Every now and then an example comes through that’s a bit heartbreaking, and then you wish that someone would teach a mandatory legal course in design school. Yesterday, Fab.com led me to their sale of Torr Pens, which initially simply looked like a strange rip off of the insanely successful Pen Type-A Kickstarter project. Simple enough, things get ripped off - but usually the design rip offs don’t end up circulating in areas that claim to focus on authenticity and great design.

But where this got even crazier is that Torr Pens’ website and the fab page had pictures and a James Bond parody video of the same guy who organized the manufacturing of and spent late nights washing, smelling, drying, and reassembling the Pen Type-A’s with the kickstarter designers CW&T. They even say in their update that he hugged them when he saw them last. It’s a painful story, but we can only hope hearing all that CW&T has gone through from the manufacturing issues to this new level of complication they’ve run into while still trying to fulfill their immense pen orders a year later can help educate other designers going into similar processes! Take a peek on the next page about how things unfolded yesterday…

p.s. UPDATES added here.

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This week’s delectable roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious includes Bacon & Eggs Chocolate Candy, a Slow-Motion, Gravity-Defying Dessert and The Summer Hoedown. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

Realitat’s Microsonic Landscapes are “an algorithmic exploration of the music we love. Each album’s soundwave proposes a new spatial and unique journey by transforming sound into matter/space: the hidden into something visible.” According to Creative Applications it is created with Processing and printed with Makerbot. Each object represents an album, but it’s unclear to me how tracks are represented… perhaps each ring? or does it all just spiral flow together to the center? or outwards? Also curious, what are the axes representing? Anyhow, it’s a pretty visualization of the albums, somehow… take a peek at more details on the next page.

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This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org features the world’s deepest swimming pool, an animated history of LEGO, and a camera it can capture light travel. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

It’s amazing what you can do with scaffolding! Ben Long creates amazing animal inspired Scaffolding Sculptures! They are “Inspired by his experiences working on building sites as a teenager, the project asserts the value of a disciplined working practice, the hard graft of manual employment and celebrates the role the construction industry plays in the advancement of urban development.” Take a peek at some of our favorites, including pieces from his Great Travelling Art Exhibition on the next page!

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As you know, we have a thing for Geometric Lighting… so naturally, i was intrigued when Artecnica’s 2012-2013 releases landed in my inbox and i spotted this new Shayk Light by Amanda Betz! This pendant light is made of a high tech synthetic paper shade… take a peek at more info and the interview with her on the next page!

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While back in San Diego this weekend, we couldn’t help but wander around my alma mater, UCSD… and of course, we had go down the snake path and see the new house perched upon the top corner of the engineering school! Fallen Star by Do Ho Suh is the latest addition to the Stuart Collection of pieces around campus, and it is an amazing one! With this fully built and furnished little house lifted up to the rooftop by a crane, it even has a flower and vegetable garden with a little path leading up to it next to the dean’s office. While it wasn’t open for visiting when we went by, it was amazing to watch the making of construction time lapses and videos in the lobby, and faces pressed against the window to see the garden and house. Even more amazing, we watched this hummingbird just sitting so close to us, perfectly still on the cable of the garden for some time as the sprinklers went off on the roof… take a peek at the pics on the next page!

p.s. We were just running around, so the pics are all from the HTC One S i’m just starting to try out!

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This post is sponsored by Ted Baker London, which just opened their new NYC ‘Grand House’ Fifth Avenue store! Thank you for supporting NOTCOT, Ted Baker!

To celebrate and announce the opening of Ted Baker London’s ‘Grand House’ store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, we’ve already shown you their Maids & Butlers that were let loose on the city! Well, now, here’s a peek inside the actual STORE! Equally playful and funky, it has everything from a dining table setting along the register, tea sets on the ceiling, jello lighting hanging down… gears in motion in the windows… and of course their maids and butlers were there for the opening as well as playful scavenger hunts, instaprint photobooth, and more! See the fun (in pics and video!) on the next page!

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This week’s roundup from NotVentures features escapes to Angkor Thom, Corfu, Barbados and more. To find out more about each destination, click on its individual image.

This post is part of a content series presented by smartwater… smartwater, good taste travels well. Click here to learn more. The opinions and content in this post are 100% NOTCOT, smartwater is supporting us to share what we love with you!

Often, the best types of travel takes you unexpected places to experience things you couldn’t even imagine! Next up for NOTCOT is Linz, Austria! We’re thrilled to head to the annual Ars Electronica Festival for Art, Technology, and Society August 30 to September 3rd… where the some of the world’s most incredible cutting edge artists, technologists, designers, scientists, thinkers, and more will come together. From exhibitions, to talks, to getting to see incredible interactive projects we’ve only seen online in person… and a chance to meet the people behind them!

As they explain it, “The 2012 Ars Electronica Festival, the Linz, Austria-based, world- renowned celebration of excellence in media art, opens on August 30. The theme: “The Big Picture - New Concepts for a New World.” This year’s conclave will showcase inspiring best- practice examples from art and science in calling for a new, open perspective conducive to the development of a viable vision for our future. The Festival is an inquiry into what it takes to compose such a Big Picture and just how it can be implemented. Dozens of scientists, scholars and artists from all over the world will convene in Linz from August 30 to September 3. They include: artist/scientist Joe Davis (US); George Church (US), genetics professor at Harvard Medical School; robotics engineer Hiroshi Ishiguro (JP); Adam Bly (CA), founder of the online science magazine Seed; curator, author, video filmmaker and cultural journalist Jens Hauser (DE/FR); and Julius von Bismarck (DE), the hot young star of the European media art scene.”

While an award for the Free Universal Construction Kit is what is bringing Shawn and I to the festival, between preparing for his talk and designing the display for the toys, we’re starting to get giddy about projects we’ll get to see at the Ars Electronica Festival… take a peek at some of the incredible projects on the next page!

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Frito Pie Burger, Coconut quinoa and a Bourbon Cream Float are all featured this week at Tasteologie and Liqurious. To find out more about each delectable post, click on its individual image.

On fun NOTlabs projects - when Sub-Studio needed her dream wood frames laser cut for the Brevity Jewelry New York Gift Fair booth, and we were exploring settings on our laser cutter, it was the perfect combination! Take a peek on the next page of all the frames we cut over a few days and the NYGF booth!

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Mulberry - wha??? I just flipped through all 900+ pages of adverts in the latest (largest EVER) issue of Vogue… (hard to believe its sept issue time already!) and the one thing i could not forget after closing it… the YETI/WILD THINGS of Mulberry. WHAT is going on in these ads? How creepy is the giant eye peeking at her? And what is that green thing behind them?

Naturally, all of this lead to some quick photos to share with you… and taking my questions to the internet! The Monsters were introduced in February - “Our Autumn Winter 2012 collection was inspired by Maurice Sendak’s book Where The Wild Things Are, as well as textural furry fabrics and mysterious prints. Our own monster was created exclusively for us, based on a commissioned illustration by Emma Houlston and was made into giant set pieces for our catwalk. He also popped up on drinks, cushions and the London Fashion Week tote.” Mulberry shares more about Emma’s inspiration on their blog… she even sent them amazing monster cupcakes! See it all on the next page, including the coachella poolside party monsters, catwalk monsters, and more!

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This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org includes underwater aircrafts, water light graffiti and robotic Olympic cameras. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

It’s no secret that Justine and I both grew up Montessori kids and it’s stuck with us. In fact, i’m sure the design aesthetic apparent in so many of the gorgeous, glossy woody learning tools was an early influence on us. I’ll never forget learning my letters and numbers on the sand paper tiles where you run your finger along the sand paper to learn the shapes and how to write them…

Well, Bobby and June George, founders of the Baan Dek Montessori School in Sioux Falls, SD have been actively taking Maria Montessori’s philosophies and principles into the next generation with their beautiful, intuitive Montessorium iPad apps! With Intro to Math, Intro to Letters, Intro to Geography, and Alpha Writer they have been off to an amazing start… and have just released two board books: Letter Work and Number Work. While mainstream tablets haven’t evolved to let you feel textures quite yet… these board books bring back the sand paper letters of my childhood into a new format. On the cover as well as inside the books you can trace the sand paper textured letters and numbers! You learn the sounds and shapes before learning what they are called… and beautiful illustrations by Alyssa Nassner accompany them. Beyond the nostalgia ~ these are definitely going on my go to list of presents for little ones! Take a peek inside the books on the next page!

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