An excellent look at small, modernist component built houses by the architect Norman Cherner. Divided into chapters as follows: Plans and intro, Panel Construction, Bent Construction, Girder Construction, Masonary and Foundation Construction, Quonset Construction, Materials and Methods. Excellent isometric drawings and details by the architect. Also sections, elevations, and floor plans. Black and white photos of homes under construction and finished.

Research showed that literally billions of single-use chopsticks were consumed annually. The more shocking revelation was that it took, by some estimates, 25 million trees and bamboo plants to support that resource waste. Was there an opportunity to use the chopsticks for other applications that would provide a consumer benefit while bringing awareness to the negative environmental impact of single-use chopsticks?

Link: Kwytza Kraft

The clock dial is white lacquered with quartz movement.

Designers: Shin and Tomoko Azumi
Link: Lapalma

It started as a rumor, hardly louder than the rustle of palm fronds from the octet of 90-foot trees that sway above the southern end of one green, quiet block. Frank Gehry, for most people's money the most famous architect in the world, had bought the large vacant lot at the northern end of the block. He was planning to build his dream house there.

Perhaps the very first thought — you could see it in people's dawning reaction, even from those who haven't yet rattled their jewelry at the much-debated Walt Disney Concert Hall downtown — was that the house had every chance of looking as wrong as Shaquille O'Neal in a Miami Heat uniform. But that thought was almost immediately shooed away by a second: They were about to be … Gehry-adjacent.

Link: LA Times

"A personal plate, bowl, cup, and utensils, all snugly wrapped together in a desktop-sized placemat. This set of dishes expands your good-design sense to the office and stands with upright readiness next to a desk or in the communal kitchen cupboard. Made of high-heat malamine, the dishes add a touch of practical elegance to our takeout soup and sandwich."

"Need the bathroom? Gotta check your voicemail? Time for a caffeine fix, pronto? Life's minor emergencies call for signage that speaks loud and clear, in any language. Out of the ordinary yet obvious, our highly visible 3-D signage brings a sense of order to your work environment, all with a creative spin and whimsical touch. Our icon based signs are made of flame retardent, high-density black PVC. Installation is accomplished lickety-split, thanks to brushed aluminum brackets that require just two screws."

This text contains the essence of Thomas Church's design philosophy, as well as practical advice. It is illustrated by site plans and photographs of some of the 2000 gardens that Church designed during his career. Called "the last great traditional designer and the first great modern designer", Church was one of the central figures in the development of the modern Californian garden. For the first time, West Coast designers based their work not on imitation of East Coast traditions, but on climatic, landscape and lifestyle characteristics unique to California and the West. Church viewed the garden as a logical extension of the house, with one extending naturally into the other.

...Green design is the real post-modern movement: because it is the first movement after modernism that has something new to say and yet is still a kind of modernism, a fulfillment of some of modernism's central goals: functionalism and future-fetishism.

Link: WorldChanging - Why Green is the Real Postmodernism
Via: Archinect

Founded by London based antique textile specialist Nat Turner, and collaborating with some of World's most exciting graphic artists, RuggedArt has launched a groundbreaking new collection of hand knotted rugs, available in limited editions of ten.

Instead of Ephemeral art on a wall, or hollow conceptual statement, RuggedArt rugs are a painting for your floor, a strikingly beautiful piece of furniture.

Link: Rugged Art

"Mark McKenna's latest chair, "frank" for Studio 9 Design is probably the best expression of his ideas. It is made from only four pieces of .035" sheet steel -- no thicker than a fingernail. The pieces are cut using a computer controlled laser and can be assembled by hand. Once put together, the chair is both amazingly light and strong. Interestingly, this process also yields beautiful finger-like joints between the parts, which are both structural and decorative."

Designer: Mark McKenna
Link: Studio 9 Design