MINIWIZ was started in order to promote green + wireless lifestyle. Their flagship products are the HYmini and miniSOLAR above. Both generate power for portable devices by converting the readily available natural resources of wind and sun into electricity. One of the founders, Arthur Huang, is an old friend from school and I am amazed at the company he has built around a very noble and important mission.

We are excited to announce the launch of Catalog, our 2008 holiday line of notecards, mini gift cards, gift tags, and ornaments. The Catalog line features designs inspired by our favorite holiday items. All items are screen printed by us with metallic gold water-based ink and printed on 100% recycled/30% post-consumer stock from French Paper.

Our ornaments are laser-cut from Technoply Beech Plywood in a raw wood finish, with engraved details displaying a darker layer beneath. Each ornament is hung by a festive red thread.

We expanded upon our Cross card line, featuring three antique, embellished crosses screen printed in metallic gold ink on white card stock.

Also, back by popular demand are our Animal cards, which we are again selling as a fundraiser for the Shama Foundation. 100% of the proceeds from this year’s sales of the four Animal designs are being donated to the foundation.

Thanks for keeping us in mind this holiday season!

Designed and hand-made by an architect, the multi-layered calendars from Ulla Warchol at Fold Over Press build a scaled and sequential method for organizing one’s life. The act of opening the calendar makes it a pleasure to use. And the collage of papers and colors evokes a quilt-like appearance, drawing from the variety of experiences cataloged within.

Takeshi Hosaka Architects‘ Garden House merges indoor with outdoor, incorporating an enclosed, two-story courtyard within the confines of the perimeter walls. There’s no indication from the street-side facade that the home should be anything but a regular, enclosed volume, so I love the surprise of the garden. The rest of the house is built around the courtyard, with most rooms having huge sliding doors that open up the interior space to the outside. I also like that the greatest excess of the design is given to the outdoor space, while the interior spaces are designed around comfortable but conservative volumes.

Via CoolBoom. Photos by Sergio Pirrone.

Anna and I ventured over to Chelsea Market yesterday to watch IFC’s Rooftop Films – Animated Shorts. The opener was a great film called Revolution of the Crabs by Arthur de Pins. The film won tons of awards since 2004 and is absolutely worth watching.

From IFC:
Revolution of the Crabs is a cute and witty animated short from France about a race of shellfish that have collectively internalized the concept of being trapped in a shell that dooms them to walk forever in the same direction. They are the Pachygrapsus Marmoratus, commonly known as ‘depressed crabs.’

Luis Porem sent over his latest project, the Trico Chair. Each chair is made from three materials – wood, metal and textile. I’m not sure if this is the case, but it would be nice if each material was articulated in a different color.

National Geographic’s – The Genographic Project seeks to map out the paths of the human journey through locating an ever-expanding catalog of DNA samples on Earth. Through your participation, more genetic markers are cataloged at a place and time. With the help of archaeological digs and DNA samples from ancient specimens, they hope to be able to map how and when humans inhabited each continent and how they travelled from one to the next.

I always love Nat Geo’s graphics: simple but not simplistic.

While Bhutan became a democracy this March, the country recently crowned their 5th king, King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, making him the youngest king in the world at 28-years old. The new king will serve as the head of state, but can be impeached by the newly elected Parliament.

The Big Picture has photographs of the coronation, an amazing, colorful event. I have a special spot for Bhutan because when I lived in India as a kid some of my best friends were Bhutanese and I was lucky enough to visit this beautiful country in my senior year of high school. Besides having the gorgeous landscape of the Himalayan mountains, Bhutanese architecture is especially interesting with a focus on proportion and integration into the landscape.

Check out Sneaker Freaker for The History of Skate Shoes part 1 and part 2 for some great product shots of old school skate shoes. My first memories of skate shoes are the Airwalk Velocity, but this goes way back before those.

And if you can ever get your hands on it, ON Video Summer 2002 has a nice little feature on how skate shoes are designed and manufactured. It’s hosted by the Muska when he rode for Circa, before he fell victim to the party.

Steve Winter’s “Snowstorm Leopard” won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 award. He spent over ten months trying to photograph the endangered snow leopard, which lives in the Himalayan Mountains. He set fourteen “camera traps” and shot over 30,000 images in an attempt to photograph the elusive animals. This image was shot at 13,000 ft. in Ladak’s Hemis High Altitude National Park. Only 3,500 snow leopards currently live in the wild.

Other winners:

Man and whale size each other up. – Brian Skerry.

A black colobus monkey has its fur singed in preparation for sale at an illegal bush-meat market in Gabon. – David Maitland.

“Deadlock”, a rare Morelet’s tree frog doggedly refused to become supper for a cat-eyed snake. – David Maitland.

Hunting chimpanzees in the dense forest of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. – Cyril Ruoso.

Black-crested macaque. – Stefano Unterthiner.

A snowy clash of white-tailed eagles during a Polish winter. – Antoni Kasprzak