Standouts from the Noho circuit of NY Design Week The sleeper exhibition of the week for me is “Modern Craft” at the Merchant’s House Museum (29 E. 4th St. through Mon). This museum has been on my …
[Christian Marclay's The Clock was on view at the MoMA in New York through Jan 21, 2013] When I was a kid and starting to fall in love with movies I remember when Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid came out. The film is …
I call this a Polish Bloody Mary. The star of the show is bacon infused vodka—Polish bacon and Polish vodka. I live in a Polish neighborhood in Brooklyn so I have access to a better selection of Polish food than probably most people in Poland. Since …
One of my favorite textured glass objects by Tapio Wirkkala. It’s a series called Ultima Thule which seems popular enough that it’s not only been kept in production but expanded upon clearly beyond the original pieces designed by Wirkkala himself. The bundle of melting icicles …
My mother found this pot scrubber when she visited a Shaker community in Indiana. Straw bundled tightly and tied with cotton string. True to Shaker design intent the form is pared down to its essence of function and it functions extremely well. It’s fairly durable …
Last summer we visited our friends Karen and Pete who live in a hollow near Lake Placid. Their property adjoins a huge wildlife preserve. We stayed in their guest house in a converted barn. Karen and Pete have quite a collection of collections—curious things can …
[system design]
Next time you upgrade, don’t get a smarter smartphone. One-up yourself and get a Wisephone. Participating handset manufacturers and service providers will offer special Wisephone versions of their products featuring default screen images of the quality testing technicians that test …
This is the kind of thing that makes me appreciate the power of Youtube–at its best it can be an archive of cultural significance. It’s an ethnomusicological oddity. A couple of minutes on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City with a blind woman playing …
The group Konono No.1 hails from Kinshasa, the capital city of Congo. They’re an orchestra whose instruments include handmade pieces made from parts salvaged from old cars and scrap wood. Their signature sonic element comes from thumb pianos of various sizes and registers that are …
How about textured glass panes inspired by irregular natural phenomena like these panes from a greenhouse I visited recently. I think it could be from mineral deposits in the condensation. Or maybe it’s some kind of mold? The farther away you get the more obscuring …