Biodegradable moss planter(organic carpet consisting of assortment of mosses) by Japan-based flower artist Makoto Azuma  

September 06, 2009 by Designsquish

Hummingbird




Humming bird, detail



Crimson necked bullfinch

by Designsquish

Brunonia Serica
Ferdinand Bauer
1760-1826
from Floral Illustrations of New Holland

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
15th or 16th century
Gouache on vellum

From Vienna Dioscorides



From Vienna Dioscorides



Botanical Illustration from Codex Anicia Juliana, AD 512

From Vienna Dioscorides



Banksia coccinea (Scarlet Banksia)
Ferdinand Bauer
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
Early 19th century



Adele Morosini Rossetti (for Botanic Garden)
Rosa Abraham Darby
Watercolor , color pencil, tempera on paper




California flowering plant





California snow flower

Peruvian flowering cactus

September 05, 2009 by Designsquish

September 04, 2009 by Designsquish

From http://www.redesign.co.il/

August 21, 2009 by Designsquish

Nissan’s electric automobile (EV) is set to go on sale in Japan, the U.S. and Europe next year. The blue hatchback had a sporty design and a recharging opening in the front. Nissan has promised that the Leaf, which goes into mass-production as a global model in 2012, will be about the same price as a gas-engine car such as the 1.5 million yen ($15,000) Tiida, which sells abroad as the Versa, starting at about $10,000.

August 03, 2009 by Designsquish

An Earthship is a type of home made of natural and recycled materials.  Earthships designed by Earthship Biotecture  and are built from 45% recycled materials - tires, bottles, cans.  Earth-filled tires utilize thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. Earthships also usually incorporate their own special natural ventilation system.



Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources - energy from the sun, rain. For example, windows on the sunny side admit light and heat, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize natural light and solar-gain during winter months. Likewise, the thick, dense outer walls provide effective insulation against summer heat.
Internal, non-load-bearing walls are often made of a honeycomb of recycled cans joined by concrete and are referred to as tin can walls. These walls are usually thickly plastered with stucco.

The Earthship costs next to nothing to operate annually and is independent of all municipal utilities.  Earthship Biotecture has a building prototype that harvests its own electricity and water; contains and treats its own sewage;  and heats and cools itself without fuel and produces a significant amount of food.

August 02, 2009 by Designsquish

Glass house made from recycled glass windows in Freetown Christiania, neighborhood/commune in Copenhagen, Denmark created during the hippie movement. Christiania has its own flag and its own set of rules independent from the Danish government. Within Christiania itself no cars are allowed, stealing is forbidden as well as violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests, hard drugs and bikers’ colors.

July 19, 2009 by Designsquish

Emergency Response Studio, by Paul Villinski, is a solar-powered, mobile artist’s studio, rebuilt from an old trailer. An artist needs to be mobile and free just in case of the ocean water rising because Greenland is melting, and other devastating natural disasters, such as Katrina in New Orleans. 

by Designsquish

Ceramic rubber duckie by Futility l.t.d Really cool.



Ceramic milk carton bt Hanna Risgaard.

by Designsquish

I ♥  Mineo Mizuno sculptures. Mineo Mizuno was born in Japan and currently resides in Los angeles, CA.  Water-drop/pebble like large ceramic forms are covered in small holes in which mosses are planted.

July 18, 2009 by Designsquish

The High Line was built in the 1930s. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

by Designsquish

Ceramic Teacup by Jonathan Trotter

by Designsquish

Cloud sculpture by Jennifer Forsberg.

by Designsquish

ALEXANDRA PAPERNO
“Lepus”, from the “Star Maps” series
2003
Mixed media on canvas
150 x 120 cm

I really like these paintings by Alexandra Paperno. Alexandra was born in Moscow, studied art in New York at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and currently resides in Moskow.  In Constellation Series Alexandra paints night sky, star maps and stars. Vladimir Levashov writes about her work : her paintings are set on the “borderline between abstraction and figurativeness, between the image of an object and the interpretation of its attributes. However, it is not always exactly the maps. Sometimes it is a globe, sometimes – just a single star. The star, however, may as well turn out to be the “Grey sun”. Not a point, but a tondo (a professional term), a circle, expressively painted over with the most low-key, the most complicated colour. It so happens that the sun is not exactly the sun, and the stars are more like points, celestial nebula – coloristic surfaces, but altogether – it represents sheer painting. Nevertheless, it is not “merely painting”, not a superficial formalism, but a huge mass of deeply emotional substance. It is the very thing, which the night sky represents for each of us: fairytale, mysterious and inaccessibly sublime. And the best art for it is nothing else but a map”

July 07, 2009 by Designsquish

The Waterpod is a floating art project, community and living space on a barge. The structure is built from recycled wood, billboard sign material, metal and powered by a hybrid solar/wind system that also runs all on-board equipment.  The barge also incorporates a garden with vegetables (lettuce, sunflowers, corn, eggplant and e.t.c ) grown with purified water from the vertical agriculture. Four artists live on the barge and are very friendly to talk to you about their project.  There is also a chicken coop made from recycled shipping crate previously used to ship artworks. 

July 03, 2009 by Designsquish

July 01, 2009 by Designsquish

I love the idea of a virtual interactive fish aquarium mainly because you do not have to have a real fish aquarium and because by adding it to your desktop, website and google you can look at it every time you go on your computer.
P.S ( It is really fun to feed them!)
You can change the fish colors, fish food color and background.  This is how my fish aquarium looks like:

by Designsquish

Above: Crocheted lampshade at Michele Varian, photo from Apartment Therapy.

The other day I was walking in Manhattan on the Lower East Side and discovered an amazing store full with all kinds of vintage, restored and designer objects.  One of my favorite is a crocheted lamp shade. The fabric is starched to maintain its form. 



Above: Michele Varian on Crosby Street, NY

June 11, 2009 by Designsquish

This is wild strawberry or Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria Vesca)  growing in Brooklyn backyard. Mmmmm!

Wild strawberry is not like a regular strawberry at all. It has a different taste and smell.  It smells like forest. Red, juicy and fragrant wild strawberries are false fruits Berries are seeds hidden in a juicy pulp. Examples of berries - blueberry, cranberry, tomato and watermelon. The seeds of the wild strawberry sit on the surface of this false fruit that functions as a bait for the animals, who eat the seeds and help spread the seeds with their droppings.  Wild strawberries are so delicious and aromatic because they wants us to eat them (yes yes!), ha-ha!
Wild strawberries usually are found near trails, young forests and forest openings.

There is so much can be said about this amazing fruit. 

by Designsquish

The Horticultural Society of New York is awesome.  The Horticultural society of New York makes New York city better through horticultural programs, library resources and exhibitions. Below are some photos of the exhibitions held in HSNY:



Above: Sustainable fashion Show - Bodkin-  Eviana Hartman uses recycled tire rubber as buttons, boiled carob dyes, bamboo/organic cotton, organic wool,  recycled polyester fleece.


Above: The Artificial Kingdom - art exhibition by Rowena Dring and Jude Miller


Above: Awesome indoor green wall at HSNY

by Designsquish

I found this old vintage chair - $2, and two frames - $3 on garage sale.  They were falling apart and covered in dust.  I washed them and repainted them. 

June 04, 2009 by Designsquish

Rooftop Films will screen “No Impact Man” on Thursday, June 11th in Williamsburg. No Impact Man is a documentary by writer-environmental activist Colin Beavan who challenges himself and his family to live for one full year in New York City without making any environmental impact. Impossible?? I will be going to see it on June 11th if anybody wants to join please let me know.



By the way,  I think turning roof tops into small movie theaters is a great idea - smart use of roof space plus you are watching movies outdoors surrounded by the beautiful view!.

by Designsquish

Bags from re-purposed, recycled coffee sacks!  Lined with a soft unbleached cotton. by Mayamade. 

May 31, 2009 by Designsquish

Patrick Blanc is a contemporary garden designer from France who basically “invented” the concept of a vertical garden.  What Patrick did is invent a hydroponic structure on which plants can easily grow vertically without any soil.  Essentially plants need water and minerals dissolved in it.  Many plants in the wild grow on vertical surfaces - rocks and cliffs. Many plants have the root ability to grow without any soil as long as there is sunlight, minerals and water.  Being soil-less, vertical gardens are very light and thus easy to implement on any wall.  Metal frame is installed that supports two layers of polyamide felt . These layers mimic cliff-growing mosses and support the roots of many plants. A network of pipes provides a nutrient solution containing dissolved minerals.  The roots of the plants take up the nutrients they need, and excess water is collected at the bottom of the wall by a gutter before being re-injected into the network of pipes.
In towns there are a lot more vertical free spaces than horizontal ,  Blanc says.  I wish to see many of them turned into a garden. 

May 30, 2009 by Designsquish

Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants.  Nearly 34,000 plants are grown at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and its three smaller offshoots located in other parts of Scotland.  These represent nearly 17,000 different species from all over the world, or about 7% of all known plant species.  I was surprised to see so many species of plants at the same time!

May 29, 2009 by Designsquish

This drawing by Karin Uusikorpi of an owl is incredible.  I found it by accident by looking through flickr.  Karin writes about herself:  ” I am a prairie girl born in Saskatchewan and raised in Northern Alberta. I draw, paint and play with colour. I eventually will get back to making things out of clay. I have made art in some form or another since I was little & still do. I am always picking stuff off the ground and saving it for future use - I am a self proclaimed ‘packrat’ and ‘magpie’ that routinely tries to cull the collection of stuff”

by Designsquish

Osias Beert the Elder
Still-Life with Cherries and Strawberries in China Bowls
1608 Oil on panel
19 5/8” x 25 3/4”

One of my favorite Flemish vanitas paintings is “Still Life with wild Strawberries” by Osias Beert the Younger. Vanitas is a type of still life painting popular in Northern Europe in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th - 17th centuries. The word “vanitas” is Latin, meaning “emptiness” and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity. Paintings executed in the vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death.




Osias Beert the Younger
Still Life with Wild Raspberries
Oil on Panel
11.2” x 15.6”

STILL LIFES WITH FLOWERS

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Still Life with Flowers
1601-1678





Jan the Elder Brueghel
1607 Oil on wood
98 x 73 cm





Brueghel Jan the Elder
Still Life with flowers in a Glass

May 26, 2009 by Designsquish

Scottish Highlands area is an amazing and magical place that is definitely not from this world.  Steep bare mountains,  strong winds, rainfall , swampy grasslands and many waterfalls, they hide one of the strangest animals -  Kyloe.

Kyloe or Highland Cow is an ancient Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and long wavy pelts.  ( They look a lot like mammoths or at least like giant,big headed, hairy cows)  Highland cows are known are a hardy breed due to the rugged nature of their native Scottish Highlands, they graze on plants many other cattle avoid.






Other inhabitants of the Highlands are lots and lots of sheep.  Sheep is everywhere. 

May 23, 2009 by Designsquish

Casamento, located in Cape Town, South Africa individually hand crafts furniture using recycled frames and only natural fibers throughout: natural non-allergenic fibers: sisal, raw cotton wadding, horsehair jute webbing, hessian and flock natural fibers.

May 18, 2009 by Designsquish