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Tagged in: design

• Dieter Rams Weiss Hairdryer Review

  design, review, videos

  It wasn’t until after I filmed this that my boss mentioned to me that this particular hair dryer was designed by Dieter Weiss, not Dieter Rams. So I can’t tell influential designers apart, so what? My boss stays up all night bidding on old womens’ hairdryers and no one has anything to say about that?!

  1 Comment, February 9th, 2010

• Petits Pierres for Wednesday, February 4, 2009

  design, music, petits-pierres, shopping

  

  Today only in UNICORN VISION

  • HELP YOUR FELLOW MAN — Or at least radio station. Come on, it’s tax deductible!
  • GET UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS ON DEMAND — That’s not even my line.
  • SUPERMODEL DE MUSICAL — Exclusively here in Amsterdam on a limited engagement of “mooi” and fabulous. Until April 5, 2009 at the theater in the NH Grand Hotel Kransnapolsky.
  • PEACE THE SPORK OUT! — The Bambu company who make bamboo sporks (and utensils, and plates, and cookware that are available at Whole Foods), get a face lift on one of their products.
  • THE VOODOO THAT YOU DO — Tropenmuseum is still having their voodoo and Haitian art exhibit until May 10th, so everyone can wait until it gets a little warmer.

  No Comments » February 4th, 2009

• Highlights of Dutch Graphic Design (1890-1990) Now in Breda

  art, design, dutch

  

  Until August.

  No Comments » July 2nd, 2008

• Petits-Pierres for Tuesday, May 13

  design, fashion, music, petits-pierres, photos

  

  • NO ONE IS ROCKING THE BOWL CUT HARDER THAN NAZYWAM SIE GRACJAN ROZTOCKI — And they say vacation photography is a lost art.
  • THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN OPTIMUS PRIME MEETS JACOB THE JEWELLER — But you should really check out his rings, his raaaaangs.
  • THAT GUY PLAYS ROMAN IN GTA IV! — Some one make him a chicken-pot pie before he goes into withdrawals!
  • MAKE YOUR OWN FONTS — Fontforge is free, but may not be as eazy and breezy as beautiful CoverGirl.
  • OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO PAY MONEY FOR THIS — From June 16th you can download MP3 audio walking tours of three Chinese cities for $17. What this has to do with Louis Vuitton and the Olympic games, I have no idea.
  • GRAVITY’S A BITCH AND TANJA DEXTER IS HER BEST FRIEND — Alternate Title: “Dirty Tricks”.
  • PRICKLY BITCHES — Lucy and Bart take it to the next level and poke your eyes out. Now that’s fashion!
  • KAH-KAH-KAH KYLIE, RAH-RAH-REMIXED! — She’s ra-ra-rapping. ‘Nuff said.

  No Comments » May 13th, 2008

• Petits-Pierres for April, 9

  design, fashion shopping, petits-pierres, television

  

  • SILKSCREENING GOD GETS A BOOK — Todd Oldham revives Charley Harper’s work in flat form.
  • MY DUTCH TEACHER MAKES BEAUTIFUL MUSIC WITHOUT US — Let’s just say we swapped URLs and we’re both probably in a state of shock right about now.
  • LOINT’S OF HOLLAND MAKES AWESOME SHIT, REFUSES TO SELL IT ANYWHERE — Apparently the Japanese are the only ones to have any of these Dutch shoe-maker’s products — while the rest of try have to hunt down an importer in the form of a back of a truck.
  • TOOK LONG ENOUGH MUCH? — Flickr has opened up video hosting on Flickr. Just go to upload, and you’ll see it. Take that YouTube!

  No Comments » April 9th, 2008

• Petits-Pierres for April 2, 2008

  amsterdam, design, fashion, men, petits-pierres, shopping

  

  • CAMPER RELEASES MAN-TAP SHOES — They’re the less shiny version of the ones from Repetto.
  • ROUND AND AROUND LOVE (OR LOVOLO) IS AVAILABLE TO BUY FOR ONLY €5! — That’s just about as cheap as you can get love that has been going round and around again.
  • INFLATABLE GRAFITTI — Joshua Allen Harris makes dead animals on the streets of New York come to life.
  • 70 YEARS OF AMSTERDAM IS ON DISPLAY FOR FREE — Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Stadsarchief.
  • ORIENTALES BY ALESSI — I don’t know what they do, but I want four of them.
  • JEAN JULIEN LO-FI FLYER — Seriously, SO GOOD.
  • NEW YORK BASED JEWELER DESIGNS FOR TARGET — Dean Harris gets hired by target to accessorize the masses.
  • NICE BECAUSE IT’S “KIND TO ANIMALS” — Aluminum tree branch coat hangers.

  No Comments » April 2nd, 2008

• Petits-Pierres for March 31, 2008

  design, fashion, music, petits-pierres, shopping

  

  • BALLERINA SHOES FOR BOYS — Next thing you know, they’ll be wearing tights with no pants.
  • STEAL YOUR GRID SYSTEM FROM SOMEONE OTHER THAN PAUL RAND — Try Atari’s. They’re the only kids on the block whose lock up can score points.
  • MAKE YOUR OWN MUX TAPE, SHARE WITH BUDDIES! — Alternate title for this link could be, “Rock out with your cock out”. It’s a 2-fer!
  • RIDE THE WAVE OF CALIENTÉ – LATINO BILLBOARDS — The best of advertising, en espagnol!
  • GONZALES’S NEW ALBUM COMES OUT THIS MONTH — Listen to his isht on his myspace, but dance to it in real space.
  • I JUST FIGURED OUT WHAT I’LL BE WEARING FOR 9 MONTHS IF PIERRE EVER KNOCKS ME UP — Lanvin S/S 08 – Easy, breezey, beautiful, pregnancy girl.
  • IWOOD WOODEN SUNGLASSES — Unlike “Pop-Specs”, these zonnebril aren’t “kind to trees”.
  • FINALLY, SNEAKERS THAT MATCH MY OLD SWATCH WATCH! — Adidas Grun collection are so pastel, the make Miami Vice look like Kentucky.

  No Comments » March 31st, 2008

• The Incredible Dick Bruna

  art, articles, books, design, dutch

  
   
  Let’s continue on the illustration tip and go over one of the pride and joys of the Netherlands, Dick Bruna. Creator of Niintje and all kinds of other fantastic artworks, this little rabbit has been called everything from “Miffy” (in countries outside of the Netherlands) to the inspiration for Hello Kitty.

  Nijntje’s name comes from the word “konijntje”, a Dutch word that means bunny and the name of a popular song here in the Netherlands by the AKA Junkies. Here in Amsterdam, you can get a plethera of her goods, including Dutch-style ceramic versions of her in the main tourist store located in Dam Square directly across from De Bijenkorf.

  THE DICK BRUNA HUIS (HOUSE)

  
  One of the first things my Japanese friend Noelle did with her two year old daughter when they first arrived in the Netherlands was to run up to the Dick Bruna Huis in Utrecht which is a permanent space for all things Nintje at the Centraal Museum. According to her, “There was a giant, golden Miffy that Ima just stood in front of for like ten minutes and just said, ‘Woooooaaahhh…’”. If that doesn’t sell you on a train ticket up there, I don’t what will.

  NIJNTJE GOES ON VACATION – THE LIVE MUSICAL!

  
  Included in the merchandising opportunities of Nijntje/Miffy is a real, live traveling musical show in Dutch. This last run was in Rotterdam. I’m not sure where the next one will be, but you can find tickets and dates here.

  As much as I love Nijntje, I just don’t have the energy to comment positively on this. As a television show it’s adorable, but this display of human error is bordering on the way I felt about clowns as a child.

  DICK BRUNA’S ZWARTE BEERTJES AND OTHER DESIGNS

  
  Miffy might be Bruna’s most famous creation, but it’s definitely not the only one. In fact, as a graphic designer for his father’s publishing house, Bruna has put together a mighty collection of book covers which can be found at this site, which sells hard-to-find and highly sought after Bruna books.

  Most of the covers designed by Bruna were for the “Zwarte Beetjes” (or Black Bears) book series in which titles like The Saint, James Bond, Maigret, Simeon, and Shakespeare were published in Dutch by Bruna & Zoon.

  
  

  No Comments » March 20th, 2008

• Post Nachtsalon Wrap-up!

  amsterdam, animation, design, events, music, videos

  
  

  

  

  

  
  

  You want that Partis hat so bad that you’re shaking.

  Artis the Partis and Alien the Palien were in full impulsive-buying force during Friday’s Nachtsalon at the Artis Planetarium. Most of the event took place in the dome theater itself, starting with a fascinating look at the solar system (or at least I think was, it was in Dutch). The new(-ish) planetarium has some of the best audio and visual equipment I have seen in any educational building, using the dome structure to create three dimensional images and animating them in such a way that it actually feels like stars are falling all over you.

• YURO & TRAGO

Dutch DJ’s Yuro and Trago did a live set (see comment below) that included an animated remix of the images we had viewed in the previous presentation. The set musically was inspired and thumpy (in a good way), but after the second trippy animation, we started to wonder if we were the only people in the room who weren’t magic mushing their brains out. Then of course they brought out this guy…

• J. WALT LIVE DRAWING

Out the two videos, this is the one to watch. It’s a bit on the big side, but if you have the patience to wait for it to download, you will be happily rewarded. Coming all the way from Los Angeles, J. Walt is an artist and programmer who performed five different pieces of his work (three shown in the video) with software he created himself. Each performance consisted of him live drawing on a wacom tablet while using a slider to manipulate the camera angles and movement. If you look closely, you can see the cursor moving in the video.