I have been following Design*Sponge for the past few years and I remain a loyal reader for many reasons. Grace Bonney, its founder, along with other writers, cover interior/ graphic design, design products, DIY, entertainment, city guides, home tours and design-based businesses. I love that I can go to one site for all these things. The blog is updated multiple times every day.
We Love Typography provides a great selection of typography design. Anything that has a trace of typography, you will find it on this website. I find the website’s navigation to be user-friendly; the use of the arrows to move through the page is extremely helpful especially when I`m just skimming the visuals. I also particularly like that it lets me filter my searches by colour- it lets me absorb a great dose of typography in any color, depending on my mood.
FFFFound, an image bookmarking site that lets users post and shares their favorite images online, is always a thrill to visit. If you want to laugh, be moved, or simply just gaze over mouth-watering imagery, then this blog is worth visiting.
I go to this blog for a daily dose of fashion, art, travel and DIY inspirations. The contributors behind HonestlyWTF always deliver tasty reads. I particularly enjoy their easy and super chic DIY projects. In addition, I’m also a follower of their “Cool Hunting” category in which they write about funky products from fashion to home décor.
Florence is home to Michaelangelo’s David, which was as spectacular as they say. Along with David, Florence’s Accademia housed some of Michaelangelo’s unfinished works which I found just as inspiring as the David. Michaelangelo was known for not creating a model prior to starting his works, instead saw his work as freeing the sculptures from the block of marble. I also thoroughly enjoyed the extensive collection of work by neoclassical sculpture Lorenzo Bartolini.
Florence is a beautiful city, filled with beautiful Renaissance architecture. Although I didn’t get to see it from the inside, the façade of the Duomo is beautiful. I also enjoyed walking along the Arno river and across the Ponte Vecchio which is a medieval bridge. On the bridge there are all these little shops, at first glance it really seems almost like a bazaar but in fact they sell mostly jewellery! A very expensive bazaar!
On my day trip to other parts of Tuscany we went to the beautiful cities of San Gimignano, Siena, and Pisa. While I really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa after being so amused by pictures of it as a kid that was probably the least eventful part of the day. Siena is a beautiful city filled with medieval architecture. The Siena Duomo is spectacular and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The inside and the outside are decorated in strips, which I found unusual for a church but stunning regardless.
Unfortunately my trip to Florence ended on somewhat of a bad note as I lost my camera so the only pictures I have from my trip are from my iPhone.
My trip to Milan was pretty short, and much like Florence and Siena the Duomo there was one of the highlights. It’s definitely a sight worth seeing. I enjoyed walking around the shopping streets of Milan event though I couldn’t afford to do more than window shop in stores such as Valentino and Armani!
Despite a complete lack of sunshine my two days in Venice, and the flooding (rainboots apparently are a must pack item which I didn’t happen to clue in on in my pre-trip research) I rather enjoyed my trip to Venice. I would love to go back and see the Venice when it’s not rainy but this was a bit of a funny experience walking across the flooded squares on a makeshift platform.
In Venice they have water buses called vaporettos, it was an interesting experience that made my stomach turn for the most part, but fun at the same time. The vaporetto also goes to the other islands including Murano, which I spent a lot of time on! I really loved popping into the different shops and viewing all the beautiful Murano glass jewellery (and shopping a bit too!). I also viewed a glass blowing demonstration which was pretty interesting! Also on the main island there are a lot of shops that sell beautiful masquerade masks and I was able to expand my collection.
My trip to Italy was filled with amazing sights from the ancient ruins, the beautiful landscapes of Tuscany, and the beautiful architecture. Words can’t explain the amazing gelato they have over there, and the food wasn’t too bad either (I’m not sure pizza here will ever be edible again)! There was so much to see and do I wish I could have stayed a month!
Its cold outside and it feels like we are never going to see spring! So I'm not sure if this is great packaging or if I just want it to be summer already. Designed by Corretje Comunicació Grafica in Spain, these bottles are for Les Tropeziennes flavoured waters. Again, I'm curious to what the Beach would taste like! (or maybe its just great photography?)
I looked up Les Tropezienne and was surprised to find they are actually an Italian Accessories label, they aren't actually a part of the Food and Drink industry! I can see the influence in the stylized high end bottle, but it surprised me anyways. It's definitely a different approach than Vitamin Water or Crystal Light! The design suggests they weren't trying to reach out to anyone other then their fashionista clientele, but still more everyday then the designer Evian bottles we've seen in the past.
Wallpaper* Magazine is launching a new line of Handmade products! Designed by some of the worlds leading designers, the collection has everything from furniture, foodstuff, jewelery and fashion! There are some interesting things in the collection, check them out!
These pieces are a part of Nervous System's new collection, which explores a range of botanical patterns by systematically abstracting the cycles of growth and bifurcation seen in plants.
Berti Borrell recreates 1920s era hats with her own original contemporary flair for period millinery design. All of her hats are 100% homemade, hand sewn, hand blocked, hand sculpted using old world techniques and quality materials.
She only sells her products on ebay, so you have to keep watch. Each piece is one of a kind, so if you see something you like, snap it up before someone else does because she won't make another one like it.
Her hats have been featured in Harpers Bazaar and trade magazines, and they often grace the heads of Hollywood.
See below for the ones that caught my eye from her summer collection:
(Photos used with Berti's permission)
Thanks Berti for the inspiration. Can't wait to see the custom hat you are making me. I will have to do a follow up blog to show it off.
Wallpaper.com has a great post up about Brazilian jewellery and one particular designer, Antonio Bernardo, caught my eye (though they were all beautiful pieces!) for his beautiful modern and architectural pieces. A lot of his pieces revolve around a theme of "interlocking" and in particular I loved his rings.
I don't know what you could fit in there, but I just love the idea behind this ring!! Its called Mr. Chapman's Secret
I just bought an iPhone recently so I've started paying attention to all the accessories you can buy for it. I've discovered you can even buy designer accessories! British fashion label Mulberry has a line specifically designed for Apple products. My favourite is this hot pink case for the iPhone:
Diesel is celebrating its 30th birthday on Friday and in celebrating this they have launched a website and are releasing a pair of jeans for one day only to mark the event.
The Jeans will be called 30 (XXX) and will be released only in certain flag ship stores and on their official website. They are a take off of a regular style with a custom wash and custom details with the XXX and 1978-2008 dates on them.
They big deal about the whole thing is that they are releasing them dirt cheap compared to their normal brand. The average price for a pair of jeans is $160 and these will be released all over Europe for $30(insert your currency).
Here in Canada I think I figured out a way to get them without leaving the comfort of our office for the sum of $50 + Shipping!
