Alyson Shotz

New York City artist Alyson Shotz replicates nature as many of us experience it—interfaced with technology and filtered through culture; tamed, trimmed, and patented. Working in a variety of media, from large-scale installations to digital photography and painting, Shotz is intrigued by the notion of nature as “purely a human construction.” Some of her artworks are artificial versions of living things like trees, plants, and flowers. In one of her installations, bamboo reeds are made of wrapped cotton swabs, pools and droplets of water are suggested by mirrors, insects and flowers merge in suspended swarms of glossy petal and wing shapes, and house plants are equipped with their own rubber feeding tubes and wheels for easy transport.

Charles & Marie

Charles & Marie curated shopping has become my new favorite for online shopping for things I don't need. The rest of the site is lovely as well and great for precision time killing.

From their description:
"Welcome to our Quintessentials. This is our curated selection of the best products in every single category and happily not necessarily the most expensive. Here you'll find the best garlic press, the best iPod accessory and we will make sure you know about timeless, classic product design to pass on to the next generation as well as the best organic dark chocolate to satisfy those immediate cravings."

Notable products:


S-XL Cake Mould


Salad Sunrise by Droog Design


Sunjar (solar powered lighting)


Phonofone II (sustainable iPod speaker)


Bottle Cap Tripod

John Maeda and Reebok

John Maeda is professor at MIT, computer scientist, graphic designer and author. His work explores the intersection of design and technology. He has a book out called The Laws of Simplicity which I hear is a good read, but have yet to crack. His essays are quite good and his blog is pretty interesting.

He just finished up a project with Reebok, which was released already without my notice. Needless to say, I didn't get a pair of these, but I did get to hold them in my hands for a minute. I like them a lot. Though, I pine for a streamlined women's version.




(Click for Reebok Custom site which allows 360 degrees of visual lust)

From Maeda's blog:
"Tomorrow at 9AM my new limited edition shoes from Reebok will be released online. It was a really fun project working with a talented group of folks in RBK marketing and design with a true passion for the future of mass-customization. The design is themed on the 3rd law time and is codenamed “Timetanium” as a reference to the spectacular titanium tiles of Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao and flowing sinews of time represented with my algorithmically enhanced hand-drawn curves. Since I scribble the computer code on paper before I actually type it into be processed, the RBK designers suggested that I include that program code somehow so it is enscribed in the interior of the two shoes as a kind of texture (literally a text-ure). In the past the closest thing I designed was a skateboard; shoes are a new medium for me and I’m glad to have had a chance to spend some time on this project."