Fort Tilden beach is located in Fort Tilden Natural Area (Far Rockaway, Long Island) that surrounded by dunes, rosehip bushes, wild grapevines and maritime forest.

“Wide-open and pristine sands, a fresh sea and a rugged beachscape of barnacled bulkheads and sea-softened pilings jutting up out of the sand.  Regulars at Fort Tilden smile to one another as if sharing a great little secret” - New York Times.

“Fort Tilden State Park feels like the city’s best-kept secret—an unspoiled island oasis, tantalizingly close to Manhattan. Even on a weekend at the height of summer, you’ll get a 50-yard stretch of beach to yourself. On weekdays, it’s practically all yours. On a busy day, you might see several families (mostly Russian) picnicking and grilling.  How can this be? Simple: Fort Tilden is so difficult to access that only the most intrepid Robinson Crusoe types dare venture there” - NYMag.

Note: Unless you own a bike!!!!

Directions: Bedford Avenue bike lane ends in Sheepshead Bay where you have to deal with car traffic until the Marine Park bike path begins.  Over the Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and you’re there.

It can turn into a fun and sustainable weekend.

Opportunities to chain up a bike end early but no problem you can always take your bike with you on the shore:

The sunset viewgasm from Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge on the way back, makes this a perfect bike ride experience. 

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on August 31, 2010

“Почти каждый день Феня принорила Петру Ильичу цветы.  Она ходила за цветами в заливные луга и рвала их долго, подбирала все одинаковые: то одну ромашку, то кипрей, то подмаренник.  А когда весна входила в полную силу и всю ночь над лесом не потухала заря, Феня пробиралась в усадьбу к Липецкому и рвала там для Петра Ильича сирень. 

До чего она была холодная, пахучая, росистая! Прижмешь к лицу пышные ветки  - будто умоешься.  Принесешь цветы, Петр Ильич возьмет за подбородок, поднимет зардевшееся лицо, скажет: “Ех ты, сероглазая!”  - и обязательно чем-нибудь отдарит.  А потом сядет к роялю, заиграет.  сирень вся задрожит, и роса с нее польется прямо на рояль...” - Paustovsky

Read in Enlish by clicking below:

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on August 01, 2010

And the wind, full of wantonness,
wooes like lover
The young aspen-trees till they
tremble all over.

- Thomas Moore (From Trees of America)

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 30, 2010

From the book:

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I or you:
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind it passing thro’.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

Christina G. Rossetti

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 26, 2010

The most cheerful thing I know is the calm, the silence,  which are so delicious,  both in the forest and the fields.

-Jean Francois Milllet

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 19, 2010

Wild blackberries and red salmon berries gathered in Upstate New York, Harriman State Park. I never had salmon berries before.  They are so delicious! Almost as good as or better than raspberries.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on

Pillows from recycled old wool sweaters, jackets or shirts. (Image from Katy Elliott)

Sofa cover from reused jeans fabric. (Image from Design Milk)

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 09, 2010

Cafe America is an upcycled galvanized steel chain-link chair with stainless steel rod and fasteners by Grain. The chair flat-packs for efficient shipping and storage.  Handmade in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 07, 2010

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 06, 2010

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on July 03, 2010

Photos taken in Harriman State Park, NY + motylek (small butterfly)

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on June 28, 2010

“Red List protects nature” - The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1948, is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.

“Protect birds - they are doctors of the forest”

“Cut down one - plant ten”

“Welcome, my feathered friends!”

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on June 25, 2010

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Sun Boxes in Rhyolite Nevada is a twenty speaker installation powered by the sun via solar panels. There is a different loop set to play a guitar note in each box continuously. These guitar notes collectively make a Bb chord. Because the loops are different in length, once the piece begins they continually overlap and the piece slowly evolves over time. View video

http://www.sun-boxes.com

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on June 22, 2010

VerTerra’s disposable tableware is a great alternative to plastic and paper plates. It is made from fallen palm leaves and water only and biodegrades naturally within two months.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on June 07, 2010

Forest Floor Still Life by Otto Marseus Van Schrieck. Otto was a Dutch painter best known for mysterious dark close-ups of the live undergrowth of forest floors that give detailed views of
wild flowers, weeds, thistles, and mushrooms, lives of insects.

Even though it is not really a still-life, I think this painting is particularly amazing because of how still it is.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on June 04, 2010

Book LED floor lamp. The lamp’s shade opens and closes like the cover of a book. As the shade opens wider, the light shines more brightly, and as it closes, it gradually dims and turns off. Made from recycled aluminum.

Simple, non-toxic, eco-friendly biodegradable coffin!

Eco-friendly chairs made from strawboard. (Strawboard, a formaldehyde-free material made of compressed straw- an alternative to wood particleboard or fiberboard)

Invisible Street Lights designed by Jongoh Lee are in the shape of tree leaves and can be wrapped around tree branches.  During the day, these leaf structures mingle in the tree’s natural leaves, harnessing and storing sunlight. At night, they provide a poetic alternative to streetlights. 

National Design Triennial is on right now at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 28, 2010

Scrap wood chair. (Perfect DIY idea)

Skateboard wheels rotating table. (Great idea for reusing skateboard wheels)

Button toy. (Great idea for reusing buttons)

Future Perfect is a good new design store in
Williamsburg and East Village, New York.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 26, 2010

Log speakers by Stanley Ruiz - http://stanleyruiz.com  Stanley’s speakers are composed of only wood and metal. “It is a very lo-fi, unassuming approach to product design.  Improvisation is a major part of my process” - Stanley.

Ceramic speakers by Joey Roth: 

The speaker system is reduced to its most simple form.  It is also made out of all natural materials consisting of porcelain, cork, and birch.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on May 14, 2010

Located on the Rockaway Peninsula Brooklyn, NY, Fort Tilden is mostly a natual area that was a former United States Army installation.  Fort Tilden today is largely a natural area of beach, dunes and maritime forest. Most of the old military installations are abandoned, though some buildings have been renovated and are used by local arts groups. Atop one of the old batteries, Battery Harris East, is a viewing platform offering 360-degree views.  Fort Tilden includes some of the most secluded beaches in New York.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 19, 2010

Old rusty bike found on garage sale restored and repainted in the Gzhel style of ceramics. Gzhel is a Russian style of ceramics which takes its name from the village of Gzhel and surrounding area, where it has been produced since 1802.

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on April 08, 2010

Brooklyn Bridge Park is an 85-acre park currently under construction on the Brooklyn waterfront in the vicinity of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. As of March 22, 2010 the first newly built section of the park, Pier 1, has been open to the public. !!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on March 30, 2010

The discovery, which the researchers reported last week in Nature, supports research showing that birds are dinosaurs, having descended from a group of bipedal dinosaurs called theropods.
Dr. Prum and his colleagues, meanwhile, had set out on a similar quest. Working with paleontologists at the Beijing Museum of Natural History and Peking University, the researchers began to study a 150-million-year-old species called Anchiornis huxleyi. The chicken-sized theropod was festooned with long feathers on its arms and legs.

Above: Mohawk Dinosaur

Scientsts were able to assign color to individual feathers and thus work out color patterns for the entire fossil of Anchiornis huxleyi, a small, feathered, two-legged dinosaur that lived roughly 150 million years ago.  The animal would have weighed about four ounces (110 grams) and appears to have had a dark gray or black body and wings with some white feathers that gave it a stripe pattern, plus a reddish-brown crest and speckles on the face. ( Source:  New York Times and Discovery News)

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on

I see a lot of old beautiful bird cages in the garbage. I think I threw out a few as well a long long time ago. What I did not know is that they can be transformed into beautiful lamps. This re-purposed bird cage lamp above is by PSPCA ( Philadelphia Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).  The curtain will naturally diffuse the light acting as a lamp shade!

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on March 10, 2010

International Women’s Day vintage spring and flowers postcards.  (С 8 Марта!)

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on March 08, 2010

How to hand build your own well!!! (in Russian): www.kolodec.ru

Posted by DESIGN SQUISH on