roadside scholar

stuff i found on the highway of life

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jake phipps pendant lamps

okay, i will hang up the lighting now by signing off with these terrific ceiling fixtures from uk designer jake phipps for the hidden art collective. beautifully structured hats lined with decadent gold or silver that have people names are right up my alley! jeeves is the bowler and wooster is the top hat. i love the idea of taking a classically styled item steeped in tradition and turning it on its ear by utilizing it in a new creative, functional way. i would call these guys whimsical but i think that word gets a bad rap, so how about deliciously surprising? humorously stylish? playfully bold? i can’t decide. maybe all of the above.

i totally want to play monopoly at a table with the triple top hats hanging overhead.

purchase these lights and many more inventive things at the hidden art shop.

via bb-blog

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advice to sink in slowly poster series

when i was a freshman in college, it would have been nice to get some sage advice from the more experienced kids on campus about what school would be like. the first year students at the university college falmouth receive a gift of a poster from recent graduates, permanently inked with tidbits of wisdom and gorgeous, inventive design. it’s called the advice to sink in slowly series. the more you peruse the selection here, the more you realize that it’s not just filled with a sense of humor and clever musings, but also astute advice that can be applied in everyday life too.

rebecca cobb; carys williams

temujin doran; luke tonge

david plant; jane laurie

i’ll take these over cheesy motivational posters anyday!

bonus: if you like them, you can buy them! the A3 (11″ x 17″) posters are only £5.00 each, so why not buy more than one?

purchase them here and be sure to check out their flickr stream too!

via kitsune noir

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studiomold manimani clock

i like this lovely looking laser cut steel manimani clock, from multi-disciplinary uk designer brendan young for his studiomold company. it was inspired by the outline of a handful of antique clock parts that were dropped onto the floor.

loose and fun, and i like the industrial edge in the rusty finish.

purchase this piece (in five different colors and two different sizes!) and see more truly gorgeous product designs at the studiomold website, and view more work on brendan’s (and his design partner vanessa battaglia’s) design website.

via design milk

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keep calm art prints

if you loved the simply marvelous prints from hayley thwaites and lucas lepola’s keep calm gallery, but missed out on the extremely popular earlier editions, fret no more because the gallery has just released three new prints! from hayley and lucas, we have a reprisal for keep calm and carry on, screenprinted by hand and in a new colorway, as well as a nutritional message. missouri designer doug wilson’s letterpressed make your own path, in a new unlimited edition, is printed onto his own antique map collection.

find all these and more at the keep calm website, and be sure to check out doug’s portfolio here.

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karen caldicott art and sculpture

do you ever wonder what it would be like if you chucked it all, left the city and moved out to the sticks? would you miss the option of thai food at 2 am? would your lungs expand from all the fresh air, and your mind expand out to the corners, in a more creative way? uk artist karen caldicott, a longtime brooklyn resident, currently makes her home in the beautiful hudson valley – and look at the amazing things she does! (okay, okay, she didn’t do it all out in the country.) you may know karen from her recent weekly contributions to new york magazine, where she created the disarmingly detailed plasticine models of important people and celebrities. these models were borne of an idea she had to bring her two dimensional illustrations to the next level. she would sketch, and create a clay model from it, then photograph the model and present both the two and three dimensional pieces together on display – quite an arduous process, and thorough and fluid too.

karen has explored her talents in a variety of media, with a seemingly effortless élan. she was drawn to the mix of urban and nature that gently used snow fuses into sculpture, and her strangely beautiful snow series of photographs was created.

her illustrations and artwork have piqued the interest of many clients, including the wall street journal, random house, the national law journal and time.

karen is now beginning to dabble in stop motion video and animation, a place where the progression of her clay pieces would naturally go (doesn’t it make sense?). this is a clip of johnny knoxville doing some moves (and i am really feeling a peter gabriel big time/sledgehammer-type vibe from this):

i am looking forward to seeing her refine and command this new medium, as she has consistently demonstrated with all the others she has used. there is also a certain smoothness in all these works that somehow makes their meaning clear, however simple or complex it may be.

karen’s marvelous clay heads will be on display in a show at the cooper union sometime next year. stay tuned for the details, and in the meantime check her website to see many more models, illustrations and photography!

thank you karen for all the info!

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suck uk hot and cool compresses

they say that laughter is the best medicine, so why not use these compress bags from suck uk the next time you have a sore knee or ankle. these dr. hot and cool bags look like hospital IVs, but are filled with blue (ready to chill) and red (reheatable) gel to soothe your aching muscles.

 

any way you slice it, it’ll be a welcome relief.

unica home is taking advance orders now!

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ruth lyne glass art

look at these gorgeous handmade plates from uk artist ruth lyne. ruth makes kiln formed glass panels layered with metal leaf and colored frit, and crafts them into versatile shapes that can be functional dishware or wall tiles.

 

ruth is inspired by the colors and textures of the beach. her horizontal and vertical lines represent the sea and the cliffs on a quiet, sunny winter’s day.

find these beautiful things at her dawanda shop.

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baroque wall art by rachel horrocks

rachel horrocks recently graduated from the university of the west of england, and it looks like she will have a long, fruitful career in design. take a look at these clever wall pieces she calls basic baroque. these pieces are made from super thick (15mm, or .59 inches) felt, and are easily attached to a wall, giving you the power to create your own unique composition (if you don’t want to rely on the suggested layouts, which are included). this is a terrific way to add dramatic dimension and interest to a large expanse of wall or staircase.

the pieces come in cream, but bespoke colours (like the black in the photo) are available upon request with an additional fee. they are sold in sets of six, twelve and twenty four. prices begin at £140.

rachel is also working on a prototype storage piece called shelf life, in which she explores the dynamic relationship between nature and human made objects. the individual blocks move and morph depending on the items placed within. i would imagine that viewing this piece from either side is quite intriguing.

thank you for the photos, rachel — what fabulous ideas!

for more details and to order, contact rachel here.

via cribcandy

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