domestic bliss

these elaborate wall stickers designed by graphic artists, designers and artists such as finnish-born klaus haapaniemi and london-based hanna werning, take the realm of the tired wall sticker to another level. sold through the french site domestic, you can find tons of interesting decals and stickers for any place that needs a little special spice. i fell for about 20 of them.

{yes, this last one is laser cut mirror ~ swoon!}

bask in the wallpaper glow

dutch designer jonas samson uses a new technology to create light emitting wallpaper ~ it's now possible to use a two-dimentional flat surface as light source instead of just a 3d object. brilliant!
the wallpaper's patterns consist of embedded led's..... one can turn off the lighting, making the wallpaper a standard wall ornament, or have it turned on and enjoy the transition of multiple patterns. when the lights within the wallpaper are in the 'off' position, the wallpaper is indistinguishable from any other wall covering surface, and when they are in the 'on' position the wall emits a nice glow that can illuminate a small room.
in his designs, samson explores the utility, art and craft of turning conventional items into works of high tech design. the light-emitting wallpaper demonstrates his skills, which are quite unique ~ integrating highly advanced technologies with creative design.

heat sensitive

taking a clue from mother nature, there's something intriguing about design technology that allows a shift in the look and feel of a product depending on temperature changes.

{radiator turned off}

{radiator turned on}

heat sensitive wallpaper designed by shi yuan, a chinese designer who graduated from the university of portsmouth in england ~ this was called her "design with life project".

{watercolor tiles when cold}

{water color tiles when hot}

one of many designs of heat sensitive tiles made by moving color, where they enable temperature to change your visual experience of an interior environment.

dominic crinson

balance the hi-tech with the spiritual, the natural with the ornate, the playful with the stylish.

this has got to be one of my favorite descriptions ever.
it comes from the philosophy of dominic crinson, a london based design house offering wallpaper, wall tiles and floor tiles that burst out of typical interior design convention. with such a philosophy, it should be no surprise that their products fit it to a "t".

get warped

send the warp your room people an exact plan for your walls, showing where your doors, windows, pictures, and electrical outlets are, and they'll generate a custom wallpaper for you that "warps" the pattern around everything that protrudes through the paper.




(found on boing boing)

wallpaper project

these two pictures are my inspiration for what i want to do next in my bedroom. being a perpetual renter in sf, but still loving wall covering, i am adoring this concept. just one roll, in some lush pattern, attached only at the top, left to hang loosely at the floor. it's a great concept, philosophy and look. the wall paper search is officially on! just so ya know: my room is rich colors of purple, teal, red, and bronze.

three options from osborne & little:



two options from flavor paper:
three options from sanderson's:

two options from elitis:

photographer's friday: mel yates

take a load off ~ it's friday!
today's photographer highlight is mel yates. he is a uk-based but world-renowned lens master. he specializes in portraits and interiors. he has captured celebrities such as tom hanks, kiera knightley and jude law magnificently; but you'll have to check out his website to see those, because this is a design blog. ;o)
his work is crisp, clean & clear. it feels very real and very now. i like that it doesn't seem to play any tricks on you ~ it just gives you the real deal, but in a gorgeous way.

a neat book he did the photography for is available at amazon.

he's represented by sarah kaye and has a nice website of his own too.and i'll leave you with this lovely image.....since i've been spending way too little time in the dance studio, this one pulled at my heart strings with a little extra resonance.

bow down to cowtan

cowtan and tout is a fabric and paper powerhouse for furnishings textiles and wall adornment. they represent 5 brands: colefax & fowler, jane churchill, larsen, and manuel canovas. some of their latest designs that caught my eye are here for your viewing pleasure.

perfectly puzzled

(puzzle-shaped wall tiles were presented at the design academy eindhoven masters graduation show last year at the droog gallery)

(like many of pollack's designs, "puzzle box" is all about precision execution. single- and double-cloth poly-silk stripes create patterns of overlapping rectangles beneath a cotton-woven design of undulating stripes. the puckered texture of the background adds dimension and sophistication)

(brigg's engineered wood products has created the puzzle floor - with tons of species and finishes to choose from. they show it in many "serious settings" but i think it would look best in a child's room, a daycare center or an ecclectic loft apartment)




(daddy types introduced me to this tetris-for-kids modular block concept. the blocks are soft, vibrant, versatile, and i'm sure any kid (or group of kids) would love playing with them. heck ~ i would love playing with them! developed by maurizio fontanilli in collaboration with reggio children)

(the dutch design partnership of bert&dennis has brought many fantastic results. puzzled (above) is a modular seating system, simply add pieces to grow your sofa)