Two great documentaries about bees - VANISHING OF THE BEES and QUEEN OF THE SUN

Both films center around the sudden disappearance of honey bees from beehives around the world, caused by the poorly understood phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. Vanishing of the Bees does not draw any firm scientific conclusions as to the precise cause or causes of CCD, it does suggest a link between neonicotinoid pesticides and CCD.  Queen of the Sun explores the historical and contemporary relationship between bees and humans. 

Artwork by Adam Makarenko.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 13, 2012

LOG-FI is a project by Stanley Ruiz and Wataru Sakuma of Masaeco.
Speakers were cast from tree logs with 100% paper pulp!

- http://www.stanleyruiz.com/symbiosis

                   

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T-shirt chair by Maria Westerberg. Unique upholstery is created by weaving old t-shirts and textiles through chair structure. 

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 12, 2012

Re-Love  is a project by MAEZM.“Most clothes and chairs used in the past were collected by the artists and other relevant parties. It was designed based on a new method using objects in which memories remain and original function gone.  The discarded chair once again becomes a comfortable sofa with clothes on top. Clothes are what enable the chair to play its part. This is also understood as one’s own past. As clothes are tangled, memories can be tied up to create a new love. To love the things again means to add another function to them. To love the things again means to add another function to them”

“To love the things again here needs be distinguished from recycling. Though the old and ragged chair in my room will gradually lose a great deal of its original function, it will hold prevalent value over other new ones through the time and space shared with me. This chair may carry an image of myself on it, stretching leg to the floor, or elaborately cherish a reminiscence of a time when I conversed with someone.
Sharing of such time and memory is also a matter of intimacy between me and the thing. However, regrettably enough, we repeatedly replace the thing for a new ‘goods’ unconsciously in pursuit of the ‘function’ it provides. The relationship between a thing and people should be understood as an expression of
‘self love’ on oneself as a result rather than personifying a thing. The intention is that the act of loving a thing again is engraved as love of one self about the time and space, and such love be proposed as methodology through ‘RE_LOVE’ “

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 11, 2012

Photo taken at Brooklyn Botanical Garden during cherry blossom festival.

                   

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Stunningly dizzying saltillo sarapes at the Museum of American Indian. “The earliest Saltillo Sarapes, from before about 1850, employ hand-woven wools and organic dyes (indigo, vegetal green and ivory/natural wool—including an extremely costly red dye, cochineal, produced by pulverizing cochineal bugs, a parasite of the nopal cactus. The designs of these early sarapes, generally a diamond of some sort, are linear and geometric. Sarapes are distinct from the world’s other great textile traditions. There are eye-dazzling effects, particularly in the central medallion, and some early examples vibrate like a piece of Op Art”

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 08, 2012

Nautical Seashell Necklace is made from seashells found on the shores of Florida’s Sanabel Island.  Holes in seashells are naturally carved by predatory snail called Moon Snail.

On ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/listing/98197985/seashell-nautical-necklace

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 25, 2012

Once upon a time there lived a cloud. She gave birth to a lot of children (raindrops) and decided to make a nest for them. She built a nest and started moving her children. But she had so many of them that they did not fit into her palms, so some of them dropped down to the ground as rain. One of the smallest raindrops was there too. It dropped into a puddle. From a puddle there was a small stream. Small raindrop got into a stream, from which it got into a river. It swam through a river as a bubble. Bubble woke up in the morning and saw that it is floating not in the river anymore but in the air, and it is not a bubble anymore but a mist. On it’s way it also saw a lot of other mists. On the way of it’s journey it became a cloud.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 21, 2012

Pipe lamp by Daniella Witte: http://nordicdesign.ca/blog/2012/04/daniella-wittes-copper/

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 19, 2012

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 17, 2012

Pair of cotton pot holders, sewn with 1940s Vintage florals by Lilleputt Studio on Etsy

                   

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Photographs by Anne Schwalbe can be seen as an ode to slowness - an ode to nature, light and emptiness.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 15, 2012

Spring flowers in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

                   

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Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 11, 2012

Broom corn grown on Old Field Farm in the Hudson River Valley, made into hand brooms.

Pencil bags.

Handmade by Christin Ripley for Christin Ripley.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 09, 2012

Ah! This looks so comfortable!

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 08, 2012

                   

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Girl and Echo is an independent Lithuanian film about childhood, friendship, freedom and nature.

Watch: - http://pinterest.com/pin/99149629266488028/

                   

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Dow Powerhouse solar shingles blend in with your traditional shingles and apparently do not require any special tools for installation.

- http://gizmodo.com/dow-powerhouse-solar-shingles-could-finally-have-you-hugging-trees

                   

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Ceramic cloud shaped dishes by JD Wolfe on Etsy.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 02, 2012

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on March 19, 2012

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on March 06, 2012

Stardust

Concrete Moon

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on February 28, 2012

Antelope chair designed by Ernest Race (1913-1964), Cord Lamp by Brendan Ravenhill, Wire Flow Chandelier by Arik Levy,  Leaf Chair by Arper and 3 Arm Industrial Chandelier by Workstead.

                   

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on February 26, 2012

                   

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