Charneira

The baloon powered boat falls under the "traditional toys" category. I tried to find out who invented it but couldn't. A lot of makers do a version of it but this ones uses premium noble wood species and is finely finished. It is also sustainable as it used scrap wood from other projects that would otherwise go to waste or used as fuel, releasing carbon.

This special edition is inspired by the Queen Elizabeth 2 transatlantic liner/cruise ship colourway, by way of Mike Oldfield's QE2 album, whose design art appears to be a representation of the side of the ship, complete with Plimsoll Line in the lower left corner.

I grew up listening to Mike Oldfield in my father's stereo and this image is burnt in my memories.

It can be found in my new online shop which bears the same name as this blog. The name came up in a conversation with a friend and I owe him for it. It seemed appropriate to use it in this new endeavor.

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Back in late 2014, Datarock (a norwegian electro rock band) were invited by their friends at Bergen based computer game company Turbo Tape Games to write the soundtrack to their upcoming game Full Cycle. Realizing you could complete the game in 30 minutes they decided to make a 30 minutes song which would come to be called In E (you can get in in amazon or iTunes or your streaming app of choice). They had contributions to the song by other norwegian bands like The Megaphonic Thrift, Barter & Ungdomskulen. Then, in 2015, they reached out to broadcast design company MYRESE, to make a 30 minutes video for the song. Aiming at creating a psychedelic ever evolving chaos they started from nothing but the game itself and incorporating glitches and layers into it until all you have is epilepsy inducing video.

The video premiered as part of a sort of video advent calendar Datarock made in 2016.

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So, which one is it, youtube?!

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Federico Sabina's latest escapade into architectonic illustration depicts mental disorders as a house.

He has already delved into other themes such as cinema, animals, plans, etc.

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Armchair Merano by Alexander Gufler (2011)

Cadeira SLIM by Christophe de Sousa (2012)

Merano Armchair to the left and SLIM chair to the right

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I had a penpal in school. She was from Australia and it was fun connecting with someone on the other side of the world. I remember getting some drawings even. There was no internet back then. Not as we know it. Thing is, it got kind of boring after a while. Letters were sparse and frankly the australian girl wasn't that interesting. Still, getting mail in the letterbox remained exciting. It come packaged in an envelope but even if it doesn't, you still have to open this box to get it and sometimes there's a postcard just laying thee waiting. Maybe it's just nostalgia. I still write tons of postcards to people I know but I send a lot more than I receive.

So, what if you could receive a postcard for each that you send? That's exactly what Portuguese computer science engineer / nomad Paulo Magalhães set out to provide back in 2005. He created a platform where a community of postcard lovers could unite and called it Postcrossing. It has since been growing steadily and now counts more than 600.000 users having facilitated the exchange of more than 37 million postcards!

Members now organize Postcrossing meet ups all over the world and a Postcrossing stamp has been created in 2011 by the Dutch postal services (PostNL). It works in a simple way. After registering with the website you request an address from the website to send a postcard to. In it you will write a code provided by Postcrossing (just like blablacar) and then mail it. The member you sent it to will then register this postcard in the website upon receiving it. You become then eligible to receive a postcard - your address will be shared with another member. And repeat.

What are you waiting for?

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Mariana Rocha is an up and coming photographer. Her work is intimate and raw. She is all over, you can find her in tumblr, flickr, instagram and she's got a new website coming soon apparently at www.marianaprocha.com.

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I'm amazed at the details of Peak Design's Everyday Backpack. It's just so full of them. And the astonishing thing is that nothing stands out - all seems to perfectly fit the overall design. Peak Design wanted a backpack with "full access" from all sides. The frontal side is secured by "mag-latches" - magnetic and mechanical secure mechanisms allowing fast and easy access while deterring theft. There are four anchor bars for expandability.

It has two zipped side hatches which you can open and access the inside of the backpack by rotating it to the front. You can use custom dividers to shelf your belongings. These flex and can be expanded creating sub-compartments. The hatches themselves conceal waterproof pockets.

On the back there are three different compartments - a pocket for essentials, a tablet sleeve and a separated laptop sleeve - all hidden away by a single top zip.

It come in two sizes - 20L or 30L. It also has concealed straps for external carry, sternum and waist straps, etc. There is so much more! Just watch the video. Those macro shots are candy to the eyes!

This backpack is actually part of a Kickstarter campaign containing three different bags: The Everyday Backpack, Everyday Tote and Everyday Sling. The other two also look great but it as the backpack that blew me away.

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Tilo Uischner is a self-taught, Berlin based, artist combining intarsia (marquetry inlaying) and acrylic over wood. He creates portraits of an ambiguous nature, blurring the line between the marquetry and the painting.

The portraits first draw your attention, either by gazing directly at you, almost provoking, or because of the sharp lighting on the masterfully depicted skin. It is after this captivating fist impression that you start paying attention the the wonderful details on all the rest, of the accessories, or even the absence of elements felt in the negative space left behind between that which is depicted and the background.

And this background is alive revealing its warmth and texture.

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The portuguese non-profit Clube dos Tipos, based in Coimbra, has published manual for the typographer to be used in the context of the tradicional typography shops. It consists in a glossary of essencial terms and describes the several phases and materials necessary for the practice.

But the really cool thing about this manual is that in can't buy it! It is part of an exchange plan described by its authors as "anti-capitalist, anarquista, photographic, quite subjective and uncontrolled". The the unwillingness to let go of its edition with the exception of a "conscious adoption", and the willingness to communicate with the ones that really desire it, led the publishers out of the sales circuit. So, the manual is to be exchanged with other typographical manuals, material relating to typography or other you'd like to propose.