Some of the Szymanski's

Luke and Tony came to the house with their families this weekend to see the Bills thrash the Dolphins, talk, and have some of Pop's world famous soup called "Fatah". I am not sure of the spelling.

Gift card tree

I just made one of these for all of my favorite people at Ideavillage. Thirty small donomination gift cards attached to a small vase with clips, wires and low density floral arrangment foam. It was not cheap but I hope that people there will enjoy picking from the assortment of cards from my favorite stores.

holiday gift idea #13

Wayne sent one of these to the studio a year or so ago to use as reference on a project. Most of Hannspree's recent stuff is pretty lame but I think that this holds up fairly well. Although the 10" display is skimpy. The pearl finish is especially distinct.

House

According to Treehugger this is in the process of being destroyed. From Erickson's site:

The site for the house was a rock cliff dropping forty feet from the arrival level down a sheer cliff to a rock bench over the sea. The solution to this difficult site was the creation of a multi-storey house descending the slope in levels.

The formal idea of the piling up of hovering beams was the basis of the composition. These enclose the major living areas, which step down the embankment for four storeys from the carport to the bluff over the sea below. Each area opens onto a roof terrace over the living quarters below, so that there is maximum access to sunlight and view. Because of the ruggedness of the site, the outside living areas are confined almost entirely to the roof areas of the house itself.

A texture difference is achieved between the walls and box beams by using flat siding on the beams and a deep board and batten on the walls. The house is treated with a simple oil finish and the only other materials used in conjunction with the wood are used brick and a Welsh quarry tile.

Kind of a bummer but all of the debate over whether the owner can destroy it seems misplaced...I mean, he does own it right?

form

Maybe Dyson is having an affect on other categories but it seems like more and more forms are moving from solitary fluid integrated volumes to a series of connected smaller volumes. The result is a more techinical/mechanical look that can be a little SciFi. This handheld seems to pull it off but the material and texture changes are a little too much.

holiday gift idea #12

If you have a lot of money to spend and a short commute to work.

Kone Vacuum

I just saw an ad for the Kone vac by Dirt Devil. I hope that they did not pay Rashid too much for this design. Not only is it a terrible vacuum and awkward to hold but the claim that it is at home in the home is absurd. A shiny plastic cone sitting in the corner of the room? Who wants that beside Karim? I think that the hypothesis is great but the execution is feable. I think that it reduces the legitimacy of the entire profession when crap like this becomes so high profile. Dirt Devil should know better. Last time I heard they have some pretty talented in house designers.