Photographer Pia Ulin

Loving the work of Swedish photographer Pia Ulin and the wonderful interiors she captures, particularly this flat above!

The siding on that island… woof. Is it antiqued mirror? I think so. It catches the light in such a beautiful way. What a clever way to add some jewelry to an otherwise very simple white, wood, and black scheme (which I of course love).

Check out the gallery for much more…

Chris Gilmour

Theoretically, I love the idea of a small house. I like small, I like clever use of space. But, I also want lots kids and lots of art, and too much of either one in a small house sounds claustrophobic.

Chris Gilmour’s life size cardboard replicas of real-life objects are the kinds of pieces that make me think I might need just a little extra space budgeted in for large-scale modern art. Or maybe, just they’re just the right catalyst for a little creative space planning… suspend a motorcycle from the ceiling in a stairwell landing? Maybe!

Gilmour has replicated tons of everyday objects, but my favorites are the cars and motorcycles, I think because I like seeing something usually so strong and shiny made from such a humble, soft, monochromatic medium.

His reasons for making the objects he does, however, have more to do with memory, emotion, and interaction– or rather, the lack of interaction created when the object is presented as art. As he says, “The interaction of the viewer with the works seems to function as a kind of short circuit between an implied action and the impossibility of performing it.”

Jerome Galland

A few beautiful home shots for you from French photographer Jerome Galland. Above left, a home in St. Syr sur Mer, and above right, the Italian vacation home of Giorgio Armani, both from Marie Claire Maison (why aren’t American decor magazines this good?).

How cool are those two dining spaces? The giant open wall with big drapes flanking and the pergola of palm branches are both ideas I’m making mental notes of for later…

Below, a home in Mykonos. As my sister just said, “Who knew white could say so much?” Whether Greek or Scandinavian, I’m not getting sick of the mostly white look (and I’m still pretty hooked on white+wood, leather, and black for a city house), it just looks so visually refreshing.

via one of my faves, French by Design

Hello World

I would love to have one of these in my apartment (when I have an apartment with large enough walls for giant modern art). It’s basically a giant lite-brite.

Dinner parties would always have an added element of entertainment as guests came up with new things to write or draw– think refrigerator magnet poetry but huge. I have no intellectual problem with art that is also fun.

Using 5,000 rocker switches (the kind of switch that powers on/off a power strip), artist Valentin Ruhry created this user-operated canvas. On display now in New York at the Austrian Cultural Center.

American Apparel Does Something Likeable

I don’t care much for the American Apparel branding and marketing philosophy, but this video is awesome.

Shot by Tony Kelly and featuring the absurdly talented Lil Demon (yes he’s really doing that breakdancing himself) and Jalen Testerman, also a break-dancing 9 year old, against the downtown LA skyline.

+Pool on Kickstarter

If I still lived in New York, I would definitely be contributing to +Pool on Kickstarter. This would be an unbelievably awesome asset for New York (particularly Brooklyn!), and with its simple + shape (which I love), I think it would become a new design icon for the city!

The concept is simple: build a pool right in the East River that filters river water through the pool walls make it clean for swimming.

PS: +Pool, once you finish this project, I propose you come out to San Francisco and start working on a pool that floats in the Bay and heats the water as it passes through the filtration system!

Jeff Bridges’ Photography

Who knew Jeff Bridges is into photography and takes photos chronicling his experiences on the films he works on? I just discovered that he has a very friendly, diy-looking website where he shares the photos, and I spent a solid hour browsing his portfolio.

I love Jeff Bridges, the photos are great, and the whole concept makes me happy. I love that he is into sharing his personal behind-the-scenes take on his work, and it doesn’t have a promotional feel at all, it just feels like he loves photography, loves his job, and wanted to share it with whomever cared to seek it out.

All the photos have captions describing the scene and people, and their tone is like something you would write in an album you were going to show your kids some day. He even has hand-written/drawn intros (like the one below) to each part of the site, adding a folksy flair to the whole thing.

Most of the photos here are from Crazy Heart (because I loved it), but the True Grit ones (like top right) are great too and there are tons on the site!

The Desert Returns

I’m freaking out a little bit over how cool this is. The Namibian town where these photos were taken, Kolmanskop, was once a major diamond-mining town (settled by Germans, hence the name).

When diamonds were discovered, a town was quickly developed, and forty years later when the mines were depleted, the town was abandoned.

And then the desert began to flood back in. Until the buildings were completely taken over.

And then, photographer Alvaro Sanchez-Montanes arrived to document the beautiful remnants of the sand-covered homes.

via Honestly WTF

Getaway Essentials

As mentioned before, I don’t know what it is, but I’m a sucker for reading lists of other people’s favorite things (so much so that I’ve started asking other people to answer those things for this blog), so I was so happy to see that The Coveteur did another “Essentials” post with Vogue.

Last time it was NYFW essentials, this time, summer getaway gear. In addition to their essentials, the contributors describe where they like to getaway to in the summer and a bit about why these are their essentials, which you can read on the original post here.

Top left: Emily Weiss of Into the Gloss; top right: Chloe Malle, Vogue Social Editor; and above: Claiborne Swanson Frank, photographer.

Paul Massey

I wish I knew anything about these interiors– designer, architect– but alas all I know is who the photographer is– Paul Massey. And what beautiful photographs they are!

The spaces he has shot are amazing in their own right, many with a calming white-heavy Scandinavian country vibe, others with a slightly more industrial feel, but the light in which he captures them really make the images sing.

It’s the kind of simultaneously soft and crystal clear light you wake up to in the morning at a weekend house in a place that is known for being a little bit chilly in the morning, even in the summer. It seems to say, “stay in your warm PJs for a cup of hot coffee, but by lunch time you’ll be ready to change in to tennis clothes or maybe go for a canoe ride.”

via Brock Street