Pizzly Bears on Melting Ice

Polar Bears live in the Arctic and Grizzly bears live in Canada and never the twain shall meet… or should they? That’s what was on everyone’s mind when a Pizzly Bear (or if you prefer, a Grolar Bear)turned up in ’06 in the Canadian Arctic. Apparently, the melting snow caps caused these bears’ habitats to overlap, and consequently resulted in their unlikely offspring. Although this incident would typically be perceived as a sad state of environmental affairs, one person saw it differently. Masahiro Minami, a designer working out of Shiga Prefecture in Japan, was inspired by this beautiful love story and decided to create ‘Bears on Melting Ice’ (2008) for his daughter. image from http://www.inhabitots.com/2009/09/10/pizzlybears-on-melting-ice-by-masahiro-minami/

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Chigo natural wooden toys

I wrote a short post on Chigo wooden toys. I remember playing with these toys as a child, and how the simplistic beauty would stimulate my imagination for hours on end. Especially the seemingly magical wooden tops, which actually turn upside down on their heads while spinning (YouTube clip)! Read the full story oninhabitots. image from http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/find-me-elsewhere/

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Meanwhile over on inhabitots

Hiromatsu Furniture recently teamed up with designer Yu Watanabe to create the WF series of kids furniture. As if designed by a child, the free-form yet simplistic pieces are sure to inspire creativity in the young and old. Yu Watanabe  is an 80-year old retired professor of design who agreed to emerge from retirement to create these beautiful pieces for future generations. Made-to-order and fashioned out of all-natural pine, each piece in the collection is unique. We can’t get enough of those adorablebunny chairs! image from http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/find-me-elsewhere/

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mottainai umbrellas

Over the summer the Mottainai project launched mottainai umbrella (perhaps to coincide with the rainy season), a movement to increase awareness about the waste generated by cheap almost-disposable umbrellas. Here are some staggering facts. Did you know that at about 130  million per year Japan is the number 1 disposer of umbrellas? (Source: Japan Umbrella Promotion Association… no kidding. There really is such an organization.) That’s more than the entire country’s population! And 90% of these are made up by the ubiquitous clear-plastic umbrellas that are imported from China and sold for about 500 yen a pop. I’ve even seen them sold at 100 yen shops.

Where do these umbrellas end up, you ask? Usually left on a train or just thrown away because they break so easily.

Anyway, one of the features of the project was that they enlisted several designers and TV personalities to design umbrellas in order to promote the use of long-lasting sturdy umbrellas instead of the cheap, crappy ones. Along with all their other activities, all profits are being donated to the Green Belt Movement.

Clockwise starting with the top left, “Earth Umbrella” is the official mottainai campain umbrella. “When it rain the frogs come out” by illustrator Jun Miura , and “Tree Umbrella” by artist Hiro Sugiyama and creative director Michihiko Yanai. You can check out the full lineup here.

If you would like to know more about the mottainai project, I did a post on them a while back.

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Bunpei Yorifuji | KIT25 at @btf

Illustrator Bunpei Yorifuji – mastermind of these hilariouspublic service ads of the Tokyo Metro – is holding his first solo exhibition at the gallery @btf. The show spans the last 10 years or so since Yorifuji established his own design office, presenting a strong body of work that hinges on the comical, both in the stylistic sense and in content. Here are some shots of the exhibition, courtesy of @btf.  image from http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/graphic-design/

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GreenFortune Streamgardens

So last Thursday was blog action day in which you had over 13,000 blogs posting topics on climate change and basically anything eco-related. Our mission here at Spoon & Tamago has nothing to do with green design – or anything green for that matter – but  we are partial to the cause so I thought I would quietly share my 2 cents by discussing some companies in Japan who are in the “we’ll help you greenify” business. image by http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/green-design/

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Greenwalls

Perhaps the first company that comes to mind is the internationally focused GreenFortune, who has an active Japan group. Based out of Kobe City, the company has 2 flagship products. First to launch was the Streamgarden, which provided residential clients with an easy, low-maintenance garden inside their homes. The 2nd product that they launched was the Greenwall, which was a primarily large-scale installation within a commercial space.  Inhabitat wrote them up a while back if you are interested in learning more. Below is an interior and exterior shot of NINE, a boutique shop in Aoyama, the was completed over the summer of 2009. image from http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/green-design/

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Design | 和想

The 2nd company competing in the “we’ll help you greenify” space isWa-So, a uniquely Japanese company that specializes in greenifying your home, garden, shop, or pretty much any space you like, while maintaining – or in some cases, adding – Japanese aesthetics and sensibilities. Based out of Osaka, Wa-So offers more personalized services than GreenFortune, as they sit down with you to come up with a plan that fits your needs. Then they oversee everything from blueprints to construction (if needed) and installation. Below are some recently completed works from their portfolio. image from http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/green-design/

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Wa-So Design | 和想

The 2nd company competing in the “we’ll help you greenify” space isWa-So, a uniquely Japanese company that specializes in greenifying your home, garden, shop, or pretty much any space you like, while maintaining – or in some cases, adding – Japanese aesthetics and sensibilities. Based out of Osaka, Wa-So offers more personalized services than GreenFortune, as they sit down with you to come up with a plan that fits your needs. Then they oversee everything from blueprints to construction (if needed) and installation. Below are some recently completed works from their portfolio. image by http://www.spoon-tamago.com/category/green-design/

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Black Hall by Terada Design

Black Hall is a pretty cool name for a university’s music facility. It’s even cooler when the designer takes a neon-pop color scheme to the interior. Enter Black Hall, a new addition to the Senzoku College of Music – the first school in Japan to offer a Jazz major – designed byTerada Design and unveiled earlier this month. It’s got a jazzy feel, don’t you think? image by http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2009/04/15/black-hall-by-terada-design/

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Black Hall by Terada Design

Black Hall is a pretty cool name for a university’s music facility. It’s even cooler when the designer takes a neon-pop color scheme to the interior. Enter Black Hall, a new addition to the Senzoku College of Music – the first school in Japan to offer a Jazz major – designed byTerada Design and unveiled earlier this month. It’s got a jazzy feel, don’t you think? image by http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2009/04/15/black-hall-by-terada-design/

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Mr Switch

‘Mr Switch’ is designed to add a little character to an otherwise inanimate object. John Caswell Design, image by http://www.inewidea.com/2009/03/23/7299.html

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The Beauty of the Mistake

By the way, throughout the text I was very tempted to make a mistake.  Just for the fun of it…maybe it was my mistake for not having done so! Mistakes are and will be a part of our lives but it’s the only way you’ll ever learn!  If you don’t make enough you just won’t learn!   I couldn’t agree more with Nadine Stair…and with the people of PuppenHaus who are behind the successful concept of this exhibition. Very thoughtful, very creative and yes mistakes do deserve a thank you from all of us!

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Les bureaux de Facebook

Vu sur The contemporist, les bureaux de Facebook. Magnifique, une mise en scène remarquable, un mélange de moderne et de vintage vraiment réussi. Un jeu qui démarre avec beaucoup d’espace, unespace brut aux allures industrielles. O+A, l’agence basée a San Francisco qui a réalisé cette mise en scène, a aménagé ces espaces partiellement créant ainsi rupture entre des zones cosy aux textures vintage, au mobilier finement sélectionné et un espace brut, béton ciré, piliers d’acier, aérations apparentes, grandes verrières. Le tout est baigné de lumière naturel via de grandes ouvertures. image by http://www.ma-decoration.net/decoration/design/les-bureaux-de-facebook/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+madeco+(Ma+décoration)

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Puzzle Serving Board

The Puzzle Serving Board is probably not all that practical if you serve creamy/runny cheeses on it but it sure is a conversation starter.
image by http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/09/puzzle-serving-board.html

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cut & paste' a chopping board by klaus hackl studio for eno

'cut & paste' a chopping board by klaus hackl studio for eno - edition nouveaux objets
german company klaus hackl studio design various kitchen tools and homewares.

some of their designs include 'cut & paste', a chopping board , 'drip-stop', a spoon holder
for the french company eno - edition nouveaux objets and 'gibus', a laundry basket for magis spa.
image by http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5794/klaus-hackl-cut-paste-chopping-board-for-eno-edition-nouveaux-object-paris.html

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Cutting board and Knife

Good news for housewives as you could own “Cutting board and Knife” right now.

Available in different colors, the new board is equipped with a niche on the side to contain stainless knife. It is really a good buy because you only pay for the board while get the knife for free.
image by http://www.inewidea.com/2009/09/11/9561.html

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