Day after day of sitting and writing at my computer made my body crave standing. Knowing that standing is much healthier than chronic sitting, I’d rigged standing desks in the past but none of them ever seemed quite right. In desperation, I plunked the EverBlock library steps on a terrace table and perched my old 17″ MacBook on it.
Read MoreThe Waiting Wall + Public Platforms for Emotion
Inspired by Alain de Botton’s idea that Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall be adapted in new ways for modern times, digital storytellers Alan Donohoe and Steven Parker created “The Waiting Wall” in a busy English train station during the Brighton Digital Festival. The huge display projected the deepest fears and most personal confessions of travelers who submitted them anonymously for…
Read MoreClever Shipping Pallet Barbeque + Rotisserie Station
While we were researching Arlene Gottfried’s work, we stumbled on this photograph she took of a barbeque in a then-Puerto Rican neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. When we looked closely, we realized that shipping pallets had been cleverly employed, not only to help anchor the spit, but to provide seating for two kids hanging out while the…
Read MorePatti Smith: “If You’re Positive, You Expand”
Sixty-eight-year-old author and singer, 70’s Punk star Patti Smith is one of the subjects of the 2015 Pirelli calendar — considered fashion’s sexiest – celebrating female achievement. With her hair grown out gray, no makeup or face lift, and her singular uniform, she presents a very different kind of role model then the usual Pirelli pin-up. New…
Read MoreOptical Illusion Interiors Out of Paint or Tape
Could it be that the great Mexican architect Luis Barrigan created a study with an unexpected, roughly-painted rather expressionistic trompe l’oeil window to brighten a windowless space? It LOOKS that way in this image we found at Aqqindex. It got us casting about for abstract optical illusions we might employ at home, the opposite of the usual trompe l’oeil that…
Read MoreArlene Gottfried on the Benefits of Wandering
For over forty years, Arlene Gottfried has photographed the people she meets in her journeys around New York City, revealing its diversity and heart through her extraordinary images. The very personal moments she captures call to mind Diane Arbus and Viviane Maier. The roots of her work, which includes assignments for The New York Times Magazine and Life Magazine, lie in her…
Read MoreSlow-Roast Tomatoes for Hors d’Oeuvres, Sauces, Tarts, Jam…
A farmer friend of mind asked my advice on preserving the luscious tomatoes that are abundance in the last, dazzling burst of summer produce. “Do you can tomatoes?” he asked. “No”, I replied, “I roast them.” Slow-roasting tomatoes in a low oven, evaporates their juices, and renders them dense, creamy and melting, with a concentrated tomato flavor that is at once tart, sweet and savory. They last for a couple of weeks in the fridge and they freeze beautifully. They can be improvised with endlessly…
Read More1001 Pallet’s Trove of Ideas and Info
Over the years, we fed ours and reader’s passion for practical things made of shipping pallets, with examples of the very best, most stylish versions we could find of pallet beds, sofas, side tables, steps, even a version of Le Corbusier’s iconic club chair. Gradually, novel ideas for pallet began to drop off as the diy-universe reached a saturation point,…
Read MorePES’ New/Old Animation: Paper + A Dream
(Video link here.) When Honda engaged the ever-inventive filmmaker known as PES to make a short video about the company’s long history of innovation, he devised a NEW wildly labor-intensive form of animation. Not stop-motion, not flip-book, it is made by hand and paper, and shot by a camera, so has a quality of being from-scratch and…
Read MoreYogi Berra’s Brilliant Advice
Yes. TAKE IT! Thanks for your crazy wisdom, Yogi.
Read MoreA One-Year-Old’s Brilliant Improvisation
MANY improvisations are inspired by mistakes that accidentally afford a new view of something we take for granted. After Mira Keras‘ one-year-old knocked a chair over, she immediately saw the possibilities in the situation.
Read MoreAn Important Message in a Spider’s Web
We haven’t seen such a powerful message in a spider’s web since we read the enduringly great — ESPECIALLY for grownups — Charlotte’s Web…
Read MoreA Mindshift for When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed and Lost
At illustrator Monica Ramos‘ website, we stumbled on a section called 🙁 “Sometimes I want to fall off the face of the Earth” A solo show about about feeling overwhelmed and lost. Overwhelmed and lost is a feeling we know well, and hear about frequently from friends. Ramos’ image vividly describes the dual nature of…
Read MoreBold, Sleek Painted Modular Crate Shelving
Nikki Tibbles is a famous British florist whose bold, crammed, often crazy-making 1890 five-story home has been featured on numerous design venues (and is available to rent as a location). Amidst all the STUFF and doneness, we found one idea we love: Stacked irregular boxes painted a bold yellow to make a wall of shelving. It is a sleek,…
Read MoreSteven Colbert Riffs on Lifestyle Brands and Starts His Own
(Video link here.) Every week or so, we run through a diverse array of websites scouting interesting ideas that we and Improvised Life’s readers might find useful. We’re amazed at the growing number of “lifestyle” sites that tout pricey, high-design, often useless STUFF with the implicit message: Buy this______ and your life will be better. In addition to home…
Read MoreWhy Not Reminders Inside Your Shoes?
You have only to click on our MINDSET menu to see that we value Signs and Reminders so much we’ve devoted a whole category of them. We love them because they help shift our view when we are stuck in an old mindset, pattern, dark view… We’re always on the lookout for signs around town —it’s amazing…
Read MoreYoko Ono’s Cleaning Piece May Change Your Life
We hadn’t realized that Yoko Ono published a sequel to her enduringly wonderful Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions, written in 1964. Acorn‘s conceptual “instructions” seem more overtly focused on healing and personal change. We are especially intrigued with Cleaning Piece III, wondering what it would be like to NOT say anything negative about anybody. Would…
Read MoreWeekend Recipes: Onion and Leek Noodles
The other day while grilling some pork chops, I quickly tossed quarter-inch slices from a huge sweet onion in butter until they were tinged with brown and barely wilted. They were like some lovely mild onion noodle! I realized that if I sliced the onion rings through the center, I’d get strips to make something even closer to a…
Read MoreLaura Handler’s Clever Chic Doorbell Disguise
In the last couple of apartments we’ve had, we’ve suffered —albeit, mildly in the scheme of things— the ubiquitous, ugly, boxy generic doorbell that most building’s management installs. We never really stopped to think how we could make it more pleasing to look at. Designer Laura Handler, who has a brilliant talent for fixing the irritating…
Read MoreA Blind Man Describes His Favorite Things to Touch
In this surprising video, Tommy Edison, a film critic who has been blind since birth, talks about his favorite things to touch, which reminds us to tune in to our own senses.
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