It’s 3am. I’m tired, but i felt like i needed to share before the backlog built up and my excitement wandered off… what a day its been, so much #OBJECTHUNT fun ~ so many supportive folks having fun at design week this year between workaholicking. And between it all i stumbled upon Mr. Brainwash’s takeover of the boarded up construction ~ mixed with scrawls about what a hack he is ~ only to turn across the street to see all his art also inside at a huge gallery show… and it was filled with classic designer chairs… so, i couldn’t help myself, the mix of spray paint art, pithy statements and quotes, elephants-kangaroos-snoopy made of tires, a life size NY taxi packaged in matchbox packaging with a toys r us price tag… so say what you will about his work ~ i just had to take and share some pics! See it all on the next page…

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Another stunning week on NOTCOT.ORG means this roundup is especially gorgeous. This week’s picks include beautiful exteriors, interiors, artwork and more. Click on the images to find out more.

A particularly stunning week! Here’s selection of our favorite posts this week over at NOTCOT.org. Click the images to find out more.

Going through the many pics filling up my laptop, i keep coming across so much i want to share with you! So here’s a weekend dose of inspiration courtesy of vintage Mercedes-Benz graphics and products… it was mind blowing to be whisked by so many incredible original posters and advertisements for the early models… and then walls filled with Mercedes-Benz branded products… from powder compacts to mother of pearl handled pocket knives… and fascinating cases of all of the model emblems… really, i could have spent hours just going through the visual language of the branding and extension of Mercedes-Benz in there! Will definitely have to go back and do it slowly one of these days! But for now… take a little peek into a few of the cases and unexpected design inspirations that caught my eye on the next page!

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A selection of this week’s posts over on NOTCOT.org. To find out more about the stunning architecture, gorgeous highlights from Milan and so many other fantastic pieces, just click the images.

As design week comes to a close, but not the trip (we’ve been hostages of the volcano), i’m still sorting and posting much of the fun stuff discovered this week! Here’s a favorite photo from Milano Salone del Mobile 2010 this 4am. Staring at it ~ Leo, who’s been amazing helping explore and cover design week with me, and i joked that in a way, this image epitomized the key elements of the design week chaos…

Milan Design Week = beautiful objects + flowing libations + a sea of humanity

p.s. This is the Luce Plan Mini Mini designed by HABITS Studio.

Some of our recent posts over on NOTCOT.org, including some great short films, architecture, illustration and more. Click on the images to be taken to the relevant posts.

About to run out to try and actually check out the insane fiera filled with design goodness ~ but wanted to leave you with some of the many stickers and street art bits that keep grabbing my attention as i wander through the city! Some fun silly craziness on the next page! Enjoy!

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While on a bit of a travel bender, i was SO tempted to reroute myself home to LA for the Premiere of Banksy’s “Exit Through the Giftshop” at the stunning historic Los Angeles Theatre, but since teleportation has yet to be perfected, luckily awesome photographer friend of NOTCOT, Lou Mora and his assistant, Jack Wittbold, stepped up and offered to not only check out the premiere for us, but also take some stunning pics to show me what i missed! So take a look at this latest Dear NOTCOT ~ his pictures of people and the art especially blow me away! While i sent him mostly to take pictures of the artwork and installations happening around the film… here are a few quick comments i got from him:

“The crowd was definitely pumped and cheered throughout the movie. The venue was stunning. There were 4 installations. Alongside the red carpet you could grab some spray paint (from the girls dressed in red) and do whatever you wanted to either a box truck or limo. Second, there was an older gentleman with a black mask on playing piano. Third, was Tweetie bird in a cage. Tweeties eye would slowly open as you got closer to the cage. Really amazing and probably my favorite. Fourth, was the security pole w/ cameras at the top, which also acted as a strip pole for the cops. All the ushers and waitresses had black masks on so their identity would be hidden. I have a feeling Banksy was there somewhere. He’s has two brand new pieces here in LA that popped up yesterday morning so we all know he’s here.”

On to the images on the next page!

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A selection of this weeks posts from NOTCOT.org including mirrored men, lego cars and much much more. Click on the images for further info.

On fun exciting new things ~ in the midst of this travel fest ~ Adobe Creative Suite 5 is coming!!! And Linhchi and i have been super thrilled to get an early sneak peek at it to play with in order to spice things up for the week (maybe longer, we’ll see how it feels!) So to celebrate Milan Design Week and the fun new features of CS5 ~ we went for a splash of color, some water colored goodness, and GOOGLY EYES! That, yes, totally move and follow you around and stuff… you’ll see… they should be popping up as house ads around the sites! And the new tags are filled with links to some of my favorite furniture features of the past… and i absolutely LOVE how CS5 + Linhchi + NOTCOT photos = pretty painting styled imagery! So for more on before and afters, take a peek at the next page!

Also ~ this little project is part of the Adobe Creative Suite 5 launch campaign across the web, and i’m apparently also going to be a judge on the 5 weeks of 5 Competition Hosted by Adobe running over at Behance! The public link for the contest doesn’t seem to be up yet, but i’ll update this when there’s more info!

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I forgot how lovely it is to just wander in Milan ~ spent a few hours today walking all over, and inevitably stumbled across a few things too inspiring and fun not to share. Like these Hermés window displays i ran into on Via Spiga! Inspired by fables and fairytales this series of beautifully intricate overdressed animals coming out of gilded frames ~ love the way the colored paper is juxtaposed with the black and white storybook illustrations! See more on the next page!

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The Mercedes-Benz Museum ~ you’ve seen the elevators and tornado and while the cars and exhibitions are amazing, there are so many parts of the architecture that were surreal and beautiful! From the way they play with the constant combination of sun and artificial lighting, to the way the building is constantly leading you to swirl downwards from past to present, to the engraved concrete markings to denote what section you’re in, to the horse ~ the first… pre-automobile? It’s much like a car museum meets history museum meets sweeping art gallery filled with surprising textural juxtapositions at every turn… so take a peek at the next page for a full gallery of images ~ it’s less about the cars and more about the amazing images the space creates for you.

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The Mercedes-Benz Museum houses an incredible amount of automotive history, unexpected surprises, and is in and of itself an absolutely mind blowing architectural space. That being said there are a million and one different posts i could write about it, and none would do it justice fully. So, let’s do this my way and start with my favorite detail… the ELEVATORS are amazing! When you enter the space, you can see straight up to the roof (and a peek at the sunlight coming in) as floors spiral all the way… you could even say the ceiling has a Mercedes-Benz star inspired shape… and then you notice what look three like vertical tracks going up… and these awesome metal pod (with abstract ghost like eyes/shape) moving up and down… it’s surreal. A bit overly concrete feeling (gave me a similar vibe to Oakley HQ’s entrance)… there was something very sterile/scifi feeling about the entrance space. I could have stood there and stared up at the mesmerizing symmetry of it all for ages. So see more close ups of it in action on the next page!

p.s. Also amazing are those giant panels… the ones that look like concrete? they arent. That’s how they move cars into the various floors.

p.p.s. Additionally, when it comes to ventilating the space and quickly dealing with a fire/etc… this building is the official world-record holder for the World’s Largest Artificial Tornado! It’s over 100ft, generated from the center of the roof… i’ve just updated the post with a few videos on the next page…

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Check out some of our latest posts over at NOTCOT.org. This week’s picks include stunning architecture and interiors, some playful items like the AK-47 Aqua fire and a bit of tech, like the iPad teardown. Click on the images to find out more.