Wooden Automatons

Check out these amazing handmade automatons by by Japanese artist, Kazu Harada.
Besides the fact that each one looks beautifully on its own, the mechanism & the action makes them even more wonderfully magical.
I can play with these all day and never get tired it.

Especially this Duck one!!

Also I love the sound of this Matryoshka.

How does this work?? It's KIIIIILING me!!

Hope you have a happy & unproductive weekend watching all of Kazu's videos!

Today's Forcast is Sunny with a Chance of Baby Shower...

Our friends from Piano Nobile just recently added wonderful new member to the group! They just had their baby girl, Clara!! Although she'll take some training to do some printing and welding for them, but soon enough she'll be able to do incredible work just like Isabelle and Nick!
For Isabelle's baby shower, I ended up making a felt baby gift similar to the needle felted pillow I made awhile back.
I wanted to make something for them that they can keep even if Clara gets older.
The stuffed cloud can be hung above the crib and also doubles as a rattle toy....you know so little Clara can play with it or drool on it or watch it float above her head!

And since I'm so felt obsessed anyways, I also made her a pair of high-top felt & leather booty...
with the top folded down...for a more casual look.
the leather bottom & lace
All wrapped up for little Clara!

I'll have more photos of the little one actually wearing the boots soon!

Muji + Lego=Ultimate Fun!

Dear Muji,

Why have you gone and achieved awesomeness yet again? Give the rest of us a chance will ya'?

Seriously though guys...just when I thought legos were about sold-out (star wars, sponge bob, Indiana Jones, etc) you, Muji had to come right along and inject some of that playful simplicity you so soaringly distribute to everything you touch.

The result: a simple set of legos made spectacularly and invariably more interesting via a few sheets of colored paper, a hole punch, and a few basic suggestions. You've managed to remind me exactly why legos were a childhood favorite of mine...it wasn't the razzle-dazzle space ships as much as the endless possibilities of our imaginations.

Oh, but you have failed in one respect where you have also failed in the past: making it easy for an Americans like us to get our hands on your best products. While this product doesn't appear to be available on the US Muji site, it looks to be available on the Japanese one. Why do they torture us like that?!

These brilliant little wonders will be released in Nov 27th in Japan. Would it be crazy if I got a ticket to Japan just to get theses? .......NAH!

via Design Boom

Who do they think they are? Bunch of Socialists?

Found out about this design group awhile back via Core77 called Platform 21.
And guess what? They're Dutch...go figures.
Actually, they're more like a design platform. They're stationed in a crazy Space Odyssey-style chapel in Amsterdam and use the space as their public laboratory where they have design "repair" stations and workshops of all sort, and most importantly, its where people exchange creative knowledge and ideas.
I don't know about you...but they sound like a bunch of Socialists to me! Don't they know that government sponsored design groups, universal health care, and public universities don't work? The whole system is gonna fail and we're gonna be laughing at them from the U.S.of A when that happens......any day now....I can feel it!

Anyways, Platform 21 developed this concept called Repair Manifesto. Their moto "Stop recycling. Start reparing." It's all about repairing what you have....using your creativity.
Sounds a little fishy...I think this is a governement conspiracy to brainwash the people to make them think they're doing something good when in fact they're just trying to use the people for free labor.
Here are the 11 things on the Repair Manifesto: Read it (click photo) and you be the judge. I can't say that I'm totally convinced about this whole repair "manifesto" propaganda.
These chairs have been repaired with duct tape.....clever.....but have they been fully tested? are the child safe? pet safe? dishwasher safe? did they test it by locking bunch of cats in a room with those chairs and see how it holds up after a bunch of cats scratching on it? They failed to address any of that!And here we have cracked walls repaired with Lego blocks (concept by Jan Vormann, I wrote about him last December) You know what this means? This means that they're robbing every child in the Netherlands of their Legos in order do construction repairs for the city!! And look at the poor Asian lady slaving away....she was probably just a tourist that ended up getting forced to work for them! Unbelievable!
This one is just ridiculous....web repair advertisement using yarn on actual spider webs!! I almost died when I saw this. The concept and the story is just way too hilarious. I can just see the spiders getting pissed off waking up with a bunch of words on its web....Ahem, I mean this is serious. The Dutch are so poor that they have to infringe on the resources of a spider for advertisement!Now that you have a clear idea of what life is like in the Netherlands and how grim it is, doesn't it make you appreciate the life you have as an American? They're in such bad shape that they actually have to start using broken objects and repair them! Its just unthinkable!
As Americans we should REALLY be grateful of how privileged we are and how we can afford to buy new things and dispose of them even if they're not broken. The idea that someone has to use their tools, hands, and creativity to fix something is simply unrealistic!
I don't know about you but I got better things to do than fixing something with duct tape and hot glue.
I contribute to the world by educating my readers through my blog about important current issues like this (and few other issues like what awesome thing I got and want)

Sigh...It's only seeing how other parts of the world are suffering is when we realize how lucky we truly are as Americans to be living in the land of Freedom.....oh, and also Bald Eagles, too. They go hand in hand of course.


To the Dutch (if you're American born citizen, DO NOT read this!):
Ahem...Everything I said above about the Dutch and your country was all just an act for my American readers. It's okay, they don't know that both Dylan and I have been to Amsterdam and think it's the BEST place ever! I have to be extra harsh on you guys so we don't seem suspicious and "unpatriotic"...whatever that means.
So we're cool, right? I can go live in your country and hang out with your awesome people anytime, right?
What? No?! WHY NOT?!
GOD!! I'll do anything....I'll repair ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you want me to!!! I just wanna live in Amsterdam!!!! Please just let me live there!!! PLEEEEZE?!!!

M.I.A at Obama's Inauguration? Don't worry!

For those like me who's not fortunate enough to go to DC to witness the history of our lifetime....don't worry....we have another chance to be part of it!! Thanks to the world famous building block toy company....ANYONE can go to Legoland California to witness and be part of Obama's inauguration (Via Telegraph) Lego-style! You'll get the best view...literally!! (you know..since you'll be 20 times bigger and all..)This amazing detailed installation shows LEGO Obama, LEGO Michelle, LEGO Joe, LEGO Jill on the center stage along with handful of famous people and hundreds of excited LEGO American citizens at the magnificent 7-ft tall LEGO Capitol building!! If LEGO haven't proved themselves that they're still awesome...well...they are..and they just did. If only they can actually manufacture the Obama/Biden set along with star wars and Harry Potter ones...I'd get a set.And then there's Oprah.....hiding behind the columns for some odd reason. I'm imagining LEGO Oprah balling and trying no to smear her mascara at the same time. (but is it just me or does she look a little creepy standing there in that photo?)OH! Look! they even made porta-potties for the LEGO people..how thoughtful!! Although the LEGO people doesn't even realize that they're totally missing the inauguration as they're waiting in line!!....ooh..they're gonna be PISSED when they go back and realized they missed the whole historical event while using the porta-potties covered in LEGO crap!

This amazing installation will only be up till May of this year! So, better make it there soon, so you too, can shake hands with LEGO Obama!

Happy Obama Inauguration day!! WOOT WOOT!!

Unlimited Fun Blocks!

Found this via Tas-Ka blog. Love this set of colorful wooden blocks. Look at all the possibilities! you can make funny faces to snakes to birds to dogs...anything! I want it for myself to play with all day!

Designed by Zoe Miller and David Goodman
They have series of beautiful photos of objects, textures, colors, and beyond. A total feast for the eyes.

FUNtastic Legos!

A friend brought this artist installation using legos by Jan Vormann to my attention the other day. I just love this brilliant use of these bright colorful plastic Legos to to fill in between ancient bricks on the side of the buildings around Italy and Israel. What an unexpected way to incorporate these legos. The contrast of color, material, purpose, and association between the bricks and the legso are virtually the polar opposite. Yet, it seem as if that's where the Legos should live all along...just perfect.

Project Lost&Found...by moi, from Seattle

Wooden building blocks + Painted white plastic animals

=Wooden school, house, and barn building blocks on my windowsill with bunch of plastic white animal figurines lined up behind!!

From: Seattle, Washington
Why building blocks?? I've always been obsessed with wood things and toys, and those two things combined makes me very happy....VERY happy...as if I'm a kid again. I can be happy with these simple basic toys. So happy that I don't even care whether I have a Wii, the Harry Potter Lego set, or the newest Bratz dolls (those things are absolutely appalling in every way)...what can I say....I'm a simple person who appreciates simple wooden toys.
-Jean
p.s. There's a folder on flickr dedicated to the whole project(click link for information) so as more people submit you can see more stories. So it won't just be about me anymore....thank goodness, because I'm starting to run out of materials!...that's actually a lie, because I can always talk about food!