Miracle workers

Mr. Amadou, Mr. Manma, Mr. Abou, Mr. Banfa, Mr. Siby, Professor Moro, Mr. Touba, Professor Dansso and Professor Hassan. Just a few examples of the classic mailbox spam in cities like Amsterdam.

These small pieces of 'typographic design' are really very amusing. They are all in Dutch but check out Mr. Banfa, he translated his small piece of text into English, as a special service.

They all claim to be a medium and they all claim to be able to solve any problems you can think of. Result within 2 days, 100% garanteed!

I used to collect these, I had a whole bunch of them. Unfortunately I couldn't find them so my colleague Willem was kind enough to let me scan his collection!

Darja Charapova

Darja is a frequent blog follower of this blog. I appreciate that a lot and I thank her for that. But most of all I would like to thank her for the interesting and beautiful illustrations she makes! She is an illustration student living in Rotterdam and, like me, loves collecting vintage stuff. She shares her work by blogging it. Have a look at her Newem blog and her other blog Newem Illustrated Words and say hi to her from me!

FOC Collection - Woonbeurs Amsterdam 3

I was very surprised and pleased to see the FOC Collection at the Woonbeurs. I was truly happy to see the meter-long shoe 'Electric light shoe', which was designed and produced for an ad campaign for Onitsuka Tiger. When I first heard about 3D printing I was amazed. I still can't grab it and don't quite know where ythis is heading but it's very interesting!

Freedom Of Creation (FOC) is where cutting edge technology meets design. FOC is a pioneering design and research company, specialized in designing with 3D printing technologies. The outcome of this work is either part of the FOC Collection or commercialized by other design labels. Since 2000, the extensive research conducted by FOC in design with 3D printing, has resulted in innovative and successful commercial products, the development of new industrial materials and even software products, and has been the foundation for significant R&D projects with a range of industrial partners. Their products have been published and exhibited around the world and have been awarded numerous design awards.
The Freedom Of Creation (FOC) concept is based on a graduation project executed by Janne Kyttänen at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam 1999-2000. This project looked into the possibilities of using 3D printing technology and Augmented Reality as viable technologies when changing production and distribution logistics on global scale. After the graduation exhibition, Freedom Of Creation, was established in Helsinki, Finland 2000. Freedom Of Creation in Amsterdam was established 2006.

Reading in the first grade

I can still remember these stories, but most of all I remember the images...

Woonbeurs Amsterdam 2

 Below: Taska stand

 Below: Studio Jo Meesters

 Below: Studio-ePosh

 Below: Peggy Bannenberg

Ferry Staverman - Woonbeurs Amsterdam 1

A few weeks ago I attended the Living Fair in Amsterdam, which is a big fair organised by Sanoma, a publisher of several living and interior design magazines. Shops, manufacturers and retailers present their latest collection. I'm never very interested in that, the designers, the Dutch talents have my special attention.  

I'll post a few examples from what caught my eye. The first one is 'Design forrest' by Ferry Staverman, an artist who creates paper sculptures.http://www.ferrystaverman.nl/. The pieces are made from recycled cardboard material.

Encyclopedic ships

Warships (first image) and tradeships (second image)

Nishat Akhtar - one day never

I don't quite remember how I stumbled upon this great website by Nishat Akhtar. All of the items shown are small pieces of art. Extraordinary!

Nishat attended the Pratt Insitute in Brooklyn, New York where in 2001 she received her BFA in graphic design. Many of these Pratt hours were spent in the printmaking studio or otherwise watching the sunset on a rooftop somewhere. Since then Nishat has worked with and for many brands from Anthropologie, BCBG, Burberry, Converse, HBO, MTV, Rocawear, and continued to find great sunsets from rooftops, bluffs, porches, wherever. Nishat is currently a freelance designer.