“BODA BODA MADNESS”: THE COSTUMES OF NAIROBI’S MOTORBIKE TAXI DRIVERS
Driving a motorcycle taxi in Nairobi is a competitive business. To stand out and lure fares, the taxi riders adorn their motorbikes or scooters, known as “boda boda,” in decorative thematic designs, colors and accessories. Recently they’ve started wearing elaborate costumes to match their bikes. The practice has taken offContinue Reading
BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE: HOW TO SLEEP ON A PLANE, A VISUAL BREAKDOWN
The Washington Post has published an “Illustrated Encyclopedia of Sleeping Positions on a Plane” on its website. The article does a good job of breaking down all the ways passengers (at least those flying in economy class) try to snooze in their seats. Each position is explained and illustrated inContinue Reading
NO, REALLY, IT’S A WORK OF ART: FROM THE MUNDANE TO THE “HUH?” TO THE SUBLIME
An ordinary-looking fitted bed sheet is draped from a canvas leaning against a white gallery wall. It’s an artwork by the Argentinian contemporary conceptual artist Analia Saban currently on view at the Hammer Museum of Art in Los Angeles. At first impression, from a distance, one might be thinking, “Huh?Continue Reading
EPIC CHILD’S PLAY: VENICE BEACH MURAL BRINGS OUT OUR INNER KID
The artist who goes by the name Pilpeled created this large, monochromatic mural on the side of a restaurant along fashionable Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice (the Los Angeles seaside neighborhood, not the Italian seaside city). The artwork is fun and playful, depicting a quartet of of kids making faceContinue Reading
AN ART-WORLD GIANT BOWS OUT: R.I.P., CARL BALDESARRI
The world was sad to see the news earlier this week that artist John Baldesarri had passed away last week. As reported by the New York Times, he died at his home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice last January 2. Baldesarri was a figurative and literal giant ofContinue Reading
GO GET ‘EM, TIGER! BIG CAT MURAL MENACES GENTRIFIED HOOD
We came across this rad black-and-white mural of tiger in full stare-down mode in Santa Barbara’s gentrified former industrial area known as the Funk Zone. Pretty cool.
SNEAKER PIMPIN’: BUBBLY PINK NIKES INSPIRED BY SPONGE BOB SQUAREPANTS ARE REAL!
Seeing is believing. In this case the truth is revealed by the appearance of this pair of Nike “lifestyle” performance sneakers (or trainers, as our U.K. friends might say) inspired by SpongeBob Squarepants, the American cartoon mega-hit. The shoes are pink and bubbly in design theme, a reference perhaps toContinue Reading
HOMAGE OR RIP-OFF? BANKSY X KOONS X ANONYMOUS IN L.A.’s LEAFY WESTSIDE
In a rare feat, a single artwork has managed to simultaneously pay homage to two iconic works of art by two major contemporary art stars. The work is a piece of street art tucked away in an unlikely locale, on the corner of an the exterior wall of public elementaryContinue Reading
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT: HOW A RECLUSIVE SUPERTSAR JAPANESE ARTIST’S DOG SCULPTURES POPPED UP AT LACMA
Where in the hell have these delightful Yayoi Kusama dog sculptures been hiding? Currently on view at LACMA in Los Angeles, these artworks are part of “The Life of Animals in Japanese Art,” a thematic exhibition that shows how creatures have been depicted in Japan over 17 centuries. Kusama isContinue Reading
PRINTED MATTER: THIS MAGAZINE HAS NAILED THE ART OF THE SPINE!
There’s a certain European “interiors” publication has made a unique design for the spine of each issue of its magazine. Regular visitors to this site can probably guess the name of that magazine. It’s the Italian-Spanish design and interior decor magazine Apartamento (pictured above). It’s what was called in theContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: ALFRED TEA ROOM AND THE INCESCAPABLE REACH OF AMERICAN CHAINS
Alfred Coffee is a popular, fashionable budding mini coffee-chain empire in Los Angeles with about a half dozen cafes spread across the city’s hip and moneyed neighborhoods. Alfred also has a smaller spin-off tea salon, aptly called Alfred Tea, in L.A.’s ultra-bougie westside burb of Brentwood. Imagine our surprise toContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: BONSAI TREE HANGING IN SPACE MAKES US QUESTION EVERYTHING
It’s an amusing conceit. In the high-ceilinged foyer of the Barney’s store in Roppongi, Tokyo, an unpotted Japanese bonsai tree hangs in space, framed by a steel cube, suspended like an organic chandelier, the tree roots naked and dangling in air. The tree being de-planted and without soil all butContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: SIGN ON BUILDING LEAVES LITTLE DOUBT AS TO CONTENTS WITHIN
As you approach Little Darling Coffee Roasters for the first time, you’re not sure you’re in the right place. It’s a little hard to find. The coffee roasters and cafe are on a former industrial campus that’s been converted into a new vision of the urban experience with old warehousesContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: “KAWAII” ROADSIDE RABBITS DANGEROUSLY DISTRACT DRIVERS, PEDS, WITH INSUFFERABLE CUTENESS
Along one side of this steep hillside street in Tokyo’s Akasaka neighborhood, there’s a guard rail decorated with cute plastic cut-outs of pink cartoon rabbits. This, we think, is due to the proximity to a press-school at the top of the hill and an effort to make this safety featureContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: BUILDING SITE IS TANTALIZING SPOT FOR GIANT GRAFFITI TAG
When the graffiti writers rocked up to this spot for the first time, they must have been salivating, drunk on the possibilities of the kind of massive tag they could the throw up on the wall. The infamy would be local and ephemeral, a tiny blip in the annals ofContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: GETTING OUR CAFFEINE FIX IN HIPSTER COFFEE HAVEN
In what was once an old, small two-story house next to the elevated train tracks in Tokyo’s Naka-Meguro lives Onibus Coffee. The old house has been renovated. The first floor is where they make the coffee, the second floor is small seating area. It’s a contemporary space that retains remnantsContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: THE TYRANNY OF CHOICE AT THE SNACK SHOP
So many choices, so many options, so many variations. Who knew there could be so many nut-based crunchy-delicious Japanese snacks? And all crammed into one tiny shop deep in central Tokyo’s Azabu-Juban neighborhood. Mamegen is a storied traditional Japanese snack shop and brand famous for making incredibly yummy and originalContinue Reading
IN TOKYO: HOW TO SAY “DON’T PARK YOUR BIKE HERE!” IN A COOL VISUAL WAY
Iconographic sign in the Azabu Juban neighborhood of Tokyo.
IN TOKYO: HOW YOUR SMARTPHONE DESIGN EVOLVED
We briefly swung by Japanese cellphone carrier and telecommunications giant DoCoMo’s current design exhibition in Tokyo that shows how the form factor of their smartphones has evolved. The exhibition, called DoCoMo x Design, breaks down the iterative design process with hundreds of examples of colors and shapes. It also pointContinue Reading