It's a Beautiful World

by Seth Brau

Scion's fourth installment of their Installation Art Tour , entitled "It's A Beautiful World," arrives in Miami for Art Basel on 7 December 2007. The opening reception for the public will take place from 7-10pm at The Raleigh Hotel Penthouse on South Beach. Included in the installation are the likes of Mel Kadel (pictured above), Jeff Soto (pictured below), Mike Giant, David Choe, Ron English and a whole slew of others—all street art's finest.

Six of this year's artists designed custom balloons, each eight-feet in diameter, which will fly over the grounds of the Raleigh Hotel. (See our video from last year for the Friends With You balloon parade they sponsored) Also on display, custom-designed Scion art cars from Dalek, Sage Vaughn, and Ron English should be fun eye-candy.

For more information go to Scion.

Jack Spade Holiday 2007

by Ami Kealoha

We just got a peek at Jack Spade's new holiday line of accessories and we're pleased to be the first to share them with you. We're loving the hand-knit sea creature keychains and the sterling-capped chapstick, but everything in the collection has a subtle wit about it and just the right amount of something special to make for a good gift.

While they're not available online yet (we'll add them to our gift guide when they are), you can get them at the Jack Spade boutique in Manhattan.

Plaid Leather Mini Bic Lighter Covers
We're definitely of the mini-lighter camp and these on-trend leather covers will either prevent or encourage friends from pocketing them—depending on how evil they are. They're available in either a red-and-green or yellow-and-green plaid for $15 each.

Day-of-the-Week Handkerchiefs
Each embroidered with a different song lyric referencing a day of the week, these add modern irreverence to an old-world way of life. Or is it adding an old-world way of life to our modern irreverence? Anyway, our favorite is: "(Easy) Like Sunday Morning." The set is $125. (Not pictured.)

2008 Daily Planner
A collab with Jack Spade and Japanese stationers Delphonics, this cloth-bound planner is emblazoned with a worker monkey and comes with monkey reminder stickers. Yearly, monthly and weekly calendars, as well as a section for memos and a removable address book will keep you as organized as the monkey on the cover. It's $45.

Hand-Knit Keychains
Made exclusively for Jack Spade by Jessica Polka, these fobs add under-the-sea charm to key rings. The red Octopus, off-white Jellyfish and orange Prawn run $65 apiece.

Holiday Cards
Illustrated by Tamara Shopsin with a Santa Shark on one side and a Chanukah Octopus on the other, it's clear who's winning this religious war. The letter-pressed cards are $3 each. (Not pictured.)

Chapstick with Sterling Silver Cap
For a balm-obsessed friend, the silver cap adds a little elegance to the otherwise prosaic 20-times-daily ritual/habit/addiction. The accessory can be engraved and costs $75.

Traum Safes

by Evan Orensten

Traum is a line of high-end personal safes with a simple philosophy: “Keep the world out but let you in with ease." These are not artless steel monoliths that give a room all of the atmosphere of a bank vault. Using the highest quality materials these safes attractively strike a balance that would intimidate an evildoer yet still blend in with tasteful surroundings. They can be hidden away, or housed in an inconspicuous armoire or cabinet.

All Traum safes utilize the latest security technologies, are available in several standard sizes and can be customized with the finest materials inside and outside. We were taken with the striking Heirloom model (pictured, click image for detail.)

Traum has showrooms in Manhattan and Palm Beach Traum, and hosts discreet unlisted events which you can find out about by contacting them.

Moon Master

by Lost At E Minor

Moon Master: Rahkon is yet another totally addictive vector game where you are a little green ball that has to bounce around the screen avoiding exploding bombs, falling meteors, and malevolent, laser-shooting UFOs. The really fun part is that you can also shoot back and use explosions to help propel you where you want to go. It's a perfect combination of Asteroids and Moon Patrol.

André Rösler

by Leonora Oppenheim

The extraordinary creatures created by the hand of André Rösler can be sweet, scary and beautiful—often all at the same time. This German illustrative artist, who forms one quarter of the group behind the Bastard Project, has a broad range of work including book illustrations, paintings and animation. But the work we love best are the large murals that he launches onto walls with an energy and immediacy that can be seen in the rivulets of paint running down to the floor.

Building layer upon layer of paint as he goes, Rösler draws on a history of murals and graffiti; he rarely erases anything but always adapts and develops the forms and figures so that they slowly morph from one thing into another. Often the final image is completely different from the one he started with and the art is as much in the performance as in the finished piece.

Rösler is showing new work (including his live mural painting) this week at the Illustrative Paris 07 Festival in Paris.

Illustrative Paris 07
Through 9 December 2007
Espace Commines
17 rue Commines
75003 Paris France map