A Highly Satisfying Sofa.

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All images © de Sede.

This sofa would make the category of Best! for me. Peoples’ views, ideas, and feelings about furniture are near endless, and highly individual. I don’t like furniture much, it makes me restless. My idea of necessary furniture is a drawing table and chair. Then again, I’m also good with spreading out all over the floor, provided it isn’t crowded with furniture. I’m seldom happy with any configuration of furniture in a room, so the less there is, the better for me. Which brings me to this couch:

The innovative sofa DS-1025 by Swiss design company de Sede reminds us of mountainous ridges relocated to a living room. The furniture consists of two ingenious elements that can be arranged in different ways, resulting in a classic double-seater, a seating-pyramid or a small atrium. Designer Ubald Klug works as an interior decorator and designer in Paris and is known for his remarkable textile design. Klug says: “For me, innovation is all that counts.”

If you click over to iGNANT, you can see the nine different ways this sofa can be put together, and changed from one to the other at any time, for a different look and feel to your sofa. Or it can be split into four very comfy chairs. This is furniture after my own heart, one that caters to restless creativity, and is easily conformable to mood or activity. Awash with curiosity, I clicked over to de Sede, and looked at all their sofas. Oh! Go look, and be sure to mouse over all of the photos – many of their sofas are configurable and some have moving parts! They are all a delight, and there isn’t one I’d turn down.

José Manuel Castro López.

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Magical work, truly. Work that shifts your perception, and that’s a hallmark of great and grand art.

Stone-cold is probably the worst metaphor to describe the work of Galician sculptor José Manuel Castro López. His soft stone sculptures are dripping and dynamic, transcending the usual notions of tactility and rigidity. The forms look as though they’re made of sponge, clay, or even skin, but really he uses hard materials like quartz and granite to play tricks on the viewer. He makes one question the laws of nature. With simple pinches, swirls, and gaps, he breathes life into the hard, previously unforgiving stone.

According to the artist, stone and its properties are often mythologized in Galician culture. Inspired by this, he finds that his work is more impacted by magic than technique: “It is not the sculptor who acts, but the wizard, the druid,” he tells The Creators Project, “My relationship with the stone is not physical, but magical. It recognizes me, it obeys me…we understand each other. My stones are not lifeless. They manifest themselves.”

You can see much more at The Creators Project, or José Manuel Castro López’s facebook.

A Seasonal Art.

Coooooookies! Beautiful Cookies, from Giliell. There’s nothing quite like this culinary art to cheer people up. Click for full size.

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© Giliell, all rights reserved.

What you can see here are:
-Zimtwaffeln (cinnamon waffers)
-Stritzgebackenes (don’t ask me to translate that)
-Chocolate buttons
-Mini mulled wine cakes
-mulled wine wreaths
-peppernuts
-walnut and salted caramel cookies
-cardamom orange wheels
-sugar cookies
Not shown: Stollenkonfekt

Zero Gravity Space Art, And You Can Be A Part!

The Creators Project follows Israeli artist Eyal Gever on his mission to create a sculpture in space.  We see how Gever and his team, in collaboration with a special project team at NASA, explore what it means to be human through zero gravity and 3D computer technology. We get an inside look at the complications the artist and scientists face in selecting an everlasting subject and how to create the actual artwork in space. It’s a most ambitious endeavor for mankind. Gever lands on the importance and delight of human laughter and figures out how to make sound sculptures to launch into space.

Download the #LAUGH app here: www.laugh.ai/download.

Description

– Create a #Laugh star with just the sound of your voice
– Vote for your favourite star to be created in space
– Hurry! You have until midnight on the 31st December 2016 to get the most ‘likes’ and have your star 3D-printed in space, aboard the International Space Station!

Find out more here: www.laugh.ai

“The earliest cave paintings were of human hands which were a way of proclaiming and celebrating the presence of humanity. #Laugh will be the 21st century version of that, a mathematically-accurate encapsulation of human laughter, simply floating through space, waiting to be discovered.”

Eyal Gever 2016

This is just too cool for words!

Via The Creators Project.

Imaginary Latvians.

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Much fun here, thanks to rq!

One of the more interesting and unusual Baltic-related sites of recent years has been Imaginary Latvians, started in 2014, a Medium-based project to compile as many references to Latvians in literature and film as possible, and which now has dozens of entries from all over the world. Examples range from imaginary “beautiful, proud and pitiless” witches to imaginary itinerant old men who give out cheques for thousands of dollars, to imaginary mice in Disney films.

Latvian-American Rihards Kalniņš, the chief seeker of imaginary Latvians, recently spoke to Deep Baltic about what he has learnt from the project.

The interview is here, and you can do much reading at Imaginary Latvians.

And Now, Gingerbread!

Courtesy IPCC Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission includes a mini Pueblo building structure in a decorated bowl. Note: The submission is entirely edible.

Courtesy IPCC
Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission includes a mini Pueblo building structure in a decorated bowl. Note: The submission is entirely edible.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s 8th Annual Gingerbread House Contest is its most successful to date, with more than 70 submissions by adults and children.

The contest was judged last week by prominent Pueblo artists and elders, as well as leaders from the Albuquerque community. Winners in both Adult and Children’s categories will be announced on December 14, with a combined $2,500 in prizes to be awarded.

Though the formal and initial voting process is complete, the public is welcome to visit the East Lobby of the IPCC, 2401 12th Street NW, Albuquerque and vote for their People’s Choice Award favorites through January 3. The People’s Choice Award is sponsored by Isleta Resort and Casino. Winners will be announced on January 5.

Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission (courtesy IPCC).

Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission (courtesy IPCC).

 

Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission (courtesy IPCC).

Pueblo Gingerbread House Contest submission (courtesy IPCC).

You can read about, and see more at ICTMN.

Exquisite Chemistry.

I don’t have words. There’s such a numinous sense to the birth of these crystals. You can see this video in a much larger size at Aeon.

A project by the Italian chemistry student and photographer Emanuele Fornasier, Crystal Birth features close-up time-lapse photography of electrocrystallisation, a process in which an electrical current running through a chemical solution results in the gradual buildup of metal on an electrode. By carrying out this process over hours or days, depending on the chemicals present in the reaction, Fornasier is able to capture crystals piling on beautifully, layer by layer, in a remarkable synthesis of science and art.

Via Aeon.

Masayuki Kojo: Live Art.

Yesterday, I posted about Masayuki Kojo’s Bujinga Sumi-e. Today, a video of his work being done, live art. This is amazing, wondrous, and purely joyous to watch. The energy of the artist’s chosen music is infectious and you find yourself filled with that energy. I wanted to be right alongside him, painting.

You can also see this at Masayuki Kojo’s website: http://www.macfamily57.com/live-art.

Runaway Bay, Jamaica.

From Saad: This photo was taken over 60 seconds on the coast at Runaway Bay in Jamaica. We also made an unexpected feline friend who decided to keep us company while I was setting up. Fortunately it was in the mood to sit for a portrait. :) Breathtaking! Click for full size.

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© Saad, all rights reserved.

Stocking Stuffers.

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Just a little reminder, if you’re looking for little goodies this Saturnalia, to delight your favourite atheist, happy hedonist, or religious relative, remember Oglaf!*** There are the fabulous tracts, or this nifty Sithrak pin, because you don’t want to go upsetting Sithrak, as he is an insane god for an unjust world:

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as well as many other wonderful goodies. I hafta get that pin. Actually, Dear Santa, I would like the whole Oglaf store… The Oglaf store is here.

***If you are new to Oglaf, never heard of Oglaf, do not open link at work. Lots of naked people, lots and lots and lots of sexy fun times with fully visible genitalia, and a whole lot of irreverence, intelligence, and biting wit, so if you’re sensitive about that sort of thing, don’t click.