why not?
Curiously, this man in a bacon costume inspires us. He epitomizes the out-of-the-box, sometimes silly, sometimes outrageous, sometimes-even-embarassing creative thinking that we love so much. We could view this man as a fool or brilliant, and realize sometimes they are the same thing.
via Retronaut
Related posts: why not half a mustache?xwhat helps you see things differently?
powerful words: devise, invent, create, change…
‘the tutu project’ explores identity, change and love
howard rheingold: on becoming (“life…forks every day, in every moment”)our lives, in brief (secrets, 6-word memoirs, even obits)
09.17.12 |
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in apparel, inspiration books + zines, playing, sightings, why not? |
We always have our eyes for ideas we could use at home, office, spaces we need to support us and lift our spirits. The right color can do that. Since we’re not being entirely comfortable picking colors on our own, we look to ways other people have done it for inspiration and guidance.
First we came across this deep pink wall…then we got this blast of acid yellow in Morocco. read more…
09.12.12 |
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in cool spaces, copy this!, inside, inspiration blogs + sites, resources, why not? |
photo: sally schneider
Lush, fragrant summer strawberries are in their last week or two at farm stands. We bought some home and were inspired to serve them in the giant horn spoon Maria Robledo had given us, for an unexpected presentation. We ate them right off the stems, no powdered sugar necessary. It reminded us that there are all kinds of charming and unexpected vessels you could use for serving summer berries. We imagined an our collection of big odd serving spoons filled with berries and arrayed on the table.
If you decide to remove the hulls before serving the berries or cooking with them, don’t throw them away: they can make a great instant flavoring for balsamic vinegar. read more…
08.29.12 |
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in copy this!, eating, food, garden, housewares, how-to, recipes, strategies, why not? |
photo: sally schneider
We recently found some photos that we took in the fabled Chelsea Hotel’s a few months before anyone knew it would be closing. (Click here to listen to Leonard Cohen singing Chelsea Hotel,which he wrote for Janis Joplin, while you read on). We’d been to artist John Wellington’s birthday party in one of the rooms there, and as we were clumping down the iron stairwell on our way out, we couldn’t help but admire the wild graffiti that adorned the fire extinquishers in the corner of each landing: an ubiquitous, essential tool made into something grander than it’s usual self… read more…
08.07.12 |
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in art, buildings, d-i-y, elements, inside, outside, reimagine, why not? |
A couple of weeks ago, after we posted our invitation/plea to become a ‘friend with benefits’ and support ‘the improvised life’, we received quite an outpouring of support, from subscription sign-ups to one-time donations to messages of how much our daily postings mean to our readers. Our favorite was this one:
Hi,
Love your work and look forward to each installment. I just donated to you and would like to remain anonymous if possible. If not, please just put ‘Gratitude’.
Thanks.
In lieu of a link that says Gratitude (where would it go?), we made this sign, which is really what WE feel: pure gratitude for what we get to do daily and the amazing exchange and community we find ourselves living in, that is ‘the improvised life’. Thank you deeply.
You’ve made Mr. Hamilton very happy… read more…
07.30.12 |
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in community, family + friends, gifts, inspiration blogs + sites, resources, share, why not? |
Good Maker is running a contest for bloggers trying to make a social impact. Selected by popular vote, the winner will get $1,000 for the cause they support plus a $500 prize. The ‘Blogs for Good’ run the gamut, from blogs that advocate for the positive aspects of pit-bull-like dogs or the virtues of home-grown foods to fashion bloggers who advocate for various social justice issues. We found out about the contest from Dese’Rae L. Stage who is ‘the improvised life’s remarkable new part-time assistant.
She has entered her blog ‘Live Through This,’ which is a photography-based project about read more…
07.24.12 |
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in identity, music, paths + processes, people, quotes, resources, resources blogs + sites, why not? |
photo: dese’rae l. stage
One of the things we love the most here at The Improvised Life is the sense of community we feel with our readers. We get some amazing feedback, and what we hear more often than not is that you love to wake up to the little tidbits of inspiration we post here bright and early each morning. We also frequently hear that you love the lack of eyesores–err, ads–on the site. The site itself requires upkeep, the creation of fresh new content requires time and effort, and all of that is a full-time (and wholly rewarding) job. In short, we still need to eat.
One of the things we’re doing to circumvent advertising on the site is our Friends With Benefits program. In short, for as little as $5 a month via PayPal, you can support The Improvised Life and get a link on our site to your own website or that of your favorite charity. So, what do you say? Wanna be a pal?
Side note: Using the fun iPhone app Hipstamatic (loaded with and using variations on the Dali Museum GoodPak), we took a pair of tenner$ and riffed on the one and only Alexander Hamilton. read more…
07.16.12 |
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in community, family + friends, gifts, why not? |
handlernyc.com
When designer Laura Handler sent us word of her new blog, Interesting Found Objects, we instantly started poking around. We love Unmentionables, her latest post, with a divine, mind-boggling Japanese condom package-design. Then we flew to her website to find out about her. We looked at her designs and was smitten with her stacking, interlocking votive candle holders that could be configured in endless ways.
Such a simple and smart idea. We tried stacking our own votives to realize that executing this clever idea really takes a great deal of thought and consideration: so that the flames don’t touch the neighboring votives and possibly crack them; that they interlock so as not to come crashing down…We were reminded that good design only looks simple, and works really well.
We also really love the work she’s done with acrylic, like these vividly-colored woven placemats and drinkware she designed for Metrokane… read more…
07.11.12 |
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in furniture, housewares, inside, outside, paths + processes, people, why not? |
tom sachs
We often post ideas on ‘the improvised life’ that we might never make, like the futurist cinder block artist Tom Sachs displayed at recent exhibition Space Program Mars. There is a simple, practical logic to this: these creations remind us of do-able possibilities that, had we the time or wherewithall, we COULD make ourselves.
Sach’s wonderful block is made with ordinary materials: plywood bored with holes, flat corner irons, flat-head screws, possibly a skim of concrete for texture. We find the image infiltrating our prejudices, shifting the notion of what a cinder block can be, offering up the possibilitiy that we can view our daily norms in radically different ways, and maybe, with stuff hidden in our tool chest or at the hardware store, create something new.
via Mondoblogo
Related posts: the possibilian explores time
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brick lust (where are cool bricks hiding?)
cinder block houses + studios (via alexander calder)
concrete block lovex
06.25.12 |
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in art, inspiration, materials, paths + processes, principles, reimagine, resources, why not? |
Some time ago we wrote about IdeaPaint, special paint that can turn any surface into a dry erase “white board”. You can write all your brilliant ideas on it with markers, then wipe them off when you don’t need them anymore. Now the IdeaPaint people have come out with a great variation on the theme: CLEAR IdeaPaint
, that can be painted on virtually any painted wall or wood surface. Paint it on your exotically colored wall, or a plywood wall or door. It ain’t cheap—about $225 covers 50 feet.
But as we settle into our new space and laboratory, we’re constantly thinking about the possibility in writing our many ideas on walls…and then erasing. We’re reminded of the folks at IDEO, read more…
06.21.12 |
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in d-i-y, elements, materials, reimagine, walls + windows, why not? |
