Made by Humans has designed a stapler that doesn't use any staples. Sweet. It's really a pain pulling out staples when you're ready to recycle paper. Their design instead punches up to 4 sheets of paper with a "tab" that folds over and keeps the papers in place. In addition to never running out of staples, you can choose from two cute critter styles—dog or cat.
Twisted Dance Studios Signage
I recently got to work with a new start-up dance studio that specializes in belly dancing. While designing logos is a pretty common occurrence, getting to do the actual signage isn't. We decided that vinyl graphics would be their best bet for readability against a tinted glass window and meet their budget needs. Here's the final product which turned out pretty well. We used the national franchise chain "FastSigns" and they did an excellent job.
Retro Mad Men-inspired chair painting
One of my New Year's resolutions was to write more to friends and family on actual paper instead of just e-mail. Whenever I get actual letters and notes from friends via mail from it's a real pleasure. These notecards feature the chair in a design suitable for an interior designer or vintage furniture shop. I can't decide which color I like best—blue, red or green.
Lovely Clusters Design Shop
I stumbled across Lovely Clusters today which is a website for handmade designers and vintage goods purveyors from around the world. You can shop by color or category and even start your own shop if you have creations for sale. It's carefully and lovingly curated so even though you be taken to many Etsy shops to complete your purchase, the searching experience isn't so overwhelming.
Lovely Creations is the brainchild of Rachel Follett, a graphic and web designer living and working in Maui, Hawaii.
Color Inspiration in Rome
On a recent trip to Italy I snapped this image in the late afternoon sun. The colors were just so gorgeous that I wanted to translate them into a design color palette. Aren't those windows beautiful?
Retro Vintage-look Telephones
My very first purchase on layaway (remember layaway?—it's making a comeback in these tough economic times) was a vintage-look phone at Radio Shack. Ah, I made my mother crazy with all the hours I spent talking with girlfriends on that phone. I though I was so cool like a modern 1980's Jean Harlow.
Picci Carousel in Florence, Italy
The Piazza della Repubblica is in the heart of Florence—a gathering place for tourists, artists and musicians and at the center is a wonderful antique carousel. It's the Picci family carousel and while the gaily colored horses were beautiful by day, they were even more compelling when illuminated at night.
The food was so good in Florence that I ate it all before having the presence of mind to photograph anything. Sorry. Really.