When we stumbled on this image, we had to look twice to see what was so clever about the use of a classic white Venetian blind. Had the blind been hung inside the doorway, it would have had a very ordinary effect; and the blind’s boxy top mechanism would have obstructed the lines of the…
Read Morehome ideas from the selby: cool fireplace decal + more
Since Todd Selby hit the big time, he’s been so busy photographing the rich and famous that the images at The Selby have yielded far less useable ideas than they used to, when his subjects were seriously original, eccentric, and..’er..REAL. So we were happy to spot these two usable and oddly charming ideas in his…
Read Morejohn mcphee on ‘getting going’ and ‘finishing things’
In a recent New Yorker, award-winning journalist and FABULOUS writer John McPhee wrote the best advice we’ve read for aspiring writers, and for just about anyone dealing with a creative ‘block’. The 4th Draft offers plenty of useful chunks and techniques, but our very favorte snipped is an exchange McPhee had with his daugher Jenny, a novelist.
Read Moretoast to the idiots (us!)
The science of Idiotism was introduced to the Western world more than 90 years ago, in 1922, by the famous philosopher G. I. Gurdjieff. At first, according to his students, it seemed to be simply an amusing mealtime entertainment, resulting in a cosmic degree of drunkenness. But soon it became “perhaps his strangest and most innovative method of…
Read Morea floor that is a table and other cool ideas
Spotted at Still + Company: a mysterious unnamed interior with many cool ideas at one fell swoop. First off: the worn wooden table that doubles as a floor! At one end you can sit at it at a Japanese-style low bench; at the other you can sit ON it. It makes for one of the most…
Read Moreglimpse the daily possible: help us give you more!
Five days a week ‘improvised life’ publishes examples of ‘the daily possible’, from home design and cooking to productivity and self-expression, that we’ve scouted from….EVERYWHERE. We’re at a turning point and want to know what you think about what we do, what you like, dislike, want… If you haven’t already, please fill out our quick…
Read Moreyayoi kusama’s art-medicine
In The Art of the Flame-Out, Carl Swanson writes about visionary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s return to the New York Art scene after 40 years in a mental-hospital exile. But whatever you make of her retreat into a psych ward, her mantra was always “self-obliteration”—to lose herself in the work, or to the work, to save herself.…
Read Moreexercise averse? outdoors (even a park) is your gym
I used to know a brilliant Reichian therapist who disdained exercise machines. “They make the body stupid”, she said. She believed that physical exercise should take the form of conscious, pleasurable movement that had a reason, not something done mindlessly while watching tv or reading. I’ve thought of this often as I’ve wondered at my…
Read MoreHouse Tour: Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House
(Video link here.) Buckminster Fuller is on our list of people we would have loved to have met and talked to. The one-of-a-kind American architect, engineer, systems theorist, designer, inventor, and futurist was most famous for his invention of the geodesic dome. We love his Dymaxion house, above, designed in 1946. Dymaxion was a Fuller design principle: designs…
Read Moree.o. wilson: make short imperfect experiments + try things out
Our friend Maureen Rolla alerted us to Ira Flatow’s compelling NPR interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist E.O. Wilson, about his book Letters to a Young Scientist. Wilson is the rare scientist who is deeply aware of the creative process. His words are powerful and true no matter what your field or medium. At the website, you can listen and/or…
Read Morewhat a pink outdoor wall can do
Spotted at Still + Company’s website: a fab pink wall outdoors. Wonder where it is? We’re told it’s Luis Barrigan’s. We didn’t recognize it, though we’ve written about him, smitten, in the past. Check out Our Lesson in Pink.
Read Morehow to overdye a vintage rug (and make a chair)
(Video link here.) A couple of weeks ago, we stopped in at ABC Carpet & Home to see what was going on there: a huge display of lovely overdyed rugs, in vivid colors. Wonder how they do that? we thought. And voila: a video from Still & Co. appeared giving the diy gist in a curiously…
Read Moretell us what you think: improvised life’s 3-minute survey
Behind the scenes at ‘improvised life’ this summer, we’ve been brainstorming, mind-mapping, and working on some exciting updates to the website. But no amount of creative brainpower on our part could match the value of feedback from you, our community and our readers. We wonder if you will help us to grow and expand ‘improvised life’…
Read Moremore concrete love: concrete beam chairs…and planters
Spotted at ROLU: wonderful-looking though perhaps- not-so-comfortable chairs. We wouldn’t care, so in love are we with just looking at concrete and the lines of this chair. We’ve heard you can mold concrete in styrofoam boxes. We imagine molding a bunch of rectangles to build this chair…but then, how to afix them? This is a good…
Read Moreamazing lego prosthesis + boston’s continuing recovery
Occupational therapist Christina Stephens, who had her foot amputated after a crash injury, created a prosthetic entirely out of Legos. She rose to the challenge when a co-worker in her research lab jokingly suggested she make a prosthetic leg out of the toy construction blocks. Awesome creative spirit there! This video at DesignBoom shows the…
Read MoreHouse Tour: Donald Judd’s Soho Loft (w addendum)
We’ve been inspired by the work of artist Donald Judd since we first set eyes on his deceptively simple furniture constructed out of plywood years ago, which blurred the lines between art and utility in a totally surprising way. Recently, the five-story 19th-century cast-iron loft building in Soho where the artist lived and worked for 25…
Read Morepete van leeuwen’s ‘elk grass’ video + ice cream
(Video link here.) Reader Carol McDonell sent us this email: ‘Elk Grass* is a collaboration by Peter Van Leeuwen, a life long creative musician and co-owner of Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, and Awesome and Modest. His haunting piece exemplifies The Improvised Life vision to me . . . It does indeed, in a curiously…
Read Morehang your folding patio furniture, indoors + out?
We were so struck by this vision of hanging folding patio furniture that we took the liberty of cropping it from a bigger image in a Gardenista post on the totally-unrelated subject, How to Stop Killing Your Succulents. The story made no mention of the clever and beautiful background of colored bistro furniture hanging on…
Read Moremastery of anything is about practice + overcoming ‘can’t’
David Saltman over at The Houdini File spotted this image on The Art of Kung Fu’ facebook with the comment: Whenever you say “I can’t do it”, think of this photo. All martial arts, including tai chi, are about practice…a lifetime of practice to gain mastery… …And mastery of ANYTHING is about practice, perservering in the…
Read Morehappy 4th of july from ‘improvised life’!!!!
Wishing you a joyous Fourth! ….We’ll be back on Monday.
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