The lamps above by Daniel Rybakken are designed to mimic the effect of sunlight shining through windows and reflecting off surfaces. That’s key for the depths of Swedish winter, where the sun is out for a mere 5 hours a day. (Also, for those who don’t know, Sweden’s long dark winter days are countered by equally long summer days, when it’s dark for only 6 of the day’s 24 hours.) As someone who knows a thing or two about Seasonal Affective Disorder, welcome to the first of what will probably be many posts tagged “Light Therapy”. Via Inhabitat.
Wieden + Kennedy’s “Go Forth” campaign for Levi’s is an ethnography of America’s unyielding, evergreen optimism, or, a youthful charge declared in the words of Walt Whitman. (Only this year have I truly read Whitman, thanks to a proseful 15-hour documentary about New York. He brandished a big beard and grew up in the woods of Brooklyn, which might explain today’s hipster.)
“America” incorporates the only known recorded sound by Walt Whitman. What splendor! All this energy could have been spent on something more meaningful than jeans. Nonetheless, art is art, is art.
Check out renting desk space at The Hub (a co-working space, somewhat similar to my beloved Studio 612a in Brooklyn), and continue graphic designing for existing and new clients as Dossier.
Travel, a lot! Major dream destinations nearby include: Berlin, Prague, Copenhagen, Istanbul, Switzerland, Vienna, Amsterdam, Poland, the rest of Sweden…and unexpected side trips off the beaten track.
Get inspired by (and learn from) the Swedish/Scandanavian design aesthetic: simple, functional and fun. A few good examples: Swedishness, a web shop for selected, well designed Swedish products, From Scandanavia With Love, a tumblr blog all about Scandanavian design and interiors & emmasblogg, a wonderful interiors blog by a decorating assistant in Stockholm.
Learn to knit. (Friends, be prepared to only get knit gifts from me in the future.)
Hone my cooking skills. I’ve finally come to enjoy cooking this past year, not that I can claim to do it often. Given Sweden’s long cold winter, and expensive restaurants, I think I’ll find myself cooking a lot more. Related: Fika!Glogg!
Get a yoga & exercise routine going again. Oh how easily it slips away.
In the spirit of re-purposing and shamelessly fund-raising for next year: We’re having a moving sale. It’s like a stoop sale, or a pop-up-shop, but you know, on the internet. Contents include a wok and a Honda Civic. Maybe you’ll find something useful.
We had a moving sale and sold almost everything. We were happy to see these things get a new lease on life.
Stockholm’s Hyper Island beckons as one of the best (and only) schools in the world for Interactive Art Direction;
The Swedish state remains among the World’s Best Governments, conditioning a mostly fair, high quality of life, a strong economy and responsible safety net;
Despite popular belief and the dark existentialism of August Strindberg, the New Economics Foundation reports that Sweden is one of the Happiest Places in The World;
