Shinichi Maruyama

Following in the footsteps of stop motion scientist Harold Edgerton, Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama uses high tech strobe lights to make exposures in one 7500th of a second. Maruyama uses these new tools to make expressive images of colliding waves of black ink and water, caught in mid air against white backgrounds. His pictures capture the gestural qualities of the drips, splashes, washes and sprays, in the split second before they merge into a muddy puddle. The resulting abstract swirls are clearly reminiscent of Japanese calligraphy and ink drawing, but with an undertone of energetic chaos.

'Mushrooms Ate My Furniture' by Shinwei Rhoda Yen

'Mushrooms Ate My Furniture' by designer Shinwei Rhoda Yen is a piece of garden furniture made with natural wood and embedded with mushrooms' spawn. After a time of exposure to the weather, mushrooms will grow live on the furniture. As the nutritional material from the wood is eaten by the mushrooms, the furniture will start to break down, eventually decomposing.

Yehrin Tong

Yehrin Tong is an illustrator currently working in central London. Her work appears in everything from editorial to album covers to clothing (Maharishi's SS08 line). Rarely using more than one color, her illustrations are bold, rich in geometric repeat textures, and hyper realistic. Her typographic work evokes a lot of movement. Tong works mainly in Illustrator and Photoshop using a Wacom tablet to achieve a freehand quality. Her hard drive has become her sketchbook.

Fashion is a huge influence on her work. For example, beading and needlework in clothes is a meticulous element that Tong shows clear appreciation for. Tong says, "I try to produce illustrations that people would want to possess, in the same way you'd want to own a beautiful piece of jewellery. I think, 'how would this type look if I wore it?' Or 'how would that dress detail work on my typeface?' For figurative work, I look to dance for ideas; I find dancers in flight particularly transfixing. It translates to typographical work too, giving it a more emotive edge. In terms of subject matter, drama, strength, beauty and sexuality - I want them all coming across in my pictures."

On the subject of what she enjoys working on the most, Tong says, "It would have to be any one of the fabric patterns - I really enjoy designing them. It's a very nerdy thing to enjoy but I love the puzzle-solving element to some of the more complex ones. I'm a big fan of puzzles in general and maths equations etc. I'm not saying I've solved Fermat's Last Theorem or anything but the idea of problem-solving, motifs, perfection and order within chaos are all things I hope people can spot in my work. There's nothing more satisfying than when a pattern slots together perfectly and appears balanced and cohesive."