I love these…Who didn’t play helicopter with maple seeds when they were young? Twin sisters Kerry Alice and Heather Collins make up Twigs and Heather. Started in 2000, they draw inspiration for their jewelry designs from plant life native to the Atlantic Northeast. They incorporate found objects into their work – beach glass becomes a pendant, bark and seeds are used as molds for some pieces. Beautiful!

Thanks so much to Grace at design*sponge for mentioning our Banded Rudderfish card in her blog today. Very exciting!

I really like Dan McCarthy’s work. Besides his very graphic illustrative style, I like how he uses various skeletons (human, dinosaur, or otherwise) to convey the infinite cycle of death. This print is titled “shared memory: the moon”, which I find very romantic somehow. Thanks to NOTCOT for the introduction!

Feric, aka Eric Feng, is a great illustrator who illuminates the secret life of mechanized flora and fauna. The drawings combine the beauty and fluidity of the natural world with the irrational mechanisms that create movement and life. I love the drawings and I hope you do too.

This is the first of hopefully many hand-screened cards to come. From the upcoming FISH series, this is the Banded Rudderfish.

Until we figure out how to set up a store on our website, we will be selling the cards through our Etsy shop.

I discovered the talented duo – and architects turned furniture designers – GAMplusFRATESI on betterlivingthroughdesign. I love their take on your grandma’s plastic covered furniture – a chaise lounge with floral designs in felt, sandwiched between layers of acrylic. I am not sure how comfortable it is (especially if the weather is hot and sticky), but it sure is pretty! Some other favorites:

The Ninfea (“water-lily”) line – (the image on the left). The chair mats finaled in the international designers’ talent competition “inspired by Cologne 2006″.

Shimano is a japanese company that makes hardgoods for cycling, fishing and snowboarding. Their main market, and what they are known for best, is the line of cycling products.

The world class Dura Ace 7800 component set is just that: world class. Shown is the STI Dual Control Lever, which handles 1. braking, 2. two types of shifting styles and 3. perched or tucked riding positions. The lever is only one of 14 individual components in the set. Check them out the next time you are at a bike shop to see how well made they are.

This is an interesting product from Muji – waterproof speakers. It claims to be so watertight that you can insert your iPod, MP3, CD or MiniDisc player into the case and voila – accompaniment for all the singing in the shower that you do. Your neighbors will thank you. On sale from the MOMA store for the very lovely price of $39.95.

Via betterlivingthroughdesign.

The Taraxcum ’88 suspension lamp is a 60-bulb light fixture that looks sort of like the Swarovski ball that drops at Times Square every New Year’s Eve. All you need to complete the show is a bobblehead of Dick Clark.

The lamp was designed by Achille Castiglioni and is carried at Moss in NYC.

The 2006 RIBA Stirling Prize was awarded on October 14. The RIBA Stirling Prize (named after architect Sir James Stirling) is a £20,000 cash prize awarded by RIBA in conjunction with The Architects’ Journal. It is awarded to the architect whose building most impacts the evolution of architecture in the past year.

There were six projects that were shortlisted: the Brick House by Caruso St John Architects, the Evelina Children’s Hospital by Hopkins Architects, the Idea Store in Tower Hamlets by Adjaye/Associates, the National Welsh Assembly by Richard Rogers, the New Area Terminal at Barajas Airport in Madrid, again by Richard Rogers, and the Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg by Zaha Hadid.

Richard Rogers won the prize for the New Area Terminal. Personally I think the National Welsh Assembly is a much nicer project, as is Zaha Hadid’s Science Center.

Richard Rogers’ National Welsh Assembly. Photo by Richard Bryant/Arcaid. The topography of the ceiling is really great.

Zaha Hadid’s Phaeno Science Center. Photo by Helene Binet. The way Zaha Hadid manipulates perspective makes the building feel like it’s in motion.