Summer so far

Summer Vibe: Which wins?

In the spirit of Brian Benthin's recent urge to seek feedback and actual human contact, here are a couple of takes on a summer day wrestle with a sprinkler. Tweet me your vote for which wins the summer vibe throwdown. (Either way I win, because it's finally summer.)

Another awesome marketing moment

Spotted at a great cheap teriyaki joint in Seattle. The stack of Calrose rice bags and the complete and utter lack of pretense made me want to hop a plane to Hawaii and head to some favorite Big Island dives. So good. So salty. So much wood paneling. Happiness indeed.

Design inspiration: the Thermos

I love a good vintage Thermos. They usually have great graphics and logos representative of the era they were made. I also like them for the fact that a vintage thermos has usually been somebody's workplace companion for many years. There's something interesting there. I used to have way more, with the 70s, 50s and 60s represented (it gets boring after that), but somewhere along the way I got rid of a bunch. Now I have only a few, which are headed out the door to make way for whatever is next.

Design inspiration: Random vintage junk

I keep a pile of cool things that can kick start a design idea if I'm in a void. These things start to stack up, so I occasionally employ catch and release practices and send them back into the world for others to discover. If I'm smart I'll take a photo before they go. I guess I've been smart, because here are a few random items, some vintage others just old. I love the Best Test Rubber Cement can too much to not include it.

Design inspiration: Leaves

Sometimes it's good to stop and look around. I did this yesterday in my front yard, and found an amazing abundance of shapes and textures. Props to the gardener who makes it all happen. Probably way better than a rusty car hanging over your head.

Design inspiration: Build your own car

Found images pulled from bringatrailer.com. Something about these shots just looked so cool together. I'm really tempted to buy the body, hang it on a wall and just enjoy the decay. (or maybe mount it on the ceiling...) Plus I'm really perplexed about the green and yellow flags. Freaks me out if I go there for too long.