Ana Beatriz Miniatures

by Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Contrary to what you see, the photos you're looking at aren't just shots of the inside of someone's craft or music room. It's fine, go ahead and do a double-take. They're in fact miniature recreations of the real thing by Brazil's Rita de Cássia Baduy Pires of Ana Beatriz Miniatures, set on a ratio of 1:7.8 inches. The meticulous artist with even more nimble fingers has been working on her art for 20 years, conceiving her own scale to differentiate her work from regular dollhouse dimensions.

Pires actually makes every single piece in her artistic dioramas—violins, copper pots in a kitchen, Japanese teapot—which are created from wood, paper, clay and scrap metal in her atelier in Curitiba. She comes up with different scenes under their respective themes, with film and music the most requested and are those that happen to require the most detail. Custom orders always float in from clients who want miniature recreations of real-life places. When asked about the most difficult request she's ever received, Pires cites having to create 12 old businesses from her city for a show. The smallest she's done was a confectionery shop inside of a can (pictured).

The satisfaction of her work extends to the very end, when she's documenting the completed work on film, playing with angles to trick delighted viewers into believing her made-up world.

Her mini-dioramas come in three main sizes, 9x5.5x1.8 inches, 4x5x1.8 inches and 12x5.5x1.8 inches, and begin at $35. Orders can be made through her by writing to to the contact listed on her website.

Toddy Pajamas

by Fiona Killackey

Australia-based and South Africa-born, Michelle Legge is the brains behind the brand new cutting-edge casual label Toddy. Taking a unique approach to the vanilla offerings of sleepwear and casual fashion, this debut designer is set for cult status with a line of innovative, stylish and above all else, comfortable clothing. CH caught up with Legge to discuss leggings, design and imaginary sausage dogs.

What's with the name Toddy?
Toddy was the name of an imaginary sausage dog that I had as a kid. Toddy was very faithful to me and would bark at the ghosts and scary things I had in my room at night. Toddy was as good as any imaginary sausage dog could get. Kids often dream up imaginary friends to get them through tough times or if they're alone or scared. The brand is all about feeling safe and cozy and childlike so the name works in that way. God, I sound like an advertising wanker...

Why did you decide to do sleepwear?
I'm a sucker for mooching around in comfortable clothes. I rarely wear jeans because I find them stiff and restrictive so Toddy is a reflection of how I like to dress. At the same time, I don't see my stuff as being sleepwear only. My prints and designs translate to everyday wear as well, particular with my racerback singlet, leggings and cardie. This is the beauty of some of brands like Schwipe and Material Boy, the stuff is designed to suit a lifestyle of "club to bed to cafe to club." I want Toddy to offer the same freedom.

What's different about your pajamas from the rest on the market?
My pajamas are 100% non-soppy, non-frilly and non-embarrassingly ugly. If someone is into crying bears and fluffy hearts they can go and get that crap from Target. On the other hand, a lot of people love [Australian sleepwear designer] Peter Alexander and I have always been a big fan of his, but PAs can feel a bit "samey" as well, and I believe that the ultimate Toddy customer, like my friends and I, like to dress somewhat to the left. Right now, Toddy can offer kids a real alternative.

That aside, who else is doing long johns with bum flaps in Australia?
No one, that's who! My onesies are cute, quirky and rare. People love being unique.

Do you deliver internationally?
Yes, with cheap shipping, flat rate of $18! For a lot of peeps, buying quality Australian design is a bargain alternative thanks to their strong currencies—think the U.K. and Japan.

Milan Design Week 2008: Day One

by Brian Fichtner

While today marks the official first day of the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the crowds were already chomping at the bit yesterday afternoon in the Zona Tortona, a satellite exhibition area that has taken on as much importance as the sprawling Fiera Milano designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. The weather on Tuesday was incredible, the sky an immaculate blue, and the press drifted in and out of exhibition spaces teeming with excitement, before vacuum cleaners and ladders were even put away. I wanted to take stock of some of the heavy hitters right off the bat.

Tom Dixon's sprawling display in Superstudio Piú was even bigger than last year's. The title this year was “A bit of Rough,” a British slang that characterizes a straight-talking, down to earth attitude. While I appreciate the sentiment, there was little roughness about his collection, which has evolved into a highly scripted narrative of products.

The clear stand out for me was the Slab Chair (above right), an addition to the product family of the same name. With a profile resembling a dancer entering a pirouette, it was one of the most dynamic pieces in his display. (See more images after the jump.)

The Moooi booth was a maze of rooms, each an eclectic clash of styles that has come to characterize their exuberant catalog. For the most part, I left the exhibition space in a daze, feeling as though I'd been smacked over the head by so many layers of ornament. Still, they came through with a few amazing products, most notably in the lighting arena.The Sofa Lamp by CuldeSac with Hector Serrano (not pictured), looks like a quilted leather blimp, or a black cellular blob expanding in the air overhead—oddly ominous. The Lolita Lamp by Nika Zupanc (left, click image for detail), was quite the opposite, its buttercup shaped shade referencing a field of flowers. (See more images after the jump.)

The talking point of the day was the Swarovski Crystal Palace exhibit. Set in a blackened space the size of an aircraft hanger, the new designs (and the displays for them) by the likes of Front, Zaha Hadid, Marcel Wanders and Fredrikson Stallard, oozed a theatricality that will likely be unrivaled in the fair this year. Set in the middle of this massive room, was the sensation of the show, a giant, rotating globe covered in 500,000 Swarovski crystals of varying colors. You might think it's a preposterous object, and it is. But I imagine that's the whole point. It's the ultimate trophy for a series of Swarovski exhibitions that have been dominated year after year by sensationalism and one-upmanship. (Click images for detail and see more after the jump.)

SL16 Noooodle by Konstatin Slawinksi

by Tim Yu

For people like me who never know how much pasta to cook (it's always either too much or too little and I'm either unsatiated or have two days of leftovers), Konstatin Slawinski of ding3000 solves the issue with his SL16 Noooodle, a chrome device that measures amounts of spaghetti for up to four people and doubles as a trivet.

Resembling a cooked piece of entangled spaghetti, the four round holes portion out the correct quantity depending on the size of your party. We love the dual functionality which makes the implement go from the kitchen to the table—so you can serve your pasta without burning your tabletop. Now if they could just do something about measuring Gemelli.

via Yanko

Also on Cool Hunting: Ding 3000 Pimp my Billy

Jason Polan

by Letizia Rossi

Artist Jason Polan's work involves a playful examination of the nature of the artist/collector relationship. His skillful drawings are often packaged in a way that involves a thoughtful interaction with the buyer .

Hand Project, for example, offers three takes on the artist's hand. He created 200 unique photocopies of his hand which are available for purchase for $20 each, as well as twenty original ink drawings of his hand which are available for $200 each and for $2000 Polan will come to your home and shake your hand. The event will be documented with a photograph and Polan and a certificate signed by both the artist and the collector to commemorate the occasion.

Polan's new project "Every Person In New York" is his attempt to document every person that he encounters in New York City in a drawing. He began by drawing people in subway stations, museums, restaurants and on street corners but he has also sent out a call for people to set up informal appointments, letting him know where they will be at a certain point of your day. Polan then draws the subject from a distance taking care not to take up more than two minutes of their time and the drawings appear on the website later that night.

Also offered on his site is One Hour of Art where for $60 you will receive an original artwork created just for you within the time frame of one hour.

Polan's book "The Every Piece Of Art in The Museum Of Modern Art Book" is a collection of line drawings of every piece of art that was visible to the public at the museum from 19 January-31 January 2005. (Click above right image for detail.)

When not thinking up his part performance, part conceptual work, Polan hosts the Taco Bell Drawing Club an informal meeting of friends and artists who meet to eat Taco Bell and draw. We like how the simple concept (holding an artist salon in a setting not generally associated with creativity) both literally puts ideas about high and low culture on the table and also defies the unwritten laws of fast food consumer culture by choosing to linger in a place designed to get people in and out as quickly as possible.