A little botanical inspiration from our London-based editor Justine Aw, who visited this year’s RHS Hampton Court, which is open to the public from July 3rd to 8th.

Butterflies featured prominently at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Two very different show gardens included butterflies in their displays, combining lepidoptera with the plants to communicate rather different messages!

Butterfly Jungles Transitions designed by Paul Allen, Lucy Hughesdon & Lydia Harvey and built by Shoots & Leaves. The beautiful garden works both as a garden and a habitat to support pollinators and which benefit both adult butterflies and their caterpillar. The garden features butterfly friendly planting such as wildflowers to prairie-style and exotic planting as well as a beautiful tropical glasshouse filled with exotic butterflies in a jungle-style habitat that is filled of nectar rich species as well as food plants.

Las Mariposas (Hopes of a Nicaraguan girl), an unusual garden designed by Robert Kennett and built by Greenhaven Landscapes focuses less on the entomology and more on the symbolism of butterflies, representing Amnesty International’s Butterflies of Hope campaign for women in Nicaragua, contrasting between the muted colors of the grasses surrounding the bright pink cube and the vibrant colors of the plants and butterflies within.

More photos of both of this year’s butterfly-featuring show gardens on the next page!

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Cherry-Berry Sangria, Beer & Pretzel Cupcakes, and s’more d’oeurves are all part of this week’s roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious. To find out more about each delectable post, click on its individual image.

The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw as she checks out the press preview of New Designers 2012, which is open to the public from June 27th-30th.

Another highlight from New Designers this year was the Wire Wonderland series from Hayley Dix. The beautiful wireframe birds look like charming, whimsical drawings perched on real branches! They are both abstracted and natural at the same time. More photos of the adorable woodland creatures on the next page!

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A phone made of jello, double-decker cable cars and plethora of axes are all part of this week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

It has been quite the (educational) adventure joining our NOTlabs director, Shawn Sims, and Golan Levin as they launched their Free Universal Construction Kit project… from learning about toys and 3d modeling, to the different 3D printing techniques and materials, to Intellectual Property and Patent law! One of the most exciting and interesting aspect of the project to me personally has been what the average person without access to top of the line manufacturing machines can really 3D print at home, and how does it work? Thanks to the amazing folks at MakerBot, today we got to find out through their Replicator (with dual extruders)!

Anyone can download the variety of Free Universal Construction Kit pieces on Thingiverse, send them to their 3D printer, and shortly after have toy adapters to play with! Of course depending on the resolution of the printer and the printing technique, some pieces will work better than others, so it was thrilling tonight to get to try them out on the MakerBot (the originals were made on an Objet) ~ on the next page you can see a full unboxing and the preparation of the MakerBot Replicator as well as our first “home” printing of some Free Universal Construction Kit toys! (And yes, this is the kind of project that has kept us busy in the NOTlabs till 4:30am!)

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The latest dose of natural inspiration from our resident zoologist and London-based editor, Justine Aw as she shares some of her work with London’s largest city farm, Mudchute Park & Farm.

We’ve had Wyandotte chicks and little mandarin ducklings, but the latest brood are the tiniest little precocious chicks yet. Fitting comfortably in an espresso cup, the latest arrivals are golden pheasants (Chrysolophus pictus), an ornamental breed native to the forests in mountainous areas of western China.

You can also see the little chicks on the Mudchute Farm blog and be sure to visit the them at the farm, where they are currently living in a brooder near Pets Corner. Lots of hatching pics and video on the next page!

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This week’s roundup from NotVentures features skiing in South Korea, Brazilian hot spots and amazing underwater attractions. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw as she checks out the press preview of New Designers 2012, which is open to the public from June 27th-30th.

One of my highlights from Part 1 of New Designers this year was the beautiful jewelry of Kate Gilliland. Her Weird and Wonderful series plays with ideas of death and beauty, turning tragedies into beautiful, wearable works of art. Celebrating the beauty of natural history, Gilliland turns everything from tiny toads to mouse vertebrae into lovely cufflinks, necklaces and other jewelry. Her bird’s feet necklaces are hauntingly beautiful! More photos of Gilliland’s work on the next page.

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This week’s roundup from Tasteologie and Liqurious includes strawberry shots, edible glass potato chips and s’mores pudding pie. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

There’s a new way to experience Sonos! Previously, it was difficult to get the full experience of a synced Sonos system without installing it at your home/work, or trying it at a friends. Now, they have launched the Sonos Studio an “acoustically-designed gallery that celebrates music listening. The space serves as the best place in Los Angeles to experience Sonos, with events designed to explore the intersection of music, art and technology through creative collaborations.” When Sonos shopping, it’s great to get a chance to play YOUR music and test out the various systems and combinations in their acoustically optimized space (you’ll notice the installation of foam pyramids lining some walls and the ceiling as well as various slanting walls!) I popped in the other day to check out the new SUB in action (you have to go see the nickel they balance on top not move as the sound blows your mind!)… it’s a fun setup, and there seem to be events, musical performances, and art exhibitions filling the space regularly! Definitely pop into the bathroom to check out the skateboard lined walls too! Take a peek at all the fun on the next page!

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Felt volcanoes, sushi rollers and ferrofluid skulls are all part of this week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.

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Perhaps one of the fun parts about plants is you can grow them just about anywhere (given a reasonable amount of space/etc) ~ whether you toss seeds into the ground (or seed bomb!) or your growing things on your balcony, in your apartment, or landscaping your estate… just about anything is possible if you get creative! Lately i’ve been debating doing a larger container garden, perhaps a raised bed even… thinking vegetables and berries might be fun. There are tons of options, and i just got lost wandering the images Bing found me - how awesome are these strawberries in the half wine barrel?!?! Well from various raised beds, wooden structures, huge sacks and felt bags, wooden wine boxes, balcony options, upside down planters and more… see some of our favorites on the next page!

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It seemed like a good Sunday afternoon, home alone activity… i’ll install/upgrade a few outlets i impulse bought at Dwell On Design! Moans and groans and installing in spots other than i had planned… i’m wondering if these were just a novelty or truly adding a much needed convenience. So in theory, with SO many things charging via USB (and i love the USB charging ports in cars!) ~ having some added to outlets is a wonderful idea! And theoretically easy enough to switch! Right… and wrong. How old your home/wiring is will make a difference… i just learned which parts of my house have older outlets from probably 50+ years ago, and which parts have brand new ones… the electrical boxes are different sizes, and these new USB ones nearly fill newer ones… and don’t fit the older ones. Also, when they cut your countertops/backsplashes, if it doesn’t line up EXACTLY, these may not fit. (argh!)

On the upside ~ these U-Socket USB Power Outlets are supposed to reduce energy costs and minimize that vampire power issue when you leave things plugged in that don’t need to be sucking power. And it is like turning your 2 outlet into a 4… (or a 4 into a 6, but those don’t seem to be available yet!) So i’m still debating whether i need more… or whether a power strip does the trick in most spots… but i am totally charging my phone via USB outlet next to me as i type this! See more pics on the next page!

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The latest from our friend, Joey Roth, is the Self-Watering Planter he just debuted at Dwell On Design! Naturally, as yard space increased, and gardening began and quickly turned into an obsession, leave it to designers to start problem solving with new products! In this case, this is a self-watering planter for use indoors or out which is made from naturally porous unglazed earthenware ~ much like those tea pots i’m sure you’re picturing right about now! Like many other reservoir/clay based planters ~ you simply fill the reserve, and the plant/soil will naturally pull the water out as needed, so you simply have to check and refill the center! See more pictures on the next page!

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So much randomness and amusement on my camera from dwell that didn’t seem quite right for posts of their own… from robots following you around to oxen head wireframes… stargate like trellises to walk through to subtle cricket cut outs… piles of squish able big ass fan donkeys to huge bubble buildings… shot glasses made from cut mini grey goose bottles to awesome helmet designs… and so much more! See the Dwell On Design randomness on the next page!

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