Yu Jordy Fu

Recycled paper lasercut lampshades. Sort of like something I might have done which makes me feel a little unoriginal! :) my stuff is more surreal and illustrative and less 3 dimensional but really similar...lets hope this inspires me to innovate :)

http://www.jordyfu.com/

playing with my window

Experimentation with shadows....cut paper and plastic attached to my window casting shadow on the curtain. It's not final design work but it's lovely because it keeps surprising me...I only get the sun late afternoon so I'll be working and suddenly Bam! I'll realise I'm surrounded by shadow of light!

Brian Dettmer

Mmmmm book art.

Su Blackwell

Su Blackwell's work is so beautiful and so exactly what I love - storytelling and books come alive. I went to a talk last night with Su Blackwell and the editor of Crafts magazine at Borders. Her work is all based on stories and fragility. Stuff she said that I liked: "books going back to trees" and " half this world half book world".

Giles Miller

Previously I posted about Greypants cardboard lampshades...then Stephanie showed me Giles Miller's cardboard work which takes it alittle furthur - working in floral designs. It's lovely but so expensive! I guess it must be alot of work. I'd like to have a go though :) Work in some sillhouettes! Giles Miller is part of Farm...so that's where you can see all his stuff and other lovely stuff.

Lotte Reiniger

Lotte Reiniger is a huge inspiration for me. I think her work is stunning :D it must of been amazingly time consuming but so very worth it. Rachel at uni is always talking to me about animating my stories. I don't know how keen I am on that idea. I always think it sounds interesting. Then it doesn't feel right. Maybe it is beacause I prefer books to films...I'd rather make a beautiful storybook than a film. Perhaps I feel just because there is a story, every action doesn't need to be played out. Then again of course I do frequently enjoy films...and actions can be very beautiful. Animating my characters could be quite exciting and though I still don't feel right about it, like it wouldn't work, or it just isn't what I want to do...I may in fact enjoy it and be surprised by the results so I know I should push myself to have a real go...

Greypants - Beautiful Cardboard

Look! A video of cardboard furniture making! By Greypants. Bit more sophisticated than mine though :) And these beautiful cardboard lamp shades that cast textured shadows. I still have alot of card...I wonder if I could something like this and incorporate imagery...

Recycle Chair :D

A while ago my housemate brought these massive rolls of corrugated cardboard home that they were chucking out where she worked. They sat quietly and uselessly here for months. The card is weak and there was so much and no one wanted it. It was decided they should go to the dump. This made me sad...so much cardboard wasted :(

My friend Stephanie at Garbage! might want them for her recycling project I cried!

Are you going to roll them to her flat? Everyone else asked me.

The answer was no, and Stephanie most likely has plenty of rubbish to be recycling and making into exciting new things. But I thought maybe I could do something with it, even though my housemates hated the cardboard and wanted to get it out of the house and didn't want me being silly....so I accidentally enslaved a friend who was staying with me into helping me make a rocking chair. By cutting out layer by layer with scalpels. It only took an hour! :)

The result was good. My housemates actually like it! A roll of card has been saved. And it's quite comfy. Yay.

Tord Boontje

Tord Boontje is obviously a big influence for me. I just got his book :) and it has made me feel happier about design. Good stuff. Especially this quote:

"I believe that if we see design as a way of shaping the future of our world, it should be as exciting and thrilling as a great film or book. At the same time, it should communicate not only who we are, but also how we would ideally like our world to be."

This is how I want to design.

Sampling - Acrylic and Wool

Playing with layering, light, shadow and illustration :) I'm pretty pleased with where my experimentation took me. It's not what I imagined...but I think I like it.

Now I'd like to really push the storytelling aspect.

Shawn Lovell has made my dream bed.

I want this bed. This is The bed. The bed of dreams. My bedroom shall be like a forest and this shall be my bed. Shawn Lovell...please make one for me!

Lumie

There suddenly seems to be many light based alarm clocks! Well...at least 2. :) Maybe it's just I'm noticing because I'm thinking along the same lines. First Phillips Wake-Up light and now Lumie have one too and it's both dusk and dawn! With a 30 day trial...I'm very tempted. I am totally suckered into this idea especially after all my sleep/light research. I'm imaging waking up naturally feeling refreshed because my body chemicals are doing the right thing according to the light :) yay! £60 though...

Iknow my project isn't 'real'. And I'm not really about to start manufacturing bed curve sleep/wake lights but I can't stop thinking - imagine how much it would cost!!! All that perspex and laser cutting and felt....not to mention the actual making and getting it working and set up. It'd be very beautiful but utterly unaffordable and ridiculously unneccesary luxury. But so pretty. And I'd love to see it for real, and sleep beneath it.

Rob Ryan

Met my old friend Zac yesterday for his last day in London and went to see the Rob Ryan exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack gallery. It's to go with his lovely new book which I am buying as soon as possible. The gallery is lovely, bright and airy with a tiny twisty staircase leading upstairs. It was bigger than I had expected the window was decorated too :D

Rob Ryan does beautiful intricate hand cut sillouette drawings, much imagery of nature, people (and lots of ladders) with text, very romantic and lonely. But believing in love. A contemporary fairytale?

Scan of Rob Ryan postcard sold at exhibition

It appeals very much to my love of the decorative and my though I don't like to admit it, romantic nature. In ways it it is similar to my work - it's intricate, illustrative and centres around people and emotions. But Rob Ryan's work has a more crafted, drawn and personal feel. It is as if the artwork is his diary and the feelings portrayed are his feelings. My work is less honest in that way. Although I draw, it is on the computer and has a less drawn feel, and is more simplistic. Also my stories never admit to being about me even if they are. I think this is a valid way of working and I like that some people see my work as humourous while others see more to it.

Page from my current storybook

I'll be keeping an eye on what's going on at the Rebecca Hossack gallery from now on as it's a really nice space and an interesting gallery with a strong focus on aboriginal art. I saw a beautiful book they were selling called The Night life of Trees by Bhajju Shyam, Ram Singh Urveti and Durga Bai. Really decorative yet simple prints of the spirits in the trees after dark. I think I might have to buy this book too as it is gorgeous. And as an excuse my current story involves a tree with a spirit!

Page from The Night Life of Trees

Afterwards Zac and I had lunch at Pure California, I recommend it. It does really good fresh smoothies, you can build your own salad, they only use natural ingredients and best of all they use free range meat. This is important as since I read Planet Chicken by Hattie Ellis I've decided against eating chicken that's not free range. But I won't go into that. (though I will link the book, it's good, however if I were to criticise I'd say the argument was one sided and I'd like to see more of what battery farmers had to say in their defence)

• Rob Ryan
• Rebecca Hossack Gallery
• Night Life of Trees
• Pure California
• Planet Chicken