The Swissmade limited edition (set of 200) AM1 (€990) watch stands as the firstborn of the AM series. Its curves are a tribute to the eponymous style of the Sixties: simple, elegant with nuances of attitude and swagger. The AM1 subtly and successfully twists the past and present aesthetic codes of watchmaking. I totally fell in love with the wood style dial and its silver indexes. And did I already mention the screwed case back encrusted with a pretty cool Shelby Cobra logo? Nope, now you know! ❚

Apolis worked with expert local leather craftsmen to create this beautiful handmade camera strap ($98), perfect for your vintage film camera, or to bring some warmth to your digital camera. The strap can be adjusted for carrying a camera around your neck or over your shoulder and is composed of 100% USA sourced materials. Additionally, each strap is cut, riveted and assembled within miles of the Apolis headquarters in Los Angeles. ❚

Nocturne by Tiane Doan na Champassak.

Nocturne by Gert Jochems.

Nocturne by Olivier Pin-Fat.

Nocturne by Daisuke Yokota.

A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by the night. Wikipedia writes that “the name nocturne was first applied to pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemble piece in several movements, normally played for an evening party and then laid aside … Nocturnes are generally thought of as being tranquil, often expressive and lyrical, and sometimes rather gloomy, but in practice pieces with the name nocturne have conveyed a variety of moods.”

The images above are from AM projects. AM primarily means ‘After Midnight’, but it can also refer to ‘a.m’ (ante meridiem or before midday). AM projects is set up by independent photographers as a space to manifest themselves internationally as a likeminded group via jointly curated exhibitions and publications.’

The projects consists of Aaron McElroy, Daisuke Yokota, Ester Vonplon, Gert Jochems, Olivier Pin-Fat and Tiane Doan Na Champassak. ❚

Nocturne by Aaron McElroy.

Nocturne by Ester Vonplon.

‘get addicted to …’ is the wildcard to make your day just a little better and a mixture and metamorphosis of creative culture. Together with a number of writers, we continue to influence both online media and printed press on the direction of new media and digital arts.

We love researching, writing, editing, and curating ‘get addicted to …’ GAT takes over 250 hours a month to curate and edit, between the blog, Twitter and Facebook. If you find any joy and stimulation in it, we’d greatly appreciate a modest donation — whether you can afford $5 or $500 we will put you on our ‘Medal of honor’ list. All your donations go to GAT, for development and to continue to bring you great content.

OR, because we believe a loyalty-driven ‘I Support Creativity’ model is the future of publishing, support us with a monthly ‘Subscription’ of $10:

Cable wires in Bangkok by Peter Nitsch for WeTransfer.

The photography of GAT co-founder Peter Nitsch of a cable wire in Bangkok is up on WeTransfer! This photo is dedicated to the electricity and telecommunications cables in Bangkok that seems to carry on their own  uncontrolled and chaotic lives above the heads of passers-by. At the same time those cables seem to have virtually unlimited possibilities …

An aspect of everyday business culture is about sending files, sometimes really big files. For those who don’t know, since its beginning end of 2009, WeTransfer have delivered more than 100 million files to people in just about every corner of the world for free. WeTransfer is a free platform in transferring large digital files up to 2GB per transfer from A to B. Hassle free. You can transfer any type of file – such as presentations, photos, videos, music, documents and more. Or if you own a company for just $120 a year, you’ll get your own personalised transfer service, advertisement free.

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs, 1996 Wired Interview.

We truly love WeTransfer for its simplicity. As the headlines says, it’s the easy way to send big files in style, try yourself here. We use it daily … ❚

In the following you’ll find our tuesday design link pack for your consideration … have fun exploring. Hopefully you’ll have just discovered one or two subscription-worthy design sites. ❚

100for10 (source image/background above)
300million
A List Apart
Ace Jet 170
AisleOne
Anagrama
Brain Pickings
Brand New
Creative Review
Daniel Gray
Design Observer
Design Notes
Design Taxi
I Love Typography
ideasonideas
ISO50
kottke.org
Lovely Package
Quipsologies
Ryan Tym
Subtraction
Sterling Brands: The 3rd Button
The Crossed Cow
Thorsten Konrad
The Dieline
things to look at
Type for you.
Typographica
Unit Editions

Will Design For Money ($16) is part of some witty typography tees by Words Brand that make you look awesome. WDFM is a pure designer tee. Whether you’re “free” lance or on staff, wear your art on your sleeve with this seemingly obvious but often overlooked truism. Or if you’re prefer to stay in perpetual beta ($16), let everyone know you’re still “working out the kinks” with this pretty good excuse for just about anything. ❚

Leaving Gaza by photographer Andrew McConnell documents the now 23 surfers – each with their own surfboard and others who borrow boards when they can – documenting their life in a region where the common narrative is conflict and daily life is marked by constant struggle surfing offers a means of escape.

“Their Freedom of movement for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip has been so restricted in recent years that the territory is commonly referred to as the “largest open-air prison on earth.” The ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza began in 2007, but a gradual closure of the territory started much earlier, in 1991, during the first Intifada, when Israel cancelled general exit permits for Palestinians living there,” says McConnell.

He continious, that “sporadic closures began in 1993 and a fence was erected around Gaza in 1995. In January 2000, before the second Intifada, an average of 17,635 day labourers crossed from Gaza into Israel everyday. By 2005 that number dropped to 49, today it is zero.”

Equipment is impossible to find in the Gaza Strip so international donors have helped to get boards and wetsuits into the territory and with more resources it is believed the sport could flourish. ❚

With this basic set you’ll get 100 pro backgrounds for just 10 dollars, yeah. This means $1 for each high resolution image!

No matter if you’re a design-minded guru, icon designer, developer, web designer, magazine designer, architect or a “who the hell knows I just need some backgrounds for my iPad” buff, this background set will add some extra pro flavor to your work-life.

100 FOR 10 PRO BACKGROUNDS contains 100 basic backgrounds (784 MB!) ready for print or mobile design in two resolutions: 300 dpi at 5616 x 3744 pixel, perfect for projects that need quality, quality and quality. And low-res images in 72 dpi at 1024 x 683 pixel, perfect for browsing through the images or sending a preview to your art director or client. Included format: jpg. Buy this set directly here. ❚

A plant is a plant is a plant … not exactly! Plants aren’t what they seem to be, they have a identity as well. The Koubachi Wi-Fi plant sensor (€122,60) is an intelligent assistant for optimal plant care – for indoor use – that notifies you via email if your plants need water or fertilizer and perfect for people who are often on-the-go. It measures what matters most to your plant: soil moisture, temperature and light.

What comes first to your mind when you you unpack the red dot design award winner? “It looks like a golf club .” And is this good? “Yes, it’s a subtle form that doesn’t outclass your plant.” It’s simply Swiss understatement – an emphasis has been put on the use of high quality and long lasting materials as well as an elegant, smooth and honest design that seamlessly blends with the plants’ environment. Simply speaking, the perfect mix.

“Wait, did you say €122,60 for a plant sensor? And what if you have more than one plant?” Well, you can switch the sensor from plant to plant anytime. After a few days, the system has adjusted to a new plant. This way you will re­ceive pre­cise care instructions, even for those plants that currently have no sensor!

Access your plants on the iPhone or Web App, always and everywhere. Notifications, advices and alarms are directly sent to you, through push-notifications on your iPhone or by email. All your data, plants and settings are fully syn­chro­nized to the Koubachi Cloud and thus always up-to-date on all devices!

The plant care models used within the Koubachi were developed by leading scientists at ETH Zurich and tested and verified in many ex­pe­ri­ments in greenhouses for over 18 months. And the sensor itself if generally maintenance free.

It takes some time to setup – you have to register the sensor online – and understand the configuration of the Wi-Fi plant sensor, but once these steps are done Koubachi is certainly the best and most joyful way to care for your plants. Give your plant a voice! ❚

In contrast to other cabinets, the drawers of “growing cabinet” by German industrial designer Yi-Cong Lu are located on the side. By pulling the drawer, extra space evolve, which can be use as a temporary storage if needed. This kind of interaction makes it a “living” object, that changes its shape and size according to its usage. The material used is plywood, MDF, steel and PU-finish, while its size is 150 x 85 x 35 and 150 x 145 x 35 when extracted. ❚

Radical Sitting, Hidden Experiments in Seating Furniture 1900 – 1990

 is an illustrated curated “source book” by Okolo including timeline of some of the lesser known, but really interesting experiments in the seating furniture designed during the 20th century. The project was created for SEATS 05 exhibition at Depot Basel. The book includes Carlo Bugatti, Paul Henningsen, Henry Glass, Franco Albini, Rudolf Schindler, Hans Brockhage, Gastone Rinaldi, Pedro Friedeberg, Paul Rudolph, Georges Laporte, Peter Opsvik, Boris Tabacoff and many others.

For this photo-shooting Okolo have teamed up with photographer Jaroslav Moravec and Prague-based Vitra showroom, “where we have shot this series of pictures including beautiful Vitra chairs miniatures. The result are surrealistic still lives where miniature chairs create compositional background for lesser known icons of the 20th century design, this time in the form of our publication only. Maybe sometimes, they will have their own miniatures too,” explains Matej Cincera. ❚

Will this be the future of monochrome digital photography? One can’t ignore that countless iconic black-and-white photographs have been shot with the legendary cameras of the Leica M-System. But will the Leica M Monochrom ($8.000), a black and white only camera with the same body style as the M9, really make the cut? Leica’s niche consumer base is already specific.

It is the first full-frame, 35 mm format digital camera to be designed exclusively and without any compromises for black-and-white photography. It delivers ‘true’ black-and-white images in unrivalled sharpness and dynamic range – the very special sensor inside the new camera is 18 mp, offering fine grain images up to its max ISO of 10.000, a 2.5-inch LCD, a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec, SD/SDHC storage – this makes the M Monochrom the perfect camera for anyone with a passion for black-and-white photography. ❚

We have seen a lot of alarm clocks, but nothing says morning like a piece of toast jumping in a toaster. With that in mind, Day Maker (est. $180) , a bedside phone charger/alarm hub, lets you know it’s time to rise and shine with a little added spring from your phone alarm. And if you’re not quite ready to face the day, snooze on effortlessly by pushing your little slice of digital heaven back into its tray. A playful device coupled with a crisp and simple aesthetic. #Wishlisted ❚

Carmelaine Antonio, born in 1990, is a graphic designer based in the Philippines. As you can see in this free downloadable Wallpaper above for Kuvva she loves and finds joy in playing with shapes, lines and mixing 3d objects to create interesting abstract forms. Her interests include photography, advertising, print, Illustration, typography and now she also started to learn motion graphics. She gets inspired by landscapes, people with different lifestyles and by capturing emotions. ❚

… this is just the beginning of something new, a great magazine project by designer Stefan Trifan about Art, Culture and Fashion. At a time when large media groups are dissolving and cohorts of prophets are trumpeting the arrival of a fully digital world, to talk about and to propose a new publication in an utterly uncertain context seems foolish, nonsensical — even absurd. C4US – Creative For Us collect the best projects and designs in Romania – a natural gesture of normalcy in a much too noisy landscape, where references and values are deeply disturbed, where calm, balanced and informed discourse is often sidelined by shrillness.

“C4US was born naturally, out of a need, just like a living, breathing organism, at the right moment and in the right age, with and for people who believe that Romania has a mark to make in a European and international context, betting firstand foremost on creativity and innovation, excellence and performance. C4US is an open, relaxed space, where articulated, aesthetically valid, confirmed and competitive messages are heard alongside young, ambitious voices with potential for greatness in the near future. C4US explores creative ideas and personalities, well established or less known, from the most diverse fields (finearts, dance, literature, fashion, design, architecture, music etc.), postulating that modern man’s innovation and creativity are surprising in their shape and in their space of manifestation,” explains Trifan.

C4US is only taking its firststeps, but the theme of the first issue is The End. Never have more troubling words been said about the end than now. The End contains us, makes us whole and shapes our idea about the so—called final dialogue, a new beginning.

Right now the first issue is available only in Romania, but soon will be able to buy from App Store and very soon available for shipping worldwide. ❚

Hammarhead is widely known for their motorcycles. Knowing the bike industry HH released the Hammarhead Day Pack ($290), which “resulted from our search for a minimal bag suitable for riding and capable of holding the tools of modern life.” Constructed from waterproof waxed cotton, black leather and parachute hardware, the backpack features a roll top closure and the interior sleeves for a 15″ laptop, iPad, and Kindle. This day pack is perfect for the daily commute or weekend ride. Honor the past but never look back! Yeah. ❚

52Aces ($28) is a deck consisting of 52 extremely different cards. The basic idea behind this playing cards by Zeixs is to have each of these cards individually designed by an international designer or illustrator in their distinct style. The unique ensemble, in which a variety of illustrations in many styles come together to form an interesting compendium, is presented in high-quality packaging and sold in a limited edition of 999 copies. ❚

Thai Muang, Thailand.

Khao Sok National Parc, Thailand.

Whilst staying in the south of Thailand, German photographer Andrea Altemüller would often take long walks in an ancient pine forest to be found close to a temple. “During my walks, the forest would always feel other wordly, somehow dream-like in my perception. I set about to capture this quality with my camera, an inspiration that, unknown to me at that time, was to develop into my new series forests. One year later I mentioned the charm of the forest to Khemajaro, a monk that lives and meditates in the temple. His response, given with a smile, was that this same forest has been a burial ground in former times,” explains Altemüller.

Back in Germany, still present to the deep impact that the forest in Thailand had left upon Altemüller, she embarked on a journey to discover forests that were also magical and surreal, that conjured up the fairy tales – like Hänsel and Gretel and Little red riding hood that had influenced me deeply in my childhood.

Altemüller explains further, “Since I can remember, I have always loved and felt drawn to forests, finding them a perfect place to reconnect to myself whilst also replenishing my energies and inspiration. This series is, in many ways my endeavour to express my respect and gratefulness.” ❚

Fazenda Pinhal, São Carlos, Brazil.

Lake Starnberg, Germany.

Lake Ammersee, Germany.

How to promote a tattoo studio? Serviceplan Campaign 3 developed a poster and making of video that impressively shows the bavarian tattoo artists’ skills. The Chaos Crew tattoo studio is well known in Munich and far beyond its city limits. “Just as tattoo motives tell countless stories, we interwove the most important events of 2011 into one huge tattoo. History was tattooed onto calfskin to promote the art of tattooing in its most authentic form – on real skin,” is inked on their website. The Chaos Crew Tattoo Studio gets history under your skin. ❚

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Liquid Time by designer Andy Kurovets is a wristwatch that interprets Salvador Dali’s melting clock in The Persistence of Memory in a modern way. The watch utilizes two LCD screens specially crafted to fit the watch “melting” the time in form of typography with counting numbers. The truth is, time is an illusion! The future is now! ❚

In this photography series Explosion by Joschi Herczeg and Daniele Kaehr, the artistic duo create light illusions using highly complex pyrotechnics. They built a custom-made detonator, which is connected to the cameras and synchronized to snap a photo at the very moment of the explosion.

Their bio describes, “In this way, they were able to capture motion and time in a split second of an explosion. Their fascination lay in making order out of chaos and freezing an ephemeral creation; each image is like a chance sculpture – the artists themselves were uncertain of the shape, colour and size they would form. The explosions take place in a domestic setting to play upon feelings of anxiety and unrest.” ❚

Alex Steed, Cornish, Maine.

Rosy Ngo & Plum Vagnetti, Brooklyn, New York.

Kyle Durrie (in Type Truck), Brooklyn, New York.

Photographer Tanja Hollander is interested in how we define friendship and who we let into our private yet very public online lives. So she’s set out to make portraits of all of her Facebook friends (626 when she started the project) in their homes, which are scattered around the country and the world.

What started out as a personal documentary on friendship and environmental portraiture has turned into an exploration of American culture, relationships, generosity and compassion, family structure, community building, story telling and meal sharing, the economy and class, our relationship to technology & travel in the 21st century, social networking, memory, and the history of the portrait. Following in the footsteps of the FSA photographers and Robert Frank she has out to see America and to record how our society uses photography, the portrait social media to create and define our existence.

It’s an intimate act to photograph and be photographed, and to have an outsider in your home bearing a camera. Along the way, Hollander is blogging about the people she meets, the food she eats, and the sights she sees. ❚

Pinball Magic is a free iPhone game with a realistic pinball machine accesory ($34.99) with folding legs for easy transport storage.

Just like the classic cabinets only smaller, Pinball Magic game is a time machine that recreates classic arcade pinball action on your iPhone or iPod touch.  Side mounted flipper buttons, realistic pinball ball-launching plunger and even a credit/select button immerse you in the pinball game play while the oscillating LED beacon and animated backbox set the stage to show your pinball wizard skills!

Works with the free Pinball Magic game app to create realistic, challenging and engaging game play bringing a portable arcade experience. ❚

If we speak about Teckell we speak about the reinterpretation of the table sport of football by designer Adriano Design. Take for example the Intervallo ($TBA), a coffee table with attitude and an interlude to think things over, to see the world from another perspective, and to elaborate new tactics, before getting back into the game. On the whole, life is one continuous game, and we are its team players.

Its style, harmonious and refined, achieves a perfect balance making Teckell a revolutionary adaptation of the traditional foosball table. ❚

Since Facebook has bought Instagram for nearly a billion dollars in cash and stock, many users, bloggers, economy experts have thought Instagram could build its first real photo camera. Imagine to pick the Instagram App icon and now imagine it as real camera. This is the main idea of ADR Studio at the base of Instagram Socialmatic Concept. A social camera with 16 GB mass storage, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, optical zoom, webcam apps, QR Code capturing, LED flash, internal printer, 4:3 touchscreen and 2 main lenses with possibility to put on some 3D filters.

With the integrated printer you could print out your photography directly on Instagram Paper Sheets. Every Instagram printed photo reports your Instagram nickname and a QR code on the frontside.

The Paper Sheets have a retro touch with a glue strip, just like a post-it. On the bottom of your printed photo you will have a dedicated space to write something on your own, like on the old Polaroid photos. Photo-it, emotion-it, print-it and finally post-it. One day Socialmatic could be the first Instagram photo camera. ❚

Leonardo’s genius is revealed in the ‘Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy’ app  ($13.99) for iPad. Lost to the world for over 400 years these ground-breaking drawings are brought to the iPad screen. Martin Clayton, Curator at Windsor Castle, tells the story behind Leonardo’s life-long ambition and reveals the mind of a scientist centuries ahead of his time.

The app includes interactive 3D anatomical models, pinch-zoom functionality and interviews with experts on Leonardo’s work and the history of medicine. It even allows users to reverse and translate the thousands of notes made by the artist in his distinctive mirror writing, direct from the pages of his notebooks.

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The publisher provides the background story to the app as the following: “Long recognised as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Leonardo was also one of the most original and perceptive anatomists of his or any other time. He intended to publish his work in a treatise that would have transformed European knowledge of anatomy. But on Leonardo’s death in 1519, the drawings remained among his private papers and were effectively lost to the world until the 20th century. The pages from his notebooks were pasted into albums by the artist’s successors, and one of the albums, containing all of Leonardo’s surviving anatomical studies, arrived in England in the 17th century. It was probably acquired by Charles II and has been in the Royal Collection since at least 1690.”

Martin Clayton, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection and author of the app, says: “‘Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomy’ is a fantastic way to explore some of the most amazingly detailed and accurate anatomical drawings of all time in the most minute detail. Leonardo would have been fascinated by modern medical imaging and I think would have embraced the way in which this app brings his drawings to life.” ❚

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Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine (Melvin the Machine or simply Melvin for friends) is a Rube Goldberg machine that has an online identity as well. “When we built our first Melvin late 2010, we built it BIG because it needed to entertain loads of people all at once. After its initial (online) succes, a lot of people, companies and festivals enquired about its availability to do a show. After some phone calls and e-mails back and forth the conclusion was always the same: Melvin was simply too big and expensive to rebuild,” writes HEYHEYHEY studio. That’s why the studio came up with the idea of building a ‘travel’ version of Melvin.

Each time Melvin fully completes a run, he ‘signs’ a postcard and sticks a stamp to it – making it ready to be sent. As soon as Melvin is set up for a run, he starts gathering geographical data, which he uses to determine where he is in the world. And not only does Melvin map where he is, he also takes pictures of his surroundings and the people he meets – pretty much like a real tourist or traveler.

What is a model release form worth? This one page document can provide you peace of mind, legal protection and increase revenue for your work. Usually this is some extra time of work on your tight photography schedule. But there are some good news: No more paperwork, yeah!

If you’re a professional photographer, streamlining your model and property releases on-the-go will be a great advantage that will save you lots of time on location and back in the office. iRelease ($ 8.49) by Fullframe photographics is a total solution that seamlessly integrate with your professional workflow. Further this app for iPhone and iPad gives you the freedom of customizing your releases with your logo or own text.

Simply type in the models or property details, get them to sign the screen and take their photo. The app automatically creates a digital model release from – you can choose from this templates here – saves a copy to your device and syncs the form to your free online account. You can even email directly to yourself and your model from the application. #Bought ❚

The Capta ($34.99) is a versatile smartphone tripod mount accessory combining the features of a tripod mount, a phone stand, and a cable management system. It’s for those who take smartphone photography a little more seriously than others.

The tripod’s specially formulated pad sticks to the back of your phone for a secure hold at any angle. To remove your phone simply twist it off. Great for use as a desk stand or Video chats. For a simple stand just lean your phone against Capta and use for watching movies or a desk clock. The cable groove manages your cables while charging/synching your phone or cables can be wrapped securely around Capta when in transit. Attach any accessory with a 1/4-20 stud to Capta’s threaded hole such as a tripod for steady video and photos or attach a suction cup mount for GPS. The possibilities are endless.

The specially formulated pad of the smartphone tripod mount was tested in extreme conditions to ensure a strong secure grip. The pad leaves no residue, requires simple care and you can protect with the cover when not in use. ❚