I think I like Tom Gauld’s work because of the snarkiness of it all.

End Of Level Boss (left)
Lake Monster (right)

via Drawn!

The Morning News has a feature on Animals Twice Dead, a collection of great behind-the-scenes photography by Richard Barnes that was recently released by PA Press. It’s so odd to see how they transport and construct taxidermy animals in the exhibits at natural history museums. The entire scene seems so artificial, like the constructed feel of the exhibit creeps out into the world of the installers.

Saw this great print by APAK while browsing the workspaces tours on Share Some Candy. Even though their workspace is pretty clean, it’s good to know that other people keep it pretty messy. Like everyone else in NYC, we wish we had more space.

Great move of pushing into the ground plane and bridging the gap with walkways in the International Centre for Design in Saint-Etienne, France by LIN. Its material and siting really integrates into the plaza site, but the same material and siting make it very distinctly different from the context of the historical buildings. Inside, the scale switches from massive shell to hyperactive framing. Even though the building is massive, the scale of the triangular frame makes the skin feel much smaller.

via AR

How awesome is this house? Y+M Design designed the Stairs House for two teachers and their children. The roof of the house is one giant set of stairs, which allows light into the house, while still maintaining a private interior. It’s a great, playful space – I’m jealous of those kids!

Via Spoon & Tomago.

National Geographic has a neat mini-article on aquatic animal robots that take their cue (form and purpose) from real-life animals. Amazing to see how complicated it is to design and build something as simple as a lobster or something that can swim as naturally as a penguin.

I’m so excited about the print that Justin Richel did for The Working Proof. The Jewel Of The Mind Becomes Jaded In Time is about potential and the gift of our minds, which we can either take advantage of or squander. The print itself is pretty gorgeous – originally created as a gouache painting, it has been digitally printed on Hahnemühle german etching archival fine art paper with pigment-based inks. The colors are amazing.

15% of each print sold will be donated to Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit design services firm bringing design, construction and development services where they are most critically needed.

I want this calendar. It was designed and Gocco printed by Felix Wong aka Crossbird in a limited edition of 80 calendars. The illustrations are beautiful, and the use of the white ink on colored paper creates a very subtle graphic. Even better, all of the proceeds after the production costs go to aid World Relief.

Via Notcot.

I love this shelving collection by Susan Bradley. Simple, graphic and clever!

The striking simplicity of silhouettes provide this series of wall shelves with their interesting graphic form. Based on the shadows created by absent objects you may find on shelves – from vases to coffee pots, cake stands to jugs. Inspired by a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum and and household domesticity. You can join the different designs into longer lengths and mix and match objects and colours.

Via Oh Joy!

Last week’s issue of the New Yorker had an article about Art Factories in China. I have to try to grab a copy, but the synopsis on the slide show is very interesting: The business of copying paintings for export and the implications of blurring the line between artist and worker. If art is a fully commercial venture, is it still ‘art’? And if a piece is simply executed, is there still authorship?