my favourite advert

(posted by Grant)

I love creativity.
I love innovation, and fresh thinking, and new ideas.
I love it when people “DO”.
So, it makes sense that I like this advert:

Recreate

Recreate is an amazing, original range of furniture designed by Katie Thompson. she takes old, seemingly useless objects and transforms them into beautiful furniture, lighting pieces, and accessories. my favouritefavourite are the suitcase seats - i think they're incredible! i love it when designers have innovative and out-of-the-box ideas... it makes my heart happy.  



a scale clock - how cool?



another scale clock

Dettol bottle lampstand

You can check out more of Katie's range here.

pascale chandler

this lady makes beautiful art. there is no other word for it. her works are gestural, free, emotional, delicate, and very very pretty. Pascale Chandler is a South African artist who uses oil paints to create these beautiful, fragile horses. i just love the colours and long lines and loose brush strokes - they make everything seem like a surreal, misty dream.

to fly

one of my favourite dreams to have is the flying dream. in my flying dreams, i sort of float around the earth in a cool way, and it's the most amazing feeling ever. and when i wake up, i'm filled with this deep, empty longing; i feel like something beautiful has been taken away from me and i'll never get it back.


i have a slight obsession with flying. and i don't mean flying in aeroplanes (because that is an uncomfortable experience like no other. plus, the only time you realise you're actually flying is when you take off and land) i'm obsessed with the idea of floating above ground, with no wings, no plane - nothing but yourself. it's one of my biggest wishes and it's something i dream about from time to time. i even wrote a song about it, once. it was a lame song. :) 


when i dream about flying, i am completely happy and at peace. my heart beats loud and fast; it feels like i'll never be happier. i don't really know how to describe it... it's exciting, slightly scary, invigorating, beautiful. 


to fly is my wish. i don't really know what to do about that wish. all i can do is dream. 


"My soul is in the sky."  - William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

image from etsy.com

regina spektor

regina spektor is one crazy-cool lady. she makes the most amazing music: it's beautiful, confusing, quirky, catchy, and sometimes downright nonsensical. i reallyreally love her music because, apart from her amazing voice, her melodies are original and lovely (and sometimes a little strange). her music catches you off guard; it's unexpected and spontaneous. her lyrics are sometimes a complete mystery to me ("and all the Styrofoam began to melt away/ we tried to find some worms to aid in the decay/ but none of them were home/ inside their catacomb..." ) but that's just another part of what makes her unique. she's daring, she's cheeky, she's bold, and she makes beautiful music. 

the beach

the beach is an amazing place. i think it's one of the most beautiful gifts on earth; a crazily extravagant present given to us by God for no good reason. it can be the source of so much joy, so much peace, so much wonder and awe.

one of my favouritefavourite things to do is swim in the sea. often, i'm a little hesitant to jump into that wild, salty water ("Ah, man, that'll mean i have to wash my hair again!"), but i never ever regret it. the sea is a source of endless entertainment. seriously, you can spend hours just jumping up and down as the perpetual stream of waves comes towards you and never get tired or bored. it's better than any movie, any theme park, any shopping spree... it's one of the most fun things a person can do.

it's an invigorating experience: you are sandy, salty, tired, hungry, and so so happy afterwards. and there's nothing quite like a good meal after a day at the beach :)

here are some pictures of beaches around Durban:

Fantasy Books

(posted by Roanne)

i've always wondered why we imagine so many things like they are in reality. think about a butterfly: even in your head, where the laws of physics are as unlimiting as a blank canvas, their wings are still proportionate to their bodies and they fly pretty similarly to a normal butterfly. i guess it's because we're so used to seeing things one way- through the eyes of logic and the natural. the thing about fantasy books is that you get to dream. to imagine and to see things differently. i understand if you're saying " all i ever get from fantasy books is weird looking creatures and forests" i'll admit, forests do seem to be prominent in fantasy books (they seem to encourage magic in general.) but just push past the initial hesitance and you might find that you enjoy breaking free and letting your imagination have some running space. you're surrounded by this world where the mundane doesn't exist and fears are magnified, dreams are magnified, possibilities are magnified. it's exhilarating and breathtaking- wonderfully impossible.

invisible artist

how insane is this?? these are works by Chinese artist, Liu Bolin, who's become famous for painting himself "invisible" and photographing himself around his country. Liu uses his works  as a form of protest against the oppressive Chinese government, which he says does not allow freedom of expression. they speak about not fitting into society, and about being forced to conform.

it can take up to 10 hours to paint Liu completely, and the most amazing thing is that he uses no digital manipulation on the photographs at all! here are some of his works:

pretty cool, hey?