As we’ve mentioned, ‘the improvised life’s laboratory is something of an homage to plywood. We’ve used it for many things, from window sills to cabinets to floors. We love the stuff, and are constantly hatching plots in our head for furniture, housewares, endless inventions. So we are smitten with carpenter and author Philip Schmidt new book PlyDesign which…
Read Moreidentity crisis: 5-years of one man’s “looks” + our own
This stop-action video tracking 5 years of one man’s appearance makes us wonder how much how we look, and what our style is, affects our experience and identity…And the many choices we can make about our appearance.
Read More9.11 the best memorial is in our hearts
We’re going about our day today, very aware of that day…
Read Moreshipping pallet loungers, for inside and out
When we saw this image from Natural Style Outdoor Spaces on Style Files, we immediately thought: shipping pallets would make a perfect base. You’d hardly have to desconstruct them. Just clean them up (stack if desired) and place slip-covered foam cushions on them (here’s a how-to), for chic lounging pallets that would work inside or…
Read Morewhitehead’s 2012 paralympic 200m gold: breathtaking
(Video link here.) Richard Whitehead’s come-from-behind whirlwind completely defies the words ‘disabled”. The race is breathtaking, and a big reminder of just what’s possible if you set your mind to it, and work and practice, and are willing to not have things be be perfect, until suddenly they become just that. “I am living proof,…
Read Morehow to be an explorer of the world
We’re loving How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum, illustrator Keri Smith’s 59 ideas for how to creatively “shift” and wake your mind by engaging with your surroundings in new and interesting ways. As Brain Pickings noted recently: “…they’re potent training for what Buddhism would call “living from presence” and inhabiting your life more fully.”…
Read Mored-i-y modernist manicure
We really love these minimalist, painterly outlined nails, done with two layers of polish. Easy, stylish and surprising! Check out the simple d-i-y technique (though it’s pretty self-evident) over at Love Esthetics.
Read Moredanny macaskill’s new video: what he thinks as he rides
(Video link here.) The latest video from cyclist Danny MacAskill has an added feature: insight into MacAskill’s thinking and interior approach to his challenging stunts and excursions: JOYRIDE. Related posts: joy ride: practice makes wondrous perfection danny macaskill’s joy ride danny macaskill’s bike lesson (setbacks + difficulties + perseverance = mastery) gifts + inspiration for bikers…
Read Morean open door: gif for an improvised life
We LOVE gifs because they’re animated visions seem like magic. Among our favorite new gif-makers is 40licks. We can’t help seeing this lovely gif as a perfect image of improvisation: an open door to possibility. Related posts: an evening gif: gratitude… practice makes! what have you been making today? peep show gif: funny, risqué, slightly…
Read Morelust for rust: in a modern house and our own experiments
We’re crazy for rusted metal. We love the intentionally-rusted corton steel planters used at the High Line have amassed a strangely beautiful collection of pieces we’ve found in our wanderings, like the three-sided forms we use as book or artwork stands. So we were smitten when we saw images of this very modern house designed by…
Read Morehubert le gall house tour: dig the fireplace!
Interior space voyeurs, check out this satisfying tour of furniture designer Hubert Le Gall’s apartment from a 2002 Nest magazine. We especially love the ersatz fireplace, which appears to be made from molded plaster and paint, but would be still-swell just painted, (as the fire was for a mantle with no hearth we posted once).…
Read Morereader’s improv: the extreme parenting video project
(Video link here.) Today in our inbox we found an email from Elizabeth Aquino, a long-time reader and an acute, avid commenter. She wrote to tell us of a video project she collaborated in making: I am the parent of a child with severe disabilities, a job that calls for near constant improvisation. I asked…
Read Morebikes for hauling + great accessories
We love this crazy hauling bike and wish we knew the story behind it. We spotted it on Dargelos‘ blog in a post called ‘the mailman’s fahrrad’ (‘fahrrad’ means bicycle in German). Dargelos is an onliine store that sells great, intelligent biking gear, like the illuminating vest we posted awhile back. We have their Transporter knapsack, which we…
Read Morechic’d-up paper towel napkins in a fab minimalist setting
We recently stumpled upon a wonderful post from 2 or 3 Things I Know that we bookmarked AGES AGO (1/3/09!); it is a divinely minimalist place setting with a philosphy to boot: The key is to not turn to magazines for design advice. buy buy It’s all about the placement of (just a few) objects. and…
Read Moretyler knott gregson’s analog art
What do you get when you put ephemera, a typewriter, and Tyler Knott Gregson together? Amazing, improvisational bits of insight. Gregson’s “Typewriter Series” is written on found bits of paper: a Delta barf bag, a receipt, a page from a book. The idea feels a lot like an adaptation of what Vonnegut did with Hocus…
Read Morehappy birthday john cage!
Wednesday would have been the late avant-garde composer John Cage‘s 100 birthday, and he’s had SUCH an big influence in our lives, we wanted to commemorate the day. To describe his work is practically impossible, since it broke down definitions of “music” like crazy and was really performance of endlessly varied kinds – involving chance…
Read Morepretty, multi-purpose find: turkish towels
Harriet Bell alerted us to a great find: cotton Turkish towels (we love testamonials from people we trust). She wrote: I bought two of these about six weeks ago and I’m going to buy more. They are great bath towels, lightweight and wash/dry beautifully. No more terrycloth for me. No wrinkles. They are incredibly absorbent.…
Read Morepossibilities in everyday things (piano as 5+ instruments)
(Video link here.) We always thought Harpo Marx’s desperately improvised harp from a smashed piano in A Day at the Races as the penultimate piano improv UNTIL we saw this video: piano-as-an-endless-array-of-instruments. Beautiful. and a fine reminder of the possibilities in everyday things. Just look closer, imagine HARDER… With big thanks to Charlie Allenson. Related…
Read Morehappy labor day: last visions + celebrations of summer
In case you haven’t been able to get away enough this summer, here’s a couple of lovely little slices of it, of being truly AWAY: The first via Beatriz da Costa from her vacation in Brittany. The second, via Logcabineer: “A light summer rain”, brings sitting on a porch at twilight right to your door.
Read Moreweekend retreat?: a house of giant tree stumps
This Vancouver house carved out of stumps in the early 1900’s is our idea of swell, the perfect eccentric, elemental, minimalist retreat: “…3 rooms.The lower stump on right was the kitchen, the lower part of the highter stump on the left was the living room. The bedroom, doorless, was reached by a ladder removed in…
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