Friday Finds 05.17.13

Diana: Weekday Carnival

This week, a Tumblr by Ryan Panos caught my eye for its architectural photography of the concrete, glass, and steel persuasion. Weekday Carnival is a polar opposite in that the images are of soft and gauzy interiors filled with pastel textiles, petite ceramics, and vintage and contemporary furniture. If Scandinavian interiors are your thing, this is an Internet rabbit hole worth clicking through.

Julia: DODOnotes: Merging Paper With Pixels

The wonderful San Francisco-based company DODOcase launched a new product yesterday called DODOnotes. They set out to completely re-envisions the paper notebook by adapting its form factor to be compatible with the iPhone all with that great book-like aesthetic that DODOcase is known (and loved) for. DODOnotes is the first product that has merged paper with pixels in this way -- the evolution of traditional accessories to meet today’s modern needs and to serve as the go-to phone accessory for meetings, travel, quick reminder noting, and more. In partnership with Mohawk, North America’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of fine papers, DODOcase continues to take a unique approach to its product offerings by blending modern technology with traditional craftsmanship to meet practical modern needs. 

Michele: New Season of Arrested Development

There's been a little excitement in the Dwell offices this past week forthcoming of the long-awaited new season of twisted sitcom Arrested Development, set to air starting May 26. This trailer made the rounds to the delight of all during a busy week of shipping our July/August issue. It's the final countdown!

Kelsey: Honey Radiator Selected for MAD Permanent Collection

Who knew radiators could be so… hot? (Sorry.) Honey, designed in 2009 by James di Marco, was selected this week for the permanent collection at the Museum of Art & Design in New York. Di Marco designed the radiator—assembled from 67 overlapping hexagons and positioned "according to a precise mathematical rule"—for the Italian company Caleido. It was first featured at MAD in a 2009 exhibition curated by Karim Rashid.

Cortney: Public Collectors

A growing archive of alternative cultural artifacts not so easily found in public libraries and museums, Public Collectors features the work of individual archivers showcasing their collections on a digital platform as well as tangible presentations around the US and UK. The Tumblr is a great excerpt of the project and a great window into various subcultural movements with recent and bygone histories.

On a related note, Ian MacKaye, of Fugazi fame, caught the attention of the Library of Congress and was invited to speak about his longtime collecting and archiving of DC music and punk culture. Says MacKaye, "You never know what may end up becoming a cultural artifact."

Aaron: AK-47 Assault Rifle Turned Into a Functional Golden Guitar

This is a fairly insane use for an AK-47 anyway, though this little nugget of a story goes completely bonkers when it becomes clear that the AK-6String is for none other than rapper and Haitian presidential also-ran, Wyclef Jean. Dude has gone waaaaay past November. Via Laughing Squid.

Alejandro: Matthew Plummer-Fernandez

Matthew Plummer-Fernandez is a UK-based artist, that generates artifacts that blend the boundaries of art and design, as well as analog and digital, using new technologies such as 3D printing and scanning.

Amanda: The Incredible Power Of Concentration by Miyoko Shida

This is an astounding performance by Miyoko Shida, an artist who skillfully (and with great concentration) creates a mobile of natural materials onstage during a Spanish television program. Make sure you watch it until the very end.

Jaime: 19 Emotions for Which English Has No Words

As this infographic on the Fast Company website reveals, "love and sadness are far more nuanced than the English language permits." Design student Pei-Ying Lin has created a diagram that overlays words in foreign languages atop English-language words that express emotions, like Love, Fear, and Anger. It's fascinating to read through these culture-specific "untranslatable emotions"—such as gezelligheid, Dutch for "comfort and coziness of being at home, with friends, with loved ones or general togetherness"; or tocka, Russian for "great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause…. a longing with nothing to long for."

Olivia: WTF is a "Cottage"?

It may be another flash in the pan Tumblr, but any renter or apartment-hunter can appreciate a Tumblr devoted to Craigslist advertisements for "cottages" and the liberties landlords take with the word. According to the site, "There have to be more cottages mentioned on San Francisco Craigslist than in all of the Brothers Grimm tales combined. "Cottage" just means you installed plumbing in the shed in your backyard, or some other enclosure that was never intended to have plumbing in it."

Eujin: Aesthethics Habitat by Ramon Haindl

On one of my late night web-scouring excursions, I came across the work of Frankfurt-based photographer Ramon Haindl. For the series Aesthethics Habitat, creative studio Deutsche & Japaner commisioned Haindl to photographically reintrepret Sebastian Schönheit for New Tendency's Meta side table. I especially like his biography, too—"Born 1983 in the dark woods of Bavaria he spent his time drawing airplanes and girls before he attended the school of applied sciences."

To see last week's finds, click here!