All posts filed under: Things for Installations

Valentine’s Day Gift Idea: Pieces of Time Flower Objet d’Art

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If you are looking for a different way to give flowers this Valentine’s Day, consider gifting your loved one the MoMA Design Store’s Pieces of Time Flower Objet d’Art. Designed by Soojeong Shin and Jiseon Park from Korean Studio Style Jieum, these sculptures feature fresh flowers that have been encased in domes of hand-blown glass and filled with preservation fluid. When viewed through sunlight, the object seems to contain a calm forest of plants that feels like a real landscape. Each Pieces of Time Objet d’Art is handmade by specialists in floral design, and its design will vary slightly. The handcrafted glass may contain small bubbles that are a natural part of the creation process. They can be displayed individually or as a group. To care for your objet d’art, store indoors in a cool place and do not open its silicone plug. Each measures 2.8”w x 5.1”h. $80 each at the MoMA Design Store. Images courtesy MoMA Design Store.

Floquem Neoclassical Busts & Sculptures

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One of the most colorful booths at last month’s ICFF show in New York City belonged to Floquem, which displayed a collection of neoclassical busts and sculptures finished with bright colored flock fiber. Purple, blue, red, and pink velvety fiber are applied with electrostatic technology to replicas of masterpieces such as Michealangelo’s David and new visions such as “Ludwig Van Creepy” a bust of Beethoven with a split head revealing a skull inside. It’s not for everyone, but the pieces would be a good fit for hotels, restaurants, and other spaces looking for a certain type of quirk in their interior design. All images courtesy Floquem.

Behind the Scenes: Mudshark Studios

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On a recent trip to Portland, Oregon, I got to tour the production facility for Mudshark Studios, a one-stop shop for developing and producing ceramic objects, with CEO and co-founder Brett Binford. Binford, a well-known ceramicist, is also the owner and curator for the contemporary Eutectic Gallery, located in a storefront attached to the studios. In their 10,000-square-foot facility (an additional 7,000 square feet upstairs is mostly for mold and gallery storage), Mudshark offers model making, mold making, and production services for projects ranging from custom designed plates for Eleven Madison Park in New York City to lighting fixtures for Portland-based Schoolhouse Electric to technical parts for the aerospace industry. Other clients include Cedar and Moss, Barn Light Electric Co., Rejuvenation, and many more. After my tour, I couldn’t wait to head back to my friend’s house (ceramicist and painter Nicole Curcio), where I got to spend some time playing around in her pottery workshop. I won’t be showing a photo of my endeavors, but let’s just stay I tried and it wasn’t very good. …

Hilma af Klint Capsule Collection at the Guggenheim MuseumStore

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A new collection of products inspired by the works of Hilma af Klint (1862–1944) will be available for purchase at the Guggenheim Museum Store in fall 2018. Klint was a Swedish artist and mystic whose paintings were among the first examples of abstract art. The products were created in celebration of Hilma af Klint: Paintings for the Future, the first major solo exhibition in the United States of the Swedish artist at the Guggenheim Museum from October 12, 2018 to February 3, 2019. Created in close collaboration with a female-driven roster of designers and artisans, the collection will feature apparel, jewelry, accessories, and home goods, as well as a suite of postcards, large format posters, and more. Designs by Michele Quan, Margaret and Colleen Clines, Karen Konzuk, and Maya Luz, among others, and will be available exclusively in-store through the Guggenheim Store and online beginning October 11, 2018.   Images courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Store.

Book Signing at Brooklyn Designs!

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On Friday May 6th at 7:30 I will be signing copies of my new book on erotic product design, Objects of Desire, at Brooklyn Designs at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint! We are excited to support Brooklyn design and the designers featured in our book who are based in the borough, including HEFF, Wonderpuss Octopus, and Dame Products. Brooklyn Designs is part of NYCxDESIGN, a world-class design festival which takes place May 3-17 throughout New York City. The three-day event kicks off on Friday at 10:00 am with “Kickstarter Office Hours” to present your ideas to the Director of Design and Technology Outreach at Kickstarter, and wraps up Sunday at 5:00 pm with a Maker’s Lab to teach designers how to promote themselves. In between are installations, pop-ups, seminars, and other fun events. I will be participating in the Opening Night Party from 7-9 pm, hosted by The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Metropolis, and Benjamin Moore, and sponsored by Broadway Stages. There will be food, drinks, music, and a cornhole tournament featuring one-of-a-kind boards from …

Saving the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum

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Jim Moran got some bad news last October while he was preparing for the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum’s annual conference in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Moran, who is director of the world’s only museum dedicated to the preservation, study, production, and printing of wood type, was told by his landlord that the museum had six months to find a new home. The news wasn’t entirely a shock. Moran and his small team had noticed that the building owner, lab equipment manufacturer Thermo Fisher Scientific, had begun downsizing the employees that shared the massive building, which was rapidly deteriorating. The museum, which was founded in 1999, took up 12,000-square-feet (with an additional 25,000 for storage) of the three-block long, 1.3 million-square-foot facility that the Hamilton Manufacturing Company had built, and added to, from 1910 to 1926. The manufacturer had donated free rent, lighting, and heat to the museum, but they were now closing their Two Rivers plant and moving production elsewhere. (MORE AFTER PHOTOS) Moran had to quickly raise the estimated $250,000 needed to pack …