The Espace Louis Vuitton in Paris extended invitations to a wide range of talented individuals across a variety of artistic disciplines to interpret the Louis Vuitton Icons. From architects to writers, sculptors and scenographers– the collection turned out (no surprise) to be gorgeous. Nine designers like Zaha Hadid, interpreting the Bucket (top right) and Sylvie Fleury, interpreting the keepall (top middle) reinterpreted these classic iconic bags. Check out the fun flash site and if you’re in Paris, stop by the Espace Louis Vuitton gallery.

PingPongPixel is an amazing art experiment. It’s an output device for a computer consisting of 8100 ping pong balls in 6 different grey tones. The machine interprets images, building them out of shaded ping pong balls at a larger than life, 2 by 3 meters size– taking up to 3 hours for each picture build. Rather then try to explain the whole process–I suggest you go watch the (amazing) video after the jump.

ShuffleArt, originally the makers of the cute vinyl stickers used to decorate your iPod collection, recently released what they’re calling Koobniks: Soft vinyl film to protect against scratches on the wrist area of the Macbook, Macbook Pro, Powerbook G4 and ibook G4. There are currently 6 designs to choose from, each going for $20. Also, be sure to check out the creators Flickr gallery, some of the work (not for sale) is really quite awesome.

INTERspectacular seem to have two goals in life; bring irreverent humor to the world of broadcast design and experiment with all styles of character design. Both quests are evident in these two IDs, part of a series the NY studio just completed for Discovery Science.
Watch Moon
Watch Dolly
More about INTERspectacular in this recent Adobe CS2 profile.

Bring a bit of country living into your home. Wellington is a light shade conceived from the conventional wellington boot. The flexible rubber shade can be manipulated and folded back allowing the user to alter the amount of light emitted.

Available in Green, Black and Navy blue.

Designer: Nick Jordan Designs
Made in: UK

Website

The lampshade is laser cut from sheet material. By joining two edges shaped like a meandering path of interlocking “fingers” the lampshade gets its conic shape. The resulting decorative connection is non permanent and can easily be undone.

Computer controlled laser cutting and engraving is ideally suited for the complex pattern and engraving of the UNUE. High quality materials and parts give the light its sophisticated appearance. The light is fitted with a woven white wire and a porcelain socket with a smooth shaped solid nylon connecting part. An oversized decorative coal-wire light bulb (diameter 80 mm / 3,1 inch) gives the whole its lush looks and golden glow when switched on.

* has a diameter of 22 cm (approx. 8,7 inches)
* is made of a semi transparent silicone sheet
* comes in 3 versions: NE (no engraving), OE (outline engraving) and FE (full engraving)

Website

This redefines my view of a starving artist... his work is all made of TOAST. It was mind-blowingly beautiful, yet you know that at any moment, pigeons that sneak in could destroy days/weeks of work when they invite their friends over for a feast. Came across the work of Rodrigo Bruna at the 10th Annual Dumbo Art Under The Bridge Festival yesterday over in Brooklyn. Lots of fun toasty pics below.

When we talk about Salt dispenser, it gives feeling of incomplete statement, because it's relation with pepper dispenser is complementary and we perceive both of them together and we design them in harmony. Thus Magnetic is a Salt and Pepper dispenser based on the concept of Relational harmony…. The link between two elements provides playfulness and freedom of expression with different forms.

Designer: Anuj K Dixit
Made in: India

Website

Hot new reel from my good friend and Devoid of Yesterday partner Chris James Hewitt. DSTRUKT.

After several years of traditional drawing and painting, artist Danny Murphy decided to parlay his way into 3D artwork as an alternative way of expression. His sculptures are made from Strathmore Bristol papers– cutting, bending and gluing the three-dimensional forms together until the desired shape, often a butterfly, is formed. He uses acrylic washed to stain and varnish each piece, forcing light, shadow, and a bit of realism to each piece. His portfolio, for whatever reason is full of butterflies in funny places: Inside tins, atop Starbucks cups and in cages. Very nice work!

Have you ever beheld such a beautiful sight as this? Sure, it’s not Uranus, but it is every bit as remarkable. This is a real photo that was taken by the Cassini Probe which is currently ‘chilling’ in orbit around Saturn. It is part of a mosaic of 165 shots taken from within the shadow cast by the planet itself (I’m guessing it is analogous to an eclipse, and that the sun is directly behind lady Saturn in this shot). The probe swooped further-in for a little look-see and took some shots of the lakes of liquid methane on Titan–which is Saturn’s moon. Sexy stuff. It is stuff like this that hammers home the fact that we are but a blip on the radar. Finally, I know this post is about Saturn, but how about a little Uranus trivia (it is my favorite planet after all): my memory is telling me that Uranus has vertical rings. Is my memory correct? Leave a comment if you know.

Via BoingBoing

Move over Hallmark. These cards are way better. Inspire Company makes Simple Words greeting cards that say everything that needs to be said–without the cheesiness, verbosity, and junior varsity design. I found this get well card, entitled ’soup, naps, pills, better’ — to be especially witty. In the past, I hated shopping for cards. It was always either a half hour endeavor–to find one that was good, or a 12 second endeavor–to grab one that was ‘in the ballpark’ of what I wanted so I could move on with my day. Inspire Co. cards make me feel confident in my card purchase. They don’t leave me with that ‘what the hell are they talking about’ feeling.

Via notcot

While it is not statistically likely that you — a loyal JoshSpear.com reader — live in a trailer, these abodes serve an important role in our society. With ever-increasing wage and wealth disparities in our economy, many American families look to the mass-produced mobile home as an affordable and convenient place to live. Unfortunately, a trailer park stigma exists due to the consensus that these things are horrendous looking and could be blown over in a second by the ‘big bad wolf.’ Thanks to Trailer Wrap — a project initiated by the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Architecture and Planning — the trailer park stigma may begin to subside. The idea behind Trailer Wrap is to provide simple and affordable solutions to improve the condition of mobile home–addressing lack of comfort, inefficiency, and poor aesthetics. Trailer Wrap comes in the form of a simple, affordable kit that can be assembled easily by just a few people. Thanks to hard work by students, dedicated faculty, and help from a wealth of sponsors, Trailer Wrap continues to build steam to become a widely implemented concept. Thanks to Boulder-based architect and buddy Brian Nelson for a heads up on this one.

Tronic continues their fertile relationship with GE and put their architectural roots to spectacular use in these two ambitious CG spots. Both pieces are part of GE's new Go Big campaign and premiered earlier this month at Wired's Nextfest event in NY on an arresting 30 foot long media wall.
Watch GE: Go Big
Watch GE: World Issues