All posts filed under: Things for Creativity

Grids & Guides (Red): A Notebook for Visual Thinkers

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Valentine’s Day approaches. You can’t give them chocolates because they are on a diet. Flowers die so quickly. Tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway? Yeah, right! Why not try Grids & Guides (Red): A Notebook for Visual Thinkers instead? This type of gift says,”I know you are a creative, thoughtful person, who needs to express yourself. Write it down, then share it with me later over cavier and souffles.” Or something like that. Ideal for architects, designers, or anyone who likes to sketch, the 160-page, cloth-wrapped notebook includes eight repeating graph paper patterns (including some new grid designs) and a variety of useful charts covering knot-tying, logic expressions, perspective projection, a world map, and more. $16.95 from Princeton Architectural Press and other book sellers.   Images courtesy Princeton Architectural Press.

Chocolamixture by Nendo

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Japanese design firm Nendo has announced their latest venture into chocolate. Following their recent experiments with chocolate made in different textures and in the form of a paint set, Nendo’s chocolamixture consists of little flask-shaped chocolates that come with five different flavors in miniature-sized test tubes: freeze-dried mango, freeze-dried raspberry, a popping candy that bursts in your mouth, three colored heart-shaped sugar candies, and chocolate puffs. Even the lids of the chocolate flask are made of white chocolate that has been smoked to develop a cork color. As with many of Nendo’s edible delights, these chocolates are unfortunately only available for purchase in Japan.   Photos by Akihiro Yoshida.

Paper Punk Jewelry Fold

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There is something very satisfying about folding the paper jewelry from the Paper Punk Jewelry Fold kit. Designed to make 3D necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, the kit includes easily foldable punch-out shapes with tabs that are inserted into numbered slots. These create geometric forms in a sort of instant-origami that you can then stick to paper bases and decorate with stickers. While the kit says the recommended age range starts at six, I think that eight would probably be a more likely age that kids would more easily begin to master the tab-insertion process. Inside every kit are punch-and-fold shapes (in either triangle or square options), glitter stickers, gloss stickers, metallic stickers, adhesive dots, and an instruction booklet. The best part is you don’t need any glue or scissors for the kit— everything you need to go from a flat piece of paper to a 3D piece of art is included. You don’t even have to be an arty person to successfully get the final result – it’s pretty foolproof, even for someone like me. $19.95 Back of the box. …