Marni, the eccentric and cool Italian label recently introduced a collection of 100 chairs and tables at one of Milan’s largest furniture fairs, Salone del Mobile.

You might be thinking, so what? Every year countless new chair collections debut at the Salone del Mobile fair (and many other fairs for that matter), why should we care this time? We believe, these chairs matter for several reasons:

Each chair is handmade in San Gil, Colombia by former prison inmates. In a developing South American country it’s difficult to find a job specially after you’ve been to prison. Initiatives such as this provide decent jobs for former inmates. I believe this helps their self-esteem and prepare them to better integrate to life after prison.

The chairs are made of metal frames and multi-coloured PVC threads. They are a reinterpretation of traditional family seats from Colombia with the stamp and color blocking that is associated to the Marni brand.

I’ve read that not only Marni is committed to employ former inmates, but also to charitable causes. All proceeds will be donated to the ICAM Institute, an organization, which enables children of imprisoned mothers to spend their first years of life in a safe family environment.

A great charitable project that combines awe-inspiring craftsmanship with product design.

Projects like this get me excited. I’ve always believed in the power of design to positively influence the world. How incredible would be if, in addition to keeping a close eye on making bigger profits, we would also care about issues like this one. Wouldn’t we all be in better shape? I think so.

The chairs are scheduled to tour many Marni boutiques worldwide.

Everyone demonstrates at least a little bit of obsessiveness, but how many can reach the intense (ie: psychotically extreme) point of making it into some of life’s most astounding work?

The queen of dots, Yayoi Kusama, is featured in Wallpaper* magazine’s limited edition cover which she designed herself. The issue refers to her current exhibition at the famous Tate Modern in London, which will later move to NYC’s Whitney Museum of American Art (I can’t wait!). The exhibit is sponsored by Louis Vuitton, who will launch a ready-to-wear collection featuring Kusama’s dot patterns.

A brief history: In 1957, the Japanese native entered the NY art scene as a foreign, female artist in a male-dominated society (think Warhol) in the western world. Kusama has publicly expressed being ostracized in both her surroundings as well as her victimization of her own neurotic and obsessional symptoms. Such symptoms are manifested in the repeated dot patterns covering her avant-garde sculptures, paintings, drawings, films, performances, novels and immersive installations. Currently, at 83 years old, Kusama has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution in Japan where she continues to produce work as a means of escaping from psychological trauma.

How does one mitigate feelings of pity (or even empathy) for the artist with feelings of awe and intrigue of that which is a product of her terrifying agony? The answer seems to be simple yet complex: by immersing in Kusama’s world of dots.

Styleframe for Good Books Metamorphosis by Orion Tait

If you work in the creative field and live in or near New York City, then this is the event for you!

The latest in the ADC‘s quarterly panel series sponsored by Adobe, CONCEIVE, CREATE, DELIVER brings together award-winning creatives to discuss the design process in print and multimedia, and what it takes to bring innovative projects from idea to finished product. This edition features winners in the 91st ADC Annual Awards, including Arem Duplessis, Design Director of the New York Times Magazine, Richard Turley, Creative Director for Bloomberg Business Week, Orion Tait, Creative Director/Principal of Buck and more.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Doors at 6:00 PM

@ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street

6:30 PM Panel
Followed by a wine and beer reception
Admission is FREE, reservations are required

Work by Richard Turley, Creative Director for Bloomberg Business Week

Work by Arem Duplessis, Design Director of the New York Times Magazine

Marks & Spencer, Britain’s biggest clothing retailer has recently launched a campaign to stop one in four items of clothing bought in the UK ending up in the bin. The somehow controversial campaign by M & S is simple: customers hand over an old or unwanted garment whenever they buy a new one.

As part of this new campaign the clothing store has covered the old Truman Brewery warehouse in East London with the donated clothes. A great sight, and a piece of art on its own.

Some of the fears of the “Shwopping” initiative is that smaller charity shops could miss out on donations, while there are question marks over the logistics of the retailer becoming a dumping ground for large quantities of unwanted clothing.

“Shwopping” proposes a “buy one, give one” culture which could allow unwanted items to be resold, reused or recycled by its charity partner Oxfam. According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK consumers throw away 2m tonnes of clothing a year, with half going straight to landfill.

A great idea that many more corporations should follow outside Britain.

It started with a search for a cool new pair of Nike Dunks. I was stoked when I saw this design.

But then I found it was made of wood. And not just any wood, but layers of old recycled skateboard decks.

Japanese self-taught artist, Haroshi, has combined his skills of jewelry making and passion for skateboarding to create an amazing style for 3D sculptures made of used skateboards. This fusion of traditional craft + street sports results in unique pieces that require hours of meticulous configuration, shaving and polishing to create the wooden mosaics. Haroshi doesn’t see either element as superior to the other, thus, has found satisfaction in the self-expression of his art.

Though it’s a bummer you can’t buy the kicks, you can still purchase his work at HUF.

Claridge's London, 2011 gouache on paper

I love Maira Kalman’s work and I have liked it for a long time. In fact, I have many of her children’s books in my personal library. Everything she does has the je ne sais quoi that only few image-makers have. Few years back we were both part of the Library Initiative by creating a mural for a children’s library. Maira Kalman’s mural for the library at P.S. 47 in the Bronx is one of my favorites.

For some of you who might not be familiar with her work, Maira Kalman is known for her numerous books (including the Max series, The Principles of Uncertainty and many others) and for creating iconic illustrations for such publications as The New Yorker and The New York Times and others. Besides being one of the most admired illustrators working today, she is also an author and set designer.

Julie Saul Gallery currently has a show titled 37 Paintings. The exhibition includes a selection of paintings drawn from her books of the last two years, as well as a series of paintings executed while Kalman was a resident at the American Academy in Rome during the fall of 2011. In addition, 37 Paintings exhibits two artworks, which appeared on the cover of The New Yorker in March 2012 and 2005 respectively.

Describing her inspiration and working methods, Kalman says: “in my wanderings there are moments of rapture. moments of despair. moments of celebration. it is a full time job just to sort it all out. you need to wear friendly shoes. and make frequent coffee stops.”

Maira Kalmann
37 Paintings
May 10- June 23, 2012

Tickets, 2011, gouache on paper

Plate of Fish, 2011, gouache on paper

Berries and Flowers, 2011, gouache on paper

Sister's with Lilacs, 2011, gouache on paper

Pinhole Delux, 2011 and Porta Portese Flea Market, 2011, gouache on paper

Folded Love Letter, 2011 and Creased Paper, 2011, gouache on paper

New Yorker Cover, 2012, gouache on paper

For those of you who are old enough to remember the real Transformers (sans the recent junky Hollywood renditions on screen) and young enough to appreciate the “vintage” pop culture reference, the Artobots audio tour will be worth your while.

Created by the team at Audio Tour Hack, Artobots pay homage to Legendary American sculptor, John Chamberlain, whose larger exhibition is currently taking place at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Chamberlain’s abstract-expressionist work started back in the 50′s when he began to experiment with car metal as art material. This inspired Hal Kirkland (creative director of Audio Tour Hack) who embarked his own project called Store Buyout, where he and some others bought everything in a NYC store going out-of business. They repurposed the purchased items into ready-made art, thus, giving birth to the Artobots with the collaboration of other artists and professionals. With the sculptures is an audio tour which tells a fictional story set in the world of Transformers: the Decepticons (bad bots) commemorate their victory over the Autobots (good bots) with an exhibition made of “Autobots wreckage” from a war that occurred in 2028.

In their efforts to contemporize and make the museum/fine arts experience accessible to pop-culture fans, the exhibition is proof that continues to demonstrate the bounds and interpretations of “high art”  and its audience.

For a “more than meets the eye” taste of Artobots, check out the audio tour here.

Picture source: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Emma Hack is an Adelaide, South Australia based artist, who creates her work through a combination of painting on canvas, body painting and studio-based photography. Her works evoke a rich array of visual narrative and magical realism, often taking the viewer moment to realise a human for or animal is submerged within the composition.

Recently she has branched out into video, producing the time lapse painted bodies in the film clip for Goyte’s world wide hit Someone That I Used To Know.

Through a 21-year career, the artist has evolved from being a children’s face painter to qualified hairdresser to make-up artist to body illustrator and now a visual artist of world acclaim. What an incredible creative journey.

Still from Goyte's video "Somebody That I Used to Know"

What imagery can you get using a glass of water, ink, imaginative lighting and a high shutter speed camera? Breathtaking images! Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the work of young Serbian photographer Luka Klikovac. Today’s post shows selections from his latest exhibition titled “AlterActio.”

Abstract, delicate, even menacing, his images bring to mind surreal landscapes ranging from sea creatures to alien life forms and everything in between. When looking at them I’m reminded of some kind of visual poetry in movement. The beauty of these abstract images lies in the viewers’ own imagination, as Klikovac likens them to the Rorschach test.

Klikovac prefers to derive inspiration from “non-visual art because it leaves more space for originality.” Wise advice for any creative hoping to achieve something original, in an internet age over saturated with instant access to outside stimuli. It’s refreshing to find inspiration in unassuming everyday objects.

At only 23 in his last year of study at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, Klikovac is definitely a young talent to keep our eyes on.

There is nothing less than fierce about Armor Jewelry’s bold but carefully-crafted avant-garde accessories created by New York-based designer, Sandee Shin. She describes her collection as “an arsenal of high fashion jewelry that dances between understated minimalism and the highly conceptual edge of fashion.” Sandee’s vision and work has not only caught the eye of those seeking unique, sophisticated yet daring expressions of art, but has also been appropriately recognized by the influencers of high-end fashion design.

To see the collections for yourself and even get some stylish armor of your own, check out Armor Jewelry as no protection is needed from this site.