*notcot - , 17:53 -

Edwin Ushiro First Solo Show

ushiro1.jpgToday is truly a beautiful, possibly cliche, Los Angeles beachy summer’s day ~ and as i wandered the few blocks to pick things up for the party tomorrow… it was great to see the whole town (yes, Pacific Palisades, totally feels like a town!) out and about, setting up chairs on the sidewalk for tomorrow’s parade, kids running around in packs and swinging in their yards, tons of dogs and strollers being walked… and then i checked my email and saw the preview for Edwin Ushiro’s first solo show, “While Tides Guide You Back Home” ~ which so perfectly captures that glowingly carefree summer day moment, and his use of textures is just breathtaking!

While Tides Guide You Back Home”, will be opening at the Project:Gallery in Culver City on July 12th, and they were nice enough to let me share the show preview ~ so on the next page you can see some of my favorites! (If you’re looking to purchase, act FAST, i hear many are sold or on hold already!)

A bit of background on Edwin Ushiro: “Aloha. My name is Edwin Ushiro. Transplanted from Maui to California, I attended the Art Center College of Design and attained a BFA in Illustration with Honors. Since then, I have been working in the amazing world of entertainment as a Cinematographer, Production Designer, Visual Consultant, Art Director, Storyboard Artist, and Concept Designer.” This should come as no surprise once you see his works! Also, check out some of his corporate work on his site as well - beautiful! I can’t wait to see what else he produces.

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*Sub-Studio - , 12:10 -

Lotte van Laatum

0703laatum1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s the latest discovery from Anna (Sub-Studio) ~ these cheese/cutting boards would be SO perfect for fourth of july picnics and bbqs!

I saw Lotte van Laatum’s work on Bloesem recently and fell in love with it. Lotte is a designer and recent graduate from the Design Academy Eindhoven. In her graduate program she specialized in the social-cultural and ecological aspects of design, an interest you can see permeate through her design collection. Much of her work references other cultures, and even employs craftsmen from those cultures, such as her Bloei! sofa, Tulipa vases (after the jump), and the Made in Peru cushions. Lotte’s Dutch Wood project attempts to create awareness about the sustainable use of local resources by keying the shape of each cutting board back to the geographical region it was harvested from. The cutting boards come from the regions of Veluwe, Noordoostpolder and Salland, and are made of three different types of wood - beech, ash and maple.

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*notcot - 06.29.08 , 20:01 -

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

futurama.jpgFuturama: The Beast with a Billion Backs came out last week, and i only just had time to grab a copy of the DVD today, perfect for lazy sunday watching while working. This is the second of 4 feature length epic DVDs (the first was Bender’s Big Score, Bender’s Game is coming Nov 2008, and The Wild Green Yonder in April 2009)… what struck be besides how fun the cartoons always are, were the great DVD packaging design and poster graphics of The Beast with a Billion Backs - in perfect retro sci-fi fashion, particularly loving the Metropolis poster parody for Bender’s Big Score! Also cute are the “Carbon Neutral” Stickers on both this one as well as the first… see all the pieces in high res on the next page!

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*notcot - , 13:46 -

Whaleless

whaleless.jpgWe can’t go Whaleless! The Strychnin Gallery London will be opening the international group show, Whaleless, on July 11th! It contains a fun selection of pieces all reminding us how much we love whales, and that we need to help save them ~ a portion of the sales will be donated to Greenpeace. I’ve rounded up some of my favorites from the show on the next page for you to preview!

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*notcot - 06.26.08 , 14:06 -

Charlie Todd Freezes Taco Bell

freezeframe.jpgI’m mixed on how to feel ~ so watch it and share your opinions. Improv Everywhere ~ they get large groups together and go… take off their shirts in Abercrombie, carry DESKTOPS into Starbucks, wear blue shirts into Best Buy, and even froze time at Grand Central Station (embedded on next page in case you’ve missed it!)… and NOW… Taco Bell loved the concept so much, they hired Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere to pull off the latest prank at the grand opening of the Taco Bell in Flushing. It’s hilarious watching the reactions of the people (video on next page!) - and a bit sad to watch that being frozen for a few seconds, there are people who are already poking at you, eating your food, and cutting you in line! So… thoughts? I think its great to see guys like Charlie getting paid to do what they are already doing so well! And great exposure to share the fun with people who may not be up on their internet memes… and nice to have some entertaining adverts… but i’m not sure, how do you guys feel about these corporate virals?

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*notcot - , 11:26 -

Limited Edition Designer Dolls

dtoys1.jpgMy brain isn’t quite sure how to handle it when two completely separate obsessions merge ~ today i was on Dezeen and it was Olivia Lee’s “Limited Edition Designer Dolls” ~ bringing together my love of toys and designers - who are now like designer super heroes?

ZAHA! Empress of Architecture! KARIM! King of Plastic! JAIME! Chief of Ceramic!

I want them all. I also want the animated series to come out… Olivia’s site says: Have you ever bought something only because it was ‘designer’ regardless of practicality or cost? Do you faithfully attend the various furniture fairs around the world from Milan to Shanghai? Do you have a favourite designer? Do words like Icon, Blueprint and Wallpaper mean more to you than a random string of nouns? If so, then welcome to The Cult of Design.

Limited Edition Designer Dolls pokes fun at the Design cognescenti. By carefully studying the visual languages and distinct personalities of some of the Design world’s most formidable designers, this project is an observation of how designer personalities are literally becoming synonymous with the objects they design.

Not sure about you ~ but “pokes fun”? I think it’s more like it embraces the obsession, and creates even MORE for design lovers to buy. See more pics of them in the making, packaging, sketches, etc on the next page!

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*notcot - 06.23.08 , 22:05 -

Team Fortress 2: The Sniper

sniper.jpg“In his former life as a tracker of dangerous game in the unforgiving Australian outback, the Sniper would spend months by himself. Prolonged isolation taught him a valuable lesson: You don’t have to rely on other people if you never miss.”

On gorgeous video games, and teaser vids ~ loving this one of The Sniper for Valve’s Team Fortress 2! Nothing like this rational animated aussie sniper… Watch it on the next page…

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*notcot - , 12:58 -

Moonwalker: the Levi’s Virals Continue

moonwalk1.jpgWoohoo! Viral videos finally have better quality, are more thought out, and have great music. Ok, so i’ve been waiting for this day for a while, and i’m glad we’ve entered into that era lately… Moving along… Let’s kick off this monday with the viral set of Levi’s genius… First - they gave us “Guys backflipping into jeans” (SO good). Second - came “Super chill monkey does Hollywood” (I can see how it works for some people…)…

And today i’m excited to show you the third - “Guys fill their jeans with helium”! Yes, jeans, duct tape, and helium… add a dash of some awesome music (the song “YADNUS” by Chk Chk Chk)… some playful guys… toss them in downtown LA… finish off with the creatives at UnbuttonedFilms… and *poof* the perfect viral for Monday, which i suppose is in a way a backwards sunday! SO, without further ado, click to the next page to see all three vids!

p.s.
well produced ridiculousness is far too fun to get me going this morning!

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*Sub-Studio - 06.18.08 , 11:03 -

Mystake

0618dima1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s a fun find from Anna over at Sub-Studio ~ and a HUGE congrats to her, on taking the plunge to give up the day job, and take Sub-Studio full time! We’re so excited for her!

Mystake is a new brand by Dima Komissarov of Plus Minus (#061). The presentation of the brand reminds me of Atypyk - cheeky one-liners that are polished and pretty.

The Candle Bulb Candle, as Dima writes on his website, “looks like a candle bulb, but it’s not a bulb, it’s a candle, which looks like…you know”. Modeled after the old chandelier candle bulbs - I would love to have a chandelier over my dining table that could take one of these. Mostly, I’m just really into the idea of a candle modeled after a bulb. I’d love to see this series expanded into a bunch of different bulb types (compact fluorescents, anyone?).

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*notcot - 06.16.08 , 19:25 -

Israel Environment Stamps

isstamps.jpgSpotted over at The Ministry of Type ~ gorgeous 1975 Israeli Stamps depicting three major environmental concerns - Air, Water, and Noise pollution. Design by Eliezer Weishoff. See larger images on the next page.

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*notcot - , 18:49 -

World’s First Internet Balloon Race

balloonrace.jpgFirstly ~ look down to the left corner! How cute is that little orange bouncy raccoon balloon? Secondly, this is not a paying advertiser of NOTCOT, yet i put it on all my sites for free… because i’m in love with the genius of this campaign.

Orange (the mobile phone guys in the UK) are launching the “World’s First Internet Balloon Race” in 6 days - and essentially it is kind of like their own stumble upon race… users register their “balloon” and they can race from site to site trying to get as “far” as possible to win a trip to Ibiza… as for where they go? Sites like this one, can register on their page and put up little balloons, so when people are racing, they go through your sites! (and who knows, some might come back later!)… SO, free advertising for the sites, which give free advertising for Orange, and fun exploring the internet for the users… AND super cute raccoon balloon flash 9 animation for me to have bouncing on my screen. On the next page, i’ve compiled all the info on what happens and how things work ~ and FYI my balloon is named NOTCOT, feel free to give it a boost and i’ll boost you back when the race starts.

So, take note advertisers, if you make it cool enough, you’ll definitely get around… and future advertisers, lets break out of the IAB ad boxes, i’d love to work with someone who wanted to sponsor the next little balloon or critter to hang out somewhere non intrusive and unexpected on our sites!

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*Sub-Studio - 06.14.08 , 18:10 -

Keeseh Studio

0612keeseh1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s another post from our friends at Sub-Studio!

Keeseh Studio is a design studio run by two talented RISD grads, Asher Dunn and Shane Richards. Both graduated this year - I was impressed by the quality of their student work and am looking forward to see what comes out of their studio this coming year.

Above is Asher’s Upholstered Chair - I love the bent laminate chair shell - how the back curves to form the rear legs and how it sandwiches the cushions together. Also shown is his Serving Utensil, a nice translation of a common household object.

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*notcot - , 00:04 -

Carlos Ramos’ Natural History Museum

naturalhistory.jpgOooooh on things to look forward to, the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City will be showing Carlos Ramos’ “Natural History Museum Part I” with the opening on June 28th! It’s his first solo show! I’ve been looking forward to this show for a while, and Boing Boing posted a link to the preview ~ so i had to share after gushing over them for a bit…

For those who don’t know - he’s a Burbank native with a character animation degree from California Institute of the Arts, and has worked with Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Walt Disney Studios… he was even an art director for one of my favorite cartoons EVER - Dexter’s Laboratory! Also worked on Chalkzone, Time Squad, and more… for the ultimate inspiration - check out his sketchbook on his site… on the next page are some of my favorites i’m looking forward to seeing at the show!

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*notcot - 06.09.08 , 12:52 -

“Do Not Eat” by Andrew Bell

creaturesinmyhead.jpgOn fun ways to kick off your Monday, i’m sure most of you are familiar with Andrew Bell’s Creatures In My Head. For those who are not, he has the most incredible doodles of critters he dreams up, and they amuse me daily! Well, on great uses for $18, i’m in love with his adorable new book! DO NOT EAT: a collection of creatures by Andrew Bell… a glossy magenta softcover filled with glossy pages of his daily creatures, sculptures, paintings, illustrations… and an awesome set of pull out postcards! My favorite postcard is definitely the “Hey Everyone, it’s TAC O’clock!” one… which i’ll give you a sneak peek at on the next page!

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*Sub-Studio - 06.04.08 , 12:00 -

Gregory Buntain

0604buntain1.jpgNOTCOT Note: Here’s another lovely post from Anna of Sub-Studio ~ and i totally had this on my list of things to post when i got back! I guess that’s why she’s a perfect fit for NOTCOT =)

Gregory Buntain is an Industrial Design major at Pratt Institute. Currently working for Brave Space Design and developing his own projects at Pratt, he exhibits a great design eye and really great carpentry skills.

My favorite project is Carbon, a set of diamond-shaped salt and pepper shakers. My only gripe with the project is that they are made of injection molded plastic (I would love to see them in wood). Gregory’s website showcases a bunch of different projects, many of which begin flat-packed and are assembled by the user. He includes lots of great photo-diagrams on how to assemble or use each piece.

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