Friday Finds 7.15.11

Aaron: Hunch's That's What THAY Say

What do we love? Infographics! What makes us nervous? When websites are kind of able to predict what we like based on responses to just a few unrelated questions. Is this the future? Gulp.

Alejandro: The Compulsive, the Absurd, and the Tailored: Jordine Voigt, Tom Ngo, Theresa Himmer

These are three artist that deal with architectural elements in their work. However, each one of them manages to explore the spatial energy of a space, or lack there of, in rather different ways. I would be interested in seeing what a building would look like if Jordine Voigt drew the plans, Tom Ngo did the renderings and Theresa Himmer built them.

Everett: Stuffed Animals for Adults

Willem Henri Lucas, designer by day and sewing machine master by night, has channeled artist Joseph Beuys in his beautiful, hand-crafted rabbits. Stuffed animals for adults, these not-so-little creatures are designed to fit perfectly between the arms. Sewn from vintage Swiss Army blankets, each one is completely unique. If you're lucky, you might be able to get your paws on the coveted white cross breed. Not available to the public yet, but keep an open eye as they pop-up from time to time.

Miyoko: Mapping America: Census Explorer

This is not entirely new, but was recently new to me. Using data from the Census Bureau's 2005-2009 American Community Surveys, the New York Times put together these interactive maps that let you zoom in and out of different parts of the county to look at the distribution of racial and ethnic groups, household incomes, home values and monthly rents, same-sex couples, and education levels. It's pretty fascinating checking out different areas of the country in each category; It also reinforces the notion of "location, location, location." The median rent where I grew up in Buffalo, New York, is about $700; where I live now just south of San Francisco it's $1,400. Eek. At least the views of the San Francisco skyline and the Bay Bridge are amazing.

Kathryn: Machine Project and the Walker Art Center

Summer Jubilee at the Walker Open Field, July 18th-29th 2011 from machine project on Vimeo.

Geepers, I wish I was going to be in Minneapolis next week...Ever wondered about the acoustics of your local architectural wonder, the Parking Garage? About the synthesizer-capabilities of an original Apple-II in a FlatPak House? You can experience these wonders and more next week, when L.A.-based artist and performance collaborators Machine Project take their show on the road to the Walker Art Center, the first institution to support the collective in a wide range of musical and educational projects under the umbrella of their Summer Jubilee program. The hijinks start Tuesday (Music for Parking Garages happens Wednesday / the Apple II Beeptacular Spectacular is on Friday).

Jordan: Egg Press Charm Cards

Egg Press just keeps on keeping on making super fantastic stuff.The Portland-based letterpressers have a new collection of charm cards, allowing a lucky snail mail recipient to pop out the designs, slide them on the attached string or earring hooks, and rock a paper accessory on the spot. Love this.

Jaime: Design/Story

While at Dwell on Design last month, I met Mia Lewin, founder of Design/Story, a website that curates design objects (furniture, home accessories) by established and up-and-coming designers and groups them for sale around themes and backstories. For example, the I Need a Drink collection includes Iittala glassware, a corkscrew from Menu, and a reversible Verso wool throws (for throwing around your shoulders during an evening cocktail outside?). They also hold members-only sales, with pieces priced at "designer-direct prices." I get the sense from their website that they're still fleshing out their approach but it's a cool concept…

Diana: A Very Potter Musical



Dry your eyes—the final Harry Potter is coming to an end, folks. In honor of the last installment of the film series, which opened today, here's a fan-produced musical.

Amy: Washington D.C. on $85 a Day

I find lots of cool and interesting photos on the Internet, some of them on my own, some through friends. The other day, while roaming the new Google+, I saw this great series on a friend of a friend's page, and was all ready to give them kudos on a few great shots and a fun idea, when I realized they weren't their images at all. I eventually tracked down the original owner and location of the shots, and gave him a virtual high five. It's another example of photo credits gone awry on the interwebs, and how it really is important, especially to folks in the photo world, that we all give credit where credit is due. So, thanks Brendan McKeon, for a great idea, and to the internet for things going viral 3-4 years after they are originally posted, so I can finally see them.