As a designer I go through life looking at most things in terms of colour, logo, shape and style. I read design magazines, online blogs and look at the world around me. I often remember things in terms of the logo that is has on it - 'Oh, you know I like the chocolates with the elephant logo on them (Cote D'Or)' or 'We're doing some work for a university, you know, the one with the stars in their logo'.

So, just in daily life, I often see really great, quirky things that I'd like to own and now I'd like to share them with you because I've realised that not everyone sees the world the same way.... and I thought we needed a bit of fun and a few images in our blog this week.

Breadou computer wrist rests

These are wrist rests that are made from NASA memory foam and look, smell and feel like read bread. I personally own two of these, a french breadstick computer wrist rest and  an emoticon mouse wrist rest. They also smell like freshly baked bread and every time someone new walks into my office, they bring a smile to their face.

Check out the Breadou>

Zip Zip USB sticks
Top of my wanted list are these great USB sticks that look like they're

made of LEGO. These are fun and something different to the usual sleek shiny look of most USBs.

Check out zipzip>

DNA Portraits
I was looking around for artwork for my home and could not find anything I truly liked and then I came across DNA11. This is artwork made from your very own DNA, they send you a vial to spit in, you send it back and they send you your very own DNA in print.  As soon as I saw these, I had to have one and I was the first one in Australia to get one, even before they had figured out how to ship it here. Of course, now, the company's expanded massively and they have a unique range of other products (although I think the original DNA portrait is still the best).

Check out DNA11>

Floppy disk paintings
Remember floppy disks? Those little square plastic coaster type things that held just over a megabyte of data - wow, one would no even come close to fitting a Photoshop file. Well London artist Nick Gentry has been using floppy disks as canvases for his paintings. A small one can use up to 6 disks and larger ones up to 100 disks or more. Interesting that one a few years ago the floppy disk was used everywhere and now computers don't even have disk drives.

Check out Nick Gentry>

Robotic lawnmowers

By the year 2000 we were all going to be flying around in hovercars and robots were going to do all our housework. We would have robot dogs and cats as pets and have meals made of little tablets that you pop in the microwave (of course it wouldn't be a microwave) and out would pop a roast dinner. Well we are getting one step closer with this robot lawn mower. The basics: you sit and read the paper, it mows your lawn. Now, get to work on those hovercars!

Check out the robot mowers>

More than just shoes
Melissa is more than a shoes manufacturer - it is a style icon which "transforms plastic spheres into objects of desire". The company commissions well know artists to create unique shoe collections for the brand which themselves become collectables. Their range of styles is astounding and the product a unique mix of an old object using a new medium. Those Brazilians are clever hey?

Check out Melissa>

PS. You can buy Melissa shoes at Izabel

Until next time, keep dreaming and remember:

"Don't make something unless it is both necessary and useful but if it both, don't hesitate to make it beautiful!" Shaker design philosophy

ML

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Posted in: Zeroseven, Inspiration