Vintage Radios

Emil Dudek (South Wales) runs the online index Vintage Technology, a website dedicated to chronicling antiquated calculators, clocks, radios, advertisements, ephemera, and general bric-a-brac — gorgeous! Check out the fabulous vintage calculators on Makezine.

Poppy(shop) June 4-6!

It is my distinct pleasure to (help) announce the upcoming, up and coming, pop up shop, Poppyshop! which boasts "a mix of vintage and handmade finds, new and mid-century furniture, art and home accessories". The first run will be in Oakland CA in less than 10 days, and will include paintings from Alison Kendall, furniture from Thomas Wold, works by Marina Luz, and felted housewares from Papaver Vert, among many others. Hello lover!

Come check it out Friday through Sunday, June 4-6, from 11am-6pm @ 3217 Lakeshore Ave in Oakland. In the meantime you can find them on Facebook. I believe this store will be a nice segue to Indie Mart on Sunday.

Ana Kraš

Serbian designer Ana Kraš has created a wonderful body of furnishings that includes lamps, chairs, side tables, and a clothing rack. Her designs contemplate how we use the functional objects in our home, and bring the handmade and well-crafted front and center. My personal favorites include the Ksilofon, a simple construction clothing rack of understated elegance that blatantly thumbs fellow contemporaries of the ersatz plastic variety, and the Bonbon lamp series comprised of colorful yarns manually knitted over steel wire frames. Kraš most recently showed at this year's Salone Satellite, part of the Milan furniture fair dedicated to new and emerging designers. [via Design Klub]

The Bicycle Safari

Lawrence Lund runs the Swedish blog The Bicycle Safari, where he archives interesting cycle and ephemera finds on the street — custom bells, creative reflectors, homemade hacks, decals, logos, even neglect. I am particularly in love with the old worn badges displayed on the front fork, made even more beautiful by rust and weather. [via Notcot]

Studio Pepe Heykoop: Brick Series

Speaking of forward chandelier shapes, check out the Brick Series by Dutch artist Pepe Heykoop, composed of wooden children's blocks. The series originated as a exploratory reaction to a chair drawing made by James Gulliver Hancock (above). FURNISM will soon produce and manufacture the chair, an exercise in "extreme seating" no doubt.

Studiomama: Branch Out

Using a 3D scanner and 3D software, Nina Tolstrup of London-based Studiomama captured and digitally manipulated real branches into rapid prototypes, and finally cast branches. These cast pieces were then used as connectors between the fallen branches to make basic furniture like trestles, table frames, stools and coat stands. My personal recommendation: a branch chandelier. [via Design Klub]

Best Made Co. Axes

Best Made Co. was founded by designer and author Peter Buchanan-Smith, and outdoorsman and environmental entrepreneur Graeme Cameron. The two promote the merits of craftsmanship and self-reliance through their remarkable custom axes, a product of loaded symbolism — "indispensable and sublime, the epitome of fortitude and strength, a perfect design object, a timeless instrument." The heads are made of fine-grain steel, the handles of Tennessee Hickory, and each one is hand-painted, varnished, and polished in downtown Manhattan. All axes come securely packed in a hand-made wooden crate. [thanks, Rugg, for the link!]

Maum Tea Bags

In Korean maum means the mind, soul, or spirit. There's definitely some spirit in these amazingly playful tea bags from the designers of the Korean company wdaru. Each themed box set comes with an assortment of quirky characters from which to choose. How could you refuse? [via Toxel]

Matt Brown: RFID Laser Cut Radios

Recently, I've been looking into laser cut creations to help brainstorm new projects for a friend. Thus I stumbled upon Matt Brown, an Interaction Designer/Idustrial Designer from Michigan currently living in Genova, Italy, and his RFID systems — Hello lover!

The basic idea is this — "you would have a speaker with an RFID reader, and laser-cut paper radios with RFID chips inside. The radios themselves are designed by musicians, charities, brands, and designers. When the paper radio is placed over the speaker it changes the radio station to what the artist has chosen ... This system tries to add a little bit of fun to internet radio, and give people a connection with the artists they choose." [via Design Milk]

Frank Buchwald: Machine Lights

German designer and manufacturer Frank Buchwald creates sculptural, handcrafted lights which adhere neither to form nor function, though light and statements they do make. Using burnished steel, brushed brass, textile cables, and blown glass, Buchwald's forms anthropomorphise the inanimate, calling to life the evergreen romanticism of machines, à la steampunk (though I'm not sure that's an association he would make). The Machine Lights series comprises 12 different models produced in low volume production.

 Each object is manually produced from up to 200 individual parts and requires a manufacture time of 4 weeks and more. Custom work available.

Ford 021C by Marc Newsom

As we move out of the Aughts and into what some financial analysts declare "recovery", Ford Motor Company is doing what they can to present a greener, unflappable front. It's not been a good decade for Ford. Despite the bailout, key product placement in The Dark Knight and Bond movies, and the introduction of a fusion hybrid, Ford still feels flat-footed. Too bad they aren't taking chances like they did ten years ago. In 1999, then-head of design, J. Mays, hired UK product and furniture designer Marc Newsom — who, by the way, had never before designed a land vehicle — to create a concept car for the brand.

Newsom came up with an affordable and simple design made from carbon fibre, replete with back-hinged rear doors, swivel seats, and a drawer-like boot. Dubbed 021C after Newsom's favorite Pantone color, the car was met with universal distaste, but somehow feels fresh and cheery today. I wonder what people would have thought of the Scion or Cube a decade ago? Maybe the world is ready now ... if only Ford was. Jalopnik has a nice futuristic vehicle round up here. [via Design Year Book. Thanks, Sam, for the link!]