Thrift is the New Black. - Barry A. Smith

ThisAintNoDisco is a brilliant site (and soon to be book) allowing agencies to flaunt their interior workspaces. I only now heard about the site via Rule29's space submission (my uncharacteristic lateness to the game is a result of more than a little social media burnout). Votes elevate the submissions into subcategories of best looking and most popular, and the site's simple blog like interface makes browsing and drooling a breeze.

A great inspiration if you're looking to spruce up the place, or a downer if not. (I warned you).

I noticed a great deal of vintage sprinkled in and around the IKEA and CB2, which leads me to believe thrift is the new black.

George Nelson Exhibition at Vitra Design Museum

Anyone who reads my blog with any frequency knows I am a Herman Miller and specifically George Nelson admirer. In fact as I watched this video, I felt a real connection with him for the way he thinks, and his passion for the integration of design into all areas of business. He was a lifetime educator in and out of the classroom. He was a leading writer on design. He was also a designer. And an architect. And to me the most value he added to the world at large was his abilities as a thought leader. He was so ahead of his time. I suspect part of what made him successful was Herman Miller's leadership and their desire to have someone of his caliper involved in the decisions of the company. The rest of his success I'm sure can be chalked up to vision, passion, intensity, and a spirit to innovate that I bet was really contagious. Hope you enjoy this video as much as I have.



( via whatwedoissecret )

Modernism101. All the books you've never seen.

Everyone's heard of Rare Air. Well in my estimation, Randall Ross is the Michael Jordan of the Rare Book world. Simply put, his Modernism101 store has the most, and the best jaw dropping rare publications on the business and art of design. Word has it the boys at Grain Edit have some gems too but I can't find where. Randall's breadth and depth of products are amazing. Take for instance the Alexey Brodovitch Portfolio Magazine complete set he has available at the time of this post (or not if this post is old). Don't be shocked at the price. I have seen them for more. But the point is you don't see this stuff come up to auction much.

Since I was about 20, I have been a fan of Brodovitch, Paul Rand, Lester Beal, George Nelson, John Massey, Wim Crouwel and others. Randall either has or has had books by and about these designers as well as nearly everyone and everything else imaginable.

Frankly, he has every rare book you've never seen.

He also does a remarkable job describing the books. You can get a design education reading through his descriptions. This is a big plus to his store in my estimation. He describes his store as:

... an excellent and ever-changing selection of rare and out-of-print design books and periodicals covering all aspects of 20th-century visual culture. I specialize in the areas of Graphic Design, Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design, and Photography

Go to Modernism101 now. You never know what you'll find.

Hotel FOX: Lifestyle Art in Copenhagen

Volkswagon, in conjunction with the launch of their new VW Fox automobile, invited 21 international artists from the fields of graphic design, urban art and illustration to turn central Copenhagen's Hotel Fox into individual works of art—and as a result the world’s most exciting and creative lifestyle hotel. 61 rooms, to be exact. Each room is an individual piece of art. From whacky comical styles to strict graphic design. From fantastic street art and Japanese Manga to simply spaced out fantasies. Flowers, fairytales, friendly monsters, dreaming creatures, secrets vaults and more. Extra Large, Large, Medium and Small rooms. Fun.

( via CJ )