Sandcomb seat from reused cotton by DKSD, Dutch interior and product design studio. A lightweight, yet windproof seat when filled with sand. Part of ‘portable’ furniture series. - http://www.wraf.nl

Beautiful exterior cladding panel design by DKSD inspired by…herring!
Below is a new exterior cladding panel designed to protect buildings from rainwater and also retain it. This slightly bowl-shaped panel harvests rainwater and funnels it to tanks for internal storage. The water is then used for the building’s heating, cooling and sanitary installations.  The scale-like surface and pearly colours give the panels their nickname ‘Hollandse Nieuwe’, referring to Dutch fresh herring and two brand new Dutch designers!

November 30, 2010 by Designsquish

Fog and Ice, Jokulsarlon Lagoon, Iceland, September 2006 BUY

Icebergs, Jokulsarlon Lagoon, Iceland, September 2006 BUY

Stanislav Ginzburg recently launched SG Print Shoppe - a place to buy beautiful nature photography from all over the world while benefiting iconic North American wildlife (A ten percent donation from each sale will be made towards creating American Prairie Reserve in northeastern Montana. This future three-million acre wildlife sanctuary will provide an uninterrupted area that will harbor more than 90 species of mammals, 300 birds and over 1,500 kinds of plants. For the first time in a hundred years it will restore migratory routes for pronghorn antelope, grazing fields for bison and will reintroduce entire colonies of prairie dogs and foxes back into their native habitat. )
This is truly the best present for holidays!

http://www.sgprintshoppe.com

Read more about American Prairie Reserve:
http://sgprintshoppe.com/protect-wildlife/

November 23, 2010 by Designsquish

Above: Moth from various leaves, acorn, rose hip, sticks.

It is autumn and acorns, pine cones, sticks and various seeds are available outside. These are some wonderful illustrations instructing on how to make toys from found natural materials. (Поделки из природных материалов)

Some materials to think about:

Snake from acorns, string and acorn caps:

Cat from deergrass, sticks and maple seeds:

Above: Bear from pine cones. (ha-ha)

DIY hedgehog from pine needles and pine cone.

Donkey from acorn, sticke, peaunut, maple seeds.

Goldfish from acorn, oak leaves, maple seeds.

Owls from pine cones.

November 22, 2010 by Designsquish

Bags from reclaimed tractor inner tubes by Chicago based company Defy Bags. Old materials. New ideas.

http://www.defybags.com

November 19, 2010 by Designsquish

Botanic illustration drawings by Ernst Haeckel

by Designsquish

Mycetozoa (still life with porcelain #4), from Hidden Place series. Inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s botanic illustrations, 3D rendering and photography.

Portrait of Ernst Haeckel.

Mycetozoa drawings by Ernst Haeckel.

Untitled (still life with porcelain #2), from Hidden Place series, 3D rendering and photography..

Untitled (still life with porcelain #3), 3D rendering and photography.

3D renderings of various creatures….

Above is an installation piece with secret silent film/animation hiding within.  Inside is a 3D animation on loop based on folktale about two women finding shelter under a whale skull amid the frozen landscape:

Animation below is based on folktale about the origins of snow. Ancient whale left the ocean to die on land.
Air and wind withered away his body until all left was a colossal heart. It wasn’t too long before it too gave away. When it burst open millions of white particles escaped and fell all over the ground.

What a beautiful story about the origins of snow!!

Stanislav Ginzburg is a Brooklyn based artist originally from Orenburg, Russia.  A lot of Stanislav’s artwork is inspired by folktales that deal with nature, strange species, microcosmic organisms, as well as animals which could have been living on earth or not. 

http://www.stanislavginzburg.com

November 14, 2010 by Designsquish

Sewing table made from two broken chairs and I suppose, an old surfboard.  Redesigned by Robert Kalin, founder of ETSY.

November 13, 2010 by Designsquish

Jerko is an environmental cleanup movement with head-quarters in Gowanus Canal DIY slavaged, solar powered, rainwater harvesting house boat. Jerko the Gowanus Water Vacuum house boat floats up and down the Gowanus Canal, cleaning water through biological filtration.  (Gowanus Canal is one of the most polluted waterways in New York City, if not the world)
Read about Jerko the Gowanus Water Vacuum on Half Nomad:

http://www.halfnomad.com

Photographs of Jerko the Gowanus Water Vacuum were discovered on beautiful blog by photographer Elizabeth Weinberg:

http://www.elizabethweinberg.com

November 11, 2010 by Designsquish

Above: Ben Edwards and Juliet Moore

Made from discarded wood from various sources. Sanded and finished with linseed oil, putty and wax.

-http://edwardsmoore.com/

by Designsquish

“Suppose every creature is a circle, which exists in this world, how many of them can I draw? This is my life’s work and my challenge… By drawing circles I feel I am alive and existing in the cosmos.” — Hiroyuki Doi

November 08, 2010 by Designsquish

Golden leaves and trees full of house sparrows in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

by Designsquish

The Shepherds Way -  photography series by Dima Gomberg

November 04, 2010 by Designsquish