Dinosaurs and Robots

Damascus Security Gloves

2012-01-25T20:18:00.000-08:00

"All my children shall have minibikes"

2012-01-25T10:28:00.000-08:00

Our buddy Coop glimpses the future. Look at the boots.

Hand Lettering

2012-01-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

Spotted at estate sale.

For Those About to Rock

2012-01-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

How long until this ends up in the Bonhams' Street Art auction?

Moby Dick Typed On Toilet Paper

2012-01-23T16:41:00.001-08:00

According to the all caps eBay listing, this copy of Herman Melville's Moby Dick was typed onto six rolls of 2-ply Cottonelle toilet paper for the noblest of reasons: to win a bet.

But ours is really, really not to wonder why, just to wonder.

Moby Dick on toilet paper, opening bid ~~399.95~~ $999.95, auction ends Jan. 29 [ebay]

The Europallet By Bunker Hill

2012-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

Swedish architect Daniel Franzen conceived of this low table, made of high-grade Swedish pine in the exact dimensions of a shipping pallet, a couple of years ago, while working on a pine-clad hipster store in Stockholm.

Supposedly, it finally went into production last year, but I can't find any evidence of it. So I guess we are all left to make our own. Maybe make a stack of them, because that's a pretty low table.

Europallet: Low table in Swedish pine [bunkerhill.se]

1950s Mobil Coin-Operated Pegasus Ride

2012-01-14T16:01:00.000-08:00

While Mobil's friendly full-service men are busy filling your tank, cleaning the windows, checking the tires and sweeping your car's floor with a hand-sized whisk broom, you're free to stretch your legs, purchase cigarettes and enjoy hot coffee in a paper cup, complimentary at the cashier. If you're traveling with a little one, why not treat him or her to a ride on the famous Mobilgas winged Pegasus!

Yeah, is this beautiful or what? Reportedly only five were ever made.

Mobil Coin Operated Pegasus Ride

1956 Mobil Station, Anaheim, Calif.

2012-01-07T16:51:00.000-08:00

The Mobil gas station that was once located across the street from Disneyland was a marvel of mid-century design by Whitney Smith and Wayne Williams. With the giant floating canopies balanced precariously on spindles, underneath a fire-engine red flying Pegasus, the station was an eye-catching roadside masterpiece - even catching the eye of famed architectural photographer Julius Shulman. Do we need to even mention that it's long gone now?

Anaheim's Magnificent Mobil Station

Biggest Ollie Ever

2012-01-04T08:15:00.001-08:00

Aaron "JAWS" Homoki - OLLIE from Birdhouse on Vimeo.

Jaws

Immaculate Frank Lloyd Wright House for $578,500

2012-01-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Well, if you just bought an Echo Park fixer, this should leave you with an upset stomach. An extraordinary - but modest in scale - FLW house sold for $578,500.

Striking design created with modest materials and modest craftsmanship. Those visible screw holes filled with putty makes me feel better and worse about everything I have ever built.

At Wright's (via Wallpaper*)

Fuji Pavilion Bank

2012-01-01T16:26:00.001-08:00

The pavilions in Osaka's Expo '70 were toyishly futuristic enough without being turned into actual toys.

Here's a little plastic bank in the shape of Fuji Bank's pavilion, which was made from sixteen 4m x 72m pneumatic tubes, lashed together with 50cm-wide webbing, designed by Yutaka Murata and engineered by Mamoru Kawaguchi.

富士グループパビリオン/富士銀行貯金箱 [yahoo jp auctions]
Expo 70 Fuji Group Pavilion [tensinet.com]

Wood Prototype of Airplane Engine

2011-12-23T11:26:00.001-08:00

Does it have valves? Compression? Are the spark plugs threaded in? Was it a true functional prototype to test some aspect of performance or is it (more likely) a teacher's model?

Aluminum British [?] Officer's Furniture

2011-12-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

yeah, "some" scratches. I'd call that hammered aluminum, but still:

Lot 451
Officer's Armoire and Bed
Aluminum
England, first half 20th century
Rectangular form armoire with cut corners and single door, interior fitted with a clothing pole, Bakelite handle; rectangular head and footboard with bed rails; some scratches and dents; ht. 71 3/4, 36 1/2, wd. 39 1/8, 57 1/4, armoire dp. 18, rail spacing 52 1/4 in.
Estimate $1,200-1,800
Sold for $3,437

"Officer's Armoire and Bed"? Officer of what awesome aluminum army? [via skinner auctions]

Sign Painter Movie

2011-12-16T16:22:00.001-08:00

As an aficionado of hand lettering, I am extremely interested in Faythe's new sign painter documentary. Having known a number of sign painters, they are categorically an interesting bunch and should make for an interesting documentary.

John Downer with his sandwich board Halloween costume, which, is pretty cool and all, but look at that $15 a hour sign behind him. My goodness.

Whew. That is serious work.

Doc Guthrie's class at LA Trade Tech makes me feel better about the world.

Follow the movie's progress

Support the film and order a shirt here

Support Your Local Sign Painter

2011-12-16T16:21:00.000-08:00

John Downer with his sandwich board Halloween costume, which, is pretty cool and all, but look at that $15 a hour sign behind him. My goodness.

Whew. That is serious work.

Doc Guthrie's class at LA Trade Tech makes me feel better about the world.

Follow the movie's progress

Support the film and order a shirt here

Gary Graham Dress

2011-12-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

Gary Graham

Alec Baldwin Kicked Off Plane; Carrying J. Spade

2011-12-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

I believe that Alec Baldwin and I carry the same bag. Beyond that, other coincidences? Maybe.

From Spade

House for Hermès

2011-12-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

I am so pleased with this collaboration that I welled up. Seriously, I am so proud of our boys from Delaware.

Mickey Drexler noted in his New Yorker profile, Hermès was the only brand that he could think of that delivered on the luxury promise. Hermès is one of my favorite brands even though I don't own a single item from their storied line. And crazypants House is a perfect fit. Who else would Hermès Japan pick to work with?

Interestingly, lots of current House collaborations seem to be Japan based. To risk a cultural stereotype, I truly believe that the Japanese have a handle on understanding the core value of products and brands.

Often, companies embarrass themselves when they do a retro take and miss the point. It ends up being a pastiche and points out in Technicolor that they never understood the value in the first place. It is a risk they probably don't understand. They could have done an original bad design and the only harm would have been bad design. Not a crime as there is plenty of bad design. I'm guilty of bad design.

But, to mess with a classic and get it wrong, that harms their company and throws mud on the original. Sure, that Saarinen chair is perfect and untouchable in a pure world, but you can only see so many knock-offs without influencing the original.

Hermès has the daunting job of redefining their own classics. They have over a hundred and fifty years of superlative taste and exquisite craftsmanship. And when the Japanese store needs the best, they get the best. That's why I am so proud of my brothers at House.

"...when we make and sell something in Japan, it has to be REAL, or else the buyer isn't truly satisfied." -- James Jebbia, founder Supreme

House for Hermès

A-Frame Doll House

2011-12-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

A perfect gift for the cool kids on your Christmas list: a miniature mountain lodge you can build yourself! From Sunset Magazine, December 1961.

Both sides of the roof open out flat on the floor, and fold up for easy storage.

Built of 1/4" plywood, and pine molding, with a sheet of heavy clear plastic for the windows. The roof is painted with one thin coat of brick-red paint, and the shingles are simply drawn in with soft pencil and a T-square. So easy!

Gingerbread Geodesic Dome

2011-12-08T15:04:00.001-08:00

LA design firm Scout Regalia has whipped up a sweet diversion for those of us who like to play with our food. This spin on the traditional gingerbread house is built using a pre-cut template. If Hansel and Gretel had a planetarium, this would be it.

Scout Regalia's Gingerbread Geodesic Dome

President Eisenhower's Partio Kitchen/BBQ Cart

2011-12-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

As if the General Electric Partio wasn't awesome enough for having a portable stove, oven, rotisserie, and charcoal BBQ grill, all in one convenient cart; this one comes from the Palm Springs home of President Eisenhower, who called it "the most fantastic thing you ever saw."

Lot 351: General Electric "Partio Kitchen/BBQ" Cart, est. $5,000-7,000 [lamodern.com]
The Cottage the Eisenhowers Called Home [palmspringslife.com]
more shots of another Partio, NOS, sold [1stdibs.com]

Western Soundscape Archive

2011-11-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

Want to get away from it all, right this very minute?

Digital Archivists Jeff Rice and Kenning Arlitsch, of the University of Utah, are recording the disappearing sounds of the West. Their vast, and still growing, audio collection shares an astounding variety of natural soundscapes, including nature's most endangered sound- silence.

Among my many favorite sounds: Arctic ice cracking, and luxurious -and lengthy- recordings of the Pointe Reyes seashore, and the Hoh River in Olympic National Park. Stunning!

Western Soundscape Archive

Bubblegun

2011-11-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

Robert Pruitt's Bubble Gun-M16

click photo to enlarge

Malcolm Forbes' Queen Victoria Toilet Brush Holder

2011-10-24T04:58:00.001-07:00

Maybe the Guardian is focused on the late Malcolm Forbes' framed assortment of Queen Victoria's stockings and bloomers because Queen Victoria-shaped toilet brush holders are commonplace, the country house water closet equivalent of garden gnomes. It's all news to me.

But I will bet you two shillings and a bob for the driver that those bloomers did not always stay in the frame, if you know what I'm sayin'.

Queen Victoria's bloomers up for auction [guardian]
Lot 418
NOVELTY EARTHENWARE TOILET BRUSH HOLDER moulded in the form of a seated Queen Victoria, Estimate £100-150 [lyonandturnbull.com]
PDF - Sale 338: The Forbes Collection at Old Battersea House [lyonandturnbull.com]

Handlebar Chandelier By Wilfrid Wood

2011-10-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's been really quiet around here lately, but when someone goes to the trouble of making an awesome chandelier out of three bicycle handlebars, what can I do but post it?

Wilfrid Wood's handlebar chandelier was one of many pieces made from everyday stuff in an exhibit at KK Outlet titled Object Abuse. As pretty much the sweetest project there, this one probably sold, for the benefit of some local London school. [via an ambitious project collapsing]

KK Outlet's Object Abuse flickr photoset [flickr]