrating 32 signs that you’re living in a hipster apartment. From decorative antlers to terrariums, they pretty much hit the nail on the hipster-as-we-know-it’s head, but it got us to thinking. As we know all too well, a hipster shuns the mainstream. Counterculture, independent thinking, and creativity inspire their collective anthem. Ironic then that the hipster home has become so cliché, no? Mass-marketed individuality might just be this decade’s greatest contribution to the world of retail, but we’re calling an end to mainstream mismatched decor. In the same way that over-the-top retro futurism emerged after a decade of mid-century milieu, we see a whole new, much more colorful aesthetic on the horizon, and it’s a far cry from the subdued hodgepodge of perfectly imperfect flea finds combined with practical IKEA staples and select Danish design splurges that have become par for the subculture course.

Today we proclaim the official end of an era: the Edison bulb-lit DIY terrariums displayed on spindle-legged side tables from Williamsburg to Silverlake are officially played out. What’s next you ask? Well, here’s a few trends we’re starting to notice on creative Pinterest pinboards the world over. From the re-birth of the wall hanging to a revolt against the earthy tones of hipsterdom past, click through to check out what we think will make up a seriously cool apartment of the future. … Read More

Architecture

The Most Beautiful Presidential Homes in the World

By Claire Cottrell on

One’s home is quite possibly the most true reflection of self, and our returning (insert jumping for joy and disorderly jubilation) First Family’s White House is no exception. A testament to their positive influence that’s inspired a nation again, one of the things on their agenda the first go around was planting a garden ala Alice Waters, the local food movement’s Grand Dame who’s been championing universal access to healthy, organic foods since the ’70s. Next up was a forward thinking chef to revamp the White House kitchen and help out with Let’s Move, and a celebrated Hollywood interior designer to make their living spaces chic and comfortable.

In honor of the ever-inspiring Obama’s homestead, we thought we’d take a look at other beautiful presidential dwellings around the world. From our own great nation’s extra large Georgian country house to Pritzker Prize-winner Oscar Niemeyer’s ode to simplicity and modernity in Brazil, click through to virtually visit our picks for the most beautiful presidential pied-à-terres on the planet. Nominate any that you think we’ve missed in the comments below! … Read More

Design

12 Well-Designed Bicycles for Urban Dwellers

By Claire Cottrell on

Last week The New York Times declared, “in post-storm New York, the bike is having a moment of sorts.” The bicycle stories read like a real-life Fred Armisen/ Carrie Brownstein sketch about the hipster’s best-kept secret being proffered to mere mortals — tragically in-the-dark — discovering the unmatched joy (and practicality) of biking for the first time.

If, like many New Yorkers, you’re now seriously considering becoming a bike commuter, here’s a snapshot of today’s bicycle offerings that are a far cry from the unhelpful and uncool Schwinn’s of days gone by. From cargo bikes that get you (and a few friends) to and from the farmer’s market in style to a slick commuter bike with a built-in iPad pouch, click through the check out some of the best cycling options for living locally. … Read More