Motivational photo of the day: Ice Cube Dreams

Ice Cub Dreams by artist Terry Border posted on his Bent Objects blog.

Tokidoki on TV

tokidoki alert. I know there's a bunch of you fans out there. Get a behind the scenes look into tokidoki's work space. KarmaloopTV interviews the tokidoki's founder and designer, Simone Legno. I love his work space. Very colorful and fun. And, of course, he plugs a new Tokidoki creation. You also see quick flashes of the tokidoki Sanrio collaboration. I definitely enjoyed seeing Simone explain his creative process from the sketches to finished production illustration (looks like on Adobe illustrator).

Also, if you're in the L.A. area, Simone Legno will be making an in-store appearance at my favorite magazine/boutique, Giant Robot at its GR2 location. Lucky!

Simone Legno at GR2
Wednesday, July 30
6:00-8:00 p.m.

GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90025
310-445-9276

Oh, the places you will go

What a difference a year makes. Blogging wise, dearly devoted has celebrated its one-year anniversary! It did so in May but I'm only reflecting now with the major changes happening soon. This year, I got out of my metaphysical limbo, applied to grad school, and quit my job to make the move.



So, what does it mean, dear readers? I'm picking up my bags to move to Seattle! So, next week I'll be driving cross-country. In the meantime, I've been playing with Wordle, a web app that crates graphic, textual art based on reader submitted text or link. Wordle will create a visual word cloud based on randomness or frequency. Above, I entered a list of cities I've traveled or intend to. Can you guess which ones I've visited and the ones I'm itching to go next? My inspiration came from Ork's City Neighborhood posters, seen below.

Check out the results that Wordle generated when I entered dearly devoted's website:

You can customize the color, font choice, and layout to make it how you like. For a graphic geek like myself this is a fun, cheap thrill.

Shake it like a salt shaker

Dig monkeys? Enjoy a tropical motif? Need a quirky housewarming present?  Go B-A-N-A-N-A-S with Alessi's Stefano Giovannoni's OrienTales banana "monkey bros" salt & pepper set, $36. These happy-go-lucky monkeys deserve a good home.

The Good Worker Bee card

Everyone appreciates the concept of a gold star. Do something great, get recognized for your efforts.  While that hold true for teachers in the classroom, there's no sparkly equivalent in the cubicle world. That's why, I couldn't help but be amused and confused by this Congratulations card designed by Be a Decent Human Being for Sycamore Street Press. Is it snarky? Is it sincere? Maybe both? It's inscrutable.  The equivalent of a Rorschach test for card receivers. The overlarge typographic emphasis on "THAT THING YOU DID" would certainly make me feel...unsettled. So accusing. Followed by that cheery post-script, "Really super," makes me feel weird. If I was an evil passive aggressive nice boss, this would be ideal.  Perfect for upper management, coworkers, and frenemies. Seen over at Decor8





Congratulations card: Great Job on That Thing you Did , $4, Sycamore Street Press

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping: Lisa & Stephanie jewelry

Times are tough. The economy's in the tank, work is stressful, and people are looking for relief. Pour some sugar on me, indeed. June/July has been a very bad month for me. On the 4th of July, I made out like a damsel in distress to Sarasota to be with family and friends.  Funny enough, my shopping instincts also followed me. My brother's girlfriend, Lisa Gellens, introduced me to her latest line of jewelry,   Lisa & Stephanie  that she cofounded with her sister. Lisa & Stephanie is known in Tampa for its custom-made glass bead work. However, I immediately zeroed on her custom, handcrafted jewelry that I modeled here. Mmmmm...silver, it's not just for killing werewolves. I'm loving the crumpled, rough hewed silver bracelet above. I like to pair  tough/feminine details in my outfits and would rock a pair of those bracelets.  I also dig the organic details in the silver rings below.  

Mary Huang's Electric Dream: LED fashion

Ethereral, delicate, and romantic don't usually come to mind when one thinks of tech fashion. However, fashion designer Mary Huang finds a happy marriage between fashion and technology in her latest exhibit of LED clothing at Rhyme & Reason.  Picking up a storm on the blog world, her fashion inventions have been seen at Geek Sugar and Pop Gadget. The jersey dress, shown above, is made of cotton jersey and hand-crocheted flowers. The details, alone, make the dress beautiful and the softly lit glow of lights enhance its design.



From her site, Huang says, "Reflecting on the change from day to night, inconspicuous white knitwear is enlivened by illumination, creating a sense of magic and mystery for the wearer."



Can I say her clothes are ultra wearable (even without the LED)? Below, her LED-scarf is made of machine-knit material. Both can be used as illumination, either with the accompanied battery park or wall-charger so as to be functionable. 



An interview with Mary Huang at Talk2MyShirt 

Bring the outdoors inside

Stuck inside? Chomping at the bit to roam free on a perfect summer day?
Feel free to be inspired by Desktopography's desktop wallpapers that blends powerful imagery with a green aesthetic. Perfect for when wanderlust strikes. My favorite and the one pictured above says it all:
Nature never go's out of style
Did I also mention, the wallpapers are free?

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Think you've had enough cute knicknacks for your office desktop? Think again. For robot fetishists and pencil pushers, the Walking Robot Pencil Sharpener is perfect for display and usage. By sharpening your pencil, you also power up Mr. Roboto to march to your own beat. Nice.



Walking Robot Pencil Sharpener, $6, at ThinkGeek

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Think you've had enough cute knicknacks for your office desktop? Think again. For robot fetishists and pencil pushers, the Walking Robot Pencil Sharpener is perfect for display and usage. By sharpening your pencil, you also power up Mr. Roboto to march to your own beat. Nice.



Walking Robot Pencil Sharpener, $6, at ThinkGeek

Black Knight spotted

"It's just a flesh wound!" - Black Knight, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Caught over at Abbey Goes Design Scouting, this medieval Black Knight stitched plush toy is bound to charm you. Created by artisans, Friederike, Jaques de Molay and his horse Josephine are happily pictured above. View their website for more intricately detailed crafted toywork.

The cute OUCH box

From a design standpoint, the first-aid cross is iconic and appealing. In its Swiss form, white on red, this sturdy medicine box has me falling in love with it. Isn't it so nostalgic? Its retro feel reminds me of WWII industrial design: remember those old metal lunch boxes?
It combines classic design and functionality that will actually find some use in my house.
Seen over at SwissMiss. Medicine Box, VINCON

All work and no play = horrifically fun tshirts

Knives Shirt, $28, at 410 BC

It's not even the weekend but you're already having to surpress your murderous urges at work. Enough with the frenemies, the cubicle cage, and the traffic rage -- sometimes, you just want to express your dark side. Plain and simple. So, forget the ironic hipster statement and get your inner Jack Nicholson out. It's retail therapy with a dark stabby twist.
Thanks to Khoi Vinh, I found this terrific tshirt community at Rumplo that led me to my finds above and below.
As a scaredy-cat horror fan, I was thrilled by the homages below.


Evil Dear Girl tee, $23 at Mini Cassette

Evil Dead fans anyone?


My favorite Halloween kiddie B-movie, the Monster Squad.
The Squad, $23 at Mini Cassette

In fact, if you're a horror buff, Mini Cassette has a whole horror-themed t-shirt line that's tasteful. Like this one below.

The Reward, $22 at Mini Cassette

It's Bud from Day of the Dead. Mmmm, braaaaiiinnnns.