Gang, yea or nay?

The brilliant and talented David Nolan found this yesterday and it's of a piece with the dinnerware featured on Tuesday. Sort of. What do we think? Link here.

Make your own light fixture with a designer's blessing

The terrific Grace Bonney had a piece on her equally terrific Design Sponge yesterday that talked about how to make a Lindsey Adelman chandelier. Why this stands out is that the resulting fixture isn't a knock off. Rather, it's an Adelman-endorsed undertaking.

Let me explain a little bit. Lindsey Adelman is a lighting designer, but that doesn't begin to describe her work. She's an artist and innovative designer in general and these days she's expressing herself through lighting. That sounds more like it. Adelman's work is as distinctive as it is desired and for most people, an Adelman chandelier is a pipe dream. It's fodder for "when I make it rich" daydreams.

However, Adelman has a solution. On her website and blog, she has downloadable instructions on how to make the chandelier pictured here. She's even included a parts list and links to where you can buy the parts on line. Brava!

So, need a project for this weekend? If you make one of these chandeliers, Adelman wants to hear from you. Send her a photo. While you're at it, send me one too. I'd love to see somebody take this on. Who's up for it?

Help for Haiti

An injured child at a Hotel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Photograph: Ivanoh Demers/AP

In a world where this is happening 900 miles from where I'm sitting, talking about design seems silly. It doesn't seem silly, it is silly.

A country that can't get a break just got kneecapped again and it's a horror show to watch unfold. If you'd like to do something to help but don't know what, consider donating to Medcins Sans Frontieres. They are Doctors without Borders in English and they are a non-sectarian, non-political relief organization. They help without strings attached and for that they deserve support every day. Faced with the utter destruction in Haiti, they need support now more than ever.

When ghoulish assholes like Pat Robertson make statements like this, giving my money to non-sectarian charities becomes even more important than it is usually.





Would someone please ask Pat to keep his ridiculous opinions to himself. Thank you.

Check out what Delta's doing now

2009 was a year of new discoveries and altered ideas. Well it was for me at any rate. Until 2009, I always thought of Delta Faucet as a low-budget, workhorse brand. I don't think that any more. They are smart, they are innovative and I don't hesitate to specify their products. Since some time in 2007, Delta has turned itself into a leading force in the fixture industry. Between Diamond Seal^TM, MagnaTite^TM docking, H₂Okinetic Technology^®, and Touch₂O^®, these folks have been on a real roll. Bravo Delta.

It came as no real surprise when I found out that they have an iPhone app now too. A lot of times, when a company comes up with an iPhone app, it's a heavy-handed sales tool. Not so this one. Delta's app is all about finger painting and it's a riot. Check out Make a Mess by Delta Faucet.

Here's what it looks like as it loads.

Once it launches, you come to a blank screen.

Click on the settings tab, pick a color and adjust the brush size.

Go back to the paint screen and set yourself free.

It works just like real finger paint and you can change the brush sizes and colors at will.

You can build up layers and even import a photo to paint on top of. You can save it and even upload it to a gallery on Delta's website. I can see me killing an hour on an airplane with this thing. I can also see me getting hooked on it and actually painting something.

When you're tired of your painting, hit the wash button in the upper right of the screen.

A Delta Pilar faucet appears like magic and your painting slides underneath it. Touch the faucet anywhere, the same way you would a real Pilar and the water turns on.

Once your canvas is clear, touch the faucet anywhere and the water turns off. The screen reverts back to a blank canvas, ready for you next masterpiece.

Big fun. So being the good natured folk they are, Delta's Make a Mess is available for Blackberry as well as the iPhone and if you're smart phone-less, you can play around with it on Delta's website. So now everybody can go Make a Mess.

I am middle aged. Officially.

I think of myself as a still-relevant guy. While hardly a hipster, I more or less know what's going on in our culture. I wonder why young people do what they do of course, but at the end of the day I don't feel too removed from the mainstream. Or so I did until I saw this.

It's a Delft-style place setting from Lovegrove and Repucci and the pattern is called New York.

It's also appalling. Look at it. It's graffiti for crying out loud. Graffiti, a garbage truck, a cop car and a street vendor cart; it even has an embroidered street lamp napkin.

Nothing's sacred and all is woe. Woe!

Lovegrove and Repucci is a New York-based design firm. They are hip. In looking over their wares I've concluded once and for all that I am not hip and I don't want to be.

All photography by Davies and Starr