Pool Table

Via Contemporist

Yes, a pool table, literally! Check out the mini diving board on the right. Ahh! I just love this. So witty. A coffee table by Freshwest Design at Superbrands London Design Festival. I could totally make room in my living room for this baby.

the more i look...

this is a sweet photo postcard that i found tucked inside a stack of vinyl records at work. it was printed in minocqua, wisconsin by herman the printer... back when postcard stamps were three cents. 1940s? i mean, this is a powerful peak-designed steam locomotive! this particular one did the chicago-milwaukee and st.paul-minneapolis routes. i found a couple other photos of this and other trains here. i've always been at least a little fascinated by trains... their design, their history, and the industry they spurred. the train rides i've taken -- the major ones to the west coast and then also to the east coast from milwaukee... they've been real treats.

via dezeen

this table is crazy. at first, i looked at it and wondered, okay... what? but the more i looked at it, the less i thought about it as a table, as a utilitarian object, and started thinking about it more as a piece of art. it is very suggestive of tendons and ligaments in the body, or blooming florals, or falling water, or tiny intertwined bodies... the more i study it, the more i see and feel the energy in those table legs. and it's just a table! granted, i could see this sitting more effectively in the new modern wing at the art institute of chicago, but it would look pretty awesome with one of my lamps on it too.

the table was designed by pascal smelik, and was devised by pouring hot wax into cold water, creating a mold in the shape of the wax, melting it out, and then pouring in aluminum. modern lost wax casting!

florence & the chairs.

via dezeen

matylda krzykowski, a polish design graduate, created a series of destroyed chairs called "modus operandi" in which she took wooden chairs and destroyed or mutilated them in different ways. it's pretty rockin'. the link above takes you to many photos of all of the chairs. my favorite is, you might guess, the tarred-and-feathered one, but i also love the one that was submerged in a swamp, and the burnt one. check it out at the link above.

i'm a huge fan of pitchfork. i check it out almost daily because a) i find a ton of great stuff on there, and b) their reviews generally agree with mine. except i don't usually pay much attention to the reviews because if i like it, i like it, and then pitchfork can shove it. but for all intents and purposes, pitchfork is fabulo. today i was perusing as usual... about a week ago florence & the machine released the album lungs on island records. SO GREAT. i've gotten hooked on the first listen-through. the video below is "drumming song."